Welcome to my first all NaruHina fic! Side-pairings included. Some assembly required. Only 5 easy payments of $29.95!! I'M PRACTICALLY GIVING THESE THINGS AWAY, PEOPLE!

DISCLAIMER: I'd like to start by saying that I don't own Naruto, and I'm not making any money off this.

YOU SHOULD KNOW/REMEMBER: Characters are all 18-20. It's november, so Hinata is about to turn 19 and Naruto has just turned 19. YAY MATH!!

CHAPTER 1

STRANGE FEELINGS

Hinata sighed. She sighed a great, heaving, lovelorn exasperated, hopeless sigh.

Now, sighing was not uncommon for Hinata. I mean, she was in love, for god's sake! A sweet, sensitive, soft love struck sigh was completely normal, as everyone knew, when the eighteen-year-old young woman thought of the man (then boy) she'd been pinning for since she was eight.

She sighed again. A decade. This man had not released the death grip he had on her heart for a decade.

But the reason that this sighed that she sported today was different from the normal love struck sighs was that it had no hope at all left in it. It was defeated and bleak.

Hinata sat and pondered her situation.

Uzumaki Naruto. She had admired him when they were young, then she got a crush, then an infatuation, then it became a full-blown case of being head-over-heels in love with him. Since he had returned from his training with the late Jiraiya-sama, she hadn't gotten the chance to get closer to him. They had the mission to bring back Sasuke right after they returned, but there were so many people, that it really didn't count.

Of course, after Sasuke had killed Itachi, he was in critical condition. It was the fight of his life, and the fact that he had gone in with considerable damage from his battle with Deidara didn't help. He had just barely won the battle, and was literally pummeled within an inch of his life. It had taken Sakura nine hours to stabilize his condition, and she didn't move from his side the entire time. Not for bathroom breaks, to eat, or sleep. Hinata thought it was a beautiful mark of her devotion to the one she loved.

Of course they brought him home while he was unconscious. It was strange to see his new accomplices stay by his side. The large one named Juugo refused to leave at fist. He explained his… 'Condition' to the group and explained to them how Orochimaru had used him to create the curse seals. He told them of Sasuke's ability to control him while in his bloodthirsty state, and how he feared what would happen to his new comrades if Sasuke should be unable to stop him.

This proved no problem when Juugo went feral on all their asses about halfway through their trip. He had stopped all of the sudden, and gripped his head in pain, attempting to stop the bloodlust coursing through his veins. The distinctive pattern of geometric shapes of the curse seal spread slowly around his body, as he released a soul shattering yell then stopped, panting, as if calculating which of them he would kill first. Hinata actually feared for her life. She was paralyzed with the shear fright that this monster could easily kill her. But suddenly, Naruto decided to defend his friends.

Hinata felt another spike of bloodlust, almost double what was being emitted from Juugo. She spun around to see that it was Naruto, who then jumped to the front of his friends, (and about 2 ft. in front of Hinata) blocking them from Juugo. Surprisingly, Hinata found no fear from this killing intent, even though he now grew fangs and had broader whisker marks on his face. His eyes had catlike, narrow pupils, and were a venomous shade of red instead of the cool blue she adored. He was already completely shrouded in the Kyuubi's cloak, which he had learned to master up to three tails of. All of which were being shown now and waving menacingly, made of glowing translucent crimson chakra like the rest of his body was encased in, bubbling with purple blobs of chakara that oozed from his pores. The amount of raw energy leaking out of him made Hinata shiver in delight. She smiled recollecting this memory.

But, after this display of dominance, Juugo finally calmed down. Hinata was so proud of him for showing control like that.

The perverted and rude one, who they learned was Suigetsu, decided to stay because there was nothing better to do. And he then proceeded to hit on Hinata and Ino the entire trip back to Konoha. Hinata was overjoyed when Naruto stuck up for her and thwarted his attempts by staying between her and Suigetsu the entire time, giving him an intimidating glance every time he tried to start something.

The redhead one named Karin obviously felt Sakura a threat to her affections for Sasuke; she was going to try and win him back. This would prove harder than she expected in the future when Sasuke and Sakura got together almost as soon as he woke up in the hospital.

Hinata giggled as she remembered the scene. Sasuke had finally gotten strong enough to drift back to consciousness, and everyone from the rookie nine had gone to the hospital to greet him. Tsunade had stopped them at his doors and recalled what she had said to them.

Flashback:

"Okay you guys," She started, sternly but happily. "Sasuke is making a strong recovery, mostly thanks to Sakura's efforts, and she's in there right now explaining the situation to him, and trying to get what he wants to do next out of him." Everyone knew what this meant. They wanted to make sure that Sasuke had no intentions of running away again.

"He's going to be in an emotional state, so I want only two other people besides Sakura going in at a time. He has just undergone a full mental evaluation by Ibiki and Ino." Tsunade gestured to Ino, who had apparently been at the hospital before them. "Everything has checked out, and he is completely free from Orochimaru's grasps, and his destructive tendencies and thirst for power are gone as well. Thanks to the death of his brother. He's pretty confused, but happy, right now, so he'll need every one of you to help him realize what's important to him."

Everyone knew what that meant, too. They had to show him the reason to believe in his friends again, and welcome him back to Konoha with open arms.

Tsunade spoke again. "Naruto." Naruto responded to his name. "You should be the first to visit him."

Naruto stepped up to the door and opened it, giving a hopeful smile back to everyone still outside, before shutting the door behind him.

It was a tense few minutes for Hinata. She was scared that they would get into a fight again, and they would be as tense as before. She prayed that Sasuke could repair their friendship. That he would be brave enough, now that his brother was out of the picture, to accept Naruto as a friend.

After a while, Naruto opened the door and stepped out again, smiling. Kiba finally asked, "Hey! What happened in there?"

Naruto contemplated for a while before answering. "Everything's okay. Sakura says you can all see him now."

As everyone pried open the door and poured into the room, Hinata noticed the wise, satisfied look on Naruto's face.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked, wondering what it was for. "What are you thinking about?"

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts.

"Oh, It's just amazingly ironic. In a good way." He tried to explain to her. When she responded with a look of confusion, he decided that he had to elaborate. "I mean, how, I had promised Sakura that I would get Sasuke back, remember?"

Hinata nodded, but she felt a tang of pain in her heart. This promise was so important to him. "What about your promise to me, Naruto? Remember, the one to help my clan and me? Do I take second seat to Sakura still?"

Naruto, unable to hear this, continued.

"Well, she finally got strong enough to do it herself. I'm happy for her, and proud of her, too. And actually, I'm glad that I didn't bring Sasuke back. I couldn't just do it FOR her, you know? Then she wouldn't have trained so hard to achieve someone that was special to her. I feel like I helped her and Sasuke. It's a weird feeling, and weirder to admit, but, I'm really happy that she finally got him back, and not me. It's the best feeling in the world to know that they're finally together."

They heard a chorus of scandalous 'Ooh's' from the girls inside Sasuke's room, along with the 'get a room!' from Kiba, obviously envious. Hinata and Naruto peered from a distance into the room, and saw them not just kissing, or smooching, or making out, but they were sharing a full-blown case of sucking face. Sasuke had caught her off-guard and had started lightly, but passion for his love had overcome him, and he started licking her lips, and then she opened her mouth and returned the gesture. They basically just started frenching. From an innocent first kiss between true loves, to cannibals: each attempting to devour the other's tongue like it was the last piece of human flesh on earth.

Hinata's mind momentarily shut down. Had she just heard and seen what she thought she had heard and seen? They were together? Like, as in, together together? Significant others? An item? PERFECT! Now nothing was distracting Naruto from noticing her subtle hints! And she knew that Naruto had to put 110 percent of his attention into ANYTHING subtle. Well, Sakura was one of her good friends, and she was happy for her, too. She had really worked for Sasuke. It's just that…. It was all too perfect!

Now Naruto pulled Hinata from her thoughts as he continued to speak.

"It's a weird feeling, you know?" He looked kind of confused, and then Hinata realized it.

He didn't really have a family, so he didn't know that there are all different kinds of love. If Naruto was feeling this happy about Sasuke and Sakura, then she knew exactly what kind of protective, nurturing love he was feeling. That he felt for both Sasuke and Sakura.

Hinata explained. "That's brotherly love, Naruto-kun." Naruto stared at her; as if she had just said a 50 ft tall purple polka-dotted fire breathing six-headed horned platypus bear (aka Azula) had crashed through the window. (A/N: ah, the joys of being an avatard… --)

She continued. "Y-You thought that you loved Sakura because you had never had a sister before. If it were the r-romantic type of love, you would probably want to disembowel Sasuke right now, and you wouldn't have let her find her own strength. Y-You would have wanted to do everything FOR her. Neji is basically my brother, and when he trains me, he doesn't just g-give me the answers, Naruto-kun. He let's me learn. A-And Sasuke is like your brother. You fight, and act like you hate each other, but you're inseparable. The three of you. You're like their brother."

A smile spread across Naruto's face. "So it's like you and Neji, ne?" He laughed.

Hinata had a grateful smile on her face. The floor suddenly became very interesting, and her blush deepened. "Well, it became like that a-after you helped him, Naruto-kun." She paused "Arigatou." She added at the end.

Naruto opened his eyes and stared at her. This answer was not what he expected, and he realized that in Hinata's secretive and bitter family, no one really treated anyone well.

He would figure this out later, after a mission protecting a pregnant Kurenai on a well-deserved vacation: He had given her a cousin, ne, a brother, when he had defeated Neji. Neji had become the only person in her family who cared about her as more than the heiress. He cared about the person she was. Needless to say, Kurenai would point out some amazing things about Hinata to him during that week. And some things that she just added to torture his little teenage male mind. But that comes later. You'll see.

But at that time, he also realized that she had just helped him, too. Although not as drastically. Come to think of it…

"Hey, Hinata." She looked up to meet his face with a large blush. "Than you, too. I'm really proud of you. You've really improved with Neji's help, haven't you? You've grown." Hinata grew 10 shades redder than she already was.

This was the best compliment he had ever given her! And he had noticed that she had been working so hard while he was gone! She was so happy she felt like she could just explo-

"I mean that was the longest string of understandable words I've ever heard you say! Good job!"

She face-faulted.

End Flashback

It was both the happiest and most devastating interaction with him she had ever had.

But that wasn't the reason she was sighing. She had a bigger problem in her… relationship (well, hopefully soon to be relationship) with Naruto.

She had been going on missions with him for the past couple of months. The type of missions that were important enough for two jounin, but not as serious as ones assigned to more experienced ones. Yes, there was always action and adventure, but totally in their league. And Naruto still faced them with the determination and enthusiasm of a rookie going on their first lame d-rank mission. He still always managed to help people, teach lessons, enrich lives, and inspire hope in others like a good little protagonist, too.

Hinata had definitely had the time of her life on these missions. They were like pure heaven. They were an escape from her family who would never accept Naruto, or her for that matter, and as much time as she wanted to stare at him while he was sleeping during her turn to keep watch. This activity would obviously be… frowned upon for a lady of her status to do back home, so she reveled in the joy of performing it on missions. It seemed like she just broke the rules on missions. And she wasn't the only one.

Naruto had been earning respect in the village, just from his impeccable reputation as a ninja, but he was amazingly absent from the village almost 71.23 percent of the time. Hinata had been counting. It seemed as though he was still fearful of how the villagers would treat him, and now that he was older, there was a solution. Take missions. Lots and lots of missions. Not only had he established a decent amount of connections to help him live away from home through Jiraiya, he also had clients who were clamoring for his assistance. Word apparently spreads fast about reliable, and amiable, ninja to hire.

So basically his life was outside the village. It astounded her how many people knew him when they walked through even a little hole-in-the-road town. He seemed to know all the good places to stay, and eat, and barter for supplies. Some places he would stop at and sigh. Hinata knew he was remembering when his late teacher had taught him the ins and outs of life on the road. She let him have his moment and always remembered to flash him a stunning optimistic smile when he looked back to her and apologized for the delay.

Which took her to the cause of her sighs.

It seemed as though he also knew more than just the best places to hear about local crime, too. When traveling a distance behind Naruto, Hinata would all too plainly hear the scandalous giggles and idle chatter of tavern wenches and random sluts they passed. They'd gossip and babble such blows to Hinata as, "I told you he's handsome. Uzumaki Naruto is a very respected ninja. And I hear he's amazing in bed, too!" and "You know how well he writes icha-icha. He trained under the sannin Jiraiya, and has clearly surpassed him as both a ninja and a writer. I mean, some of the things he…" and that's where Hinata would shut her ears and wallow in the clear hopelessness of the situation. She was clearly not 'his type' and she didn't want to exacerbate her feelings for him any more in fear of being shot down, and broken to bits.

She now sat at the ramen shop, sighing so deeply she might have well drowned in the heavy air. She listed consequences of this in order of bad to worst: What if she wasn't as pretty as those floozies? What if Naruto one day just never came home to the village? What if he left her all alone without fulfilling his promise to resolve her family situation? What if he became an evil villain without the love of his friends and used Kyuubi's power to enslave humanity and plunge the world into 10,000 years of darkness? What if he already had CHILDREN?!?!

She could feel Naruto leaving the village longer every mission, traveling farther and farther, and she felt that she just couldn't keep improving and growing as fast as he was shrinking into the distance.

(A/N: DAMN YOU MICROSOFT WORD! DOUJUTSU IS NOT DOUGHNUTS AND BYAKUGAN IS NOT BRAKEMAN!!! )

Naruto lay down on his bed and stared upwards. His new, slightly bigger-but still smaller, apartment was dark, save a subtle glow cast from a lonely streetlight through his window and onto the ceiling he was staring at. He gave a semi frustrated, semi exhausted sigh as he closed his eyes to try and stop his racing mind.

The mission had gone very well. Another day saved, and another client satisfied. Now normally, he would have 'caught up' with a few friends before he left for home, but he had finally stopped finding joy in such naïve and frivolous actions. His exhaustion was one part physical, (from running all the way back home in half a day, when it should take 3 times as long) but also 2 parts mental. He was sick and tired of his life. Sure, he was getting a good reputation as a ninja, he was proving his character to his beloved village, he could control 6 tails of the Kyuubi's cloak, he was well on his way to becoming rokudaime hokage, he would get good missions with his good friends, he was still getting stronger and stronger every day, he was getting raving reviews as an author from the group of perverts who read the books he decided to keep writing in memory of Jiraiya, he now had his own fan club, and he was certainly gettin' some (if you know what I mean) because of that. He could have as many one-night-stands as he wanted and never be tied down to a 'relationship'.

So why wouldn't he be happy with what could be called the best bachelor life a guy could ever possibly dream up?

Well, it was the reason that was confusing him. He simply had to rush back to the village every time he left. Ever since a mission he had with Hyuuga Hinata about a month before.

What he knew about her was this:

1) She was the heiress of the prestigious Hyuuga clan of Konoha, with an advanced bloodline doujutsu- the byakugan.

2) She was a very capable fighter, although she lacked the courage to stand up to her family that neglected her.

3) Her family situation was less than desirable. With feuds and backstabbing and kin betraying kin, it was no place for a sweet and very sensitive girl like herself.

4) He had witnessed the cold-blooded battle between her and her cousin, and had fixed one Hyuuga Neji's attitude soon thereafter.

5) And the last thing he knew was that he still had to fulfill his promise to her. He had to make the Hyuuga an accommodating clan to all its members, not just the 'high and mighty' council.

After he had gone on his mission to guard Kurenai while on her maternity leave, he had acquired these little gems of information:

6) He had started on his path to better the Hyuuga clan already. Not only were the feuds between main and branch Hyuugas cooled off after his defeat of Neji, Hinata had also been growing ever stronger, trying to attain her goal (which Kurenai never elaborated upon) with Neji's help. She drew strength from a sibling bond that wasn't founded on competition like that which she had with her younger sister. Naruto had gotten a few steps towards his goal.

7) And apparently, according to Kurenai's 'expert' opinion, Hinata was now a d-cup. (Kurenai had sworn to the Gods that she would stop Hinata from taking off her baggy garments, in fear of putting her fellow woman's bodies to shame. She didn't want any more competition.)

After gathering this information in his mind, he decided to implement the basic relationship-problem solving skills Jiraiya taught him. It was overall the hardest part of his training, but with time, and lots of giant scrolls to the head, he was able to sort through complex personal problems, which didn't involve a battle.

First came the subject. "Well, that one's easy." He thought to himself. "It's obviously Hinata."

Next step: the reaction. How it makes you feel. "Erm…okay then. Well, when I'm around her, my muscles tighten up with anticipation, and my breath becomes shorter, and more like gasps, and my heart rate quickens to get blood to my body. I become flushed and I can feel adrenaline rushing all the way to my fingertips."

With that complete, he moved onto the third step: association. Where has he felt this way before? "Oh! I know!" it clicked. "In BATTLE! When I'm fighting an enemy, all those things happen! Everything! But, I'm still a bit confused." Then he remembered the next step.

The explanation: What had he learned that would justify or give a reason for feeling this way? "Well, if Hinata is causing me to feel stressed like in a battle situation, and when I see her it causes the same reactions as when I'm fighting for my life, that must mean… Oh. My. God. It's so simple, why didn't I see it before? I HATE Hyuuga Hinata! She must be my archrival, and I subconsciously try to put myself into a fight situation where I can tilt with her and best her in battle! This is horrible! How am I supposed to keep my promise and improve the life of my arch nemesis?!"

In his horror and confusion he had failed to proceed to the final step: THE BUILDING OF A SCENARIO. It was where one must put oneself into a variety of situations with said subject of their dilemma, and predict how one would react to them.

Unfortunately, Naruto was too far into the conclusion he had drawn that seemed to fit to notice. He fell soundly asleep with both the disturbing thoughts of hating and helping at the same time, and the happy thoughts of thinking that he was finally starting to understand normal-yet strange human emotion, which he had yet to experience. Well it was true that this was an emotion he had yet to know of, or to be taught of, he was clearly too dense to realize that a human would never want to protect and care for their sworn foe. If only he had remembered the next step, he might have seen how wrong he was.

SO NOW THAT YOU'RE APPARENTLY STILL ALIVE: YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE THIS FIC!

This is my first romance-based fic, also. Definitley looking for constructive critisism. I'm trying to build off the current story by seeing where the current plot is going and taking it further. So if you know of any ways I can make it more manga-accurate, please share!

As of 2/25/08: I have the next chapter almost done, and I have lodsa free time coming up to keep writing!

This looked SO much longer on MS Word... I THOUGHT I HAD CALLIE BEAT! DX Only 2,000 more words in Shenanigans and I'll have done it...shoujo sparkles

THE LEMON FACTOR:

If you would like to see a lemon or 10, PLEASE TELL ME! I'm afraid someone might find it, but if demnd calls for it, I SHALL ANSWER!

And if you would like to see SUPER far into the future: I'm also in the process of fabricating a grand epic NaruHina AU entire universe fic. The prologue's written, but that's all I'll say. ;) AND SO HELP ME GOD, IF YOU SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT IZ, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!!