When she'd awoken that morning her mood immediately dampened as she realized that her dreams had been nothing more than figments of her imagination; her subconscious desperately clinging to happier, more peaceful times.

The one thing that evened out her mood was the fact that she was lying, wrapped in Naruto's blanket, still comfy in his warm bed. As she shifted slightly, still in her post-sleep haze, not quite awake yet, something caught her eye.

Sitting on the floor by the door was a piece of paper. Getting out of bed she tip-toed over to pick up the paper, taking note of her dry, folded clothes on the floor beneath it.

Hinata,

I'm going out for the day. I dried your clothes, I hope you don't mind! You can help yourself to anything in the kitchen if you want! I'll see you later! Hopefully!

-Naruto

His handwriting was small and messy, but legible nonetheless. Holding the note in her hands she couldn't fight the smile that soon took over her face. It was little things like this that reminded her why she loved him.

She left his apartment soon after waking, of course not before she made his bed, folded the clothes he'd lent her, and left a small note of her own written directly beneath the one that he'd left for her.

Naruto,

Thank you so much for giving me a place to sleep last night. I'm grateful and I certainly owe you one. Perhaps one of these days I can treat you to lunch in order to properly thank you. I hope to see you later.

Hinata

She'd been hesitant when it came to adding that last part in there, but she knew that she had to take Ino's and Sakura's advice that they'd given her a couple weeks before about being more assertive.

"You can't be too aggressive though," Ino had told her. "Since he apparently likes the whole 'shy, cute, sweet girl' thing that you got going on here."

"But you have to make sure to take matters into your hands," Sakura added, "Naruto's dense so he'll never be able to decipher subtle hints or anything like that. You'll just have to take the initiative with things at first and hopefully he'll start picking up on things."

Of course that conversation hadn't exactly been much of an actual conversation. Since Hinata was still a bit embarrassed at the topic of the potential a relationship between her and Naruto had, she'd mostly just sat and listened to the bits of advice that the two girls gave her.

So perhaps inviting him to lunch was just the type of start she needed in order to kick-start this 'relationship' of theirs. Hinata of course was still hesitant about everything, her insecurities still plaguing her like always, but Sakura had been the one to dissipate most of her fears.

"He held your hand and thanked you in front of thousands of people," Sakura had told her a few days after everyone had returned to Konoha, "Knowing Naruto as well as I do, you mean a lot to him, Hinata. So don't be afraid to be with him."

Although she tried hard not to let the thought freak her out, she did still find herself anxious at the possibility that her and Naruto truly could become a real couple.

Sighing and trying not to stress herself out about it too much, Hinata ended up spending the day in town keeping herself occupied.

A good majority of her afternoon was actually spent in the hospital helping out. Since the end of the war a few weeks prior, the hospital had been at capacity. There were even large tents set up behind the hospital on the grounds in order to accommodate the insane amount of patients; most of which were veterans of the war.

Those who hadn't lost their lives usually ended up losing something. For some it was a limb or an eye, for others it was their friends, their family, some ninja even lost spouses in the war. One thing they all had in common was their loss of their innocence. For Hinata and for her teammates and comrades, they'd understood that all too well.

So for most of the day she helped out around the hospital, taking orders from whoever was in charge in each different section; mainly Sakura gave her different duties to attend to. Taking vitals from those who were due to be discharged within the week. Helping speed along the healing process of those with more serious wounds and lacerations. She even spent some time in the intensive care ward, changing IVs and redressing wounds.

The amount of shinobi that were still in intensive care put her in a melancholy mood. The war may have been over, but its after-effects were still everywhere.

After spending a good chunk of her day helping out, she soon wandered back into town. Luckily she was able to track Tenten down in order to speak with her; Hinata knew that if anyone would understand what she was feeling right now, Tenten might. She also felt the overwhelming urge to tell someone what was wrong. Keeping something this serious to herself was starting to take its toll on her psyche.

They'd just placed their orders at a small restaurant in the center of town when she abruptly approached the topic.

"They don't want to give Neji a proper burial."

At the sound of her deceased friend's name, Tenten's head shot up to make eye contact. "What?"

"I…" Hinata swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat, urging herself to remain composed, "I was talking to my father about holding a ceremony for him. Usually big ceremonies are only held for main family members, but I think that's ridiculous," she mumbled, her voice quieting down. "For the branch family usually it's very, very small, only the immediate family attends, and there's hardly even a ceremony."

"Is that what they're planning on doing?" Tenten asked, a frown etched deep into her features. Hinata could clearly see the heavy bags under her eyes. She hadn't remembered them looking so purple the last time she'd seen her…

Hinata nodded, "So far that's the plan. But I… I just can't sit by and let that happen." Suddenly she felt herself get so worked up she almost couldn't stop it when she hiccupped, her eyes watering with unshed tears.

"Hey," reaching out across the small table, Tenten took Hinata's hands within her own, squeezing them tightly. "It's alright. I agree with you. It's ridiculous that even after all of this, the Hyuuga are still as cold and detached as ever."

Hinata could sense the burning anger in her friend's voice; she couldn't bring herself to come to the defense of her clan. There were too many changes that needed to take place within her clan in order for her to be more prideful of her family. She was almost ashamed of her clan. Hinata had figured that with Hiashi's change in heart, he'd be able to change the elders, even if only slightly.

"I just don't know what to do. Father is just so insistent that there's nothing that can be done, but there must be something! If he can't get through to the council I don't know what else there is to do."

"Maybe try talking to them yourself?" Tenten offered as she sipped her water. "Sure, you may not have any position of authority in your clan yet, but they might listen to you."

Hinata shrugged, "I don't know. I doubt it since they've never exactly liked me."

"That was when you were younger though. Look at you now." Tenten smiled at her, "You've grown into one of the strongest kunoichi I know; I don't know many people who've worked harder than you to get where they are now." She stopped and thought for a moment, "Well, besides Lee. But Lee's a bit of a freak when it comes to the over-achieving, hardworking category anyways." Both girls allowed themselves to laugh a little at that. "I'm serious. It would be almost impossible for them not to acknowledge you now." A sly grin fell upon her face, "I mean, even Naruto—in front of everyone even—acknowledged how he was able to do everything he did because of you."

Hinata's face immediately turned red, "He was definitely giving me a little too much credit with that though."

"Don't be so modest," Tenten smiled warmly, "How are the two of you? Things going well?"

"I mean… well, we're not technically together or anything. I just… I guess we're good?" Trying hard not to mumble she worked hard to overcome her embarrassment over the topic. The amount of people who had asked her about Naruto in the past couple of weeks was shocking to her. Sometimes she got butterflies in her stomach when she realized that Naruto could very well be getting questions about her own wellbeing, too.

"Not together yet, you mean. When's the last time you saw him?"

She could feel her cheeks reddening, "Um, last night."

Tenten stared at her blankly before leaning forward in her chair. "Oh, my god. Don't tell me you two…"

As Hinata realized what she was insinuating she felt her stomach do flips. "Oh no! No that's not it—I mean, there's nothing like that going on!" Shaking her head she placed her head in her hands momentarily while Tenten laughed at her reply. Looking up she met her friend's eyes again. "I mean, I stayed there last night, but nothing happened! I just, I needed somewhere to go after I had the fight with my father."

"Relax girl," Tenten smiled at her, tapping Hinata's leg lightly with her foot, "I'm just messing with you." She laughed again suddenly, thinking intently to herself. "Neji would've scolded me for that one."

Hinata couldn't help but laugh along with her. "Yeah, he would've."

It felt nice to laugh like this. For a moment Hinata closed her eyes and she could almost imagine Neji there with them, glaring at the two and shaking his head in disapproval at their antics. She then pictured him smirking slightly.

God, she missed him.

"If you need a place to stay tonight, I've got a spare bedroom," Tenten offered genuinely. "I know things are probably really tense at home, so you can stay as long as you need to."

Accepting the offer with a deep sigh and a grateful smile, Hinata reminded herself that there were people out there mourning just as much as she was. As she sat and enjoyed a meal with her friend in the back of her mind she hoped that this feeling—this sad, empty grieving—wouldn't last forever.

She didn't think she'd be able to handle it if it did.