Got another one for you! I decided to celebrate my new chapter of my Hinata: Sweetheart story with a chapter of this :-)

It's just a bit longer than the previous two because I decided to add in a flashback with Naruto's view of what happened the night before. You'll get Hinata's in the next chapter.

This chapter has some serious feelings in it, but I like to think I kept some humor. Personally, I find snarky Kurama hilarious so I hope you do to.

I'll stop babbling now and let you read!

Chapter Three

Naruto was walking through Konoha in a daze. He was having a hard time processing what he had just seen - a freshly showered Hinata walking in, talking about making lunch for Sasuke as if she was comfortable there.

Was she? He certainly hadn't noticed any kind of relationship between the two of them. But she was wearing some of the Teme's clothes.

Even though the shirt was black and had been rather large on her petite frame, it had done nothing to hide her ample bosom. It had also done nothing to hide the fact that there was nothing between said bosom and the shirt. Had it really been so chilly in Sasuke's apartment? Must have been...

Naruto was jerked back to reality when he nearly ran into a pole. He could hear Kurama snicker in his mindscape and frowned.

They obviously had some kind of relationship. The fact that she had spent the night and used his shower, as well as planned lunch for them made it seem more than friendly. Hell, it seemed downright dirty.

But Hinata wasn't like that! She was sweet and innocent! She wouldn't do something like that. And she definitely wouldn't do it with Sasuke. No way.

"And how would you know?" Kurama asked.

"Because I know she's not like that!" he yelled back.

"How do you suppose that? When was the last time you talked to her? And I mean actually talked to her, not just talked to everybody while she happened to be there."

Naruto thought about it. And he quickly came to the conclusion that Kurama was right.

"But, I thought, you know, she liked me like that, not Teme."

"Sure, she did, but what have you done to address that? You can only ignore a girl for so long before she takes the hint."

"What hint? There were no hints!"

"Exactly."

"Gah, what is that supposed to mean? And I haven't ignored her! I invited her to eat ramen the other day!"

"Oh sure, you invited her to eat while you had fangirls draped all over you. I'm sure that seemed super fun for her."

Naruto stopped. He hated to admit it, but he had a point.

"Still, I have a hard time thinking she would start something like that with Sasuke. I mean, gross."

"Maybe she didn't start it. Maybe he actually noticed what a catch she is and did something about it. As much as I dislike Uchihas as a general rule, you can't say they don't know how to take advantage of a situation."

That could be the case, but still, he had a hard time believing it. And anyway, wasn't there something happening between Sasuke and Sakura? He wasn't exactly allowed to ask about their private life (it ended violently from both parties), but he could have sworn there was something there.

Then again, Hinata had mentioned that Sasuke had woken her up. That meant she spent the night. And that could mean so many things that he didn't want.

"You know, this wouldn't be a problem if you had just talked to her already."

"Why are you so concerned with my love life all of a sudden?" Naruto replied grumpily.

"I'm stuck inside you. That means I experience what you experience and - I can't emphasize this enough - I hate those stupid fangirls. You had a nice girl who loved you back when everyone else thought you were hopeless and now you're surrounded by shrieking harpies all the time. I have my preferences and, in this case, I know they coincide with your own."

Naruto sighed. What was he supposed to say to her? It isn't like he'd not talked to her about it because he didn't care. She had been important to him ever since the Chunin exams and the incident with Pain had really affected him. But how was he supposed to address it?

"What the hell am I supposed to say? Oh, hey Hinata. You remember those times you almost died and told me you loved me?

'Yes, Naruto-kun?' (He answered himself in a high pitched voice.)

"Yeah, well I didn't really think you meant what you said so I never said anything.

'But, Naruto-kun, I said I loved you. How much more straightforward am I supposed to be? Are you saying you thought I was lying? You think I'm a liar?'

"No! I just.. nevermind. I meant to say that I never said anything because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say..

'You mean you did know what I meant and just ignored it?'"

Naruto sighed, imagining sweet Hinata crying because he couldn't say the right thing.

"You see? I can't imagine anything going well."

Kurama was silent.

"What, no advice? No comments?"

"... That was the worst impression I've ever heard."

Naruto practically fell over.

"Oi! I just acted out my nightmare and that's all you have to say? No advice at all?"

"Yes. Don't try to win her over with your impressions. I don't think even she could be nice about them."

"You're fucking useless," Naruto growled out.

"Sure, now you say that. But whenever some new goddess bent on destruction comes along you'll be asking for my help again."

"You're an ass, you know."

"Fine," Kurama said with a sigh, "You don't necessarily have to say anything profound or make some grand speech. You could just ask her out on a date. It's as simple as that."

The Uzumaki considered that. It was better than anything he had come up with so far, which had been nothing.

As someone who had grown up without a family, without any friends because the adults wouldn't let their kids play with him, he had no experience with love. Hell, he hadn't even realized what her confession meant until last night when Kiba talked to him.

Flashback

They had all been out in a group since it was one of those rare occasions when everyone was actually in town instead of out on missions.

Naruto was having a hard time keeping his fangirls at bay. All he wanted to do was spend some quality time out with his friends and he had girls trying to drag him in all directions.

Finally, he thought he came up with a solution: Get Sakura to dance with him for a song or two. Her strength and temper were practically as legendary as Tsunade's now and he figured she would be great for scaring the fangirls away.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't agree. Sakura suggested Hinata instead, but the bluenette was way too nice. Sure, she was crazy strong, but she was so sweet and soft spoken that he knew it wouldn't be enough to scare his fangirls. He needed someone scary!

Later, Kiba had taken him aside to talk.

"Hey, do you mind if I ask how you feel about Hinata?"

Naruto was startled by the seemingly random question.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you love her or not?"

"Of course, I love all my friends!" he replied.

Kiba had realized Naruto wasn't quite understanding, so he tried a different approach.

"Fine, do you feel about Hinata like you used to feel about Sakura?"

"What? No, that would be weird. They are completely different."

The Inuzuka sighed, not realizing that this time he had been the one to misunderstand.

"Well in that case you should tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"You need to tell Hinata that you don't love her."

"But I already told you I do!"

"Yeah, but not in the way she loves you."

"Huh, how is it different?"

"Look, I'm not going to betray her confidence more than I already have so I'm just going to say this: If you don't feel any differently about Hinata than you do everyone else, then you need to let her know."

Before Naruto could ask anything else, Kiba had gone back inside.

End Flashback

He had stayed up the rest of the night after that, thinking about what Kiba had said. It took a lot of time, and some explaining from Kurama, but when Naruto finally realized what he had meant, so many things fell into place. The quiet encouragement, the medicinal cream, her blushing and stuttering, her self-sacrifice... everything.

Or, so he thought. After seeing what he had seen that morning, maybe he had misunderstood? Or maybe Kiba misunderstood Hinata's true feelings?

It was all so confusing! He was a straightforward kind of guy and thought there should be a way to just clear everything up. Unfortunately, he knew he wouldn't get a straight answer out of Sasuke.

Luckily, when he looked up he saw Hinata making her way towards the Hyuga compound.

He quickly headed toward her, eager to get to the bottom of this.