Chapter 6
The Party- Part Two

I hate this, I think. I wish I could skip it.

Usually I do skip it and let my parents tell the guests some excuse—if there are any guests that wonder about my absence (it's nice to know that some people I don't care about actually do care). But since I graduated from the Academy today I'm expected to be there because "it's a special day for all three of us". Pigs fly too.

I look out the window and see the last rays of sunshine vanishing. I take a deep breath.

"Come on Naruto, you got this! Just be there and hang on tonight, then tomorrow they can…ignore you like always. It'll be back to normal in a few hours."

The only thing I could look forward to was the fact that my friends would be there. Sasuke would've been invited for my sake, seeing as we both graduated with high marks. The only problem is? Now, with everyone there my parents have to really act like they care. And it's all a lie and it kinda sucks. Truthfully, I've secretly been wishing they loved me again, and this act that they'll put on will just up my hopes so stupidly high. And I know that when I look into their eyes all I'll see is the truth that lies behind their words and actions.

The only thing I could probably look forward to is the fact that most of my friends are probably going to be here.

The usual crowd was here, most are friends of the family. Representatives of different clans and representatives of some council members or whatever from where Minato works as the Hokage were here. I've never spent the time to get to know them since…actually I don't have any excuses I just don't want to.

Guests were milling about inside and out of the manor. I'm welcomed warmly, hard not to be noticed with how I'm much less formal than everyone else in the room I stick out like a bright orange thumb. Spitting out whatever nice and polite things I could think of, I'm about to head up to my room when I see a few delicious looking snacks on the coffee table. Say what you want but a growing boy needs to eat.

Me=growing boy. Food=delicious.

I pig out a little on a hand full of some sort of chocolate-y treats I felt someone come up behind me.

"Namikaze-kun, so you have arrived." And old lady from the some high and mighty important place from my dad's workplace greets me oh so nicely. She mutters her real greeting under her breath. "And already invading the treats, I see, that was left out for everyone to enjoy but I guess that must have escaped the notice of the dried out sponge between your ears."

She, unlike some other guests (or most of the village to be honest), doesn't treat me any differently than the way she treats other people. She openly shows her disdain for all living creatures under the sun and she is probably one of my most favourite people in all of Konoha.

"Yes, Old-Lady Council Woman, here I am. Pardon my tardiness; you see I was out celebrating. It was my last day in the academy, you see, and I graduated with one of the top marks in class." I acted politely and tried to smile but the frown working hard to reach my face made my efforts quite useless.

"And of course adding to the fact that I really don't enjoy being in your presence for longer than necessary, old-bat." I mutter quietly, I knew she could hear me.

The old woman (whose name is Yukiji Tanaka) and I have a weird…acquaintanceship, as you can see. She's my break from the fake. She hates people in general and she had no problem showing it. She's a bitter, small, and feisty old grandma. I've seen her kids and grandkids and don't know how they can be so happy when it seems like this 200 year old lady just seems determined to outlive us all and dance our graves.

"Hurry up and get changed, you look more unsightly than usual. All that dirt and sweat…and by the stench it seems you've been eating rather unhealthily at that run down shop again." Yukiji-baba grumbled as she waved her hand in a "shoo-shoo" motion toward the main stairs.

"Ichiraku's is not-!"

"Don't get so close, I can smell your breath." She turned her nose away in the most haughty way imaginable.

"Oh, you can smell stuff on that ancient thing?"

"Oh, look, I see your mother coming this way. You may want to get going now before you offend me even more—" her voice was steadily growing louder.

I didn't dare look behind me. "Cool it, Lady-sunshine, whatever you say." I bow deeply with mocking sweeping gestures as I backed up and out of the room. I smirked at her infuriated look (which wasn't all that obvious, but I've learned to read people's eyes for the truth a long time ago) at the stupid nickname I gave her.

I stuck my tongue out at her for good measure.

My door creaks in greeting to me as I enter my room. I'm not very fashion forward (what gave me away, the jumpsuits that don't run out or the goggles that go on my forehead until I get an actual headband?) so I just pick something at random from the 'fancy' end of my closet. My mother only stocks up on them for me because I can't show up to events in my usual choice of clothing ("ugly rags").

Thirty minutes in and I'm not breaking out into hives or something so that's something positive to look at here. Achievement.

I haven't had any time at all to speak to my friends tonight. For what seems like eternity I've had to act like the best big brother which includes having to 'play' around with them. The spoiled little brats haven't given me one break from the crazy. I don't know how to play with them because I don't play with them, I haven't spent more than a couple of hours at most with them in day, maybe not even two hours. How should I know what makes them happy? I don't even know if they consider me their older brother! For all I know, they just think that I'm some servant that looks kinda like their "papa". I don't even know I consider them family.

I mean, you can't blame me! They stole my parents away from me! And don't call me childish, you don't even know the half of it.

"Namikaze, your children have grown so big!" I couldn't help but pick up the conversation between the old man and his former teammate. I never caught his name.

"Yes, they certainly have. You must be very proud of them, Hokage-sama." The teammate's wife said.

My old man smiled, I saw, and looked over at me and my brothers, who were rough housing with some of their friends. I tried to pretend I was part of it. "Yes, I'm quite proud of them." I paused.

Even though I know he's only referring to my brothers in that sentence I couldn't help but pretend that he was also proud of me. Gah, that's too sappy. I'm going to find Sasuke.

"Hey, don't kill each other while I'm gone." I told my brothers.

They looked up. "Hey, wait!" Junsei called.

"Stop, don't go!" Shinzou ordered.

"Really, and why?" I cocked my head to the side, a small frown on my face.

They both simultaneously blushed as bright as their hair. I frown and feel unsettled. This could either be really good or really bad. "Naru-nii…" They both suddenly pulled and tugged at my arm, running in some direction. I resisted the urge to shove them away or throw them halfway across Konoha.

We stopped as suddenly as we started. "Ok, what is up whiskers?" I growled, standing up straight and glared right into their eyes. Our eyes were the only things that looked the same, in my opinion. They were pretty annoying and they have ridiculously high pitched voices.

"Look at that pretty girl over there!" Junsei pointed somewhere behind me. "Introduce us to her!" Dear goodness, the poor girl. She's probably from their class or something.

"Yeah, introduce her to me, I want her to be my girlfriend!" Shinzou crowed.

"Hey, she'll be my girlfriend." Junsei pouted.

"No, she'll be my girlfriend." Shinzou argued. I sighed. "Why don't you let the girl decide?" I suggested, but I was quickly ignored.

'That's cute' My sarcasm never made it out of my mouth. 'Like either of you will ever get a girlfriend that'll actually like you, you're both so annoying.'

"Who is she anyway?" I asked them, genuinely concerned for the poor girl. They looked at me and turned me around.

"Duh, the prettiest girl here is gonna be my girlfriend." They both said, and promptly glared at each other and started a "no, me!" argument. But I didn't hear any of that because the girl they pointed to was none other than Hinata Hyuuga.

Without hesitation (and thinking) I called out to her. "Hey, Hinata!" Spinning around her princess style hair fluttered about her round cheeks. I wave enthusiastically at her and hesitantly she walked towards me. My smile falters a little along with my skipped-a-beat-heart as I met her in the middle. She looked beautiful in a plain white kimono.

"Hey, how are you?" Her cheeks flushed and her eyes averted. With twiddling fingers she answered something with a tone that was just a little too soft for my ears. "Eh?" I asked, leaning closer to hear her better.

Her cheeks grew a deeper shade of red. "I'm okay…H-How are you, Naruto-kun?" She asked, smiling shyly.

"I've been tortured by little kids and I haven't had a break in forever!" I couldn't help making my voice go a little whiney. My whole body slumped tiredly, my face must have been funny because she giggled a little bit. I smiled brightly at her giggle, it was really…cute.

"Nii-chan!" Junsei tugged at my robes.

"Naru-nii!" Shinzou did the same at my other side.

I looked down and found them both giving me intense glares. They pulled me down to their eye level—shockingly painful—and hissed "stop flirting and introduce me" venomously. Then they growled at each other in sibling rivalry. I looked up at Hinata and smiled nervously, which made her giggle a little. My sleeves were tugged painfully and suddenly once more, which pulled me down further.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright, calm your boxers, whiskers." I snarled. Straightening out, I look at Hinata. "Just bear with me?" I whispered to her. She looked confused but gently nodded.

I gestured regally at my brothers, making grandeur gestures. "Hinata Hyuuga please meet Junsei and Shinzou." I pointed at each brother. "They like long walks to the fridge, airplane-shoulder rides, and late night pee-breaks." I tried to make my best game-show host impression, raising my eyes brow and smiling with exaggerated charm.

Hinata, good-natured as hell, she actually laughs a little and tries to look very impressed. Though I can see in her eyes that she doesn't actually get what the kids want me to do. "Junsei and Shinzou are wondering who you would like…to go…on a…" Naruto gulped "date with." Gah, I really don't like asking Hinata out for other people. I'd much rather like to do that for myse…

Ah, mm, what?

"Oh," Hinata mumbled, quiet and sweet. Her eyes glittered with amusement, clear as crystal, and I struggled not to drown in them. "T-That's quite impressive" She looked like she really tried to not stammer this time. She gave the two kids a look of appraisement and they blushed bright red again under her gaze. I understand completely.

"So…um, Hinata-sempai…uh…" Jun seemed unsure of what to say. This I can relate to with him. Hinata doesn't know it but lately it's been harder to form coherent thought around her, especially when she looks so dressed up tonight underneath the glow of the lanterns.

'Oh my gosh, stop sounding stupid and describing everything absolutely wonderful about her…shoot.'

I slapped my forehead.

"Um…N-Naruto-kun…are you okay?" My eyes widened and I whipped my head up to look at Hinata and I blushed. "A-Ah, yeah… I'm, um, fine Hinata, no need to worry…" I chuckled nervously.

Shinzou swiped his arm across my hips and pushed me back a little bit, stepping forward into Hinata's space. "Um, Hyuuga-san, I'm sorry for my both of my brothers. They don't have as much class as you or me." He took her hand and smiled. She smiled a little and made a little "Aha" noise that sounded like she was confused as to how he was acting.

A tick mark appeared on the corner of my forehead. "Okay, first of all, Shinz, it's 'you or I'. And second of all—"

"Who said you had any class?!" Junsei growled, taking Hinata's other hand while pulling a face. Though I had mixed feelings about these two, Junsei and I were actually on the same page kind of.

Shinzou stuck his tongue out and tugged on Hinata's sleeve. "U-Um…" She looked lost, the poor girl.

Junsei retaliated and tugged on Hinata's other side. "She's gonna be my girlfriend!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yeah-uh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-uh!"

Poor Hinata was in the tug-of-war. As the rope.

"NUH-UHH!"

Shinzou pulled harder on Hinata's hand, making her stumble to her left.

"YEAAH-UUHH!"

Junsei pulled just as hard on the hand in his grip and Hinata's stumbled to her right, about to lose her footing on those sandals.

"NUH. UH!"

"YEAH. UH!"

Hinata's face was turning red and I just had about enough of it. People were staring too.

"Okay, break it up now, break it UP." I growled and took Hinata's shoulders and pulled her to me, effectively ripping her away from the two little grab-happy twerps.

"Doesn't Hinata get a say on who she wants to be with?" I practically shouted. Then I turned to the girl herself who's, unluckily, caught the attention and affection of all three Namikaze sons.

Um-I mean—

"Are your wrists okay?" I grabbed her hands and inspected them, pulling her closer without meaning to.

"U-Uhm, N-Naruto-kun…"

"They seem fine, you're not bleeding but they're turning red…"

I looked up and realized her face was turning red too.

"Oi, are you okay? Did the tug to much?!" I put my hand on her cheek, worried. Then suddenly her eyes rolled up into her head. "N-Naruto…kun…" and she fell limp away from me. "Whoa!" I scrambled to catch her and luckily I did before she hit the ground.

Holding her against me I am completely confused. "What?" I asked no one in particular. "H-Hinata?"

"Nii-chan...!"

I looked over at the brats, the lights illuminating their bright tomato red hair. They looked even angrier with that lighting.

"Look at what you did!"

I was never the most punctual person anyway. Like my story or not, I don't really care. It's not my goal in life to be punctual on the internet anyway :P