Disclaimer: Naruto does not (hasn't ever and will never) belong to me. It is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, who has been screwing the manga over for years since 2010...

I Am...

Prologue: Sorry I Ever Said Those Words


It was the kind of moment that just had you wishing you could take back the words you'd just said. That you could grab them from the air and stop them from ever reaching anyone's ears. Perhaps, wave a magic wand and coax the words back into your mouth where they'd be swallowed, never to be regurgitated back up again. Or, better yet, stop yourself from saying the whole damn sentence all together...

There was a moment of silence after she'd said it. And, in that brief space of time, Hinata quietly hoped that some way, somehow, Naruto and Sakura hadn't heard her. She'd always had a small voice- it just barely carried across a small room. Surely it wouldn't be completely batty to think that they didn't hear her. But, as she looked up from her hands (they had been in her lap, wringing the fabric of her blouse nervously) and stared at the shocked look plastered across their faces, she knew there was no way that they hadn't heard her. So much for having a small voice.

After a beat or two, Naruto broke the silence and his question confirmed her suspicion.

"Hinata," he said her name gently in that dulcet baritone voice that had always made her stomach well up with butterflies; now was no exception. Though, in this instance, it felt like her stomach was infested with a fuzzier, less friendly creature. "What you just said now... Are you... A-are you sure?"

Both, Naruto and Sakura were looking at here with identical looks of concern and barely concealed hopefulness. Naruto's brows were furrowed deeply and Sakura's lips were pursed together so tightly, Hinata feared she might squash them out of existence.

She should have told them no, told them she was sorry she had ever made the suggestion in the first place and continued on with her merry little life. If she were a bit gutsier, she would have told them no and then told them to fuck off. I mean, they had to understand that she'd only said those words in the heat of the moment. It wasn't fair of them to latch onto the words she'd said in a momentary lapse of judgment! But, under the intense gaze of both blue and green eyes, she just couldn't bring herself to say it, any of it. The weight of their stares pinned her down. And before she could stop herself, she could feel the word she didn't want to say - shouldn't say- welling up her chest and tumbling out her mouth.

"Yes..."

It's funny the power that mere words can have. It was words that made her end of in this awkward predicament. That one word yes, was so powerful that it had served to lift both Naruto and Sakura from their despair (in fact, Hinata noted sourly, they both looked absolutely elated now). And that same one word yes, with the power of its three letters and one syllable, made Hinata physically feel as though she'd just tied a noose around her neck.

...Boy was she was sorry she'd ever said those words.


So... what do you guys think? I'd love to hear feedback.

:D