FicWad

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Not even the name. A friend at a roleplay site gave me the name, and, of course, the creator of Naruto owns the manga/anime/him. If I owned it, do you really think that Hinata and Naruto wouldn't be together yet?
Author's Note: This is my first story on FicWad, although I've done fairly well on fanfiction.net. Please no flames, or constructive criticisms, but I'll take both if I really need them.
Enter...Pieruto!


Pearly eyes looked up, surprised at the sound of a knock on the door. No, it wasn't a knock, more like pounding. The owner of the eyes quickly got up, rushing to the door as to silence their guest and keep her father off her back, for the moment at least. Opening the door, the Hyuuga blinked in surprise.
"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata blushed immediately, surprised that he would actually pay her a visit. But sure enough, the cocky blonde boy was grinning on her doorstep.
"Hey, Hinata!" he said, oblivious (as always) to her blush. Hinata's cheeks weren't tinged with pink anymore, now they were more like painted.
"N-Naruto-k-kun...wh-what brings y-you here...?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper. Her ashen eyes were glued to her sandals, trying to act as if something of immense interest was down there. She peeked up just enough to see him, the grin still on his face.
"Want to come practice with us? Ino and Sakura started arguing again, and soon Shikamaru and I were pulled into it after they started talking about our teams, and Lee was basically in there from the beginning, so Sasuke wanted to fight him...and I guess we're all in there now." He explained, babbling on. "Do you and Neji want to come?"
Hinata smiled, but just slightly. Of course he would come to talk about training, or fighting, or something of the sort. He was just so determined to beat everyone. It was that determination that Hinata admired probably the most.
"Neji's not here right now..." She was almost surprised at the fact that she managed to get through that without a stutter.
"That's okay. I think we would've had an odd number anyway." The Kitsune rubbed the back of his head rather sheepishly. "Do you want to come, then?"
Hinata blushed again. Naruto was asking her to join them? The Hyuuga looked back behind her through the doorway, and then softly shut the door. Stepping down beside Naruto, she nodded shyly. "I'd like t-to come..."
"Great!" he exclaimed. "I think Shino and Kiba have gotten there by now..."
Mustering up as much courage as she could spare, Hinata got the nerve to ask Naruto a question. "N-Naruto-kun...? How many teams will th-there be...?"
"I think we got three or four. Depending on how many girls are there." He shrugged, then brightened. "Except for you. You aren't crazy about that Sasuke so much as to fight over him, are you?" It was a rhetorical question. Hinata let Naruto talk on as she calculated the odds in her head that she'd be on the same team as him. It sounds like there was at least 8 or nine of them, and some of the others probably collected some of their teammates as well. Chances were that there'd be teams of three, then, so her chances of being with Naruto were 10 to 1.
The raven-haired girl sighed. Naruto, actually widening his attention span for once in his life, noticed.
"You do want to come, right? I'm not bugging you or anything, right?" he asked, in the most serious tone he could muster.
"O-of course I'd-d like to come, Naruto-kun!" Hinata said immediately. She wondered if he noticed how quickly she responded afterwards. He obviously didn't register it.
"Great!' Naruto marched onward, Hinata following like a loyal puppy. Eventually they made it to the woods outside the village. Tenten, Sakura and Ino were the first they met. The girls were crowded together, giggling and glancing back at the boy behind them. Sasuke looked bored, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.
"Honestly, you two are so troublesome." Naruto led Hinata over to Shikamaru, who was watching Akumaru pawing at a few of Shino's bugs. Kiba was laughing, as the bug Nin was trying to get the dog away from his insects.
"Are we all together now?" Sakura called, obviously trying to show off to Sasuke how she could take charge of things. Ino pushed her out of the way.
"Okay, let's see how many we have here." The blonde girl started counting heads, very purposefully ignoring Sakura until last. Their number came out to eleven.
"We can have a group of five, a group a six, three groups of three and a group of two, two groups of four and a group of three..." Shikamaru was lazily listing off their choices, after watching Naruto draw figures in the dirt to try and make the teams.
"We can have pairs and I'll be alone." Sasuke said firmly.
"Good." Naruto snorted.
"Ooh, he's so brave, going into battle by himself!" Sakura squealed.
"Aw, come on! This isn't a real battle!" the Kitsune groaned, rolling his eyes. Hinata was trying to hide her disappointment. Her chances with Naruto were even slimmer now.
"How will we decide who the pairs will be?" Lee asked, stepping towards Sakura.
"Just pick someone. I'm not going to baby-sit you all." Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a sigh. There was the sudden, immature scrambling accompanied by yells as the kids all chose their partners. Actually, all they managed to do is mix up the order they were standing in. "So troublesome..." the black-haired genius sighed again, looking up at the clouds for a moment. "Alright, everyone get in a line. Don't even bother standing next to people you want to be with, because I'm going to choose everyone."
There was a groan from most of them, but they decided that it would be the best. As long as none of the girls ended up together.
"Ino and Kiba. Tenten and Shino. Naruto and Hinata. Lee and Sakura. And Chouji and I will be partners."
Lee gave his signature thumbs-up to Shikamaru, who ignored him and walked over to Chouji, who was munching on a bag of chips. Hinata gave a mental jump for joy, or as much as she could accomplish. Even in her own mind, she was shy and quiet.
"Bug boy...?" Tenten whimpered, looking over at Shino.
"Trade him for the mutts over here." Ino called, gesturing to Kiba and Akamaru, who responded with a growl.
The weapons expert decided that she could deal with the bugs, and Shino wasn't that bad of a guy. She almost blushed, realizing what she was thinking; yet she was staring at Sasuke. So she decided that he was making her blush. The chocolate-haired girl decided to take that as her excuse.
"Here are the rules." Shikamaru called boredly. "You can leave your partner, but you can't win the game if only one of you survives."
Hinata blinked. She didn't like the sound of that so far...
"You have to keep your flag somewhere easy to get to on your body. Has to be in plain sight, too." Shikamaru continued. Hinata sighed with relief. It was a game of capture the flag, not anything too dangerous.
"Who brought the flags?" Ino asked loudly. There was a silence to answer her. "Oh my god, no one brought anything to use as the flags?"
"Guess not." Kiba stifled a laugh at her frustration.
Sasuke solved the problem in his usual manner: quietly and simply. Everyone seemed to be paying every speck of their attention toward him, as they caught on immediately. He simply untied the headband around his head, re-tying it on his arm in a looser knot.
"He's so smart!" The girls cooed, following suit.
"Hey, no way! I'm not taking off my ninja band for others to get their hands on!" Naruto shouted, glaring at Sasuke.
"If you're such a great ninja, you shouldn't have to worry about that." He replied calmly with a slight smirkgracing his features.
Naruto paused, looking around at everyone for any other negative reactions. Finally, he replied in his usual, obnoxious manner. "Alright then, I'll play this part of the game. But now we're playing for honor, so I'm going to capture everyone's headbands and win! Both the game and their honor!"
Hinata admired his determination and confidence, but by making a scene he was just making himself a bigger target.
The game started with everyone standing beside their partners in a circle. Each of the Nins were facing outward and away from each other. They took ten steps away from each other, marching in perfect time, and then everyone shot off in opposite directions.
Naruto was practically dragging Hinata along, until they stopped in a well-wooded part to plan their attack.
"Okay," he whispered, crouching down, "We'll go after Sasuke first. But you might want to activate that cool Byakugan so we can see who's sneaking around."
Hinata blushed at the compliment, staring down at her feet until she tapped into her chakra to use her bloodline's pride and joy. She couldn't see anyone around them, not even any animals. "W-we're safe...N-Naruto-kun..." she whispered. The blonde boy grinned.
"Great. Now we'll just have to find that damn Sasuke..."

The game ended well into the afternoon. Sasuke won, Shikamaru and Chouji came in second place, and Sakura and Lee came in third. Naruto and Hinata came in second to last, and only because Hinata had managed to steal back her headband from Shino. Ino and Kiba came in last, since they were too busy arguing the whole time to defend their headbands.
"What do you say?" Sasuke asked, smirking.
"Gimme my headband!" Naruto shouted, trying to reach up to where Sasuke was holding it above is head.
"Say please."
"I'm not going to say please to you!"
"Sa-Sasuke-kun...please g-give his headband back..." Hinata asked politely, staring down at her feet. The owner of the Sharingan almost seemed surprised by the question. He pause for a moment, then dropped the forehead protector onto Naruto's head, shoved his hands in his pockets, and took his leave of their company.
"Arrogant jerk." Naruto growled after him. "The only reason he took my ninja band in the first place was because he snuck up on us! It had nothing to do with skill."
"Yeah right, Naruto." Sakura snorted. "Sasuke beat you again."
"Live with it." Ino added, placing her fists on her hips.
Hinata felt guilty for not warning Naruto enough in advance. Truth was, by the time she managed to tell him that Sasuke was coming, the raven-haired boy was already staring down at them from a branch above them.
"Alright, rematch tomorrow. This time, bring flags." Ino called.
"I'll go tell Sasuke about the plan!" Sakura volunteered, running off after him.
"I-I don't think I'll b-be playing tomorrow..." Hinata whispered to no one in particular. Tenten, Shino and Naruto were the only ones who heard her.
"Why not?" Tenten asked gently, tilting her head slightly to look at the girl.
"I-I don't feel like..." She was going to finish with 'I should', but she felt that it would be rude to mention her own skills in fighting. Hinata hung her head, letting her soft voice trail off. Tenten, thinking she meant that she didn't feel well, came over and put an arm around her shoulder.
"It's okay. If aren't feeling up to it, you don't have to come."
"I'll walk her home." Naruto offered, thinking that it was a whole 'nother reason.
Hinata blushed, keeping her pearl eyes on her sandals. She wasn't going to come tomorrow because she felt that she had made Naruto lose, and he made such a big deal about loosing...she just couldn't help feeling guilty.
"I..."
"Come on!" Naruto grinned, jumping ahead of her and gesturing with his hand for her to follow him. The Hyuuga trotted after him, blushing for most of the way home.
"So...are you feeling down because we lost?" Naruto asked, walking backwards so he could look down into her ashen eyes.
"No, N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata replied, her blush intensifying.
"Are you sad because Sasuke beat us? Or one of the others?" He asked persistently.
"N-no..."
"Then why are you so down?"
"I...uh..."
"Is it something I did?" the Kitsune asked, just as they arrived at the Hyuuga household.
"Of course n-not, Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed, "Thank y-you for walking me home, N-Naruto-kun..." With that, she raced inside to avoid embarrassing herself further, leaving a very confused blonde boy standing on her doorstep.

"Sakura-chan?"
"What do you want, Naruto?"
It was already the next day, and Sakura, Naruto and Ino were waiting for the others to show up.
"Is there anything wrong with Hinata?" the Kitsune asked carefully.
"She was acting sorta sad yesterday." Ino interjected.
"But I wouldn't say anything wrong..." Sakura replied to her statement with only a slight glare in her direction.
"The poor girl must have had her feelings hurt."
"Naruto, you insensitive jerk, what did you say to her?"
"I didn't say anything!" he protested, but neither girl would have that as an excuse.
"You need to make it up to her." Ino pointed out.
"How--?"
"You need to give her something. Some sort of small token of appreciation. Like chocolate or some sort of jewelry."
"But you have to be careful what you give her. You don't want to offend her any more than you already did. Poor girl has a low enough self esteem..."
"You should make her a pie." Ino said suddenly.
"...pie...?"
"Yeah, she doesn't seem like the type to eat chocolates or wear any jewelry." Sakura agreed with her.
"But why a pie?" Naruto asked, thinking he missed something in the girl's conversation.
"Because they're under appreciated and sweet at the same time. Just like her."
The others arrived at that time, cutting off any of the Kitsune's hopes of finding out why the girls wanted him to give Hinata a pie.
The partners were different this time, since they now had an even number. Shikamaru and Sasuke won by a landslide, although this time Shino and Ino managed to come in second place. Naruto and Kiba came in fourth place, while Sakura and Lee (who had somehow ended up together again) occupied the third place slot. Chouji and Tenten sadly came in last place.
"Want to walk home with me?" Lee asked, sliding up beside Sakura.
"No way. Besides, I need to go with Naruto." The pink-haired one replied in a huff. Naruto blushed for a moment, but Ino reminded him that they were going to help him make Hinata feel better.
"Come on, you two. We have to help Hinata feel better and watch in case Naruto makes things worse. He usually does, anyway..."
"Too true. We don't want her to feel any worse, that's for sure."
Naruto found it just short of amazing how such rivals could come together to talk crap about him and want to comfort a fellow girl at the same time. In their minds, the two things were just about the same.
"So, where do you live again?" Ino asked as the trio walked along.
"That way." Sakura pointed over to her right.
"And you know where he lives why...?"
"I try to avoid that area."
"I see..."
Naruto sighed. This could be a long afternoon.

Another visitor? Hinata padded over to the door, answering it before her father could yell at her for it. She had the strangest feeling of déjà vu as she looked down at the blonde Kitsune on her doorstep.
"N-Naruto-kun..."
"Hiya, Hinata!" he greeted her cheerfully.
There was a small silent period, as Hinata was blushing furiously and at a loss for words, while Naruto was watching for any sign of negative feelings towards him.
"Are...you okay? Your cheeks are sorta red." He commented, watching her blush even more, if that was possible.
"I'm...fine..."
"That's great."
"D-did you want to t-tell Neji something...? Because h-he's still away on a mission..." the Hyuuga said softly, trying to see why her crush was standing on her doorstep yet again.
"Oh, no, I wasn't here to talk to him." Naruto grinned broadly. "Want to take a walk with me?"
"S-sure..." she shut the door softly behind her, stepping down onto the ground beside him. Her heart was thundering in her chest. Why did he visit her again? Why did he act so cheerful? Was he going to ask her to play another game with him and the others?
"So..." he said slowly, glancing at her from the side. "Why did you want to leave so suddenly the other day?"
"Oh..." she looked down at her feet, which again held some unknown fascination. "I...w-wasn't feeling very w-well I guess..." It was unlike her to lie, but it wasn't a complete lie.
"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, looking genuinely worried. She nodded, the familiar pink tinge rushing onto her cheeks yet again. Naruto looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't. There was a pause in their conversation before he spoke up again.
"Are you...mad at someone?"
Yes, she wanted to say. I'm mad at myself, Naruto-kun...I made us lose, and winning means so much to you...
She nodded, just barely, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way. Or maybe he wouldn't notice. He did seem to be blissfully unaware of other people most of the time.
"Mad at...Sasuke?" he asked, almost hoping she'd nod again.
"N-no..."
"Are you mad at...Shikamaru for choosing our teams just randomly like that?"
She shook her head, a bit more furiously than she would have liked. But she had liked how he had chosen them as partners.
"Are you mad at someone in your family?" He was now playing a guessing game, since it was clear he wouldn't get a straight answer any other way.
Hinata shook her head, reminding herself of the irony in that.
"Then are you mad at..." Naruto paused, thinking of who to ask about next. "Someone who played that game?"
She nodded, and then the realization hit her. Naruto wouldn't ask all these questions if he wasn't curious. And if he was curious, it means he was worried about her...Although she was happy that he obviously cared to some degree about her, she felt even angrier at herself for making Naruto worry about her like that.
"D-don't worry about it..." She said in her quiet voice. "N-Naruto-kun...where are w-we going?"
"Oh, there's something that we-" Naruto stopped in the middle of the sentence like that, looking as if he had just been punched. Hinata stared at him, wondering what he was going to say and why he was looking like that. She silently activated her Byakugan to see if anyone was around and doing something to him.
Much to her surprise, she saw Sakura and Ino behind them, apparently following the pair at a distance. It looked like Ino had used her special Mind Transfer jutsu, and Sakura punched her. But why would the girls want to hurt Naruto for no reason like that?
"As I was saying," Naruto grinned, apparently regaining himself as he continued, "There was something I made for you at my apartment. I thought we could pick it up."
"M-made f-f-for me...?" Hinata gasped, blushing yet again. She saw Ino and Sakura peek around from behind the building, grinning at each other. The Hyuuga wondered if they were trying to set them up on some sort of date.
"Yep." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, looking down at her. "You see...it's an apology thing. If you're mad at me, I'm sorry, and I probably acted like a jerk."
Hinata blinked in surprise. "M-mad at y-you...?" How could he think that? He had never done anything to upset her in any way possible. Let alone anything that required a gift as an apology.
"Like I said, I'm sorry, and I hope we can still be friends, even though most girls, you too, probably, think I'm a huge jerk-" he babbled on, staring at his feet with a slight blush on his face.
"N-no, Naruto-kun...I wasn't mad at you..." She said quietly.
"You weren't?" He looked up in surprise. Hinata didn't know whether he looked more embarrassed while he was apologizing or now.
"No..." Pearl colored eyes were now glued to her own sandals again. "I was mad at...at myself..."
"Huh? You were mad at yourself? Why?" Now the blonde boy was genuinely confused, and even more worried.
She was making him feel even more worried about her. Thus she felt even worse.
"I..." she let her soft voice trail off, at a loss for words.
"Hinata? Why are you mad at yourself?" Naruto repeated.
"I...N-Naruto-k-kun...you w-wanted to win s-so bad-dly, and I l-let you down..." Hinata managed to stammer out, avoiding his gaze.
He sounded like he laughed in surprise. "That's what this is all about?"
She nodded, embarrassed.
"Hinata, that was just a game."
"B-but you-"
"Nevermind me. Like I said, I was just being a jerk about that." Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "It was just a game. Nothing to get worked up about...except maybe for someone as immature as me."
Hinata stared at him in slight confusion mixed with embarrassment. He was saying that it was no big deal, yet he was practically throwing a fit when it happened.
"Naruto-kun..."
"Come on, let's just forget this whole thing, 'kay? Just be your usual, quiet and happy self, and I'll be my usual obnoxious self." He put an arm around her shoulder in a half hug, grinning, making her blush furiously.
"A-alright..."
"Now let's go get that pie I made for you!" He let go of her, marching off towards his apartment. Hinata paused for a moment, before smiling and trotting after him.
"A-a pie...?"
"Yeah. It sounded like a good idea at the time...you like pie, don't you?"
"Yes..."
"Great!"
Hinata smiled, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He was so carefree, yet he cared almost too much for his friends. Even though she could probably never compete with Sakura for his love, Hinata thought she might be able to deal with being his friend, especially if he made pies just for her and maybe hugged her again sometime. The Hyuuga blushed again just thinking of it, putting her hand up to her mouth to hide the half-smile that was forming.
The next day, Hinata and Naruto won the game, and afterwards everyone shared a delicious pie, the second one Naruto created. Of course, this time he had the help from a certain raven-haired girl.