A/N: Hinata is hard to write but I like where her character development is heading. I just have to be patient. Feedback is welcome.
Sunset
Hinata was not a fool. More than anyone she understood that unrequited love was no fun. And while it bolstered her during the war, she was now beginning to see it as a hindrance.
The war was over but there was more work to be done. Alliances forged in the fires of conflict needed maintenance and care. Hinata found her place in diplomacy; her noble ancestry and war experience proving to be an advantage the Hokage couldn't pass up.
And it took up all of her time! She didn't see her friends as often and she felt guilty for the neglect Hanabi and Neji were most likely feeling. If there was a relationship that was not suffering under her new demands, it was with her father. How often did she go to him for advice, to proofread her treatises and offer criticism? Her father was brilliant and she found herself enjoying their intellectual sparring sessions; surprising considering their rocky start.
But her new responsibilities left little room for childhood loves and as a diplomat, her task is to nurture promising, fruitful relationships and let go of the ones that are not. So it was inevitable that she would began to face the harsh reality that there were relationships in her personal life she prioritized more than a one-sided infatuation.
She will always love Naruto, she thinks as she outlines her thoughts for another treatise. It is an admission that leaves her resigned and humbled, like one finally acknowledging an addiction after being in denial for a long time.
And she will, of course, continue to watch over him though it will be purely for diplomatic purposes. After all, his name has come up numerous times in meetings, given he is one of two Kyuubi left. The first and only time she blushed at the mention of his name, she managed to blame it eloquently on the heat of the day so that no one knew better.
Some habits are slow to break.
~ TBC ~