Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Rating: T

A/N: February story #3. An actual Valentine story, holy cow!

Belated Valentine

She stares across at Naruto as he sucks ramen from a bowl as if he's never eaten in his lifetime. Her fingers clutch the pink envelope. Inside the envelope is a carefully constructed letter tucked into a red and pink, glittered-to-an-inch-of-death Valentine's Day card. Cut, of course, into a heart.

It's nowhere near February fourteenth anymore- -that day came and went two weeks ago. And still, even after the fact, she just can't muster the courage to tap him on the shoulder and slip the card into his hand. Every time she even imagines his cerulean eyes under the dandelion hair and the faint whisker marks, she gets…funny.

He's finished with the ramen, slurping broth, and he's off in a whirlwind of orange and coattails and smiling.

She slinks behind the tree as the opportunity passes her once again.

"Hi, Hinata! What're you doing standing here. You're not hiding, are you?"

Hinata glances up. It's Ino with a benign smile on her face, her bangs tucked behind an ear. "Oh! Ino. Hi. H-how are you?"

She tries to hide the envelope behind her back, but Ino is too perceptive and plucks it out of her hand. "What's this?" To Hinata's speechless horror, Ino taps the envelope to her forehead and closes her eyes. "I'm getting a reading…yep. It can't be a love letter, can it?" She chuckles. "It must be for Naruto, then."

"Y-yes," Hinata admits. There is no point in lying to Ino, who knows these things without even half-a-thought. "For Naruto."

"You didn't give it to him because you're embarrassed."

"Y-yes, Ino."

Ino frowns for a moment, and for that moment Hinata truly believes with all her heart that Ino will let her go free and unscathed. But in the next breath, those hopes and dreams are shattered. "Better late than never, right? Let's go catch him! He'll love getting this."

"Oh, no. We couldn't. I mean, I-I can't…"

Her words fall on deaf ears as Ino grabs Hinata's hand and spurs into a sprint in the direction Naruto went. Hinata follows, her heart beating like a drum behind her ribs, and remembers that Ino has sensory abilities honed to terrifying acuteness.

Within minutes, they've caught up to Naruto. Together, she and Ino stand on a rooftop as Naruto walks the street below them. People smile and wave and love charges the air wherever he is. Hinata's own love is completely his, swollen inside her chest to press against her lungs so that she is short of breath. Panic flutters in her belly.

Naruto stops a moment and glances up to where they stand. Something electric fries the air between them. Maybe she's imagining it, but the world sort of falls back. She really can't catch her breath when he smiles that sunshine smile of his and lifts his hand to wave.

"Hinata," Ino says, curling Hinata's limp fingers around the envelope, "he didn't have a valentine. You know, I don't think he even realized what day it was. Go be his valentine even if it's not February fourteenth. It's not too late."

"Oh."

Ino shoves her a little, but the stumble turns into a jump and she leaps from the rooftop to the street. Naruto hurries over to her, his face open and full of greeting, his coat swishing around his ankles. Her heart has crawled into her throat to sit there and choke her.

"Hinata! What's up?"

It isn't too late, Ino had said. And Hinata has to believe Ino's telling the truth. "Naruto. Hello." Her sweaty palms have dampened the envelope, but she thrusts it at him anyway. "This is for you."

"Cool. Thanks, Hinata," he says before he even opens it. "What is it?"

She has to glance to the ground for the word. "A v-v-valentine."

"A valentine?" His voice shapes the word into something enormous and beautiful. "I've never had a valentine before. I didn't know it was Valentine's Day today."

"Yes. It is," she lies, convincingly, she hopes.

There's a moment when nothing happens, and then in the next, everything does. Naruto throws his arms around her. He hugs her so close she swears she can hear his heart in his chest, so close that she squeezes shut her eyes and smells his warmth and his goodness. Sudden tears prickle the back of her eyes. For a boy, he is soft, but he is shinobi and his strong arms hold her caged against him.

Yes, she thinks, I could live on this forever.

A/N: Well, I love the dynamic between Naruto and Hinata. Ino is too good here, but I think it helps Hinata to take steps in the right direction. Hope you enjoyed, and let me know your thoughts! =)

06/09/18: Light edits & revisions