Through White Eyes

Chapter 2

Hinata ran through the village, at a rapid pace. She was eager to see Naruto, and give him his chocolates. 'I wonder,' she thought. 'was Naruto expecting to receive chocolates today?' In their academy days, Naruto never received any chocolates. In fact, most boys didn't receive any, because the girls were all attempting to give their chocolates to Sasuke, who took them just to shut them up. After they left, he would promptly throw them in the garbage, saying something along the lines of not liking sweets.

Hinata quickened her place. She knew where Naruto most likely was. These days, he spent his mornings doing some training in the forest, and then would head directly for the Ramen stand for breakfast.

Before she knew it, she was just outside of the Ramen stand, and could see that someone was sitting down to enjoy a bowl. Hinata began to feel her pulse quicken, and her face redden. Just the thought of approaching him, and giving him the box of chocolates was making her nervous. 'what if he doesn't accept them?' she thought. Images of Naruto refusing her chocolate flashed threw her head.

"Like I'd accept chocolate from a weirdo like you." The mean Naruto in her head said. The thought made her shiver. 'But, what if he accepts them.' She thought. Another image of Naruto flashed in her head, but this one was much kinder, and sweeter. "Thank you, Hinata." The new Naruto in her head said. 'I was wondering if you'd like to join me for some ramen tonight?' This thought made hinata, if even possible, blush so vividly red, even passerby noticed her scarlet complexion.

Hinata swallowed her pride, closed her eyes, and stepped into the ramen shop. "Good morning, what will you have today." She heard the shopkeeper say, as she entered the stand. Hinata paused, and slowly opened one eye. She looked at the one customer they had, but it wasn't Naruto. The man sitting before her, wore a green jump suit, had a bowl hair cut, and rather thick eye brows. This man was a genin, and teammate of Neji's, Rock Lee.

"Hinata-san." He said, turning around and seeing her. "Good morning." Hinata nodded at the young man. "Were you also looking to eat some ramen this morning?" he asked. Hinata shook her head.

"No, I was looking for Naruto-kun." She said. "Do you know where he might be?"

Lee closed his eyes, and thought about it. "Let's see," he said. "I arrived here just before he left. I believe he said something about going to meet Sakura-san."

"Thank you." She said quickly. She bowed to Lee, and left the shop heading in the direction of Sakura's house.

Lee returned to his bowl of ramen, while the shopkeeper stared after Hinata. "Do you think she'll actually do it today?" he asked Lee. Lee looked up from his bowl, and slurped down the noodles.

"Of course, He said. "Today is the day of lovers, and I can sense the burning youthful spirit in her." Lee did his "nice guy" pose for the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper smiled, and went back to making ramen.

Hinata ran along the streets until she came into view of Sakura's house. When she was about a block away, she saw Sakura exit her home, and start walking in the opposite direction. Hinata was forced to pick up here pace, to catch up with her. "S-Sakura-san." She called out when she had finally closed the distance. Sakura turned around to look at Hinata. When she saw who it was, she smiled, and allowed Hinata to catch up.

"Good morning, Hinata-san." Sakura said to her. Hinata had to stop for a second, to catch her breath.

"S-Sakura-san." Hinata stammered once she had regained some of her breath. "H-have you seen N-Naruto-kun this morning?" Sakura nodded.

"I told him to come by, so that I could give him a box of chocolates." She said. Hinata stared at her. 'Sakura-san also gave Naruto-kun a box of chocolates.' Sakura looked at hinata, and could guess what was going on in her head.

"Don't worry." Sakura reassured her. "You're supposed to give chocolates to those you admire, or respect, on Valentines Day. It's not just for lovers." Hinata let out a sigh of relief, Sakura smiled at her.

"Do you know where Naruto-kun is now?" she asked her.

Sakura smiled at her. "he said something about going to see Tsunade-sama this morning."

"Thank you." Hinata said. She bowed to Sakura to show her appreciation, and started running towards the Fifths office.

Sakura smiled after the Hinata. 'So, she's finally going to do it.' She thought.

Hinata knocked on the office door. "Come in." she heard a stern female voice say. Hinata entered the room of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade-sama. She looked up, and greeted Hinata with a warm smile. "Good morning Hinata. What can I do for you this morning."

"I was looking for Naruto-kun, and I was told he had come up here." She said. Tsunade frowned at her.

"He left a short while ago." She said. "He said something about going to talk to Kakashi."……..

"hmmmm…." Kakashi said after Hinata had found him in the back section of a bookstore. "He said he didn't want to talk to me while I was in here, so he said something about tracking down Shikamaru….."

Shikamaru yawned very loudly. "He left a while ago." He said. "He said something about me being too boring, and that he was going to practice his jutsu's in the forest."

The sun was starting to set, and Hinata still hadn't been able to track down Naruto. She had spent all morning, and all afternoon looking for him. She thought she'd see him for sure when she waited by the ramen stand around lunch time, but she didn't. By the end of the day, Hinata was exhausted from her long day, so she sat down at a bench near the village gate.

She sat there for a long time feeling depressed about not being able to find him that day. "Maybe it just wasn't meant to be." She said aloud, and she put her face in her hands.

"What wasn't meant to be?" a familiar voice said to her. She looked up from her hands, and found herself face to face with Uzumaki Naruto. Hinata could feel her face redden by the second. Naruto's face filled with even more confusion. "Um, Hinata, your face is starting to turn kinda red. Do you have a cold or something?"

Hinata couldn't say anything. She was practically paralyzed by the sudden appearance of Naruto.

"You're weird." He said suddenly. He straitened up, and began walking back into the village. 'Now. I have to do it now/' Hinata said to herself.

"n-n-naruto-kun." She whispered softly. She didn't expect Naruto to here her, but she turned around and faced her with a bemused expression. Hinata stepped forward, and pulled out the last box of chocolates. "P-please accept these." She said, and handed him the box of chocolates. Naruto smiled at the young Hyuuga heiress.

"Thank you, Hinaga." He said. "That's really nice of you." He took the box, and un-wrapped its contents. He opened the lid, and saw a box of half melted chocolates. He stared at them strangely. "Are they supposed to be all melted like that?" he asked.

Hinata looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun." She said. He picked one up, sniffed it, and popped it into his mouth. "I was trying to find you all day." She continued weakly. "I didn't expect them to….."

"THESE ARE REALLY GOOD!" Naruto exclaimed. Hinata looked up at Naruto. A wide smile broke across his face. "These are so good." He took out another of the half melted chocolates, and popped it into his mouth. "Mmmmm…..so good. Did you make these Hinata?" he asked. Hinata only nodded.

Naruto sat down on the nearby bench, and promptly began to eat one chocolate after another. Hinata sat down next to him, and smiled as the blond ninja ate. 'This really was a good valentines day.' She said to herself.