Artificial confidence

The more I see him, the more I realize how far away from me he is.
"Hinata"
Why can't he just come up to talk to me? No. Why can't I go up and talk to him?
"Hinata"
I'm so dumb. Is it weird I counted how many times he hugged me? Five. Five times. If I were to tell someone that my crush hugged me 5 times, they would say I'm lucky.
"Hinata!"
But he hugs everyone. I don't have enough fingers to count how many times he hugged- or attempted to hug Sakura. He hugs everyone including the Senseis, students, friends, and enemies. So I'm pretty dumb. "HINATA!"
The table shook, startling Hinata and causing her to almost spill her drink. Hinata looks up to see Tenten's angry expression. "I'm sorry Tenten. I was kinda distracted" Hinata apologizes looking into Tenten's dark brown eyes.
"What's up with you lately? You've been so distant" she asks concerned. "It's just I've been thinking about talking to You Know Who" Hinata answers honestly.
Tenten and Hinata were sitting together in the lunch break at Konoha High School. "I think you should forget about him. It's been like four years." Tenten scolds. Hinata looks down at the disgusting school food. It actually has been five years.
"I know," Hinata says "but I can't let him go that easily. Trust me, I tried" she smiled bitterly. Tenten pointed up at the sky with an "ahh!" As if an idea hit her. "How about you confess to him?!" She suggests, sarcasm dripping from each word. Hinata takes a sip from her drink and swallows taking her time. "I did remember?" Hinata asked playfully. Tenten rolls her eyes "That doesn't count, he didn't even get the confession" she says smirking.

Flashback- eighth grade

"The dance is tomorrow, hurry up and ask him" Tenten urged Hinata. They were sitting at the back of their classroom. "I can't, he probably isn't even going" Hinata answered. "Fine, how about you write a note and pass it to him" Tenten suggested. A note? That shouldn't be hard to do…
 "Fine," she grumbled. Hinata grabbed a purple marker and started to write. Usually, her handwriting is neat but her hand was shaking so bad it looked like a little kid wrote it.

She read it: can u go to the dance w/ me? -Hinata

Tenten looked over Hinata's shoulder and read it "Perfect!" She grabbed it to pass it down. "N-no! It's not perfect" Hinata quality snatched it back and crumpled it. Tenten rolled her eyes. That's when Hinata spotted Ino writing with an invisible ink pen in the desk in front of hers

"Hey Tenten, what if I write the note with Ino's pen?" Hinata asked pointing to the pen. "How is he supposed to read it?" Tenten mutters. "We just give him the pen" Hinata resolved. Tenten shrugs. "Hey Ino," Hinata says quietly "Can I see your pen?"

"Sure," Ino says hesitantly. "Thank you!" Hinata exclaims gratefully. She grabs another piece of paper and starts writing. When she finished, she shone the purple light on the words and read it:
do u wanna go to the dance with me? As her signature, Hinata drew the hyūga symbol.

Hopefully, he won't think Neji is asking him to the dance. Hinata giggles at the thought. She nods at Tenten and turned to face Ino. "Hey ino, can you pass the note and the pen to Naruto?" Hinata asks. Ino nods and passes the note to the person in front of her— but not the pen. "Ino! Why didn't you pass the pen?!" Tenten almost screams. Ino scrunches up her nose "why would give my pen to him?" She asked bitterly. "Why wouldn't you?" It was Hinata's turn to talk. "He is a loser. He can't get near my pen" Ino says proudly. Hinata watched as the "blank" note traveled closer to Naruto. Her heart was racing. It's not like her stupid pen is that important. It was one dollar at the book fair. She watched nervously as Shikamaru passed the paper down to Naruto and said: "Hinata said to give this to you".

Tenten glared angrily at Ino. What will he think when he gets a blank paper. What if he thinks I'm a weirdo.

Hinata held her breath when Naruto opened the paper. She watched as he grabbed a marker and write something down. He crumpled it and threw it to Hinata. Her shaky hands barely could catch it. "Hey, Naruto! Don't throw things in the classroom!" Iruka-Sensei scolds him. "What did he write?" Tenten asked curiously. Hinata opens it hesitantly.
He had drawn a cinnamon roll. Hinata felt like fainting. He remembered my favorite food from 6th grade.

End flashback

"Hinata, you dream too much," tenten explains "But if you want the dream to come true, you gotta talk to him".

Hinata sighed in defeat, "I guess you're right"

"Whatcha talkin' bout ladies!?" A loud and obnoxious voice exclaimed— it was ino.
She just invited herself and sat next to Tenten. "Hinata here just can't get the courage to confess her love to You Know Who." Tenten says with bunny ears around "You Know Who".
Hinata demands on using "You Know Who" because hearing or saying his name almost became a taboo for her.

Hinata hung her head in shame. "Aww you poor thing," ino cooed. Soon Sakura soon joined the group. "I know," Hinata sighed.
"I just wish there was this magical potion to make her more confident," Tenten said jokingly.

Ino's jaw dropped dramatically.

"Hinata I think we can help you…" ino said looking smugly at Sakura. "No," Sakura said bluntly. "Why not?" Ino pushed. "We can't mess around with that stuff," Sakura says.

At this point, Hinata is lost with the conversation. She looked at Tenten and shrugged.
"Sakura's grandma makes potions for everything" ino blurts. "Ino-pig!" Sakura yells. "Really?!" Tenten exclaims turning to Hinata only for her face to go bright red.

"We can totally make a confidence potion!" Tenten says. Sakura frowned, still against the idea. Part of her thought it was a good idea— but the other part was sure it would lead to trouble.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Ino asks.
"There are...side effects. Sometimes they could be subtle, but sometimes they could be extreme. It depends on the person" Sakura informs turning her head to Hinata.
"I want your opinion on this Hinata" Sakura asked. "Will this make me more confident around him?" Hinata asked.
Sakura nodded.

I don't want artificial confidence. I want to tell Naruto-Kun at my own pace. Hinata shook her head. Tenten and ino dramatically groaned in defeat.
Sakura has secretly wanted Hinata to agree. She wanted to help her friend because everyone in the world knew Hinata didn't have the guts to tell Naruto.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Hinata's stomach twisted; her next class was with Naruto. That class was art. Hinata could draw, people would tell her she was amazing at it. She had always loved art but has never been any good at it— until she met Naruto that is.
She walked into the class, her eyes instantly scanning the classroom for Naruto. Once she spotted him, she tried to sit as close to him as possible. She picked a spot one desk away from him.

Maybe this time he'll notice my art.

"Okay class, today we are gonna draw self-portraits. Remember, I'm looking for the best art to hang up in the hallway." Tsunade said. I hate that teacher.
Hinata walked over to the counter to get the right pencils for her drawing. Her hand moved swiftly on the paper, drawing soft almost nonexistent lines.
I don't feel like drawing myself. She looked at what Naruto was drawing.
He wasn't drawing himself— he was drawing the most realistic bowl of ramen she's ever seen. Watching his hand dance about the paper, bringing it to life, was absolutely mesmerizing. Hinata couldn't help but stare. She turned to look back at her paper. Hinata continued to draw herself, she was struggling with the lips. Sometimes they were too big and other times too small. She had watched endless YouTube videos on how to draw lips, but never got the hang of it.

She cursed under her breath as she erased the lips so hard she thought the paper would rip. Whenever I cannot draw something, I find a weird way around it. For example, when I was first learning how to draw, I couldn't draw hands. I would draw tentacles coming out of the arm, someone cutting the person's hands-off, or just simply drawing them in their pockets.

She drew a hand covering her mouth.

Tsunade walked up to naruto's desk. Hinata watched as she shook her head and grabbed his paper, only to crumple it up to throw away. "Aw c'mon granny!" Naruto pleaded "It was a self-portrait. I put a lot of Narutomaki in the ramen". Kids started to snicker and Naruto smirked.
Hinata found herself blushing and looking away. Tsunade places a blank paper on his desk. "Why can't you act more like Hinata?" She asks him. "Look she drew herself perfectly".
Tsunade loves me; I hate it. "Because I'm not perfect like her" Naruto grumbled.

He thinks I'm perfect?

Tsunade walks over to her desk. "Hinata, your picture is so symbolic. Is there a particular reason why your hand is covering your mouth?" She asked. "Because…" I had multiple reasons in my head. I thought about what Tsunade would think is more "symbolic".

"I saw someone die. I was surprised" Hinata answered as if it was a joke. "Wow… I really appreciate how much thought and feeling you put in this picture" Tsunade complimented. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Do you mind me hanging this in the hallway?"

Hinata was about to say sure until she saw Naruto roll his eyes and look the other way.

"N-no, I would like to keep it" she answered. "Very well then, you'll still get an A" she smiled. When Hinata saw her turn away to talk to another student, she crumbled her paper. Hinata glanced at Naruto. I could never talk to him. I wonder what he thinks of me. She grabbed another piece of paper to draw and practiced drawing lips. "Wow, those are good" she heard someone compliment her. It was Kiba. "Hi, Kiba-Kun.
Thanks, but I can't get them to look even" She said casually.
He sighed, "you know, I don't know why I take art," he said honestly, "I thought it would be an easy A. But Tsunade is really tough".

I laughed. "Your laugh is really pretty" Kiba is always flirting with me. I wonder if Naruto heard that, what if he agrees? Hinata blushes at the thought. "I see you blushing Hinata" Kiba teases. It's not because of you. Hinata just shook her head and went back to drawing.

"Let's do it behind her back" ino suggest. Tenten nodded in agreement "but what if it makes her too confident and she ends up embarrassing herself?" Tenten asked worriedly. Sakura shook her head "we'll make sure we only give her a little,"

"Yosh!" Ino exclaims "Sakura, will you have the potion ready tomorrow?"

Sakura nodded "We'll put it in her drink."

Tenten smiles "I'll buy her something from 711 tomorrow morning. I'll put it in if you give me the potion this afternoon"

They had a plan.

Hinata knocked on the door of her house. She had forgotten the key again. Don't tell me dad is still sleeping. She looked at the spot where the car was supposed to be parked and it wasn't there. Mom isn't here. She remembered that time she had to climb the fence in the backyard to get in the house— her dad was a heavy sleeper.
That same day her mother had given her house keys. Hinata reached in her pocket to pull out her phone. Neji was probably home. He never answers the door because of his headphones.

Neji

Hinata: r u home? I forgot my Keys.

He replied surprisingly quick.

Neji: again? Yeah. I'm home just wait I'm taking a shit.

Hinata rolled her eyes. He probably wanted to gross her out. Her older cousin Neji was in college. He stays with them because their house is close to the college he attends.

Hinata: bruh. TMI

Neji: lol

After a few minutes, Hinata saw the doorknob turn. "Thanks, Neji," Hinata said as she stepped inside. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Hinata," Neji said with a smirk.

"What?"

"You gotta tell me why you are smiling so much"

Hinata didn't even realize that it was so obvious.

"Is it about that Naruto guy?" He questioned. Hinata blushes. "It is!" He exclaims laughing. "It's not really a big deal" Hinata hardly whispers. "What he do?"

Hinata shook her head. "He kissed you!" Neji accused. "N-no!" Hinata practicality yelled, careful not to wake her dad. "He… confessed?"

"No! Neji, he didn't even talk to me" Hinata said. "Then why are you so happy," he asked disappointedly. Hinata surprisingly felt excited to tell her cousin. "So, I was in art class right?" She said. Neji nodded.

"Tsunade got upset that he didn't draw himself and said 'why can't you be more like Hinata?' And he was all like 'because I'm not perfect like her' or something" Hinata finished smiling all giddily. Neji put a hand on her shoulder "not to burst your bubble Hinata, but I think you're reading too much into this. He would've said it to whoever Tsunade mentioned" he said honestly.
Hinata nodded "I know, you're right. Thanks, Neji"

"No problem. You know what you really need to do is talk to him" Neji suggests.

Hinata nodded and smiled. She hugged her cousin and walked upstairs to her bedroom to do her homework.

To be continued

Welcome to my new story. This random human PMed me giving me this awesome story idea. This is expected to be a three-shot. The other chapters should be much longer than this one. I'm a really slow writer so I don't know when I'm gonna update it. it should be sometime around next week, if not then the week after.

please review, fav and follow. (tbh idc if they r bad reviews just don't tell me to die or something)