A Simple Hello

Hinata Hyuga stumbled her way out of her family compound. She was holding her stomach in pain after a sparring session with Neji. She'd been training for weeks nonstop ever since Naruto had come back after his three years abroad.

Although Neji was far better as a fighter compared to Hinata, she was determined to become a better fighter. She'd spar with Neji for hours on end and always ended in pain for Hinata. Little did Neji or anybody aside from Hinata herself that not only was she training to become stronger, but it was also for Naruto. He didn't know it, but she always loved him, and in his absence it only grew for him. He trained with such zeal that Hinata could only be spurred on to improve as well.

Hinata had grown as a person and a woman, but she still couldn't hold a simple conversation with Naruto for the life of her. She was walking out of the compound so that she could go to Sakura for healing and to just talk a little maybe. Although she still resented Sakura for holding Naruto's affections (regardless of if she wanted them), she still figured she could trust Sakura and it was nice to be able to talk to another girl.

As she stumbled out of the compound, she found herself instantly surrounded by a few branch members of the Hyuga clan. They tried to aid Hinata and get her to go back to the compound for assistance, but Neji grabbed them.

"She need to go out for a private conversation as well." Neji said protectively

"But…" One of them tried to protest

"If you don't let her go by herself, you'll just see how gentle the Gentle Fist really is." Neji said darkly

The two branch members quickly scooted away from them, and Hinata gave Neji a small smile of thanks. She shambled out and down the road towards Lady Tsunade's office. As she walked, she tried to mask any signs of pain and decided to just walk slowly and carefully. During their last sparring match, Neji accidently hit on of the chakra gates in Hinata's stomach. It wasn't fatal, because he pulled the hit before he completely sliced it, but the pain was immense.

She noticed a few people look at her befuddled by the site of a Hyuga all by herself like so which made Hinata very self-conscious. She was almost all the way to the office, until a flash of orange was in front of her, and she was knocked on her back. She squealed out in pain, because the orange flash had collided with her stomach first.

She looked up and saw Naruto looking at her freaking out slightly.

"Oh my God Hinata! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you, I was trying to get to the Ramen Shop it's half price Ramen day!" Naruto was waving his hands wildly.

Hinata clenched her stomach and struggled out a "Hello…" before she screamed again and passed out from the pain and seeing Naruto.

As the world faded to black, Hinata felt her body be gently picked up. She faintly smelled ramen and sweat with the faintest little bit of something like a fox. It smelled terrible and beautiful at the same time.

Hinata opened her eyes slowly and saw Naruto being chewed out by Sakura in one of the smaller rooms where she must have been taken.

"You idiot!" Sakura shouted at Naruto whose head was hung low in shame. "Do you have any idea how hard you'd hit Hinata!? You ruptured a whole chakra line! It's taken me an hour just to keep her from going into critical condition! You could have killed her!"

She went to whack Naruto on the head, but she saw how ashamed and worried for Hinata he was.

Naruto slowly lifted his head and asked "Will she be okay?"

Sakura sighed and said "Yes Naruto she will be fine."

Naruto looked up and asked "Do you think she'll be hungry?"

Sakura wanted to hit Naruto at first, but realized that Naruto wanted to make Hinata feel a bit better. She smiled and said "Yeah, she'll probably be starving when she wakes up."

"Alright!" Naruto shouted "Hope she likes Ramen!" Naruto was out the door in the blink of an eye and ran towards the Ramen Shop.

Sakura shook her head and turned to Hinata with a wink. Hinata's eyes widened in shock that Sakura knew Hinata was awake during the "conversation" with Naruto.

Hinata sat up and said in her whispery voice "So, I ruptured a chakra line…"

Sakura looked at her and said "Yeah, but he shouldn't have done that it doesn't make much sense."

Hinata blushed and said "That's because of Neji…"

Sakura looked at Hinata with confusion. "Neji?"

"We were training, and he got a little carried away, as did I. He hit me in the stomach and nearly severed the line, so I came here to get treated real quickly. I was training so I could get stronger, and so Naruto might see…" Hinata's face was turning a darker shade of red reminiscent of a beet root.

Sakura smiled and chose not to delve any further into her reasoning.

"So Hinata, what did you say when you 'ran into' Naruto?"

"Oh! Just a simple hello…"

Naruto kicked in the door showing that he came back carrying several bowls of ramen. Naruto looked for Hinata who was now sitting up and smiled a smile of relief.

"Whew… Glad I didn't kill ya!" Naruto walked over with the bowls and looked over to Sakura who was stunned by the fact that Naruto had come over so quickly.

Hinata's face deepened in the reddening and seemed as if she was about to faint again. Naruto saw that and grabbed Hinata shaking her to keep her awake.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto said comically

That managed to keep Hinata awake, but she still remained red.

Naruto scrambled for a bowl of ramen and shoved it in her face.

"Here eat this!" Naruto looked towards Sakura. "Uh, would you mind leaving for a sec? I need to talk to Hinata in private.

Sakura and Hinata looked shocked at what Naruto had just asked, but Sakura decided to leave.

Naruto sat down in front of Hinata and started to chow down on the ramen. He ate furiously but looked up at her and motioned for her to start eating. She picked up her utensils and started to tentatively eat. It did taste good, and with Naruto's encouragement she enjoyed her meal.

As she finished the meal she noticed that Naruto kept looking up at Hinata as if to see if she was still alright. After they finished, Naruto looked at her in a way that seemed to mix concern and shame.

"Sorry about nearly killing you Hinata." Naruto said

Hinata had a very small smile on her face and said "Oh it's… it's alright. You didn't mean to…"

"Can I make it up to you?" Naruto asked

Hinata felt electricity crawl up her back at the sound of that. "How would you do that?"

Naruto stopped to ponder and suddenly said "How about we go to the hot springs?"

Hinata nearly fainted at the idea, but kept her composure. She was going to see Naruto without his shirt on? That thought had Hinata instantly turn a bright shade of red.

"Bad idea?" Naruto asked?

"No! It sounds nice and relaxing." Hinata assured him

"Cool! What time do you want to go?" Naruto asked

"6 o'clock maybe?"

"Perfect it's a date!" Naruto said with a big smile.

Hinata straightened up like a board at the comment Naruto made. She was speechless. As much as she read into that comment, Naruto had no idea what that could also be taken as. He got up, stretched his back and got the bowls. He walked out and waved his hand at her saying "See you there Hinata!"

Hinata sat there for a second, and after she realized what had just happened did a little happy dance in her head. Then she fainted.