Hinata and the Orange Juice!

Say cheese!

A few months had passed and it was now days before the chuunin exams.

Hinata was getting ready to go on a training session.

If you were wondering about her date with Naruto, it went very well. They had gone out for ramen together and when they had parted ways, Hinata had been far too shy to kiss him, so they simply hugged goodbye.

They had gone out twice ever since, but it had been Naruto who had asked her out (making her faint the first time).

Her shyness really irritated her. Why? Why couldn't she be naturally outgoing like all the other girls? She couldn't blame genes, since her cousin (who had gone back to making her life miserable), father and sister were all full of attitude (and she mentally added 'full of crap', but that was something that she was keeping to herself). It must be just her.

Nobody had asked her why she had acted so high that day. They probably just figured that she was severely ill that day and left it at that. And man, was she glad. Hinata probably wouldn't have stood having so many people crowd her.

At least she had gotten her sister that huge purple cake with pink sprinkles.

The young Hyuuga sighed and zipped her bag shut.

She discreetly walked out of her room, then out of the Main House's compound and once outside, she silently strolled down the street. No skipping. No laughing. No fun. Honestly, Hinata kind of missed the infamous orange juice's effects.

After a few minutes, she walked past a small group of genin from Sunagakure, who were here for the exams.

Hiding under her bangs, she observed them. Her heart clenched.

She had never seen three people look so... depressive (and that came from the girl who was with Neji Hyuuga the day he got his curse mark). Especially the short redheaded boy that looked about her age.

She took another look at their unhappy faces and then, for one of the first times in her life, she was filled with raw determination. She immediately had a plan. Hinata was a smart Hyuuga after all.

However, there was one little problem with her plan: it involved interaction with other human beings and that was the girl's weak point. But she really hoped that she could do it anyway!

By the time she arrived at the training grounds, she had figured out a way to make her plan possible and... she felt... pumped. She actually looked forward to putting it into action!

Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. Or maybe the orange juice's effects left a mark forever. Meh, she was cool with both explanations.

"Hinata-chan! Just in time!" called out Kurenai-sensei, relived to see her only female student arrive.

Kiba and Shino both greeted their teammate, then the squad started training for the day.

They got harder, better, faster, stronger in those short hours. Literally. Team Kurenai learned very fast.

"Good job team! You are definitely going to be in the finals of the chuunin exams if you keep this up! Now, you are dismissed. Go ahead and enjoy life, children!" yelled the jonin, waving her hand and disappearing.

"Tsk. Someone is in a hurry to see Asuma-sensei." grumbled Kiba. "Well, see you two around. I need to go home and feed Akamaru."

Then he was off.

A short silence ensured as the two quietest genins in Konoha were left alone together. Both of them weren't too sure what to do or say, or which one of them should break the silence first.