Hyuuga Hinata; 6 Years Later

Age 18

-Little Hearts-

I always get nervous when I see Neji. He's just such an unpleasant person, especially to me.

And it's always even worse when he's angry.

This time, however, he didn't take out his anger on me.

He had good reason to be angry and the cause of his anger was kind of my fault too.

For the past couple years, Neji has been unable to advance to the rank of a jounin. While everyone keeps telling him that he needs more training, only my father and the Hokage know the real reason. And me.

I disagreed with my father doing this to him but it's not like he would listen to me.

I suddenly heard a loud crash and I looked up in the sky to see many birds fly away in a frenzied state.

I should…talk to him. Tell him what's going on. That would be the right thing to do.

I walked over to where I saw him looking up into the sky, sitting down. He looked calm and peaceful. Probably the best time to talk to him.

"Um…Neji…?" I started, not knowing how to word this. What if he got angry at ME?

He stood up and looked at me.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Why is he so hostile?

I didn't know what to say so I paused for a moment, trying to think of how to word it.

"I thought so." He said, shaking his head. He turned to walk away but I couldn't let him get away without hearing the truth.

"Neji—" I called, taking a step toward him.

"What?" he spat out impatiently. He had a certain glare in his eyes. I suddenly lost everything I wanted to say.

"I'm—" I started. I couldn't say it anymore. I had to think of something else quickly. "I'm…I'm sorry…you weren't promoted… I thought you did well."

He didn't say anything after that. It's not like I was searching for a reaction for what I just said. It was irrelevant. As his attention was distracted by an approaching person's, I turned to walk away.

Why did he hate me so much? I didn't do anything to him.

But my father did. That must be it.

I made my way back to my house and to my bedroom. All I could think about was Neji and how angry he seemed.

Then my mind unintentionally wandered.

I hadn't meant for it to wander there, but it had. And it had been doing it a lot lately.

What was Kiba doing right now?

Well, of course he was away training but what was he thinking about, what was he doing right now and…did he miss me?

Kiba's not the kind of guy to forget about someone a person but that wasn't what I was worried about. I knew he'd always remember me but how did he think of me?

My father had recently informed me that their group would be training for another year. Another year in the mountains?

I sat down at my desk, pulled out a pen and piece of paper. I think I'll write Kiba a letter. Tell him how I feel. That way, he'll know.

"Dear Kiba…" I read out loud to myself. "For years we have been really good friends. We have trained together, fought together, shared laughs and cries together and even grown together."

I paused. Was it too straight forward? I shrugged to myself and continued writing.

"However, for a while I have felt that we have grown to be more than just friends. When you are with me, I am happy and when you are not there, I feel empty inside."

I stopped writing again. WAY too straight forward. I crumpled that letter up and threw it in the trash can.

"Dear Kiba…" I started all over. "How has training been? I've missed you a lot and I hope you are doing all right up there."

It's a good start. Nothing was a lie or an over exaggeration.

"Without you here, life just isn't as fun. I find myself easily bored and checking to see if you have come back when I know you're not. Sometimes, I wish that you were here so that we could have fun together."

I stopped again. Still a little too forward. I threw that one in the trash as well.

I took a deep breath and looked down at the new piece of paper in front of me.

"Dear Kiba." I wrote. "I hope you're having fun training! I thought I'd write you a letter to tell you that I miss you! You're such a good friend! Well, I'll see you when you get back!"

That one might be too subtle.

But there was no way I was going further than that. I folded that one up and put it in an envelope.

I picked the envelope up and walked outside. I'd have to take it to the Hokage to have it delivered to him.

It was nothing more than a friendship letter asking how he was. It was far from the letter I WANTED to mail him but it would have to do.

I looked down at the letter in my hand. Maybe I don't want to mail it. What if Kiba got the wrong idea from the letter?

I turn around to go back home but then I stopped.

But what sort of wrong idea was there to infer?

Maybe I should add something to the letter…

I suddenly heard someone calling my name.

"Hey Hinata!" Sakura called to me as she jogged over to me, panting and breathing heavily.

"Oh…hello Sakura." I said to her, hiding the letter. I didn't need her asking me about it. However, she noticed it.

"What's that?" she said, craning her neck to see.

"Nothing…" I said as I moved the letter so that maybe she couldn't see it now.

It really wasn't her business. I didn't feel like sharing.

"Come on, tell me!" she said, reaching out to grab it. She was acting like such a little kid.

She snatched it from my hands and held it triumphantly in front of her.

"Oh!" I said, reaching for it. She wouldn't hand it back to me however no matter how much I wanted her to.

She examined it carefully but nothing told anything about the letter. Who it was for, what it said or what it was SUPPOSED to say.

"Is this a letter?" she asked. "To who?"

"I wasn't going to mail it…" I told her. It wasn't a lie. I had decided not to mail it. Or had I decided TO mail it?

"That didn't answer my question." She told me with a big smile on her face. Did she know it was for Kiba?

"Well…" I said. "I was just going someplace quiet so I could write something…"

Maybe I did want to add more to the letter.

"Is it a letter to Naruto?" Sakura asked. Of course it wasn't for Naruto, but she was on the right track. "I don't know why you're bothering. He's coming home in a few days."

Oh…she didn't know.

"No…no they're not." I told her. "My father…my father told me that they're staying for another year…"

"Another year?" she gasped. She didn't seem to mind but she did look surprised. "They can do that?"

"I guess…" I told her. "So I just want to send a few words of encouragement to him."

Sakura's face lit up.

"Him?" she said, smirking at me. "And I thought you weren't going to send it!"

"It's Kiba…he was on my team…" I told her.

Nowhere in that sentence was a lie.

"Okay, Hinata…" She said slowly. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Then she looked as though she suddenly remembered something. "I have to go! See you later!" Then she turned and ran off as I waved to her.

I looked down at the letter in my hand. I wanted to send Kiba SOMETHING.

I HAD to send him the letter.

So I began walking toward the Hokage's office.

He'd be happy to get the letter I bet. It'll be sort of an encouragement because he has to spend another year up there in the woods. Even though Kiba likes camping and the woods, I bet it's FAR from a camping trip up there.

I walked in the door of the Hokage's office but only into a sort of waiting room or a receptionist area. I had never mailed a letter to someone without an address before but I think that since he's on a mission, all I have to do is put his name and his teacher's name on the envelope.

Taking out a pen, I leaned up against the wall and began neatly writing Kiba's name out on the envelope.

Then, below it I put down his teacher, Gai.

I flipped the envelope over and looked at it. It looked so empty.

"Are you here to mail a letter?" someone suddenly asked me. I jumped slightly. He had surprised me. He looked down at the letter in my hand and smiled at me.

"Yes." I told him, holding out my letter. "I was just addressing it."

"Where is it going?" he asked me.

"Um…" I started. I didn't really know. "Inuzuka Kiba."

"Where is he training?" he asked me.

"He was consolidated this year." I told him. "Under Maito Gai."

"Ah yes." The man said, taking the envelope from me and scribing some things on the front of it. He handed it back to me. "Just put it in that green box over there."

He pointed over to a wall with a few boxes on it. Obviously they went to different villages.

I walked over to the green box and stopped. It was now or never. It was either going to mail him a nice friendly letter or just walk away.

At this point, I wish I had mailed the first letter.

I pulled my pen out and stared at the envelope, looking directly at Kiba's name.

Bringing my pen down to the paper, I scribbled a tiny heart next to his name.

I was a girl. I could get away with stuff like that.

I dropped the letter into the box before I could stop myself. I could feel myself blushing all over.

As I walked away from the boxes, I didn't regret doing it and I kind of hoped that Kiba would notice it.