Hinata stood, gazing at her reflection in the mirror located in the far right corner of her room. Her hands traced over her full figure; a trait that had emerged once she fully embraced puberty. Sure, she was always busty when compared to her fellow young kunoichi, but now...well, she figured once she reached adulthood she would have caught up to Tsunade. In fact, there were often times where she caught the eyes of her fellow leaf ninja staring at them; all except the one she wanted to notice. She sighed a bit, and lowered her head. This caused her flowing locks of dark blue hair to shuffle against her back. Truth be told, she was a little upset that Naruto hadn't said anything much to her since she blurted out her feelings for him during the fight against Pain. But then again, she realized, he was barely in the village anyway.
Hinata sighed again, while taking another look in the mirror. Her hair was long, yet was always neatly managed and lush-looking. And even her eyes were rather magnificent. Sure, her entire clan had the same eyes, but hers possessed a more lavender-tint to them; and more importantly, they always leaked out her emotions. Her dreams, her desires, her aspirations; all of those things could be revealed if one looked deep enough. It was rare that she praised herself, but overall she was quite beautiful. The fact that she was a curvy and full-figured only served to heightened that fact. "He'll notice...one day.' She whispered to herself, before setting off into the village.
Hinata had been so absent-minded while she was walking, that she nearly ran into someone. "Hey, watch out Hinata!" She knew that voice all too well. She managed to snap out of her thoughts just in time to maneuver herself out of the boy's way. However, he stopped after this and began to stare at her; his sharp canine teeth poked out through his grin. The boy then ran a hand though his short, dark hair as if it was helping him analyze her better. Kiba was good for that unfortunately. He noticed whenever something was bother Hinata. He always knew, a fact that Hinata hated. Sure, Kiba was nice, and of course the two were the best of friends.. But he seemed to have an unnecessarily intense rivalry with Naruto, so intense that whenever she brought his name up, he would go on an endless rant that usually left her worse left her worse off than before she talked to him. "What's wrong?"
"Noth-" Hinata began to say, but Kiba gave her his infamous eyebrow raise. That eyebrow raise that said "I know that you're lying, so just tell me the truth. And if you don't then I will make your life a living hell." "It's just well, I confessed my feelings to Naruto but I haven't even been able to speak to him since, and-"
"That's just like that damn Naruto!" Kiba completely missed the point to Hinata's plight. "That idiot can't even see the great woman in front of him! Well, I'll just have to beat him until he does." Hinata knew this would happen, which was why she wanted to keep this to herself in the first place. She was luckily spared from the entirety of his rant by the arrival of Akamaru, who came bolting up from behind her. The large dog then proceeded to lick Hinata's entire face, which only took one stroke of hi massive tongue in the first place, before barking at Kiba. "You found me! Now you hide, and I'll see if I can teach you down!" Hinata managed to slip away while he was distracted.
Hinata realized while walking, that her teammates would be no help. Kiba was too excitable to actually concentrate on her problem, and Shino was too anti-social to deal with matters of the heart successfully. Furthermore, she concluded her family would provide the same level of insight on her situation. Her sister was too young, and not to mention she was sure that Hanabi never left her house anyway besides for training and missions. Her father, well, was severely lacking in relationship skills to say the least. And Neji would try his best, but he'd just end up commenting on how complex Naruto was, and that he wasn't close enough to understand his feelings. Kurenai sensei would help, perhaps, but she was not only pregnant, but recently lost her lover. It hardly seemed fair for her to be bothering Kurenai about this. Before she knew it however, her legs had carried her to the front of Kurenai's house. "Well' I haven't seen her in a few days." She rationalized while knocking on the door. It wasn't Kurenai who answered however, it was Shikamaru. Kurenai's self-appointed protected looked at Hinata for several minutes, with that look of disinterestedness that was the standard for him. Finally, he let her into the home and stepped outside to allow the two females some privacy.
"Oh, Hinata. What a pleasant surprise!" Kurenai sat up from her chair, and gave her pupil a hug. Hinata didn't need her Byakugan to see the radiant glow that Kurenai had gained from being pregnant. Kurenai led Hinata back to the couch, where the two caught up on each others' lives. It was rather difficult for Kurenai to be unable to lead her team on missions, although they understood and told her not to worry. "I heard that you were very brave during the attack against Pain. I'm extremely proud of you. You certainly have come a long way from being that shy and timid little girl. I also heard that you confessed a certain something to that special someone." Hinata smiled and enjoyed the praise, before sighing.
"That was what I wanted to talk to you about..." Hinata began, before explaining her dilemma. When she was finished, she breathed a sigh of relief. Just knowing her sensei was listening put her a little more at ease. Not only that, but Hinata could see that behind those large, crimson eyes, she was desperately searching for an answer.
"Well, I would suggest talking to someone who knows a lot about Naruto. Kakashi would probably be your best bet. Him, or Iruka, but Kakashi has seen more of Naruto's growth. Iruka has known him longer, but I'd still say that Kakashi is your best bet. Hinata smiled brightly at Kurenai's suggestion. Of course, she should have asked Kakashi. Why didn't she think of that before. "Now go. Around this time, he's more than likely at the memorial stone. Don't forget to bring your boyfriend be when you nap him." She added with a wink to go along with it, which made Hinata become as red as a tomato. She thanked her sensei once more and embraced her, before hurrying off to find Kakashi.
Once she located him, she wasted no time explaining her frustrating situation to him. "Ah...I see. I guess Naruto still has a lot of growing up to do in certain aspects..." Kakashi folded his arms, as if he were trying to think. Hinata couldn't tell for sure, due to the fact that most of his face was hidden behind his mask. "Well, knowing Naruto, he's too focused to react to your comment I'm sad to say. He's rather a simple mind really; he has to focus on one task before switching over to the next, and typically he arranges that in chronological order. So right now, his brain is focused on bring Sasuke Uchiha back. Once he can move on from that goal, or just simply shift his focused from that, then you'll receive an answer. However, as far as his feelings towards you, that remains a mystery. Naruto isn't very good at communicating his feelings with anyone, and that includes himself. It takes a great deal of turmoil before that happens. " Hinata let Kakashi's speech play over and over in her mind for the rest of the day, and for the entirety of the night. By the time that the morning dew hit, she had finally reached a conclusion.
"I've got it..." She thought, while scribbling a note on a scroll. She left the note on her bed, and smiled a bit before leaving her home. "I just have to go save Sasuke Uchiha and bring him back." She stepped foot out of the village, and began her effort to track down Sasuke before Naruto returned.
