AN: This is an okay beginning. I just wanted to really start this and get it going, but I promise that the next ones will be better so bear with me. I am a very straight to the point writer, but I like details, so most of my chapters won't be like 8k words. Otherwise please enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto


Chapter One: Unnoticed Feelings


The sun began to make its debut for the day as it lit the edges of Konoha. Its light finally made its way to the home of Hinata Hyuga as she gazed out of her open window. She hadn't slept all night; her mind wouldn't allow her to sleep. She would close her eyes and only see his face: Naruto. It was not only troubling her, but hurting her. The thought of him caused her inner turmoil and sometimes thoughts of regret. The thoughts of regret stemmed from the moment she opened her mouth and said, "I love you, I always will."

Her words echoed within her mind; they were almost ringing. Over and over again the words repeated and little bit of her, the smallest fragment of her began to leave. At the time she felt like it was the right thing to do. She felt as though Naruto needed to know her feelings and she wanted to be strong for once. Was this what strength was?

Telling the person you cared about how much you loved them, what they mean to you and your life and being ultimately ignored? It's been two years since the end of the Shinobi World War.

Two years.

Slowly but surely, she was starting to feel like it was all for nothing. Naruto had not made so much of a hint to what was going on, or his feelings about her whether or not they'd been reciprocated. Anything, she would accept anything but this silence, this pretending that nothing happened. She just wanted to be acknowledged.

She moved to the edge of her bed and stood to her feet. Who knows? It was a new day and anything could happen. She stretched her arms and legs and began to get ready for the day ahead of her. Two years may seem like a short amount of time, but a lot of things happened within that span. Back then she was a Chuunin, fighting everyone in the Ninja World and right now she was Jounin. She had excelled in her Byakugan ability, increasing the distance of the technique and as well as her taijutsu. She had no choice but to become prepared to be the head. After the war, things had moved so quickly that she hadn't had time to think or even decide whether not it was the life she wanted to lead. But right now it didn't matter. She had responsibilities and those didn't include love interests anyway.

Hinata took a deep breath and looked at her reflection. She forced a small smile before it slowly faded away. "Get it together…" She whispered to herself before heading out of her home. At the front door, she grabbed her shoes and slipped them on. She was going to be late for her training with Kiba and Akamaru.


She had run full speed to the training site and was completely out of breath. Hinata pressed her hand against a nearby tree in order to keep herself up and catch her breath. She looked up she see Akamaru waiting patiently next to Kiba who'd been almost glaring at her. She stood straight up and cleared her throat. "Sorry. I just lost track of time…" Hinata muttered, doing her best to keep her eyes locked onto Kiba. She had learned to face people when speaking with them and over time she had gained confidence. Ever since the war, she could feel herself gaining more pride as well as receiving more respect from the other villagers. The shinobi wasn't going to allow anyone to look down on her any longer. She didn't want to be weak; she wanted to be considered strong.

Still, it didn't stop her from feeling vulnerable when Kiba gave her that look.

"You're late again." He growled tersely.

"I-I know. I just…got hung up at home and..." She stammered.

"This is unacceptable Hinata. What's going on? I thought you had everything under control? You've been improving and you seem to be able to take care of everything, but lately since you've had some downtime, since the small festival we had a week ago…you've been acting strange. You need to get it together!" He chastised. Akamaru barked in accord. She knew that, she knew all of that. She didn't know what had gotten into her.

Wait.

She did. How could she lie to herself? She knew exactly why she was acting this way. It had all been because of the celebration of the village. The Day of New Beginnings is what it's called. It's the day when everyone from all over gets together and celebrates the end of the Shinobi World War and the coming together of the countries. That day she'd seen Naruto and had been briefly reminded of where they stood.


"Oh stop it grandma before you hurt yourself!" Naruto laughed as Tsunade glared at him. His laughter was interrupted by a knock on the head and a burst of laughter from Sakura. Sasuke sat in the background, seemingly uninterested in what was going on while Ino and Chouji joined in on the fun. Hinata smiled a bit as the two teams chortled together. It was nice to have them all together again like this for the second year in a row. All was well and everyone seemed to be moving forward.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto seemed to be catching up on old times. Things seemed to be going well for the former Team 7. Ino and Chouji were doing their usual things, with Ino being the successor of the Yamanaka clan and head of the Torture and Interrogations division and Chouji becoming the head of the Akimichi clan. Shikamaru and Temari seemed to be hitting things off pretty well considering they had been together all the time and Kiba and Shino became more actively involved with their clans as well. As for Tenten had her hands full with Guy and Lee as they continued to take on missions together. With the end of the war, it didn't mean that it was the end of all crime. There were still things that needed taking care of as far as missions went and making sure that something so big never happened again always fell on their laps.

But today was a celebration. Today was a day to forget all of that and to come together and be happy that they all still had each other. It didn't feel like a celebration, not to Hinata. Hinata had everything. She had the respect of her father, fellow ninja, and villagers, but saying that she had everything was saying a lot. She didn't have him. She didn't have Naruto. She glanced over at the blond as he continued to laugh and eat Ramen with everyone. It was hard seeing him this close. She could never get any closer to him than where she sat. Occasionally she could see Sakura place a hand on him in a small gesture showing how much she cared about both Sasuke and Naruto. Hinata watched as Sakura sat between the two of them, looking happy. Naruto looked over at Sakura with a smile as big as his bowl.

'Will he ever smile at me like he smiles at her?' She thought before heaving a sigh. She tried not to let it bother her. Ino glanced over at Hinata and noticed her lack of laughter with the rest.

"You okay? Here have some more to eat." Ino smiled as she handed Hinata a bowl. Politely, she took it and smiled at Ino before staring down at the broth. Slowly, she could feel it all sinking in. How long had it been since Naruto spoke to her? How long since that day? She exhaled and began to quietly eat her ramen.


Remembering the feeling that he left in her traveled with her for a week. How could she have forgotten? She'd gotten herself wrapped up in all the things she needed to do in order to train and learn the ways of the Hyuga clan that she somehow forgot about Naruto. She almost wished that she had continued to forget because it was interfering with her work.

"Hello? Are you even listening?" Kiba raised his voice irritably. Hinata broke away from her thoughts and smiled a little.

"Yes, I am I'm listening."


Panting, Hinata took a small drink of water before wiping the sweat from her forehead and deactivating her byakugan. Akamaru was licking away at his bowl, he was a little bruised but neither he nor Kiba made any complaints. Hinata moved to Akamaru first and began to use the mystical palm technique in order to heal his wounds a bit. Kiba watched her attentively before turning his head.

"That was pretty good." He complimented, trying to keep his eyes away from her.

"Thank you. I've been practicing a bit on my own as well." Hinata remained focused on Akamaru until he was all patched up. She stood to her feet and then looked to Kiba. "Do you want me to heal you up too?" Kiba's eyes narrowed over at her before he looked away again.

"No, I'm fine. But thanks…for Akamaru I mean." He was being so awkward; she hoped that he was okay. Brushing her sweaty bangs from her eyes, she slowly exhaled and began to make her way to the edge of the training grounds. To think that before all of this, she trained with Hiashi, her father, in Senbon Sparring for so long to bring her to this point. She remembered when she was younger, how she never thought she would even be able to do that. "Hey, um, Hinata…me and Akamaru are gonna head in the village to get some food." Kiba stumbled on his words a bit, he tried to shake it. He wasn't usually like this, but for some odd reason things had changed while he'd been spending more time with Hinata. Today, he thought he'd try something a little different instead of their usual parting ways act.

This took Hinata by surprise, but she really didn't think much of it. As a matter of fact, the Hyuga hadn't realized how hungry she was. "That sounds great. Just give me a chance to have a bath and I'll meet you there." She smiled a bit and began to hurry off.

"I'll meet you at Ichiraku!" Kiba called after her while Akamaru barked in delight. The dog wagged its tail and looked up to its partner. Kiba looked down at Akamaru and pet him excitedly. "This is great. Now maybe I'll get a chance to move this forward, right Akamaru?" Akamaru barked as if to reply and Kiba chucked to himself. He'd finally mustered up the courage to ask her and now this was his chance.


At the ramen shop, Kiba waited until Hinata showed up. While he waited, his ears picked up the sound of a familiar voice. 'Ugh, not him again…' He thought as he glanced out of the corner of his eye. He could see an orange and black jumper quickly making its way to the ramen shop. He had to admit it was his own fault for picking the ramen shop in the first place. The spikey haired blond made his way quickly up and onto the stool with a grin, right where Kiba had planned for Hinata to sit. The canine began to show his teeth a little, gritting them as Naruto made his usual order.

"Hey Kiba! How's it going?" Naruto beamed after finally completing his order.

"Oh nothing, just—"Kiba began before a familiar smell travelled to his nose.

She was here!

He turned to see her running up to the ramen shop. "I came here as fast as I could." She explained, with her hands on her knees. When she'd finally caught her breath, she stood up to see Naruto sitting there. "Oh. Hi Naruto." A tint of flush appeared on her cheeks as Naruto spun around in his chair and beamed his smile at Hinata as well.

"Hey, Hinata how's it going? I heard you've been training lately. Maybe we should train sometime?" The blond cheesed.

"Oh uh sure. I wouldn't mind that." Hinata moved a piece of hair behind her ear as she struggled to keep eye contact with Naruto. Kiba watched the entirety of this interaction and almost couldn't believe it. It wasn't like he hadn't known all this time about Hinata's feelings, but what really baffled him was the fact that Naruto really was an idiot. Here is Hinata, a girl he could feel himself starting to like and he was making an effort to have her in his life for as long as he could. And there's Naruto, who's grinning like the village idiot unaware of the fact that she's been waiting for him. It pissed him off more than anything to see Naruto be so stupid about someone so beautiful. He honestly didn't see what she saw in him.

Hinata moved to sit next to Naruto which made Naruto a wall between Kiba and Hinata. This pissed him off even more. He growled as he ordered his ramen and Hinata went ahead and ordered as well. When all of their meals arrived, Naruto and Kiba both quickly began to feast on their meals while Hinata slowly began to eat. In between bites, Naruto spoke up, "So what have you guys been up to? Any new missions lately?"

Kiba remained silently while he ate. Right then, he was still seething at the fact that he was still there. Akamaru could tell that the situation wasn't going to get any better and that Naruto wouldn't be leaving any time soon and if he had left, they'd all be done eating and he'd miss out on another chance to talk to Hinata in private. "I've been training more and more lately," Hinata began, "As for missions, they've been very small B or C rank ones. Most of them are deliveries or to keep peace with the other countries. What about you Naruto?" Hinata looked up, clearly interested in what Naruto had to say. From Kiba's standpoint it was the most interest she'd shown in weeks.

'This fucking guy…' Kiba thought before he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I've been working on a few things, like my rasengan. Ever since the end of the shinobi war, I've been trying to better harness my Six Paths Senjutsu. It's coming along pretty well. I can feel myself becoming even stronger. Soon enough, ole grandma will retire and I'll take up being Hokage." Naruto joked as he continued to eat his bowl of ramen.

"That's great Naruto. I'm very glad for you." Hinata replied with the most genuine smile Kiba had seen in months. He stared down at his bowl, unable to say much with her looking like that at Naruto. Akamaru nudged him with his wet nose and he smiled a bit at his companion. Hinata took a few more bites and decided that she didn't want to get too full. It was odd being near Naruto. She was so glad that she got to be near him like this and that he was actually talking to her. But somehow she felt a little guilty, but couldn't put her finger onto as to why.

"Tch, well I've been workin' on some things myself. Me and my pal Akamaru here have been workin' on our Rotating Fang. I'd say we've made a lot of progress. Right Akamaru?" Akamaru agreed with his partner with a bark and wag of his tail. Hinata leaned over the counter, past Naruto so that she could see Kiba's face. When she had, she could see Kiba and Akamaru interacting with one another and it made her smile. He always seemed the happiest with Akamaru. They had such a strong connection and she wished that she had something like that with someone. She was never really close to her sister Hanabi, since Hiashi always seemed to have her under his wing. She didn't know the feeling of having someone to go to in order to spill her feelings or tell her secrets to.

Kiba caught a glimpse of Hinata's smile which seemed to be directed towards him now. He continued to grin knowing that he had somehow taken Naruto's spotlight. Naruto didn't seem to mind at all. Overall, he seemed pleased that everyone had some things going for them and that they were improving. He was just glad to have them in his life and considered them friends. Even if he and Kiba bickered every once and a while, seeing them succeed meant everything to him.

"Well I'm all done. Thanks again as always Teuchi! It was great!" Naruto left his money on the counter and hopped out of his chair. He allowed his body to have one good stretch before linking his hands behind his head. "It's good to know that you guys are doing well. We should all do this again sometime. In the meantime I think I'm gonna head back and meet up with grandma. I guess I'll see you guys later." Naruto cheesed before getting ready to head off. Hinata stood up straight and watched as Naruto began to leave. She waved after him, almost looking dismal. Sliding off her seat, she looked over at Kiba.

"I guess I had better go as well. I promised my father that I'd be home to practice a little with Hanabi." It wasn't something that she looked forward to, but at least it was something to be proud of. Finally she felt like a big sister and she wanted to keep that up with the clan. It was unfortunate to see Naruto leave like that. She hadn't even mustered up the courage to speak with him about her feelings. The dreams that she'd had when she was trapped within the infinite tsukuyomi, she'd hoped they would become a reality when all the fighting came to an end. She clenched her fist against her chest. She couldn't lose hope or determination. If there was anything that she'd admired about Naruto, it was the fact that he never gave up when it came to something he pursued. As someone that she looked up to, she felt that she could follow his lead as well.

Kiba was a little disappointed. Of all the things, how could he forget that this was Naruto's favorite hangout spot!? Everyone knew that this was the go to place for Naruto. He supposed he got so caught up with inviting her out in the first place that something so important was overlooked. He was still pissed about it, but now was not the time to take it out onto her. It wasn't her fault that he fucked himself over. "Right, well you just remember not to be late tomorrow." Kiba growled in his usual tone as he turned back to his bowl. Hinata nodded with a small smile and couldn't help but brush off his usual character.

"Right, I'll be on time next time I promise."