I don't own Naruto.

Hinata sat in a booth at the Korean BBQ joint. She was sitting with her team mates Kiba and Shino and their teacher Kurenai as they talked about what they would work on after lunch. As Kurenai was telling Kiba that he needed to work on teamwork with Shino, team 10 and their sensei walked in. Kurenai acknowledged them with nod of their head and continued lecturing her pupils.

After a while, Hinata seemed to notice an imbalance among Team 10. Everything seemed to be normal, Ino was talking animatedly, Shikamaru was roling his eyes, Chouji was eating feverishly, and Asuma sensei just sat back smoking away. Everything looked normal to Hinata, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with the team.

"Uh oh," Kiba said suddenly.

"Nani?" Hinata asked tearing her eyes away from the other team.

"Ino just called Chouji the F-word," he whispered leaning over the center of the table.

"Honto?" Hinata whispered back, looking back at the other team, "Demo... he's not angry. Are you sure?"

It's true, Team 10 just sat around the table, Ino talking animatedly, Shikamaru rolling his eyes, Chouji inhaling his food, and Asuma sucking on his death stick. Then Hinata noticed something, Chouji wasn't inhaling his food, he wasn't even putting anything in his mouth. Instead he was just playing with his chopsticks. Hinata had never seen him do that. There was still food on the grill, and he wasn't going for it. Hinata continued watching Chouji as their meal progressed, and noticed that he didn't even go for the last piece of food, instead Ino took it.

Poor Chouji, Hinata thought, then forgot about what she saw when her team went to continue their training.

Hinata was hot and sweaty. She had long ago taken off her beige coat and was currently sweating through her purple tank top. She quickly motioned to Kiba that she needed a water break. As she walked over to her canteen, she saw her crush Naruto. She squeaked a little in surprise when he came running over to him. Frantically she looked for her coat, she didn't want him seeing her all sweaty.

"Oi, Kiba!" he shouted running right passed the frantic Hinata. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" was the enthusiastic reply. Kiba loved gossip.

"Ino and Chouji broke up!"

"They were dating?"

"For a while now. Where have you been?" Naruto scoffed.

This is when Hinata decided to try and eneter the conversation, "W-we've been away on missions," she said quietly.

Apparently too quietly for Naruto, because he just kept talking to Kiba, "They started dating around the same time that Sakura and me started!" he said proudly. Hinata could feel her stomach lurch. Naruto...and Sakura...After hearing this, she quietly got her gear and left the training space, without telling anyone that she was leaving.

For a while, Hinata wondered around aimlessly. Finally wanting to be alone, but not wanting to go home she settled for the Hero Stone. She sat with her back against it, wallowing in her misery. Finally after a crying jag Hinata realized something. She hurt, but it was mainly her pride. Her heart hurt a little, because she had really thought that she loved him, but her pride hurt more. Mostly because of all the times that she chickened out when it came to telling Naruto her feelings.

Hinata got a little angry then. Again, not at Naruto, but at herself. Right then and there she decided that the next time she liked someone like that, she was going to tell them, that way she wouldn't have any "what ifs" in her life. She stood up, full of purpose and hope. It was as she was gathering her gear that she heard a twig snapping. Hinata snapped her head up, looking for the source of the noise. When she saw nothing, she almost realxed. That is, until she remembered that Konoha was under attack from Orochimaru.

"Byakugan," she whispered, feeling the viens around her eyes expand.

At the edge of the field she saw Chouji leaning against a tree. Curious, Hinata de-activated her byakugan and went over to investigate. When she was came upon him, Chouji was staring up at the sky, watching the sunset. He looks sad, Hinata thought.

"Konichiwa Chouji-kun," Hinata said softly.

Chouji didn't react at first. Finally he dragged his eyes away from the sky and to Hinata, "Hey Hinata-san." Then went back to staring at the sky.

Making a quick decision Hinata asked, "May I join you?" He didn't reply, so Hinata sat down next to him. He didn't say no.

For a while the two sat in silence. Hinata wanted to help him, she just didn't know how.

"Do you want to know what I heard today?" Hinata offered tentatively. He just looked at her. "I heard that Naruto and Sakura are going out."

After some more silence Chouji finally responded with, "I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" Hinata smiled a bit at this, Chouji always tried to make everything better, often ignoring his own pain to do so.

"N-not really. D-do you?" Hinata cursed her stutter, sometimes it was very inconvenient.

"Talk about Naruto and Sakura dating?" he feined ignorance.

"O-or whatever is bothering you," she offered. He remained silent.

They stayed like that until the end of sunset, niether saying a word. Finally, when it was dark Chouji stood up and offered Hinata his hand. She accepted and he began walking Hinata home.

They walked hand in hand through the town, niether saying a word. When they reached the Hyuuga compound, Chouji let go of her hand and they stood facing each other awkwardly. Finally he smiled, for the first time sense she had seen hin at the BBQ.

"Thankyou Hinata-chan," he said and walked away.