Ever sense Hinata had told Chouji that she liked him, he had been worried. He was worried that she would get over it or just come over to him one day and tell him that she was joking. He knew that his worries were really unfounded, because Hinata would never do something like that, but he still felt nervous.
Normally he would have told Shikamaru about his worries and listened to whatever advice he was given, because Shikamaru was really smart. But Shikamaru didn't really know anything about girls. Before he had broken up with Ino, he probably would have asked her for advice. But she was acting weird, even though she was the one who broke it off.
Finally after carefully considering each of his friends, and discarding them because they either didn't know anything about girls or he didn't know them well enough, or both, he decided to talk to his father.
"Son," his father had begun, "Do you remember the day that you and Shikamaru became friends?" Chouji nodded, "Then you remember that I told you that a real friend will be able to look beyond your appearance and see the gentle person that you are?" Again Chouji nodded.
"Well the same is true for women. One day you will find a girl who can look beneath your appearance and see the kindest, gentlest ninja in the village. And when you find that girl you will give her your loyalty and love. This can be a painful process, as you found out with your friend Ino, but if you don't risk the hurt, you'll miss the girl."
Chouji didn't say anything, just sat there absorbing his father's words. He nodded to himself slowly, making up his mind.
The next day he saw Hinata and her teammates. They met up with Chouji's team for an evening meal. Ino didn't seem happy about seeing Hinata again, but Chouji was excited. He ate his meal quickly, and then regretted doing that because no one else was finished with their meal, and so he had to wait. Hinata had offered to share her food, thinking that he must have still been hungry because of how quickly he ate, but Chouji refused.
Finally everyone was finished and as usual Chouji volunteered to walk Hinata home. He couldn't think of anything to say to her on the way to her house, so the walk was a little awkward, but not painfully so.
When they reached the Hyuuga compound gate, Hinata turned to Chouji to bid him good night, but Chouji quickly grabbed her hand, asking her to wait.
At Hinata's quizzical gaze, he found himself blushing and stuttering, "Um… Hinata Chan?… T-This Friday would you like to go on a d-date with me?" When the last sentence was uttered, Chouji finally noticed that he was staring at Hinata's feet, so he looked at her face hopefully.
"I-I'd like that C-Chouji kun," she stuttered back, her cheeks were flushed and she was smiling cutely.
"Great," he said relieved, "So I'll pick you up here at 7:00?" Hinata nodded, and they parted ways awkwardly.
That's pretty much how Chouji remembered winding up walking hand in hand with Hinata through the town, towards one of Konoha's nicest restaurants. It didn't hurt that his aunt owned the restaurant, so he could be assured of good service, a great view, and the best food in town.
They talked about small things as they made their way through town. The latest mission they had, new training techniques, and funny things that had happened to them. When they reached the restaurant, they had just gotten sat down at their table when the subject of teammates came up.
"You were lucky Chouji kun," Hinata stated, "You were placed on a team with your best friend. I remember being very intimidated by my team. For the first week of training, Kiba would pick a fight with Shino over who the leader was, and al I could do was sit on the sidelines with Akamaru and watch." She giggled a little at the memory.
Chouji chuckled in appreciation, "On the very first day that our teams were chosen, during lunch Ino told us that if we just did what she said we would get along fine. Then she had us stalk Sasuke for a week, until Shikamaru and I just lay down in a field and watched the clouds. She yelled at us for an hour strait before she gave up and joined us."
"It must be really nice being such good friends with your teammates," Hinata sounded a little wistful.
"Do you not get along with Shino and Kiba?"
Hinata blushed, "I-I like them a lot," she explained, " I-It's just that sometimes I think that they think that I'm a burden. It feels like they always have to protect me from one thing or another."
" They don't have to protect you Hinata Chan," Chouji assured his date, "They want to protect you. That's what teammates do." Hinata smiled shyly at him at this declaration.
Then their dinner arrived and there was a comfortable silence as they ate.