Hinata was chatting with one of her student's parents at the end of class when she first spotted Naruto, just in time for his private tumbling lesson. "I'll see you next week," she said and waved goodbye to the child.

"You look happy," Hinata smiled as she approached a grinning Naruto. "You ready to kick ass today?"

"Oh for sure," he nodded, as he set down his stuff in a cubby. "I swear I'm having the craziest day of my life today, I wouldn't be surprised if I get my back tuck on the first try!"

Hinata chuckled, "crazy how?"

"Crazy like I think I'm dating Shion now!"

Unconsciously her smile fell as an uncomfortable weight settled in the pit of her stomach. A shocked, and slightly pained "what?" was all she could manage.

Clearly caught up in his own head, Naruto maintained his excited tone, not noticing how her expression shifted with his news. "I know! Kinda random, right? I'll tell you all about it, but I should probably start stretching."

In a daze, Hinata followed as Naruto made his way onto the center of the mat.

Shion?

Shion!?

What did Shion have that she didn't? Was it that she was prettier? More confident? More fun to be around?!

How long had she been pining after Naruto without even realizing he was interested in someone else? She thought they were making progress.

She really thought he liked her back...

Her chest ached. She felt like such a fool.

Hinata sat beside him and began stretching. "So Shion… that's uh… surprising," she tried. "I didn't realize you guys even talked."

"Well, to be honest, we haven't talked that much. But these guys were giving me a hard time after school, making fun of me for being on the cheer team, which was honestly so lame." He began as he stretched forward. "So then Shion jumps in acting like we're together so I look like some stud. She said some, like dirty stuff to me, but loud enough for them to hear and then screamed at them to get lost. It was actually pretty funny!" Naruto laughed.

Hinata forced a smile as if the story was humorous, but her mind was caught on one particular detail. Shion said dirty stuff to him?

What did that even mean? Like how dirty?

Oh god, no wonder Naruto never noticed her in a romantic way if that's what he wants from a girl. The thought had a faint blush spreading over Hinata's face. She was self-conscious even imagining herself trying to talk dirty.

… and then I came from her place here," Naruto finished. But Hinata hadn't been paying attention, too lost in a thought spiral fueled by her insecurities.

"Oh uh, cool... To be honest, I didn't think you guys had much in common besides cheer. What does she even like talking about?" Hinata asked, trying to appear interested in the conversation, even though it was slightly painful to hear Naruto gush about some other girl.

"Well umm," Naruto looked away shyly, heat rising on his cheeks. "We didn't really talk much…"

Hinata blanched as the realization dawned on her. "Oh! Oh… Sorry, I asked," she offered awkwardly.

She was so uncomfortable. Hinata wasn't much of a gossip, but Shion had a bit of a reputation, so it didn't take much to imagine what they were doing if they were too busy to chat.

"You don't have to apologize! I'm sorry if I'm being weird," Naruto chuckled. "I just don't even really know how to talk about that kind of thing. I mean I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that a girl actually likes me!"

Hinata furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" Plenty of girls liked Naruto (herself included), he was sweet and handsome and funny. His presence was warm and inviting, like standing out in the sun on a pleasant summer day. It was something she found herself craving, just being around him and absorbing his warmth.

"I don't know," he shrugged, before twisting to stretch his back. "It always seems the girls around school were more interested in guys like Sasuke. They act like he's some idol singer or something, following him around and begging for a crumb of his attention."

Naruto turned to stretch the other way. Hinata pursed her lips, she was surprised and honestly a little saddened by his words.

Naruto had always seemed to be so confident and self-assured, she never would have guessed he harbored these insecurities. "That just doesn't happen to guys like me. I'm pretty sure most girls just think I'm too… goofy or something."

"You're not goofy!" Hinata stopped her stretching. "You're amazing!"

Naruto smiled and Hinata opened her mouth to continue, to tell him all the reasons why he was amazing and that she had liked him for a really long time. But she stopped herself.

He was with Shion now.

"You're the nicest, ya know that?" he grinned as he finished his last stretch.

Hinata tried to smile back, but her mind was full of warring emotions. A part of her wondered if she had confessed her feelings sooner, could she have saved him from the feelings of inadequacy that obviously plagued him?

But at the same time, him choosing Shion made her feel inadequate herself. Sure, according to him she's the 'nicest', one of his 'best friends', but maybe that's all he'll ever see her as.

A seed of an idea, Hinata was too ashamed to acknowledge took root in her mind. Maybe, just maybe, there was something she could do to get him to see her as more than just a friend.

Walking into the school on Monday morning, Naruto was almost immediately ambushed by Kiba. "What is this I'm hearing about you going out with my flyer!?" he accused and bumped him with his shoulder in a rough but friendly manner.

"Sorry man, you were too slow!" Naruto smirked, acting cool (as if he had done anything to win Shion over). The boys entered the school and headed toward their first class of the day. "It's not like you called dibs or anything," he added with a shrug.

Kiba rolled his eyes and gave his friend a dismissive wave. "I'm not interested in Shion like that. What I'm interested in is that she's focused during practice! So you better not be distracting her with your… ya know, antics!" he sighed with exasperation.

Blue eyes stared at brown, trying to gauge Kiba's expression. When his face didn't crack with even a hint of humor, Naruto raised a curious brow. "Wait, are you being serious?!" he chucked.

"I'm dead serious!"

"Kiba… didn't you make me join the cheer team so we could hang out with girls?!" Naruto questioned, but Kiba just frowned deeper. "And now you're mad because I actually followed through on your plan?!"

A few passersby glanced their way when he burst out laughing at the way Kiba pouted. Naruto had assumed with all the extra effort he put in with his tumbling lessons with Hinata, that he was more invested in cheer than Kiba had been. It was actually kind of comical to see how they both became so dedicated as they had grown to enjoy cheerleading.

Throwing a friendly arm around Kiba's shoulders, Naruto promised, "I won't distract Shion during practice, I swear."

Kiba gave him a fake scoff and shrugged off his arm before the boys laughed together and walked into their homeroom.

Hinata liked sitting with Sakura at lunch. Sakura liked sitting with Ino. Ino liked sitting with Shion. And now that Shion and Naruto were an item, Hinata somehow found herself also sitting at his lunch table. Keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact.

Naruto's lunch table normally consisted of only boys. Hinata was friends with most of them or at the very least acquainted, but there was something intimidating about intruding on their established dynamic. Obviously Shion didn't mind as she slid into the seat closest to Naruto.

But then again Ino and Sakura didn't protest. Maybe she was just being silly.

To be honest, she was nervous. Hinata didn't want to subject herself to Naruto and Shion's flirting. But despite the fact that Shion insisted they sit over at Naruto's table from now on, the two didn't talk much more to each other than they did anyone else. In fact, Hinata almost felt like Naruto paid her more attention than Shion.

But maybe that was just wishful thinking.

A sinking guilty feeling settled in her gut for even wishing for such a thing. Even though he was with Shion, there was no way Hinata could let go of the feelings she built up for him over the last few years. Her feelings had only grown over the last few months.

Even now, with him sitting next to his new girlfriend, her hopeful heart fluttered when Naruto looked her way or when he chose to engage her in a conversation over the dozen other people at the table.

Naruto was gabbing on and on like he usually did about school and cheer, but paused in his ramblings and glanced at Sasuke, waiting for him to inject his snarky opinion. It was expected in their normal lunchtime conversations. Sasuke didn't talk half as much as Naruto but he always listened and would mutter his thoughts every so often.

But when he didn't speak up, Naruto turned his full attention to Sasuke, eying him suspiciously from across the table. His best friend was being unusually quiet, not once had he thrown out one of his usual quips since the girls joined their table. And now that he was looking, he noticed Sasuke's posture was particularly stiff.

"Why are you being so weird?" Naruto accused

"I'm not!" Sasuke scoffed in defense.

It was quick and if Naruto hadn't been staring at him he wouldn't have noticed. But Sasuke self-consciously glanced at Sakura, checking if she was listening to their conversation or if she too thought he was being weird.

"You've got to be kidding me?!" Naruto blurted, unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. Sasuke's mean glare was all the confirmation he needed.

Girls at school fell over themselves to be noticed by Sasuke, but he liked the one girl Naruto had obsessively talked about all last year. No wonder Sasuke always told him to just give up when Sakura rejected him. That bastard wanted her for himself!

Not that it really mattered now that he was with Shion, but it was the principle of the thing!

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, having a silent telepathic conversation consisting of subtle changes in facial expression that only best friends could have.

"Ugh!" Sasuke huffed as he got up from the table.

"You're so stupid!" Naruto called after him. The commotion finally caught Sakura's attention.

"What'd you do to him!?" Sakura asked, green eyes glaring at Naruto.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Why do you have to be so mean?!" Sakura frowned as she got up from the table to follow after Sasuke. "He's sensitive!"

"Is this a joke?!" Naruto cried, shaking his head.

He honestly thought he might be more upset at the realization that there was something going on between his best friend and his former crush. Maybe he was more over her than he thought. His affections for Sakura had slowly but completely been replaced by someone else.

He unconsciously glanced at Hinata, even as his mind told him he liked Shion now.

"Did you know that was a thing?" he asked, turning to face Hinata.

"Sasuke and Sakura?" Hinata replied with a small smile and a scrunch of her shoulders. "Uh... yeah, kinda."

"What the heck, Hinata?" he chucked. "Don't you know you're my informant! You're supposed to keep me up on all the latest gossip!"

"Oh my bad," she said, her hand covered her mouth as she giggled.

"You've been slacking! What else don't I —" he trailed off and his eyes went was confused for a moment, but then Naruto abruptly turned around. A faint blush rose in his cheeks as Shion whispered in his ear.

That's when Hinata noticed what must have originally garnered his attention, Shion's hand resting on Naruto's thigh under the table. She could hardly believe the girl was so bold, but then again Naruto had mentioned Shion saying 'dirty things' to him.

Wait… was that what she was doing now?!

Naruto smiled a little shy smile. Hinata forced herself to look away, growing more uncomfortable by the moment just imagining what Shion might be saying that got him so flustered.

She thought she could endure sitting at lunch with them, but maybe she was wrong.

Hinata got up for a hasty retreat, but Naruto quickly turned to her. "Hey, where you going?"

"I, uh… I have to go to the bathroom," she mumbled before scampering away to go hide and collect herself. Hinata released a sigh when she found somewhere private and quiet to sit in the school's courtyard.

She hated how she was so hung up wondering what Shion said to him. Naruto did mention he read his godfather's pervy adult books. It's no wonder he's more interested in a girl as overtly sexy as Shion. She's the kind of girl that really owns her body, confident enough to say what she's really thinking, and not afraid to show off her own talents and beauty.

All things Hinata was not…

Another sigh escaped Hinata's lips. She thought back to the first day of practice when Naruto said she was nerdy. Of course, he wouldn't want to date a nerdy, awkward girl like her...

But suddenly a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth when another thought struck her. He did correct himself afterward, saying she was nerdy in a cute way. That he wanted to reach a book on the top shelf of the library for her. She thought that was weird at first but later decided he just likes being helpful.

Maybe she doesn't need to be like Shion for him to notice her as more than a friend. Maybe she could just play up the things he already liked about her.

But could she really get past the guilt to act on such an idea? Could she really win him over if she tried? If she was bold enough to put herself out there, would he choose her?

Well, she'll never know if she doesn't try.