Gomen for not updating for a while! I was gone for a week for a foreign exchange student program thing that my school does with a Spanish school in Madrid. At least I'm now done with finals, and summer's coming up, so I might be able to update faster.

Thanks for the reviews! Bleh, only six, though; I've seen one-shots with, like, twenty, and here, a four-chapter (now a five-chapter) story with 17 reviews…That's why you guys have to review because then I feel better about myself and my story. I'd like to thank TimeShifter and Dragon Man 180 for reviewing since the beginning. Thank you! I also have to say something about my story in terms of how it's going to progress.

I'm sick of NaruHina fics where they go out on a date when they're still pretty young. What are the chances that, number one, this relationship would develop in, like, half a chapter, and two, what are the chances that the relationship would last? In order for their relationship to last, they can't suddenly admit their feelings in the beginning of the story because that would ruin the whole point of NaruHina. There is going to be a lot of interaction, but they won't start making out or anything because that doesn't suit their characters. I'm just writing the way I think it should be, yet we all have our opinions, and I'm just expressing my own. Enjoy this chapter!

I'm using "af-s" (animefreak-shinobi) instead of "A/N" just to kinda personalize my fanfics.

naruto-fanfic stated in his/her review, "…so the setting is befor naruto left for 2 and a half years to train." Actually, this is one of those fanfics that doesn't have much relevance to the actual timeline of the real series.

Don't worry, TimeShifter, I also hate it when the relationship is rushed. I won't be doing that.

Hey, drakedragon1, I really have no idea how they are going to spot Sound-nin; I guess they just have to rely on instinct as well as observation. They could also try and detect certain chakra levels from suspicious people and also watch out for suspicious people. As for Naruto's fanclub, I know that Americans don't generally form fanclubs for certain people.

Dragon Man 180, I will try and find a place where some of the male shinobi can beat up some perverted Amercans. As for McDonald's, that place is super famous; that's the only reason of why I picked it. I also agree that BK is better, and I haven't eaten too much of Wendy's, so I can't make a judgment off of that.

lunarangel, I figured that I needed some people to love coffee, and it would be amusing to see someone already hyper become even more hyper. I can't picture Naruto drinking coffee, so I picked Kiba, because he's pretty loud. Now that I think about it, Lee would also make a good choice for getting hyper. As for Ino and Tenten, who both enjoy coffee, will just like coffee because of its taste. I guess that I can't imagine them hyper, and that I think I needed two girls to like coffee because two of the guys like coffee, just to balance it out.

Thank you, Midnight Lies!

You guys might need a visual aid, so here's the seating on the airplane:

Row 30: Ino-Sakura Tenten-Neji-Shino-Sasuke Chouji-Shikamaru

Row 31: Kiba-Lee

Row 32: Naruto-Hinata

Row 33:Tsunade-Jiraiya

Chapter Five

Hinata was grateful that Naruto was finally sleeping. Now, her heart would have a chance to slow down its frantic beating. She sighed, looking at his peaceful face, and thought about her memories of Naruto-kun; of how she had sat next to Naruto in the first chuunin exams, of how he had accepted the medicine after his fight with Kiba, of how he had encouraged her in her fight against her cousin, of how he had talked with her before the final round of the chuunin exams. His words echoed through her mind, 'I like people like you…'

Hinata knew that even if Naruto-kun did not feel the same way that Hinata felt about him, she knew that at least, Naruto-kun had accepted and respected her. This was something that she felt was good enough to keep her happy and motivated. Even if he did love Sakura, Hinata knew that as long as Naruto was happy with Sakura, Hinata would be able to accept this. After all, to love someone means to set him or her free, to not keep them chained to you. As much as it hurt her, Hinata knew that she had to let Naruto-kun free and let him choose between her and Sakura. Unfortunately, Hinata did not feel sure of herself and felt that Naruto would choose Sakura.

'I hope that at least, we'll be able to be friends, even if you won't love me the way I do…' Hinata thought to herself as she leaned her chair back to fall asleep.

…Some amount of time later…

Naruto woke up and immediately felt something light resting against his right shoulder. Looking down to see, he was surprised to see Hinata's head, partially resting on the headrest of the seat and partially resting on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto noticed that Hinata was softly smiling as she was sleeping.

'What's this? My heart seems to be beating fast. Why's that?'

Naruto again looked at Hinata's face. He thought about how she had always acknowledged him and noticed him. He remembered how Hinata had encouraged him before his match against Neji. He remembered how during the match, he constantly thought of her and keeping his promise to her. He remembered how after the match, he was constantly thinking about her.

'I never realized it, but Hinata's always noticed me. She's really loyal. I should get to know her better. She always seems to know how I feel and what to say to me. She seems to understand me best. She understands me as well as Iruka-sensei does. And she always listens to me, instead of ignoring me like Sasuke or Sakura-chan. Heck, why do I even like Sakura-chan. I know that she loves Sasuke, but she could at least listen or pay attention to me. It's as if Hinata like me more than she does, but that doesn't make much sense. After all, me and Hinata aren't even on the same team, and she acknowledges me better than Sakura-chan.'

Naruto then heard a woman talking behind him and turned around to see a flight attendant carrying a tray with the standard beverages and peanuts. He realized that she was serving them some food and drinks, and he decided to wake up Hinata gently.

Naruto placed his hand on her arm and touched it gently while stage-whispering, "Hey, Hinata…"

Hinata slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of electric-blue eyes looking at her gently, and she immediately blushed.

"Hey, Hinata, I figured that you were hungry, and they're serving some food and drinks."

Hinata lifted her head from Naruto's shoulder, blushed, and stammered, "A-Arigato, Na-Naruto-kun…"

Naruto grinned at her, which left Hinata blushing deeply.

Hinata then noticed something.

"Na-Naruto-kun, was I sleeping on your sh-shoulder?"

Naruto smiled softly at her and said, "Yeah, but it's okay. Don't feel bad."

Hinata blushed and said, "Gomen (Sorry)…"

Just then, the flight attendant came by and asked them what they wanted to drink.

Naruto said, "What do you have to drink?"

The attendant said, "Orange juice, apple juice, water, Coke, or Sprite."

Both Naruto and Hinata were thinking, 'What's Coke and Sprite?'

They both decided that Coke and Sprite was common in this place, so they decided not to ask what they were.

Naruto chose a Coke to try out what it was, and Hinata decided to sample a Sprite.

"Hey, this stuff is pretty good," said Naruto.

Hinata sipped her Sprite and decided that it was okay.

They both opened their bags of peanuts and ate them slowly. Naruto found himself looking out of the corner of his eye at Hinata. He then noticed that she was also looking at him shyly. Both of them turned their heads away and found themselves blushing.

Naruto decided that he had enough of this silence and started a conversation with Hinata. Or, rather, a monologue with Hinata listening intently…

Jiraiya peered out of the window and stared out, evidently bored. He could try and whip out an Icha Icha book or start brainstorming some ideas for his next volume, but that would merely anger Tsunade, who would punch out his perversion, whether they were in an airplane or not.

Tsunade suddenly got up and went to the restroom, and Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief and was about to pull out an Icha Icha book when suddenly…

"Would you like something to drink, sir?"

Jiraiya: O.O

Yes, Jiraiya was staring at some very attractive flight attendant, and he let out a perverted giggle and pulled out his trusty notebook.

The flight attendant looked at him questioningly and thought, "Okay...," before rolling the drink cart further down the aisle.

Shino: "So, what do you think America's gonna be like?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow while thinking, 'Wow, this guy talked.'

Sasuke: "…"

Shino raised an eyebrow.

Shino: "…?"

Hinata saw that the plane had finally landed. Naruto was looking excitedly out of the window. She waited until the plane had stopped. She then got up out of her seat. Naruto was already out of his seat, excited that he would finally be able to get off the plane.

"We're finally here! I can't wait to see what San Diego is like!"

Hinata leaned down to pick up her small backpack from underneath the seat in front of her.

"Hey, Hinata, let me help you with that," said Naruto.

Hinata blushed and, being polite, said, "A-Arigato, but it's okay."

Naruto just ignored her and picked up her backpack.

"Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned and said, "No problem!"

The line down the aisle started to move, and Naruto began to pick up his own backpack and walked after Hinata, excited to see San Diego.

Naruto and Hinata walked over to the rest of the shinobi, who were still waiting for Tsunade and Jiraiya. Once they had all grouped together, Tsunade and Jiraiya began leading them towards the baggage claim, while explaining the basics of how an airport works.

Tsunade had the twelve shinobi go over and sit on some of the chairs and stood in front of the baggage claim conveyor belt thing, waiting for it to start.

Meanwhile, the twelve ninja were excited to be finally in San Diego. Most of them were talking loudly, except for the usual Sasuke, Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata.

Sakura looked at Sasuke shyly and said, "Sasuke-kun, do you want to go somewhere once we get out of the airport?"

Sasuke, not even bothering to turn to look at her, said curtly, "No, thank you."

Sakura sighed. Even though she had been declined many times, she still hadn't gotten completely used to Sasuke declining.

Naruto said loudly, "I'll go with you, Sakura-chan."

Hinata watched Naruto sadly as he started to try to persuade Sakura to go with him, while Sakura was refusing. She knew that Naruto liked Sakura because she was so much prettier and smarter than she was. Hinata looked at the ground, knowing that she was simply a dropout. She started to argue with herself subconsciously:

'Well, what about your improvement recently? Doesn't that count for anything?

'No, I'm still a dropout, a failure as a shinobi.'

Hinata sighed, then said to no one in particular, "I'm going to use the restroom."

Hinata walked towards the other side of the building, where there were the signs indicating the restrooms when suddenly, a loud shout was heard.

"THAT GUY, HE'S GOT A KNIFE!"

Hinata turned around to face a snarling, tall man carrying a sheath knife in his hand and pointing it straight at Hinata's throat. (af-s: Don't bother asking how he managed to bring in the knife, let's just pretend that somehow, he did it.")

"DISARM YOURSELF!" shouted some security guy, pointing a gun at the knife-wielding man.

The man chuckled darkly and gripped Hinata in a headlock while holding his blade to her neck, saying, "If you shoot, she dies with me."

The security officer looked worried about this. By now, the other fourteen shinobi as well as the two Sannin had noticed this and knew that they could not use any ninjutsu because it would attract way too much attention, since now, everyone in the building had their attention on Hinata and the man. Even Naruto was smart enough not to do anything stupid. They all knew that Hinata had to get her way out of this situation.

The officer raised his gun higher, and the man, seeing this, ran the blade gently across Hinata's neck threateningly, yet without drawing blood.

The officer thought, "If I can shoot him in the head in the right spot, I might be able to make it so that he can't retaliate (af-s: This is true, some evil guy was holding a gun to some person's head, and a police officer whipped out a shotgun, aimed, and shot the guy in the head, which probably disrupts the nervous system and doesn't allow him to pull the trigger to kill the hostage).

The man seemed to sense this and ducked his head lower, making the officer's aiming much harder. The man was now getting ready to kill her. Hinata gulped, knowing that she had to act, and then counted, '…One…Two…Three!'

To be continued…

Please review! Also, read my other fanfiction! Hopefully, I'll update soon!