Under the Stars

Yo! I got the first in my series of oneshot requests here. It took me a while to get this one cause for some reason I just can't write decent NaruHina. Hinata's great, but I have a hard time writing for Naruto cause he's coughdobecough unique.

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto. insert clever reason why here

Under the Stars

Written by Youaresotroublesome

Naruto was coming back. That's the only thing that Hinata thought as she rushed through the streets of Konoha to make her way to the gate. It had been two and a half years since she had seen him. Over those years she had changed a lot. She was taller, her hair was longer, her figure was more womanly, but most important of all, she was stronger now. She was stronger because of him.

On the day that Naruto had left the village Hinata had promised herself that she would become stronger by the time that they met again. She would be stronger to earn his respect, to earn his attention, and hopefully, earn his love. Hinata knew that it was a far-off fantasy that would never come true. She did, however, have a more practical reason. She wanted to be stronger so that she could protect herself and Naruto.

Three years ago at the chuunin exams Hinata had nearly been killed by her cousin Neji. After Hinata was carried away Naruto had vowed to defeat Neji and show him the error of his ways, and he did, but not before being beaten nearly to death. Hinata refused to watch as Naruto was put through such pain again. She wanted to protect him and watch over him. That's why she had worked hard for almost three years. That's why she had trained to the point of exhaustion day after day. That is why Hinata stood at the gate of Konohagakure a different person than she had been two and a half short years ago. In many ways she was different now, but in many others she was exactly the same.

She waited there for him to walk through the gates, which he eventually did about an hour later. As she got her first glimpse of him in almost three years the shy Hyuuga girl became weak in the knees. When he had left Naruto had been a brave, decent looking boy. Hinata realized then that Naruto had changed too. The person she saw pass through the gates of Konoha beside Jiraiya was at no stretch of the word a boy.

He was taller, about a foot taller than he had been. He still had his messy blond hair, but now it seemed to go just right with his face, framing it perfectly. Hinata was tempted to believe that it wasn't him, but his startlingly orange jumpsuit as well as his scream of "I'm back, BELIEVE IT!" left no doubt that this boy, no man, was the one she had loved for years.

Her heart sank, though as he walked on, staring right through her. She stood still as he walked past her, turning just enough to watch him leave. Then, Naruto's head whipped around.

"Hinata?"

Naruto's point of view

Naruto walked confidently through the gates of Konoha. His face etched with a look of determination, his stride casual yet measured. One would think he was an entirely different person. That is until-

"I'm back, BELIEVE IT!" screamed the knucklehead ninja, jumping in the air in his excitement to be home again.

Jiraiya sighed and told him to calm down. He grudgingly complied, but quickly decided that it was no time to be angry at his "hormonally gifted" sensei. He looked all around, taking in all the new and old sights of Konoha. He chuckled to himself when he saw Tsunade's head on the Hokage monument.

He began to look at the people. He noticed many genin scurrying about that had graduated from the academy in his absence. He noticed several new senseis as well. He silently wondered to himself whether Iruka-sensei had been promoted to Jounin or not. He doubted it though. Iruka loved his job as the academy instructor, and only passed the duty on to someone else in the case of a shortage of adept ninja, like the situation three years ago after the Chuunin exams.

Then he noticed something. It was something he would have completely brushed off before he left, but having spent that past few years with a perverted instructor, he had developed a radar of sorts for picking pretty girls out of a crowd. He wasn't a pervert by any means, but being able to so easily subdue his sensei was helpful from time to time. Regardless of where and why he had gained this impeccable ability, there was a beautiful girl right by the gates. She was a real doozey too.

Long violet hair, soft silky white skin, curves in all the right places, she was a keeper to be sure. Naruto steeled himself though. He had told himself that he would go immediately to meet with someone as soon as he had entered the village. He had realized over his absence that his relationship with a good friend of his might turn out to be far from the plutonic one he thought it was. Naruto passed the girl by, fighting every instinct he had to stare at her. After he passed her by he decided that one last look wouldn't hurt. He turned back to see her pearl white eyes staring back at him.

"Wait!" the blond thought," White eyes?"

"Hinata?" the boy asked loudly, turning all the way around to stare at her in awe.

The Hyuuga girl just stared right back. They stood staring at each other for a few moments before Naruto returned to his senses.

"It is you!" shouted the spastic boy who ran up to her and trapped her in an enormous bear hug. Hinata just hung limp in his arms. Wondering what was wrong, he set her down to see that her face was the color of a ripened tomato. She was blushing...and...so was he, at least after he realized what he had done.

You see, three years ago Naruto would have thought nothing of giving Hinata a hug, but on his trip he had found that her feelings for him might not be what he thought they were.

It all started about six months into his training with Jiraiya. The thing most people didn't know about the sannin was that he was a man of refined taste. Most people thought he just peeked on girls while they were bathing and watched porn when no one was around. Jiraiya wasn't just about staring at x-rated material. He read it too. See? Big difference, right?

Jiraiya, being a well known author of "romance" novels, had quite an extensive collection of them himself, and being as wealthy as he was, he kept veritible libraries at all of his homes throughout the world. He had houses in the land of fire, grass, wind, ect. You would think he was just a wise investor in the real estate market, or maybe a guy who liked a change of pace every once and a while, but no. The purpose for Jiraiya's many homes was that he simply couldn't fit his world-class stash of porn in one house. This and the fact that different nations had different styles to their "materials". Yes, that means that there is a vast network of dirty old men across all of the nations of the world, and they all enjoyed each others work. Well, "enjoyed" might be the wrong word. But that is another story that will never be told (unless I'm bored or I forget to forget about it).

Anyway, Naruto had been stuck inside on a rainy day. He would have been more than glad to continue his training in the rain, but Jiraiya insisted that he stay inside. It was probably due to the fact that the storm was doing enough damage to his house as it was and he didn't need Naruto to further increase the chances of his house being blown to pieces, and Jiraiya was also pretty certain his insurance didn't cover " massive craters inflicted by hyperactive demon vessels". So Naruto had decided that the only alternative to a slow painful death by boredom would be to crack open a book from Jiraiya's extensive collection.

It was frustrating to the boy that he could only read the first twenty pages or so of each book before it took a turn in an x-rated direction, but as he read through Jiraiya's library he began to notice a trend in many of the characters. There was often a shy female character who was in love with a obnoxious, yet courageous male (or in the case of one story, female) character.

Sometimes in the more "romantic comedy" themed books Naruto would burst out laughing and say " that sounds just like me!" or " that sounds just like Hinata!" He did this for a few hours until oneshy female confessed her love immediately after on of these moments. Then our poor little ninja boy finally connected the dots.

"Could Hinata like me?" he had thought.

He thought about this over the course of his training and decided that he liked her, and that she seemed to like him too. So now we come back to the current situation where the number one knuckleheaded ninja has just embraced the girl he loves, and who loves him back.

Hinata's point of view

Is he blushing? No, he can't be! Naruto never blushed before. Not when he was around me. His face would get red as a beat when he saw Sakura, though. She left her little pity-part early and decided to try to talk to him.

"S-so Naruto-kun, how was your t-training?" asked the pearl-eyed girl as she poked her fingers together, a nervous habit she thought she had gotten over, but seemed to be linked directly to Naruto's presence.

"It was great, Hinata-chan!" Naruto near shouted.

"How have you been?" the blond asked after an awkward silence.

"Umm..I've been... p-pretty good," managed the Hyuuga looking up from her hands.

"Cool! Could you tell me about it over some ramen?" the jinchuuriki asked hopefully. Naruto had never been shy about his feelings, Sakura could attest to that.

Hinata stared in shock. Did he just ask me on a date? She stood frozen for a minute before Naruto snapped her out of her daze by waving his hand in front of her face.

"Hinata, you in there?" Naruto asked playfully.

She nodded her head, "Yes, I-I'd love t-to." He smiled down at her.

"Great! It's been forever since I had some decent ramen!" shouted the boy. He seemed older, but he was still as loud as ever.

Naruto grabbed her by her wrist, causing her to blush to an insanely red color, and pulled her off towards the stall that had been Naruto's primary source of food for most of his life.

On their way the two of them ran into Sakura, who seemed to be as surprised at how Naruto changed as Hinata had been. The Hyuuga girl had expected Naruto to forget about her and go drooling off after Sakura, who seemed to be much more interested in him now than when he left. The thing was, he didn't pay her any mind. Three years ago he would be blushing like mad and begging for a date. Now, though, they exchanged warm greetings and the two were back on their way, leaving a fuming Sakura in their wake.

Why didn't he pay any attention to her? Does he not like Sakura anymore? If he doesn't, then does he like someone else?

They arrived at Ichiraku's a few minutes later. They both took a seat and ordered. Hinata told Naruto all about how she had trained since he left and how much stronger she had become. This was, of course, in between bouts of light-headedness and euphoria. They finished their meal and left, old man Ichiraku saying that he wouldn't have his favorite customer pay for his first bowl in three years.

They wandered through town as twilight gave way to evening. The two shinobi eventually found themselves atop the Hokage monument.

" Sit down, Hinata. Just enjoy the view." Naruto said, seeming uncharacteristically content. Hinata sat down next to him, and they both looked down on Konoha with its sparkling lights and bustling streets.

Hinata was happier at this moment than she had ever been in her life. She had just spent the day with Naruto, and now they were sitting together in the moonlight.

third person point of view

Then Naruto turned to Hinata," Hinata, there's something I want to ask you. What do you...think of me?" It was an odd question, Hinata thought, but she would answer it truthfully.

"N-Naruto...I-I think you're a wonderful person. You defend others, and stick up for what you believe in. You try so hard, and you give your all in everything you do! I think you're a great person, Naruto!" the usually timid girl spoke all these words clearly, since she had spoken them to herself hundreds of times. They were spoken from the heart, no less.

Naruto just gaped at her. He had never heard anyone say such nice things about him, and the fact that it was her who said them made them all the more special. Naruto stared into her eyes, glowing softly like the moon. Slowly the distance between them lessened, as their faces came closer and closer to each other's.

Then, finally, their lips touched. It was a chaste kiss, but one filled with passion and longing. As bliss gently overtook them the world around them faded away. It was just the two of them there, under the stars. Their lips slowly parted from one another's. Naruto smiled down at the shy little Hyuuga girl, who looked so beautiful in the moonlight.

Then he said, his voice but a whisper,” I love you, Hinata.”

He whispered. He whispered, but she heard him. She heard him and her heart rejoiced. She smiled up at him," I love you too, Naruto."

Sooooooo? Waddya think? Is it any good? Review and tell me what you think. Oh, and to anyone interested in requesting a story, I only do a pairing once, which means that I will no longer accept any requests for NaruHina. I'm also working on an AoshixMisao for Rurouni Kenshin and a TrainxOC for Black Cat. Other than that you can request any pairing you want.