#team eight

“Excuse me, Naruto, where can I put this?” Naruto jumped from the close proximity of Shino. Turning his head slightly away from the man. In order to avoid being cheek to cheek, Naruto felt a vein throbbing and his annoyance rising. Before Naruto could even figure out a nice way to tell Shino exactly where he could put his tv. Hinata’s sweet melodic voice crashed over him, calming Naruto.

“Shino-kun please bring the tv this way.”

Shino nodded as he moved around Naruto. Plopping the tv onto the coffee table that Kiba had also commandeered and moved towards the opposite wall. Naruto watched from his safe spot in the kitchen  as team eight continued to rearrange the apartment.

It was Tuesday night, and like his standing sparring session with Hinata, it seemed team eight had a routine all of their own. Hinata had asked Naruto a few nights ago  if he would mind if the boys came over.( It was her week to host the event.) Naruto was quick to remind her that this was her apartment now too, and she could do whatever she wanted. Hinata beamed and kissed him on the cheek. Promising him that they wouldn’t cause too much of a disturbance as she began to give detail of the night. Still focusing on the warmth of her lips, Naruto grabbed her. Effectively cutting her off and preventing her from moving away, as he pulled both of them onto the couch. The rest of the conversation was quickly forgotten.

But now, as he watched Kiba and Shino begin to stretch in his small apartment he thought maybe he should have listened a little more thoroughly. Surely they weren’t about to spar in here right? Looking over the small apartment he realized how cramped they all truly were. So much so that Akamaru was also banished to the kitchen as it was the only space left for the dog. Just as he was about to let his concerns be known Kiba turned the tv on and flipped to a station that played music videos. 

“Guys they’re on!”   The gasp of excitement that came from Hinata, was way too adorable as she scrambled up from the floor crowding the tv with her other two members. However, once he saw what was happening in front of him Naruto almost choked on the cup of ramen he had made. As the music video was starting Kiba, Shino, and Hinata all three got into their places and as the members of the boybands began to move, so did each member of team eight. 

Naruto could only think to cover his mouth as Shino started the dance by slowly walking out towards the middle of what was now apparent their makeshift “stage” and posed for just a moment before the music went into an upbeat tempo and suddenly Shino was moving. Arm for arm. Leg for leg, Shino matched the choreography perfectly. Then suddenly Shino and Kiba switched places as Kiba and his designated dancer took center stage. Both were powerhouses as they swung their bodies in all different directions and did hand movements. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought Kiba was going through hand signals for a  jutsu.

Suddenly the chorus of the song rose and with it the three team members in complete sync did the full routine together. It was quite silly to see these three moving forward towards the tv arms wiggling before all skipping backwards, arms windmilling behind them. On and on they kept going, as a new member would perform a solo so would one of team eight. It was only as the final beat of the chorus ended  and the team in front of him hit their final poses that Naruto finally couldn’t contain it anymore and let out a chuckle. 

Three pairs of eyes (Four if he was counting Akamaru) turned to him. A smile on Hinata’s face, while Kiba looked unimpressed and Shino, well he really couldn’t tell what Shino was thinking.

“Got a problem, buddy?” Kiba demanded, still in his final pose. That caused Naruto to outright laugh. Clutching his stomach as he did so.

“I’m sorry-I really am not trying to be rude, I just didn’t expect that!” 

“Why not? Routine dances are a good form of exercise and a valuable training tool.” Shino spoke up as the group moved out of their pose to face Naruto.

“Training tool?” Naruto’s interest peaked as the three nodded vigorously.  

“Come join us, Naruto-kun!” Hinata urged, suddenly excited over the idea.

“I don’t know Hinata I-

“Please!” she begged, her eye’s big and wide with hope. Naruto couldn’t deny her. With a resigned sigh he made his way over to the three, choosing to ignore the sound Akamaru made as he passed (which sounded suspiciously like a laugh.) Once he was in front of the tv.  Hinata very seriously began to explain. 

“When on the field you need to be able to assess a situation in a moment's notice. Correct?”

“Correct.”

“ So you must be able to adapt quickly and move almost without thinking in order to counter an attack.”

“Yes?” 

“So here’s what you are going to do. Whatever song comes up next, you are going to pick a person to focus on. You’ll have a few seconds to figure out how they move and then you are going to copy their movements to the best of your ability. The goal is to be able to calculate your opponent or in this case your dancer’s  moves almost before they even know what they will do. Ok, Naruto-kun?”  Suddenly this didn’t seem nearly as silly as it had been a few seconds ago. It actually did sound like serious and useful training.  Excitement pumped through Naruto’s veins as he moved to the front of the tv. 

“Yeah! Let’s do this!” Naruto shouted, hyper focused, and ready to take on whatever came his way. 

“Wait, what?” Naruto fumbled as the very next video was a girl group.  He looked at all of the girls in the video, a very different concept from the fast paced energetic one that had previously played on the screen. Maybe he could try the next video.

“Quickly, Naruto-kun, get in position!”  Hinata exclaimed. Naruto jumped, nodding as he quickly scanned the girl group and made to move to the center spot.

“No way! That's my spot!” Kiba barked as he yanked Naruto behind him. Naruto was about to strangle the man but the music had already started. Giving Kiba one last glare he moved into the same starting pose as the girl standing behind Kiba’s. Naruto had less than a second to question what he was even doing before the girls started to move. 

If anyone outside of his living room had asked him how he did, he would have said it was a piece of cake.  However, the truth of it was a very different story entirely. The poor man stumbled around for what felt like the longest four minutes of his life.  At some point he just stood rigidly still, only offering late hand gestures. It took Hinata’s encouragement for him to keep going, and so he powered through running in tempo to his positions, swaying and moving his body, most notably his hips, in ways he was not all that used to. A fact that Kiba felt the need to yell out from across the room.

“For someone who used to change into a sexy babe for fun, you sure have no feminine grace about you!” Kiba mocked as he himself shimmied slowly towards the ground before moving back up and jutting a hip out. The jab was the insult it seemed Naruto needed to up his own ante.

“Fuck off Kiba! I’ve got twice the feminine grace you do!” Naruto shouted as he aggressively snapped his fingers to the beat. Determined to prove himself, Naruto brought his arms in toward his chest before  throwing them up towards the ceiling. From there Naruto rotated his wrist as seductively as possible. Grinning to himself in victory when he caught Hinata blushing as she unabashedly watched the movement . Feeling encouraged and storing that information away for later, Naruto hit every move after it was only when the video ended that he allowed himself to drop to the floor gasping for air. 

“How..huff..was..that?!” Naruto gasped out as he laid on the floor.

“Terrific Naruto-kun!” Hinata beamed at him giving him a thumbs up.

“Very promising. Why? Because even though you have no rhythm, you have the will to work hard.”  Shino murmured.

“I’ve seen better.”  Kiba huffed as he turned his head away.  Naruto ignored the other two ‘s comments and jabs as he smiled up at Hinata as she bent over him smiling radiantly as she offered her hand. Naruto took it without hesitation as he got up.

The rest of the night was spent much of the same. New groups came on and Naruto would dance. Some groups were better than others and at least three videos from that first male group played throughout the night and judging by the excitement on team eight’s face as they danced, it seemed they were a crowd favorite. Though as the videos kept playing Naruto had to admit the girl group was his favorite and when by pure luck the first song he’d danced to came back on a second time Naruto made sure he hit every move. It was one of the best workouts of his life. So much so that as the group began rearranging the apartment back into it’s usual state. Naruto confessed his enjoyment and said he’d like to mention this to all of the teams and maybe have a large group training exercise.

 At that Kiba burst out laughing, clutching his stomach as he bellowed. Shino feigned a coughing fit though Naruto noted the grin he was trying to hide, while Hinata looked mortified. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“You-You really thought  we were training?!” Kiba gasped out in between laughs. 

“Kiba!” Hinata admonished her long time friend before taking Naruto’s hand.

“Naruto-kun, I must apologize, we  might not have been entirely truthful. This isn’t a training session, this is just a… Fun session…”

“A fun session?” 

“A hobby.”

“So you guys just meet up every week to dance?”

“Not every week. Why? Because some weeks we do karaoke.” Naruto whipped his head around to look at Shino who had calmed down enough to speak. Naruto gave him a hard look trying to decide if he was tricking him again. The image of Shino standing in front of a crowd singing seemed even more ridiculous than the idea of him dancing. He turned back to Hinata as she stood fidgeting, a look of shame on her face.

“We just wanted to include you, but didn’t want you to think it was silly!”  Hinata said earnestly which melted any indignation Naruto might have felt away. Coming up to her he pulled her into a big hug.

“It’s okay Hinata! I probably wouldn’t have joined in as willingly had you not spun it as training. But I really enjoyed it!” Naruto knew an innocent prank when he saw one. And while he was annoyed that he let Shino and Kiba get the best of him, he couldn’t be prouder of Hinata for keeping a straight face as long as she did.

In fact, the thought of Hinata pranking him kinda turned him on. So without hesitation he brought his head down and captured her lips using the surprised gasp from her to the fullest extent as he deepened the kiss. Ignoring the cries of disgust from their two friends Naruto pulled her closer and felt victory and satisfaction when he felt Hinata’s hands gently tugging at his hair and the telltale sound of his door slamming shut as the rest of team eight fled.

The door alerted Hinata  to pull away just enough so that she could look him in the eyes as a giggle of their own erupted out of the two of them. Pulling her towards their bedroom. A mischievous grin spread across his face.

“Come on Hinata, it's time for us to have a fun session of our own!” 

“N-Naruto!” Hinata gasped but quickly followed the man into their bedroom. Clothes being chucked as they go. It was much closer towards morning when Hinata and Naruto had finally settled down into bed intending to get at least a few hours of sleep. As they cuddled into each other Naruto thought back on Hinata’s dancing that night. Every time he thought he had Hinata figured out. Every time he thought he had her every step, every pattern, every movement memorized deep in his soul, she would surprise him. Naruto squeezed her tightly, daring to break the silence one final time.

“You know, I still think we should make it a big group training session. Maybe not on a Tuesday night though, maybe on a weekend.” Naruto pondered out loud.

“Sure, Naruto-Kun. I think that would be fun.” Hinata murmured groggily as she nestled even further into his warmth.

“Yeah definitely not Tuesday nights, keep those for team eight.”

“That would be nice.” Hinata replied with a yawn. 

“I would still be allowed to come though-right?” Naruto asked thoughtfully.

“Of course, love” Hinata gave him the most earnest bleary eyed smile as she pulled the covers up tighter around them, her eyes drifting shut.

“Awesome! Because if you're so sexy when you dance I can only imagine how sexy it will be to hear you sing!” Naruto quipped as he kissed her cheek goodnight and quickly fell asleep.

“Thank you, Naru- Wait what?!” Hinata’s eyes shot open as she bolted up, leaning on her elbow to look at her boyfriend who was snoring rather loudly, a suspicious grin twitching at the corners of his mouth.