A/N: This story takes place in the Shippuden episodes, just to make that clear. I think there would be only pairing which is obviously NaruHina. If anyone has suggestions, include them in your review. Enjoy!

Disclaimer:I do not own anything from Naruto. All I own is my original character.

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Hinata's Way: chapter 1-Hinata's Choice

Naruto was bored. He hasn't seen or talked to anyone all day. All he did was just walk around the Leaf Village hoping to find something to do. 'Where the hell is everybody?!' he yelled in his head. Sighing, he continued walking until he was on a small bridge that was over a babbling brook. He closed his eyes for a few moments and sighed, which he has been doing a lot today. When he opened his eyes he looked over to the other end of the bridge and saw someone standing there. A girl with long, navy blue hair, wearing a familiar light tan jacket was there.

"Hinata…" he whispered. The shy Hyuuga girl, Hinata, stood at the other side of the bridge not knowing that she had company. She was just standing there staring down at the creek below. Naruto grinned to himself and started walking towards her. Hinata didn't even hear his footsteps coming closer. "Hi Hinata!" he loudly greeted. The timid girl swiftly turned around to see Naruto with his childish grin on his face. She turned cherry red as she noticed how close they were.

"N-Naruto-kun…" she stuttered. She was in so much shock she didn't really know what to say. Naruto stopped smiling and looked at Hinata's red face.

"Hey Hinata-chan, are you okay? You're all red. Are you sick or something?" he asked feeling concerned. He put a hand on her forehead to feel how warm it was. That moment went in slow motion for Hinata.

'His hand is so warm…' she thought in awe. Overwhelmed with joy she fainted.

"Ah! Hinata-chan! Oh no she fainted! What am I gonna do?!" Naruto pulled on his hair. He kneeled down beside the navy blue-haired girl and shook her shoulders. "Hinata please wake up! Hinata!" he cried. Getting the sense that this wasn't really working he gave up. "I know!" he suddenly perked up.

'I'll just do mouth to mouth…' he gulped. '…how hard can it be?' he nervously thought as his whole body twitched. He leaned in closer to Hinata's face with his mouth slightly opened. 'Here goes nothing…!' His cheeks turned pink as he neared her lips. To him it was almost like as if he was going to kiss her but, this doesn't count. It's not a kiss; it's just CPR. No worries. There's absolutely nothing to be nervous about at all, right? Naruto was just a few inches away from the shy girl's lips. The blush on his face reddened the closer he got. A bead of sweat formed on his temple. 'I can do this, dattebayo!' he told himself. Just as he was about to come into contact with Hinata's lips, her eyes started to open up slowly.

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She couldn't see quite clearly, but she could see a figure over her. Hinata opened up her eyes more to make out whatever she was trying to see. When her eyes came into focus, she realized that a pair of lips that belonged to a certain blonde-haired boy were about to come into contact with hers. 'It's Naruto-kun. He's going to kiss me...WAIT! He's going to..!' her mind went into panic, then without thinking Hinata instantly sat up causing her head to clash with Naruto's. Naruto fell back with a red mark on his forehead.

"Hey! Hinata, what 'cha do that for?" he asked, massaging the bruise on his head. Hinata didn't say anything. She just sat there as if she was a statue with a shocked face that seemed to be frozen. Her lavender eyes were as wide as possible, her cheeks were flushed and her mouth just hung slightly open. She was completely paralyzed with shock.

'W-What do I do now? This is very embarrassing…I have to get away from Naruto-kun,' she quickly thought. Hinata slowly rose without making any eye contact with Naruto.

"Hinata-chan?" he watched her as she stepped back away from him.

"I…um I-I have to go!" she blurted. She quickly turned around and ran away, leaving a puzzled Naruto. He gazed after the shy Hyuuga girl, who was disappearing in the view. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Well that was weird," he stated. He leaned over the bright red rail of the small bridge, staring down into the flowing water. Then a rumbling noise interrupted the peace he was in. He put a hand to his stomach, realizing that he was hungry. "I guess it's lunch time," he couldn't help but to grin at what place he had in mind to go get something to eat. "Ichiraku ramen! Here I come!" he cheered. Naruto immediately left the bridge and started to head for his all time favorite ramen shop.

Hinata trudged over to a bench she spotted. She was breathing a little hard from the running she did. 'I think I…overdid it a little,'she thought to herself.

The incident with Naruto kept replaying in her head, like a video tape with bad film.She was just so overwhelmed that she had no choice, but to run. Hinata rested her hand on her chest, in an attempted to stop her heart from beating so fast.

'I just need to forget what happened,' she mentally told herself. That was easier said thandone. Hinata knew that there was no way she could forget something like that. No way. Her all time crush was about to kiss her. How can you just forget it and say it never happened, just like that? But there was something that was nagging her in the back of her mind.

'That kiss…maybe wasn't even going to be a kiss.' Hinata lowered her head in a sorrowful manner. 'Naruto-kun had always been my crush ever since we both were in Ninja Academy, long ago. I've always watched him and admired him from afar, but I've never told him how I felt. I can never tell him I how feel. Why? Why can't I…?' The answer suddenly came to her when she thought of the earlier event. 'Because… because I always run away from him.' It was then Hinata had finally realized something that she must do. 'No more running away. I have to tell him.' She stood up from her seat and began to start her new goal: tell Naruto how she feels. In order to do this she would have to find him, but where would he be?

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Naruto was sitting at the counter at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, patiently waiting for his barbeque pork ramen.

"So Naruto, how have you been lately? I haven't seen you around for awhile." asked Ayame, who was the temporary owner of the ramen shop. She wore a white apron over her clothes and a white bandanna on top of her head of brown hair.

"Oh, I've been doing nothing, but missions and stuff lately." he briefly replied.

"Well, here you go." Ayame handed him a steaming bowl of ramen. Naruto happily accepted as he grabbed two chopsticks, and he began to heartily eat the delicious ramen. After finishing his first bowl, he asked for another and another until he was full. Meanwhile, someone walked into the shop. She sat at the counter and looked around for a bit. Ayame rushed over to the new costumer. "Hello. What would you like?" she asked.

The girl turned her attention to the small, brunette waitress. She smiled at her and said, "I'll just have a plain bowl of ramen."

"Okay, coming up."

The unknown girl swept her emerald colored bangs out of her eyes with her hand as she waited for her food.

'I wonder what you can do around here in Konoha. So far this place seems pretty boring to me.' she thought. Her clear blue eyes shifted over to the other person sitting at the counter, who seemed to be really enjoying their ramen. Her eyes then wandered over to two empty bowls that were clearly eaten out of. 'Sheesh…what an appetite.' she thought in amazement.

"Here you go." said Ayame, snapping the emerald haired girl out of her thoughts.

"Thank you." she said as she gratefully accepted the hot bowl of ramen. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began to eat quietly.

"Ah! All done!" Naruto enthusiastically announced. Ayame walked over with the bill and handed it to him. He looked at the price, and then reached for his wallet. He suddenly froze, as his face wore a nervous expression. The brunette looked at him expectantly.

"Well Naruto," she began "Pay up."

Naruto gave her a sheepish grin, "I…heh heh…sort of don't have enough."

"I'll pay for it."

Both, Naruto and Ayame turned their heads to the girl. She finished the rest of her ramen, and then looked at them both.

"Oh, you don't really have to do that." Naruto began to reason.

"No, it's fine." she persisted. She took out a pink wallet and laid just enough money, down on the counter.

"Why, thank you." Ayame said as she took the payment. "Please, come again." she waved as Naruto and the girl left.

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"Hey, thanks." Naruto said in gratitude. The mystery girl looked at him and winked, making the hyperactive blonde blush slightly. 'Wow... She's really pretty.' he thought. How could he help, but to think that? Her hair was an amazing emerald color, her eyes sparkled a clear blue, her skin was fairly pale, and her figure was petite and slim. This girl was quite attractive.

"No problem." she replied, giggling a little at his pink face. 'He's pretty cute. Maybe Konoha isn't so bad.' she slyly thought. "So, my name is Kazuki Fukuda, what's yours?" she asked, extending her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." he said with a big grin as he accepted her handshake.

"Naruto, huh? I think I like that name."

Naruto once again blushed. That was the first time he had ever heard a girl compliment him. He was beginning to like this girl more by the second.

"So Naruto, since I'm pretty much new around here, maybe you can show me around?"

"Sure."

"Okay! First I wanna go there." Kazuki pointed to the mountain where all the five Hokages' heads were carved.

"Alright, let's go!" he pumped a fist in the air, and jogged off toward the Hokage monument with Kazuki following close behind. They both reached a long narrow staircase that went up the mountain.

'That's a lot of stairs.' Kazuki thought with a feeling that this could be an exhausting trip.

"We're almost there!" Naruto said as they both began to climb the stairs that escalated up the mountain. Halfway up, Kazuki looked back to where she and Naruto once stood. The height they were at almost surprised her. She looked ahead and realized they had finally reached the top. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, as she stumbled over to the rail to catch her breath. Her clear blue eyes glanced over the rail and widened.

"Wow…you can see the whole village from up here." she whispered, clearly impressed with the view.

"Yeah. Pretty cool isn't it?" Naruto said. The emerald haired girl nodded in reply.

"So tell me, Naruto, about the Hokages."

"Hmm, well I don't really know much, but the First Hokage was the one who built this whole village, the Third Hokage was Hokage two times—"

"Really? Why?" interrupted Kazuki.

"Well, because the Fourth Hokage died saving the village 15 years ago." he answered.

"What did he save the village from?"

"The Nine-tailed Fox…" Naruto's eyes glazed over for a split second as he said this. 'That's now inside me…'

'So the stories are true. The Nine-tailed fox also came here too, just like my village.' Kazuki thought solemnly.

"Hey Kazuki-chan, are you okay?" the blonde asked, concern filling his blue eyes. She snapped her head in his direction.

"Of course I am." she replied, feigning a smile. 'We just met and he's already calling me Kazuki-chan. This boy is surely forward.' she thought with interest. 'Oh yeah, Konoha isn't so bad after all.'

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End chapter

Well that's all for now. Hmm… what does Kyuubi have to do with Kazuki's home? We'll find out later. And don't worry about Hinata, she'll be in the next chapter more than she was in this one. PLEASE review and tell me what you think! Bye!