Everyone was happily celebrating the end of the fourth shinobi war and the victory that they had all worked so hard for, cheerily waving away the fact that they came from different ninja villages as they made their momentary friendship and alliances stronger.

Battle stories were quickly exaggerated as each ninja became more and more of a hero in their own tales, though no one could dare take away from the fact that the greatest hero of them all was the one who had not only battled the tailed beasts, Mandara and Tobi/Mandara/Obito, but had also fought in each of the battles, quickly turning the tide of the war and becoming a bright beacon of hope to every shinobi, regardless of which village they were affiliated with.

Though no one could find the hero toasts were happily made in his name with sloppy, drunken ballads sung in his honor, and the whispers of the more sober ninjas quickly spread throughout each of the camps about the fiery ninja's dream -what they had once called an impossible dream- becoming reality.

But said ninja was nowhere around to see, hear, or gloat about any of this. Instead he was sitting in a tree far away from the hubbub, trying to make sense of the situation he found himself in and the turbulent feelings he felt about it all.

He had been able to ignore it as he had tried becoming stronger and then again as he had fought in the war, desperate to save and protect everyone, but with the furious battles now behind him all he had to think about were her words.

It had been the first time anyone had ever spoken them to him that he could remember. Words so precious that he had always thought they could only be given to the other people, the ones less tainted with the evilness of others, the ones who had never had an entire village hate them with no excuses. But she had given him those precious words, had given him that precious hope, and had proven it beyond a doubt by sacrificing herself for him.

He probably should have gone to her right after he had settled everything with Pain, should have taken her somewhere so that they could talk, so that they could figure everything out. So that, maybe, he could hear her say those words to him again, though they'd be facing each other properly with no distractions to take away from the importance of the words.

But he hadn't. Instead he had gone on to try and get stronger and had left her without an answer.

He knew that he had had to do that, and he was happy he had. If he hadn't he wouldn't have began a more settled relationship between him and Kurama, wouldn't have met his mother and then felt the love his parents had poured into him at his birth.

But couldn't he have at least went and said something to her? Maybe thank her for saving him, or thank her for loving him? He could have at least promised to talk to her.

God, he was stupid.

And then that thing with Sakura had happened and she had finally confessed to him. And in that moment before he had pushed her away he hadn't been thinking about the years he had been crushing on her or how great it was that she was finally returning his feelings. No, he had been thinking how hollow her false words had sounded next to Hinata's, and how much that hurt to think about it.

When he had met his mother and she had told him that she loved him -that she and his father had always loved him- he had been filled with this... uplifting happiness. The same happiness he felt when he thought back on Hinata's words, though what had happened after the confession didn't have the same effect. And he had wondered if that feeling was what it was like to be loved.

He liked it.

During the war, obviously, he hadn't been able to do anything about it other than tell her that she was strong because he had been fighting so hard to protect everyone. But now the battles were over and he knew that Hinata was staying in a nearby camp. Not only that, but he also knew she was heading his way, unknowing of his being in her path.

Another one of his clones disappeared and gave Naruto and update, warning him that Hinata was still walking towards him, now only five minutes away.

Naruto knew that he had time to run away if he wanted to, but he also knew that if he did run he would never stop running, and if there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto never did it was run away like some kind of coward.

Closing his eyes to briefly pray for guidance from whatever or whoever could have been listening Naruto jumped down from his perch in the branches and leaned back against the tree, looking up into the night sky as he waited. He listened to the soft tread of her steps as they got closer and he knew by the slight falter in their rhythm that she had seen him. Bracing himself for the unknown he looked over at her and for the first time really looked at her.

He had never really seen her before, only vaguely recalling every now and then that there was a strange girl always in the background, one who never wished to be seen. The first time he had ever seen her had been at the chunin exams, and there he had found a girl who had been almost as desperate to be recognized as he had been.

He had seen her strength, though not the full extent of it, and had cheered her on when no one else would, all of them being certain of her failure like they had been of his. And though she had technically failed she had proved to everyone that she was strong and that she wouldn't meekly stay down when she fell.

When he had come back after those years away and had seen her again, he had sensed that more than her outer appearance had changed. There had been this aura of competence around her, one that spoke of a strength that she had gained alongside her maturity. Although every time she had seen him she had erupted in a fit of stutters and blushes, even fainting at times.

Thinking back, Naruto realized this should have been his first hint to her feelings. How stupid was he to have thought she was sick?

"Na-Naruto-kun?" Her soft voice brought him out of his thoughts. She was standing in front of him twiddling her fingers nervously, her face slightly downcast so that she was looking at him through her bangs, her face flushed.

He had only ever really looked at Sakura, caught up in his crush and the thought that getting her acceptance would mean everything to him. But he somehow felt that he was past all of that and now that he was he could see how... pretty she was. Her dark blue hair, the pale white eyes that should have been emotionless slates but weren't, her soft, sweet, caring face.

Over the few seconds Naruto had been staring at her Hinata had gotten redder and redder, embarrassed at the attention. She was about to ask him to stop in the fear of fainting in front of him again, when he sighed.

"You know," He said, surprising Hinata. "I've only ever been told 'I love you' by three people. The first two were when I was just born so I don't remember it, and then there's you." He said, looking deep into Hinata's eyes. "And then there's you."

Hinata swore she forgot how to breathe, how to think, how to do anything but look into his eyes and be lost. "W-What about me?"

He moved away from the tree and towards her and a part of her briefly wished that she could back away from the intense look in his eyes, though another smaller part of her wanted to come out and meet him, to revel in the fact that he was finally looking at her.

He stopped in front of her and pulled a face, obviously thinking something over. "You... what you said... did you mean it?" Hinata blinked, surprised at his sudden question.

"O-Of course Naruto-kun!" She practically shouted and he nodded, looking somewhat relieved.

"Right. Okay."

He looked back into her eyes and he looked so serious at that moment that Hinata felt dread roll over in her stomach.

"I... The way I am right now... The me I am right now, does not love you the way you love me." Hinata lowered her head, tears filling her eyes at the inevitable end that would come with Naruto's next words. Of course, she had known that this would happen, that he would be unable to love her. After all, he loved Sakura.

But it had been nice thinking that maybe Naruto would come to think of her instead of Sakura in the days that had passed since she had confessed.

"But that doesn't mean I won't ever be able to love you." Her head snapped up, her tears quickly dying in the face of those words, words that took her fading spark of hope and turned it into a blazing inferno.

"W-What?"

He took a breath and sent her a smile, one more nervous than his usual confidence filled grins. "Well... I've never really been 'in love' before. I haven't ever been in a relationship, and I don't really know how any of this will work. But I do know that what you said meant a lot to me. I do know that you are brave and strong, that you are a caring and beautiful person, and one of my most precious people. And I do know that I want to try and see where this is going."

"I want to see if there is a chance for an 'us'."

Hinata had to wonder if she was dreaming. If perhaps she had been hurt more severely during the war than she had thought and that she had collapsed or fell into a coma and was now having a wondrous and beautiful hallucination.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before merely nodding, so shocked that she knew she would be unable to form any coherent words even if she hadn't had her stuttering problem.

Naruto smiled and crossed his arms loosely over his chest, a bit of his usual self-confidence easily returning. "Right! Well, do you want to walk around a bit with me before you head back to camp?"

Wide eyed, Hinata nodded yet again, falling in behind him when he started walking further down the little trail they stood on. They went on like this for a few silent moments before Naruto stopped, Hinata immediately stopping behind him, worried that something was wrong.

"You know," He said, looking back at her over his shoulder, "It will be easier to talk to you if you walk up here with me."

Heart thudding heavily in her chest, Hinata felt as if she were having an out of body experience as she got rid of the short distance separating them, coming up beside him. The walked for a bit longer in silence before Naruto started asking questions about her, wanting to actually get to knowher. And as she answered his questions and asked some of her own, laughing at the silly faces he made at times, she fulfilled her wish of walking beside Uzumaki Naruto.

Hinata walked into her tent, high above every one she passed as she floated by on cloud nine. She was so blissfully happy that she didn't know if she walked or glided over to where she had laid out her bed roll. Ino rolled over from where she had been laying, flipping through some magazine she had somehow managed to acquire, to watch as Hinata slipped off her flak jacket, a dreamy smile on her face.

She kicked an innocently dozing Sakura who was only trying to get rid of the weary hours she had spent healing ninja after ninja with a brief nap. Sakura threw a nearby kunai at her best friend in retaliation, turning over to burrow deeper into her blankets.

"Stupid pig, leave me alone. I still have a few hours left." Ino easily caught the weapon and kicked the pink haired medic-nin again.

"Hey, billboard brow, take a look at Hinata."

Wearily the girl rolled over so she was facing the Hyuuga's general direction, though she didn't open her eyes. "I've already examined her and healed all of her serious injuries." She said, yawning. Ino rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, and you did a real bang up job. But I meant look at her face."

Heaving out a sigh, Sakura wearily pried open one of her eyes to stare at the elated Hyuuga who was currently brushing her hair, humming some light, nameless tune with a sweet smile on her face, her eyes closed as she stayed in her own happy little world. Sakura rolled her open eye over to her blonde friend.

"I wonder what happened." Ino smiled and nodded as if agreeing with something that Sakura knew she hadn't said.

"Only one way to find out." She cleared her throat noisily. "Hey, Hinata." She called out to her. Hinata jumped to attention, hastily dropping her brush as she focused her attention on her friend.

"Y-yes Ino? Is anything wrong?" Ino smiled coyly.

"Not according to that smile of yours. I didn't know wars were such happy events." She teased.

Hinata visibly paled. "Oh! N-N-No! I-It isn't that, I-I swear!" Sakura sighed, tired of the blonde's antics and just wanting to get back to sleep.

"She's just teasing you, Hinata. But really, what's got you in such a happy mood?" The girl blushed and Sakura closed her eye again. "Naruto?" She guessed, only knowing of one person that could make the girl blush like that.

"Ah, y-yes. I met with Naruto-kun during my walk." The girl said, playing with her fingers as she began to grow another shade of pink.

"Oh, did anything happen?" Ino asked, preparing herself for some dull story about how Naruto had once again misinterpreted everything Hinata said but had still managed to do or say something to give the poor Hyuuga hope. Sakura had told her about Hinata confessing before sacrificing herself to Pain, and Ino had to wonder if Naruto had taken it as the girl confessing her love as a friend.

Poor Hinata.

"W-Well... he told me how much my confession meant to him and that he couldn't return my feelings." Ino put on her sympathetic face while Sakura tried to connect the girl's elation to her being turned down by Naruto. Maybe it was a coping mechanism.

"But then he told me t-that it didn't mean he would never be able to, and so he asked me to go out with h-him." There was a heavy beat of silence before the two Konoha nin jumped towards the girl, startling and cornering her.

"WHAT?!" They both shouted at the same time, causing the poor thing to fall back, eeping with her shock.

Tenten opened the flap to the strange sight and pulled a face. "Hey now, what's going on here?" The blonde turned to her, eyes bright with blood lust that only gossip could bring.

"Naruto asked Hinata out!"

Tenten blinked and then grinned, casually strolling over to sit down next to the girls, effectively cutting off every last escape route Hinata could have found. "Oh? Now Hinata, why don't you tell us about this?"

The three girls leaned forward, causing Hinata to back away a bit, actually a bit fearful at the moment. "W-Well... I-I was w-walking i-in the woods to get some air w-when I came across Naruto-kun. He started talking to m-me,"

"What did he say?" Ino asked, leaning into the girl's personal space a bit more.

"H-he told me that I was the first person to tell him that I l-loved him. H-he said that h-he couldn't love me now, but that he w-wanted to see if he could later. A-and then he said he wanted t-to get to know i-if there w-was an us." The girls surrounding her blinked.

"And then...?" Tenten pried. Hinata's blush grew slightly pinker.

"A-And then we walked for a little w-while and t-talked." The three surrounding nin blinked and leaned back, finally giving the poor girl room to breathe.

"Wow." Sakura said. "That's... I'm surprised Naruto even realized you had feelings for him, even with the confession. I mean... wow."

Ino nodded. "I know! I thought he was too caught up with your big forehead to see anything else." Sakura snorted.

"Stupid Ino-pig, at least I had someone caught up on me." This caused Ino to turn to her angrily.

"What are you saying?"

"That no one can get past that pig attitude of yours, stupid pig!"

"Oh really? Well, at least I don't have a giant forehead without any figure to take people's attention off of it! And what's so great about Naruto crushing on you -no offense Hinata."

"Why you...!"

Tenten easily ignored their bickering, focusing all of her attention on Hinata. "This is pretty big for you, huh?" Hinata hesitantly nodded.

"I... I don't know if he'll come to l-love me like I do f-for him, b-but this shows that he's seen me," Hinata said, smiling a little bit. "And that fills me up with so m-much hope a-and happiness." Tenten smiled back, happy for the girl.

"Well," Sakura said, finished with yelling at Ino, both of them now feeling a bit lighter with all of that steam blown off. "Since I'm up, I should run over to the medic tent and help out. But you should know that I'm happy for you Hinata, and that Naruto is a really great guy. Though he is a bit of a pervert, what with having had Jiraiya as his teacher. And if he ever tries any of that perverted stuff on you, you just tell me and I'll go beat him so hard he won't know his head from his foot."

Hinata blushed and tried to stutter out that she knew Naruto would never do anything like that to her but she was already out of the tent.

"Well, if she's going I better go too. Hey, you never know, there might be a sexy little broken ninja just waiting for me to fix him." Ino said, winking to the two remaining girls as she left to follow her best friend. Tenten chuckled at the other two women's antics and patted Hinata on the shoulder.

"Hey, since I know where you guys are I'll bring my stuff here and bunk with you. Right now I'm with some she-males that keep giving me this look, and I don't want to sleep with all of my weapons out tonight." Hinata nodded and watched as she walked out of the tent. When her final friend had gone she flopped back on her bed roll, kicking off her shoes so that she could snuggle down into the blankets.

She slowly drifted out of consciousness, a small smile gracing her lips as her last thoughts were of how beautiful Naruto's eyes looked when they were filled with stars.

Naruto made his way into a nearby camp, looking for a familiar face so that he could find somewhere to bunk down.

He knew Tsunade baa-chan probably wanted to talk to him, and that he should probably check with her before going to sleep but he was tired and he had used up a lot of chakra during the battles, even more than he would have ever dreamed of using before. There was also the fact was that it had been the first time he and Kurama had teamed up so the strange moves and immense chakra had worn his body down until it hurt to simply breathe. All he needed was a little bit of rest so that he could restore some of his strength and kick-start his dragging healing abilities.

But luck was not with him as ninja after ninja came up to him to congratulate him -to thank him- on his role in the war. He guessed that he had ended up saving some of them during the battles, but the sheer amount of people that came up to him and asked to get him a drink was astonishing and there were still more coming since people had noticed the crowd that surrounded him. And so Naruto quickly jumped out of the suffocating circle, racing back towards the woods.

When he finally settled down for some rest it was in a tree with some twisting branches making up his bed. He closed his eyes and slowly shut his brain down, though his final thought sent a smile to his face.

He wondered if Hinata knew how pretty she was with a blush on her face and stars in her eyes.