Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I would like to thank Blue-Heart08 and afinalchaotic who reviewed! Thanks so much! To warn you, there has been a time skip (but you will figure that out soon). Instead of making Hinata stutter at every thing she says, I'm just going to have her be shy and quiet when she talks. I'm very sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Well, onto the story!

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Ch. 2 See You Later Alligator

"Hinata! Come on! Your so slow sometimes," Tenten babbles to me. I sigh. "Just because I'm leaving in two days she needs to spend time with me 24/7." I think, slightly touched at how much my 19-year-old best friend loves me. I look over my best friend. She is wearing a forest green that says, 'Wanna Know How to Keep an Idiot Occupied? (read back of shirt)' in white letters and the back saying the same thing except it said (read front of shirt) instead, along with brown shorts. Her chocolate brown hair is put up in two buns. "Let's go into this store!" Tenten announces.

I look up to see a sign that reads 'Hot Topic'. I shrug, even though the store looks a bit intimating to me. "Do we really have to be in here?" I ask her shyly. Tenten looks at me like I grew a second head then exclaims, "Of course! I want to have new clothes for the first day of college!" "The same college that Neji's going to," I mutter to myself, knowing all to well of the 'crush' my best friend has over him.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Tenten asks. I nervously wave my hands in front of me. "Um… just that this t-shirt would look good on you!" I quickly commented. We both look at the T-shirt I'm pointing at; white that has a T.V. on it that is saying 'stop staring at me!' "I love it! You have a good eye Hinata…" she trails off while grabbing the shirt and then went to pay for it.

Standing awkwardly by the entrance, Tenten finally emerges from the store. "Alright! That's enough shopping for me. What about you Hinata? Do you need any more new clothes? After all, you're going to America," she says stretching out the last word. I grin sheepishly at her. "I'm fine. Do you want to get a smoothie though?" I ask quietly. Tenten grins then adds, "Don't forget about the giant cookies!" We giggle while making our way to the Susie's Smoothies shop, Cookie Cutters our next destination after that. "Just like we do every time we go to the mall."

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I sigh as I flop down on my bed, my two shopping bags next to me. Rummaging through the bag, I pull out what I bought just an hour ago. Lavender scent shampoo and conditioner, 10 blue hair ties, a medium size brown and white backpack, and a book called The Host. (A/N it's a very good book. I've read it five times over and it's by Stephanie Meyer too) I get up with a groan and put the book into the backpack, which I was going to carry with me on the plane, and put the rest of the stuff into my navy suitcase.

I attempt to close the suitcase, but I fail miserably. The zipper just won't budge. Not giving up yet I stand on my bed then plop my butt down on the suitcase, swiftly closing it. I give myself a mental pat on the back and a victory smile. My eyes wander around my room, lingering at my laptop. "It's been five days…I should check to see if they have emailed back." With that final thought I sat down in my chair and flipped my laptop open while turning it on.

I waited for about a minute before I can see a picture of my two best guy friends, Shino and Kiba along with me. Kiba and I were sitting next to each other in a tree on a branch that was probably only six feet off the ground. Then Shino was sitting in between us on a different branch that was only a foot lower than ours. Kiba was grinning madly, Shino barely smirking, and I was giving a shy smile.

I remember clearly when this photo was taken. Three years ago Tenten took a photography class and had a 'humongous project' as Tenten said to do. The students in her class had to pick out of a hat to see what they had to do their project on and the teacher said he would give a prize to the first, second, and third place winners. It just so happened Tenten picked trees. So she phoned us up and we all agreed to help her out. In the end, she ended up with second place, winning a ten-dollar gift certificate for ice cream. She invited us along with Neji to come along for ice cream. So that day ended with us piggy out on ice cream.

I smile at the memory as I click on the Internet. It pops up, showing my homepage, Yahoo. I click on mail and type in my username and password then press enter. Scrolling down, I notice that I have one unread email. Clicking on it, I see it's from my host family.

Hey Hinata,

I can't wait to meet you too! It's my family's first time having a foreign exchange student so we can both learn from each other. As you know, there are only three of us; both of the boys are my younger brothers. One's in college (age 20, his name is Kankuro) while the other is in your grade (age 18, his name is Gaara). I'll make sure that he shows you around the school, even if I have to force him… He isn't that social, but this Neji guy sounds kind of like him so you should be use to guys like that. Just to make sure; your plane leaves at 8:00 AM on August 14 right? Well I have to go to work now, so I'll hopefully talk to you soon or see you at the airport if we can't.

-Temari

I read the message two times before replying, an old habit of mine.

Hello Temari,

Just reading these emails from you makes me feel like we already know each other. Please don't force Gaara to do anything he doesn't want to do; I don't want to be a burden to him. Though it makes me feel better knowing what I will be expecting out of him if he really is like my cousin. Yes, the plane information is correct, unless if there will be a delay. Well I guess I will see you at the airport soon!

Yours truly,

Hinata

I quickly proofread the short message before clicking 'send' and turning off the computer.

Standing up, I stretch my arms out before going through my bags to make sure I have everything. "That should be everything…now all I have to do really is say goodbye to all my friends," I think to myself. A frown slowly appears on my face. I only allow one tear to escape before snapping my eyes shut. "I should save the crying for later." Walking towards my desk, I open the first drawer to my left and take out my blue Motorola Rizr Z3.

I punch in Kiba's number quickly, and then put the phone to my ear. Ring…Ring…Ring…Hello? Hey Kiba, it's me Hinata. Hey Hinata! What's up? I was wondering if um you would want to go somewhere together since this is probably going to be the last chance I have to spend time with you and Shino. That's right! You're leaving in two days! Yeah sure! Where are we going? I haven't talked to Shino yet so I don't know… Hey how about I call him and then meet up with you at your house? That sound good? Sounds great! I'll see you soon Kiba. Yeah, see yah!

I turn off my phone, and then dash down the stairs, waiting for my two best guy friends to arrive.

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"Bye Shino! Bye Kiba!" I shout to them with a smile. Both boys smile at me from Kiba's silver 5-year-old prius. "Make sure to call or email!" Kiba barks as he drives out of my long driveway. I wave at them, knowing this will be the last time I will see them for a year. They both wave, but this causes Kiba not to pay attention, and he nearly drives his car into a Kanzan tree.

I giggle as I hear Kiba yelling at Shino, and Shino probably calmly talking back at him about how bad of a driver he is. Standing on my front porch, I watch them leave before they are out of site. Sighing I think about how wonderful today has been. After ten minutes of driving around deciding on where to go, Kiba said we should go to Fuji Q Highland. We all agreed on that, since we use to go there all the time when we were younger. So we spent three hours going on rides.

I slowly walk inside, taking off my shoes in the hallway. Turning left, I enter the kitchen. The walls are painted red, the ceiling is a gold, and the floor is wooden along with the cupboards in here. I set my brown shaggy stuff dog that Kiba gave me on the counter; along with the giant lollipop that Shino bought me. I smile as I skip to the fridge and pull out leftover chicken ramen for dinner.

"Father has a meeting till 10 o clock tonight, Neji's over at his friend Lee's house today, and I believe Hanabi said something about being at a sleepover party. I think its Aimi's…so that means I'm going to have dinner by myself." I think to myself as I lean against the counter eating my ramen.

Glancing at the clock, it reads 7:00. I finish my ramen and put the bowl in the sink. I open the cupboard to the left of the sink, and grab a bag of microwave popcorn. Placing the popcorn in the microwave, I grab my stuff and jog into the family room. Throwing my stuff on the tan couch that faces the large flat screen T.V., I rush back to the kitchen to retrieve the popcorn.

I grab a bowl, pour the popcorn in it, and then walk back to the family room. I put the popcorn on the coffee table that sits in front of the couch and continue walking towards the T.V. Gracefully, I put the movie Memoirs of a Geisha in, and then plop down on the couch. Pressing play, I snack on my popcorn, ready to enjoy one of my favorite movies.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be about when she's on a plane for the first time. I'll have to warn you now; tomorrow I will be at my friends cabin for the weekend, and on Sun- Fri I will be at a church camp so I won't be able to update till after that. If I could, I would skip church camp, but my mom is making me go…well, please review!