All right, it's confession time: Never before have I even attempted to write a romance. Heck, I've never even considered it. You- yes, you, reading this now- will be witness to my very first romantic work, for good or ill.

So I'll need your help.

Tell me what you think, without reserve. I'm looking for complete and utter honesty, whatever you really, truly believe. When it's too sappy, tell me. When it's too action-packed, tell me. If you think I'm lapsing into another genre too often, tell me. This is going to be a learning experience for me, and I'm determined to get as much out of it as I possibly can.

(I probably won't be stopping for edits, just posting as soon as I write a chapter, so I can't vouch for quality of writing. Sorry.)

Song of Paper Cranes

Chapter I. Silence

Hinata hesitated, her hand almost but not quite touching the golden petals of the flower.

Her heart was pounding, and her face was so hot that she knew she must be blushing. She glanced furtively around the flower shop, as if in guilt. It was completely deserted. Even the desk was unoccupied- Mrs. Yamanaka was busy arranging centerpieces in the back room, and Ino was visiting Choji at the hospital. Hinata cast her gaze back down to her toes.

Then, almost inadvertently, she tilted her head up again.

As she looked at the flower once more, her resolve wavered.

She jerked her hand back and stuffed it into the pocket of her jacket with a squeak of embarrassment. This was silly, Naruto-kun wouldn't want anything so useless, and she would never be able to give it to him anyway. Maybe she could leave it outside his door at the hospital, with a note. Or maybe without a note. She didn't want him to be upset with her if he didn't like it.

But-

Her reverie was interrupted by the jingling of the store bell.

"Mom, I'm home!" called Ino as she entered. "What's the-"

The blond girl broke off as she spotted Hinata, her salesperson instincts clicking on. Grabbing her work apron from behind the counter, she made a beeline towards the other girl. Her smile was bright and her eyes glinted with curiosity. Hinata tried belatedly to shuffle away from the display, but to no avail. Ino tossed her ponytail over her shoulder as she approached.

"Hinata-chan!" she cried, leaning down slightly to wrap one arm around the smaller girl. "Buying flowers? Do tell!"

"Um..." Hinata looked down. "I- I-"

"Hmm," mused Ino. "Not gonna say who, huh? For someone special then? Maybe for Kiba-kun or for Shino-kun?"

"N-no!" cried Hinata, louder than she meant to. "I mean, n-no. K-Kiba-kun doesn't like flowers b-becasue th-they hurt his n-nose, and Sh-Shino-kun is aller-allergic."

Ino's face fell a little, but she nodded understandingly. "Sorry," she said with an appeasing grin. "But I guess I just assumed- daffodils, you know?"

"Daffodils?"

Ino laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I forget that you're not Forehead-chan. She's used to all my crazy flower trivia, I guess. Here, look."

The blond girl traced the petals of the golden flower lightly. "This yellow one here is a daffodil. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful spring flowers. Because it grows from a bulb, you can plant it once and it will grow again every spring. That's why it symbolizes rebirth and renewal, and new beginnings. You can give it to someone who you just had an argument with to tell them that you want to make up and start over. Or you can give it to a person who's had a hard time and needs some cheering up."

Hinata smiled. Its petals had reminded her of Naruto-kun from the start, and it was nice to learn that it could cheer Naruto up just like he cheered her.

"But that's not all." Ino lowered her voice to sound mysterious. "According to legend, there was once a beautiful young man with golden hair. He attracted attention wherever he went because of his beauty, and he was always proud and disdainful, because no one else was as beautiful as he was. But one day, when he was walking through the woods, he stopped at a pond to drink some water. And in the water, he saw the reflection of the most beautiful human he had ever seen- himself.

"He fell in love with his own beauty and stayed there forevermore. He wouldn't sleep, because he would have to close his eyes. He wouldn't drink and disturb his own reflection. And so when he finally wasted away, the gods were so saddened that they caused beautiful golden flowers to grow where he had died, to give the world a small piece of the beauty that had been lost forever."

Hinata backed away from the flower, horrified.

"What, you don't like my story?" Ino demanded, sounding a bit miffed. "I think it's romantic."

"I l-like happy endings," murmured Hinata.

The blond girl crossed her arms. "Well, you haven't heard the best part yet. It goes like this- there was a girl who was desperately in love with the youth. Only, she was cursed only to repeat what other people had said. So even though she tried desperately to get him to notice her, she couldn't tell him. She could only feel, and love him in silence, until at last she wasted away as well. That's why daffodils also symbolize unrequited love."

Hinata was silent, and Ino eyed her expectantly.

At last she whispered, "I d-don't think I'll be getting any flowers today, I-Ino-san."

"Jeez, you really have no sense of melodrama..." Ino mused. "Well, I'm sure that we can come up with something else. Maybe something with a happier ending? Come on, let's take a look at... um... let's see, I guess lotuses don't have any bad connotations. And roses are nice too, although they do symbolize passionate love..."

The dark-haired Hyuga smiled a little but shook her head. "No, thank you, Ino-san. I don't think that Naruto-kun would like flowers anyway."

With a quick bow, she hurried out of the shop.

Ino, on the other hand, stood in the middle of the flower shop, quietly dumbstruck.

"Did she just say... Naruto?"

A soft ray of light shone from the window, gently illuminating the faded photograph on the family shrine. A slim, pretty woman smiled from behind the glass of the frame. Her hair was long and dark, and her eyes were uniformly gray. Despite this, they seemed to see clearly everything that occurred around them. Just at the moment, they were inspecting the figure of a young girl who knelt at the foot of the shrine.

Hinata bowed her head. "Give me your guidance, Mother," she prayed. "I'm not sure what to do. Please, help me.

"Naruto-kun is in the hospital," she explained to the picture of her mother. "His teammate left the village, and- I'm not sure what happened, but Naruto-kun went after him to bring him back. He and his teammate fought, and- and- well, and Naruto-kun lost. He must be so sad, and so hurt at his friend leaving him. I want to cheer him up, but I'm not sure how."

The gray-eyed woman watched Hinata with her omnipresent smile.

"I would be so upset if Kiba-kun or Shino-kun left the village though. I'm sure that he won't want to talk to me."

Hinata looked up at her mother's picture, but the woman only kept smiling tranquilly.

"Maybe I should write him a note- oh, but I'm not sure what to say. There's no way that I could understand what he's suffering right now. I want to cheer him up, not upset him even more... Oh, no. Perhaps I should just bring flowers after all? But no, Naruto wouldn't like flowers or pretty things. I could get him something useful. What would he need right now...? Maybe some new kunai? He must have lost some in his last mission. Oh, but that would just remind him of Sasuke-kun again and upset him. And besides, kunai wouldn't cheer anyone up.

"Naruto-kun likes... well, he likes ramen, but I couldn't give him ramen in the hospital. He also likes sparring, and comic books. And new ninjutsu- oh, that's a terrible idea. I need to think of something better! Maybe I should bring him food. He likes food, I think. That might cheer him up a little."

She looked up at the woman in the picture once more. The smile seemed a little warmer now, or at least she thought.

"Thank you, mother," she said softly, touching her forehead to the floor once more.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew into the room from the open door. Hinata looked up in surprise- it had been a hot day, and not particularly windy at all- and began to stand up. She didn't want any leaves blowing into the room, so she had better close the door.

Then she stopped suddenly.

One of the small origami cranes that had been decorating the shrine had tumbled down from its shelf amongst the garlands of flowers. She leaned down to pick it up and replace it in the alcove before she closed the shrine doors again.

Then she stopped.

A small smile formed on her lips as she examined the little paper bird once more. Then she turned to the faded photograph in the shrine and bowed deeply, her hair falling forward to hide her beaming face.

"Thank you, mother," she said softly, "For your guidance."

"Can I help you?" inquired the attendant at the front desk. He looked a little out of temper, and Hinata quailed at the thought of speaking to him.
Her heartbeat sped up, and she avoided his gaze.

Come, Hinata, she chastised herself sternly, You promised you would do this. You promised.

"I- I w-w-would l-like to v-visit Naruto Uzumaki, p-please," she stammered, face scarlet. She felt a rush of pride. She had said it! She was so close!

"Name and relation?"

"I'm a c-classmate and a f-friend of his." She hoped Naruto wouldn't be upset that she identified herself as a friend. He had said that he liked her, hadn't he? Though he had also said that she was weird...

The attendant clicked his teeth.

"Sorry," he said. "But he's in pretty bad condition and under high supervision. I can't let you visit him if you're not a direct relation, superior officer, an officially documented teammate, or given express permission by Hokage-sama. If you have any gifts or notes, I can have someone deliver them for you, but otherwise I'm going to have to deny you access."

Hinata's heart sank and her face burned. Of course she couldn't go in, how-

"I think you'll find that you can let her in," said a low male voice.

She squeaked and jerked back, startled. The back of her head collided with something warm and firm and with a jolt she realized that it was a person. She spun around, apologies already forming on her lips.

"P-p-p-please f-forgive m-m-me, I'm v-v-very s-s-s-sorry, I-"

Then her voice stopped in her throat and her eyes widened. What she was seeing couldn't be right. There was no way, she had to be mistaken. What was happening to her that she was seeing things that were so impossible? Was she dreaming? Perhaps she had misheard.

But no. There, in front of her very eyes, was Neji.

He was still bruised and injured from the mission, but her was there. He leaned heavily on crutches, and his chest was still swathed with bandages, but they were clean bandages. His hair was tied back into a high ponytail to keep it out of the way. A few stray strands were caught in the greasy smears of ointment that decorated his various unbandaged cuts, though, and his white hakama was ever so slightly disheveled.

"N-Neji-nii-sama," she stuttered. "I'm s-sorry for-"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Forgive me for bumping into you, Hinata-sama," he said quietly. "Are you all right?"

Hinata was struck dumb. She gaped up at him with wide, bewildered eyes, wondering what had happened to the world she knew.

The attendant was watching the entire episode with ill-concealed boredom. When Neji turned to face him, he raised an eyebrow dully. "What, you got a problem, kid?" he asked, tapping his nails on the desk. "We're officially still under martial law since the invasion, you know. I can have both of you escorted out of here if you cause issues. Don't make me pull rank on you, genin."

Neji placed himself in front of her, almost... protectively? "I think you'll find that difficult."

"Oh, yeah?" the attendant raised a hand and several ANBU that she had not noticed previously pricked their heads up around the room. "Don't test me."

Neji shrugged loosely. "As a genin, I don't have the authority to overturn your decision," he acknowledged carelessly. "But," he said with a casual look at Hinata, "I think you'll find that she does."

Irritated and confused, the attendant glanced at the girl briefly and then looked back at Neji. "What-?" he paused, and then looked Hinata over again.

She looked down, not wanting to meet his gaze.

As the attendant looked at her face more closely, he frowned- and then paled. It wasn't the eyes, she knew. White eyes like hers were actually fairly common in Konoha, the home of doujutsu. He'd probably known that she was a Hyuga the moment that he set eyes on her, and not given it a second thought.

It was her forehead. She had grown her bangs long to conceal it- the pale, white-skinned, unblemished forehead that set her apart from the rest of her clan. The absence of any marking that was her birthright. At first glance, she looked like any other Hyuga. But upon closer inspection, it would always be clear that she was unmarked.

Different.

But the attendant only saw the forehead, and the deferential way that Neji-nii-sama addressed her, and nodded to let her through.

She didn't like it.

As she mutely bowed to Neji in thanks- a bow too deep to be strictly appropriate for one of her status- she tried to convey some apology in her eyes, something that said she did not approve, she did not condone.

But Neji's eyes were cast, as always, respectfully downward, and the silent message went unheard.

Hinata only wished she weren't so happy that her status meant that she was allowed to see Naruto.

She raised one trembling hand to knock on the door.

And then, though her heart was pounding, and her face was red, and her legs were shaking, and her mouth was dry, and her mind was blank, she knocked.

It was a light knock, barely a tap.

There was no answer.

She knocked again, a little louder.

"U-um," she said, summoning up her courage. "H-hello, N-N-Naruto-kun?"

No reply came from within the room. Hinata was crushed. She felt a sudden, painful rush of disappointment and bitterness. Had he already been released? Or was he really in such awful condition that he was unable to answer? Or- or perhaps he just didn't want to see her at all.

She blinked away the sting of tears and sniffled a little-

-and was interrupted by an enormous snore from Naruto's room.

It was like dawn's first light breaking over the horizon. Hinata wiped her tears and her nose as wonder and relief washed through her. Of course, she had been overreacting. He was probably just asleep, recuperating, healing from his injuries. Perhaps- and here she smiled a tiny bit- she should just go in and check on him, and leave him a few gifts and maybe a note.

Hinata eased the door open quietly, so that she wouldn't wake him.

Naruto, she discovered, was a particularly ungainly sleeper. She smiled at the sight of him. He wore a T-shirt and a sleeping cap, she noted, and clung fiercely to his blanket. A thin line of drool trickled out of his open mouth onto his pillow. His golden hair stuck out every which way, and she had to stifle a giggle. Mostly though, he just looked so contented when he slept.

Mindful of his decency, though, she tugged the blanket a little so that it covered his boxers.

In a few minutes, her task was done. She left the room, smiling at her handiwork, and feeling quite fulfilled.

Back in the darkness of the hospital room, a small basket of fruit adorned the bedside table. In the basket were a dozen shiny apples, handpicked from the market stalls, arranged on a soft white cloth. There was a knot of daisies around the basket's edge, looking bright and fresh in their whiteness.

And nestled among the apples was a single paper crane.