Chapter 6 - chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

Hinata turned a light pink from the attention she was receiving, and Hiashi carried on as if Naruto hadn’t just dropped his silverware. Almost immediately after the first bit of turkey was cut, a maid stepped out and handed Naruto a new set of silverware, whisking away his dirty fork, spoon, and knife. She picked them up as if they were covered in mud, holding them wrapped in a napkin by just two fingers. Apparently, dropped silverware was a big no-no in the Hyuga household. Almost as soon as the one maid walked out of the dining room, half a dozen walked in, carrying big bowls of soup, bowls of salad, breadsticks, and even a medley of fancy dips and chips. They set them down in the middle of the table, and then left as quickly as they had come in.

‘Why did Hinata’s family cook all of this food when they have this big of a house-hold staff?’ Naruto wondered incredulously.

As if reading his mind, Hinata said to him in a low voice, “My family cooks the dinner because they’ve done it for as long as any of them can remember. It’s a way for them to spend time together, and show off any knew kitchen skills they may have learned.”

Naruto nodded in response to Hinata’s answer of his silent question. She smiled at him from across the table. Naruto wanted to lean over and get some of the food, but he figured there had to be some sort of way to do that as well. He watched Hinata closely as he waited, trying to figure out what she was going to do. After a few more minutes of sitting there, Naruto saw Hinata’s father move out of the corner of his eye. He trained his eyes on him, watching what he was doing. He was ladling some soup into his bowl from the one that was between Naruto and Hinata. As soon as he did this, everyone else started to get their food as well.

Naruto, being as ravenous as he was, grabbed a breadstick and ladled some of the delicious smelling soup into his bowl as well, and began eating. He continued for the entire dinner watching first Hinata and then Hiashi, waiting for someone else to place food on their plates first. When the meal was finally over, Hinata motioned for Naruto to stand up and follow her out of the room. He did as Hinata wished him to do.

As soon as they were out of the dining room, away from the conversing adults, Naruto asked, “So how bad was the whole silver-ware thing?”

“Well…”Hinata started, “It wasn’t too bad. I guess I should’ve warned you about the napkins beforehand, though. My family tends to go overboard with that. They also tend to over exaggerate. Some of my aunts and uncles are probably appalled that you dropped your silverware, but some of them were probably just not expecting something like that to happen during the turkey carving.”

“Is that it?” Naruto asked.

“I figured I should give you a heads up in a little more detail about the whole presents thing.” Hinata explained to him. “My father agreed with me.”

When Hinata had spoken to her father about this was beyond him, but Naruto was willing to listen if it meant not screwing up again. “Ok then.”

“Well, first, stay back from the Christmas tree. There’s nothing wrong with going near it, but once my cousins see the presents…they g a little bit crazy.” Hinata said.

Naruto remembered what Hinata had said in the limo and asked, “They hand out everyone’s presents to them, right?”

Hinata nodded in response to his question. “They pretty much swarm the tree, if that’s even the right word. Then they’ll start handing everyone’s gifts. Nobody opens any gifts until they’re all handed out. And then my grandparents open their gifts first, while everyone watches. Then my father opens one gift, and then everyone else can open their gifts after that.”

“Wow,” Naruto said. “Iruka and I normally just tear into our gifts, although we don’t usually have a lot. A few from each other, and then some from friends.”

Hinata sighed lightly with a small smile, “My family just has to make everything complicated.”

“I can’t argue too much with you there.” Naruto said, grinning widely at her.

“Still, it shouldn’t be too hard.” Hinata said. “We can sit a little bit away from everyone. We can actually probably go there now. That way we’ll be in there before everyone else.”

“Ok.” Naruto said. He knew he couldn’t mess this up, because he just had to sit there and watch everyone else open up their presents. He followed Hinata into the living room to where a giant Christmas tree was set up. His eyes widened at the number of presents that had been placed under and around it.

“I know, it’s a bit much, isn’t it?’ Hinata asked noticing her boyfriend’s expression.

“It’s just different from what I’m used to.” Naruto explained.

Hinata nodded before saying, “We can sit over here, near the fireplace. Everyone else will want to sit closer to the tree. Neji will probably join us over here, though.”

Naruto realized just then that he had yet to see his friend tonight. “Where has he been all night anyways?”

“Around.” Hinata stated simply. “He doesn’t enjoy being around our family too much. He tends to stay a bit low profile at family events.” Naruto nodded. He could understand where his friend was coming from. If he hadn’t been with Hinata, he probably would have tried to find his friend earlier, and stay with him wherever he had been.

Just then, Hinata’s relatives started trickling in from dinner. Naruto noticed Neji almost immediately, and saw Hinata motion for him to join them near the fireplace. He saw, and headed towards them.

“Naruto. Hinata.” Neji said as he sat down in a big chair next to the loveseat Hinata and Naruto were sharing.

“Hey Neji.” Naruto replied.

“Merry Christmas, Neji.” Hinata said.

“Hn.” Was Neji’s only response. Naruto focused his attentions to the little kids that were swarming the tree, just as Hinata had said. One of them would grab a package, read the name, shout it out, and then go find the person that the gift was for. It seemed that they were competing to see who could get the most presents handed out before they were all gone. He noticed a kid about four years old crawling under the tree, trying to get a present out from under it he guessed. He kept watching, but the kid didn’t come out, and then the tree started to sway a little bit.

“It’s going to fall over.” He whispered. Hinata and Neji looked over at the tree, and alight gasp was heard from Hinata.

The kids’ eyes grew wide as they backed away from the tree, as far as they could, but Naruto still didn’t see the little one who’d gone under the tree come out. And the tree looked as if it was about to tip over. Some of the adults were herding the children to the back of the room hurriedly, and Naruto stood up without thinking and raced towards the tree. He got down on his stomach, and pulled himself under, seeing the frightened four year old cowering next to a box he had apparently been trying to move, but had been unable to move due to its size. The tree was going over now, and Naruto did the only thing he could. He pulled himself overtop of the four year old, covering him with his body.

A/N: Hmm…I’ve had this in mind since before last chapter, but when disaster struck, it wasn’t Naruto’s fault. I guess we’ll see how it all turns out next week. I’d really like you guys to review and tell me what you thought about this chapter, basically because I had some trouble writing it, and getting it to the point that I want…Please tell me what you think! The more reviews I get, the more I want to start the next chapter. =)

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment