Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8 My heart lit up

The boys arrived at the festival on time, but of course the girls were late. Neji, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Lee were standing at the table with refreshments, patiently waiting for the girls to arrive. Naruto was nowhere to be found. Chouji, Kiba and Shino joined the guys at the table. They all looked very handsome in their black suits.

"So err... Shino do you still have some chips left?" Chouji asked him.

"No, my bugs ate them all, before I could have some."

Chouji smiled. He felt sorry for him. "Here. You could have one bag of mine. But only this once."

Shino vaguely smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't tell me you were actually planning to wear a green suit." Kiba questioned Lee in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not? It's my favorite color." Lee said calmly.

"Oh man, you're hopeless. Who talked you out of it?" Kiba wondered.

"Gai sensei. He said that a black suit would match our hair more on a night like this." Lee sighed. "He also said that the chance of getting a girlfriend would be higher if I wore black tonight."

"Yeah right. You will never get a girlfriend with that haircut." Kiba laughed.

Right after Kiba said that, two beautiful girls walked up to Lee. Two blonde indentical twins. "Lee, you're looking sexy tonight." They said simultaneously.

Lee gawked at the sight of them. His mouth fell open. He immediately regained his cool self and spoke. "Thank you ladies." He smiled. His teeth sparkled.

"Would you care to join us... in a conversation?" Girl number one said. "Yeah yeah... a conversation." Girl number two said shortly after.

"A conversation?" Lee raised an eyebrow. The girls giggled. "Oh! A conversation. Sure." He laughed. He winked at Kiba. He took each girl by the arm and left.

Kiba's mouth dropped to the floor and his eyes were wide. "Ok, what the hell just happened!"

Right after Lee took off, the four girls arrived. Tenten in her hot, long, darkred revealing gown. Sakura in her stunning, short, black dress. Ino in her amazing, very short, white outfit. And Hinata in her beautiful, high split, strapless, darkblue gown.

The boys looked at them in shock. They were speechless. They walked over to their girlfriends. "You look beautiful Hinata. Perfect for this evening." Kiba thought to himself. He smiled. "It is time for Naruto's plan to commence." He walked over to her. "Hinata you look beautiful." He gave her a friendly kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you Kiba." She looked around, she didn't see Naruto anywhere. "Where is Naruto?"

Kiba smirked. Hinata wondered what was going on. Why wasn't Naruto here? "Please follow me." Kiba said.

"Where are we going?" Hinata asked confused.

"You'll see."

"Tenten. You look... sexy." Neji said to his girlfriend. He kissed her. His tongue slowly slipped into her mouth.

She broke of the kiss. "I can tell that you definitely appreciate the way I look." She grinned. She briefly kissed him.

He smirked. "Come on. Let's go get something to drink."

"INO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING! Shikamaru screamed.

Ino had a confused look. "Not exactly the response I was expecting."

"What did you expect! Me saying something like, you look hot baby!"

"Uh yeah, something like that." She said dryly.

"Hell no! Think again. How can you expect me to be happy about this? Now every boy on this island will see how sexy you look, NOT TO MENTION THE MEN!"

She laughed. "Haha shut the fuck up sweetie, or at least keep your voice down. I'll just take what you're saying as a compliment." She smiled. "Lets dance." She heard him mumble something about how troublesome a woman she is. She laughed.

Sasuke gazed into Sakura's eyes. He had a warm smile on his lips for once. He placed his hand on her cheek and gently caressed it. He took a step closer. He whispered. "You're beautiful."

"Thank you." She gazed back into his eyes. "You look handsome yourself."

He smirked. "When do I not?" He kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him. It was a long passionate kiss. Sakura was stroking his hair. Sasuke gently let his hand slip down her back, which made Sakura tremble with excitement.

They stopped to catch their breath. "Sasuke. Please tell me I'm not dreaming." She said with her eyes closed.

He ran his hand through her hair. "You're not dreaming." He let his fingers slide over her lips.

She embraced him and whispered. "I love you."

Sasuke closed his eyes and whispered back. "I love you too."

"Kiba where are you taking me?" He didn't respond. Suddenly she saw a trail of candles in front of them. Kiba stopped and smiled at his friend. She looked at him even more confused. "What's going on? Why are these candles here?"

"Follow these candles, at the end of your journey, a surprise is waiting for you." He said still smiling.

"What surprise? What are you talking about? What the hell is going on?" She said nervously.

Kiba walked away without saying anything else. She watched him leave. "Good luck Hinata."

Hinata looked at the candles. "I might as well do as he said." She started following the trace of candles. They led to a place near the lake. There was a helicopter. Inside the helicopter someone was waiting for her. She didn't know him. The unknown pilot told her to get in. She was having second thoughts, but eventually decided to go along with everything. She got in and they took off. They were flying over the lake, when all of sudden the pilot stopped above the center of the lake and ordered her to look outside. Her eyes widened. There was a message on the lake formed by candles. The candles were floating on the water forming the words:

I love you Hinata - Naruto.

It was signed by Naruto. Naruto did all this. It was the last thing she expected. Naruto loved her? She couldn't grasp the idea. She was surprised, excited and overjoyed at the same time. The pilot flew her back to shore. When they landed Hinata saw another trail of candles. She followed them to a dock along side the lake. When she looked up form the candles she saw Naruto waiting for her at the end of the dock in a black suit. He had a bouquet of red roses in his hand. Her eyes sparkled. She walked over to him. "Naruto." She whispered.

He smiled "Hinata, you look absolutely amazing." He paused and laughed nervously. "I had all the words what I was going to say to you in my head, but somehow I'm speechless."

She smiled. "I think you've said it all." Hinata said with a soft voice.

"No I haven't. I haven't... Sweet Hinata. You are the only one who cared for me unconditionally from the moment we met." He paused again. "That is why I brought you here tonight. To show you... To let you know... how much I really care about you. I know you thought that I only saw you as a friend, but recently I realized something…" He grabbed her hand and gazed at it. He looked up into her eyes. "My feelings for you go much further than friendship alone. I started thinking. I don't know what I would do without you. I need you... I love you…"

Hinata closed her eyes when he said those words. A tear fell from her eye. She opened her eyes. Naruto looked at her. "There was another way I could have told you, but I decided to take Lee's advice and totally ignore it."

That remark made Hinata laugh. "Luckily for me, you did."

Naruto laughed with her. He spoke softly. "I like your smile. It is one of the things that I love about you. It lights up the room and my heart." Naruto said seriously. She took a few steps closer and hugged him. Naruto was caught by surprise, but hugged her back. He smiled. "Thank you, Hinata. For accepting and loving me the way I am. Because that's all I can be."

"Thank you for doing the same for me." She whispered back at him. They stared at each other and felt true happiness in their hearts. It felt like the candles. Lit up and warm. They leaned in closer and kissed.

-Somewhere in the bushes-

"That's another way to tell her, but I still think my idea was the best one." Lee said with his face covered with lipstick marks.

"Shut up Lee. Come on. Let's leave these two alone."

"But Kiba? My idea was a good idea right?"

Kiba didn't respond. "Finally Hinata, you're with the one you love. I wish you all the love and happiness in the world."

"It was, right?"

"Shut up Lee." -

-The End-