It all started with brief looks. Soft gazes that touched then removed themselves from one another.
He watched her as she trained, using his own skills to be unseen and unheard.
She felt his eyes on her, following her every moment but never the weapons that left her hands. She would always, deliberately, look around and stop her searching on where he stood in the greenery. She would catch his eyes and blue would meld with blue for a few moments.
She watched him as he ran through town towards Hokage-sama, following him stealthily.
He could always see her in his peripheral vision; a flash of blond hair and blue eyes that jumped from place to place, attempting to hide in a sea of dark hair. He would glance over his shoulder from time to time, watching as her blond ponytail would hide and flick down, because she would be crouching behind a stand.
It actually progressed with longing stares. Blue meshed with blue for minutes, sometimes hours at a time.
She could sit outside of his apartment at midnight, watching as he slipped off his shirt, slowly and deliberately, as if he knew she was there and was giving her, her own private show.
He felt her eyes prodding him, his carefully sculpted muscles from years of training. He would look her way and know he couldn't see her because she always hid in the shadows. However, he could always seem to guess where she was hidden in the disarray of the cities rooftops. Their eyes would meet and she would stare. Moments would tick by slowly and he would almost reach out, uttering her name under his breath.
He would sit across the way of her family's flower shop, tracing her figure with his eyes.
She could almost always guess which bust, blond young woman was staring at him, for she knew he was much to smart to go as himself. She would lean over and water the plants, giving him a little tease before she turned around and rushed behind the counter and into the back room. She would return with a watering can and look across the way, her blue eyes meeting his for minutes that seemed to pass far too quickly, as clients repeatedly interrupted her.
They would stare and stare, never actually able to reach out and touch, for she knew that her friends came first, and Hinata might actually harm someone, and he knew that Shikamaru could get deadly once in a while.
So, she would always be watching him outside of his window. He would always be sitting across the street from her flower shop. Because, eye contact was the only way they could explain whatever they felt.
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NaruIno drabble.
Standard disclaimers apply.
Written for Hotari-chan.