It had been a month since he had given her that beautiful bouquet with that big sunflower, and for one week she had stared at it every day. She had even tried playing it cool, but she had ended up talking about it with the boys, since she wanted to return the favor. The flowers he had given her had been so fresh they had lasted for more than 5 fays, a feat that was almost unthinkable taking into account how fragile flowers were. Nothing had actually changed between them, she had been expectant to see him more frequently in between trainings and missions, but life had continued without any change.
Hanabi had been the only one in the family asking about the flowers nonstop, but despite her internal enthusiasm, she denied it again and again that it was a gift, repeating every time that the bouquet had been given to her as a symbol of respect to the main family. Her sister had believed her, but after catching her staring at the bouquet more than once, and adding the fact that she had held the flowers in her room had not helped, she had started asking who had given it to her and why. Today, a month later, she had managed to escape Hanabi's incessant questions and slipped into the market, hopeful to be able to find something that would suit Neji.
'What could I possibly give him?' He tended to limit, as any ninja would, the amount of possessions that he had to the strictly necessary, and she didn't want to impose on him with something that could be considered a burden.
"Hinataaaaaaa" She heard Kiba screaming in the distance, waving his arms energetically.
"Hey guys" she nodded towards Shino "What are you doing?"
"We wanted something to eat" He said with a slight blush on his cheeks "So, we went to a grill, the meat was nice" His smile was evidence of how satisfied the meal had left him.
Shino extended the cup he was holding so she could have some of his vanilla honey yogurt ice cream. His all-time favorite.
"What about you?" Shino asked.
Hinata got quiet for a second. Even though she had told them about the bouquet, she didn't want them to misinterpret her intentions.
"I - I'm looking for something… for Neji-onisama" her voice increased in pitch as the balance of her feet went from one foot to the other.
Kiba rolled his eyes, he still was suspicious about the whole ordeal.
"Why do you have to give something to that jerk?"
"I - I just… I want to be thankful. That's all" She could feel the both of them staring directly at her.
They knew Neji couldn't harm her, not outside an authorized fight or duel. But that didn't make it easier for them to grapple with the idea that he could actively interact with her on a regular basis.
"Be careful" was Shino's final comment.
With Shino's warning still resounding in her head, she walked towards the training ground, where she knew that Team Guy would be doing their rounds.
"Byakugan" she discreetly activated her blood limit since she didn't want to interrupt, but to her surprise, Neji was on his own. 'It's now or never' she told herself. Breathing in and out she tried to calm the pumping of her heart. 'Common, don't get nervous' she tried to calm herself feeling how her hands started trembling. Had he felt nervous when he had given her the flower? She couldn't exactly remember that part of their conversation.
"Neji-onisama" she tried sounding as secure as possible. He turned towards her voice.
"Hinata-sama" He was surprise to see her in the area since the team 8 training grounds were in a different location. Had he forgotten about a training session? No, that couldn't be it. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes!" the pitch of her voice sounding higher than she intended. Her nervousness now evident. "I hope I'm not interrupting your training"
"Not at all… Lee and Tenten have already left, since we called the day off earlier"
"I brought something" Hinata was holding a small cardboard box with a ribbon.
'For me?'
"I'm not sure if you would like it, but I hope you do" He couldn't think of a reason why she was giving him this, it wasn't his birthday. "It's Sponge Chocolate cake. It's not as sweet as the traditional one"
"Thank you for the cake, but I must confess that I fail to recall the occasion"
"Oh" her cheeks turned a darker shade of red and blurted "It'swhiteday"
He didn't understand what she had said. His eyebrow furrowed by trying to untangle the words. He came closer to her repeating her words mentally, trying to make sense of them until he clearly heard 'It's white day'. He took her hand, kissing the back of it.
"Thank you"
The End