Title: Knowing
Fandom|Pairing: Naruto | Uzumaki Naruto x Hyuuga Hinata
Rating: K+
Notes: Been a while (years ho ho) since I made my last Naruto fic. All disclaimers apply.
As soon as Sakura dispelled the genjutsu, Naruto's mind swam in a sea of nothingness, and the only thing that kept him together was the warm, fuzzy feeling that began to build up in his chest.
He glanced at the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, and the fuzzy feeling hummed in him.
What was that… He asked himself. He saw everything, and yet he still couldn't comprehend. During his entire life, he was mostly definite about everything. But what he has just seen in his dream — in those memories shared during the time they were trapped inside the lake – had let him know that there were a lot of things he still wasn't sure of.
Hinata…? He gulped, and the memories flashed in his head.
The moment they landed on the spherical land formations, he laid his eyes on Hinata, and his mind was a state of bedazzlement, then to confusion, to wonder — different emotions surged quietly in him just for the second he looked at her, and the only constant thing that remained was the pulsating warmth in his chest. He did not say much, and without him knowing, he was already in a state of brooding about it.
They went on the mission as planned, but he really couldn't step forward without thinking about it. Before they split up, he sneaked glances between Sakura and Hinata, and the bouts of comparison that bubbled in his head were too one-sided, the results actually surprised him. Naturally… Naruto whispered to himself. But why… When… And before he could even offer the answers, he and Hinata scouted the area leisurely. Somehow, they were having simple conversations that set him at ease, and no matter how silly it might sound, he was thankful of the random spider webs.
He sat on the rocky ledge and took in the view of the city they were scouting. He began counting questions and tried to answer each of them, only to find himself in the middle of berating himself, of asking if he even deserved it, of validating whether the questions he was generating were here to help him clear his mind or not. The warmth inside still lingered.
He even said that he'd never take his eyes off her not so long time ago, but the moment he looked at her and their eyes met, he couldn't even take it that he had to avert his gaze.
Suddenly, there was that feeling in his chest.
Naruto have felt different types of warmth—that kind of wielding power that have saved the entire shinobi world; the warmth he felt when he finally met his father and mother; the warmth he had when the war was over and Sasuke was back. But then…
But then, suddenly, right now, she's here, making her way towards the ledge, and the warmth hushed down. His mind went blank, and as if it was on cue, he said, "Seems like Hanabi isn't here anymore."
Naruto half-expected Hinata to cry, the other half, he expected that she would take rounds again to find her sister. But she stayed there, beside him, the wind gently playing with her dark purple hair, her eyes fixed at the distance beyond her. The soft streaks of orange sunlight tinted her cheeks.
The warmth pulsated in him again as his eyes roved on her tiny details. He couldn't hear anything, even the howling of the wind. He gulped—has she ever been like this before?
She has always been like that.
And it struck him.
All the questions in his head got its answers, and the answers, delayed it might be for fourteen or fifteen or sixteen years, were things that made him realize what kind of a person he was.
I'm an idiot. He told himself, as he tore his eyes from her to go down from the ledge and head back to where the whole team is. "We should head back and join the others."
He did not dare to look back, or else he might get captivated again.
Night came, and there she was, knitting the red scarf. He was done realizing how much effort she's exerting in making that scarf, and now he was more pinned to the fact that he knew exactly the person she was going to give it to. He leaned against tree, and he glanced at how beautiful she was, knitting while glowing butterflies flew around her.
She was beautiful, and he was stupid.
He knew that these fuzzy feelings in him were not illusions. They were real, and he was too stupid to realize how late it was for him to realize. The warmth in his chest rumbled and his head swirled in different ideas on how he could compensate for him being an idiot. He stayed behind the tree, his eyes now on the grassy floor. He wanted to see her. He badly wanted to go out there and talk with her, he wanted to be with her, but he didn't know how. Whoa, he didn't know that it took a lot of guts to approach someone, and he has just realized that Hinata… she has been trying to reach out to him since they were kids, even if it was too difficult. What should I do…? He asked himself, and his sweaty hands fumbled in his pockets. When will I…? When have I…?
A butterfly landed on the flower near his feet. He silently wished someone was there to help him – his parents, or Jiraiya, or anyone… but it's just him. And her.
Well… so be it that I'm stupid or not.
Maybe he was thinking too much about it that his confession easily slipped from his lips. Before he could even regret it, before he could even think of a possibility for rejection, he said, "Hinata… I love you."
There was a brief moment of silence that felt like a lifetime. After that short span of lifetime, Toneri came, Hinata gave the scarf, and in a moment she was taken away with Toneri telling him that he and Hinata would get married while they were airborne.
Naruto was filled with rage, of disbelief that here he was, waiting for an answer from her, which he honestly thought would be favorable for him. One moment, he was peacefully confessing, and then the other, he was blown to his chest and his chakra dissipated, as Hinata went away.
He couldn't believe that this was what heartache felt. It was familiar from what he knew when Sakura repeatedly rejected him for Sasuke, but the familiarity wasn't even an inch of the huge pang of ache in his chest. Suddenly, the warmth he had been feeling ever since coming out of that genjutsu left a chilly hollow in his chest.
Why now… He asked himself. Is this what I get from being too naïve? Or late? Or am I just plain stupid?
Resenting himself, Naruto tucked himself in, until Shikamaru, Sai, and Sakura finally set him back to motion.
And the rest of what happened proved that the rejection was not intended.
The moment Naruto barged into the wedding, he immediately pulled Hinata from her misery by literally lending her a hand in vanquishing the Tenseigan. With that, the whole team fully knew Toneri's plans, and they were able to thwart him.
On their way back, Hinata was finally able to ask Naruto about the scarf. He told her that it used to be his mom's, and that's when he realized that he hasn't told her anything about Kushina yet. They haven't even made any long conversations, so how could he possibly know that it was really love that he was feeling?
Well, it takes a lot of time to understand, but just a second to feel a genuine feeling, He told himself, as he held her hand on their way back to Earth.
The warmth consistently thrummed in his heart, and it did not bring forth questions, but rather, possibilities. Right now, all Naruto knew was that Hinata was and would be by his side since god knows when, and that he would never, ever, let her go.