Author's Note: I'm sick and this is from my iPad so editing wasn't exactly a priority. But, you guys are awesome and since it's finished I wanted to get it out to you. Hope you like!
Chapter Ten
Meanwhile, Naruto had been waiting outside Hinata's bedroom window. He'd walked around for a while after his late second lunch, still uncomfortable with the way Hinata had left. She had not seemed okay and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was because of something he said.
After a lot of thinking, he figured she had misunderstood him and thought he didn't want to spend time with her. When Sasuke had asked him if he had asked Hinata on a date, he had panicked. He probably made it sound like he was just taking her out as a favor, to make up for stealing her lunch. He needed to make sure she knew that he liked spending time with her.
So, he'd used his sensing abilities to locate her at the Hyuga residence. He'd snuck past the guards, not wanting to alert the entire clan to his presence as this was a private matter. When he pinpointed her location, he found that wherever she was didn't have any windows. So, he'd located her room by noting the most concentrated traces of her chakra and decided to wait outside the window.
When she'd returned with damp hair and rosy cheeks, his face flushed as he realized where she'd been. He couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing that there had been no windows, but then pinched himself for thinking like Ero-sennin.
He raised his hand to knock on the window, but froze as he watched her sit down in front of her vanity and begin brushing her hair. It was a simple motion, but for some reason he found it mesmerizing. He continued to watch her as she finished and set her brush down.
She then stood and walked over to her dresser, pulling something out of a drawer that he couldn't see. Her hands went towards her waist and his eyes widened as he realized she was about to undo the robe. She was going to take off her robe! A terrible, terrible part of him wanted to let it happen, let her disrobe as he watched. However, his desire to talk to her won out and he realized he had to make his presence known before it got any further.
As Hinata began to undo the knot of her belt, she heard a rapid knocking. She slid her door open just enough to peer into the hallway, confused when she didn't see anyone. She thought about activating her Byakugan to see if someone was playing a joke on her, but decided against it as there were pretty strict rules in place to give their clan some semblance of privacy. Instead she closed the door and went back to untying her robe.
Before she could loosen the knot, she heard the rapping sound again. This time, however, she was more prepared for it and noticed it was coming from her window. She walked over, and nearly screamed and fell back as she found bright blue eyes looking back at her.
She slid the window open, and in a hushed voice said, "Naruto-kun? What are you doing here? Why are you outside my window?"
Shit. He probably should have prepared an answer for that. It's not like he could say he had been waiting outside her bedroom window for her to finish her bath. That would definitely creep her out. He settled for a less detailed version of the truth.
"I, uh, just wanted to talk to you. You seemed like you weren't feeling great earlier so I came to check up on you."
Hinata sighed. Why did he have to make it so hard for her to forget him? Unfortunately, telling him to leave would be rude and he didn't deserve that. She'd just have to grin and bear it.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Naruto-kun," she said, mustering up a small smile for him. As she looked at him, however, she noticed what looked like a small amount of blood just beneath his nose.
"Oh, no! Are you okay?!" she asked worriedly, completely forgetting about her own problems.
Naruto just looked at her, unsure what had made her react that way.
"You're bleeding!" she said as she took a handkerchief from one of her drawers and ran back to the window, pressing it into his hands.
He just continued to look at her, confused.
"Your nose," she said as she pointed to it, "It's bleeding."
"Fuck!" Naruto said out loud, as he looked at the red spot on the previously white material. His stupid perverted thoughts had given him a nosebleed and now she was going to know he was a pervert and he was definitely going to get his ass kicked and all he'd wanted to do was apologize!
However, Hinata took his exclamation to mean that he was in pain. "Are you okay? Do you want me to get you some ice? What happened?"
"I, uh, I must have hit my nose when I fell sneaking over the compound wall. Didn't realize I was bleeding…"
He could hear Kurama chuckle in his mindscape. Today was just not his day for being smooth.
"You snuck over the wall? Why didn't you just come in the front door?"
Great. In an effort to disguise the fact he had been thinking about an undressed Hinata he'd let slip that he'd snuck into the compound. Next she was sure to ask how he found her room and it could only go downhill from there.
"I was just worried about you and didn't want anyone to stop me from coming to see you."
Hinata's cheeks flared bright pink and Naruto remembered how soft they had felt earlier when he had touched them. He quickly shook himself out of those thoughts, however, knowing he was already in dangerous territory and did not need to think about her soft skin while she stood there in a robe.
"Oh," she said softly.
They were quiet for a minute, neither knowing what to say. Finally Naruto decided he should probably tell her what he had actually come here for. Unfortunately, he was nervous about it and he kind of blurted it out suddenly.
"I think I might have accidentally hurt your feelings earlier when I said that stuff about dinner with you and I didn't want you to think that I didn't want to spend time with you because I really like it - spending time with you, that is - and I'd love to spend more time with you like at dinner or whatever and I just didn't want Sasuke to think anything weird about it but then I realized what I said might have sounded bad and I don't want to hurt your feelings because you're nice and I think you're really great and I didn't want you to be sad…"
Hinata looked at him, her mouth open slightly in shock, and Naruto worried he had said the wrong thing again.
"Sorry, that was weird. I just wanted you to know that I do want to spend time with you. And I'd really like to take you to dinner. Not just to make up for eating your lunch - which you shouldn't have given me by the way - but also because I think it'd be fun."
Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she could practically hear the blood rushing to her head as she willed herself to stay conscious. Unable to form any words at the moment, she managed a nod. Apparently that was the right response because Naruto's face split into one of his wide grins.
"Great! How about tomorrow evening? I can pick you up here at 6?"
Hinata just nodded again.
"Awesome, I'm going to make it the best dinner you've ever had -dattebayo!" he said with a flourish before realizing he'd said that rather loudly and probably attracted some attention.
"Shit, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow?" he said, afraid she would have changed her mind in the last few seconds. Her small smile confirmed what he'd wanted and filled his chest with warmth.
He hurried away, jumping into a few trees and over the wall in record speed. He walked home sporting a big grin on his face, thinking about where he wanted to take her the next day.
'You seem pretty happy for someone who's got a date with his best friend's girl,' Kurama's voice cut into his mind, causing him to frown.
'Shut up.'
'I mean I don't have a problem with it. You're the one with all the weird talk about 'bro codes'. She liked you first. I can tell she's still attracted to you. I say just steal her back.'
'I can't do that. She seems happy.'
'She didn't seem happy this afternoon.'
'That's because what I said upset her and you know it.'
'That just means you can still affect her emotionally. And it's not like your friend has laid claim to her. If you don't mark what's yours as yours then it's up for the taking I say.'
'Kurama, it doesn't work like that.'
'Tch, you're just making excuses. It's annoying.'
With that Naruto was brought back to the present, just outside his apartment. He sighed and mulled over what Kurama had said. It's true Sasuke hadn't made any public claim on Hinata. And it's not like it would hurt anything to tell Hinata how he felt. He'd accept her choice if she wanted to be with Sasuke instead, but he had to at least get it off his chest. Then again, what if it ruined the friendship they had? What if she became uncomfortable around him and avoided him? Wouldn't that be even worse?
His mind wandered back and forth between telling her and not telling her, nearly driving him insane. He recalled her confession, her brave interference in his fight with Pein and the confident way she had poured her heart out to him. Was this why she hadn't brought it up since then? Did she have the same thoughts he did? Why did the war have to start before he'd even had a chance to think about her words? Why hadn't he addressed them even after the war had ended? If he had, maybe whatever had started between her and Sasuke wouldn't have happened in the first place.
"Damnit," he said out loud, as he threw himself face first onto the pillow on his bed. He could tell this would not be a restful night.