Chapter Text
The hallway basked in the late noon’s sunlight, while the opened windows made way for the early summer wind to breeze within the walls of Konoha Chuugakuen.
Some students ran to and fro the length of the hallway, and some of them stayed in front of the windows or classroom doors, either slurping the remaining juice from their cartons or sharing plans about the upcoming summer vacation. While they savoured the last minutes of their lunch break playing and chatting together, the assigned student for the weekly lunch survey slowly approached her classroom’s door, a clipboard tucked in one arm and a pen with the other hand.
I’m almost done… Hinata hummed while reviewing the information she gathered from the other class. Clicking the tip of her pen against her chin, she paused in front of the door to mark the second to the last item on her checklist. Done with the previous classroom! Her shoulders hitched up as she gladly smiled, feeling the accomplishment of today’s duty well in her. Now, down to my own classroo—
“Kiba-bakaa—aak!”
Hinata gasped, and as soon as she realized the flash of blond hair, her cheeks instantly flushed red, and the clipboard slipped from her arm and clattered on the floor.
“Oh, close call!” Naruto inched backwards with a sigh. He sharply looked behind him and shouted at Kiba and Shikamaru, “Hey, that’s dangerous, you know!” Cursing, he bent down to get the clipboard, holding it with one hand, the other hand scratching his nape. “Sorry about that, Hinata! I almost slammed unto you.” The whiskers on his cheeks crinkled up as he widely grinned at her.
Hinata was still staring up at him, her previous excitement now drained by nervousness. I almost bumped against Naruto-kun!
“Hinata?” The grin on his face was changed with wonder, and he blinked several times. “Are you okay?” He asked while inching his face closer to hers.
She took a few steps backwards, the heat crawling on her skin, and she had to remind herself about today’s task in order to manage the situation at hand. She hung her head low and nodded meekly. “Y-Yes, Naruto-kun.”
While he handed the clipboard to her, Naruto caught a glimpse what the paper on it was all about. “Amazing!” He clasped his hands behind his nape. “You’re the one doing the lunch survey today?”
Hinata took the clipboard from him, careful not to touch his hand. Slowly raising her head, she was greeted by Naruto’s infectious lively smile. The worries ebbed away from her head, but her heart still pounded fast. “Yes. I’m about to interview at least five in a class.”
“Well, well!” Naruto pinched his chin as he proudly answered. “You might as well start with the greatest of all!”
She raised an eyebrow and giggled, a hand daintily covering her curved lips. “A-alright! I’m going to start asking the questions now, Naruto-kun.” She brought out a tickler, and asked, “Did you like the food served in the cafeteria within this whole week?”
“Hmm,” Naruto was deep in thought. “I was only looking at ramen, and I mostly ate ramen, so! I guess I liked it!”
“Of course he only ordered ramen!” Kiba shouted from the other side of the room. Hinata’s shoulders tensed up, knowing that Kiba must be teasing her. “He’s ramen-headed after all!” He followed it up with a mean laugh.
“Shut up, Ki-baka!” Naruto shouted back at him.
“W-Well, well…” Hinata tried to get him back to her questions, afraid that Kiba might spill something that shouldn’t be spilt. “Were there anything that you found unsuitable to your taste?”
Naruto quickly turned back to her, and he hastily answered, “Fresh vegetables!”
Hinata tilted her head. “Eh? But Naruto-kun, eating vegetables is healthy, isn’t it?”
He pouted, “But it’s not as tasty as ramen!”
Knowing fully-well that Naruto likes ramen a lot, she thought that she should have known that this was the kind of response he was most likely to offer. She chuckled a tad more comfortably and said, “I see.” She smoothed down the page of the tickler and wrote her notes. She didn’t notice how she leveled her gaze on him while she fell on an easy conversation with him. “I understand, Naruto-kun. I don’t know what to do either whenever they put seafoods like crab and eel in the menu.” She smiled at him, sheepishly, then she checked on her next question.
“Heeh?” Naruto placed his hands on his hips and beamed. “I’m not alone, then!”
“Excuse me,” A few students politely passed by the door, and Hinata noted that they might be out of time.
“N-Now for the last questio—aah!” She pressed her palm against her cheek as the wind blew from the open window behind her. Strands of her hair flew at different directions, and she clumsily held her tickler, pen, and clipboard in one hand, the other hand futilely trying to keep her hair in one direction. The bell would ring in just a minute or two, and she shouldn’t be bothered by her messy hair. “U-um! Continuing to our final question—” the breeze blew again, and she sighed in defeat as a thick clump of messy hair awkwardly dangled between her eyebrows. “W-What are your suggestions for the improvement of our cafeteria’s menu?” She positioned herself to write on the tickler again, waiting for his answer.
Naruto scratched his head, only half-listening to Hinata’s question. He was watching how the strands of her hair dance on her head.
“Hmm?” She gazed at him for a while, noticing the wonder on his face. The wind blew again, and she squinted. “M-mou…” she heaved again, then she clicked the tip of the pen on her chin twice.
Naruto finally parted his lips and started talking. “I would really love it if there are more ramen flavors!” Again, he watched as her hair swayed with the breeze, and caught himself staring on her notes, and the way how she gingerly held her pen. “Like miso, shio…” His eyes wandered to her crown again, and he was, unawarely, tracing the lines of hair that dangled between her eyebrows, to the lashes of her half-opened eyes, to the way how she moved her mouth while she silently repeated his answers to write it down. “…karai, tonko…tsu…”
Wanting to see more of how she repeated what he was saying, he mindlessly lifted his hand as his fingers gently slid the hair to the side of her face, and before he knew it, he was already staring straight into her eyes, which were also innocently looking into his own.
Hinata held his gaze as he held hers, and they stood there unmovingly, until the bell rang.
Hinata blinked several times and it was only then that she fully comprehended the touch of his fingers on her hair, and her shoulders hitched. The comfort that she mustered from their previous talk was now back to zero. She wondered if he had seen the panic in her eyes and the way how her cheeks were painted scarlet, before she took a few steps backwards, bowed in front of him, and entered the room. She placed the clipboard on her desk, the tickler and pen in her drawer, and she balled her hands on her lap, her mind and heart rewinding what just happened and why it even happened.
The realization of what he just did only struck him a few seconds late, and before he could apologize (for whatever reason he didn’t completely understand), he saw her sit on her desk, shoulders tucked in, and he was curious how her tangled hair was still a sight to behold. Wondering, he also went to his desk, sat down, and rested his chin in his palm, his eyes staring out at the blue sky.