Author's Note – First of all, I'm terribly sorry for the late update. I know that I've updated last December (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, by the way), and it's been roughly 2 months ever since. Things have been really hectic at home, lately, so I've never had much time (or even inspiration) to write. But at last, the third chapter's here, and hopefully, you'll still read it.

Thanks again, and without further ado…

Chapter 3 – Conversation

For the shy, timid Hyuuga Hinata, spending four hours alone with the object of her affection, Uzumaki Naruto, would be utterly nerve-wracking. Before, she already found it difficult to speak to him, much, much less to be near him. Whenever he would be around, one would always find her hiding behind a post, wall or tree. But to stay with him, for four hours, exactly two hundred and forty minutes, and to have a prolonged and continuous conversation with him in that long period of time was going to be the ultimate test of her fortitude.

But, surprisingly, even to herself, she was doing quite well. She only asked one question to begin the conversation, and Naruto thankfully took care of the rest.

"Ahh…s-so, w-what have you b-been doing?" she asked, twiddling her fingers, as usual.

"Oh! Let me tell you…" Naruto replied with a big grin.

Before they even knew it, both Hinata and Naruto were lost in conversation, with the latter doing almost all the talking. While Hinata was certainly not expecting this to happen, she was definitely glad that he began talking about his adventures and missions as a Genin. All the details he told in explosive detail, mostly describing HIS exploits, and how "cool he must have looked." Hinata would probably never know if his details were actually genuine, but she would just smile and believe it. It was Naruto, after all, though sometimes, she wished he wouldn't be so graphic.

"…so, when Gaara turns into this huge, and when I say huge, I mean GIGANTIC monster-demon-thingy with crazy flying hands and stuff, I say, 'Now this isn't right! I gotta go do something before he does something crazy!'" Naruto retells, clenching his fists for emphasis.

Hinata nods eagerly, a smile of expectation on her face.

"So you know what I did?"

Hinata shakes her head, still smiling.

"I poked him up the butt!"

Hinata almost falls off her chair.

"With a Kunai, even!"

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata mumbles in disbelief. "A…A K-Kunai?"

"With an Explosive Seal attached!"

Hinata just sighs, trying to shake the image off her head and smiles to tell him to continue.

She never did see what that Sand Demon Naruto told about looked like, but she did see Gaara in person, so that was the only image she had of him. So, when imagining Naruto thrusting a Kunai, a very sharp knife, with an Explosive Seal attached, set to explode like a small bomb once set, up Gaara's rear end still made Hinata cringe.

But, then again, she told herself that Naruto did fart in order to win against Kiba, back in the Chuunin Preliminaries, so Hinata guessed that Naruto could be prone to do those kinds of things.

The stories kept rolling in, and with each and every Naruto recounted, all in gratuitous detail, Hinata's admiration for him grew more and more. She had always believed in Naruto, believed in his powerful determination, but to actually hear about his missions, his exploits where his life was always put on the line, where his skills were put to the test; it was something she could not even imagine, from his very first C-Rank Mission (which, he said, turned to an A-Rank later on), escorting the bridge maker Tazuna back to his home village, Naruto didn't skip on any details as he elaborated his Chakra training, which eventually led to the climactic battle against the self-proclaimed Demon Momochi Zabuza and his young ward, Haku. He also talked about the Chuunin Exam, with much emphasis on his own fights against Kiba, Neji, and lastly, Gaara, which Hinata remembered quite well, with a bit of cringing due to the details. Then, he talked about his adventure with Jiraiya, who Naruto calls "Ero-Sennin," concerning the retrieval of the now current Hokage, Tsunade, but more importantly, for him, the training and eventual execution of the powerful technique, the Rasengan.

With each tale Naruto recounted, Hinata could not help but feel even more admiration for him. She had always believed in him and his powerful determination, but actually hearing of his exploits, of his adventures where his life was always on the line and his skills were constantly put to the test, and actually succeeding at them, she could only reply so much as to gasp or clasp her hands in sheer awe. As far as she knew, no Genin had accomplished as much as Naruto, who wasn't anybody special to begin with, and yet ascended to such a high level through sheer perseverance alone. For someone who was born into shadows, scorned by society, and shunned by his peers just because of who he was, Naruto had become someone bathed in so much glory.

And yet, bless his heart, Hinata thought, with a smile, he still remained the same loud-mouthed, exuberant, and energetic Naruto that she liked ever since their Academy days.

Then, there was the mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, to stop him from defecting to Orochimaru. She could not help but feel a little sad and sorry for Naruto, who was skimping on the details. Hinata couldn't blame him, this certain mission ended in failure, with Naruto's entire team ending up hospitalized. They would've probably ended up dead, if things took one more step for the worse.

It was obvious to Hinata that this was a topic he was not particularly suited to talk about, and was about to ask him to stop when he said, "Y...you know, I promised her."

Her eyes widened. "W-Who?"

"S-Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, weakly, his fists clenching tightly.

"Oh...right..." she said, also a bit weakly.

Hinata knew who this "Sakura-chan" was, and as far as Naruto was concerned, she would be the "competition." She didn't need the Byakugan to see that Naruto, just as Hinata was with him, was infatuated with Haruno Sakura, the intelligent, pink-haired, pretty girl of their class. Sakura, on the other hand, was also infatuated with Uchiha Sasuke, but that was also true for the rest of the girls in class, save Hinata herself. While Sasuke WAS good-looking, very much so, Hinata thought, he never had the qualities that made "Naruto-kun" so appealing.

Team Seven had a rocky love triangle, and Hinata, with a heavy heart, somehow knew that she was not included in that. After all, what she did not have in common with Naruto or Sakura was that she was meek, quiet, an introvert. The two were very vocal and very open, utter extroverts, and while Sakura was in love with Sasuke, Naruto was...she dared not think it, but he, in less hurtful terms, liked Sakura.

Those feelings remained true, even up to now, much to Hinata's dismay. She could not help but feel a little jealous.

"I promised her that…that I'd be able to take Sasuke back, to get him to come home," Naruto continued, his tone weak and hurting, "but…but I guess I wasn't strong enough to do that. Sasuke wanted to go away, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind…"

Naruto wasn't looking at her now, but his eyes were down, seemingly locked on to his fists, his grip tightening around the blanket in remorse. He continued, "…I told her anyway, that I'd be able to get him back, someday, some other time, eventually, but, to tell you the truth, I'm not as confident about it as I'd like to be."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata softly murmured, feeling the anguish in his voice.

"Sasuke…he's the kind of person who wouldn't back down on something he decided upon with everything he had, with something to lose, and choosing this…to leave Konoha and go to Orochimaru of his own free will, that's…that's something big. That's something I think Sasuke would never, ever back down from, and he chose that path, even though he had so much to lose…How can I make him turn back from that?

"I've got to get him back, but how? I made a promise to Sakura-chan, a life-long promise, to get him back, but…I was foolish to think that I could even attempt such a thing…"

For the first time, in a long while, Hinata spoke, though her voice quivered slightly, "N-Naruto-kun…tell me…why did you make that promise to Sakura-san in the first place?"

Hinata feared the worst. It would be conceding defeat already, and she might lose her chances, but deep in the bottom of her heart, all she wanted was to help him through this, and she thought that this would be the best way.

Regardless of how her feelings would fare.

She asked again.

"I…I…It's because I really like her, even though she loves Sasuke. Maybe at the time, I was thinking, 'what if I bring Sasuke back? Maybe she'll like me for that?' I thought at that time that Sasuke was kidnapped. I guess…yeah, maybe it's because I wanted to get her attention…to like me."

Turning away, she grasped her chest. Her heart was heavy with sadness, even though she kept telling herself that she shouldn't be feeling this way; that she should be concentrating on helping Naruto out. But hearing this…hearing this confirmation straight from his mouth was painful for her.

But, now she knew what she had to say.

Feeling her tears swelling up, she stood up and headed towards the window, to hide them from Naruto. She opened them, and it revealed the village of Konoha, bathed in moonlight, the stars glittering in the night sky. She was mildly surprised; she had no idea that they had already spent that much time together.

The moon gently shone its light on her. Hinata then spoke, her voice a little broken up, "Are you…are you giving up, then? I…I thought you never gave up, no matter how hard the situation is, no matter how difficult the enemy is. Wasn't that your way of the ninja?"

Like a violent shove, her words jolted Naruto out of his sad trance. Eyed widened in mild shock, his heart beating with a slow, yet increasing pace, he raised his head, to look at Hinata.

He gasped, and it was a reflex he did not expect. Bathed in a subtle aura of moonlight, her gentle features seemed to have been enhanced, and Naruto could not help but gaze in utter awe. He had never seen Hinata like this before, and despite his better judgment, his cheeks were unconsciously turning a slight red.

And her eyes, her pure white eyes, the identifying characteristic of the Hyuuga clan, seemed to glitter along with the moonlight.

Naruto twitched, looking closely into her eyes. He wasn't sure, but that glittering effect, he thought, wasn't due to the moonlight…

Was she crying?

He couldn't confirm it, though, since she turned away a little. Naruto could only see a little of her face now, the edge of her cheek, and deep down, he was slightly disappointed. Hinata still continued to speak, however.

"Naruto-kun…you may not notice it, but…I…I think you have a great effect on people. You can change them, and it's always for the better."

"I…I do? Uh…" He was at a loss for words.

"Don't you remember?" Hinata asked, her gaze still fixed out the window, though her voice was still loud enough for him to hear, "I…I've thought before that he'd always be like that, so cold, so…so arrogant. H-He was always so fixed on that idea that a person's life has been predetermined the day he or she was born."

"Neji…" Naruto realized, aloud.

Even from her position, Naruto could see her lips, and they cracked into a small smile. "But, look at him now. Neji-niisan, he's talking to me again, not because he has to, but he wants to. He no longer looks at me with hatred, Naruto-kun. He even smiles at me now, and that's because…y-you changed him.

"I…I'm not exactly sure how, though. I don't know what you said to him, since I wasn't able to watch your match until the end," Hinata said, sadness in her voice.

"You didn't? Why?" Naruto asked.

"Eh? Uh, no, it's not important right now," Hinata quickly said, "Thing is…"

She drew a large breath, recollecting her thoughts. Meanwhile, Naruto was entranced. Just like before, at that time before Naruto's match with Neji at the Chuunin Exams, he seemed to be absorbed in Hinata's words. And this pause, which only truly lasted for a few moments, lasted for hours for Naruto.

Finally, she had the words. Sighing deeply once again, she wiped her tears away and faced him. Naruto gulped, seeing her face once again. He did notice that her white eyes weren't sparkling like before, though even in the darkness, he could see that they were a little red.

Hinata continued, with conviction in her voice, "N-No matter how high the odds are stacked against you, no matter how skilled or powerful your opponent is, you always find a way. Y-You always find a way to beat the odds, because you never gave up."

"H-Hinata…"

"The next time you see each other, even though you might fight, I think…no," she shook her head, then continued, "I believe that you can take him back for good, and change him for the better, just like what you did with Neji-niisan."

"Why?" Naruto suddenly asked, out of the blue.

"Eh?" That clearly threw Hinata off.

"Why…" Naruto said, his eyes never leaving Hinata, quietly glinting in puzzlement, "Why do you believe in me so much?"

For a straightforward question like this, Hinata would have evaded answering, would have tried to change the topic, but now, all she did was just look outside the window again, her tiny hands clasping on the bottom side of the window pane, and replied, "Because…because you believed in me…because you changed me as well."

"Huh? How?" He was still confused.

"Naruto-kun," she stated, a bit forcefully, as much as her meek voice could take. She had to keep going on, she had to keep saying what she had to say, because inside, she was already falling apart, her heart was already on the verge of breaking.

And the next thing she would say, she believed, would complete it.

Deep in her heart, she wanted to help Naruto out of this dilemma. That was her honest intention.

No matter what the cost.

"Y-You can do it, Naruto-kun. A-And when you do, I think Sa…I think…"

Her throat was hurting.

"I think Sa…Sakura-san will be really happy."

Broken.

Naruto's lips slowly, yet surely opened, then cracked into a wide smile, his eyes squinting as usual. "Y…Yeah! You're right! I gues I was all worried about nothing! Yeah, I can do this!"

She could barely speak, and if she could, she had nothing more to say.

"Hinata?"

She peered only a little. She looked at him at the corner of her eye, and could see that he was smiling. Her heart was warmed a little.

"Thanks!" He said, with a big grin, "Thanks a lot! Looks like you saved me again. Heh, you always know what to say!"

Hinata quickly turned away. She knew she shouldn't be feeling this, that she should be expecting this, but she thought that at the very least, Naruto would see that she was clearly hurting. At the very least, he could at least say something like, "Are you alright?"

"I…I have to go…" she weakly said.

"Eh? You do? Has it been four hours already?"

Tears were about to flow, and she did not want him to see her crying. She said, as audible as her choked voice could allow, "H…here's your meal tickets..."

She just placed them on the bed, without even looking at him. She then placed the medicine box Shizune had asked her to give to him on top. She added, "H…here's also some m-medicine from Shizu…Shizune-san. Sh…she said that it could help you recover faster…"

"Oh…thanks," Naruto said, taking them, "Hey, Hinata, is there something…"

"I'm so sorry!" She then ran as fast as her feet could take her, dashing out of the room without looking back.

"H-hey! Wait! Hinata!" Naruto called out, but it was useless. She was already too far away.

Hinata did not why she came here. She had every intention to go home after what had just happened, to just cry her heart out on her pillow and just try to forget about everything, but her feet took her here.

Surrounded by the forest, it was a circular piece of land, with grass merely a few inches tall painting the area a lush green. The wind flew freely here, and up above, the night sky was a glimmering velvet ocean with numerous stars, surrounding the moon as its centerpiece.

And at the center of the area, were three identical wooden poles, roughly a meter in diameter, and made out of sturdy wood.

"Why…why am I here?" Her voice, cracked.

Aside from being a training area, it was also where she talked to Naruto for the first time. It was also when she had successfully given him the encouragement he needed for his fight. It was also when Naruto said…

"I'm such an idiot…" Hinata mumbled, sitting down.

She knew that what Naruto really said at that day was "I like people like you," not "I like you." Yet she wanted to believe, as futile as it was, that he really said the latter.

It was only a generalization, she thought. He probably said it to lots of other dark, timid, and weird people, she thought. He probably said the same stories to other people already. He probably already said to other people that he stuck a Kunai with an Explosive Seal up Gaara's butt.

She bit her lip. If it didn't matter so much, then why does she remember every word? Why does she still remember how his grin would widen when he's smiling about something good he did? Why does she still remember the way his eyes squint when he's talking about something? Why does she still remember how his beautiful blue eyes would gleam whenever he's happy?

She sat on the soft green grass, buried her face in her hands and…

"Hinata! Hinata! Are you here?"

"Eh?"

Her tears had already begun to fall when all of a sudden, someone was calling her name. Wiping them as fast as she could, she listened to it again, trying to know who it was.

"Hinata! Oi! Where are you?"

She gasped. She knew that voice. She could never forget that voice.

"N-N-Naruto-kun!"

She couldn't believe what she heard. Feelings swirling within her, she stood up, and immediately turned to where the voice came from.

Her heart skipped a few beats. She lost her breath at the sight. Her eyes were as accurate and as clear as ever, but Hinata could not even believe what she saw.

It was Naruto, still dressed in black patient's robes of the hospital. Once he caught sight of Hinata, he immediately smiled, and ran up to her.

"W-w-what're you doing here, Naruto-kun?" Hinata said, utterly shocked.

"I was looking for you!" He said, matter-of-factly.

"F-f-for me?" Hinata stuttered in reply. She could not believe her ears.

"Yeah! You see, I was wondering…"

Hinata's heart was beating rapidly. Inside, her emotions were swirling like crazy, leaving her in a state of utter confusion. She had absolutely no idea why Naruto would be here, and why he would be looking for her. Was he angry, for her suddenly bolting out of the room without saying anything? Was he disappointed at something she said earlier?

Or…could it be that he really just want to see her?

Hinata gulped, her cheeks burning, her fingers twiddling in nervousness, and muttered, "Y-yes?"

Naruto grinned once again, his eyes squinting as he said, "Could you do me a favor?"