Herring soba. For the past few days, she had been unable to eat anything but herring soba. The flavor was surprisingly sweet, the tender herring effortlessly complementing the delicious broth.
Neji nii-san always had a sweet tooth, just like her.
Herring soba. If she just ate one more bowl while meditating deeply, she could almost imagine Neji nii-san sitting next to her, enjoying it with her.
Hinata took a sip of broth and suddenly found it difficult to swallow around the lump in her throat. What was she doing, savoring the sweetness of the soba while Neji nii-san couldn't?
She felt a burning self-loathing overflowing in her lungs.
Three o'clock. Naruto always showed up at the graveyard at three o'clock. Soon it became a little routine that she began to share with him.
Naruto listened to her story about Neji nii-san and herring soba with an uncharacteristic frown.
Then his face brightened up into the smile that never failed to dazzle Hinata.
"Hinata, don't worry a bit! We can fix this tomorrow. Meet me at Neji's grave at three in the afternoon and bring a picnic blanket with you!" he said in a rapid-fire voice, clenching his fist excitedly.
What...picnic blanket…?
His smile sometimes didn't fail to confuse Hinata as well. Nevertheless, she did bring a picnic blanket with her the next day.
Naruto had brought a bento box with him along with his usual sunflowers.
He took the lit incense sticks that Hinata had kept at the foot of the grave and wafted the smoke over the soba.
"Neji, do you smell that? It's your favorite. Herring soba. Now you can eat with us."
Hinata's breath caught in her throat. Naruto bowed before Neji nii-san's grave.
After a moment, she bowed too.
As she bit into the herring and slurped the noodles, she could feel Neji nii-san taking an appreciative whiff of the aroma.
A crushing load was lifted off her chest. Neji nii-san was still with her, watching over her with his smile.
As the months went on, Hinata realized that her graveside visits with Naruto had filled an old void in her heart.
But in its place rose some kind of...greed.
Yes, that was the word for the strange desire that rose up from within her stomach. Each visit she shared with Naruto was like a soothing balm applied on the wound that Neji nii-san had left behind. But along with the soothing balm came a deep, extreme hunger.
Their visits to the grave always began at three in the afternoon and ended within the hour. After all, both Hinata and Naruto were busy ninja and the end of the war had brought many reconstruction tasks along with the resumption of their usual list of missions. The graveyard visits were the only reliable time she could meet Naruto. Missions like the one he had been on with Team 8 were few and far between.
Her mind growled unhappily at the thought. She couldn't make head or tail of it.
It was a calm and peaceful night. Aromatic green tea and the sugary grilled smell of mitarashi dango pervaded the air.
The Konoha 11 were gathered together in the village's dango shop for their first night together in a full year – the shop being the principal pick of everyone in their group other than Naruto and Chouji (whose requests for a get-together at Ichiraku and Yakiniku had been roundly shot down).
Hinata sipped at her tea and smiled calmly. The pleasant atmosphere smoothed the wrinkles in her brow and her mind.
Naruto was sitting next to Sakura and Sai. The fare at the dango shop, was, for once, something he could easily eat without the aid of others. However…
"Come on, Naruto, say 'Ahhh,'" said Sai, with his crinkled eyes and placid smile, holding a spoon loaded with gyuuhi near Naruto's mouth.
Naruto looked incredulously at the heaping spoon. "Sai, I don't need help eating anmitsu. I only have problems with chopsticks, ya know."
"But I read in a book that friends help each other even when there is no need," Sai said.
So saying, he stuffed the gyuuhi-laden spoon into Naruto's mouth.
The sight prompted her mind to glower unpleasantly.
What was this feeling? Why was she feeling this way?
Hinata fell into a fitful and restless sleep that night.
Unlike the usual sunny days that coincided with her trips to Neji nii-san's grave, today the sky was dark and murky, the sun being blotted out by bluish-black rain clouds.
Hinata scurried quickly to the Konoha Cemetery, occasionally pausing to glance up at the impending thunderstorm.
She and Naruto had barely lit the incense sticks and placed the sunflowers next to the white stone when thick sheets of rain descended upon them.
Hinata frowned. What kind of message was Neji nii-san trying to send to her? Did he not want her to visit him today?
The blanket of rain was causing very poor visibility. They needed to leave the cemetery fast. Hinata grasped Naruto's hand and pulled him along. They exited the graveyard and made their way into the main street of the village, darting under the awnings of the crowded shops lining Konoha's business district.
Somehow they'd found their way to Ichiraku.
Naruto smiled as he took in the familiar surroundings of his second home. He was completely drenched, rivulets of water rolling off his orange-and-black jacket and creating a puddle on the ground. His blonde bangs were plastered to his forehead.
Hinata frowned in concern. "Naruto-kun, you need to dry off or you'll catch a cold."
Naruto gave her an exaggerated frown, looking endearingly silly. "The same goes for you too, Hinata! Besides, I've never gotten sick from getting caught in the rain."
But he removed his jacket anyway and used it as an impromptu towel to dry off his hair, causing it to stand on end, giving it an even spikier look than usual.
Then he mussed up her long dark hair with the jacket. Hinata shrieked in protest.
"Naruto-kun!"
Naruto smiled in a very impish manner. "Hinata, you need to dry off or you'll catch a cold!" he parroted.
She gave him a rare stern look, causing him to shut up almost instantly.
"Anyway, the rain isn't going to stop anytime soon. Want to order some ramen while we're here?" he asked.
Hinata smiled. "I would love to."
They both settled down on the low stools facing the counter. Naruto went for his usual miso ramen with an extra helping of chashu and boiled eggs. Hinata opted for the greasy tonkotsu ramen with black pepper and naruto fishcakes.
As they began their meal, Naruto was once again struggling to snap apart his wooden chopsticks, though he finally succeeded after thirty seconds. The sight made Hinata smile. Naruto's never-give-up attitude showed up even in the smallest of things.
And speaking of struggle, he was struggling again, his left hand's hold on the chopsticks slack and clumsy.
Hinata pondered the situation for a moment. She truly loved to see Naruto struggle and succeed. It was one of his greatest attributes. But today, a different feeling arose in her heart.
Before she could identify the mysterious feeling, her hand moved on its own, grabbing the chopsticks from Naruto's hand.
"Naruto-kun, please allow me."
Naruto blinked questioningly at Hinata.
"I know you're trying hard and you're already adjusting to being one-armed, and that you don't need my help," she said quietly. "But friends help each other even when there is no need."
She scooped up some strands of ramen with the chopsticks and raised it to Naruto's mouth. He gratefully accepted.
Hinata stared at his soft lips as he slurped up the noodles. There was a little drop of broth at the corner of his mouth and she felt a strange temptation to lick it off.
She blinked at the stray thought and glanced away from his face, her eyes focusing instead on the mesh shirt that was usually concealed under his jacket. This was a big mistake. The mesh shirt was very...form-fitting. It didn't help that the shirt was clinging to his chest even more than usual thanks to the rain. He wasn't built with ripped muscles like the Raikage or anything, but he was still very...
Hinata abruptly woke up in a cold sweat.
What on Earth was she dreaming about?
A/N: It's Naruto's birthday, so have an update!
Here begins the oblivious Hinata stuff! I hope you guys enjoy.
Thanks to ms chocoholic19, gwb620, El Publicano, green ninja05, Ninja-chan, nah273, and Kathryn for the reviews! :) You make me a very happy ocelot.
Edit: So I've gotten some reviews where people think Sakura was being a "bitch" in the last chapter...but that wasn't really my intention. I was trying to portray her as she is in the anime/manga...she does get annoyed when Naruto is slow to grasp certain things and she calls him "dense" in the Last movie when he doesn't understand Hinata's feelings. (Though I have no idea why she alone is coming in for criticism when Ino acts in a similar way in ch. 4.)