-Hey everyone, welcome to my second fan fiction to be posted on this site, and my first to have more than one chapter. Hope you enjoy it, and because of the great reviews of my last fic, I hope that this one will get great reviews as well.

I do not own Naruto. If I did, I'd be swimming in a pool of money and ramen right now.

A bead of sweat formed on Naruto's flushed cheek.

Training with Jiraiya was hard, but since I've been training by myself, it's been even harder! I wonder how that works... Naruto thought, breathing heavily and tightening his headband. He was getting that expression. The expression of sheer determination, the assurance to himself and others that he can do anything. When asked why he thought he was invincible, he give them his usual grin and his eyes would shine. 'Because I'm Naruto Uzamaki, and that is my Nindo, my ninja way! Never give up hope! Never think you can be beaten!'

He smiled, remembering the time he was asked that by Hinata. She was so affected by his words that she was almost driven into tears. Of course Naruto still wondered why Hinata was so shy around him.

I mean, she hasn't seen me in two years. If Sakura can get over Sasuke, then she can learn to talk to me straight instead of her face turning red and—

That's when he realized it. "Her face turns red and... she starts to sweat." he told himself. He almost smacked himself when he figured it out. "She... likes me. She has... all this time..." The combined pressure of this realization and the fact he had been training for sixteen hours made his knees buckle, and he promptly fell to the ground. It felt good to Naruto to take a rest.

- - -

"Hinata, I need you to take this plate of food to Naruto. He hasn't eaten all day and he'll die of starvation. You know how ravenous that boy can be." Tsunade told an attentive Hinata. She was already blushing at the fact that she was picked to go see Naruto.

"Y-Yes, Tsunade, I unders-stand." she stuttered. Tsunade, like most of the village, knew how deeply Hinata felt for Naruto, and that was precisely the reason she picked her. She smiled at Hinata's pink face.

If Sakura got Naruto, then Hinata would have no one to love. Tsunade told herself before Hinata had arrived.

"All right, you know your orders, now get to it." Tsunade commanded Hinata in a falsely-strict tone. Hinata nodded and rushed out the door. Tsunade laughed at her willing to see Naruto.

Good luck, Hinata.

- - -

Hinata arrived at Naruto's training grounds, which was no more than a small clearing in the forest, and almost died from what she saw. Her beloved Naruto was on the ground, seemingly unmoving. Her eyes shrunk a bit before she dropped the plate of food she was carrying and called out, "Naruto-kun!"

The female ninja's shout awoke Naruto, who in reality had been sleeping. He turned his head sideways while remaining on the ground, looking back to see who it was.

"Hey Hinata." he said casually, but with a bit of a sleepy tone intertwined with his always-cheerful voice. Hinata quickly rushed over to him and took him in her arms, but not without blushing because of touching Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun, are you okay?" she asked, tears about to form in her eyes if her Naruto were to be hurt.

"Yeah I'm okay, I was training when..." he remembered the realization that had caught him off guard, but then looked into Hinata's eyes. "... when I got tired and fell over." he assured with his famous grin. Hinata showed a relieved smile, not releasing Naruto from her grasp.

"Can y-you walk?" she asked the young ninja.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't hurt if I had a little help." Naruto said plainly. Hinata knew what this meant. She'd have to put Naruto's arm around her neck, and hers around his to steady him. She blushed deeply at this thought. She helped Naruto get to his feet, and he truly did need help standing. His training had completely wore out his muscles, and his knees were wanting to buckle again, but Hinata made sure he didn't fall over by promptly putting her hand around his shoulder and his around hers. She blushed so deeply that she couldn't help but to avoid eye-contact. After only a few minutes of walking in the awkward manner, Naruto broke the ice.

"So Hinata, what made you come and check on me?" Naruto asked Hinata, raising a questioning eyebrow. Hinata wasn't expecting Naruto to want to start a conversation and blushed slightly at his words.

"W-Well, uhm, Tsunade wanted me to bring you a p-plate of food so you wouldn't g-get hungry, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied. Naruto showed a look that was between relief and disdain.

"That all? I thought you had come on your own free will." Naruto smiled, turning his head to look at the trees and animals of the forest. Hinata then realized she had lost her first, and probably last, chance to flirt with Naruto.

It's not like she'd have the courage, anyway.

- - -

When they finally found the exit of the forest, Tsunade was there awaiting them.

"Oh, hey." Naruto said simply, seeing the village's Hokage standing before him. It wasn't really that rare that he saw Tsunade, so he didn't find it important.

"What happened?" Tsunade asked Hinata, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"N-Naruto-kun wore himself out t-training, so I had to help him walk back to the village, Hokage-sama." Hinata replied. Tsunade's face looked like a lot of worry had suddenly been sucked out of it.

"G-Good..." she stuttered, her face turning red, "I thought you guys were erm... doing something else, by the time you took to get back." Naruto laughed while Hinata blushed a darker color red than Naruto had seen before.

- - -

Yeah, I know, it's a bit of a small first chapter, but it was more of a prologue than anything. If you're expecting Naruto and Hinata to start having sloppy makeouts in the next chapter, you're sadly mistaken. This relationship is going to develop, unlike some other Naru-Hina fan fictions I've seen.

Oh, and there won't be any sloppy-makeouts anyways. See you next chapter!