Life was pretty jammed packed for Naruto now. He had a longer commute to work, and his new group was way more annoying, but Shikamaru did get his a raise.

He had to pair back his days at Teuchi's now that he was into kickboxing. Jiraiya has taken him under his wing, almost against Naruto's will but he couldn't complain. Muay Thai was addicting. It was an outlet he had seriously been lacking.

Jiraiya was on Naruto about his diet more than Hinata had ever been. Luckily he was getting some "cooking classes" from Iruka every now and then.

Everything was actually looking great.

Even Hinata was calling him, and not the other way around.

Only…

He didn't want to answer.

He had been ignoring her calls for almost a week and now it was going off nonstop.

By the seventh time Sunday morning.

He held it in his hands for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Hello?" He wasn't trying. To sound annoyed, but… he was.

"Naruto! Hi. I've, been calling you…" He felt momentary guilt at hearing how worried she sounded.

But not guilty enough.

"Yeah."

"Um, well, how are you?"

"Fine."

She sighed. "Naruto…"

"Did you need something?"

"I, I just wanted to make sure you were… alight. I haven't heard from you since…"

"Since when? Since you've started seeing other guys?"

"It's not like that." She promised.

That lifted a little weight of his chest.

"You're not seeing someone else?" He had to be sure.

"It's, it's not, serious. It's just casual."

His teeth ground together, the weight was even worse than before. His heart felt like it didn't have enough room in his chest cavity.

"So, you are."

"It's really not the big of a deal. I promise. I'm just, trying to, get out there. Try something new. I'm not looking for a boyfriend or anything. It's just… dating."

"Dating?" He spit it out with such disdain.

"Yeah." Her voice was quiet.

He couldn't even figure why. Why would she be sad if she's the one making all the decisions? She's calling all the shots. Shouldn't she be happy?

"Hey," His body straightened immediately along with his idea. "Go on a date with me."

"What?"

"Common, you said. It's not a big deal. It's not serious. It just dating. You said that, right?" His talking was moving faster along with his heart rate.

"Yes, but-"

"Just a casual date. No big deal. I get what you're saying, I go on dates all the time you know. Tons. So many, I barely have free time."

"Tons?" She sounded dubious.

"Believe it." He laughed at himself.

"I don't know, Naruto."

He could hear it. The indecision in her voice. She wanted to see him! He knew it!

"Just one. Please Hina?"

The phone was quiet.

He felt quiet. "Go on a date with me."

He could hear the her breath whisper across the receiver. "...okay."

Naruto's knees felt weak but he jumped as high as he could punching the air. He wanted to scream too but he bit his lip, and cleared his throat. "Ehm, yeah cool." He sniffed, still trying to regain his composure. "Sounds good."