Some guest reviews:
Darktaco - as always thank you for reviewing! This is the chapter that made me want to write this whole thing. I love the "I don't know why I feel jealous but I am" trope. So I hope everyone enjoys the start to my favorite tag for this fic "Naruto is like WTF is pining…am I pining?"
Hina-bae - All your reviews made my day, seriously I woke up to twenty emails and I was shocked and super happy. I'm so glad you're enjoying reading this fic as much as I enjoy writing it. Thank you!
"So you're telling me that out of all the girls here, that you've known since you were twelve you've never fucked any of them?" Kankuro asks Kiba. They were leaning against the pool table. The Sand shinobi was watching Sakura, Ino, and Tenten play darts.
"Well she's in love with a dead guy, she's dating, maybe not dating no one knows, Sasuke, and don't tell her but Ino kinda scares me." Kiba motions to the blond.
"What's her deal?" Kankuro asks, draining his beer and nodding his head toward Hinata. They had moved to a table a few away from where she sat chatting with Shino.
"What do you mean?" Kiba asks
"You're her teammate, right? She single?"
"Technically," Kiba smirks, looking across the bar, watching Hinata's eyes flicker ever so often to the loud blond. Naruto and Lee were across the bar, arms outstretched, seeing who could balance a full pint of beer on their open palm the longest. "I guess you could say she's single."
"Complicated, I like it." Kankuro chuckles "But seriously, she's fucking hot."
"Who's fucking hot?" Ino and Sakura say almost in unison.
Smirking, Kiba turns to the girls "Kankuro's eyeing Hinata."
"Go talk to her, she's super nice." Sakura all but pushes him from his chair. "Plus I want to sit down."
"You know she's not going to give him the time of day, well at least not in the way he wants." Kiba stands, "I need another drink if I'm going to watch this."
"Get us two!" Ino yells after him. "What are you scheming over there forehead?"
"I know for a fact that Naruto thinks Kankuro is 'creepy' because of the puppets and he's been making eyes at Hinata when he thinks no one's looking but hasn't talked to her all night." Ino makes a low noise in acknowledgment. "I don't know about you Ino, but I'm getting real tired of watching those two dance around each other."
"What I'm hearing is that, if you can't have romance you're going to force it on others." Ino scoots her stool, making room for the one Kiba begins to pull over.
"I'm not forcing anything, Ino-pig. They love each other and it isn't my fault Naruto is too stupid to figure it out. You've heard her recently she's getting fed up with him. So maybe a little nudge in the form of someone else flirting with her will help them both."
"Whatever you say Sakura." Kiba drinks while Ino nods in agreement.
"You two are idiots. Naruto is so stuck in his head that she's his friend that they're just 'really good friends' maybe seeing someone else be interested in her will flip whatever needs to be flipped in that stupid head of his."
The three watch Kankuro from their seats, walking over and leaning against Hinata's table. They talk for a few minutes, Hinata laughing at whatever he has to say. From where they sat it looked as if their conversation was going well; he had even bought her another drink.
Sakura watched Naruto, his hand almost wavering when Hinata giggled and touched Kankuro's arm. They watched him reach out and tuck a piece of loose hair behind Hinata's ear. The sound of breaking glass cut through the noisy bar. Everyone stopped and turned looking for the source of the noise. Sakura met Naruto's eyes through the crowd. Lee's beer was still balanced on his palm while Naruto's lay broken on the ground.
"Sorry bout that!" Naruto shouts to the bartender "Must of slipped, I'll clean it up."
"Told ya so," Sakura says in a singsong voice, smiling as Naruto drags another stool to their table.
"Losing that chakra control." Ino teases him
"I got distracted." Naruto states, voice tight as the bartender places another drink in front of him. Speaking softly, thanking Naruto for cleaning his mess.
"What's Temari doing bringing her weird puppet brother here for?" He questions, glaring at the back of Kankuro's head.
"I was talking to him earlier. He isn't that bad." Kiba chimes in.
"Yeah whatever, Sakura you ready to go?"
"You two are still coming back to my place right?" Ino had invited their group, minus the delegates from other villages they were entertaining back to her apartment whenever they decided to leave the bar.
"Yeah, let's round up the others." Naruto stands, walking over to Shikamaru and Choji who were talking to the delegates from the Hidden Cloud.
The six Leaf shinobi made their way through the bar, confirming different meetings and leaving times, before following Ino out.
"What's he doing coming with?" Naruto asks in a whisper as Temari and Kankuro follow.
"You know Temari stays with Shikamaru when she's in the village and he's her brother. You're just drunk so you're in a mood." Sakura questions.
"I'm not drunk. I just don't want to be around the fucking creep."
"Yeah whatever you say Naruto. Why don't you go walk by Hinata and calm yourself down." Sakura pokes him, hard, in the chest causing him to stumble.
"Oi, Ino!" Choji's voice sounds before Sakura can reply. "What food do you have at your place?"
"Nothing Choji, I need to shop, swing by yours then come over. I'll leave the door unlocked." Ino waves her teammate off. "Where's Tenten?"
"Hidden Mist," Sakura replies, noting their group dwindling in size. Shikamaru walked with Temari, Naruto walking behind them, hands shoved deep in his pockets, Kiba silently at his side while Hinata and Kankuro brought up the rear. Continuing their conversation from the bar that seemed to be about chakra control.
"I'm going to head home." Shikamaru states, stopping in front of the road leading to the Nara quarters."You staying?" He asks, turning to Temari.
"We both should go, Gaara wants us home tomorrow." She looks back at her brother, disappointment crossing his face.
"Yeah sure." He turns to Hinata. "We'll be back in a few months, see you then?"
"Oh, um, yes. Probably." Hinata stumbles over her words, eyes flicking from the ground to Kankuro, over his shoulder before landing on Naruto. His arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face.
The remaining four continue their short walk through the village, Ino stopping to unlock the door on the side of the flower shop, and climbing the stairs to her small apartment.
"So what was that all about?" Naruto asks, turning to Hinata as they take off their shoes.
"Kankuro uses very spe-cific chakra control when opera-ting his puppets and he knew I pri-primarly using chakra when figh-fightint."
"You're either drunk or your stutter back." Naruto teases, falling to the side as he tries to slide off his second sandal.
"Oh like you're one to talk." Hinata nudges his shoulder.
"You concentrate real hard to make that sentence there, Hinata?" He asks, steadying himself and taking a step towards her.
"So," Naruto looks down at her, "you gonna see him when he comes back?"
"I m-mean, I don't know, maybe. Why would it matter?"
Naruto closes the gap between them, coming almost chest to chest. His hand came up to cup her cheek. "It just would, okay."
The rest of the room falls away from Hinata. Her brain buzzed with alcohol and the lie she had told her father about it just being the girls going out. That they were just doing their village duty and taking the delegates to dinner then she would be staying at Ino's because they had an early breakfast meeting before a mission the next day. In reality, her mission wasn't scheduled to leave till mid-afternoon. Those two things paired with the crisp scent she had learned to associate with Naruto made her train of thought come to a complete halt.
"How bout I get you another drink."
"Bathroom." The word comes out of her mouth in almost a mumble. She pushes past him and down the narrow hall to the small bathroom tucked away in the back of the apartment.
"Hinata?" Sakura's knock almost follows the sound of the door latching.
"Come in." Her soft voice sounds from the other side. Sakura slowly opens the door, Ino in tow, to find Hinata sitting on the sink, staring down at her feet.
"What's wrong?"
"I ju-just. I just, he was so close. So damn close. I can't do this. I can't be dru-drunk around him."
"Here." Ino hands her a glass of water, and wordlessly Hinata takes it downing the contents. "Take this too." She hands her a day-old croissant.
"Thanks."
"Ssssooooo?" Sakura raises an eyebrow, watching Hinata refill her glass at the sink behind her.
"My brain said to kiss him so I ran away." Heat flares at Hinata's cheeks. Sakura looks at the door, swearing she heard footsteps walking down the hall.
Sakura groans, rubbing her brow as she shakes her head back and forth. "The next time your brain tells you to do that. For the love of the Gods Hinata listen to it."
"What so he can think I'm crazier?" She looks at Ino for support.
"Nah, I'm agreeing with forehead on this one"
"He dropped that beer when Kankuro touched you, he asked to leave when he saw you laughing at whatever he was saying to you. He moped the whole way here until Temari made Kankuro go home early."
"I just want him to kiss me. I know that sounds cliche but." Hinata trails off, a dreamy look covering her face.
"Oooohhh" Ino coos, "Hinata thinks about kissing Naruto."
Hinata's hands fly to her face, covering her red cheeks "Stooooop. I want him to want it too. And I know you say he does but I need him to show it."
"Hinata." Sakura sighs. "He treats you differently" Her words were cut off by the slamming of Ino's apartment door.
Out in the kitchen, Kiba was rummaging through Ino's refrigerator, she truly had nothing in there save a few bottles of wine. He settled for the least pink looking one, taking it in hand and turning towards Naruto. Expecting to find him either standing on the other side of the kitchen island or sitting in a chair. Instead, he was walking back down the hall, his expression split between anger and sadness.
"I'm going home. Tell them night." Naruto pulls on the shoes he struggled to take off. Shutting the door a little harder than necessary behind him.
"What was that?" Hinata questions, a third glass of water in her hand. Standing and walking back out to find only Kiba in the kitchen.
"Naruto left."
"Where'd that idiot go?" Sakura steals the bottle from his hand, taking a long drink.
"He came back down from the hallway, looked pissed, and just left."
"Oh." Hinata's face falls. "Do you think he?" She trails off looking at Sakura and Ino.
"Probably."
"Well fuck." She calmly sets her glass down, takes the bottle, setting it on the coffee table before laying on the floor next to it.
"Anyone going to fill me in or should I be worried that she's now downing wine on the floor?" Kiba asks.
"She drunk panicked and almost kissed Naruto and I'm betting the idiot heard her say that but she didn't say a name so I'm guessing he thought she meant Kankuro so now he's off to deal with his not feelings."
"I'll deal with his not feelings," Hinata grumbles from the floor.
Down the road, Naruto shoved his body into his apartment door a little harder than needed. The old door creaked at the abuse.
Fuck him. Can't mind his own business and mess with girls in his own village. Hinata's too good for him anyway. He thinks, falling into bed fully clothed.