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It's been four weeks since Konoha shut its gates to visitors and non-essential merchants.
Two weeks ago, Kakashi-sensei dropped the normal mission-rotation, allowing only ANBU-shinobi to partake in essential missions.
6 days ago, the stay-at-home order was issued, and with it hundreds of small businesses were forced to shut their doors for an undisclosed number of weeks to come.
And 20 minutes ago, Naruto and Hinata got so tired of being stuck in their apartment that they snuck out. At first they were both a little anxious, especially with squads of ANBU making their way down the street, probably looking for somebody to apprehend for breaking the order, just for the sake of having something to do. But with Hinata's Byakugan, peering over corners and light obstructions made the patrol squads little more than pebbles in the road.
"It's the perfect day." Naruto thought, looking over at his soon-to-be wife. Despite spending the last 28 days glued together on the couch, watching anything from horror movies to sappy rom-com’s, or throwing cheese balls from our seemingly-bottomless supply of junk food into each others mouths from across the room, Hinata insisted that we stay six feet apart in public, per the Medical Corps social distancing guidelines and recommendations to “flatter the curve” of this new disease that’s got grandma Tsunade in a frenzy. “So if we get caught, we can only be busted for breaking one rule.” She had said. Five years ago, Hinata would have been petrified at the idea of getting caught breaking a rule, let alone two at once, now she’ll talk about it with a smile on her face. Maybe he’s become some sort of bad influence on her.
So here they lay, six feet apart while the warm April sun beating on his face as the light springtime breeze cools it to the touch, the perfect day to lay in the grass, staring at the clouds. The bustling racket of the ever-growing village seemed to also be stuck inside somewhere, for the only noise to interrupt the sounds of the steady river flow was the occasional birdsong. This spot, a mildly-steep hill overlooking a small river that was popular amongst the younger citizens for fishing and swimming, is a favorite spot of the Hokage-sensei when he can find time away from the office, and he had picked well.
Naruto couldn’t help but notice a hint of worry on Hinata’s face while she did her best to look relaxed, especially while she noticed him staring. Perhaps she wasn’t so comfortable sneaking out, after all. Naruto couldn’t resist the urge of mischief that started to well up in his head. “Hey, Hinata?” He said, grabbing her attention.
“Hmm?” Hinata turned her head and inclined her eyebrow slightly, her bangs falling to the side as their resting place on her forehead was disturbed.
“Is it just me, or is something missing here?” He tried my best to mimic her eyebrow technique, but for some reason it didn’t feel as natural as hers did.
“Naruto-kun, what do you mean?” Her brow furrowed then, her curiosity clearly turning to puzzlement as she tried to figure out just what the hell he was talking about.
“I’m not sure.”I tried my best to shrug whilst lying in the grass. “The sun’s bright, the breeze feels good, and the water is rustling, as it always does. But something just feels wrong.”
“Is it the sounds of the village?” She was starting to follow my train of thought, but she didn’t get close enough to the station to board.
“No, that’s not it. Oh yeah!” Naruto tucked his arms to his sides and quickly closed the distance between them with a tight roll, his face now only inches away from hers. “We were too far apart, that was it!” He said with a wide grin.
“Naruto-kun!” She playfully pushed him away, trying to suppress a giggle. “Six feet apart!”
With a playful sigh, he relented, settling for a foot-wide gap between them as neither of them moved to maintain the distance rule. Hinata, now sitting up, pulled a handful of grass out of its bed of dirt and sprinkled it over Naruto’s chest, their small shadows falling quickly over his face.
Quarantine might be boring, but as far as Naruto was concerned, he hit the jackpot. There’s nobody else he would rather spend all this time with.