title Sixteen and Loving It

author ByakuganHyuuga360

fandom Naruto

rating K+

pairing Naruto Uzumaki/Hinata Hyuga, it's a bit one-sided though.

author's notes A little birthday present for our fierce little angel, Hinata. :3 On a side note, happy birthday to Rin and Len Kagamine from Vocaloid! :)

disclaimer Naruto would not be the great manga and anime it is today if I owned it. Therefore, it is obvious that I do not own Naruto (as well as Pikachu and Gaara of the Funk) in any way, shape or form.

Hinata walked through the bustling streets of Konoha, breathing in the aroma of different kinds of food like freshly baked bread and various sweets. She sighed in content, savouring the few days she did not have to be a hardworking kunoichi. Right now she was just another person roaming the very productive village of Konohagakure.

The Hokage had given the Konoha 11, Sai, as well as each team's sensei the week off, after much pleading (…whining) from Naruto, who insisted they all needed a break after all their hard work.

Everyone was entirely grateful that Naruto had decided to ask their beloved Hokage to give them rest. These days, everyone was kept so busy that the term 'rest' and 'holidays' barely even existed.

Most would think that a day off after day in and day out of hard working would lead to twenty-four hours of snuggling deep in their bed asleep (…half-dead actually). On the contrary, there were some shinobi (and kunoichi) who had become so used to waking up at ungodly hours of the day that it had become strangely normal to them. It was very difficult to change something that had sprouted from force of habit, so they just accepted it like they would accept that the sky was blue, or Pikachu was (mostly) yellow.

And thus, this lead to Hinata wandering aimlessly through the streets of Konoha, daydreaming.

To the former Hyuga heiress, this December 27 was like any other normal day. She didn't even realize what the date was. Being an active kunoichi who constantly went on missions every time she was available kind of made her lose track of the days and dates as they passed by.

Therefore, it was a bit understandable that Hinata had forgotten that that day was her sixteenth birthday.

Sure, she knew she was forgetting something important about that particular day. But no matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to come to mind. So she continued on like it was any other fine and dandy day.

This basically consisted of her walking and daydreaming at the same time, about a certain hero whose signature colour was blinding orange…

Yes, that's right. Naruto Uzumaki. Cue fangirl screams.

Perfectly suntanned skin; soft, golden locks; blinding bright grin and sparkly things in the atmosphere around him – it was the one and only knucklehead ninja in the whole of the shinobi world.

And, oh my. He was staring right at her! He was smiling! At her!

"Hinata-chan, will you marry me?"

She could faint any time right there and then. But she didn't want to ruin the moment! And so, she did what her instincts told her to.

"Yes! Of course!" she squealed.

By the way, for the sake of convenience, both of them were in a flower meadow.

"Naruto-kun!" she cried. She ran in slow motion to the love of her life.

"Hinata-chan!"

They met in the centre of the meadow in an embrace. Then, Naruto picked her up, bridal style, twirled her around for no reason, and out of the blue, kissed her. On the lips! Cue inner Hinata's fangirl-like screams.

Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck. The boy looked at her with his bright cerulean eyes. "Let us run away! We shall live a happy life with lots of babies!"

"Yay!" she exclaimed. "Let us!"

And so the couple ran away into the sunset.

Hinata was then left to wake from her stupor while being a millimetre away from smacking her precious face onto a pole.

The girl blushed. She was quite out of it today, wasn't she! Honestly, she ought to stop daydreaming so often, or an accident might happen! In fact, one almost did right then and there!

After a few minutes or so of blushing, she finally calmed down. Tossing the previous events away, she continued on her pointless walk.

Hinata wondered why she wasn't coincidentally meeting any of her friends/comrades. After all, they were all on temporary leave, starting from last Thursday. Of course, she excluded her own team, for Shino and Kiba were on a month-and-a-bit-long mission that had started three weeks ago, and Kurenai-sensei preferred to stay at home and rest, being the pregnant woman she was.

Perhaps the others had gone to train or something. Dismissing that thought as insignificant, she decided to pay attention to where she was going. Consequently, she was able to recognize the next turn as the street where Ichiraku Ramen was situated. Excitement bubbled up inside of her. Surely, her handsome prince would be there!

Of course, Naruto was there, eating his breakfast. One may think that he'd actually get something else, but this is Naruto Uzumaki we're talking about. Half his life is ramen.

"Hinata-chan!" he noticed her before she even opened the flaps that served as the entrance to the ramen stand. She swooned. 'Get a hold of yourself! This is your golden opportunity!'

"Good morning, N-Naruto-kun," she bashfully greeted, before seating herself beside him. "W-What are you doing u-up so early in the morning?

'Don'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaintdon'tfaint!'

"Ah, well, you see, I come here really early because the earlier I come here, the better the ramen is! The ingredients are fresher in the morning…" he continued to ramble on about ramen and all its glory, happiness basically radiating off him in infra-red waves.

Hinata stared at him dreamily, while also somehow listening to every bit he said, commenting and giggling whenever it felt right.

When they two had finished, they continued to converse.

"Ah, b-by the way, N-Naruto-kun, thank you very much for asking Tsunade-sama for the week off. It was very considerate of you," Hinata said. She found the longer she spent around Naruto, the more she could control her blush.

"Oh, that? No problem at all!" Naruto grinned. "Say, you want to spend the day together? I'm feeling pretty bored and I don't think I'm about to waste this well-earned break on training."

Forget about controlling the blush. Naruto just had a knack of knocking down all her efforts of seeming normal around him, didn't he?

"O-Of course!" she beamed. Her blush expanded onto her neck and ears.

"Let's go to the arcade!" He gently grabbed her arm and sort of dragged her through Konoha to the closest arcade. Naruto had learned better to not do what he usually did through his various experiences with Hinata. Touching her forehead and asking her if she had a fever while being right in her face apparently just didn't help.

The pair spent all day at that awesome arcade, playing every single game there was. There was, of course, that one game that they both played on until they were broke. Lo and behold, Naruto and Hinata share a common interest – playing Tekken 6.

Oh and coincidentally, they both met the Sand Siblings in Konoha's Arcade. Apparently, they were all here for some business trip or whatever those three did that granted them access to Konoha.

Another game also stood out in Hinata's memories. The game which had this honour was Dance Dance Revolution, also known as DDR. Mentally, the teenager giggled.

Sabaku no Gaara had gone crazy on this one. He owned them all on the DDR dance floor. ALL as in, his siblings, Naruto and Hinata! He named himself 'Gaara of the Funk'. He was #1 in the high scores. When he versed other random people, he had gathered a crowd. The best and most horrifying bit was when the DDR machine had written 'Marry me!' because Gaara was so perfect and awesome in his dancing.

The best bit of the day for Hinata was when an elderly female passed by and called her and Naruto a cute couple. She still couldn't get over that!

"Man, that was lots of fun, don't you think so?"

"Ah, definitely!" She smiled while blushing, STILL thinking about that grandmother. (Hours had passed since that happened, by the way.)

"Sorry for wasting your whole day. But it wasn't really wasted since you had fun, yeah?" He beamed. "But as an apology, I'll walk you home!"

"You don't have to if it bothers you!" Hinata waved her arms out frantically, not wanting to be a bother. However, deep in her heart she knew she wanted to be with him forever, and ever and ever and ever! As in, be with him until he dropped her off.

"Nah, it won't. Trust me!"

And so together they walked to Hinata's home, like the perfect couple they should be, but sadly aren't.

A little away from the house where the Hyugas resided, Naruto had stopped suddenly, causing Hinata to also stop in confusion.

"Before you go, I wanna show you something. Hope you'll like it," Naruto said, a bit embarrassed. "Close your eyes, yeah?"

She did as she was told. Even then, just for extra measure, Naruto placed his hands over her eyes, ensuring she did not peak at all. She could always use the Byakugan, but Naruto trusted that she wouldn't.

Slowly, they walked, unbeknownst to Hinata, towards her very own home. The not-so-stupid hero had twirled her three times after she had closed her eyes, so she would not realize where her destination was.

Finally, the two stopped at the doorstep of the house. Naruto leaned down to Hinata ear and whispered, "You can open your eyes now."

Pale, lavender eyes flew open. At that exact moment, everyone in the whole house screamed out, "HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY, HINATA(-sama, -chan, -san)!" Everyone, meaning half of Konoha. Naruto had scooted a bit of a distance away so that his loud voice wouldn't ruin her eardrums and make her deaf and ruin the whole happy atmosphere.

The overwhelmed girl's hands flew to her mouth in a failed attempt to silence her choked sobs. Tears of happiness gathered at the corner of her eyes. "E-Everyone!" she cried (literally). "Thank you so much!" A cliché response, but it's not like we can expect anything else from her can we?

Much to her surprise, even her whole clan (the ones that weren't away on missions and whatnot) were present, not just Neji and Hanabi. Most didn't join in that over-enthusiastic greeting when she first arrived, but she knew they meant her well. Screaming out something just wasn't really their thing. The younger generations had no problem with it though.

Even Kiba and Shino were there! They had finished their mission early just so they could be on time for her birthday, which was really sweet of them! The other jounin sensei were there too, strangely. Even Kurenai-sensei had made the massive effort to attend.

Oh, and of course, Hinata could never forget the Sand Siblings. They had brought their own DDR game! At long last, they had come out of their shells and revealed their true selves.

Everyone left their presents upstairs for Hinata to open later. Upstairs was where all the adults and elderly people like Hinata's grandfather hung out to do whatever adults and elderly people did in parties, while all the teenagers were downstairs rocking out the dance floor (…wooden floor). It was a wonder the whole house hadn't shattered or something.

Moreover, how did her father even allow this party to occur, let alone in his own home? It puzzled Hinata greatly to no end, but she wasn't bothered asking right now.

Some thoughtful people who genuinely loved Hinata and were quite close to her came to her in person and wished her a happy birthday, and good luck and everything for the upcoming year.

To Hinata's utter delight, Naruto was one those thoughtful people who approached her!

"Hinata, I really hoped you had an awesome birthday!" he exclaimed. "I'm really sorry but I forgot to buy you a present and all, so my present is in the form of what we did today. I really, really hope you don't mind!"

Hinata giggled. "It's fine, Naruto-kun. I understand completely. Today has actually been the best birthday I've ever had!"

They both beamed their heart out. "Happy birthday, then, Hinata-chan!" Then randomly, Naruto decided to peck the birthday girl on the cheek, being the good friend he was. And being the oblivious person he was, he didn't realize the exact consequences of his actions until the damage was done.

Hinata fainted right then and there.

Needless to say, this unexpected action caused Naruto to panic once again. He had thought he had finally done something right, then BAM! Hinata dropped the fainting bomb on him again and left him in a mess. This was gonna be a very, VERY long night.

author's note Although the general idea was a bit cliché, I really do hope you all enjoyed it. Excuse me if any characters are a bit out of character; it was definitely unintentional. I tried to keep them as close in character as they are in the manga/anime. (Other than the Sand Siblings; I couldn't help tweaking their personality a bit!) Oh, and please excuse the unoriginal title. Happy holidays everyone!

- ByakuganHyuuga360