A flurry of dust wafted around Sakura and Ino's ankles and continued down the street before the sound of cracking wood and confused shouts broke the peaceful afternoon. A flash of orange and black blurred back from where it stopped halfway down the road and skidded around to block any chance for the girls to escape. Sakura and Ino glared with unified irritation at the blond bob of hair huffing up and down before them.

"Was that really necessary, Naruto?" Sakura quipped, shifting the now dust-laden bag of produce she'd just purchased and would have to wash twice now.

"Sakura," he struggled to catch his breath and straighten up. "I did something really stupid, and I need a girl to tell me how bad it is."

Sakura and Ino exchanged a curious glance. Stupid was one thing, but a girl? "Why do you need a girl to tell you?" Sakura questioned cautiously.

Naruto's blue eyes flickered over to Ino momentarily but fell in resignation as he realized he wouldn't be able to get rid of her if he tried. "Cause it's about a girl."

Sakura and Ino's eyes lit up like fireworks with an sinister gleam that could frighten even the most battle hardened ninja. Ino leaned forward till their faces were inches apart, a smile like brimstone threaded on her pretty face. "And who's the girl?"

". . . Hinata," he finally answered in defeat.

"I knew it!"

"Wait, knew what?" Naruto snapped, ignoring Ino's laughter or the exasperated expression rolling Sakura's eyes.

Ino shook her head and settled back to wait for his story. "Oh, I'm not saying anything till I find out what's going on." There was something in her voice that made him cringe and take a step back. "So . . .?"

Naruto grimaced, scratching at his dusty mangle of hair in nervous aversion. At least Ino couldn't hit as hard as Sakura, but he had a sinking dread that neither young woman was going to happy with him in a minute.

"Naruto?" Sakura encouraged, only slightly less enthusiastically than Ino's attention.

"It's just, remember back when Pain destroyed the village and Hinata came to try and help and then I lost it?" he rambled anxiously.

"I'm pretty sure everyone remembers that, Naruto," Ino answered haughtily for her.

Naruto glared at her for less than a second before the guilt shot his eyes back to the freshly painted storefront they were standing near. "Well, when Hinata was there she sort of said . . . well, that . . . that she loved me."

"Finally!" Ino cried out loud enough to turn a few heads. "It's about damn time."

"That explains why she seems less flustered around him now," Sakura nodded, a knowing smile tugging at her lips. "Good for her."

Naruto peeked up at the two. That was not the reaction he was expecting, nor was glee what he considered appropriate to shine in their equally devious gazes. A heat completely unrelated to the embarrassment he was feeling rose and settled on his face. "What the hell do you mean 'finally'? You both knew?"

"I wouldn't say knew, not for sure," Sakura amended.

"But it was so obvious to anyone eyes and a brain." Ino looked at Naruto's frustrated expression and sighed. "Any girl with eyes and a brain . . .and most guys." She muttered the last bit low but not low enough to stop Naruto's scowl.

"So what did you do that's so bad," Sakura interrupted before her two friends started screaming at each other. "Did you ask her out and it was bad date? (And thanks so much for telling one of your best friends you were going out with a girl. I could've given you some tips to help.)"

Naruto didn't answer right away, his whole body tensing in trepidation. Finally, slowly, and avoiding all eye contact with either girl, he admitted, "I forgot."

"Forgot your date?" Ino asked confused. "Annoying, but not the end of the world. Hinata'll forgive you."

"I forgot she said it."

Four blank eyes stared him down like he'd just turned into a four-foot rat that needed to be squished in a very bloody, bone-crushed-into-plump kind of way. Sakura took a deep breath and forced a passive expression to ease into a smile that conveyed she must have misheard him. "You're telling me that a girl tells you she love you, nearly dies trying to protect you, and you just forgot?"

"I didn't forget what happened," he defended, though he took a step back in a self-preservation instinct, "but I left the village after that and there was training with Bee and the war and I just forgot the 'she loves me' part."

Sakura and Ino turned to each other, their faces slack in shock. Naruto grimaced again, sinking a little further away from the girls. "It's as bad as I thought, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Hinata almost died for you! I think she deserves better than 'I forgot'!" Sakura screamed, and Naruto was lucky to be out of arms reach of her.

"So how do I apologize?" he asked. Hopefully they'd both stop looking ready to beat him senseless now. He'd come to Sakura for advice to fix it after all. That had to count for something.

"Hold up." Ino loomed over Naruto like a wrathful goddess, pinning him to the shop wall and cutting off any chance of escape. "Before you go off and make a fool of both you and Hinata, what exactly are planning on apologizing for?"

"What . . . what do you mean?"

"I mean," she seethed, stepping in until he wished he could melt into the wall behind him just to get away, "are you planning on apologizing for being a complete idiot but now that you remember you want to ask her out to thank her, or are you planning on apologizing for being a complete idiot but you just don't see her in a romantic way and never will?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted warily, "I never thought about Hinata that way." A friend, absolutely, but the idea of looking at Hinata the way he used to look at Sakura never once crossed his mind. He slid to the side trying to free himself from Ino's blocking only to have Sakura flank him back into the trap.

"Then keep your mouth shut," Sakura agreed, much to Naruto's confusion.

"Why?"

Ino rolled her eyes to Sakura who returned with an exasperated huff Naruto knew only women could make. It was something in the chest. "Because," Ino started haughtily, "no response means that the guy had no clue how to let the girl down and decided to pretend like it never happened."

Sakura finished, "And since I've seen Hinata talk to you and she's not upset, she's already accepted the fact you're not interested in her. Bringing it up now only to say, 'Hey, I forgot about the confession of love that you made while trying to save my life four months ago,' would just be cruel unless you actually intend to ask her out."

"So I should do nothing?" That didn't seem fair to Hinata in his mind. He should do something. (He wasn't good at doing nothing.)

"Only if you don't want to ask her out," Ino corrected. "If you're interested in her, well that 's a different story."

"I told you I don't know." Naruto shoved his way between them before either could stop him and shook out his head. He felt as frustrated with the conversation as they looked and it was giving him a headache. He didn't usually have issues like this. His normal problem with girls was getting rejected. He'd never thought of Hinata in that way, but after everything she did for him with Pain it seemed wrong to just ignore her feelings. Naruto still remembered how much it sucked when Sakura dismissed his feelings for her. Hinata didn't deserve that. But could he think of Hinata that way?

Sakura sighed and tucked an errant strand of pink hair behind her ear. The things she did for her friends. "You know what would be fun, Ino? We should go see if Tenten and Hinata want to go out tonight. You know, a girls' night out. Maybe some shopping then maybe a bite at Ichiraku's."

"Ah," Ino agreed, picking up on her friend's lead. "Ichiraku's always a nice place to go. You never know who you'll see there and have a nice casual conversation with. What better way to get to know someone better, maybe figure out if you'd like to spend more time with them."

They both looked at his flustered expression expectantly. "What's that got to do with me?"

Sakura finally landed the hit on his head she'd been craving, if only in hopes of knocking some common sense into his dense skull. "Just be at Ichiraku's tonight. And whatever you do don't mention anything to Hinata until you make up your mind."

Laughter that still felt slightly strange after the war and rebuilding passed from one to another as the four girls headed down the semi-crowded street. As a sign of ninja resilience (or perhaps merely human resilience), theirs wasn't the only laughter that could be heard among the villagers. The night might have been an excuse to get Hinata out and talking to Naruto in a neutral environment, but that didn't mean Sakura didn't take advantage of the night out with the girls. Hanging out with Ino was fun, but there was something about having a whole group of girls together that made an evening out even better. A little shopping (good for the local economy she insisted), a trip to the bath house, and finally a stop to Ichiraku's. True, if she didn't need to she'd have picked one of the nice café's that had reopened, but it wouldn't seem very natural to meet Naruto at one of those. Ichiraku did have some good ramen, too.

They had to let Tenten in on the secret (on the condition she didn't let it slip to Lee or Neji), so none of her suggestions for the evening diverted them from the ultimate destination of Ichiraku. The intrigue of the evening only made it that much more exciting, according to Tenten. Sakura almost felt a little bad for tricking Hinata, but if this got Naruto paying attention to her (and Sakura really hoped it did; Naruto deserved to be happy, too) then Hinata would probably forgive them.

Sakura smiled when she saw the familiar black and orange jacket waiting on one of the stools in front of the ramen stand. So far so good. Hinata's pale eyes noted the orange jacket and blond hair as readily as Sakura's did, and the casual smile turned something sweeter until Sakura pointed to the white and red sign beckoning customers in and suggested, "Hey, why don't we get something at Ichiraku's?"

"That sounds good," Ino agree happily, succeeding in keeping any hidden meaning from showing in her grin.

"Tia's opened her café back up," Hinata quickly countered. "They've got a bigger menu."

"Nah," Tenten waved her off, "Tai just reopened this week, her place will be packed. Ichiraku's will be way faster and I'm hungry now. Come on." She slid an arm around Hinata's and pulled the reluctant girl away with Sakura and Ino in the lead.

"Welcome," the storeowner called pleasantly without looking back from the steaming batch of noodles he was draining. It was a talent only a lifelong restaurateur achieved.

On cue, (though in reality for the twelfth time since he'd arrive and five bowls of ramen later) Naruto turned to see who'd entered and a relieved smile beamed on his face. "Hey," he greeted them all as he wiped the last traces of broth from his mouth.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura replied easily, taking the seat two away from him as Ino took the next one down. There were exactly four seats left at the stand when the girls arrived, and now all that were left was the one furthest away, which Tenten was careful to remain closer to as she continued holding the nervous girl in place, and the one between Naruto and Sakura. Hinata was still smiling as she assessed the seating arrangements, but her body language has tensed from her previously comfortable demeanor.

"So how many bowls are you already on, Naruto?" Sakura asked with appropriate exasperation in her voice when Naruto eyed Hinata too long in a dumbfounded look that threatened to burst out with the truth.

"What, I'm only on five so far," he replied indignantly.

"Six," Ayame corrected from behind the counter as she laid a new bowl in front of Naruto.

"Well someone has to keep you in business," he muttered to himself, not that it stopped him from digging in before it got cold. He looked back up at Hinata and Tenten, his whole atmosphere more natural since Sakura teased him. "Aren't you going to sit down? Ramen's really good tonight."

The strong 'welcome!' from the storeowner interrupted any answer and the three girls in cohorts all recognized the sigh of relief that came over Hinata. The older man walked past the two standing girls and took the far seat away from them, leaving only one stool left for the two girls.

"It doesn't look like there's room for us all now," Hinata slipped in before anyone else could say something. "Tenten, you can have it. I think I'm done for the night anyway."

"You don't have to go," Tenten tried, looking to the others for help.

"No, go ahead Tenten, you said you were hungry and I really wasn't in the mood for ramen tonight anyway. I had a great time though. Thanks for inviting me out." She waved to the girls, and finally at Naruto. "It was nice seeing you, too."

Naruto stared as she walked away, not so much disappointed as confused. "How can you not be in the mood for ramen?"

"She's avoiding you, idiot!" Sakura yelled, hitting him on the shoulder with enough force to knock him off his stool, ramen still in hand following him down in a hot, wet mess. He deserved it too, Sakura thought.

"Sheesh, it almost worked, too," Ino moaned, sinking over the counter and ordering a bowl of pork ramen to comfort herself. She wanted to glare at the man sitting next to her, but it wasn't his fault he came, so she glared at Naruto instead. "You could have asked her to stay, you know. She would have if you asked."

"But you just said she's avoiding me!" he screamed back as he pulled off his now blisteringly hot jacket and shook it out.

"Because she thinks you're not interested," Ino snapped back. "If you'd showed interest, a nice, casual interest between friends, she'd have stayed."

"But you said not to say anything unless I knew for certain!" he countered, throwing his jacket down on the stool.

"Not to mention remembering," Sakura corrected.

Naruto was confused, beyond confused. Shikamaru was right, women were troublesome. Things would be a lot easier if he'd just went to Hinata in the first place and apologized like he'd planned to. How the hell was he supposed to know when he was and wasn't supposed to 'show interest'? He still didn't even know if he was interested. He just wanted to apologize!

"Oh screw this. I'm doing it my way." He tossed some money onto the counter not caring it was more than necessary and started running down the street in the direction Hinata left. Behind him he heard the girls calling after him to stop and think, but thinking time was over. Thinking only got him into trouble, he was an action person.

Hinata must have been a damn fast walker, because Naruto had already passed two streets and there was no sight of the young woman. Searching randomly wasn't working and he really didn't know where she lived to try and cut her off. There had to be something to help him find her . . .

Naruto grinned as a familiar figure turned the corner, the newcomer's pale gaze turning to Naruto the moment the excitable blond turned to intersect him. "Neji!" he bellowed, despite the fact Neji'd stopped moving or risk being run into.

"Naruto," he acknowledged in cautious curiosity.

"Neji, hey, where's Hinata's house? I need to talk to her."

Neji surveyed his friend with the kind of scrutiny only a Hyuuga could and, to someone paying more attention than Naruto was at that moment, the barest smirk flickered across his lips. "She's not at home, I passed her a few minutes ago," he explained pointing down the road he'd just come from, "if you hurry you should be able to catch up with her."

"Thanks!" Naruto screamed, already heading down the corner and out of sight.

A bemused Neji was still watching Naruto disappear when three more people assaulted him. At least Neji knew Tenten well enough not to take a shurikan directed his way as a sign of attack. It was slow enough for him to catch without problem; that was practically hello for Tenten.

"Hey Neji, did you see where Naruto went?" Sakura asked while each of the girls beside her still searched the nearby crossroads. "We need to stop him before he does something stupid."

"He went looking for Hinata," Neji replied curiously.

She nodded. "Exactly, and he's about to say something that'll definitely hurt her. We need to stop him."

The smirk that teased his lips before settled in full force now. "So he did remember. It's about time."

"Wait, you know about what Hinata said to him?" Neji nodded. Sakura looked at Tenten, but the other girl was as befuddled as she was. "How'd you know he forgot?"

Neji just chuckled. "Hinata told me."

"Hinata!"

Everyone walking down the street, fewer than in the commercial district but still enough to whisper at the loud call practically echoing against the buildings, turned to see Naruto leaping down from the rooftop. He'd thought getting a higher position would make it easier to spot her, and he'd been right. It took only a few minutes from leaving Neji for Naruto to catch sight of the lavender jacket and long hair he knew belonged to Hinata. All that was left was to do exactly what he knew he should have done in the beginning.

"Hinata!" He screamed again, and this time the surprised girl turned and waited for him to catch up.

"Naruto? I thought you were still eating at Ichiraku's." She blinked a few times as she took in his appearance, hair damp and smelling of beef broth, jacket discarded and shirt splotched in wet patches. That wasn't how he looked when she'd left. "Is everything okay?"

Naruto took a deep breath and looked Hinata in the eyes, drawing her in with the seriousness that filled his gaze. "Look, Hinata, Sakura and Ino said not to say this, but their way sucked and didn't make sense and all it did was confuse me, so I'm just going to say this and you can be mad at me if you want, and I'll probably deserve it, but the fact is I can be a real idiot sometimes, especially when people don't beat things into me, and you really deserved better than this, so I'm twice as sorry, but I forgot that you confessed to me. Not that you're not important and I didn't forget about what you did for me back then, I mean if you hadn't come to help me Pain would have done who knows what with me, but a lot happened afterwards and I – I don't know, it just slipped my mind I guess, and that's a pathetic excuse I know but . . . wait, aren't you mad at me?"

A soft smile graced her lips as she looked away. The same tinge of embarrassment that shifted her eyes also colored her pale cheeks a gentle pink (which Hinata considered quite an accomplishment). "It's all right, Naruto. I already figured you forgot."

"Huh?" Naruto stared at his friend's teasing grin completely flabbergasted. "How? Sakura and Ino said you thought I rejected you."

The brighter Hinata's grin grew the further her eyes seemed to trail from him. At least the rest of the people had returned to their own business now that the shouting was over. "I knew you weren't the kind of person who would avoid confrontation, even if it were rejecting a girl. You would have said something one way or the other, unless of course with the war and rebuilding efforts you forgot all about it. That seemed the most reasonable explanation."

Naruto silently cursed Sakura and Ino. See if he ever listened to them again, girl issues or not! He shook out his thoughts and tried to focus on Hinata again, but the conversation was turning in ways he hadn't anticipated. "Why didn't you say anything these last few months? I mean, if you thought I forgot you should have just smacked me upside the head. It works whenever I forget something with Sakura."

Hinata's smile never faltered, but the warmth that had filled it up to then quickly faded into something more melancholic. "Being forgettable is answer enough."

Naruto looked away, it was hard to see her look so sad with a smile on her face. She'd faced death with a smile, too. "I'm sorry, Hinata. You're not forgettable. I just– I should've remembered. You deserved better than that."

"Yes, I did." Naruto almost shrunk down, but a sweet laughter coming from her confused him into a stop. "Sorry, Naruto. Neji made me promise to guilt you a tiny bit if you ever remembered, and Neji knows when I lie to him. It's rather frustrating actually."

"Neji knows?" That might not be a good thing. Hinata and Neji were closer than they used to be (and apparently closer than Naruto expected if she was talking about something like this to him). Naruto made a mental note not to go near Neji for a while.

"I wanted to talk to someone. If I'd told Kiba he'd probably have come and found the you moment I said something and tried to beat you up, and Shino . . . well, Shino's still sore that you didn't recognize him when you came back from training with Jiraiya, so if I'd told him, you probably would have found bugs in places you never knew they could get. No, I knew Neji would respect my wishes not to do anything about it, even if he made me promise that in return."

"You should've done something. What's the point of doing nothing?" The frustration heating his voice was barely kept in check to keep from yelling, if only because it was technically his fault still. But he at least had forgetfulness as an excuse, she ignored it for no reason. If he'd wanted something like that he'd have gone after it like he did with Sakura, none of this just letting it go crap.

What little shock passed over her at the intensity of his outburst left just as quickly. The smile wasn't there anymore though, and a trained eye might have noticed the way she rubbed her hands together nervously. "I told you back then, what I did that day was for me. I went into that fight accepting whatever was to happen. Surviving the battle doesn't change that. Everything I did was my own choice. My actions, my feelings – they were mine to do, mine to share. I never expected anything from you. I never will. You don't have to feel guilty for not returning my feelings."

"Stop that!"

Hinata stumble back a step, even her fidgeting frozen in a moment of total shock. She'd rehearsed this conversation a hundred times or more in her head and this was never how it turned out.

"Stop acting like your feelings don't matter!" Naruto was yelling now, but the street had deserted some while they talked and the few left kept their eyes to themselves. "I never thought of you as more than a friend before, but you gave up before anything happened and you even figured I was just being an idiot about it too! You should have made sure I remembered, or told Kiba or Shino to remind me (well, maybe not Shino, there's something really creepy about him still and I'd rather not have bugs in places I don't know about). But you should have done something, cause you were amazing that day and I owe you my life and you're the kind of person I'd want to hang out with. So remind me so we can do this the right way."

Hinata had stopped breathing several sentences back and was turning a bright shade of red from lack of oxygen. It took another "Come on," from Naruto before her body remembered how to contract and relax her diaphragm. This was really not how her mental rehearsals ended up, so what calm she had before had flown away at the words 'you were amazing' and panic had returned home with 'person I'd want to hang out with'.

"You– you forgot," Hinata choked out in a puppet reply to his demand. It'd be a while before her brain filtered through all the unexpected dialogue to form coherent sentences again.

Naruto beamed a sheepish grin (as if he hadn't just yelled at her) and casually rolled back on his heels. "Oh, I did. Sorry about that, Hinata. I never expected you liked me, but how about I at least take you out to thank you for saving my butt? We'll see what happens after that."

Hinata tried to answer, but she'd stopped breathing again and her mouth just opened and closed over and over without a sound escaping. She'd never let herself imagine Naruto would actually ask her out (she couldn't build her hopes up that way), and now she was sorely regretting that decision. If she had, maybe she wouldn't be resembling a fish out of water gulping at the empty air. At this rate he was going to think she was freaky again.

"Hinata, are you okay?"

"Yes!" the word burst out of her like a caged animal breaking free, and her whole body heaved to take in the first few liberating breaths. She doubled over, leaning heavily onto her knees in hopes breathing deep enough would keep her from fainting. Fainting would be very bad right now.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he pressed, bending down to see her flushed face and not believing her at all.

"No- yes- That not what I mean," Hinata fumbled and backed away the closer he got. She hid her face in her hands, now a scalding scarlet color from ear to ear, and tried desperately to shake out the complete mortification that made her head spin. She really thought it would be easier now that he knew the truth.

"My answer," she wheezed from behind her hands, "my answer is yes."

"Great!" Naruto cheered triumphantly. That'd show Sakura and Ino what they know about girls. Still, he stared at the strange purplish tinge her ears were turning with increasing concern. "Are you sure you're all right, Hinata?"

She remained almost motionless, her face still hidden even as a sliver of white could be seen looking out between her fingers. "I have to go!" she squeaked and bolted out of sight before Naruto had time to scratch his head in wonder.

"I'm not sure I'll ever understand her," he muttered to himself. He started back to Ichiraku's, where his jacket was waiting for him, still ruminating on the strange end of their conversation when a realization as profound as the secret to Ichiraku's special seafood broth bludgeoned the dense ninja upside the head. It was the only way he ever understood anything. He stared off into the near-empty street with a knowing grin growing exponentially across his face.

"That explains the fainting!"