Orange, Spirals and Everything Nice

Four: Reunion

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the setting of the story. They all exclusively belong to Mr. Masashi Kishimoto in all its rights.

A/N: (Hey there!) The next six or seven chapters of the story will be set during the Shippuden period up to the end of the great war. The later chapters will be from the blank period to the wedding. ^_^
(But it's not gonna be that long so please bear with me. Hee-hee. Thanks! Enjoy!)

There it is.

She finally heard it.

His voice.

She could clearly sense it.

His familiar chakra.

Hinata doesn't even need her byakugan to see through the fence she was hiding from to confirm why her heart was suddenly racing so erratically inside her chest. It was a sensation she hasn't felt in the last two and a half years.

Ever since he left the village.

The purple-wearing kunoichi suddenly felt weak in her knees as her mind raced with thoughts of how she'd approach the boy she had been missing every single day; without making a scene — such as her usual furious blushing and fainting around him.

Well, it's not like things ever happened in her favor, anyway. With him, especially.

In the last two years, she was able to improve her skills and techniques as a ninja.

Her gentle fist and most of their clan's special jutsus have strengthened steadily all thanks to Neji's relentless training with her. She'd been really grateful for her dear cousin's patience with her throughout the endless brutal training she'd gone through under him.

It was really exhausting and Hinata thought of breaking down every so often in the middle of practice, but the constant thoughts of her adored blonde ninja kept motivating her to get back up and continue moving forward without fail.

He is her eternal strength and inspiration after all.

And Hinata truly became stronger in the past two years. She even managed to be promoted as a chuunin along with the rest of Konoha 11. Really knowing well that Naruto is also doing his best to become stronger in order to reach his goals, the Hyuuga just can't afford to lose.

She needed to become stronger in order to protect him as well.

But she was still the same shy, gentle and quiet little girl that her clan disdained.
Although her father had been more open to her lately, Hinata always felt like she still had to do more. She still isn't even close enough to earn anyone's acknowledgements, especially from her resilient clan, nor herself for the matter.

The Hyuuga heiress had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the shadow appearing beside her from the wooden fence she was safely hiding from.

"Yo!" The same husky voice popped out from nowhere, completely startling every part of her.

Although Hinata already knew who owns the voice, her pretty head still chose to turn slowly to the boy. She gasped inwardly as her pale eyes widened at the sight of that unique, whiskered face of the ninja she had been thinking about all the time.

Naruto's smiling blue eyes met her shocked pupil-less ones, instantly making Hinata's face flare up in absolute embarrassment. Her vision spun rapidly as she caught her breath in her throat.