"How time flies so fast, good luck on your last year as a middle schooler Hinata-sama", Neji always have that -sama after my name. I've been telling him to drop it but he insists. Like I'm going to be the heir of our company, it would be my sister for sure.
I sighed while sitting in our room with my hands carrying the weight of my chin. I'm on my last school year in middle school just like my cousin said. This year is all or nothing. I have to do my very best with my studies and I know this is going to be tough because all of my classmates are intelligent.
"Kibaaaaaaa!!", ehh Naruto? Right, our rooms are just right next to each other.
How can I face him again? I know after that confession everything will be awkward. Should I have said it? Are we still going to be friends? I guess I shouldn't have said it after all. Now how can I talk to Kiba and Shino when he's around?
-flashback-
"Eh—I wonder who wants to meet me here.", Naruto said while clutching the small white paper.
"Maybe it's Sakura! I bet she's going to confess to me! Alright!", he added as he sat on of the swings while looking from left to right looking for who might be the anonymous letter sender.
"Oh man, this anonymous sender is ten minutes late!", he opened the paper to confirm the meeting place that was written on it. "Playground. Five in the afternoon.", he read. The school grounds is almost empty since the sun is already setting down.
His stomach growled. "Ahhh! My stomach is even pissed off from waiting. Maybe somebody is just playing some pranks on me on the last day of school. They must be really happy now." He stood and crumpled the paper he is holding.
"N-Naruto-kun!", a loud soft voice made him glued to where he is standing. He turned around to meet lavender eyes that quickly broke their eye contact. She was blushing.
"Hinata..chan? What are you doing here?" A surprised Naruto asked.
"Uh-Ano...I'm s-sorry if I-I-I have keep you w-waiting." her eyes glued at the ground while fidgeting.
"It's you? Hehe. You should have just told me personally Hinata-chan. You don't have to write it on a piece of paper and go anonymous. Haha! And it's alright, you don't have to be sorry.", Naruto said, both of his hands on his waist while he chuckled.
After that was a complete silence. Naruto placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder which caused their eyes to meet.
"Are you alright, Hinata-chan? Is there something wrong? A problem? Is that why you called me here? Well, don't worry, I'll try my best to help you whatever your problem is! Since that's what friends do right? And we won't be classmates anymore next school year so I would be glad that I would be able to help you out before we separate.", Naruto grinned.
"Na-Naruto-kun, I-I have to tell y-you s-something", she stepped back and turned around so that she could not see the boy's reaction. "Please don't get mad at me—and please don't tell anyone".
"Huh? What is it Hinata-chan? And why would I get mad? Hehe. Anyway, I feel lucky that it's me whom you want to share that secret of yours. Of all your friends you chose me so I promise to keep secret. You can trust me.", Naruto stepped forward now back to their distance.
"I love you", Hinata said in a fast way.
"Huh? what did you just say? Say it slower Hinata-chan, I'm not going anywhere else so I can listen to you as long as you want. Hehe.", Naruto walked to face Hinata but the girl turned around again.
"N-No. Don't l-look at m-me.", Hinata said. She gathered her strength again and after a few seconds she spoke again.
"I-I-I.. I love you", she managed to say the last two words without stuttering. She felt relieved that she had finally said those words to her crush but scared at the same time that everything might go awkward after it.
"Eh? Y-you l-love...m-me?", it was the first time Hinata heard her crush stutter. There was a long silence after. Only the rustle of the leaves and the swaying of the swings pushed by the wind could be heard.
Sensing that Hinata would not speak, Naruto gathered his courage to talk. "H-Hinata-chan, I-I want to ask you something. W-Were you the one who gave the chocolates during Valentine's day?", he stared at her back.
"Y-Y-Yes." Hinata said softly but was still heard by Naruto.
"I-It's d-delicious. Hehe.", he said while rubbing the back of his head.
Naruto understood her reply although he could barely hear it. "T-Thank you.", that's what she said.
There was another long silence after until Naruto put both of his hands over Hinata's shoulder and turned her to face him.
He removed his hands on Hinata's shoulder and began to speak.
"W-Why me, Hinata-chan?", he asked.
It took a few seconds for Hinata to respond—her face still faced to the ground. "B-Because you're..you cheer me up, Naruto-kun. You always brighten up my day. My sadness lessens whenever I catch a glance of your smile. You always motivate me to do better—always telling me that I can. Whenever I fail, you remind me to never give up. That's why I love you, Naruto-kun." (Oh yes, she said it straight without stuttering much!)
That's right, Naruto was Hinata's light from her dark and lonely life. The boat that keeps her from drowning from the sea of loneliness.
It was another long silence until he spoke. "Hinata-chan, Thank you. I admire you for being brave—for telling me what you feel. I'm happy to know that I am able to cheer you up and be happy.", he saw tears flowing down her cheeks.
"W-W-Wait! Hinata-chan! Why are you crying? Uhm..you see..I think I'm a lucky guy because you love me.", Naruto was worried.
Hinata looked at Naruto, and he added, "You're intelligent, funny, beautiful and always kind towards me. You're a very good friend of mine, Hinata-chan. Oh I forgot to mention, you inspire me as well. But—"
The pale lavender-eyed girl looked back to the ground and interfered , "I know, you don't have to tell me, Naruto-kun. I'm not expecting that you would love me back. If friendship is the only thing that you can give, then I would gladly accept it. It's not like I'm forcing you to love me back, Naruto-kun. I know you love her—and you'll choose her over me."
"That's not what I meant. What I was going to say is that my mom—my mom doesn't want me to have a girlfriend at this early age." Hinata's tears stopped as she shot her eyes to Naruto, dumbfounded by what she heard. "Hehehe! I know it's kinda weird, you know! But mom found out about me being slapped by a girl after I had confessed my feelings to her."
'Sakura-chan', Hinata thought. Tears began streaming down her face again.
"Ooh!! Hinata-chan please stop crying! I hope you understand.", Naruto tried to calm Hinata.
"I know! Why don't we make a promise? You know, we're too young but who knows what's ahead of us, right? I don't want to waste this confession of yours, Hinata-chan. Will you wait for me?", Naruto said.
Hinata raised her head who blushed a deeper shade of red, "Y-Yes. I-I can wait f-forever, N-Naruto-kun"
-end of flashback-
"Shikamaru!! Hinata-chan!! Stop spacing out will you? Hinata-chan! good luck and be the class valedictorian, okay?", Kiba shouted from the door of our room. I looked at Kiba and smiled at him. Well, that was kind of embarrassing. It's not like I badly aim for that spot. It's sad that Kiba won't be my classmate this school year but I'm glad that Shino made it to our class.
Along with Shikamaru and Shino, there's Sai, Sakura and Sasuke. They were the only classmates who made it to this class. Other classmates were from other section.
Ino's head popped from the open door and glared to whom I assume would be her eternal rival, Sakura.
"Haaa! I'm so glad that Ino-pig won't be in this class!", Sakura said loudly while she leaned back to her chair.
Ino rolled her eyes and left. Sakura grinned knowing that she won today's match. She stared at Sasuke who was sitting next to her while staring outside the window. She smiled feeling contented that the love of her life is all hers for the whole school year.
"Tsch! It feels like Naruto haven't left our class!", Shikamaru grunted.
"Yeah, yeah right." Sakura agreed.
I totally agree too. His voice can be clearly heard here in our room.
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Hehe! So how was it! This chapter got quite long! I'm happy. Haha! Are you happy as well? Sorry if it got crappy. I'm not comfortable with my sitting position and I haven't eaten dinner yet. Haha!
I think I should start making more time skips or else this story will be very very long. What do you think? :) Don't worry, next chapter will be the start of a new pairing.
See you next chapter! *winks*
