This idea has been on my mind for a while and so I thought why not?
I do not own Naruto.
Onwards!
"We need more man power. We can do a lot of things here, but we just need more people to help out with labor."
"But how are we going to get more people? It's too expensive to hire shinobi from other countries."
"I don't know! Why don't you try to come up with something by yourself for once?"
"Okay! Gosh, you don't have to get all snippety about it."
"…"
"…"
"Any ideas so far?"
"Well… there is one. In order for us to increase our population, which thus increases the amount of labor we can do, we would need to get the men and women together to copulate."
"How about you put it in a language I can understand."
"… To put it bluntly, we need to get the men and women fucking."
"Oh. Why'd you have to go off and make it sound so complicated?"
"We are a political institution."
"True. So what now? Just declare a national holiday and call it 'Fucking Day'?"
"No! We need to be more subtle."
"… Kissing Day?"
"Mm… even subtler."
"…Wait a minute, wouldn't this just the same as Valentine's Day?"
"It never hurts to have two of them."
And thus, Hugging Day was born.
---
Hinata had always looked upon Hugging Day with mixed feelings. It was a time for bold approaches followed by extreme embarrassment followed by running away followed by extreme regrets, equating to a wasted opportunity.
This had happened seven times already in her lifetime; the other five she was too young to remember.
But this year would be different. She told herself that every single Hugging Day. But this time it had to be different.
For the past nine out of fifteen Hugging Days, Hinata had wanted to give Naruto a hug. First, it was because she had never seen anyone hug him. Then, it was because she somehow developed a small infatuation with the boy.
But she had to hug him today before she lost him forever.
Walking through the grassy knolls, Hinata was looking for Naruto. It was common knowledge among those who cared that the teenager was often training if he was not on a mission.
She recounted her past attempts at the boy. Five of her attempts she could not bring herself to hug him. Three times he was away on his training mission. The other was rained out. But during the five times she wanted to hug Naruto, several times she stumbled upon the boy attempting to give a hug to Sakura.
The pink-haired girl harshly rejected him multiple times. But the last time, a few days before he left on his three-year trip with Jiraiya, she only politely rejected the offer.
And that was when Hinata knew losing Naruto was a possibility.
Yes, she was jealous. She had realized and come to terms with that after seeing Sakura just… nicely reject the boy. It only seemed fair that she should have the boy for her own. She had liked him for years and only lacked the courage to step out and get the job done. But it was this lack of courage that may ultimately cost her.
It was mid afternoon when she found the boy. He was lying under a tree, staring off into the distance, which was odd of him. As she cautiously approached he looked over to her. "Hinata."
She made a small squeak and instantly drew her arms into her chest. He wasn't something that was so difficult to approach. It was just that she was surprised. But as she moved to take a step towards him she found her feet rooted to the ground. Or her whole body for the matter.
"Well, are you going to say anything?" his tone sounded harsh, a surprising first towards her. Something must have been on his mind.
Taking whatever willpower she had, she bravely took one step towards him.
Now she only had to take nine or so more steps.
He apologized. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that." His voice was a little softer.
"I-It's alright," her small voice said. She took another step forward. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you."
Hinata knew that she wanted to take another step, but this time her body rebelled. Her nervousness had overrun her bravery; she would go no further in the direction of Naruto. She would have to resort to other means.
"N-Naruto-kun?"
"Yes?"
"C-Could you come here for a moment?"
"Well, why can't you come here?"
"P-Please? C-Come over here… please?" Giving into her request he walked to her so that he was in front.
Suddenly, Naruto looked very intimidating. "Well I'm here now. What do you want me to say or do?"
Hinata took a sharp, shaky breath before beginning to speak. "Y-You know what today is, right?"
Naruto scowled. "Unfortunately yes." He looked away. "I've gone through enough humiliation to know that no one would like a hug from me."
She cautiously walked a little closer. "I-I…"
"Yes?"
"I would like to h-hug you…"
"… That's a good one, Hinata," he sarcastically replied. "Although I didn't take you to be one that made those kind of jokes."
"B-But-"
"Save yourself the effort," he cut her off, "your point's been made." He began to walk off the training field and away from her.
And this, Hinata concluded, was the result of years of rejection and prejudice against him. While it hurt, it would only hurt for a while. Gathering her courage once more she caught up with him.
"Look, can you stop following me? I have enough crap to deal with to last me a lifetime." He turned around and began towards her again. "Seriously, for a girl as weak and timid as you you've got a lot of nerve to keep up with this."
Ignoring the bite in his words she did her best to remain strong. He had placed himself at just the right spot: in front of her. Knowing that words spoke much louder than actions, she closed her eyes, braced herself, and hugged him.
Pin drops were louder than this.
Naruto looked down at Hinata. She hugged him a little tighter, knowing that his gaze was upon her. Finally he broke the silence.
"So what makes you want to hug me? After all the things I just said to you, what makes you think that I still deserve one?"
She knew that he had asked out of curiosity, not of self-pity; he was above that. She closed her eyes. "I-I never seen anyone give you a hug on this holiday. Y-You're long overdue to get one."
"Oh."
"…"
"Well, I'm sorry if you wanted a hug in return because I already gave mine to someone today."
"W-Who'd you give it to?"
"Sakura," Hinata's heart raced at the name, "but she rejected it," before calming down once again. She was a little late, but luck was on her side.
"S-So do I get a hug back?" Hinata asked, finally letting go of Naruto. While she may not have noticed, a small blush had crept up on her.
"Not this year."
"Oh…"
"But I have fourteen unclaimed hugs. Want one?"