"Today is the day, Hinata," the Hyuuga heiress said to herself, moving a couple strands of her long hair out of her face.
It was only a couple days before Christmas and Hinata was standing at the entrance of Konoha. She was waiting for Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi to get back from their most recent mission. They'd been gone for about two weeks now on an A-ranked mission and Hinata had only gotten word about two hours earlier that they'd be back today. She'd been waiting there for no more than an hour, which seemed like mere minutes to her. The white-eyed girl wore a small smile of anticipation as she continued to wait for her long time love to return.
The two had gotten pretty close after the last couple of years. When Sasuke was returned to the village three years ago, he and Sakura started spending more 'quality time' together. Since they were spending the majority of their time together, with the occasional outing with Naruto, the blond started hanging out with everyone a little more than usual, especially Hinata.
"We've been getting so close lately, it's just so...unreal." Hinata soon found herself getting lost in her own thoughts about the blond, closing her eyes in the process.
"Oi, Hinata-chan over here!" a familiar voice yelled.
The Hyuuga heiress' eyes shot open to see Naruto running towards her, his clothing having big rips in them showing were he'd apparently been hit.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata started waiting for Naruto to reach her before continuing, "It's good to see you're-"
Hinata was stopped in mid-sentence when the fox boy threw his arms around her, pulling into a rather tight embrace while lifting her off the ground.
"Hinata-chan it's really good to see you." Naruto said loudly, wearing his signature smile.
"I-It's good to see you too...Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed, feeling a little light-headed.
"Naruto, you can't just go picking people up like that! Put her down!" the familiar pink-haired girl scolded.
Naruto did exactly as he was told, allowing the white eyed girl to stand on her own.
"Sorry about that Hinata-chan," Naruto said rubbing the back of his head, "Guess I just got a little excited, I mean I haven't seen you in two whole weeks."
"N-No its okay Naruto-kun, I really missed you, too." Hinata replied, blushing a little bit more in the process.
'Darn it! I'm doing it again.' Hinata thought.
It was true. Every time Naruto did something like that, she'd start blushing and/or stuttering. Even after all these years, it was just a habit that she couldn't break, no matter how hard she tried.
"Naruto, you should get some rest." Kakashi walked past the three reading the same perverted book he normally read, "Or at least get something to eat, considering the conditions we've been under for such a long time."
Naruto faced the silver haired Jounin with a smile, "I guess you're right Kakashi-sensei."
"You don't need to call me that anymore. You're all Jounin now, so you don't really need to call me 'sensei' anymore," Kakashi stated.
"Oh yeah, I guess it's just a habit of mine." Naruto put both hands behind his head.
Sasuke was the last to enter the village, stopping in front of the three shinobi.
"Sakura lets go," Sasuke said before continuing into Konoha.
"Oh, here I come Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed, following after the Uchiha.
Naruto and Hinata stood by themselves watching as their three friends walked further into Konoha until they disappeared into the crowds of people. The moment they were out of sight Naruto faced the Hyuuga girl.
"So Hinata-chan you wanna get some ramen with me?" Naruto asked cheerfully.
"Of course…I'm mean I'd love to." Hinata smiled.
Naruto's smile increased in size as he softly grabbed Hinata's hand and ran off into Konoha, causing her to run with him.
"Naruto-kun I…" Hinata started.
"I haven't eaten ramen since I left on my mission." Naruto informed.
"You went two whole weeks without ramen?!" Hinata gasped.
Naruto nodded in reply.
This would've been a surprise to anyone considering the 'slight' addiction Naruto had for ramen. The blond shinobi normally had at least three or four bowls everyday. The two weaved in and out of the large crowds of people. Everyone in Konoha was decorating the streets with all sorts of ornaments and lanterns. It was easy to tell that everyone was quite excited for Christmas.
"Hinata-chan what do you want to order?" Naruto asked.
The two shinobi were now sitting on stools in front of Naruto's favorite ramen shop, Ichiraku Ramen Bar. The bar was also decorated with all sorts of Christmas-themed decorations.
"O-Oh I'll just have whatever you're having Naruto-kun," Hinata answered.
"You heard her old man! Two bowls of Beef Ramen!" Naruto said loudly.
"Two bowls of Beef Ramen coming right up," Teuchi - said 'old man' - informed.
He turned away from the two to prepare their food. As he did this, a familiar brown haired girl walked over to the counter where Naruto and Hinata sat.
"It's good to see you again, Naruto." Ayame smiled, "It's been quite boring without our best customer."
"Yeah the mission took a bit longer than I hoped for, but now I'm back, and I brought Hinata-chan, too," Naruto smiled back pointing at the white-eyed girl sitting next to him.
Ayame turned to Hinata still wearing her smile.
"It's good to see you again as well Hinata," Ayame greeted.
"Same to you Ayame-san," Hinata said.
"So…you two have been coming here together quite a lot lately."
Naruto and Hinata looked at each other for a moment before turning away the next second, both their cheeks red.
"I-I guess you're right." The two shinobi said in unison.
Ayame giggled and Teuchi could be heard chuckling behind Ayame.
"What's so funny?"! Naruto shouted childishly.
"Oh it's nothing of your concern, just a little inside joke." The brown haired girl replied.
A long awkward silence drifted between the two until Teuchi sent a two bowls of ramen and a pair of chop sticks in front of the two, smiling as Naruto grabbed his chopsticks with anticipation. Then, without a second to spare, he put a mouthful of ramen in his mouth, while Hinata smiled at him and slowly ate some her own ramen. After a couple minutes, Naruto had already finished six bowls of ramen and was almost done with his seventh, while the Hyuuga girl was just finishing her first.
"So why haven't you guys been talking?" Ayame asked, "By now I would have thought that you'd be telling Hinata all about your mission."
The blond haired boy slurped up the last of his ramen before making a reply.
"Oh yeah, the mission went so well. You should have seen me Hinata-chan, I..." Naruto started with his story that Ayame sat down to listen to.
Hinata listened to Naruto's over exaggerated story with a small smile. She showed interest in everything he said, giggling at parts that were just way to farfetched to be true, but he insisted that they were, so she believed him. Everytime he spoke, Hinata felt drawn to him which made her love for him ever more obvious to those around her except the boy she loved. Ayame took her eyes off Naruto and glanced at Hinata, smiling at the look on her face.
"So are you to going out yet?" Ayame whispered into Hinata's ear.
Hinata suddenly fell out of her chair anime-style at the question.
"W-Where did that come from?" Hinata whispered back, turning the brightest shade of red she'd turned all day.
"So I guess thats a no," Ayame giggled, "Well you should hurry up and do it some time soon, before some other girl decides to steal him away from you."
Hinata looked away from a moment wearing more of a worried look than before. "Steal him away from me?"
"Well yeah, I mean you don't think that girls are just gonna wait for you to get him. Sooner or later, some girl is gonna ask him out if you don't do it first," Ayame explained.
"Hey um what are you guys talking about?" Naruto cut in, putting his face in between the two.
"Oh its nothing to worry about Naruto." Ayame assured waving her hands a little, "Oh wow look at the time, you two should really be getting home before it gets dark."
Naruto frowned and crossed his arms, "Ayame-chan I'm 17 years old and a Jounin for that matter. I can go home whenever I want."
A large sweat drop ran down Ayame's head at the blond's words.
"Well um you need to leave anyway," Ayame said nervously.
"Leave? But why Ayame-chan?" Naruto groaned, "It isn't even closing time."
"Yeah, but I still have to do some more decorating for the Christmas Festival in a couple days," Ayame lied.
"Oh alright, I guess we'll just go somewhere else, okay Hinata-chan?" Naruto said.
"Oh, thats no problem Naruto-kun. As long as I get to spend more time with you," Hinata smiled.
'Did I actually say that?' Hinata thought.
"Well don't worry you will," Naruto smiled back.
"Well you two lovebirds should be going then," Ayame said pushing the two out of the bar, "Have fun."
Naruto and Hinata both blushed lightly at the words the brown-haired women said. But only moments after Ayame waved them off Naruto found himself talking to Hinata again.
"Well since I've been talking all this time, why don't you tell me what you've been up to since I was gone." Naruto said walking with hands behind his head.
Hinata looked in Naruto's carefree eyes, blushing once again when she did.
'He's grown up so much since we were Genin.' Hinata thought, smiling softly, 'But he still has the innocence of a child and the same confidence he's always had as long as I can remember. That's why I-'
"Um Hinata-chan are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"Huh, oh I'm fine Naruto-kun...I just zoned out for a moment that's all," Hinata replied.
Naruto eyed her questioningly for a moment before saying anything.
"Well if thats all then tell me what you've been up while I was gone," Naruto said.
"Well nothing really, I mean I did some training with my father and Neji-niisan. But besides that I've haven't done much." Hinata looked up at the sky with a light shade of red on her cheeks, "I've just been waiting for you to return."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly from the news, his normal childish smile returned to his face.
"Really Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked with enthusiasm.
A small gust of wind blew the Hyuuga heiress' hair right as she looked away from the sky and made eye contact with Naruto, still wearing her smile. For some reason, Hinata looked much more beautiful than she already was, making Naruto blush for a third time today as he stared deeply into Hinata's milky, white eyes. The blond-haired Jounin noticed that they'd both stopped walking and were standing off on the side of the road, staring into each others eyes.
"Hinata-chan," Naruto started.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?"
The small blush Hinata had on her cheeks made the Hyuuga look even prettier in Naruto's eyes, and to just about every other guy who passed by. Just moments later Naruto found himself moving closer to the Hyuuga staring deeper into her eyes.
"Hinata-chan I..."
"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata made a small gasp when she noticed how close she and Naruto had gotten.
At this point Hinata's breast were pressed lightly against Naurto's chest and their faces were only mere centimeters away from each other. She could smell the scent of ramen coming from Naruto's breath, which she could now fell on her lips. The blond haired shinobi slowly brought his hands up onto Hinata's waist, which she responded by bringing on hand on to his cheek.
'I'm doing it...I'm actually about to k-kiss Naruto-kun!' Hinata blushed.
Only moments before their lips touched a familiar voice interrupted them.
"What are you two doing?"
Naruto and Hinata both jumped back away from each other and turned to see who spoke. Sasuke stood sanding a couple feet away from where they were about to kiss wearing a smirk on his face with Sakura leaning up against him. The moment they saw their two friends standing together watching them they both turned as red as a tomato taking a couple steps back in the process.
"Oh Sasuke-kun why did you have to do that? It was just getting good." Sakura giggled.