"Hey, what's up?"
She spun around, startled by the voice.
"You okay, Hinata?" The orange-clad boy smiled, his entire body covered in dirt, his face beat up and worn, his hands bruised and bleeding.
"Y-Yes…I'm fine…Naruto…what happened to you?"
"Oh, this?" He looked himself over. "Ah, it's nothing, just a little training session is all, don't worry about it. I'm fine."
He then rubbed his stomach thoughtfully. "Sure am hungry, though. Glad I saved up for all the ramen I'm going to eat today!"
"Hey, Naruto! Where the heck were you, it's been nearly three days!" Sakura's voice rang out as she ran towards him. "Whoa! What happened, did you have a fight?"
"Nah, just training. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" He grinned.
"You're crazy, Naruto. Come on, I'll get you cleaned up, and then we'll check in with sensei…"
"Alright, then. Hinata!"
"Ah! Um…yes, Naruto?"
"You want to have some ramen with me later at Ichiraku's? My treat!"
"Ah…I…" Hinata blushed a bright red, and was fidgeting with her hands very noticeably. She summoned all her courage, and gave a reply…
"Yes! I would love to join you, Naruto…" That seemed to take a lot out of her.
"Great, then it's settled! I'll be back to pick you up soon, okay?"
"…Okay…"
Naruto and Sakura went off to check in with their superiors, and as soon as they were out of sight, Hinata neatly and promptly fainted.
"Oh, man! I'm so starved I could probably eat a million bowls of ramen! And the best part of it is I could probably afford it, too!"
"Heh, that doesn't sound like too good of an idea, Naruto. Maybe you should just start with one for now. And for your lady friend as well?" Teuchi, the shop owner asked.
"Yup!"
Hinata slowly but steadily managed to eat some of her ramen, while Naruto was going through bowls at an almost frightening pace. He slowed down when he got a look at her face.
"Hey, what's wrong, Hinata? Listen, we'll go somewhere else after this if it's boring you…"
"No, that's…that's not it, Naruto. All of this was very sweet, it's just…"
"Just what? You can tell me!"
"I'm not sure if I deserve any of this…"
At that, Naruto dropped his chopsticks, in near disbelief.
"Whoa…what? That doesn't make any sense at all! I mean you, out of all the people in the whole world…"
Hinata stared at him, confused and surprised at those words.
"I think that you're crazy, or just really humble, Hinata. I mean you're smart, polite, gentle, kind, and pretty. I don't see why you think you don't deserve anything from anyone…"
"I…I…"
He smiled at her. "But don't worry about it too much. When I become Hokage, I'll make sure that everyone knows what you've been doing for the village all this time. It's not right that you don't get recognized, I mean, everyone else does, and they don't do much at all."
"Naruto..."
"Hm?"
Hinata leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you…"
He scratched his head. "What for?"
"For being…you."
"Ah!" He gave her a thumb up. "Anytime, all you have to do is ask!"
Hinata smiled, and continued to eat her ramen.
One day, I'll be able to show you I've lived up to all of that…one day soon.