I thought I would update this a lot sooner...but it seems I only update when I get on here and I really only get on here when I can update everything, which takes me months to do. But I decided since I have this done I need to get it done and just update it, and I had nothing better to do while slacking off, not studying for finals and watching The Princess Bride... (I also keep it for a long time to mull over it and change things. Just in the last fifteen minutes I added two new paragraphs).
So basically what I'm trying to say is sorry for the delay. ^^
x0x
Hinata blinked slowly in the light. It was the day after her surprise eighteenth birthday. She was exhausted. She had fainted at least two times in a row and she had only seen Naruto at the very beginning of her party. It seemed to be a new record. After that he seemed to stay clear of her, (or rather the party planners kept him away) so she wouldn't have to go through that embarrassment again.
"Hinata!" a distant voice called to her.
Ugh…was she still dreaming?
"Hinata!" This time the voice was a little closer and much more clear. It wasn't a dream…Neji? He's already here this early to train?
"HINATA, WAKE UP!"
As an instinct she flung her hand out to hit whatever was shouting at her, partly in annoyance and partly in pure reflex. She had struck a blonde-haired blue-eyed Uzumaki Naruto standing right over her bed.
"Jeez, you can pack a punch." Naruto rubbed his face where it had been smacked. There was a large red area forming on his cheek.
"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry!" Hinata pulled up her sheets. "But, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to give you my present!" Naruto pulled out the crumpled deformed ribbon still in his pocket and put it on his head. "Remember? Please don't faint, please don't faint." Naruto begged her.
"W-Who let you in?" Hinata demanded, her face growing more flushed by the minute pulling the sheets closer to her.
"Neji. I met him on the way here. And he walked me right here." Naruto grinned as he told her.
"Have fun today." Neji walked by the room as if on cue.
"We will! Thanks, Neji!" Naruto called after him.
"I don't know if I have missions assigned to me today, though." Hinata made excuses.
"I already told Tsunade to give you and I the day off." Naruto told her.
"Oh…okay. I didn't know you could do that."
"Yep, she said we don't have any important missions coming in so we have the entire day free!" Naruto grinned.
"All right. Er…let me get dressed first."
"Okay!"
"In my room."
"We are in your room!"
"Yes, we are and I need to get dressed, Naruto-kun. So if you could kindly leave so I can get dressed?" Hinata asked still hiding under her covers.
"Oh, right." Naruto left the room. He stood out in the hallway. A girl fairly younger than Hinata curiously walked down the hall. She eyed him carefully. He oddly waved at her.
"So you must be—" the young girl started. Hinata erupted from her room and cut the younger girl off.
"Uzumaki Naruto! He's just, you know…somebody that you don't know! Hanabi, why don't you go tell father I'm leaving for the day?" Hinata ushered the girl off.
"Is she your sister?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded quietly as she watched her sister walk off down the hallway, casting one last look back at her sister and her 'friend'. "Okay! Let's go!" Naruto grabbed Hinata's arm and pulled her down the hall. He didn't exactly know where he was going though so Hinata switched roles with him and led him through the extensive compound. When they reached the street, they stopped.
"So, what do you want to do?" Naruto asked her.
"I don't know." Hinata replied bluntly.
"You decide! It's your birthday gift!" Naruto grinned. She blushed, but kept composure. "Uh…well…have you had breakfast yet? Oh, of course you haven't! You just woke up!" Naruto grinned. "So where do you want to eat?"
"I don't know." Hinata quietly shrugged again.
"There must be somewhere you like to get breakfast." Naruto prompted her.
"Ano…there is a bakery I enjoy going to sometimes before training." Hinata told him.
"Well, let's go! Where is it?" Naruto asked. Hinata led him down the streets to a little stall. They had pastries and breads in the glass case for display. "What'd'ya want?"
"Ano…what ever you would like to eat, Naruto-kun." Hinata shrugged.
"Hinata, this can't be your birthday gift without an opinion." Naruto scolded her.
"Well, I do enjoy cinnamon buns." Hinata suggested. Naruto spotted a cinnamon roll in the glass case that was almost as big as his face.
"Oh, let's get that one to share!" Naruto suggested. Naruto went up to the counter and ordered the large sweet roll to share. They were given a to-go box and a couple of napkins. Naruto got out his frog coin purse to pay for their meal and Hinata hesitated, about to protest.
"Hinata, this is your present that I'm giving you for the whole day. Get used to it." Naruto grabbed the box. They sat down on a bench outside of the stall, by the park and Naruto opened the box.
"Ah! This looks delicious!" Naruto started to ravenously dig into the sweet roll. Hinata hesitantly tore off pieces when she could. "Hinata! Why aren't you eating more? This is your present!" Naruto tore off a large piece and offered it to her. Obviously she wasn't fast enough for him because he pushed the proffered piece into her mouth for her. This made her blush and the piece was too big of a piece for her to chew anyway. "Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto asked as she began to choke.
"Of course she isn't!" Ino sprang from the bushes.
Naruto jumped and Hinata was so surprised she gulped down the cinnamon roll bit she had been choking on.
"First you buy her breakfast….I'm surprised you made it that far. Then you shove it down your throat without letting her get a bit in edgewise. You finally realize the mistake and shove a huge piece in her mouth!" Ino gasped.
"Ino! Leave us alone! I didn't give this present to you! This is our day so leave us alone if you're going to keep scrutinizing me!" Naruto shouted.
"I'm glad you didn't give me any present. I don't know how you put up with it, Hinata." Ino rolled her eyes and walked away. Naruto sighed and hung his head.
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata quietly asked.
"You probably don't want to spend the day with me either do you? I know you're probably uncomfortable or something and I'm forcing you to spend all day with me. I mean, I get it…if you want me to leave you alone—" Naruto shrugged.
"Of course I want to spend the day with you, Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed.
"Really?" Naruto looked up. Hinata realized how sudden her outburst was and suddenly quieted herself.
"Ino and those other girls just don't know what they're saying. You aren't making me uncomfortable at all Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed.
"Thanks, Hinata!" Naruto grinned.
They cleaned up and Naruto tried to get Hinata to decide what to do next.
"What do you do for fun? You know, when you're on your downtime around the village." Naruto asked.
"Ano…I'm usually with my team or at my house." Hinata answered. Or watching you, Naruto-kun…Hinata thought to herself as she blushed. Now Naruto-kun thought she was blushing for no apparent reason. She only did that when she was younger anyway…
"Don't you do anything fun though?" Naruto asked. "What's fun?" Naruto scratched his head and thought aloud. "Well, we just ate. There are the hot springs!"
"Naruto-kun, it's a segregated bath. If the whole point of this day was to take me and do things with me, that would be pointless." Hinata sighed.
"Oh that's right." Naruto nodded.
"Well, let's see…you said you're with your team right?" Naruto asked. "What do you do with them on free time?"
"Training." Hinata replied.
"Oh," he sighed. "Well, we could train if you'd like."
"I'd like that." Hinata nodded.
"Really?" Naruto asked.
"Sure." Hinata shrugged. They started towards the training grounds. When they reached them, Ten Ten appeared.
"Hey, Hinata, Naruto." Ten Ten nodded. "What are you two doing? I thought you two were on you're birthday date."
"Oi, it isn't a date." Naruto growled. "And we're training for your information."
"Training? Are you kidding me? Isn't this day supposed to be about Hianta's birthday? How can it be about her birthday if you're training?" Ten Ten asked.
"Actually, I'd really like to train with Naruto—"
"See? She wanted to. There's nothing else to do." Naruto shrugged.
"There's plenty to do other than training, which you could do any day. Go take a walk around the training grounds for a bit." Ten Ten suggested.
"Why? We walk everyday, don't we?" Naruto asked, mockingly.
"Just go you dunce!" Ten Ten ordered.
"Okay, okay." Naruto backed off as they headed off in the other direction. "I don't know what's up with these women today. I just hope we don't meet up with Sakura! She'd be scary, because to her, I'm always doing something wrong. I'm probably royally screwing up with today according to her standards." Naruto grinned at Hinata.
"Today's been great so far, Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled back with a blush as they enjoyed the morning sun and walked the empty training grounds. As the morning turned to afternoon their walk headed towards the village in search of food.
"What would you like to eat for lunch?" Naruto asked.
"It doesn't matter." Hinata shrugged. Naruto sighed.
"Hinata, if this is your birthday day—"
"Okay, how about Ichiraku then?" Hinata decided on.
"You only want that because you knew I would pick that." Naruto grinned slyly.
"No, of course not. I enjoy ramen as well." Hinata blushed.
"If you're sure that's what you want…but you'll have to pick something else out for dinner." Naruto told her as they made their way towards the ramen stand.
"Okay," Hinata agreed. They entered the ramen stand and the old man greeted Naruto and the two ordered their meal.
"Hey, make sure Hinata's is extra special we're celebrating her birthday today!" Naruto grinned.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Teuchi asked as he continued to make the ramen. "Your ramen is on the house!"
"All right!" Naruto grinned.
"Not yours, Naruto-kun, you have to pay for your bowl." Ayame rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face.
"Aw," Naruto sighed. "What's with that, Ayame-channn…?" Naruto whined.
"Of course yours is on the house." Teuchi shook his head at his playful daughter. Ayame grinned back at her father. "You've bought enough ramen here to buy the place."
"Which is why I'm wondering why the hell you two are here." Another female presence entered the stand. Sakura stood impatiently besides the ramen bar. Naruto visibly tensed up at the sight of her.
"What? We're getting lunch." Naruto mumbled.
"You eat here every day!" Sakura exclaimed.
"So?"
"Don't you want to eat somewhere nice for Hinata's birthday?"
"She chose it!"
"With your influence?"
"C'mon Sakura. You like ramen too! Why don't you have a bowl too? It's on the house!" Naruto suggested.
"I'm not going to impose! Just go somewhere nicer for dinner, baka. Or you'll have me to answer to." Sakura hissed.
"God, these girls today are like insects. All they've been doing is swarming us." Naruto sighed as they received their ramen. "You do like ramen, right? You didn't just say it because it's what I like?"
"Of course I like ramen, Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled as they received their ramen.
Naruto didn't see the problem then. What was Sakura's problem? Along with Ino and Ten Ten? They were everywhere they went! As if they were spying on them…and where ever they went they scolded them instead of asking how their day was going. Whatever they did seemed wrong. All they were doing was spending a nice day together and they couldn't enjoy one minute of it because they were being told what to do. What did it matter as long as they were both having fun on Hinata's birthday? It was like Hinata didn't have a choice, it was whatever was ideal for those girls. Girls were so fickle. All they talked about was the cutest boys and fighting their friends for the cutest. Mainly Sasuke. So what was with them today? Shouldn't they be off somewhere discussing the Uchiha? He hadn't seen them this active ever. Not since Sasuke came back anyway and they discovered how much more handsome he'd become in his absence with his stupid gorgeous raven colored hair and his stupid deep, dark sparkling eyes and his stupid toned body and his stupid…Wait. If all girls weren't concerned about those relationships today and were stalking he and Hinata…was that what they thought this was? A relationship? A romantic involvement? He and Hinata out on some date?! TenTen had mentioned a date, but he figured it was a misconception.
His mind flashed back to what Neji had said before the party. All Hinata talks about is you. If that's all she talks about, and all girls talk about are boys they have crushes on, then did that mean that Hinata had a crush on him? That's why those girls were swarming! They smelled a crush and a relationship.
"Are you all right, Naruto? You seem quiet." Hinata asked. "You've hardly touched your ramen in the past five minutes. Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, just slowly enjoying my ramen." Naruto grinned. In fact he felt as if a bus had hit him. Run over him and backed up, and hit him again his head was throbbing with a huge headache. Those girls were so ridiculously stupid! No wonder Shikamaru always complained about them! He eagerly ate his ramen so he could talk to Hinata in private, without the old man or Ayame could hear.
"Naruto slow down! You went from hardly touching the ramen to inhaling it!" Teuchi exclaimed.
"I've never seen you eat that fast before Naruto." Ayame shook her head. "And such manners around a girl."
Naruto had to talk to Hinata. He tried to wait for her to finish, but she seemed to be eating so much slower than normal. She still had a half of a bowl left. It couldn't wait any longer. It exploded out of his mouth like vomit he couldn't control.
"Hinata, do you like me?" Naruto erupted suddenly. "Like, like me like me? Because I think I just figured it out…it really seems as if you like me. And all these girls have been swarming so much today, and I think that's why, is because they think you have a crush on me." Naruto hurriedly spit out. Hinata's chopsticks dropped in surprise as her face burned and the tension in the air heightened. Teuchi had turned around from noodle preparing and Ayame had looked up from her dishwashing. "And well, I really think I like you back and today was so great…I want to make this day like everyday and not just on your birthday…" As Naruto talked his feelings became more and more crystal clear as everything fell into place inside his head. Hinata was biting her lip as she clenched her fists. Her crush she had kept secret for so long had just been revealed by Naruto himself. After a couple seconds of silence Naruto started again. "So…Well, I guess, if you don't like me back, you can just tell…"
"Naruto I like you too." Hinata blushed furiously.
"As in…?"
Hinata tentatively reached over and landed a kiss on his lips. Naruto blushed terribly as he reached back and caught Hinata's lips as she drew back. He closed his eyes enjoying the ramen-flavored kiss. She gently pulled away, still blushing.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—" Hinata quietly stared at her ramen.
"Hinata! You don't have to be sorry." Naruto grinned. Naruto snickered to himself as he ordered another bowl in celebration to replace the bowl he inhaled beforehand.
x
That night when they returned to the Hyuuga complex Hinata was flushed as their hands were intertwined. Neji met them at the gate.
"I can see you two had a good time." Neji observed.
"I can see you were just about to leave us alone." Naruto growled.
"You should be a little more sympathetic to the one who set you up on this date." Neji rolled his eyes. Now that Naruto thought about it, it really wasn't those stupid girls' faults. It was Neji who started this whole thing. He was the one who gave Naruto the idea of spending the day with Hinata…well…indirectly gave him the idea.
"Oh, yeah! Thanks, Neji!" Naruto grinned.
"What?" Hinata looked in between the two.
"Well, when I was trying to find the perfect gift for you I asked Neji what your interests were and he only said I was. So I gave myself to you!" Naruto grinned.
"Sure, but one thing." Neji closed his eyes in irritation.
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"If you so much as touch her the wrong way, I will kill you." Neji's eyes snapped open to reveal his Byakugan.
Naruto let go of Hinata's hand and threw both hands in the air.
"Don't think you can get away with anything…I'll be watching you Uzumaki…every minute of every day…" Neji threatened.
"Really? Even when I go to the bathroom?" Naruto asked.
"Well, no. But when you're with Hinata." Neji clarified.
"You don't trust me with your darling cousin?" Naruto asked as he wrapped his arms around Hinata.
"Uzumaki!"
Hinata sighed. Naruto-kun and Neji-niisan were once again rivalries.
x0x
The End! Cue applause...or cue crickets. Although mushy fluff is fun to write I think I always write it terribly...so y'know whatever.
Fun fact! One of Hinata's favorite foods is cinnamon rolls...I found that random fact on like Clash of Ninja 2 on Gamecube in the little ninja profiles...That might have been part of what inspired this.
Soundless Steps, an omake like that would be so awesome!! I'll definitely consider it...if I do write it I'll put it up here for your enjoyment. :D