After a while of watching the clouds and dozing off, Haruhi returned home as the sun began to set. She went through the motions of preparing and eating dinner-- alone, as her parents had passed away quite some time ago-- and then went off to bed rather early. Morning came soon enough, though, and Haruhi spent no time laying around.

Unwilling to grant herself even a day's break, she awoke at six like usual and kept to her training schedule, which was significantly longer due to the lack of interruption in the form of school. After almost four hours, the brunette finished up and plopped down at her kitchen table with a glass of water and a heavy sigh. She wiped a few beads of sweat slipping down her forehead and downed the liquid easily. Her eyes moved to the kitchen window and the warm day outside, deciding that it was plenty nice enough for a walk. It was no longer too early to consider visiting Hinata, but there was another place Haruhi wished to be.

"Haruhi!" The greeting came in a loud, brash voice that reminded the girl too much of the idiotic classmate she couldn't stand. Actually, the woman before her had a lot of similarities with Naruto, but was somehow much easier to stand.

She grinned and waved a hand, entering the house. "Anko-san," she acknowledged. "How are you?"

The sandy-haired shinobi tilted her head in Haruhi's direction, glancing away from the stove she was working at. "I'm fine. What brings you around here?"

Usually, Haruhi never approached anyone for conversation, but there were a few exceptions. Anko was one of them and perhaps the most important one. Despite her personality traits bringing a hyper blonde to mind, Anko was the one person Haruhi didn't mind talking personally with. Other than Hinata, of course, but that was to be expected. That was, she supposed, what had led her to the woman's doorstep that morning. "Nothing important."

"Is it Naruto-kun again?" When Haruhi didn't say anything more, the young woman smiled and immediately set about preparing a cup of tea while she spoke. "Let me guess, you still don't think he's deserving of Hinata's attention?"

"Of course he isn't!" Haruhi responded, a bit more forcefully than she had intended. Sighing, she settled back into her seat and crossed her arms. "He's an idiot. Hinata's way too nice to be following around a jerk like that."

Anko nodded in agreement, watching the water heat up into a slow boil. "But, if that's what Hinata wants, can you really deter her?"

Haruhi made a disgruntle sound in the back of her throat and shifted awkwardly. "No," she finally muttered, obviously not pleased with the logic.

The older female smiled and placed the steaming liquid in front of the brunette. "Hinata is a sweet girl and I understand that you're protective of her, but you'll have to let her go some day. Don't become too overbearing."

"Some people need protecting from," Haruhi said, frowning. "Besides, Hinata and I will always be best friends, so who says I have to let her go?" And, really, what did Anko even mean by that? It's not like Haruhi had the Hyuuga girl captured like an animal, or something.

"Why do you want to protect her so much?"

Haruhi hesitated, gray eyes flickering from the cup of tea to the woman at her side and back again. "What kind of question is that?" A light blush stained her cheeks as she scoffed. "Hinata is the best person I've ever met and she's my best friend. Isn't that reason enough?"

"Of course it is," Anko agreed, "but are you sure that's the only reason?"

"Eh?" The messy-haired girl snapped her head upward to lock eyes with the older one. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing," the wiser one teased. "I only meant that perhaps you have other motives than just friendship for keeping Hinata away from Naruto."

"Other motives?" Haruhi repeated, a bit suspicious. Did Anko know something she didn't? "Like what?"

Children were so naive and Anko personally found it as endearing as she found it amusing. "Are you sure you aren't jealous of Naruto, always having Hinata's attention and thoughts on him?"

"That's...that's absurd."

"Is it?"

"Of course! You're talking like you think I like Hinata or something."

"Don't you?"

"Only as a friend!"

"Are you sure?"

"..." Haruhi didn't respond immediately, her own self-doubt creeping up her spine. Her hands had moved to firmly wrap around the tea cup, but she continued to only stare into the reflective liquid, her own, uncertain eyes staring back at her. Was Anko serious? Was she really implying that Haruhi was in love with Hinata? That was ridiculous! It was...it was...Haruhi didn't have the words. "Of course I'm sure." Though, the plain disbelief in her own tone made her cringe.

"Why are you so stubbornly against admitting it?" Anko wondered. "It's obvious, isn't it?"

"I...I have to go," Haruhi said quickly, pushing her chair away from the table and quickly running out the door.

How could she have fallen so hard without noticing it? What was wrong with her? This was complicated by so many things and even more so since she doubted Hinata felt any trace of similar feelings. She was completely absorbed by Naruto and, when it came to love, saw nothing else but him. What was Haruhi supposed to do, change that? Yeah, right. She couldn't even begin to list the number of ways this was wrong. How the hell did this happen?

She didn't know what else to do, so she ran. She ran fast and hard and ignored everyone giving her odd or concerned looks. They didn't know, they couldn't know. They would judge her and ridicule her and make her life hell. It wasn't acceptable and it would ruin her friendship with Hinata if it ever got out. Stupid. Stupidstupidstupid!

Haruhi was so focused in on herself that she didn't see the boy walking idly from the ramen shop in front of her. Though, how anyone could miss Naruto's offensively-bright appearance was beyond comprehension. Regardless, she slammed straight into the boy and toppled to the ground on top of him.
"Ow...damn! Watch where you're going!" Haruhi's eyes narrowed only further when she saw who had gotten in her way.

"Me?!" Naruto demanded, sitting up and pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "You ran right into me!" He paused once he fully got a good look at the girl and lowered his hand. She was nearly trembling and her eyes were unlike themselves-- she looked like she was about to cry. "Hey, are you alright? Haruhi-chan?"

"Shut up!" the female snapped, quickly pushing herself to her feet. Without another word, she darted off once again, anger now mixing with her confusion and frustration.

"Hey...wait up!" Naruto called, standing as well and chasing after her. Whatever was wrong with her, it seemed serious because Haruhi typically didn't cry at all. Having only Hinata as a close friend, that he knew of, he immediately assumed that the Hyuuga girl was somehow involved.

He chased the girl for a good while until she finally ducked into the forest and, moments later, collapsed on the ground. Her entire disposition spoke of tension and grief and Naruto approached her slowly. For once, showing some consideration and observation.

The rustle of grass caught Haruhi's attention and she glanced over her shoulder to see that Naruto had followed her all this way. What was his problem? Idiot. "Go away," she muttered, unable to hold back all of the emotions she was feeling. "I said go away!"

"No way," the blonde replied, stubborn blue eyes meeting conflicted gray ones. "What's wrong with you? Does it have to do something with Hinata?"

Upon hearing the name, especially spoken by the person it was, Haruhi snapped. She stood once again and turned to face Naruto. "What's it to you? Hinata doesn't deserve you, so why don't you just leave her alone and stop playing with her?!" Of course, logically Haruhi knew that Naruto was doing no such thing. He was too simple and ignorant to mess with someone like that.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked a few times before pointing to himself, as if silently asking if she were really addressing him.

"Yes, you!" she shouted, unrestrained. "Who do you think you are, anyway? And how can you be so dense? Don't you realize that-!" Even through her rage, Haruhi stopped herself from going further. Hinata's life didn't deserve to be complicated by Naruto finding out that she had feelings for him.

"Realize what?" Completely lost, Naruto could only hope to listen through the shouts and accusations until Haruhi said something that made the slightest bit of sense.

"Just go away," the female muttered, crossing her arms and pointedly looking in the opposite direction.

"Are you sure Hinata's alright?" He really did not know when to quit.

Frustrated, Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "Stop concerning yourself with her!"

"Jeez, calm down." Naruto raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "You're acting really possessive. Like she's your girlfriend or something!"

"Wh-what?!" A blush immediate crossed Haruhi's face. "Shut up, Naruto!"

The blue-eyed boy blinked a couple times. "She's not, is she?" Not that he really cared, even if it was a little weird for two girls to like each other.

"Of course not." But her tone was such that even more suspicions were raised. "Don't be ridiculous, Naruto."

"Ohhhh, I get it." The blonde squinted for a moment before nodding. "You like Hinata-chan."

That same blush returned full force and Haruhi hesitated to answer. Well, he wasn't wrong... but that didn't mean everyone needed to know. "Naruto..."

Instead of picking up on the warning tone in the brunette's voice, Naruto just laughed it off. "Keep at it, Haruhi, I'm sure you'll get 'er!"

Blinking at the short pat she received to her back, bewildered gray eyes watched as the orange-clad ninja-to-be strolled off, the air still tinged with his laugh (and what an annoying laugh it was). Sighing heavily, Haruhi hung her head. "Impossible," she muttered. She doubted Naruto was insensitive enough to come out and spill her secret, but she also believed he was enough of an idiot to let something like that slip. No amount of warning would fix that, and she prayed only that the knowledge left his small mind for good.

"Haruhi-chan!" Even Hinata's shout was as light as a breeze, but Haruhi's ears picked up on it immediately.

Approaching the Hyuuga girl, she offered a smile. "What's up?" Just act casual-- nothing's different. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

The bluenette shook her head and linked her arms behind her back. "Are you coming with us to watch the fireworks?"

"Fireworks?" Haruhi hadn't known there was a festival today-- what in the world were they celebrating now?

"There were fireworks left over from the celebration last weekend." Neji's milky eyes flickered toward Haruhi. "Instead of wasting them, the town is holding a second display."

"Neji." Haruhi's eyes narrowed just the slightest, but she suppressed the urge to outright glare at the older boy. She had never really liked him-- he was too confident for his own good and he seemed to belittle Hinata with his mere presence. Actually, he did so to just about everyone; like he was so much better. Please.

"So?" Hinata's light tones drew Haruhi back to the present, that same, soft smile beaming hopefully up to her friend.

"Eh? Oh, yeah. Sure." Who could resist. Grinning, Haruhi hooked an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders and flicked a glance toward Neji. "Later."

As expected, there was no response. Hinata looked between her friend and relative for a moment before she was tugged away by the former. She turned her sights to Haruhi and tilted her head lightly. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course. What would possibly be wrong?" The grin put in place hardly faltered, but it took much more effort to hold it up. She wasn't fond of lying to Hinata-- in fact, she had never done so that she could recall-- but the truth was something that would probably destroy their friendship. Which was better? Haruhi wasn't sure she was fit to decide.

Unable to find a real answer to the question, Hinata quickly shook her head. There was a certain tension in her friend's embrace, but she couldn't quite place it. Had she done something wrong? Surely Haruhi would have told her if that was the case. Perhaps it was Neji's presence? Her head spun trying to filter through all of the possibilities, and she finally decided that when the time came, Haruhi would come to her.

Two down, two to go. Yet another time skip awaits us next chapter, so read on~