The Love Story I Wanted

Chapter 1- Oh Fuck it!

Episode 175

Hinata was beside herself.

As tears streamed down her face- she saw the love of her life carried by his sensei. Naruto was beaten and battered, but he was alive and victorious.

Not only that, but by some miracle, he had successfully managed to revive all of the shinobi killed in the battle. This included Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi.

FLASHBACK:

While still unconscious, Hinata had been moved up to an aid station set up just beyond the village walls. At that point, her father had been beside himself and wept tears of joy that his daughter was still alive. While initially surprised by this outburst of love, Hinata soon learned that her younger sister had been crushed to death by falling debris from Pain's Almighty Push.

Hinata's despair was even worse than Hiashi's as she started going into shock, nearly dying for the second time that day due to the pure horror of what she saw in front of her. She had demanded to see Hanabi's body, which was covered with a white sheet and placed next to other shinobi who were killed during the battle.

She uncovered the sheet, and hugged her sister one last time, crying and choking out the words, "I love you".

Before she knew what was happening, a bright light came down from a large shrine that had appeared in the center of the Village. The light flashed and entered into Hanabi's mangled and destroyed body, and seconds later it appeared that some of her major injuries were being healed. It was as if a new life force had entered into the previously deceased girl, and Hanabi breathed in harshly and opened her eyes wide.

Hinata was shocked and beside herself. Still holding her sister up off the ground in her arms, she stuttered her little sister's name, "H… Ha… Hanabi?".

Her sister looked into her eyes quietly asking, "Big sis, what happened?".

Hinata immediately hugged her, damn near crushing her revived sister's body again.

"OUUUCCHHH HINATA LET GO!", Hanabi snapped, clearly gasping for air. Hinata let out a small "eep" and laid her down.

Hiashi ran over, and hugged his daughters tightly, sobbing and incoherently babbling.

"Why is father… acting like this?", Hanabi asked, perplexed.

Hiashi recounted what had happened to her through his sobs, and her eyes grew wide. Hanabi was visibly shaken and began to softly cry into her sister's shoulder. To be confronted with ones' own mortality at such a young age was a difficult horror to accept. When Hanabi found out that she was clinically dead, her mind was racing in an attempt to process this new and terrifying information.

The air was full with sentiments of 'I love you', and 'I thought you were gone forever', as once grieving villagers connected with their now revived loved ones. Hinata and Hanabi were besides themselves, but the younger Hyuga decided to try and hold her emotions together as much as possible for the sake of her father and sister.

The three continued to babble and sob with relief until one of the many Lady Katsuyu slugs mentioned that Naruto had gone up past the stone faces, and that Kakashi Hatake had left to look for his student. She also explained what had transpired and explained the Rinne Rebirth jutsu that was cast.

With their wounds having being mostly healed by Katsuyu or other medical ninja, Hiashi and his daughters walked up around the Leaf's now defunct walls to get to the top of the Hokage monument.

"Hinata", Hiashi said softly, looking at her. "You really meant all of those things you said to the nine-tails boy, didn't you?".

Hinata's eyes narrowed, "No", she retorted.

Hiashi was slightly taken aback and confused. Hinata smiled widely and looked down.

"I meant all of the things I said to Naruto Uzumaki. To me, he isn't the nine tailed fox. To me, he is the most inspiring man and hero the Village could ever ask for."

Hinata had always known that her trust in Naruto would pay off. She knew that he would, one day, become a great shinobi. Today was the day where she could finally say that her faith in him had paid off in full.

Hanabi leaned back and put an arm on her forehead, teasing her sister, "Well maybe you can demand a kiss from your beloved for saving his life and almost dying in the process."

Hinata blushed slightly, and Hiashi decided to keep quiet, as he now began to mull over the strength that this boy had cultivated within his daughter.

END FLASHBACK

As Naruto was carried towards the Village, he was cheered on by a crowd of hundreds. Practically all of the Village had gathered to see his not-so-triumphant return. Once Kakashi let the beaten and battered here down, Hinata saw Sakura run up to him and hug him, making the former almost a little jealous. Hinata kept softly crying with relief, and went to join her comrades as they picked Naruto up and threw him into the air.

At first, her shyness got the better of her, and she stayed away from the circle of people around Naruto. He looks so… Happy! Thank god he won! She thought to herself. Hinata's mind was simply overwhelmed by seeing her long-time crush on his feet and alive. She recalled the horrific sight of Naruto nailed to the ground, and the horrible pain he must have suffered. It made her sick to her stomach.

Then, Naruto looked over and saw the shy, lavender-haired girl, just as battered as he was. Their eyes met, and Naruto quickly insisted to his friends that they put him down. He asked Sakura to help him walk, and she put an arm around his shoulder to support him. He slowly limped over to Hinata, still cheered on by the crowd of people, and still holding a smile on his face.

Hinata blocked out the cheering and got tunnel vision. She even blocked out Sakura, so only thing she could see was Naruto's smiling, yet pained, face coming closer and closer. A look of pure and raw determination was in his bright blue eyes. Her heart began to slowly pound as her long-time crush walked towards her.

Hinata's heart instantly began to race, getting faster the closer he approached. It became a constant, heavy thud in her chest. The adrenaline rush she felt was making her lightheaded. She had come so close to dying, and closer still to burying her sister. The young Hyuga stood, her vision blurring, with a feeling of urgency building inside her. Remembering her sister's corpse, and it's subsequent revival, made her realize just how much life can change or, in Hanabi's case- end- in less than a day.

For years, Naruto had planted the seeds of strength within Hinata without even knowing it. Seeing him stand up for himself and his friends had inspired her. He had believed in her during her match in the Chunin exams against Neji, and had made her realize that she could change herself if she truly tried to. Now, she was nervous to see exactly how Naruto would view the her newly blossomed strength. With all that had happened that day, part of her didn't care what happened next. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines when it was all too obvious that their lives could potentially end at any given moment.

All things considered, all Hinata really wanted was to be happy for once. Hinata wanted the boy in front of her to know her feelings, and by some miracle, hopefully reciprocate them. As lucid as she felt, she knew the time for hiding was over.

Those in the front of the surrounding crowd began to quiet down as they recognized that Hinata had been the 'brave girl' to stand with Naruto against Pain during the climactic battle.

Naruto smiled ear to ear, and Hinata's eyes widened.

He saw that her big, purple and white jacket had been practically torn to shreds, as it hung from her hand and touched the ground. The trademark feature of her timid nature and self-conscious body image was in her hand, destroyed. As such, her body was much more obvious to the other teenager as she only wore her mesh armor shirt. He could see the curves that her jacket usually hid, with her body being rather petite- all with the exception of her large breasts that were impossible to hide or cover up without her jacket. All of this was brought together by her white eyes and pretty face, with a few strands of her long hair strewn about in front of her shoulders.

Naruto had always thought of Hinata as shy and reclusive, but he always admitted that she was cute. He now looked upon her and realized how beautiful she had grown. The battle with Pain had ripped open her jacket like a cocoon. What stood in front of him was not the timid Hinata of the past. Her standing up to Pain had shown him just how tough she was physically and mentally. Even Rock Lee's normal, fiery resolve paled in comparison to Hinata's desire to protect Naruto from Pain.

He thought of the last words she had said to him: I love you. I always will.

As Naruto steadied himself and supported his own weight, Hinata had an incredible urge and impulse. One that felt comparable to a butterfly wanting to soar.

The boy started to tear up slightly, thinking about what she had said to him and done for him on the battlefield, and what to say back.

Hinata and Naruto looked at each other, partially shocked. Hinata stopped breathing, and felt faint. She had the desire to say what she had always wanted to, and fought the dizzy feeling and desire she had to pass out. She refused to become flustered like she always had been around Naruto.

Hinata made a split second decision. She didn't think at all, and for the first time ever, gave into her feelings and impulses.

Naruto took a deep breath and began to speak, placing his hand on the back of his neck.

Oh, fuck it! She thought.

"Hinata, I…", was all Naruto was able to get out, before two pairs of soft, feminine hands reached around to the back of his neck and impulsively, but gently, pulled his face closer into a kiss.

Their lips met in a soft and sweet kiss that sent shivers down both of their spines. Just as quickly as she had placed her kiss, Naruto let himself sink into her soft lips and closed his eyes, putting his hands on her sides in a small hug.

While neither knew what the other was thinking, both of their thoughts in that very instant were the same: This feels so right.

They both pulled apart slowly, with Hinata keeping her mouth slightly ajar to inhale deeply, as if she had held in her breath for an eternity. Naruto slowly gave her his trademark massive, goofy smile that made Hinata's heart melt. Both kept their hands on each other.

Then a thought donned on Hinata: In a single, soft, luxurious moment, she had made her own wildest dream come true. She had stayed strong so far, and willed herself to stay grounded. Slowly, her lightheadedness dissipated, and she felt butterflies making a ruckus in her stomach.

Everyone in the crowd, as well as the rest of their friends, stood silent and shocked that the shy and bashful Hinata had just kissed Naruto without any hesitation. Sakura, wide eyed and worried, began to move forward to support Hinata in the admittedly likely case that she was to pass out.

The silence lasted about 15 seconds, until Hanabi cheered out in a shrill and excited voice, "YEAH SIS! GOOD JOB YOU GO GET HIM!", starting a massive crowd of cheers from the on-looking crowd.

Hinata immediately became red and frantic; she retracted her hands from the back of his neck and quickly began to apologize, stuttering, "I… I… I'm so… So sorry… I don't know what… was I… thin…".

Naruto put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, thus stopping her incoherent rambling.

Everything that Hinata had said on the battlefield clicked. His mind was spinning, remembering every single instance of Hinata being nice to him, of her passing out around him, of her blushing every time they conversed, and of her giving him exam answers during the Chunin exams. He remembered his mission with Kiba and Hinata where the latter had made rice balls in the shape of his head. He thought of the Chunin exams when she gave him ointment to treat his wounds, and when he had first reunited with her upon his return to the Hidden Leaf after three years with Jiraya.

Naruto began to realize that from the start, since before they were even genin, Hinata had been the only one to admire him and look at him as a real person. Hinata had never ridiculed or struck him. She had never taken advantage of him or tried to trick him or berate him. Naruto never had to make Hinata like him. She never hated him nor feared him.

Her words echoed in his mind. I love you. I always will.

The two teenagers locked eyes and looked deeply into one another, and before long, Naruto began to tell her, "I'm sorry that I never realized that you were there for me, Hinata… I was utterly blind."

Hinata kept blushing furiously, but stood her ground, her body stable. She inhaled deeply and calmed herself down. Soon enough, her pearly skin began to return to its normal hue. Naruto took a small step back

"Y'know, it's crazy to think that no one has ever said those kinds of things to me before… No one has ever told me, 'I love you'". He laughed slightly, and looked downwards to the ground just to the left of where Hinata was standing. He put his arm behind his shoulder and rubbed his back.

"You risked your life for ME", Naruto said, looking back up. "And, well, I couldn't be more grateful! I was always so… Clueless… About how you treated me. You're the one person who respected me and cared about me without question. You never thought of me as weak or wanted to see me fail.

"I always knew I liked people like you… But, I should have realized that you are like you… I think!", Naruto continued, starting to confuse himself.

Hinata couldn't believe what she was hearing. Naruto was acknowledging her. It was as if her becoming stronger really was paying off.

No, she thought to herself, He's saying this not because I have gotten strong, but because he is finally acknowledging my feelings for him. My strength on the battlefield simply made him aware of it.

Hinata shook her head as that realization truly took hold. She looked at him and decided to say everything she felt.

"Naruto- you are the reason I was able to go through with any of it. Everything I said earlier I meant. You helped to build me up inside- to not be a crybaby. You helped me to become strong, and I finally decided that it was time to save you. I didn't want to show off or impress you, I wanted to protect you. All I wanted in the entire world at that moment was to knock those rods out of your body."

Hinata looked below his gaze, and then closed her eyes. "My body… moved on its own."

Naruto's eyes widened. Those words had been spoken to him only once before. He immediately went back to his battle alongside Sasuke on the bridge in the Land of Waves.

"I would do what I did again and again for all eternity, just for the chance to save you. Naruto, if I had to die to keep you safe- even for just the remote chance of keeping you safe- I would do it without any hesitation".

Naruto immediately hugged her tightly, to which Hinata reciprocated. Both closed their eyes and sank into the warmth of each other's bodies.

"I hope you know that I would die for you too, Hinata", Naruto said softly. Naruto had always liked Hinata, sure. Now he realized just how important she had been in his life, and how precious she should be to him.

Hinata snuggled into the taller boy's chest, breathing in his scent deeply.