Quite An Awkward Situation, Isn't It?

Summary: Hinata is watching Naruto train again. Hiding in a tree this time. But a small mishap causes quite an...awkward situation.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does. (leaves to sob fangirlishly)

Moogle Girl X2 here with her technically third but second posted Naruto fic! And I'm currently listening to I'm An Asshole by Denis Leary. Such a fun song. O.o Moogle says review when you're done!

Anyway...tis a NaruHina, like the one I'm working on. Look forward to that one! It'll be a songfic to Eyes on Me by Faye Wong, featured in Final Fantasy VIII. Well now, what are we waiting for? On with the story! Oh, by the way, Hinata's thought in the first paragraph is a reference to Hammy Uchiha's fic, Christmas Collage. Wonderful fic, wonderful writer! READ HER FICS! .

Italics are thoughts. Mostly Hinata's. - Note that I use the words anyway/in any case/etc a lot. Just ignore that if it annoys you. Humor purposes. Enjoy the fic!

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On a chilly December day, seventeen-year-old Hyuuga Hinata gazed at the blonde haired figure down in the field below. They had been growing closer, she noted before, but she'd never grown out of the habit of spying on him while training. Anyway, she was lucky. The trees in Konoha still held their brown leaves, even though it was nearing the end of December, a few days until she turned eighteen.

He was training again, like always. Except today, it seemed that a few more trees were murdered than usual. Looks worse than the old stories I was told about Yondaime-sama chopping down Christmas trees, Hinata thought, nervously tapping her fingers together. Maybe for fear that Yondaime-sama would come to haunt her, taking the thought as an insult. Or maybe she was just paranoid? Who knows? Maybe it's just the- BOOM! A loud explosion and a shout of "Teme!" from below shook Hinata out of her...thoughts. Yeah, thoughts. Not inner conversations. She looked back at Naruto to see him glaring at Sasuke, and Sasuke smirking. From what she could see, she guessed that Sasuke came in and redirected Naruto's rasengan. Probably flinging him toward the ground.

"Teme! What the hell was that for!?" The angry fox boy shouted at his teammate. He, with a little help from the former rookie nine and the sand siblings, had managed to defeat Orochimaru and drag, literally drag, the Uchiha back to Konoha last year. A few days after they returned, everything, surprisingly, went back to the way it was before Sasuke left five years ago. But that is another story.

Sasuke smirked once again. "Dobe," he muttered, "just wanted to see what all the explosions were about. Seems to me you were letting off steam about not being able to beat my chidori," he teased. Naruto glared.

"You and me! Right here! Tomorrow!" he snapped, pointing at the onyx-eyed Uchiha. Sasuke shook his head.

"I can't tomorrow. Busy," he responded, shrugging when Naruto stared at him with a 'WTF?' look on his face. "How about Friday?" Sasuke asked. Naruto also shook his head.

"Busy. Um, running errands for Tsunade-baachan. She, uh, wants me to go by the flower shop for some weird reason. Saturday it is then. Any objections?" The eighteen-year-old blonde asked his raven-haired friend. Hinata let out a squeak. But...I was planning to ask Naruto-kun to...do...something with me? Oh, I don't even know what I was going to ask him anymore. Ramen or a walk? I probably couldn't even muster up the courage to walk up to him, much less ask him on a...a date! While wandering in her mind, Hinata didn't even notice the branch starting to creak underneath her.

"So what if you can see the darkest side of me? No one will ever change this animal I have become! Help me believe it's not the real me-" Naruto was singing his rendition of a popular song he had heard to Sasuke, saying it reminded him of himself, sorta, but not completely because he was optimistic, and something about ramen. Sasuke wasn't listening. He was simply trying to block out Naruto's horrible singing skills. In any case, fortunately for Sasuke, they were interrupted by a loud CRACK! coming from the forest behind them. Whatever was left of it after Naruto's 'training', anyway.

"The hell was that?" Naruto asked, confused. Sasuke chuckled.

"Probably one of the trees trying to commit suicide before you destroy it with your crappy attempt of a rasengan." Naruto growled.

"Teme."

"Dobe."

Hinata sighed. Now here she was, one foot caught on the corner between the tree and the broken branch, and her pants leg snagging on the splinters, hanging upside down from half a tree limb. And as much as she tried, she couldn't reach her foot to try and unlodge it. What kind of ninja can't reach their foot while they're upside down?! In this kind of situation, even the shy, kind, and polite Hyuuga girl couldn't help but think, Shit. And to add to her dismay, Naruto and Sasuke ignored the noise and continued with training.

An hour became two hours, which became two and a half hours hanging from a tree. At least Hinata caught some interesting quips of conversation. One had her quite interested.

"So dobe, who are the flowers for?" Sasuke questioned, an all-knowing, almost grin-like smirk on his face. Naruto froze in mid-kick, directed toward a post.

"Uh, why'dya ask?" he asked, almost nervously. Sasuke shook his head. Hinata couldn't catch what he was saying, but it was probably something along the lines of 'because I can.'

"Well, uh...if you must know, it's a present for a friend...girl...know...her...is coming up, so..." Hinata was frustrated at this point. Forget her being upside down! She wanted to know who Naruto was getting flowers for! What did he say? What did he say!? She could hear Sasuke laugh, and the topic had somehow changed to shuriken techniques.

Eventually, after another hour, Sasuke started to leave. Yes! Hinata started to think, Sasuke-san will come this way and see me hanging here and help me down and...and...oh for Kami's sake... Sasuke was walking away...in the other direction. Poor Hinata. Oh, Naruto's talking to...himself?

"Huh...what will I...Hinata...Saturday..." he mumbled. Hearing her name, Hinata tried her best to hear what her love was saying. She even cupped her hands around her ears. Apparently now, that was a bad idea. As if hanging from a tree for about four hours now wasn't enough, she had failed to notice that the sky was clouding over. Thunder crashed suddenly, the sound being intensified in her ears because of her hands. Ouch. She saw Naruto look up at the sky as rain started pouring down in sheets.

"Damn, rain." She heard him say. "Better get going." Convinced that the blonde would go the same way Sasuke did, Hinata closed her eyes and sighed. She hoped the rain would act as a kind of lubricant and loosen her foot. She didn't even hear footsteps coming toward her because of the heavy rain.

"Hinata-chan? That you? Why are you hanging from a tree?" Hinata opened her pearly white eyes to see a pair of bright, cerulean eyes staring up at her.

"Na-Na-Naruto-kun!" she squeaked in surprise. Unfortunately not enough to jerk her from her position. Naruto nodded his head.

"Are you okay? I mean, nothing's broken, right?" he asked, concern evident on his features. Well, from what she could see, anyway.

"Other than absolutely no feeling in my limbs and being extremely dizzy, I'm perfectly fine, Naruto-kun," she responded without thinking, but quickly clapped a wet and numb hand over her mouth, surmising that she insulted him with her sarcastic-yet-true answer. Naruto simply gave her his trademark foxy grin.

"Now that's the confident Hinata I know!" he chirped. "Hold on, I'll get you down."

"Na-Naruto-kun,, you don't have to. Y-you can go-"

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A clone appeared beside Naruto and began to walk up the tree using its share of chakra. Oh, Naruto-kun's wasting his chakra on me. Why did I have to be so high up? Hinata mused sadly. The clone, arriving at where she was being held captive by the giant evil plant, erm, tree, held onto her foot and carefully started unraveling the fabric of her pants leg from the remains of the branch. As soon as it finished, she felt her foot starting to slip, slip, then completely slide off, leaving her to plummet toward the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for impact. Waiting, waiting...huh? No impact came. Instead, Hinata reopened her eyes to see that she had been caught by a pair of, in her opinion, strong arms, and was looking straight into Uzumaki Naruto's smiling face.

"You thought I would let you fall, didn't you?" he queried, grinning. Hinata blushed.

"N-Not really. J-Just instinct," she answered. Naruto chuckled and slightly ruffled her hair.

"Alright, alright. Let's set you down, ne? And- whoa! Careful!" Naruto had gingerly put Hinata down, helping her stand straight. As soon as she did that, though, she felt as if her legs turned to jelly and that the blood was rushing out of her head. Poor thing. Lucky for her, the Kyuubi kid was there to catch her.

"Dizzy?"

"Just a bit," she said, smiling, slightly embarrassed. Naruto gave the white-eyed girl a sympathetic smile before picking her back up. Hinata's blush just got ten times worse.

"Come on, let's get out of the rain. There's a hollow tree nearby, and it'll make a good place to stay dry and wait this storm out. You look like you could use a rest anyway, Hinata-chan," Naruto teased. Hinata smiled and nodded, whilst trying not to faint from being so close to Naruto.

After a minute or two of Naruto running and Hinata trying to stay conscious, both were finally sitting down in the dry sanctuary of a hollow tree. Which wasn't so evil to Hinata, unlike the other tree. Upon entry, Hinata was surprised. The hollow had been dug out a little deeper, and had a few basic essentials for someone to possibly stay the night. A lamp, some cups of instant ramen, a few packets of matches, two pans, and a sleeping bag. Naruto saw her shocked face and grinned.

"I found this little hole here and decided to put some stuff in it. If I needed a break from training, I could just come here!" he told her. She nodded, still surprised that Naruto would go to all the trouble to furnish a tree. He started a small fire in the middle with a pile of twigs and a match, then plopped down beside the indigo-haired girl.

"Now," he started, "mind telling me how you got yourself stuck on a tree?" Just as soon as it went away, Hinata's blush returned.

"Ano, umm...well, I-I was w-watching you train while sitting in the tree, a-and th-the branch had c-collapsed under me," she said, embarrassed. Naruto put an arm around her shoulders, unaware that Hinata's cheeks were inventing new shades of red. He smiled at her.

"You should've just come on over! I would have liked it if you'd have trained with me, you didn't just have to watch," he said. "Anyway, how long were you hanging there, Hinata-chan?" Hinata gulped.

"U-Um...not for long...j-just...four hours or so-"

"NANI!?" Naruto shouted standing up. He looked part horrified, part shocked. "How come you didn't yell for help from me?! Or from Sasuke-teme even?!" Hinata appeared crestfallen after Naruto's outburst. Seeing her face, Naruto's expression softened and he calmed down.

"I-I just didn't w-want to interrupt your training, Naruto-kun. T-That's all," Hinata responded. Gazing up, she saw Naruto's trademark smile back on his face as he sat back down by her and replaced his arm to its new spot; around her shoulders. That smile never failed to make her feel better.

"Hinata-chan, who cares about training? If you are ever, I mean, ever, in trouble, just yell for me! Screw training! I'd rather you be safe than train for a day! Even if you have to shout 'Naruto! Get your ass over here, you baka!!'" Hinata was practically rolling with laughter at his last comment. Naruto beamed at her. It was nice to hear Hinata let go and have a good laughing fit once in a while, wasn't it?

"Naruto-kun, you, haha, you know I would never, aha, call you a baka," she told him, still giggling, but smiling sincerely. He just grinned once more.

"Sakura-chan would jump at the chance," he joked, "but I know you wouldn't, Hinata-chan!" They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, sometimes the silence being broken with a small giggle from Hinata. Suddenly, a question came to her mind.

"Naruto-kun, I heard you say my name earlier, and something about flowers. What were you saying?" Hinata questioned, looking up at Naruto. He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. Shit! Caught in the act!

"Ano, well, your birthday is on the twenty-seventh, right? And...the flowers...and...yeah..." he mumbled. Hinata put two and two together.

"You...were going to get me flowers, Naruto-kun? That's very sweet of you! But...y-you don't h-have to," she said, happy he was thinking of her. She also realized that her stutter had returned, and wondered how she was speaking clearly beforehand. Naruto started laughing.

"Just like you told me that I didn't have to get you down from that tree? Haha, I'll probably do it anyway!" He gave her a kind smile and, before she knew it, she was leaning on him, warm and comfortable. Minutes passed, but both were silent, content with the moment and each others' presence. Eventually, Naruto laughed again.

"Well, those explanations were embarrassing, weren't they?" Hinata nodded.

"Heh," Naruto continued, "you being stuck in a tree and me having to spoil your birthday present. It's, well, it's-"

"Quite an awkward situation, isn't it?" Hinata finished for him. Naruto nodded and grinned. The rain was starting to slow, but neither seemed to care. Both were content with exactly where they were

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Should I continue this? Need your opinions!

MGX2