A/N: YAY for timeline jumping. This is a couple of years before Naruto became Hokage and about a year before they got married.

The Power of Youth

A seventeen-year-old Hinata stormed into her room in the Hyuuga compound.

"That bastard! Where was he?" She muttered to herself as she slammed the door behind her.

Something on her bed caught her attention. Lying on her pillow was a single white rose with a piece of paper underneath it. Walking over to the bed she picked up the paper. On it, in what was clearly an attempt at decent handwriting, were the words 'I'm sorry.' Rotating her body as she fell she dropped back on her bed and let loose a deep sigh. She clutched the note to her chest and closed her eyes.

"Dammit Naruto. Why won't you let me stay mad at you?"

A voice came from her window.

"Because I hate it when you're not smiling."

She kept her eyes closed as she responded.

"They why do you do things that make me so angry at you?"

A weight plopped down on her bed beside her and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, usually it's because I'm an idiot. This time though I've got a better excuse. I was sparring with Gai-sensei and I kept getting distracted by images of a pair of beautiful lavender eyes. As I'm sure you know, when Gai spars he goes all out, and losing your concentration while sparring with him is a somewhat dangerous proposition."

Slightly appeased by the compliment but still fairly angry she stopped him.

"Naruto, get to the point."

"Ok ok. Long story short is that I got distracted and I took a Maito Gai konoha senpuu to the side of the head and I got knocked out."

At that her pale eyes shot open and she sat up staring at her blond boyfriend.

"Oh my god Naruto-kun are you ok?"

Quickly she took his face in her hands and began to look him over in search of injuries.

"Hinata." He lightly gripped her wrists and pulled them away from his face. "Hinata I'm ok. Old lady Tsunade healed me right up, right before she called me an idiot for not paying attention." He added with a mumble.

"She was right though. Some people might have let up on their punches during training but Gai goes all out all the time. You really should have been paying more attention."

Smiling mischievously he pulled his beautiful girlfriend into his arms.

"While certainly true, I think it was worth it. You're a damn good distraction."

"I'm just glad you're ok."

"Hey now I'm not going down that easy."

Hinata buried her face in his chest so he couldn't see the wicked grin that was slowly spreading across her face.

"Oh really now? Well we'll see about that."

As she finished talking she suddenly pushed him backwards onto her bed and started tickling his sides. Naruto, however, was not going down without a fight. He quickly seized her hands and pulled them up over her head. He then proceeded to flip her onto her back and hover slightly above her.

"That was a good try beautiful, but you're going to have to do better than that to beat the future Hokage."

With one hand he pinned her arms to the bed.

"And for your assassination attempt you must be punished."

A dangerous gleam sparkled in Naruto's eyes as he slowly slid his free hand down her side. He stopped when he reached the spot halfway between her ribs and her waist.

"I think we'll begin the interrogation here." He said as he began to tickle her side.

Her laughter was wild and uncontrolled. It echoed off the walls in between her gasps for air. After about a minute of this the door to Hinata's room swung open and in walked Hyuuga Hiashi.

"Naruto, dare I ask what you are doing here?"

Panic-stricken Naruto struggled to speak.

"Um, I'm here to apologize to Hinata for standing her up earlier. I was a little unconscious at the time I was supposed to meet her."

"I see. Very well, but could you apologize quieter? I have a headache."

'Well at least they have the decency to look sheepish.' Thought a mildly amused Hiashi.

"Er uh of course Hiashi-dono."

"Gomen otou-san."

With a slight smirk the Hyuuga head turned and exited his daughter's room, closing the door behind him. Once he was out the door he allowed his smile to overtake him.

"So that's the fire of youth Gai is always going on about."

Back in Hinata's room the two lovebirds were lying side-by-side looking in to each other's eyes.

"So, am I forgiven?"

The blue-haired girl scrunched her forehead as if she was debating whether to forgive him in her mind.

"I guess so, but you're going to have to make it up to me."

"Anything."

"Well then get over here fox boy I think I could use a kiss." Adding a wink for emphasis.

Needing no further encouragement the blond darted across the bed until he was no more than an inch from the girl he had dubbed Starshine's face.

"Now that I can do."

A/N: Done again. I'm not sure I really like this chapter actually. I do like his excuse for missing their date but I think the dialogue is a little weird. I'll try to do better next time, especially with the ending quote that I'm usually so proud of.

TigerWolf (): Well I'm certainly glad you're enjoying my story. I love that I made you smile it makes everything worth while (did I mention I'm a songwriter. Rhyming comes naturally to me.) and the crying is even better. I must be doing something right. Emotion is something I love to communicate to people it makes everything seem more real. Don't worry there's still more to come.

Nonengel: Who knew I would go on to write 4 chapters in one night? I certainly didn't. You don't plan that kind of thing you just go with it. When the ideas flow they flow. I enjoyed the comment about the mark too. I'm trying to work a bit more humor in to my stories because really I'm a pretty strange guy. Yeah that ending line is about as fluffy as anything can get it was way too cute to pass up though. New Gaara was so much fun to write. I've always just envisioned with a really dry sense of humor.

Danny-1171984: Blast! So much for my dream of being detective. I do understand where you're coming from about Sasuke and I do agree that under normal circumstances he may have laid into Naruto a little bit. However, my feeling had to do with Naruto's anger. I'm not sure if you've ever been in the situation where you were that angry but it really does make you stronger and faster. Another way to look at is that with his chidori he was overconfident and the sheer force of the Narutos elbow hitting his face took a lot out of him. If you've ever watched Mike Tyson fight when he was younger try and picture one of the people he was fighting after they took one of his hits to the face. Sorry to burst your bubble but Gaara took care of the horns after Naruto mentioned them. Theres no red bull in my diet. Though there is a fair amount of caffeine. My schedule is pretty open since I currently don't have a job. I sleep 6AM – 3PM if that helps you think of it. Blech.

Dragon Man 180: I was having trouble with my internet so I was unable to submit my reviews to your story but I am in the process of reading it. I'll review it as soon as I can. Tsunade is protective of her little bro. It only makes sense that she would threaten them. Plus theres the added benefit of the crowds thinking 'if the hokage whom we trust is willing to fight for him could we be wrong?' The carving is awesome. I absolutely love that chapter even if it is super short.

TVO (): Darn right I'm busting out the NaruHina. There really isn't enough straight pairings in Naruto fan fiction. While I have no problem with homosexuality in real life (ask the 40 year old gay guy that talks about his sex life with me) I have a slight problem with imagining any of these characters gay, least of all Naruto. Do people think he was always hitting on Sakura as a cover up? I'll keep it coming you keep reviewing and enjoying.