Note: Yes, there is an Inner Hinata too. Sakura's not the only one with an unspoken side!
Wow, according to the views the first day, PriestessNas working with Lil-Miaka equals EPIC WIN!
DAY ONE-
(JUST TELL HIM!)
"Next week, Wednesday?" I groaned, falling backwards onto my bed. I'd left Lee and Shikamaru behind and headed back home. It was just the onset of afternoon, but already, I felt mentally exhausted. How could I have gotten myself into this mess? It was already Friday; I only had six days. By the end of six days…Naruto-kun would know my feelings one way or another. I groaned again.
Meanwhile, the Inner Hinata popped up (in all her chibi glory) in my head. "Its about time something gave you an extra incentive to spill your guts to him!" But what if I'm not ready to spill my guts? "If we're not ready now, we'll never be!" There was some truth to that. I sat back up. There was no use moping over this, I still had to meet up with Kiba and Shino to see about the message we needed to decode. I just had to pull myself together. Once that was done, I headed back out.
I found my teammates walking from the direction of the Yamanaka Flower Shop (they had probably eaten at the Barbeque Restaurant further down or something). From where I saw them, Kiba waved, so I waved back…a little less than enthusiastically. They headed over to me, and Kiba grew a concerned expression.
"Hinata? Is something wrong?" Kiba asked as he approached. "You look like you've been through hell."
"I feel like it." I mumbled. Unfortunately, they were able to hear me.
"Why?" Shino asked.
"Yeah, what happened?" Kiba added. Akamaru whimpered.
I looked from Shino to Kiba, and realized that telling them would probably be best. So, I told them everything that happened earlier that day after I split off from them.
"So…you're going to do it?" Kiba asked. "You're going to tell Naruto…about your crush on him."
"I…don't have much of a choice…do I?" I replied, looking down.
"Well, if you are, you're chance is coming this way." Shino observed. I turned quickly around to find the familiar orange-and-black clad blond walking in our direction, talking with another boy with jet-black hair and a shirt so short it showed his belly.
"-the hell! You threw rocks at me!" Naruto's voice became clear. More like yelling at him, not talking with him.
Then came a strange attempt at a laugh from the other boy. "Well you shouldn't have snuck up on me." With that, Sai threw another rock at the blond.
"OW! Stop that, dattebayo!" Naruto snapped with more than mild irritation. "What do you mean 'snuck up on' you!? All I did was say 'Hi'!" Now wouldn't be a good time, not with Sai and his messed up mind in the same presence as Naruto-kun.
Kiba and Shino were able to find where the issue would be, and seemed to be whispering a plan between them and the dog. Kiba turned to me when they were done. "We'll take care of the annoyance, then you'll have your chance with Naruto." What had they planned?
Kiba gave a signal to Akamaru, who went off towards his target. Sai noticed the bounding dog too late to do anything to get away, but put up his arms to protect himself. But Akamaru wasn't targeting him. The nin-dog quickly went for Sai's backpack, which had been subtly opened by Shino's bugs a moment earlier. Quickly, Sai reacted and flipped the large dog on his back, over his head, where he landed in the dirt. There, locked in the canine's jaws, from what I could see, was some kind of book. Whatever it was, seeing it in Akamaru's mouth got some kind of vaguely freaked out look in Sai's eyes. The nin-dog rolled back over onto his paws, and took off as fast as his four legs could take him. Sai turned and followed him.
"Get back here with that!" The team-seven-replacement member yelled with a mix of urgency and uncertainty in his tone.
"Good luck." Kiba whispered to me before chasing after his dog to make sure nothing bad happened. It's more than luck I would need to pull this off. Shino seemed to have disappeared not long after that. Now it was just Naruto and me in the area. A knot formed in my throat. I gulped it down and urged my feet to move forward. Eventually, they listened and I approached the confused but relieved teenage boy. He had apparently gotten up on a fence before the chaos started. I looked up at him, with the afternoon sunlight gleaming in his golden, spiky locks. I couldn't help but stare for a moment, looking at his smooth and handsome face, no longer the child-like face I had known two and a half years before, but still bearing the characteristic of the whisker like marks on each cheek. My heart jumped as he turned his beautiful blue eyes on me.
"Oh! Hey, Hinata-chan!" He greeted me with that wide smile of his that always made the world seem better. Despite my cheeks turning a slightly noticeable shade of pink, I gave him a gentle smile back.
"Hello, Naruto-kun." I replied. We were acting like we usually did when we met recently, but I had to break the comfort zone…the sooner I finished this, the better…right?
"That was weird, wasn't it?" Naruto said suddenly.
"Eh?"
"What just happened a minute ago, wasn't that weird?" He elaborated.
"Oh! Yeah!" I agreed. "I don't know what got into Akamaru back there." I could feel the Inner Hinata growing angry. "Quit beating around the bush! Tell him!" Wow, I had a really bossy conscience. "Don't make me come out there and kick your butt!" I smiled to myself amusedly as I mentally pictured my inner-self coming out through my ear and the horrified expression that Naruto-kun would have. Sometimes my imagination even scared me. "A-ano…anyway…" I began, feeling my chest grow tight. "Um…I…I need t-to tell you…" My heart thundered, and my body began to feel numb. "Uh…an-ano…t-to tell you…th-tha-that…" I pulled my shoulders up, feeling the need to hide. My head was spinning, my knees locked, and I began pushing my fingertips together in front of my nose. "I-I-I…I n-need to…t-to tell…t-t-tell you…th-that…a-a-about…I-I…I…" The world was spinning around me.
"Hinata-chan? You don't look so good." I heard Naruto observe. He had jumped down from the fence and stood right in front of me, his blue eyes staring concerned right in my face. This was too much. I blinked, and the world began to fade.
"Na…Naruto…kun…" I murmured.
"Hina…?!" Was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.
(Yeah, I know this chapter was shorter…but deal with it, 'kay? Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter coming soon!)
