This Year

Yugao

Summary: This year, maybe she'll tell him.

Author's Note: Here we go, really belated birthday present for Naruto. NaruHina with no actual point. Haha. But at least I'm on a roll, eh?

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto and Hinata they'd be canon and Sakura would end up an old maid with twenty-two cats.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Six

November rain like a soft mist was starting to dissipate in the noonday sun. It was an oddity in the Konoha weather: the sun was shining in all its glory, but the rain was falling as well. The Hyuuga heiress had lost her way when the weather was warm and dry, and she was standing in front of the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, hopelessly and irrepressibly lost. Tears had even started to form in her pallid, moonlike eyes at the thought of never being able to find her way home.

And the sun came out. He was a little boy with blond hair, blue eyes, and an aura like that of the sun: warm, open, caring. He was around her age, but seemed as independent as anyone could ever be. He saw her, with her eyes welled up with tears, and grinned that fox-like smile of his before saying, "Hey, don't cry. I can take you home if you want to."

"H-h-how are y-you going to d-do that?" she stammered, out of her ragged sobs rather than any real embarrassment. Six-year-olds don't get embarrassed, and all she wanted to do was get home. She managed to say, "It's r-raining, and y-y-you don't h-have an umbrella, either."

He winked at her and said, "But you have me, and that's even better."

He then took off his jacket, raised it above their heads, and walked her home.

That year, Hyuuga Hinata had her first crush.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Eight

Hyuuga Hinata stepped into her classroom on the first day of class at the Konoha Ninja Academy, a mixture of excitement and anticipation bubbling up inside her. She couldn't help but smile as she entered the room and took a seat next to a boy who carried a dog atop his head – he was Kiba, she learned, and they became fast friends and found themselves making small talk until the teacher, a man named Umino Iruka, arrived and introduced himself to them.

And then the door slid open and in tumbled the orange-clad, blond-haired boy she met two years ago.

She couldn't suppress a giggle when Iruka-sensei summarily scolded him for being late and sent him to the seat next to her, at which she fiercely blushed and pretended not to hear, busying herself with looking through her book-bag and checking to see if she thought to bring a pen and paper to take down notes with. He sat down beside her and rested his head on his knuckles in a bored way, until he finally got a good look at her.

"Heyyy! I know you! Sorta. I mean, I don't know your name, but I know you! Right?" he said enthusiastically, and the excitement with which he said it surprised her. It was a pleasant surprise, though, because at least it meant he remembered.

"Hinata," she offered with a smile.

Smiling back, he replied, "Naruto."

That year, Hyuuga Hinata made a new friend.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Twelve

Hinata had been hoping she'd be put into his Genin cell. After all, these teams lasted forever, or at least that was what her father told her. Although eventually team members stopped training together, stopped being taught together, stopped going on missions together, there was some sort of bond that was formed that could never be broken: the kind of bond she wanted to have with him. She was sad to find out that he was put in the same team as Sakura-chan, who, it was very apparent, hated him to high heaven. It was common knowledge, however, that the blond boy had a thing for his new pink-haired teammate, and she was glad that at least one of them was happy.

"Hey Hinata. How're your teammates so far? Dog-boy and Bugmaster, right?" the twelve-year-old blond asked her with a wide smile.

"Kiba and Shino. Yes. They're nice to me," she answered, glad that she was able to get a sentence out without stammering. That gladness, though, dissipated as she continued: "A-and h-how are S-sakura-san and S-sasuke-kun?" She could hardly keep from wincing at her obvious embarrassment, the kind she didn't have when she first met him half her age ago.

He shrugged. "I don't know. They both hate me. Well, Sasuke-teme hates everything. And Sakura-chan hates just me," he pouted at this as he looked back at her and told her, in all perfect innocence, "I really would've preferred to have you on my team, Hinata-chan, at least you're nice to me."

It was an effort to keep from blushing.

That year, Hyuuga Hinata started to have hopes.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Thirteen

"Last night, I saw a beautiful girl down by the waterfall!" Naruto told them, wide-eyed, as if he were telling a fairytale or a ghost story. But he told it to them like he believed it, as if it were a true story and he knew it, unlike how a person would tell a ghost or fairy story.

Kiba smirked, obviously not believing a word that Naruto was saying. "Kakashi-sensei must be rubbing off on you, Naruto, since you're having perverted dreams like that," he chided, a laugh on his mischievously up-turned lips. "Make sure you don't even go near any of his Icha Icha books, or you'll end up being his mini-me or something."

"I agree, it must've been just a dream, Naruto," Shino mumbled.

Then, he turned to Hinata with pleading eyes and said, "Hinata-chan, you know I wasn't dreaming, right? You believe me, right?" he said this earnestly, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her slightly, not noticing that with every shake, her blush was deepening at too much physical contact.

"I-I b-b-believe y-you, N-naruto-kun," she stammered, but she only believed him because the girl he had seen was, in fact, her, and she only blushed so deeply because he'd called her beautiful.

That year, Hyuuga Hinata fell in love.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Fifteen

"Hinata-chan? Hinata-chan, is that you?"

Hinata hyperventilated as she leaned back against the fence. She had not expected him to be back so soon; in fact, the way they were saying it, she had not expected him to be back at all. Which hurt, of course, but still. She wasn't one for surprises, even pleasant ones. Coming back to Konoha from a mission only to find out that her crush of nine years had returned almost gave her a heart attack. She never saw him coming.

"Hinata-chan, I was calling you."

"N-naruto-kun," she stuttered. "I… I didn't hear you," she lied. How could she say she was too shy to talk to him? How could she ever say the truth?

That year, Hyuuga Hinata decided she was going to have to tell him.

Hinata and Naruto, Age Sixteen

"N-naruto-kun?" she asked uncertainly. She had made up her mind to tell him this year. She made up her mind that this year she wasn't going to hide or stutter (too much, anyway) anymore. She was going to change. She was going to make everything different. No more of the shy little Hyuuga Hinata.

She was going to tell him. This year. Today. Now.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" he asked with a mouthful of miso ramen.

She opened her mouth to say it, while he stared at her unabashedly with noodles dangling from his lips. It was quite a funny sight had you been a third-party observer, but to Hinata it was difficult and to Naruto it was odd. She sighed at her own weakness and told him instead, "Happy birthday."

"Hinata-chan, my birthday was five days ago," he pointed out, "And you were the first to greet me back then, too."

She blushed. "Yeah. Um… I-I j-just w-wanted to greet you again. B-because I w-want t-to."

This year, Hyuuga Hinata didn't tell him. But she will. Maybe next year or the year after. But she will.

Author's Note: HAPPY REALLY REALLY LATE BIRTHDAY, NARUTO! I LOVE YOU! XD