Kiba shook his head as he stared down at his teammate, Hinata. She was out cold, but unlike every other shinobi in the world she hadn't been knocked out or collapsed from exhaust. No, she had fainted because Naruto and his big mouth. Next to Kiba stood Shino, his other teammate, from what Kiba could see of his face, he decided that he was thinking the same thing as him.
"Do you think Naruto will ever figure it out?" Kiba asked as he waited for Hinata to join the rest of her team in the land of the living.
"She's liked him since our days at the academy; I doubt she'll tell him now." Shino said.
Kiba just nodded absently, neither one paying attention to the person walking by who had heard everything.
XxX
It was about an hour after noon, usually the time Ino and Sakura met with Tsunade for medical training. Today, however, was different. Since Tsunade was the Hokage she couldn't always be there to teach her two students, so instead she would leave them things to research or herbs to gather. Today both of her students were in the back hills of the Village gather various herbs for medicines they would need.
Ino was the first to break the silence. "You'll never guess what I heard today." She said, sliding a glance in Sakura's direction.
Gossip, the only thing they knew of that could pass time fast enough when collecting herbs.
"Oh?" Sakura asked, trying not to sound too interested. She was fifteen now and she shouldn't be so easily tempted, but she was also very bored.
"I heard that Hinata likes Naruto." She said slyly. A good romance would keep them talking for hours.
Sakura whipped her head around to look at Ino, trying to decide if she made it up. "Who'd you hear that from?" she asked, Ino's sources were not always dependable.
Ino knew she had her now. "I heard Shino and Kiba talking about it today, from what they said she's had a crush on him for a long time."
Sakura turned back to the bushes before her. She wasn't sure how she felt about Hinata liking Naruto. She had come to count on the crazy blonde's infatuation with her, it kept her sane. "Do you think he knows?"
Ino let out a loud laugh. "Oh please, Naruto is absolutely clueless. Unless she grows a back bone there's no way they would ever get together."
Sakura had to chuckle at that. "Yeah I guess you're right."
XxX
Shikamaru lay on his back, beside his best friend doing his favorite thing, watching the clouds go by. They were peaceful and he wished that he could drift across the world with them lazily.
"So, Ino told me something weird today." Choji said between mouthfuls of chips.
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, knowing Ino it was probably unfounded gossip. "What's that?" he asked, not really wanting to know.
"She said that Hinata is in love with Naruto." Choji said, taking another bite of his chips.
Well that was interesting.
"Do you think it's true?" Choji asked.
Shikamaru was silent for a minute while he thought back to all the interactions he had seen between the two. "Yeah, I'd say so. But I don't think Naruto is smart enough to see it."
"Man, that guy's got it all." Choji said.
"What do you mean by that?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well think about it, he just got back from a three year training trip with Master Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. Right now he's working on improving one of the Fourth's own jutsu's and he has Hinata after him and she's really pretty too."
Shikamaru supposed he had a point there but dismissed it. To him nothing could compare to floating with the clouds, and if Choji came along then that was even better.
XxX
The time between lunch and dinner found Tenten and Neji training with each other in one of the many training fields all over the Village. Tenten had rigged countless traps all over the wooded area to help Neji perfect his family techniques. In total it had taken Neji only thirty minutes to disable all traps and not even break a sweat. Currently the duo were sitting in the shade of a tree resting before heading into town to have dinner with Guy and Lee, the other half of their team.
"Neji, how close are you and Hinata?" Tenten asked after a moment of silence.
Neji took a gulp of water before he answered. "Closer than we used to be, why?"
"Do you think she has a crush on Naruto?" She asked, sliding him a glance.
For a moment she wasn't sure if he would answer. "Yes." He said.
"I don't suppose you'd want to help me set them up on a date?" She said hopefully, knowing that he would probably say no.
"Why would I want to do that?" His line lips had turned to disgust at the very idea of playing matchmaker.
"Because it would make them both happy?" She said hopefully.
"Naruto's happy enough as it is."
Tenten frowned. "What about Hinata?" surely he had grown a soft spot for her.
"Her safety is my concern, her love life is not." He said with finality.
Tenten rolled her eyes; it was always black or white with him.
XxX
It seemed a rarity that jonin ninja could find time to sit and talk to their friends without being on a mission. Today happened to be a lucky day as Kakashi, Yamato, Guy, Asuma and Kurenai were all in between missions. Now ninja talked about a great many things, from politics to new fashion styles. Today they talked about their teams.
"Kakashi! Kurenai!" Guy said in a loud voice that filled the whole room. "I've heard we have a couple of love birds on our hands!"
Kurenai spit out her tea and slide a discreet glance to Asuma, Kakashi had absolutely no reaction. "What are you talking about Guy?" Asuma asked with a single raised eyebrow, in the mood to indulge the over-the-top jonin.
"According to Tenten, it's been seen and heard that Hinata is in love with Naruto." Guy said as he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Of course she does." Kakashi said simply. "She has been for awhile now."
"But of course Naruto has no clue."Asuma chipped in.
"Poor Hinata is too timid to tell him." Kurenai said as she took another sip of tea.
"Then I say it's time to take matters into our own hands!" Guy declared.
By now every jonin and chunin in the room was listening, all voicing their opinions on the matter to those closest to them.
"Leave it alone, Guy." Kakashi said. "They're just kids."
"Hinata would be mortified; she can't even get near Naruto without turning into a mess." Kurenai said, not liking where Guy was going.
"How can you all sit there and not be moved by their young love!" Guy cried dramatically.
"Like Kakashi said," Yamato said. "Their only kids."
Guy looked like someone had insulted him and all he stood for. "If you won't do it then I will." He said before running away, singing out of tune love songs.
"You know, we really should keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't go too over board." Kakashi said as he watched Guy run of into the sunset at three in the afternoon.
XxX
Like wild fire, the news of Guy's plan had spread though the ninja ranks. Everyone in the Hokage tower had been given a couple of hours off and even the ANBU had turned out. According to Guy the date was to take place at a local BBQ restaurant that had plenty of windows and had been suspiciously booked out to curios ninja. Jiraiya had brought his personal set of binoculars for the occasion and his handy dandy note pad, it was all strictly research.
Hinata was the first to show up as she took a seat on the bench by the door to the BBQ place. She shuffled her feet nervously in the dirt street as she waited for everyone else to show up. According to various sources, Guy had recruited Ino and Tenten in his quest for love. Tenten was to Tell Hinata that she and the rest of their friends were all meeting for BBQ, as a welcome back for Naruto. Ino was to tell the same thing to Naruto. The idea was that they would go ahead and get a table and order while they waited for the others and by the end of dinner they would be in love.
The sad truth though was that there were bets going around to what would happen. Nearly everyone was betting that Naruto would screw it up somehow, very few were betting that he would pull through.
Naruto showed up about five minutes later, looking confused to the lack of people.
"Hey where is everyone?" He asked looking around.
"I-I-I don't know," Hinata managed to stutter out. "Tenten just told me t-t-that we were all meeting here." She said. Her face slowly growing redder by the second.
Naruto looked around while Hinata took that moment to stand up. When he looked back at her he cocked his head to the side. "Hey, you wanna go get ramen instead?" he asked, causing hidden eyes all over the place to roll.
"U-u-um, what about the others?" She asked nervously as she glanced around.
When she looked back at Naruto he had gotten closer and was smiling at her. "They'll catch up." He said and steadily she began to grow even redder. Many weren't sure how much more of this she could take; surely she would have an aneurism if her head filled with too much blood.
Than Naruto grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction of the ramen stand, this was a fatal mistake. Hinata let out a squeak before she turned six more shades of red and fainted on the spot.
"Aw man, not again!" Naruto cried. He bent down and picked Hinata up bridal style. "That's it I'm taking you to Grandma Tsunade, something's wrong with you."
Tsunade and many others made a mad dash for the Hokage Tower while the rest followed Naruto and Hinata to see if anything happened between now and then.
XxX
Naruto wasn't sure what the hell was going on, all he knew was that everyone in the damn Village was acting funny. And to make it worse, Hinata had fainted again. So he was carrying her to Grandma Tsunade, she would know what was wrong with her for sure. He shook his head as he thought about how every time she had done it before, Kiba and Shino had just said to let her be. Couldn't they see she was sick?
When he finally reached the Hokage Tower, he saw that it was even more full than usual. And was it his imagination or was everyone watching him?
He finally made it to the Hokage's Office and decided he didn't care if she was in a meeting or not, Hinata might be getting worse by the second.
"GRANDMA TSUNADE!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as warning before he kicked the door in.
Inside was of course the Hokage and Shizune, but so was Kakashi-sensei, Captain Yamato, Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-sensei and bushier brow-sensei. Hell even Pervy Sage was there, though he was scribbling like a crazy person in his perverted notebook.
"What is it Naruto?" She asked. He didn't even wonder why she wasn't mad when he had barged into her office.
"Something's wrong with Hinata," he said glancing down at her before putting her limp body down on the Hokage desk. "Fix her."
He then turned around to walk out of the door. "Wait where are you going?" she demanded.
"To get some ramen, I'm starving." And with that said Naruto walked out of the office.
A/N
Just had this idea floating around in my head, hope you enjoyed.