Let us continue.

Chapter 2 – Girl Talk

Hinata stared in surprise as Ino and Sakura waved at her from the door, both of them smiling ever so sweetly. Hinata put her finger to her lower lip before meeting them at the door.

"H-hello, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan," Hinata said, bowing politely. "What brings you here?"

"We wanted to talk to you about something important," Sakura said.

"And private," Ino added, glancing at Hiashi, who immediately got the message.

"Make yourself at home," Hiashi said as he headed off to train with Neji.

"Thank you very much," Sakura and Ino said simultaneously, before they immediately rounded on each other. "STOP TALKING WHEN I'M TALKING, INO-PIG/FOREHEAD-CHAN!" The two growled at each other while Hinata let fall a bead of sweat on the back of her head before turning to head upstairs. Sakura and Ino immediately stopped growling and followed her into her room.

"So this is your room, huh?" Sakura said. "It's very…"

"Yeah, there's a lot of lavender in here," Ino finished for her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Hinata asked, sitting down on her bed.

Sakura and Ino both looked at each other, trying hard to figure out how to break the ice about the whole thing with Naruto.

"We wanted to have a little talk with you, girl to girl," Ino said, "…to girl." She quickly added as Sakura glared at her.

"About what?"

"It's probably no big deal," Sakura said sweetly, "but we noticed you've been watching Naruto train for the past few weeks…" As she continued speaking, she didn't notice that Hinata's eyes have widened slightly, nor did she notice that Hinata was turning redder than an overripe tomato. "…so we just wanted to know what the deal is."

Hinata nearly jumped off her bed as Sakura finished talking. Hinata lowered her head so that her hair covered her eyes and put her index fingers together again. Ino could tell that at this moment, she would rather be anywhere but here.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hinata said, smiling with such cuteness, it's almost scary. Of course, neither Ino nor Sakura was buying it. She was flat out lying to their faces. The two turned around and whispered to each other.

"So what do you think, Ino-pig?"

"Well, it's obvious she has some sort of feelings for Naruto, but I still want to hear it from the horse's mouth. And stop calling me Ino-pig!"

"Then I guess there's only one thing left to do. And you know what that is." Sakura grinned evilly.

"I thought you'd never ask." Ino grinned even more evilly.

"What are you two talking about?" Hinata asked.

Downstairs…

"I can't believe he forced me to spar with Hanabi," Neji grumbled as he headed toward the stairs. He looked back as a few veins started to pulse before his eyes. "I'm going to get back my hair brush if it's the last thing I do."

"EEEEEEEEEEE! NO! PLEASE STOP!"

"TALK, HINATA!"

Neji's eyes widened. Hinata! Neji bolted upstairs.

"DON'T DO THAT! I BEG YOU!"

"TELL US, DARN YOU!"

He pushed open the door to Hinata's room, only to discover that she was actually laughing her head off.

"…Tickle torture?"

Ino and Sakura stared at Neji as the sight unfolded before his white eyes: Sakura had grabbed Hinata by the ankles, while Ino unzipped Hinata's jacket (don't worry, she still has her black shirt underneath) and was vigorously tickling her ribs, forcing Hinata to laugh so hard she was actually crying for a different reason. Her face was actually redder than before. Eventually, Hinata's laughing died down as she saw her cousin right outside her door.

"B-brother…Neji?"

"I don't even want to know," Neji said stiffly, before sliding the door shut again.

An eerie silence filled the room before Ino spoke up while cracking her fingers. "You know, Hinata, we don't have anything else to do today…"

"All right, I'll tell you," Hinata said quickly. Being tickled was one of her biggest weaknesses. Sakura and Ino sat down on the bed as Hinata zipped up her jacket again and took a deep breath. They wouldn't tell anyone…right?

"Well, at first my feelings for Naruto were…" Hinata paused as she tried to find the right words, "mild, at most. But since the Chunin Exams, my feelings have increased somewhat."

"Go on," Sakura said, readjusting her headband.

Hinata looked down at her hands. "I…I've been watching him for some time now. I've often wondered why. In my match with brother Neji, when Naruto shouted to me, I felt my heart skip a beat and I wasn't afraid anymore. I felt like I could take on the world. But despite that…"

"You still lost," Ino interrupted.

"Ino!" Sakura reprimanded her.

"It's true," Hinata continued, "I did lose that match, but in doing so, I feel I gained something more. I feel like I've changed since then. I'm not as shy and reserved as I used to be." Hinata put her hands to her heart. "I owe so much to Naruto. I really want to thank him for helping me build my courage. And besides…" Hinata turned around, putting her fingers together and avoiding the girls' gazes, "…he…may have seen me naked at one point."

"WHAAAAAT?!" Ino and Sakura stared at Hinata, wide-eyed and jaws gaping. They really didn't expect that. They thought for sure they knew the extent of sweet and adorable Hinata. Apparently, they were dead wrong. "But…but…why were you naked?!" Sakura asked, hysterically.

"It's not what you think!" Hinata responded quickly, waving her hands. "I just…I didn't have a choice. During one of our missions, I was training to perfect a new move by this waterfall. It was very humid and my clothes were starting to stick to my body, so I went behind the waterfall to get out of my clothes." As Hinata continued, she started to blush again. "And then…I went back out to train some more...I honestly didn't know he was watching me!"

Ino and Sakura continued to stare at her as she lowered her head a bit. "Um…please don't look at me like that. I don't actually believe he recognized me. He told Kiba that he saw this…'ultra pretty girl' under the waterfall and…"

"OH MY GOD!!" Ino shouted, actually falling off the bed. "HE TOLD KIBA?!"

"And Shino too…I-I think…"

"THAT PERVERT! I'M GONNA SLAUGHTER HIM! CHA!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, punching the air in front of her, completely forgetting that Hinata was there and that she was slightly backing away from her.

"But Sakura," Ino chimed in, "this is good news!"

"It is?" Hinata and Sakura both asked at the same time.

Ino put a hand on Hinata's shoulder and smiled sweetly. "Hinata Hyuga, you've made a lot of progress today. So starting immediately, we're going to help you be more noticeable to Naruto, one way or another."

Sakura could practically smell the evil in Ino's mind seeping out of her ears.

Hinata: It was me he saw under the waterfall...but I didn't say anything. How could I?

Sakura: It's probably better that way.

Ino: At least we know what to do now. We're gonna help you be more noticeable. Now, let's start with your clothes...

Sakura: Have you heard about this Festival coming up?

Ino: Oh yeah! There's going to be fireworks and everything!

Hanabi: Did someone say my name? (Hanabi Fireworks)

Author: The next chapter is called Makeover.

Sakura: Huh? What's he doing here?