Wow! Thank you all so much for the reviews. And I'm so sorry that this chapter's a bit late. Finals and all that stuff. I had to study and hand in a few more things.
Not to meantion I went to my first anime convention dressed as Hinata-chan so a few new crack pairings and ideas were made... Beware of those in the up comming chapters.
I hope you enjoy this and I had lots of fun writing it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto. I only own this plot line.
"I think I like you." The words didn't comprehend in his head. Like, as in the feelings toward? As in "I like ramen"?
"Naruto-san? Are you okay?" her voice was full of worry and concern.
"Yeah… I'm fine." Was he really?
A silence fell over them.
A minute… Five minutes…
'Say something… anything!' they both thought. But nothing would come to mind.
The sound of running footsteps broke the silence. Neji appeared behind them, out of breath and what looked like worry…?
"Hinata-sama." He gasped out.
Naruto and Hinata stared at him for a moment.
"Neji-nii-san, are you alright?" Hinata asked.
Neji nodded and stood straighter. "Hinata-sama, why didn't you tell me you were here?" he asked seriously with a hard look in his eyes.
Naruto could feel Hinata shrink back next to him. "I told Hinabi-chan that I was going to be here," she said looking down. "I thought she would tell you."
"Next time you should tell me." Neji said firmly.
Naruto glared at him. Neji wasn't being all that fair to Hinata and his tone wasn't what she needed at the moment. "That's no way to talk to Hinata. She clearly couldn't tell you because you were at Tsunade-baa-chan's office."
Neji gave Naruto a hard stare. "Don't talk to me like that."
"Then don't talk to Hinata like that." Naruto told him back, his anger rising.
Hinata stood up and stood between the two boys staring at Neji. "Please don't start to fight Neji-nii-san. I'll tell you the next tome that I leave."
Neji looked at her for a long moment. Then his face relaxed a little. "Very well. Let's go back home then."
Hinata gave a nod and turned back to Naruto. "I'm sorry if anything I said bothered you." She told him quietly. "I-I'll understand if you don't answer me." Neji was giving Naruto a look that made him want to punch him. "A-and I h-hope that you really think about it." She gave a quick bow and walked away leaving a confused Neji and a lost-for-words Naruto.
Neji left and ran after Hinata and Naruto just sat there.
His thoughts disorganized and swimming around his head. He didn't know what to say think or do. He felt numb and extremely confused. He remembered his ramen and turned back to it. Even the savory noodles couldn't help him.
Why was he feeling this way? None of it made sense.
Naruto was so wrapped up in his thoughts he failed to notice Teuchi standing in front of him.
"So…" Teuchi started. Naruto looked up, a bit confused on who was talking to him. "Hinata-chan was here for sometime before you showed up."
"Really?" Naruto asked finding his voice again. He hoped he sounded more normal than how he felt.
Teuchi nodded. "Yup. About half an hour." He turned to a pot with some noodles and broth in it and Naruto looked back at his ramen. "She kept asking questions about you."
Naruto looked up a bit shocked. "Like what?" he inquired.
Teuchi shrugged. "Nothing much, really. Like how often you came here, what you ate, what you don't like to eat. Nothing much."
There clearly wasn't anything else left to say. Naruto finished his ramen in silence, paid, and then left.
After that incident, Naruto went home and stayed there for the rest of the day. He couldn't understand what was going on in his head. Everything seemed on a different scale.
As he was about to drift of into a confused sleep, a knock on the door made him get up. He opened the door to see TenTen and Ino standing there.
"I told you he was going to be here." TenTen said with a tired sigh.
"Be quite. You thought he was going to be at the training grounds." Ino said rolling her eyes.
TenTen shook her head and then smiled at Naruto. "We're calling a meeting about the teams for tomorrow. We were sent to find you and this is the last place we thought of looking," she explained.
Naruto gave a nod. "Okay, let's go." He locked up his apartment and jumped off with the two to find the others.
The others had been waiting for them in a small clearing in the forest. Everyone gave a nod of greeting when they came.
"Alright, let's fix this so we can get home." Kiba grunted. He wasn't in a good mood clearly.
Neji nodded. "Very well." He pulled out ten blades of grass that were in his fist. Holding them so that only half of them stood up and the bottom halves were hidden. "There are five different colors on the bottom of the blades. So we'll be separated into teams of two."
Everyone nodded at this.
"Okay then, I'll go first." Kiba said pulling out a blade. The bottom was colored blue.
Everyone picked out a blade and each was paired with someone, if they liked the person or not.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." Kiba mumbled giving a sideways glance at Ino. Akamaru gave a bark out of laughter.
"It's not that bad." Shino commented standing next to Naruto.
"Well at least you're paired with someone you can work well with." TenTen said.
"Hey, we can work out something." Choji said snacking on some chips.
"Sorry, Choji." Shikamaru said. "Looks like you'll be working with a more quiet partner."
"I am not that loud!" Lee exclaimed. "I simply express myself more than you."
Shikamaru gave a sigh and muttered something along the lines of "How troublesome…"
"Lee. Please do you're best not to drive Shikamaru crazy." Neji said.
Sakura gave a sigh. "Well, at least this is done. What about times?" she asked her partner.
Neji shrugged. "What do you all think?" he asked the others.
"Naruto and I will take an evening shift." Shino said speaking first, without consulting Naruto.
"We've agreed for an after lunch shift." Shikamaru said after a moment.
"Then we'll take the morning." Kiba said before Ino could protest.
"I guess you guys can help out Hinata before lunch," Neji said to TenTen and Choji. "And Sakura and I will have her after Shikamaru and Lee. The shifts will be one hour each, starting around nine-thirty with a break for lunch."
Everyone nodded.
"Alright then. Let's go home." Kiba said, with a conformation bark from Akamaru.
"Very, well. Tomorrow then." Neji said dismissing everyone.
Naruto turned to Shino. "Why'd you do that?!"
Shino lifted an eye brow from behind his glasses. "Do what?" he asked.
"Just pick our time without asking me?" Naruto demanded.
Shino stared at him for a moment before answering. "Because evening is the best time that bugs comes out. Hinata will enjoy that." He paused, then asked, "Why? Did you want a different time?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, it's just that you should have asked me before doing something like that."
Shino didn't move.
"Or at least give me a warning." Naruto added weakly.
Shino gave a nod and walked away leaving Naruto alone in the clearing.
Naruto left and went home after a few minutes. He showered and changed off. He placed on his sleeping cap and got into his bed trying to sort out what had happened today.
So first was Hinata remembering the gentle fist style. Then there was the fact that she was looking for him. Okay, that didn't make much sense at first, but then when she said that she had liked him, that's when he got confused.
Hinata liked him? Naruto. The goof-ball. The guy that no one really liked… at all. Well, until Iruka-sensei and the others came.
Somehow that didn't add up in his head. Hinata liked him.
What did he think of that? He didn't even know. How was he supposed to react to that? It wasn't any kind of joke, because she had this serious face on. And Hinata wasn't the kind of person to lie. Memory or not.
And the stuttering? She was fine until she told him that she liked him. Was he the reason why she stuttered? Then that wasn't fair, he didn't even know why she said that to him and now she starts to stutters. But was it because she liked him, or was it because of his reaction?
Naruto didn't remember a time when something like this happened before her memory was gone. He would have remembered something like this.
But it still didn't make any sense to him.
He wrestled with his thoughts for a few more minutes before going into a restless sleep.
The next morning, Naruto woke up and felt different. It was like he was in a dream world, but still in reality.
He forced himself to get up and walk to the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror staring at himself for what felt like hours. Finally breaking out of the hypnotic gaze, he leaned over the sink and slashed some icy clod water on his face.
Now he was awake.
He stood up with a jolt and looked back at the mirror. He could see a blond boy with his hair wet and sticking to his forehead staring back at him.
Why was he so tired today?
Naruto finished up in the bathroom and changed off. He decided to go to Ichiraku for breakfast today.
He locked up his house and headed off for the shop.
As he entered the shop, his mouth dropped open when he laid eyes on the figure that was already sitting in one of the chairs.
Who is it? Only I know for now. Thank you once again for all of the reviews and I hope you all can enjoy this.
See you next month, if not, in a few weeks.
