Uzumaki Naruto was sitting behind a tree that was in front of Konoha's ninja academy. He was reflecting on the day that was almost over while occupying his hands with a kunai he was fidgeting with. The sun had already set, but he was sure that people were still out and about in the village, but it was always quiet here, once the students were let out. His team had had a mission that day but the travel there and back had taken longer than the task itself, but his thoughts were of the behavior of his teammate, Haruno Sakura. What really gnawed at the back of is head was the fact that it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she was always like that, it was different because many things had changed since they were twelve years old, including Naruto. Maybe it bugged Naruto because he figured that since they were seventeen now, that Sakura would be different, that's what happens with time, things change, people change, they grow up, Naruto knew he had grown up, but now he wasn't so sure that Sakura was any different than the person she was when they were children.
Naruto wasn't one to dawn on his problems or concerns, he was one to deal with them, or forget about them and move on, unlike people of Uchiha Sasuke's sature, who probably still was living in the past. For Naruto, just taking time to think about his problem, was enough for him to think of a way to deal with it or get out of it and move on, and today's issue was no exception. But it was why this issue was an issue that bugged Naruto. Naruto decided to begin at the beginning, retrace his day and try to see if there was anything he missed to clarify his confusion.
It had been a rough day, but it was also quite a normal day at work for Naruto. He woke up in the morning, ate his breakfast, met up with Sakura and Kakashi, then checked into the Hokage's office and received their mission details. It was a B rank mission. Nothing that two Jounin and a Chuunin medical ninja couldn't handle. Yes, that's right, Naruto was seventeen years old and a Jounin ninja so B rank missions weren't anything for him to worry about too much.
However the mission would've gone much smoother if it was just Naruto and Kakashi, but they had Sakura to worry about. Before they ambushed their enemy, Kakashi had drawn a plan for them with a stick in the dirt, it was brilliant and guaranteed to work if everything went as planned, but it hadn't. Sakura had misjudged the timing for the ambush and the distance of Kakashi and Naruto and launched her sneak attack too soon, before Kakashi and Naruto had reached their positions for attack. The enemy had managed to anticipate Sakura's attack, thus dodging it and giving away her hiding place. She was caught, but then again Kakashi and Naruto were still in sight of each other and Kakashi had signaled to go along with the plan with a slight change. Naruto's attack wouldn't be to hold the enemy with Kage Bunshin while Kakashi went in for the kill after Sakura's kunai attack drew his attention from Naruto's hiding place, but to grab Sakura and run, leaving the enemy to Kakashi. Sure, it worried him to leave his sensei alone with an enemy, who's level of skill was unknown, but in the back of his mind, Kakashi-sensei knew best and his plans always worked one way or another.
So Naruto followed his orders and used a Kage Bunshin to divert the enemy's attention from Sakura, who was now knocked out, so that his real body could grab her and run. Once Naruto had gotten far enough away, he put her down in a crowded area of the forest they were in, as opposed to a clearing which would be a bad hiding place, and took a moment to examine her for wounds. Now, don't misunderstand, Naruto's intention was to help her, like it always was whenever she was hurt, not to take advantage of her. Naruto had positioned her to sit up against a tree and he knelt down in front of her and was moving her body around looking for wounds, and found one. It was on the back of her shoulder. It was a jagged little gash, nothing to fuss about.
"When the enemy pulled her from the bush, a branch must've scratched her." Naruto analyzed from the fact that he knew what a kunai attack looked like against skin.
Naruto then dug through his beige weapon holder for his ointment that he always used. Naruto opened it and scooped a little dollop on his finger. Then with his other hand pulled Sakura gently by the back of her neck so that her head was resting on his shoulder and his head could see over hers, and his hands could both come around her arms and body. He then applied the ointment and a small bandage.
Just as he finished, Sakura woke up and realized what Naruto was doing. She felt grateful that Naruto was taking care of her, but then realized the rest of their position. Sakura wasn't leaning against the tree anymore, and Naruto's thigh was between her legs for support, and she was leaning against him. And his left hand was against the back of her neck, to keep her head out of his view, and his right hand was gently massaging the wound. Sakura hated when Naruto would touch her, in any way, even though she knew what he was doing, because she knew she had a scratch there. Sakura pushed Naruto away and once his face was in view of her she landed a punch on his cheek and was about to scream about how he was a pervert and never to touch her again, but something was different this time.
Naruto hadn't gone flying like he always did. In fact his feet were still planted, all she managed to do was knock his head back. Hell, his lip wasn't even bleeding! Not even a red mark on his cheek or an "itai"! (AN: Itai ouch)
"Quiet Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a hand over her mouth, whispering, since they were only about a mile away from their enemy, "stay here, I have to go back and help Kakashi-sensei, stay hidden, and I'll signal you if we're coming." Naruto said quickly as he let go of her and disappeared right in front of her.
He headed back to the spot where he had left Kakashi, but on the way there, met up with him.
"Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?" Naruto said, not concerned about the completion of their mission.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Did you get it?" Naruto asked, after he confirmed that his sensei was alright. Naruto always made a point to ask about his teammates condition first, then the mission. This time the mission was to intercept a message that an ANBU of Ame Gakure no Sato (AN: Rain Village) was delivering to a team of Ame no ninja, about their next move. After the delivery of the scroll to Godaime Hokage, she would then send another party of ninja to use the scroll's information and sabotage them. Whether team Kakashi would take part in that mission wasn't known yet, but Kakashi already was thinking about requesting that Sakura not come with them if they did.
"Yeah, take it" Kakashi said, taking the scroll out from one of the pockets of his Jounin jacket and tossing to it Naruto. Where he threw it let Naturo know how important the scroll's information really was. He threw it to Naruto's back, then one bright orange tail snaked out from the end of his spine and caught it. His hands weren't occupied or anything, but Kyuubi's tails were stronger than his hands, and he had to protect the scroll with everything he had. This was only one of Nine Tails that Naruto could use as extra limbs whenever he needed them. Over the years, Naruto learned more about how to command Kyuubi's powers and even his body whenever needed. (AN: I always imagined Naruto growing up and using Kyuubi's tails)
"Where's Sakura?' Kakashi asked bluntly.
"This way, not too far." Naruto said as he ran a bit faster so he could lead Kakashi.
"Is she hurt?"
"No, just a scratch, but not from a weapon, so there's no need to worry about poison, or bloodloss."
"In that case, you and I will take care of anything that we encounter on the way back to Konoha. Naruto, if reinforcements come, which they shouldn't, the ANBU was traveling alone and I did kill him, give the scroll to Sakura and tell her to run. She will only get in our way if she fights again." Kakashi said disappointed.
"Ossu." Naruto said with every intention of following his orders. (AN: Ossu yessir)
As they came to the place where Naruto had taken care of Sakura he drew a kunai and made a mark across the tree he had set her against. That was Sakura's signal. She then jumped out from her hiding place and joined them. The rest of the way back to the Village, Kakashi scolded Sakura for making an individual move that was bad for the team and put all three of them in more danger. Sakura listened, and Naruto lead the way, still with the scroll, since they hadn't encounted any more trouble.
Once they were back in the village, team Kakashi reported in and delivered the scroll, mission successful. (AN: I hate saying mission accomplished) Godaime had dismissed their team for the rest of the day and the three of them decided to stop at Ichiraku Ramen for a late lunch together before going their separate ways. Sakura treated since she was the one who almost caused the failure of their mission.
Once they were there and all had finished eating Sakura looked to Naruto, who was stretching out his arms behind his head.
"Naruto?" She said to get his attention.
"What is it, Sakura-chan?"
"Thank you for caring for my wound earlier. It feels much better now." She said with a smile and light pat of thanks on his back.
However it was then when Naruto remembered when she punched him for no reason at all. She always used to do that, but he hadn't touched her anywhere he shouldn't. Why didn't she thank him then? Why did it have to wait? The reason it bothered Naruto now was because it didn't hurt him this time, so it was the fact that it happened at all. In fact it only stung for a moment, when in the past he would have a headache for a good hour afterwards. If Sakura had used Tsunade's insane power she would've hurt him, but Naruto could've also stopped her just the same with or without it. Why didn't he stop her? He knew it was coming when she pushed him, so why did he let it happen? It was too much for Naruto to think about here and now right in front of her. And by no means did he want to cause a scene in public, so he forced himself to do and say what he always did and said. He smiled big, showed his perfect white teeth, with his over developed canines (AN: a trait he got from Kyuubi) and shut his eyes. (AN: Naruto's trademark smile, you can tell that I loooooove Naruto!)
"Your welcome Sakura-chan. I'll always protect you with my life no matter what." Naruto said, meaning it, but the thought was only in head this time, his heart didn't agree. And Sakura smiled back at him and gave a small giggle, she obviously didn't notice the difference in his manor.
But Kakashi did.
Naruto then turned and looked at Kakashi, who already had a sad but understanding look in his eye. A look that kind of said, "I know what you're thinking, and it's ok." Naruto said nothing to Kakashi, but thanked Sakura for lunch, and when the three of them were about to go off, put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and silently thanked his sensei for knowing him so well. After that, Naruto went to the tree at the academy. He wanted to talk to Iruka-sensei, but if he didn't know what the problem was, how could he ask for help? So he sat down and started to fidget with the kunai and thought about things again.
When Naruto and Sakura were kids, she would always punch him like that for no reason, and now that Naruto thought about it, he never did anything to deserve being hit. He was starting to think that maybe it was habit for Sakura to punch him like that when he ever got that close to her. Whereas Naruto would never hurt her in any way, shape, or form. Why couldn't she have the same love and care for him? Nevermind, he thought. He already knew. Two words.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Just thinking about Sasuke made Naruto's pupils narrow to slits and his eyes change from their gentle and beautiful blue color to full of hatred and deep red. His whiskers went thick and his canines grew to fangs. Naruto could hear Kyuubi in his stomach, telling him that his anger was justifed and that his pain would never go away unless he got rid of the cause.
"Kill her" Kyuubi mumbled from inside his prison.
"Urosen." Naruto whispered to himself. In desperation to drown out Kyuubi's dark thoughts, Naruto squeezed the kunai he was fidgeting with and cut his left hand deeply, but not seriously, the pain of the gash would be worth not hearing Kyuubi. Naruto then realized what he had done and forced himself to calm down the old fashioned way. His eye's turned blue again and his fangs went back to normal and so did his whiskers. (AN: Urosen shut up)
Sasuke. He was gone from the village for four years now, almost five. But hadn't Sakura let him go? He was an S-ranked criminal and he had killed countless hunter nin. Naruto wondered what Sakura saw in him. Nevermind, he thought again. All she saw was a cool attitude, and a pretty face. There wasn't anything more to Sasuke, or at least not anymore. He had abandoned the people that cared for him and those he maybe cared for in return, for power. And that was the part that hurt the most, the fact that it was all for power. How could anybody love somebody like that? The more he thought about it the more he realized that Ero Sennin really did know what he was talking about when he told Naruto to forget about Sasuke. He really was like Orochimaru, and he couldn't think that any women would ever love Orochimaru just because he was Orochimaru and if there was, she was a fool and as good as dead.
It was also because of Sasuke, that Sakura had such poor communication with people. Today's mission hadn't been difficult, but it would've been much easier if she had waited for her signal. She must've known that Kakashi and Naruto weren't in their positions yet. Things like that happened often, not every time, but they always had. Even when Sasuke was around. She knew Sasuke was attracted to power, and she wanted to show him that she was strong, but always managed to show her weakness instead. And now, Naruto was noticing that Sakura had picked up a bad trait from Sasuke, the part of him that always had to feel superior to the people around him. Which probably explained why Sakura was always putting Kakashi and Naruto in more danger on missions, to show off power that she didn't have. But in front of who? Kakashi didn't care as long as the whole team got out of the mission alive, regardless of the missions completion, and not only had Kakashi trained Naruto to have the same concluding goal, but Sakura was also too important to Naruto for him to let anything happen to her. Good communication was needed for a good team of ninja, which was one of the reasons why you were assigned to a team as a child, and you stayed with that team until you were a Jounin and passed your own students. Because the communication between teammates was the key to their teamwork, and Naruto wasn't the only one who felt that Sakura was hindering the teamwork. Naruto and Kakashi had excellent communication, and talked to each other about anything, mission related or not, which was why they worked together so well today to make up for Sakura's misjudgement. Naruto silently wondered how everything about Sakura was somehow linked to Sasuke.
Sakura was shallow in her love interests but grateful for friends, who she also seemed to treat like shit but at least she did care for them. Naruto wasn't the only one. He thought about Ino, who was her best friend at one point, who she had decided would be her rival, because they both seemed to like Sasuke. Who would give up their best friend for a boy? Ino seemed to be more interested in Shikamaru now, who was too lazy to realize that she liked him, but at least she had the strength to say that Sasuke wasn't worth it. Ino was stronger than Sakura, physically, mentally and emotionally. He thought about Gejimayu (AN: gejimayu fuzzy eyebrows/Lee) who probably cared for Sakura way more than he did, and all Sakura ever did was get his hopes up, then run to Sasuke. He figured that it must be so much more painful for Gejimayu because now Naruto realized something. He didn't realize it when he was younger because he didn't know how to make the distinction and Sakura probably still didn't know.
Naruto didn't love Sakura. He never loved Sakura.
What Naruto liked about Sakura when he was a child was probably the challenge of getting her attention, despite Sasuke. Naruto knew for fact that Gejimayu loved her. Hell, he had promised her THE DAY HE MET HER to protect her with his life! And he upheld that promise during their first attempt at the Chuunin exams. He must've fallen in love with her at first sight. Maybe Naruto could confide in Gejimayu and Ino about this, since Gejimayu was always polite and easy to talk to, and Ino didn't reject him like an idiot anymore. In fact, she called him Naruto-san now and Naruto was grateful that she had respect for him. And he playfully called her Ino-chan, which would drive Sakura insane because he was getting along with someone she hated and treated like shit for, again, no good reason. And yes, he was referring to Sasuke as no good reason.
What was there in a person like her that he could've possibly thought he cared for? Sure, he just admitted to himself that he never loved Sakura, that didn't mean he didn't like her. In fact he did love her, but not in that way. He loved her as a sister almost. No...not as a sister. As a friend, a close friend. Not even a best friend. His best friend was probably Sabaku no Gaara, (AN: And for you manga readers is NOT dead) who he could relate to in about any aspect of his life. Damn it! Why was he so confused about his connections with people he cares for just because Sakura punched him again, and it didn't even hurt this time! Naruto came to a hard conclusion, but he would've come to it sometime or another so now wasn't any different from later.
Sakura didn't love him either and no matter how much he wanted her to, there was nothing he could do or say to change her mind. So it was time to stop trying.
Naruto would never stop caring for her, but now he would stop letting her hurt him for no reason, and start standing up for himself with her. It was time she had some respect from him and he had more for himself. He didn't want to deal with her attitude anymore. He shouldn't have to. She would have to learn that she couldn't be rude and violent with him just because he was Naruto and it didn't matter. Even if he had to yell at her to stop trying to hurt him, he would. He'll be hard on her like Kakashi-sensei was on the way back from today's mission. If they weren't running away from a potential counter ambush, he would've yelled. Kakashi-sensei stopped dealing with her attitude, why hadn't Naruto caught on?
Naruto stopped thinking. He was through dawning on this and being upset about it. His mind was made up and there was no changing it. This was how he chose to deal with this problem so that he could get over it, let it go and move on like he always did. Naruto looked up and noticed how late it was. It was still early for people to be awake but it was dark and time to go home. Naruto put his left hand on the tree to help him up when he felt a slight pain in his palm. He looked at the cut he gave himself so he could focus on the pain to drown on Kyuubi's words earlier, even though that hadn't worked since he didn't feel any pain. It happened to fast for him to feel any pain. And he felt none while he was thinking, but now his mind was empty and he was looking at it so it stung just a bit. Naruto hadn't gone home since he returned to the village and decided to take of it now, since he still had his things with him. Naruto pulled out his ointment and applied a dollop to the gash like he did for Sakura. (which now he wouldn't do anymore unless she was more gentle with him) Naruto watched as the wound made a cracking sound and his skin instantly started to grow over the opening like it always did when he used this ointment on himself. That was that. No harm done. Naruto screwed the cap back on the ointment and froze when he realized what he was really holding. This was...he got it from...
Hinata.
"Oh my god. How could I be so stupid?" Naruto cursed himself when he realized how Hinata always acted around him since they were kids. She would always act shy and cute around him, but he just thought she was being weird. Now he knew why. She was embarassed to talk to him, because she liked him. She cared for him. Naruto let go of his shame when he realized that Hinata STILL acted like that around him. Approaching him every here and there, twitching her fingers, blushing hard and studdering a lot, barely getting anything literate out of her mouth unless it was "Naruto-kun". It never annoyed Naruto, in fact once he realized that she was shy, but tough, he started to like her, but Sakura was always the girl on his mind so he would overlook Hinata. He probably only noticed all this because he refused to focus his mind on Sakura anymore. But now her shyness seemed justified. The more Naruto thought about this it seemed he didn't just feel bad for not noticing her but...it hurt, and her pain was probably worse. She always had to watch Naruto try to get Sakura's attention and he remembers reading somewhere that watching someone that you love, love someone else was one of the most painful feelings ever. Naruto then smiled and put the ointment back in his bag and stood up. He remember what he said to Hinata that day before the last test of the Chuunin exams...or more or less what she told him. That real strength was in a person's ability to raise up after a failure and try again and that she thought he was the strongest person she knows. And then what he told her that day was two things: the most truthful thing that he ever said to another person regarding his feelings, and the biggest lie he ever told regarding his feelings. He said that he liked her. It was truthful because he did like her, but he just didn't know how much he liked her, but it was a different like than Sakura. And at the time he wasn't able to make a distinction, so he forced himself to believe it wasn't what it was. It was a lie because he didn't like her.
Naruto could fall in love with her. In fact, just thinking about every interaction they ever had made him realize, he already was falling in love with her.
But he wasn't quite there yet. Although Naruto didn't really know what Hinata saw in him he was glad to know that she didn't come to the conclusion about him, that he just came to about Sakura. Or did she? He had to find out, it still was an early night, not too late to take a short walk. The Hyuuga household wasn't too far and he had to talk to her. She was probably the only person who believed that Naruto was strong and could really accomplish something if he tried, and never discriminated him for any reason. Now that Naruto really was thinking about Hinata was the first person to acknowledge him, not Iruka-sensei, but he didn't notice Hinata's silent praise. All Naruto ever asked for was someone to see him as a person with a right to live regardless of Kyuubi.
"Oh shit." Naruto thought again. Kyuubi. If Naruto was about to admit to Hinata that he cared for her and wanted to spend time with her, he had to be fair to her. There was more to Naruto than just Naruto. There was Kyuubi and he didn't want to lie to her. Hell, what if he told her and she had second thoughts about him? Damn, Naruto just couldn't win today could he? There was no other way though, what if she heard from someone else? Naruto concluded its better that he tell her and get it over with, if Hinata didn't care for him afterwards, then maybe she wasn't the person he thought she was, and maybe she was shallow too, but much less than Sakura.
Naruto got up from the tree and started walking in the direction of the Hyuuga household. It was only about eight o'clock at night, so they were definetly awake. When Naruto approached the door and rang the bell he started praying that either Hinata or Neji answered the door, since he was certain that Hyuuga-sama knew about Kyuubi and was no different from the other villagers. Naruto's prayers were answered when Neji opened the door. Naruto was about to say hello when Neji spoke up first.
"I'll get Hinata-sama." He said only after looking Naruto in the eye for a brief second. Naruto expected no less from Neji, whose insight and doujutsu were best he had ever fought. (AN: doujutsu eye jutsu, like Byakugan and Sharingan)
"By the way," Neji said as he walked back to the door, "What took you so long?" Naruto hung his head and answered.
"Because I'm not like you, you're a genius." Neji couldn't answer that. Neji then disappeared into the house and moments later Hinata rushed to the door.
"N...Naruto-kun...good evening...uh..." Hinata looked like she wasn't finished but Naruto figured this would go on forever if he didn't say something.
"Hinata, I came to ask you if you would come for a walk with me. I wanted to talk to you." Naruto said admiring how cute she was, trying to be quick and to the point, before any other Hyuugas showed up. Hinata on the other hand, was beat red in the face. But she swallowed and looked up and met Naruto's eyes and managed to smile.
"I'll...get my coat.." She said before going into the closet just inside so Naruto could still see her. She went in and pulled out her beige jacket (AN: with few alterations, since she's seventeen now) and put on her shoes and walked out with Naruto. They walked around for a while and Naruto told her all about his mission until he noticed her pressing the tips of her fingers together. Naruto had seen her do this countless times before and now knew that it meant she was nervous. Naruto didn't want her to be uncomfortable or nervous. The finger twitch never bothered him, but he figured he could occupy at least one of her hands.
"Hinata?"
"Y...yes?"
"Could I hold your hand?" Naruto then knew exaclty where he wanted to lead her. Hinata said nothing, but dropped her hand to intertwine her fingers with Naruto's she also used her other hand to shyly hug his right arm. Naruto could feel the heat of her face (since she was blushing extremely hard right now) and lead her to the training grounds. Once they were there Hinata let go of his arm and his hand but stayed close. Naruto grabbed hold of her other hand with both of his and held it close to his chest.
"Hinata, I said I had to talk to you, but I don't know where to start." Naruto admitted. Hinata looked at the ground, this was probably the scariest thing ever for her. Naruto was still scared of how she would take this.
"Th...Then can..I say something...first? Hinata asked shyly, of course. She wished that she wouldn't choke on her words so much, especially with what she was going to say next. However Naruto started to wish he hadn't said that. Knowing Hinata she would start to choke on her words and take forever to get a sentence out. But what was he going to tell her? No, Hinata you can't say something first?
"I'm listening." Naruto said, to indicate to her that she could go on, and promising to pay attention. Hinata lifted her other hand and used the back of her fingers to trace his whiskers. As she did this, she blushed harder and her eyes wandered. She tried to keep eye contact, but then her eyes drifted to his neck, then back up to her hand, then to his hands, then she just shut them. This was it.
"Naruto-kun, I know what you are." Hinata said quickly. Naruto almost didn't believe it. No way, she must be talking about something else. However Hinata saw the change in his eyes go from curiousness at what she had to say, to disbelief. Her insight and doujutsu wasn't as good as Neji's but she could still read people pretty well, so she could tell why his eyes changed so drastically. She did know what she was talking about, but had to prove it to him. She then reached under his Jounin jacket, but not under his navy blue shirt, and placed her free hand on his belly, just over where the seal is. Then looked back at him. His eyes changed again. This time there was shame. Who wouldn't be ashamed of that monster? But she looked harder. The shame wasn't because of Kyuubi. Naruto had gotten used to Kyuubi after all these years, it was because of her. Hinata didn't want Naruto to misunderstand, and the only way to make sure he didn't was to bare her soul to him. Let him know exactly why. Hinata then swore to herself, here and now, that she wouldn't choke anymore, she had been hoping that someday she would have enough courage to tell Naruto what she was about to tell him. Maybe once she told him, she wouldn't feel so useless, maybe she would finally change herself so she could be more like the person she always wanted to be like. Naruto.
"Naruto-kun, I've always known, and I love you. I always have because no matter what happens to you, you're always smiling. I never understood how you could do that. But that's why I can see that you're so strong, because you don't fake your happiness, it's real. And if you were faking it, my Byakugan would see it, but you're not pretending. You have no family, it took you so long to finally make friends who loved you for your uniqueness, and the villagers always shunned you out and away, but despite all this, you somehow are able to forget all of that and see the better of things. Whereas I have family, friends, and have been excepted by the villagers as the successor of the Hyuuga Clan, even with all of this, I'm never happy and the tiniest things make me upset and depresses me. But when I watch you I can forget about my family hating my weakness, and the fact that I'm not strong, it's the only thing I can do to make myself feel happy. I always tell people that I want to change myself, but I don't want to be faster or stronger or better looking, I want to be like you. Happy, or better yet, complete. But, I believe that the only way to gain happiness is to become a part of what makes you happy, and it's your happiness that makes me happy. So, the only thing I could do to change myself, and complete myself, is to make you happy." Hinata pleaded to Naruto almost feeling like a helpless little puppy. Hinata was hoping that she didn't sound too desperate to Naruto.
Once Hinata finished she tore her eyes away from Naruto's, which she had been starring into the whole time. However she had been to busy concentrating everything she had into not choking and saying what needed to be said to notice his eyes changing. Naruto, on the other hand, felt like he was having a dejavu, remembering when he was clutching the Scroll of Seals and hiding from Mizuki. He had just heard Iruka-sensei confess that he thought Naruto had just as much right to live as anyone else and was a citizen of Konoha Gakure, and a talented person. It was then he decided that Iruka-sensei was the most important person in his life, and Iruka had only said what was on his mind, and justified that all his scolding and nagging was because he cared for Naruto and connected to him because they were both orphans, and both alone. They were both as equally as important to each other and that was what made Naruto able to escape from the dark, lonely hell he lived in and joined what seemed like a paradise. All because of one person. Naruto's thoughts were then cut off by Hinata.
"Naruto-kun...now would be a good time...to say something..." Hinata said shyly again, but she had just offered her heart to Naruto and promised to make him happier than he already was, and be happy doing it. Naruto had never stopped starring back at her eyes, except when she looked away, but somewhere in between his dejavu she looked back. Naruto smiled at Hinata, then reached up, untied his hitai ate and put it in his pocket. He then pressed his now bare forehead against Hinata's and let go of her hand so he could hug her. Hinata answered with her hands on his shoulders.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata continued, "I know that you love Sakura-san but..." Naruto stopped her by shutting his eyes and letting out a small giggle.
"Hinata, I don't love Sakura-chan, I never did, and never will." Naruto told Hinata, like he told himself earlier. Hinata's eyes changed this time, and Naruto saw it. Neji had told him once before that Naruto's eyes were better than his, and that he could see things that even the Byakugan couldn't. But her eyes also watched his, noticing his change as well. They both sat there for a moment and read each others eyes to themselves.
Naruto saw her eyes go from shyness and embaressment to realization. Of what? Naruto thought. Looking a bit harder he saw it was opportunity. She saw that now she had a chance to feel love from someone, since she never felt it from her family.
Hinata watched for change in his eyes as well. She saw confusion. Concentration. Understanding. He must've been reading her eyes as she read his. He was trying to see exaclty how she felt, and she was still feeling shy and embaressed about just having him this close to her. But in the same sence, he didn't love Sakura so maybe that meant Naruto could love her back with time.
"Hinata..." Naruto started as Hinata's face was practically glowing red now, and her eyes, wide and almost teary.
"Thank you." He whispered before shutting his eyes, and gently placing a kiss on her lips.
It wasn't a long kiss, or even a deep one, since neither of them had been kissed before. (AN: Although I am a yaoi fangirl I don't count Naruto and Sasuke's kiss as a first time, at least not here.)
After just a few seconds they broke, because Naruto felt his cheeks wet. He pulled away to notice while they were kissing, Hinata had started crying. Naruto thought about kissing them away, but figured maybe that was too much for one night. Hinata would probably cry more if he did. Instead he compromised by bringing one of his hands up and wiping them away with his thumb.
"Hinata, why are you crying? You should be happy, you made me happy." Naruto said, he couldn't stop smiling. Hinata smiled back to show that she was happy, and her eyes filled up again. She then threw her arms around his neck and let them fall. But instead of sobbing, she giggled, Naruto hugged back and started to feel thankful for Hinata's patience and Sakura's persistence. Although he didn't connect with Hinata like he connected with Iruka-sensei, he didn't assume it wouldn't grow stronger. Right now, Naruto needed to get Hinata used to his attention, and affection, like when he wiped her tears away instead of kissing them. It was too much all at once for Hinata. She wouldn't get over her shyness around him if he didn't ween her in little at a time. Naruto then silently thanked Sakura for pushing him away for so long, or he would've never noticed Hinata, or realized why she loved him or that she loved him at all. Naruto then noticed that they would never be able to lie to each other and would always be able to tell what the other was truly feeling because their eyes told all. They would always be honest, because they both had always needed the same thing from others. And who better to give it, than someone who needed it in return? He did connect with her, it was all in their eyes.