"Avoidance doesn't solve anything, it's just a temporary salve."


She stands in front of her mirror adjusting her top, switching different pants, then to a skirt, new top...until her bed is covered with discarded 'maybes' and 'nopes' and she's clad only in her underwear, staring at the slightly panicked eyes of her rival.

Hinata turns away from her reflection in order to pace. "Why is this so hard? I mean, he's seen me naked, for crying out loud. Like...a lot of times...and...okay that's not helping." She shakes her head. "No sex thoughts right now."

Which is harder than it sounds, because lately she's been dreaming of him.

And hoo boy, what dreams they've been...

"Shut up, brain," she snaps.

In the doorway, Argus tilts his head, ears perked.

"Ugh!" Hinata flops onto the clothes covered mattress and throws one arm over her eyes.

It's just a simple date.

A friendly dinner.

With a friend.

A friend that, as she pointed out to her very confused dog, has seen her naked more times than she can count.

A friend that she dedicated a lot of her life to.

One that she'd (ideally) like to dedicate even more too...but that was getting way ahead of herself...first she'd have to make it through dinner, and that was assuming she'd survive just trying to pick out the outfit...and...wait, where was she again?

Oh yeah.

Dinner.

With a friend.

A friend that she loves.

And has recurring sex dreams about.

So, you know...there was that .

Oh, God, she was hopeless.

"Think I could borrow that vest of yours, Argus?" she whispers.

A moment later, Hinata hears steady clicking and then something weighted flops onto her lap.

His vest.

Warmth blossoms in her chest and she laughs.

Okay.

She sits up and holds the vest between her hands; Argus watches her expectantly.

"Thanks, buddy." She places it on the bed. "But I don't think I'll need it."

She can do this.


He cut his hair.

That's the first thing she notices.

It looks good. Shorter than he's had it before, for certain, but it's still that sunshine gold that she loves and her fingers twitch with the urge to run them through his shorn locks to see if they felt as soft as they looked-as soft as she remembers his hair to be.

She curls them into her palms-just to be safe-as she makes her way towards his table.

He looks slimmer is the second thing she picks up on, but it's not a "wasted" sort of slim. Trimmed down would be a more accurate description.

He's fidgeting, but he does that when he's anxious, so that kind of helps settle her own nerves. She's not the only one with tension and nervous energy. He hasn't spotted her yet.

"Naruto?"

He shoots straight to his feet, nearly knocking over his glass of water s he does so.

She feels bad, she hadn't meant to startle him. "Oh, are you okay?" she asks, instinctively reaching out to steady him.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He rubs the back of his newly shorn head, and grins. It's one of his fake 'overly confident' grins, but she's going to let that pass, because she's also wearing a mask. She wants this to go well...but she's not ready to be vulnerable. Not yet.

"Should we, um, sit down?" She asks quietly, glancing between the two of them.

She feels awkward, doubly so, because this is Naruto and she knows him inside and out and this uneasiness is completely unnatural between before they dated, while she was quietly in love, and he was completely oblivious, they had meshed well. Things were natural.

Easy.

She wonders if they're too far away from that now to ever get back.

It's not something she wants to dwell on that moment, however, so she shakes it off.

"Yeah!" Naruto laughs, awkwardly gesturing to the chair across from him.

Hinata settles into the seat, feigning a calm that she doesn't really feel. Her hands tremble, so she pushes them onto her lap in the pretense of spreading her napkin over her skirt.

"How have you been?" He asks, his hands drumming a faint rhythm against his thighs.

It's a simple question, but one that she doesn't have a ready answer for. She doesn't want to ruin this tentative truce by telling him that for the past week she's been worried about him because he was avoiding her phone calls, or how that every moment since she left their apartment has felt simultaneously like she was shattering and and being reborn at the same time, or how her heart aches so much right this moment that it's hard to breathe.

"I've been good." She settles for.

"That's good. So...up to anything new?" Naruto takes a sip of his water, his blue eyes flickering away from hers for a moment before meeting them again.

"Um, well…" She tucks some hair behind her ear and contemplates-again-how much to reveal. How far to open up. There's a part of her that wants to share everything with him. Argus. Her self-defense course. Baguazhang. Lee and Guy. The ups and downs she's dealing with. Inoichi. Her semi-promotion at work. Her renewed optimism. But...there's another part of her that whispers at her to tread carefully. She's still raw and not completely healed and although he is not the source of all of her pain, he can inflict more damage than anyone else-carelessly or with intent.

She swallows and gives a small shrug. "I started a knitting class." That was safe.

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "Knitting? Cool, what are you making?"

Hinata flushes, because who on earth, besides Naruto, would think knitting was cool? He's always tried to make her feel more important than she is. He's the sun and she's always been Icarus...

She's back to twisting her bracelet as self doubt works its way through her.

Hinata ducks her head. "I'm not good enough to make anything yet." The words come out before she can stop them. Her rival is in rare form today, she thinks, pressing her lips together. She can almost see Guy Sensei shaking his head at her, but gifting her with an encouraging smile; she can almost feel Ino's hand on her shoulder, telling her to lift her chin.

She may not be able to do it all on her own yet...but she's not really on her own. She sits a little straighter.

"So, what to you do at your class then?" Naruto asks, curious. He seems genuinely interested, which makes her face tingle. She knows she's blushing.

"I'm making these little squares." She makes a general shape with her own hands."To practice the different stitches."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. There's different stitches? I thought knitting was the… 'thing' , ya'know."

It's such a Naruto thing to say that she can't help but giggle. He was always good at making her laugh.

"There's quite a few different stitches." She informs him, trying to sound mock-serious, like she's instructing a student. Naruto nods at her, egging her on.

She can feel the walls around her heart tremble.

She loves him so much.

Before she can carry on the waiter is at their table, asking for their selections. She hasn't even glanced at the menu, but every place has some form of chef salad, so she orders one of those. Naruto surprises her by ordering grilled chicken and vegetables.

Now that wasn't like him at all , and she's unsure of how to measure that. Her gaze lingers on his face, taking in his expression, the clarity of his eyes.

He seems to get what she's looking for, so he offers up: "Mr. Umino, from next door. He's taught me how to cook. I forgot if I told you, on the phone." He takes another drink of water. "Anyways, you always said that vegetables were important. And I always said that they suck and tasted like dirt."

She laughs a little because that much is true, and she doesn't really disagree . Afterall, her favorite food is cinnamon rolls with extra icing. But she had always tried to get Naruto to eat veggies, if for no other reason than his health.

Naruto carries on in his typically animated fashion and she is enthralled. "Mr. Umino gave me some tips for cooking them so they don't taste like… sadness."

She laughs again, harder this time. She missed this. His silliness. His candor.

Him.

Encouraged by her reactions, he adds, "Yeah, and I can't eat cereal for breakfast anymore, because my Muay Thai coach is a sadist. It's exactly like Rocky. This freak has got me putting six raw eggs and spinach into vanilla protein powder. If his work out don't kill me, I'm going to die from salmonella poisoning."

"That's a lot of eggs," She murmurs, slightly alarmed. Naruto can be stubborn as hell, but also easily led if he's not careful. She forces herself not to analyze this man she's never met or his motivations, and instead decides to focus on Naruto-here, now. "Do you like… what is it called again?"

His smile actually reaches his eyes. "Muay Thai. And yeah! I don't know what it was about running, but I hated it. Maybe, with Muay Thai, it's more like.. I feel like I'm actually working towards something."

Something inside of Hinata hums to life. She resonates with this. More so now than ever before in her life. Clearing her throat she asks, "What do you mean?"

"Like with running. I wasn't getting anywhere. Not just because I was on a treadmill neither." He laughs at his own joke and her heart beats harder against its confines.

"But, there's always something to work on for kickboxing," he continues. "I have to get better stamina. I have to get better footwork. My kicks are still pretty week. There's tons of different combos. And a lot of that stuff I can never master. But I can get better. Like, stronger, faster, y'know?"

She nods because she does know. Lee and Guy cross her mind. "But, I thought your instructor was really impressed with you."

"Impressed?" Naruto snorts. "Half the time I feel like the guy is going lure me to his basement to wear my skin ala Silence of the Lambs. I don't know what he sees in me but he already wants to set me up with a fight with an old student of his."

She knows exactly what his instructor sees in him. She's always seen it. "That's impressive."

He waves a hand. "Eh, enough about me. Tell me more about those little squares. And what's a 'purl' again?"

Hinata lets him deflect and starts to tell him about looping and cinching and the different stitches she's learning. It sounds so lame and tame compared to his story, but he seems genuinely interested, so she continues.

Throughout dinner they do an awkward conversational two-step, dancing around their real issues, and instead sharing superficial tidbits and general conversation-the weather, the news (she's surprised that he follows it) and the day to day. She asks him about his new canvassing job and Teuchi's. Naruto shifts a bit in his seat when that comes up, but she doesn't read too much into it.

He seems to be doing well.

Remarkably well, and Hinata can't help but think about Hanabi's words. Had she spent so much time being his caretaker and not his girlfriend that she had removed any reason for him to try on his own? Was he actually better off without her?

And if he was...what then?

She pushes those thoughts down because they will serve no purpose at the moment. Hinata knows that eventually...if they are going to continue...things will need to be said. She also knows that she's not ready to say them...and she's not sure if he's ready to hear them.

It's a conversation that needs to happen, but tonight is not the night for it.

So, she redirects her thoughts much like Sensei tells her to redirect her energy and steers their conversation to less serious topics.

She's a little sad as the night wears on and the date draws to a close. It's actually been a pretty fun evening.

"Hey, tell me something." Naruto's voice is quiet and serious as he walks her towards the curb to hail a cab.

Hinata can feel a bit of dread pool in her gut. Maybe Naruto wanted that conversation now.

"Do-" He swallows and the dread solidifies."Does my haircut make me look like a dork?"

Her eyes widen and she bursts into laughter out of sheer relief. "No! I really like it, actually."

"Oh good." He smirks and it's knowing. "Did you think I was gonna ask you something bad?"

Yes.

She takes a breath. Before she leaves, there is a question that she wants to ask him, but it is edging into that territory she wants to avoid. Even so, she needs to know. "Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you something? Are you alright? Have you been taking your-"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He cuts her off, shaking his head lightly. "I'm sorry ma'am but I don't just give my personal information to any random woman on a first date."

Her mouth drops open, gaping at him. Random woman? "Wha…?"

"I think that's about… hmm, let's say, a third date question?" He taps his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah. Third date sounds fair."

She scrutinizes him for a long minute biting her lip while her fingers worry her bracelet. "Three dates?" She asks, again for clarification.

"Three dates for personal questions."

Three dates before they have the conversation ? It would give her time to emotionally prepare-in theory. "That's fair." She finally concedes.

He winks at her. "Believe it."

When her cab finally comes, she pulls him into a little hug. "Thanks for this," she whispers. She closes her eyes to keep from crying when his arms curl around her in return. He's always been so much larger than her-larger than life-and for one beautiful minute she can pretend that she never left his embrace. But then the car honks and she's stepping back. She gives a delicate sniff and a little wave before climbing into the back.

Naruto lifts his hand in a farewell wave and Hinata turns to watch him out of the back window until he blends in with the busy city background.