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ohhipstaplease · 3 years

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Sunrise Salutations [AU]

One-Shot Modern AU - As the sunflowers bloom year after year, Naruto tends to the garden his childhood friend, Hinata Hyuga’s family left behind in hopes that his almost love returns one day.

For Naruhina week 2021 @nhweek | April 12: Sunflowers / “Good morning!"

Having been somewhat of an early riser for the better part of his young life, Naruto Uzumaki always woke before his alarm went off. This wasn’t without reason, especially not as sunflower season rolled around once more.

Naruto sighed as he kicked off the tangled covers and stretched out his tired limbs. He could’ve used ten more minutes of sleep, but, he knew today was the day the flowers were finally going to bloom. It was the one day he looked forward to all year.

After his childhood friend, Hinata Hyuga, suddenly moved away years ago, he found that continuing to tend to the garden her family left behind helped him make some sort of sense of the unresolved feelings he had towards her. He was only seven when his friend had left his side, but still, it felt like it was yesterday that he realized that maybe girls weren’t gross and that perhaps holding Hinata’s hand wouldn’t be the worst thing he could do.

Back when they both fit into overalls and found fingerpainting fascinating, the pair used to wake up at the crack of dawn and watch the sunrise from the Hyuga garden under the watchful eye of her mother, Hitomi. Naruto’s mother was not a morning person, but his father always made sure to rouse him awake right before the sun rose so he could be out the door and right next to Hinata tending to the sunflowers as morning unfolded upon the city of Konoha.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Hitomi would say as she refilled her watering can.

The children would look at each other and smile, always in wonder of Hitomi. Whether it be as simple as a sunrise, or a perfectly shaped petal on a sunflower, the way she found beauty in everything around her was contagious. Every morning she had something new to show them, something to teach them. Every morning Naruto looked forward to the warm embrace of the sun as he learned what made the flowers he and his mother so adored thrive.

This was their routine, summer after summer, until Hitomi suddenly passed away one morning. Naruto remembered it well, the cries of his mother, when she received the call, the arms of his father, tightly wrapped around him as he tried to explain what had happened. But the one thing that always stood out to him the most? Hinata’s stoic stare as she held her younger sister’s hand at Hitomi’s funeral. He wanted to reach out and hug her like his father had embraced him. But she was too far away, always too damn out of reach.

Heartbroken, and unable to tend to two daughters alone, the head of the Hyuga household, Hiashi, decided to move his family closer to his brother’s home so he could grieve without the weight of having to take care of two young girls as a single father.

They disappeared the day after Hitomi’s funeral, without a single goodbye being said. If the fully bloomed sunflowers hadn't been left behind, you never would have guessed the Hyuga family had ever lived there.

Naruto’s mother, Kushina, woke at sunrise a few days after the Hyugas had gone. She paced the hallway leading to Naruto’s room until she decided it was an acceptable hour to get him out of bed without concerning him. Gently rousing her son awake she whispered, “Good morning, sweet boy. It’s time for sunrise salutations.”

He didn’t question why she was up so early, didn’t dare. Instead he let her wrap his hand in hers as they made their way into the backyard of the now deserted Hyuga home and quietly began watering the flowers. When the sun was fully out, and the flowers were completely watered, Kushina brought out a pair of gardening shears and cut one single sunflower from its thick stalk.

“For Hitomi,” She said, as she placed it in Naruto’s hand and smiled sadly. She already had a vase inside their home with a picture of Hitomi and her daughters from the previous winter when they had come over for the holidays. A makeshift altar.

“You know, Hitomi once told me this beautiful story about why sunflowers turned to face the sun on their own,” Kushina said as she brushed her son’s hair back.

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm,” She nodded, “It was some sort of Greek myth. Like the one you learned about in school last year?”

“Oh.”

“Yes, let me see if I can remember,” She tapped her chin before pulling the wild strands of her fiery red hair up into a messy bun, “Ah yes. Well there was a nymph that was in love with the sun god Apollo. You know who Apollo is right?”

Naruto nodded.

“Good, well, Apollo didn’t love her back. The nymph was so sad at his rejection that she didn’t eat or drink anything, she would only stare at the sun and imagine a life where he too felt what she did.”

“Yikes,” Naruto said, tilting his head.

Kushina let out a laugh, the first one she had genuinely had since the funeral, “Stop it. Let me finish,” She took a breath before continuing, “Well, the gods took pity on the nymph and decided to turn her into a sunflower because it would always face the sun god’s path.”

“So the flower is a woman?”

“Metaphorically, yes.”

“Metaphorically?”

“It means it’s like a symbol. So the sunflower is a symbol for love and adoration, no matter what Apollo did, the nymph would always face towards him and follow his path until the day he realized her feelings for him.”

“That’s really sad. You said it was a beautiful story.”

Kushina tapped her chin, “I guess you’re right, it is kind of sad. But that’s life, buddy. Sometimes you fall in love with someone who barely knows you exist, but you’d follow them to the ends of the Earth anyways. Something beautiful can still blossom from the pain, you know? I think that was the best part about Hitomi...she always saw the beauty in everything.”

Kushina didn’t take the sunflower away from the makeshift altar until it completely wilted, and to this day, the framed picture still sits in the same place.

Naruto didn’t quite know how to feel, he was too young to understand loss, but old enough to understand that his best friend was gone, that she was sad. That this was something he couldn't fix. Eventually he moved on and made friends with kids at school, but he never once was able to look at a sunflower without remembering Hinata’s lavender eyes peering through her blinds, trying to make sure Naruto was up every morning to meet her in the garden.

He had asked her one day why she always peeped on him through her window, and she bashfully looked away, “I just want to make sure you’re up for our sunrise salutations.”

“Sunrise salutations?”

“That’s what momma calls them. Y-you know. When we say good morning to the plants.”

“Good morning? Why not just say that?”

She thought about it for a second before saying, “I think it just sounds better. Don’t you?”

He smiled to himself as he recalled how she went out of her way to say good morning to by waving to him through her slightly opened window everyday since they had that conversation. Their own little version of sunrise salutations. He especially missed her little quirks on days like today.

Naruto couldn’t help but wonder how she was, if she was still as painfully shy as she had been before, if her annoying cousin had finally stopped picking on her. He hoped she was happy, eating well, that she grew to love the hair she demanded her mother chop off because it was too heavy on her neck and too hot in the summer.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d venture he was in love with the Hyuga girl he barely even knew anymore. Just like the nymph from the Greek myth Kushina had shared with him, he had been left listless, simply trying to gather enough warmth from the sun to keep moving on, but never forgetting the girl who made his heart race a little faster for the first time.

For good measure he peeked out of his blinds and in the direction of Hinata’s former room just to feel something. But all he felt was a pang in his chest as he saw the blinds had been taken down and the room was barren.

The family that had lived there since the Hyugas moved away had also packed up and gone this past week. They were kind, that was without a doubt. An older couple with grandchildren who would visit over the summers. They’d been nice enough to let Naruto continue gardening on their property, claiming their arthritis would prevent them from keeping the garden as nice as it was.

In reality, though, the woman had known of the family who had lived there before and had a hunch the young blonde boy before her was smitten. How could she deny him the last connection he had to a first love he’d most likely never get to see unfold?

“Naruto! Breakfast!”

Naruto perked up at the sound of his mother’s voice. He knew she too wanted to see the blooms, although she'd leave the gardening to him. All she’d ask in return was that he cut one single sunflower for Hitomi.

“I think I’ll eat a little later, don’t want to miss the sunrise,” He said as he snagged the cup of coffee from her grasp, took a swig, and ran out the front door.

Kushina shook her head as she looked down at her mug, peering through the kitchen window to watch her son as he slipped on his favorite gardening gloves and began turning on the hose to fill the beat up watering can he had used since she could remember.

She waved at him through the window, a slightly devilish grin upon her face as she waited for him to notice her, and once he did, she took her mug and sat at the little table they kept in the kitchen, leaving Naruto to his sunrise salutations.

Naruto breathed in deeply as he saw the sun slowly rising in the horizon, felt that pang in his chest once more as he remembered how Hinata had fearlessly interlaced her fingers in his and led him through the garden when all the flowers were in full bloom. Hitomi’s laugh intermixed with the birds chirping and the wind whistling was the perfect soundtrack to summer.

Nonetheless, his music would have to do now. He popped in his headphones and blasted his latest favorite song to try to shake the melancholia he woke up with this morning.

His music was so loud that if anyone were to approach him, he surely would not have been able to hear them. And that, in fact, is exactly what happened.

As he turned to refill his watering can, he screamed out as he fell backwards. A hand reached out to grab him, only for him to pull the girl down with him.

Naruto, clearly startled, panicked as he felt her upon his chest. They were a tangle of limbs, he could almost feel her rapid heartbeat on his as she laid upon him.

“Holy shit, are you okay!?” He tried to sit up and pull her up with him, only to find inquisitive lavender eyes staring back at him.

He was at a loss for words, the eyes he had so missed, he didn’t think it could be real.

The girl rubbed her head, cheeks flushed and hair askew, she attempted to get up, but stumbled back onto the grass. Naruto quickly lept into action and helped her get back on her feet, leaving his headphones and watering can strewn upon the ground.

“This wasn’t how I planned for this to go...” She said as she dusted her dress, avoiding his gaze.

“W-what?”

She smiled at him, meeting his gaze for the second time that morning, “I just wanted to...um...to say good morning to you...like we used to.”

“H-hinata?”

She nodded, “We were told you kept up the sunrise salutations, I made papa drive us back in time to see the flowers bloom.”

“Y-you’re back?”

“Moving back in this week.”

“You’re back...” He whispered, taking her in. She was ethereal, the sunlight illuminating her like a halo. Her hair had grown past her waist, her face as beautiful as he had remembered it. Wherever she went, he wanted to face her, he had no doubt now.

“I’m back,” She said, shyly pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear.

Now he understood his mother’s sly smile as he slipped out the door that morning. She had not risen to see the flowers bloom, rather she had gotten up early to ensure her sunflower would be ready to face the sun when it rose.

Naruto reached for her hand, leaving Hinata a tad breathless. He had never been the one to initiate contact all those years ago, it was always her leading the way. The only time she had felt brave enough to assert her feelings was when she was around him.

“Good morning,” He said, interlacing his fingers in hers. His hands were large, callused. She noticed immediately the difference in size between them, both in the width of their hands and their heights.

She had to look up to meet his gaze, “Good morning, Naruto. Can I help you tend the garden today?”

He squeezed her hand and relished the light her shy smile exuded, “Hinata...that sounds perfect.”

From the window in the kitchen, Kushina Uzumaki peered towards the garden and saw her son reunited with the eldest Hyuga. She raised her mug in cheers towards the photo of her friend, and finally, decided to rejoin her husband in bed.

It was far too early for her to be up anyways, and she was sure her son would wake her when he was finished with his sunrise salutations anyways.

“We have a lot to catch up on,” Naruto said as he grabbed the shears to cut the single sunflower he had promised his mother.

“We certainly do,” Hinata nodded, “Wait are you cutting them already?”

He blushed, “It’s for your mother...for Hitomi. We always give her the first sunflower of the seaso-”

He was taken by surprise for the second time this morning as Hinata wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and pulled him into her embrace, “Thank you,” she murmured into his chest.

Naruto nearly melted as he took in her fragrance, he rested his chin upon the top of her head and breathed in deeply, “You’re welcome.”

She looked up at him and smiled through the tears that began falling from the rush of emotion of being back at her childhood home and reunited with Naruto. Her mother’s memory lived on in every inch of the garden, how could she not feel at peace when she was there? She wished she had never left.

“Do you have an extra pair of gloves?”

Naruto nearly whimpered as she unwrapped herself from him, but he knew that she was back. She wasn’t leaving him again. Her touch would be something he’d be reacquainted with day in and day out if he had his way. All he needed was patience, he had waited more than ten years after all. What was a little while longer?

“For you? Always,” He replied with a large grin.

He couldn’t wait to spend the summer with her in the garden. Just like they used to, but now, perhaps, a little different.

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