Sorry for the mistakes in the last chapter.
I was too excited to post it to check the whole story over.
Anyway, I hope you're okay with a first-person view.
Disclaimer: I SO don't own Naruto.

Chapter 2: Advice from Ino

I could feel my eyes fluttering open. I saw a somewhat bright light, but my vision was still blurry.

I sat up on my bed. On my bed?

I looked around to see my room. But I don't ever remember going here. I racked my brain to try and remember what happened.

I had just finished my recent mission of saving Gaara. I came back in the village and I remember looking for friends. That's right! Team 8! I met up with them in an alley! Shino is even more mysterious; Akamaru's grown ten times his size from when I last saw him; and Hinata . . .

Hinata was . . . not the way I remembered. She's grown. Grown hot, actually. I groaned as I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I shouldn't be thinking of a teammate like that. It's disrespectful.

I looked to my bedside table to see what time it was, but only to find a note carefully placed next to my clock. I took it and examined the letter. It was written by someone with perfect penmanship; the letters were long, thin, and curved. It would only belong to a woman's hand, because no self-respecting boy would ever dot their "i"s with a circle.

Naruto,
You fell unconscious for some reason, so we took you to your house.
Sorry we couldn't stay with you but we had a mission.
By the way, welcome back!
Sincerely,
Team Kurenai

Forcing myself not to think about them, I traveled around Konoha once more. If I thought about that team, I would start to miss them. After all, I just caught up with them. It's strange, though, because I've never missed them before when they were away on a mission.

During my travel, I saw Shikamaru again, and the rest of his team. We were just having a casual conversation when Choji came.

"Hey Shikamaru, I brought you your lunch," he said.

"Choji!" I cried. I was glad to see my other friend again. We've been through a lot together. "You've changed a lot! You're even fa-"

Shikamaru covered my mouth with his hand. "Don't say the f-a-t word around him, remember?" he whispered into my ear. Oh yeah, I forgot. When he let go, I gave a nervous laugh.

"What I mean was, you're even taller than before!" We smiled at each other; Choji was also glad to see me again.

(A/N: Sorry, but I'm going to skip the whole Sai thing too.)

Just then, a voice cried over us. "Choji, I've been looking all over for you!" At the sound of his name, Choji turned. "Asuma-sensei is angry that you haven't shown up yet!"

"Eh, sorry. But I met up with someone," he apologized. I could see the figure behind him. It was a slender girl with long hair. I could tell she was beautiful, but I wasn't interested in her types. It was Ino Yamanaka. As I was watching her coming towards us group of men, she saw me, too. Her face lit up and waved wildly with one hand.

"Naruto! It's been a while!" she shouted as she ran over to me. "You're looking tall!" Her face being so close to mine reminded me of Hinata's new face. Ah! I'm thinking of her again! Why can't I get her out of my head? I smiled at Ino and replied a hello to her nervously to her to see if that would do the trick. Of course, it didn't.

"Girls are so troublesome," mumbled Shikamaru. That somehow went to my brain. Ino is a girl. Hinata is a girl. Maybe she can help me with my new feelings.

"Um, Ino," I started. The kunoichi turned to me. "I was wondering if you could help me with a problem."

"Sure!" she returned happily. I blushed and became nervous even more.

"Um, privately?" I darted my eyes toward Shikamaru and Choji. Being a girl, she understood those signs easily and nodded.

"Shikamaru, Choji, Asuma-sensei is looking for you."

"He's looking for me, too?" asked Shikamaru. I could see Ino give him a look that said "Just leave!" He was a little frightened, but he nodded his head lazily and gestured to Choji to follow him.

After they were gone, Ino turned to me again. "So, what do you need help with?" She was a little too cheery to me, but I felt a LITTLE more relaxed without two guys listening in on this. LITTLE, because I was still nervous about this.

"It's about . . . Hinata," I said hesitantly. For some reason, she giggled. Did she know something I didn't?

"What about Hinata?" she asked, smiling slyly.

Ignoring the mischievousness I knew was hidden underneath that grin, I continued. "Have you seen her recently?"

"Why, are you looking for her? Because I think she's on a mission."

"No, I'm talking about her appearance."

"Oh, the hair. Yeah, a lot of people keep asking why she grew her hair. Well, I don't know if that's what you're asking." Ino gave a little shrug.

"No, no. Well, yes, but not just the hair. I mean, like, her jacket and shoes and headband-"

"Naruto," she interrupted me. "I know that when guys say they want to know why a particular girl changed 'clothes', they usually mean their looks. What about Hinata's looks?"

"It's changed!" I suddenly blurted. I blushed and looked away for a while. However, Ino just cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, duh! Everybody's looks change! It's part of puberty!" she cried.

"You're right, you're right," I said after calming down. "What I meant is that . . . there's something about her face that's changed that I just can't put-"

"She's grown more beautiful, hasn't she?" she interrupted again, but with another small grin.

I blushed more fiercly this time, buy I admitted she has grown a little prettier than when we last met. "And I don't know why I keep thinking about her!" I concluded.

Ino gave a short laugh. "Naruto, let me give you some advice. Don't judge a girl by her cover. You gotta know her personally before you can continue with her." Confused, I asked her what this had anything to do with why I kept thinking about Hinata. "Isn't it obvious! You keep thinking about her because you've fallen in love with her!"

Stunned by Ino's words, I considered the possibility. When we were younger, I never thought of Hinata as more than a friend. We were very close friends, but I never pursued anything greater (I did that with Sakura).

(A/N: Naruto's using too much big words in this story. "Considered." "Pursued." I'm sorry, but I was just reading a novel that had all these words and I put them in here. Next time I'll read a Naruto before I start the chapter.)

I found myself thinking about them for a long time-long enough for Team Kurenai to finish their mission and return back to Konoha Village.

I was eating lunch at Ichiraku's when I heard loud barking, followed by a voice. "Yahoo! That was such a successful mission! I can't wait to tell Lady Tsunade!"

"Slow down, Kiba! Wait for us to catch up!" That voice belonged to a girl who's been occupying my mind for some days now.

She was back.

I could feel them rushing past the ramen shop. Of course they couldn't see me, but I was kind of hoping they would at least say hi.

My heart beating, I quickly finished my ramen, paid Teuchi, and exited the shop. I had something in mind.

If I needed to talk about Hinata, I needed to see someone.

Sorry for the short chapter.
It's NOT Hinata who he's going to see (I think that's obvious).
Please review!