Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Finally Found ❯ Walking to Training ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4 - Walking To Training

That night Hinata fell asleep almost immediately. That day had been one of the best days of her life. She had spent all day with Naruto and, as usual, all night with him in her dreams. She arose early the next morning, eager to be back with him again.

She finished her morning chores and placed the tea for her father and Neji in the courtyard earlier then usual. She moved stealthily throughout the complex and went to the front gates. She hoped that Naruto would walk by and they could walk to training together again, but she was also trying to avoid her father as she was still very hurt by his words.

She waited there pressing the tips of her fingers together nervously worried that he may not come, all the while trying to convince herself that she was just really early. But then she began to think to herself, “What if he doesn't want to walk with me? What if he doesn't want to train with me because he realized how weak I am? Maybe I was just stupid for thinking…” Naruto's words ran through her head, “… that was incredible… you and me…”

She looked down at her feet as tears started to fall from her cheeks. She debated whether or not she should still go to training. She had promised Jiraya she would be there, but how could she face Naruto now? She stood there not knowing what whe should do when she caught a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye.

-- NARUTO! HE'S COMING!

She ran and hid behind the wall next to the open gate. She could hear his voice as he got closer, he must be walking with someone else. He finally walked in front of the gate where he stopped only feet from where Hinata hid.

Hinata was too scared to activate her Byakugan so close to the people she was hiding from. She didn't need to as she recognized the voice of Naruto's companion almost immediately.

“Why did you stop Naruto?” It was Sakura. Hinata's heart sank. She knew that Naruto liked Sakura and they had gotten much closer over the years. She also knew, however, that Sakura always turned him down because she was still in love with Sasuke.

Hinata could understand why Naruto liked Sakura so much. Her pink hair now reached her tall shoulders and her bangs fell onto the sides of her head to her cheeks framing her beautiful face. Her arms and legs were both very slender and toned, not muscular; which was awkward considering she was so extremely powerful. Hinata, as Naruto mush, considered her one of the most beautiful Kunoichi in Konoha. She was everything Hinata wanted to be: beautiful, strong, smart, and loved by Naruto. “But with Sakura here,” Hinata thought, “how could Naruto ever notice me?”

“Oh I'm sorry Sakura-chan,” Naruto looked into the open gate of the Hyuuga complex. “I just wanted to see if Hinata had headed to training yet.” He couldn't see her hiding.

A confused look came over Sakura's face. “Hinata? Training? What are you talking about? I thought Kiba and Shino were both gone.” Being Tsuande's apprentice she was really well informed as to who was out on missions.

Naruto, still looking for Hinata without going into the Hyuuga complex, spoke without looking at Sakura, “Hinata is gonna train with me and Ero-sennin until the rest of her group gets back.” Suddenly, Naruto remembered the scene of Hinata circling him and protecting him from Jiraya's trap.

He looked wide eyed at Sakura, “Sakura-chan, you should have seen Hinata! It was so incredible! She…” he explained what he had seen to Sakura while swinging his arms in the air and moving in a small circle trying to recreate the scene, but he looking like a maniac instead.

Sakura just laughed, “Well, I'm sure Hinata looked much better then you do. You look ridiculous.”

Naruto stopped. He knew that his movements really looked nothing like the way Hinata had looked. “Well yeah. But Sakura-chan, she was amazing. She looked… beautiful.”

He had said this last part without thinking, but it struck him suddenly: the feeling he got when she first protected him, the way her laugh made him forget his anger, the way he glances at her whenever she was near, and the way his eyes linger on her longer then the used to. He thought she was beautiful. An image of Hinata formed in his head. “How could I not have noticed?” he thought to himself. His minds eye looked Hinata from head to toe.

Hinata had grown so much. Her black hear fell to the middle of her back and her face was no longer hidden by her bangs. Naruto had never really looked at her face until recently, probably because whenever she was around Hinata would look at the floor. Because of this, he had never noticed how pretty she really was until he saw her smile after their first training session. Her bulky, beige jacket made it hard to tell, but Hinata's body had really filled out. Her tight black pants clung to every curve from her slim hips all the way down her well toned legs. The black sleeveless shirt she revealed during training was fitted over her tight stomach and arching back and contrasted well with her slender, light skinned arms. Naruto also couldn't help but notice that for Hinata's small body type her breasts seemed larger than most girls. This thought embarrassed Naruto and brought him back to reality. He stood there smiling and scratching the back of his head.

Sakura was surprised at Naruto's comments. Even Sakura could not deny that Hinata had grown into a very pretty, very shy girl, but Naruto calling her beautiful made her feel strange. She knew that Naruto had liked her since before their days in “Team 7,” and thought he still did, but never had he called her beautiful. She quickly chose to ignore this strange feeling and smiled at her friend, “Beautiful, huh?”

Naruto, still scratching his head, looked back at Sakura, “Well… yeah.”

Hinata had been fighting the urge to faint ever since Naruto started talking about her, but when Naruto referred to her as beautiful she lost the battle. Luckliy, she fell softly into the wall with a soft thud which quickly woke her. She regained her balance and leaned on the wall for support. It happened in a split second. “Naruto - kun…”

Hinata's hands flew to her mouth in utter terror. “What have I done? Did they hear me?” were the only thoughts running through her mind. Her fears were confirmed as Naruto walked towards the gate, “Hinata is that you?” She had been caught. They had heard her; she had no choice. She walked into view trying to seem like she had not heard their conversation.

“Um… um… Hell-hello Na… Na… Naruto - kun, Sak-ura-san.” Still in shock, her stuttering was almost uncontrollable.

Startled, Naruto jumped back a little, “Oh, hey Hinata.” A quick shock ran through his body. How much had she heard? Sakura was thinking the same thing. A short silence engulfed the three.

“Hello Hinata. I heard you'll be training with Jiraya-sama and Naruto for a while. How was it yesterday?” Sakura had not asked the question out of curiosity. She had figured that Hinata had probably heard enough to embarrass both her and Naruto if he found out.

Hinata, whose eyes had been facing the floor, looked up at Sakura. Call it a woman thing, but Hinata knew why Sakura had asked the question and she was thankful. “Um… it's only… only for a little bit. Yesterday was… was very hard. Jiraya-sama is… is a g-g-great sensei.” Hinata's stuttering had almost calmed down.

“Um… Come on Hinata. Let's get to practice.” Naruto tried hard to hide his worry.

“Right…” He still wanted to train with her. The feeling she had when she hid were gone from her mind and the only thing she could think was that she was going to spend another day with Naruto.

As the three started walking towards the training ground, Naruto in the middle, Hinata on his right, and Sakura on his left, Sakura spoke first. “Naruto, finish telling me what happened with Sasuke.” Sakura had seen Naruto in the hospital, but only while he was still asleep; she had not seen him since he woke up. As he was walking towards the Hyuuga complex he spotted Sakura. She was the only one who Naruto felt he had to tell about Sasuke because of their bonds.

“Oh, well he activated his curse seal and I couldn't handle him on my own. I had to…” he shot a quick glance at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. He had been ordered by Tsuande to not tell anyone of the Kyuubi inside of him. Sakura already knew of it, but he couldn't talk about it with Hinata around. “… well, all I remembered was waking up in the hospital.”

“Oh!” Sakura looked at him with her eyebrows high. She could piece together what Naurto could not say. He had resorted to using the nine-tailed fox inside of him and had been taken over. After using too much of the Kyuubi's power, Naruto could not help but succumb to the demon inside. He must have passed out and been found. “Jiraya?”

She had understood. “Yeah Jiraya. I'm sorry Sakura-san.” She knew Jiraya had found him.

“Naruto, I'm just glad you're ok and you're back home.” Sakura meant what she said. She valued him as a close friend, but something about what she said made her feel strange again. It was the same feeling she got when Naruto had referred to Hinata as beautiful.

Hinata started to feel weird too, but she couldn't say anything. The three walked to the training ground together. The whole time Naruto complaining about not going on any missions.