Author's Note: Here's another chapter, as promised! Thanks to all of you who followed, favorited, and reviewed! And for those asking about my other stories, I'm trying to schedule time to work on all of them, though this is the only one with once a week updates at this time (so that I can make sure to deliver on my commitments). I have part of new chapters for both other stories written and will absolutely be finishing them. So for now enjoy the next installment and I'll get started on more!

Chapter Nineteen

He'd been so concerned with getting ready and avoiding anyone before his date, Naruto hadn't actually considered what would happen once he was out on the actual date with Hinata. And now they were in public, together, with lots of eyes on them. He felt uncharacteristically nervous.

"So, uh, how was your day?" he asked, trying to keep his mind off the people watching and whispering as they walked down the road next to each other. They were no longer touching, but they were walking close together and obviously somewhat dressed up. Citizens along the street were certainly interested.

"It was fine," Hinata replied with a small smile. She didn't intend to bother Naruto with the bizarre talk her father had given her. And he certainly didn't need to know she'd spent the entire day worrying over and anticipating their outing tonight.

"Ah," he said, before lapsing into an awkward silence. When he'd barged in on Hinata and Sasuke's trainings he'd always been able to keep up a conversation with her. But now that the two were alone and he was trying to show her a nice time, he had no idea what to say!

"And your day?" Hinata asked, kicking herself for such a lame way to keep the conversation flowing. She really should be better at this. She'd had countless conversations with Naruto in her dreams and imagination while growing up, surely something would have stuck and she could do so in real life?

"Oh! It was… boring. Just getting ready for tonight and cleaning up my apartment."

Shit. Did that sound like he'd cleaned up because he had assumed she'd come back to his place after their meal? What if she thought he was accusing her of being loose?

"Not that I needed to for any particular reason, or anything! It just needed cleaning pretty bad. Uh, I mean I'm not a slob, but you know how things can get when you're not there a lot of the time. Or maybe you don't with the way your clan is…"

Hinata just smiled her small, peaceful smile at his rambling. She didn't mind it at all and he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized she never seemed to mind if he was just himself. If he could stop getting into his head and just let things happen then maybe tonight would go well.

Just then, as they were passing a couple of middle aged women, he heard: "Oh, my, is that the Hyuga heiress out with Uzumaki Naruto? I heard there was something questionable going on between her and Uchiha Sasuke. I wonder what they're doing out together?"

"Looks like a date to me. Look at their clothes."

"You really think so? Maybe she's a lot less proper than everybody thought. I mean, two men? And did it have to be both heros? Seems pretty suspect to me."

Naruto's eyes were wide and he chanced a glance at Hinata to see if she had heard anything, but she just continued walking as if nothing had been said aloud. And maybe she hadn't heard what those ladies were saying about her. He did have pretty exceptional hearing so it was possible she was ignorant to the gossip surrounding her. Or maybe she didn't care if everyone knew about her relationship with Sasuke?

Naruto's face felt hot and he wanted to smack himself. He had told himself not to think about his best friend and rival tonight. He didn't want to feel like he was doing something shady, even if he was - arguably - doing just that by taking out his friend's not not girlfriend on a date in order to confess. It's not like they were official or anything, just because of some rumors. Surely he could proclaim ignorance if Sasuke got mad.

Meanwhile Hinata had to focus hard in order to keep her face from burning a bright shade of red. She couldn't believe what those women were saying! Was this how the village thought of her now? As some woman of loose morals? Her clan was bad enough, but she figured Hanabi had had a hand in agitating the elders knowing the information to be untrue and she could always clear things up with her father.

But if the whole village thought she was sleeping with Sasuke and assumed tonight that she was now sleeping with Naruto as well, how was she supposed to counteract that? And she knew she didn't have any real chance with Naruto, but she didn't want him thinking she was just going around sleeping with his teammate! But he had been pretty busy lately, and it was entirely probable that he had no idea of the rumors that were going around. If she just piped up and said, "By the way, I'm not having sex with Sasuke," it would be completely strange and out of place. Not to mention a bit suspicious. If he didn't bring it up, she probably shouldn't.

Both were lost in their thoughts and did not notice that they were being followed.

Ino and Sakura had set up surveillance outside of Naruto's apartment to follow him when he left to pick up Hinata. They had no idea what had happened inside the Hyuga compound - they were kunoichi, but they were not stealthy enough to sneak into a compound filled with Byakugan users - but Naruto had certainly been in there a long time. Much longer than was standard for greeting one's date and flowers being put away.

They wanted to know more, but at the same time these were two of the hardest people to sneak up on in Konoha! Naruto was particularly sensitive to chakra signatures and Hinata was a Hyuga who had trained for years on a team that specialized in tracking.

Ino and Sakura were wearing muted clothing and hoods, so they knew they would be hard to recognize at a glance. They heard the whispers and rumors as they followed at a distance, and although both felt uncomfortable knowing Hinata might be with Sasuke romantically and was also on what was obviously some kind of date with Naruto, the things said about their friend made them furious. Things looked less than innocent for their friend at the moment, but they knew Hinata was a decent person and were sure there was something, somewhere, in all of this mess that would help them resolve what was going on with what they knew of their friend. Ino made sure to note faces and names so she could share some nasty true rumors about the people talking about her friend.

Naruto and Hinata walked together, eventually falling into some small talk. He led her a bit out of the way of the more commonly frequented restaurants and after detouring through a couple of side streets stopped at a nice tea shop and cafe.

"I hope this is okay," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head self consciously. "I knew I couldn't take you to Ichiraku's and I didn't want to go anywhere too crowded or loud so Ayame suggested this place."

Hinata blushed prettily and looked at him, "This is actually one of my favorite places. They have delicious zenzai."

"I love zenzai!" the blond exclaimed, before remembering the occasion and quieting down sheepishly.

"I mean, I didn't realize you liked that, too."

Hinata nodded. "I do! Though you didn't have to bring me here. I wouldn't have minded Ichiraku's. I know how much you love ramen and how much that place means to you. I would have been more than okay with going there."

Once again she said something that made his stomach flutter and his body feel warm. Hinata just got him. She got him and she didn't mind what she knew of him. In fact, despite whatever was going on now, she had even loved him while knowing those things!

He was even more determined now to make sure this evening went well. He offered his arm once again to Hinata who shyly looped her own around until her hand rested on his bicep, and then they stepped into the restaurant.

Gah these guys are so cute. I'm glad things are going to be coming to a head soon. I've been looking forward to their date and the culmination of all the misunderstandings for a long time, as I'm sure you have. I'll be back with another chapter next week! In the meantime please continue to review, follow, and favorite :-)