AN/ I've barely proofed this, but it's been so long since I updated that I thought you guys deserve to just have whatever I've written. Sorry about the long delay, it was Ramadan, and Easter holidays which meant fasting while caring for a baby and 3 year old, so I was pretty shot for quite some time. But I've found some time and energy to get this chapter out. Thank you to all my reviewers, shout out to Daisy who I never get to respond to. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 11

It took less than twelve hours for the news that Haruno Sakura had broken off any associations with Uzumaki Naruto for a man she had met while recovering from a near fatal accident. The reports grew from threadbare facts to a hyperbolic sensation of nouns coloured by various kinds of adjectives that only cumulatively increased in their outrage. There was however one running theme; that Haruno Sakura played with the tender innocent hearts of men like pieces on a chess board. Sakura did not come out of any angle favorably.

Hinata paid little energy to the rumor mills grinding away within the cubicles of the open plan office, but she had wondered for quite some time how such an eventuality could have come to existence. The last she had seen Uchiha Sasuke, she was perfectly convinced that he had held some level of interest in herself, perhaps even genuine affection. Hinata's pride certainly wasn't offended to understand that Uchiha-san had taken up those interests elsewhere, her vanity was only slightly prickled, but the overwhelming feeling that ruled was shock, and despite all of her self composure and steadiness of mind, she could not hide in front of Sakura the very great astonishment her confession caused.

During their time at the onsen Hinata could barely recall the two even being in the same room together, let alone conversing with each other, this being due to Saukra's clear designs on Naruto and Sasuke paying his attentions almost equally elsewhere, though certainly with more delicacy. However, once the numbness of shock ebbed from Hinata's analytical faculties, she came to realize that the accident must have altered Sakura almost from the very moment of recovery, and for Sasuke who silently harbored such a large capacity for love, the two beings coming into close contact would have initiated a cascade of events that would inevitably have aligned their tempers to traverse the borders of friendship into the realm of bonded love.

Upon reflection, Hinata was happy for the couple, Sasuke's fondness of literature would help nurture Sakura into a more reflective person, and Sakura would in turn provide him the exuberance and extroversion to balance his more silent and surely attitude. She was of course happy for other, more selfish reasons.

Uzumaki Naruto, was now officially free. Hinata's heart fluttered in her chest at the very thought, causing a pleasant lighter feeling under her throat, as though her love was edging her vocal cords to declare to the world what she had only said to one other person. But she contained herself, she would not give over to giddy happiness no matter how tempting. She reminded herself that, though Sakura was happy with her new choice, she was suffering from the gossip slandering her with no mercy, and some lapse of time was necessary to maintain sensitivity with regards to Naruto's previous relationship with Sakura.

There was now the question of what she wanted. For too long she had forced herself into contentment, but she could no longer pull in the reigns on her wishes now that the possibility of required love could be made concrete.

"So what are you going to do?" Asked Kiba, a pack of cards in his hands. Some would call two grown adults playing snap a childish immature pastime for the lunch hour, but Hinata found the distraction welcoming, it was good to have something to do with her hands when her mind felt like it was in fifth gear for so long.

"I don't know. I know what I want though."

"And what is that?"

But Hinata found molding the words in her mouth difficult, "I think you know that already. What I don't know is when would be the right time."

"If sakura's moved on already, there shouldn't be anything to stop him. Snap!" Hinata frowned as he swept the deck towards himself.

"But Sakura is suffering as it is, I don't want to influence anything that might cause her more distress. It wouldn't feel good to know he didn't care about her as much as she did him, even if it was only a little."

"Tch. You're too damn kind. Plus, you shouldn't care what everyone is thinking about."

"Easy for you to say, men don't nearly get as much trouble as women for the decisions they make."

Kiba raised his eyes from the deck towards her, "True. But that doesn't mean you should still care about what people say."

"I'm not saying I do, I just think it's best to act carefully. Plus, I don't even know if he wants me." Her stomach dipped a little at the thought. In truth, she had thought of little else the past three days. Naruto had returned to a more sober mood, though still his usual cheerful self, but he hadn't come to speak to her again. That morning she thought he would but he seemed to be struggling with himself and turned away to ascend to his own floor. Hinata lamented the lack of action, but decided to respect his wishes. Knowing how confident a character he was, she decided to trust that his hesitancy held a valid reason, and wait until he was ready to do… whatever he had in mind to do.

"If a man wants a woman, he doesn't waste time and he'll make it happen. The onsen trip should have taught him that." Hinata knew Kiba was referring to her former admirers.

"Perhaps he's being sensitive to the break up and doesn't want to be insensitive to Sakura."

"Or maybe he's lost confidence." She frowned, what could he mean by that? But just as she was about to enquire Kiba started speaking again, tidying his growing pile of cards in his hands before dealing out again, "Look, Hinata, you know how I feel about the guy. But you shouldn't wait around for him, all you've ever done it seems is wait around for him. If you know what you want, and you don't know what he wants, the best you can do is encourage him. If he's too thick to take the hint, then like I've always said, he's not worth it and you can finally be free to move on." She smiled, comprehensive but not preachy, she was grateful for her friend even thought they thought differently.

She had resolved that day to encourage Naruto as best she could, but she knew not how to go about it, not having encouraged any other man in over a decade, that it was only then did she realize some skill at flirtation might have been beneficial to her. But she didn't need to look for a method to get his attention because he gave it willingly to her the following day.

Unorchestrated, the team had unanimously agreed to a lunch time outing that day, considering it was midweek the general air was that a treat was in order. Hinata didn't need any persuasion, and she was agitatingly pleased to hear from a colleague that Uzumaki-San would be joining too. At the bistro across from their workplace her heart fluttered in that excited lightening way when her eyes fell on his silhouette, it took her a few hazed moments to realize he was looking at her too.

Blushing profusely she immediately dropped her head to gaze in the general direction of shoes, her bashfulness almost overcame her when she remembered her new resolution to encourage and flirt. Lifting her head up again with Herculean effort, she realized he was still looking at her, something conflicting behind his beautiful blue eyes.

Not trusting her legs, she followed the lead of her colleagues and sat down at a long table, bringing all of her resolve she looked around, saw Naruto still standing with something akin to uncertainty, and with all her might she schooled her face into what she hoped was a welcoming smile, and not the grimace of pain that it mostly likely was. But with her smile it was done. Naruto took one glance at her smile and with three strides, made his way securely to her, before dropping his broad body next to hers at the table.

Hinata was rendered speechless at how effective the small action was that she at first couldn't say anything. The effort it had taken had depleted her stores, so she left the rest to Naruto, confident he would be able to take the next step for the both of them. It was in this interim while she waited for some kind of move to be made, that she realized it was the first time they had sat next to each other since their reunion, the awareness of his body being so close to hers made that rising ache behind her skin lilt its head. She had never felt this way about any other man, and she wondered, almost guided by the prickling awareness in her shoulders and back, what it would be like for him to caress her there.

"Have you erm, decided what you're going to get?" Had his voice always sounded like that. As thought it's leathery depth was just for her?

Shaking herself she made her mouth reply, "I think I'll get my usual."

"A smoked salmon bagel, right?"

Hinata looked up at him in shock, "how did you know?"

"I always remember what people order." He was looking directly at her now, it was almost like no one else in the room existed. She scanned his eyes, trying to understand his meaning, but with lightly dusted pink cheeks he shifted his gaze away.

"You must take your food seriously then." She remembered how important good food was to him all those years ago, it was a comfort to know that part of him hadn't changed.

He gazed again at the menu "Yes, If you are what you eat, then it's important to only eat the good stuff." And with deliberate precision he turned to look at her again, "But I only understood what real quality is recently."

She exhaled, something made her think he wasn't talking about food anymore. Had his eyes always been that intense? Underneath the table she crossed her legs, one quivering thigh resting on top of the other. Moving her gaze away from the glowing warmth of Uzumaki Naruto, she once again perused the menu, "has that made it difficult to choose what to eat? I'd be scared I'd get something disappointing."

"Yeah, but the disappointments made me realize just what I was missing."

She was relieved from having to answer by the waitress arriving with a large amount of patience to take everyone's orders. The last order to take was Sakura's who joined their lunch time group last and was now comfortably seated next to Ino, they were chatting away but without any of the almost childish excitement they used to have.

"You know, I just don't get it." Said Naruto suddenly, Hinata followed his line of sight and found it was towards Sakura.

"Don't get what?"

He huffed slightly, as though preparing himself, "Sakura's a great girl and all, but Sasuke's fiancé before she died… was a really impressive woman. You never saw two people more in love."

"I don't follow."

"I don't want to sound bad towards Sakura, but I'm surprised Sasuke and her got together. His fiancé was an excellent woman, we had hoped he would move on, but we didn't expect who he chose, we thought he would go for another woman like Kagura."

"We can't judge other people's or who they are attracted to."

"I would normally agree, but Kagura was bookish and thoughtful. She always took the time to listen to people and enjoyed questioning them on their opinions. We all loved her in a way, she was hard not to love. I didn't expect Sasuke to fall for… charms."

"I think I understand, there are some people who inspire the best in others by simply being themselves, it's rare to find and hard not to love those aspects in them."

He smiled appreciatively at her, making her feel warmth as she inhaled. "Which is why we all felt bad for Sasuke when Kagura died. It was a horrible tragedy, he was really broken by it, at one point we lost hope he would come back to his normal self. But now he has it's hard to understand, especially when you compare the two women."

Against her better self, Hinata revelled to understand Naruto didn't think highly of Sakura's character, she knew she should feel guilt for thinking along those lines, but all she could feel was pleasure that he seemed to understand the value a woman can bring. "I can imagine the shift must be difficult. Change is always challenging, especially when there has been loss and grief. But these pains make us stronger."

"Sakura has definitely changed" he commented.

"Oh yes. Her trauma has almost transformed her completely. I think she's much more composed and will make a good couple with Uchiha-San."

"It's a pity she only got this way because of the accident." He shook his head as though trying to shake the recollection. "I wish it hadn't happened, it was painful to everyone."

"But pain alerts us that something is wrong, and when we have made efforts to change our situations, we become more understanding because of the pain. I think pain is something the brave face knowing it will make them stronger." He was looking at her with something she couldn't decipher, and bravely she carried on "I have never regretted the pain I have felt."

He was silent for four full seconds, then he spoke once again, his voice shaking with the effort to remain streamlined and policed "But don't you think the journey to that understanding is too long? Isn't there a better way?"

She smiled wistfully, "I believe each journey is proportionate to its need, the important thing is to lean into pain rather than pushing it away, or no growth or development will happen, otherwise the time that has passed truly will be a waste, and that is the real shame." She looked up from the bagel that had just been placed in front of her, only to come face to face with a fierce looking Naruto, it almost made her lean back in her chair by how imposing his presence suddenly became, but she couldn't tear herself away from it even if she wanted to… it was almost like his eyes were trying to hold her.