The ground resounded when Hinata dragged her shoe over the dry soil. Her hands frantically held the steering of her bike as her eyes observed her own feet like there was more to see than the dirt on the tip of her shoes. She looked up at the sky, dotted by clouds. Except them wandering above her head, the world was motionless and quiet. Even when she hadn't slept much she was jittery and excited. She didn't mind the humidity or the lack of shade from the peach tree she was standing under because there were other things that conquered her whole attention. Now and then she rose her head to look out for Naruto, blended by the sunflowers on the other side, that had never seemed more golden yellow than today.

Since yesterday the same memory resumed in her mind and she tried to keep her mouth from smiling too widely. It had been the last day before the summer break. Their friends had bid goodbye one by one as they walked their way home, in the end only Naruto and Hinata remained. Still, in their school uniforms, they had relished on the silence they shared, when Naruto turned into a different street than the one that led to her house.

Hinata had followed him, under the assumption that he wanted to take a stroll before going home. But on the highest hill then, he had stopped walking and faced her. The village was visible beneath and a tractor passed them, making loud noises when driving by. Naruto had been rubbing his palms on his pants before looking her right in the eye and telling her that he liked her. Not just as a friend but as a girl. He had said words that she thought so often of to confess herself but she never did in fear of harming their friendship. She had told him too, how much she liked him for years already, not just as a precious friend but as a boy.

They had smiled at each other, in a way different from the smiles they had exchanged in those four years they knew each other. Then shyly looked away, lingering at their positions before continuing to walk. At her door then, he had reminded her that they would have to make a delivery to the flower shop the next day. It had become a hobby they enjoyed together for years already. They never missed meeting up and riding those hills on their bikes to the village center together. And confessing their fondness of each other didn't have the power to change that.

The imagination of seeing Naruto again after that made Hinata sense a complex mixture of feelings. She was nervous to meet him, worried that she might act oddly or say something wrong. But strangely at the same time, she was yearning to step under his sight, talk to and observe him while his mind was in the depths of his own thoughts. Absorb his grin, that she knew all too well.

She didn't know what to expect but when she sighted Naruto walking towards her with the flowers in his basket and his gaze shifted to somewhere else but her, her heart pumped in eager to have him by her side. His walk to her took too long for Hinata to handle. He halted in front of her and finally lifted his head, nothing more than a simple "Morning" able to fall off his lips. The air between them was electrifying and their gazes timid but full of meaning. For moments they just stared at each other, both waiting for something to happen or something to be said but not exactly knowing what it was.

"What are you waiting for? Take the flowers."

"Right." She rushed to his basket, a little too hastily and nearly tripping over her own feet. She took the flowers, as if the almost-accident didn't happen, and put them in her own basket.

"Let's go." He had guessed that she would make him flustered but the heart in his chest was too jumpy for him to tame. Any sentences he had prepared for this moment, had left him completely, without a trace of ever existing. He didn't know what to say, where to look, how to move; he was a mess. How could one person create such chaos in someone else?

He sat on his bike, waiting for Hinata to do the same before taking off. Normally they would ride their bikes side by side, sometimes talking, but today Hinata was behind him. She watched his back, his hair moving in the upwind and the pout on his lips when he slightly turned his head. There was nothing else to see in her view than him. All of sudden Hinata asked herself in what kind of relationship they were now. They certainly weren't just friends anymore but were they boyfriend and girlfriend yet? The sheer thought of that made the blood rush to her head.

Naruto checked the dark clouds behind the mighty mountains, which slowly but steadily floated in their direction. While the stillness was filled with making plans of what to do from now on, the humidity heated his body. He felt his shirt sticking to the sweat on his back and his hands becoming clammy.

Ino was already waiting for them and waved when she saw them closing in. Her senses were quick to catch on the atmosphere and she pressed her lips together to keep herself from grinning. She threw an expectant glance at Hinata when Naruto was busy with taking a part of the delivery inside.

She and Sakura had come over to her house yesterday, squealing loudly when Hinata had told her about what happened. The cake she had prepared for them had been soon forgotten when they racked their brains about how Hinata should handle the situation and that she should take the lead if Naruto wasn't able to. But that was easier said than done also since she was rather someone who followed than showed the way. Especially in a field, she knew nothing about.

Naruto moved so quickly back and forth that it appeared like he wanted to leave this place as fast as he could and while Hinata wasn't sure of what to think of his hurried actions, Ino enjoyed it to the fullest. She giggled, not wanting to leave the awkward couple just yet. In her arms, the scent of the delivered roses delighting her nose. Ino pushed Hinata with her hip when leaving their side. And they took off after she stepped over the threshold to her shop.

Without the flowers, Naruto's back appeared much smaller. It reminded Hinata of those times when she had newly met him before her father had bought her her own bike. Back then she would sit behind him on his and not once had he complained about carrying her. He had told stories and jokes as if it was his obligation to make her laugh while she studied his appearance from behind. Naruto had shown her every inch of the village that was to explore and introduced him to his friends, making her a significant part of his life. As they grew older the sight of his back had changed, his shoulders had become broader, his arms and legs more capable but his grin had stayed the same.

The clouds had reached the mountains on one side and overtook their peaks on their way to cover the sun with their grayness. Without its gleaming rays, the wildflowers on the side of the road got lost in the darkness of the grass. At the appearance of the sunflower fields, Hinata knew that her house wasn't far away anymore.

Even when they haven't said goodbye yet, she already thought about the next time she would be able to meet Naruto. The school was on break and it would take some days until their next delivery. Usually, they spent a lot of time together but the situation had changed now.

They both gazed at her house, that was more than ever surrounded by nature. The bench under the peach tree, that was one of her favorite places to be, had become battered, the evidence of weather eternalized on its wood. Some fruits of the tree had fallen down and Hinata planned on picking them up later. When she turned towards the boy, her words of parting got stuck in her throat as he beat her to it.

"Should we meet again later?" he asked, one of his legs wobbling on the pedals of his bicycle. "We could take the bus to the city." One corner of his mouth trembled in nervousness when he proceeded, "Like a date."

Hinata's eyes enlarged and she blinked as if she wanted to ensure that this was reality. She nodded, incapable of using her voice for help in accepting his proposal.

"You want to?" Since Hinata looked so dazed, he couldn't just take the bobbing of her head as an answer. He sensed his confidence coming back to him the longer he talked.

"Of course." Her foot took a step towards him as she blurted out her reply and somehow that phrase eased his chest. He smiled upon seeing her blush and brush her hair behind an ear. He was relieved Hinata's presence had lost its effect of making him speechless.

"At two o'clock at the bus station then?" Naruto placed his feet on his pedals, only needing her confirmation to take off.

"Okay."

Her eyes trailed him departing. She even walked a little to the street to see some more of him until he vanished. She stood there for a while and took a deep breath, helping her brain in processing the events. Then she rushed inside, even forgetting to take her bike with her.

After carefully examining every piece of clothing she had in her dresser, Hinata had chosen to wear a long skirt and a light blouse. She hadn't had the opportunity to wear any of the pieces yet and she felt how new the fabric was when they stroked her skin with its softness as she put them on. Inspecting herself in the mirror, she felt pretty. It was visible that she had dressed for something special but it wasn't obvious that it was a date. Her eyes sparkled from the little makeup she had put on and a clip adorned her hair at the side.

When the rain drummed against her window she discarded the idea of wearing sandals and slipped socks on instead. Despite the downpour, she didn't want to resign on dressing up and took out a clean pair of sneakers.

Her father had frowned hearing her ask for permission to drive down to the city. But he had permitted it with the trust that she would call him now and then to make sure everything was alright. It wasn't her first time driving to town by bus but she understood his concern and promised to let him know about her wellbeing every so often. At her front door, Hinata grabbed an umbrella and left her house.

Immediately the pattering of the rain fulfilled the place. The upper parts of the mountains had become foggy, making it harder to distinguish between the clouds and the ground. After walking only a little she already felt the wetness on her legs and held her bag closer to her body. The air was still warm. The droplets of the summer rain weren't the least bit cooling and it seemed like lukewarm water fell from the sky.

The ground was muddy and puddles had formed, gaining in size. Her way had become a parkour where she tried to avoid stepping into them and quickly reach the bus station before the weather got worse. Water streamed down the hills at the edges of the road and it felt like the rain fell harder by the minute.

Not once had she expected that she would curse this kind of weather one day. She usually liked the summer rain, that shushed everything else in its environment and made everything and everyone listen to its pelting.

The village life was already peaceful but when it rained, it felt like they reached a phase of stillness that couldn't be compared to any other place on earth. In summer she would hold her hand out her window and let the weather wet her skin. It was the natural way of cooling herself at times when the heat was unbearable to stand.

Right now though it was messing up her day and she couldn't be more frustrated at it having found the worst time to release its drops on the world. Hinata rushed a little faster when her socks around her ankles started to get moist. But the ground was slippery from the muddy soil and when she descended she slipped and fell, rolling down the bit to the foot of the hill.

Her kneecaps and palms ached when she recovered from the shock of suddenly falling down. A look down herself proved that her clothing was stained with dirt. The once so fair white seam with its frilly laces was drowned in brown liquid. Her fringe stuck to the bridge of her nose. Some of her hair strands had loosened from her bun and fell into her eyesight. She was already drenched even when she had been unprotected from the rain for only seconds.

She had lost the grip around her umbrella in her fall and saw it a few feet away from her. Right when she moved to stand up, supporting herself with her hands on the dirt, she heard Naruto's voice calling her from afar. He threw his umbrella to the ground and ran towards her, carrying a worried expression on his face.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" He didn't need answers to his questions as his gaze already slid down her body, envisioning what had happened.

"I'll take you home." He crouched down so that he could piggyback her when standing up, the rain still falling down on them with all its might. Adjusting her on his back, he reached for her umbrella and gave it to her so that she could shield them with it. Hinata sensed the hardness of the rain from her hand around the grip of the umbrella. She noticed that with "Home" he hadn't meant hers but his as he was walking in the direction of his farm.

Her arm tightened around his neck and she rested her chin on it. Naruto's wet hair brushed her cheek and being so close to him should make her flustered but she felt embarrassed instead. Embarrassed that she looked like a mess right now, that he had to carry her because her hands and legs throbbed, embarrassed that, with her clumsy manner, she had ruined a day that could have become wonderful.

Naruto heard her sniffle first very quietly, suppressed by the drumming of the rain against the umbrella, then another time. Due to the way they were walking, he couldn't check if she had a runny nose just because or if she cried. As he feared that it was the latter, he vigorously thought of what to do. They haven't said a word since he had picked her up as he imagined that she would rather walk in silence but now he doubted that that was a good decision.

"I have something for you," he said but realized that he was in no way capable to take out the present with his occupied hands.

"What?" It was like his words had woken her as the rain had lulled her to someplace far away from here.

"My front pocket. Can you reach it?" She lifted her head a little more so that she could look over his shoulder and she actually saw something sticking out of his pocket. It took her body a few adjustments until she was able to reach for it.

Hinata already felt that it was something wrapped in plastic and when she held it up to her eye level she recognized that it was a single sunflower, somewhat crushed from Naruto's previous movements. It was rather small, not like the ones that grew on the fields by her house but like the cultured ones that bloomed on his farm. Hinata had studied them several times when she helped pluck them.

Around the stem it had a bright yellow bow, yet not as glowing as the petals. Their color mesmerized her, reminding her of days, that wasn't defined by rain. The world around them was blue and grey but right now it felt like she was holding the sun in her hand. It had a healing effect on her ache and made her feel so joyous that she nearly dropped the umbrella.

"Since this is our first date and sunflowers are your favorite, I thought I could bring you one." Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "I know it's very lame but-"

"No." Hinata still fixated the flower and Naruto saw how her fingers stiffened around it. "I love it." Her voice carried a softness in it that made him smile. He had spent enough time with Hinata to know what made her happy. Often it was little things that evoked such contentment in her, that made him fall for her over and over again.

The blowing of the hairdryer outmatched the sound of the rain. Naruto ran his fingers through her long dark hair as he moved the dryer up and down, the smell of shampoo in his nose. Her neck was exposed because his shirt was too big on her and he tried to abolish it from his sight as it made him feel weirdly in his stomach. It was fair and looked soft. He had often wondered how she managed her skin to stay so white despite the amount of time she spent outside.

The house was empty as his parents and his godfather had left for a trip to a fair for local farmers. He hadn't asked Hinata out just because he wanted to go on a date together but also because he disliked staying home alone. He hadn't planned on sitting on the floor and drying each others hair but it was far better than being lonely. Also to him, it didn't matter what they did as long as they were together.

The smell of the rain combined with the scents of the flowers from the farm. Since she was little, Hinata had enjoyed the fragrance in the air when she came over to visit. It was a special scent that only existed at this place. It was light, maybe difficult to catch when not familiar with it, but fresh and easing. On some seasons it was sweeter and on others milder but there was always a trace of it somewhere. Even in winter when there weren't any flowers blossoming but the walls of Naruto's home still released the bloom, that brought back memories from her times on the fields and playing with Naruto.

The ends of her hair were still a little wet when he shut off the dryer and put it away, reaching for the first-aid-kid he had prepared at his side. The draft from the door and the tall windows to the back yard, he had opened after sending her away to take a shower, was refreshing and cooled down the temperature in the living room.

Naruto grabbed crosslegged Hinata at her shoulders and lightly turned her around to face him. His shorts were long enough to cover her knees completely and he pulled them up to inspect the grazes, which had stopped bleeding at least. She was surprised at his unfaltering actions but recalled how he forgot everything else once he focused on something. He treated her wounds, warning her before applying something that stung.

His fingers were careful in every touch. Whereas she felt like a burden whenever he cared like this for her, she couldn't help but feel happy from being a person for him, he looked out for to this extent. He blew on her to reduce the pain of the sting and it was moments like these that taught her that despite his easygoing attitude Naruto was quite attentive and manly. After watching him for a while and getting used to him caressing her, Hinata's gaze shifted to the sunflower she held in her lap.

"You were delivering sunflowers on the first day we met." Just as her eyes continued in eying the flower, his stayed on her legs.

"Really? When I fell down that pit?"

"No, the day I moved in." She laid the flower down by her thighs. "You were standing on the other side of the road."

"Ah." He hadn't considered that mere eye-contact a meeting. "You're right." He glanced at her before continuing at his task.

"There was a whole field of them behind you but somehow the ones in your basket looked much prettier." That was probably the reason why she started to like sunflowers this much. They were connected to precious memories from her past. Hinata looked at him finishing the work on her knees.

"Of course, it's our job to make 'em pretty." Grinningly he threw the ointment back into the kit and she joined in, beaming a smile. But when he caught the wound on her cheek, the corners of his mouth pulled down again. Naruto closed in on her and turned her head with his hand on her jaw. Without losing his sight on the red dot he reached for the salve again and applied it on her cheek. She winced and he mumbled an absent "Sorry".

"Why were you wearing unsuitable shoes like that anyway? You know how slippery the ground gets when it rains." He looked for a bandaid in the box and soon found one, sticking it on her cheek a second later.

Naruto wasn't really waiting for an answer as he had stated his words rather as a scolding than a question.

But Hinata defeated the anxiety the closeness of his face and his strokes on her cheek made her feel. "It was our first date so I wanted to look pretty."

Her confession made his eyes widen, his hands still in the air. She was looking at the floor, eyeing the paper waste of the band-aid as if it was much more interesting than the stunned expression of the boy.

"But I ruined it-" Hinata had lifted her hand to touch the band-aid on her face but Naruto grabbed it mid-air, forcing her to look at him again. He squeezed her hand with his thumb and his other fingers, not indulging with his gaze that stared into hers.

Slowly, gently, he pulled her hand towards him, dragging her body with it. Hinata heard the pounding of her heart in her ears and felt the heat of his touch on her skin. He neared until their noses brushed and Hinata clasped his hand back. They dwelled like this for a few moments, their breaths hitting. He rose his other hand to the corner of her lips and stroked her by that spot. Then he bedded his lips on hers. It was an innocent and hesitant first kiss that would be remembered by the blending of their heartbeats and the music of the rain, the crisp smell of summer and the brisk breeze that made the chime at the window resound in lovely tunes.