A few hours later, Hinata was awake, going through the motions of getting ready for the day. She had risen from her bed, from the security of her quilt, wiped her eyes, and had slowly hopped into the shower, like an automaton. Hinata's eyes never looked up as the warm water washed over her, washed the salty remains of her silent tears away. Her head was bent in sadness, in self-pity.

She got out, dried herself, and threw on her normal clothes, pulling her soft hoodie over her head and slipping into its comfort. Breakfast was a glass of milk and some toast, and she munched it halfheartedly, her pale purple eyes glossed over and half closed.

I believed it, she thought, nibbling again at the toast. I completely thought I'd mailed the letter. And it seemed so happy, everything seemed so perfect. Naruto-kun even kissed me, and he said he preferred me, and...

Good holy crap, she fired back at herself angrily, Hinata, what are you doing! You haven't pined and cried like this since you were fifteen! What made this dream so different?

Hinata had no answer, and tried to fill the silence in her head by gulping down her milk. It didn't work. She kept expecting herself to answer even though she was drinking, and the silence became awkward.

Hina, she told herself, it's okay to be shy. It's okay for you to be in love with this boy.

Man, she corrected herself. Naruto-kun isn't a boy.

Man, fine, whatever, that’s okay! But you're being a little extreme, don'tcha think?

I've been getting better, she responded weakly, as though it was only half true.

Yeah, you have. Listen, Naruto will either love you or not. He either finds you attractive and strong, or he doesn't. But he doesn't know he needs to make the decision yet! Why not send out the letter? On PURPOSE this time.

But he barely knows I exist!

This was a lie, and Hinata knew it. But she forced herself to tell it. It justified her waiting, procrastinating the day that she would have to act out the scene on that bench for real. She longed for that day, and yet dreaded its arrival.

I wish I could just be with him and not have to do all this work to get him to notice me...

Would he be worth it, Hinata? If you could just suddenly have him, would you still care the way you do?

Hinata thought about this. She knew the answer, she had had this conversation with Shikamaru once, many years ago. He had been around, and she needed to gush some emotions out before she exploded. And so, she did, and he listened with that logical look, like he was listening to someone set up a scenario on a Go board, or a Shougi game, and thinking of how to move to get out of the situation.

"Hinata, if you really feel that way about somebody, then you wouldn't get the same satisfaction from just having them suddenly. It would imply that his emotions were fabricated. If it's that hard to get this guy to like you, then once you succeed, the payoff will be amazing. His feelings will evolve and become stronger, and they'll be genuine. I know you don't want the shell of a person, or just their body. If so much of your heart, Hinata, is invested like this, then you want the entire package. You want him to validate your feelings, and to return them of his own free will."

Easy for you to say, she thought now, bitterly. You've got Ino, Shikamaru, and she's known you forever. YOU didn't have to do some Herculean feat!

But he had a point! she yelled back at herself.

"I can't stand me arguing!" she finally screamed aloud, slamming her fist on the table in frustration. She angrily reached into the hoodie and pulled out a kunai, rolled an explosive tag around it, and made a growl that crescendoed to a scream of fury. Hinata sent the weapon crashing out the window, exploding in midair above the street.

She was seething, panting slightly under this emotional strain, and knew she couldn't take anymore of fighting with herself. The anger had just welled up inside her, desperately fighting to get out, and she had released it with the breaking of glass and an explosion.

But she didn't feel one bit better.

She grabbed the glass of milk, and crushed it with her bare hands, sending chakra into it to help with the explosive effect. She pulled a shard out of her palm and promptly stalked back off to bed, curling up in the blankets. Her cut fist was clenched tight, and soon Hinata could feel the bleeding slow and stop. She wanted to close her eyes, but sleep always escaped her once she showered in the mornings, so Hinata rolled onto her back, and stared up at the ceiling. Or rather through the ceiling, muttering "Byakugan" in a sort of whine, gazing up two floors.

When it was a good day, Hinata could focus all the way through the ceiling to Naruto's room two floors above. She would watch his slightly fuzzy image toss and turn as he slept when she couldn't, and she felt closer to him. But today, with the emotional turmoil of her dream, she couldn't focus her chakra enough to gaze through the ceiling. At best she could see his red pit of chakra burning brightly, emanating power.

At least he's sleeping well, she thought with a sigh. With her hands behind her head, she attempted to calm herself, to put her mind at rest. It was a wonderful dream, she conceded, but I'm not going to let the fact that so real a dream was really a dream bother me. I'm going to keep training, keep trying to talk to him, maybe try to hang out, and get stronger. I'm sure that an opportunity will arise sometime, and then, after displaying my power for him, I'll send him the letter... I'll take that opportunity when it comes...

Her eyelids fluttered for half a second, and her body began to slow, as if preparing to sleep again, when suddenly, Naruto sat up. Hinata's eyes snapped open, and she stared up at him. He sat there for a second or two, and then bolted out of bed, ran around the room frantically, and...

There was the sound of shattering glass outside the apartment, higher up than her, and, a second later, Naruto fell past Hinata's window, with a grin on his face, screaming "Yahooo!"

She heard him hit the ground, listened to passersby curse him as he dashed off. She could picture it now: Naruto was hurriedly tying on his ANBU arm guards and pulling on his crazy orange and black jacket while weaving through the light morning crowd in the street.

I'm sure he's knocked over that old apple cart, and crashed through the soda display again, Hinata thought with a smile. But that was Naruto, of course. And that was why she loved him.

"Wait, why was he rushing away?"

ANBU business, she thought, and it seemed correct. Which reminded her that SHE needed to get going as well. She sat up quickly, just the same as Naruto, and dislodged a beetle that was crawling up her shoulder. It fell onto the quilt above her lap, fluttering its wings slightly; the kanji for messenger was emblazoned across its wings.

Hinata cursed aloud, and allowed the beetle to crawl into her palm. She pushed some chakra into the beetle, and Shino's face appeared in her mind.

"I thought I'd have to get him to crawl into your ear for you to notice," Shino's deep voice said with a small laugh. "You're late, and Tsunade-sama is calling all the new ANBU squads together. Mission coming up, it seems very important. So hurry up..." The image faded and Shino's head turned. "No, she just woke up Kiba..." was the last thing she heard before the message was completely gone. The bug in her hand fluttered its wings, and flew out the broken window in her apartment.

She sighed, and stood, already mostly ready, just needed to put on some armor. But first she washed her cut hand, scrubbing the dried blood into the bathroom sink. She put some medicine on it, and wrapped it with a few bandages.

That oughta keep it from opening up again, Hinata thought. I just can't let Kiba or Shino see...

She pulled her hoodie off, slipped her wire-mesh shirt on, tied on the ANBU gauntlets and pulled on her gloves. Hinata wondered what she'd do with her hair today, and decided to leave it down for now. Finally, she was ready, and she pulled the hoodie on again, grabbed a pack by the door, and pulled the door open. She stood in the doorway, for half a second, closed it quietly behind her, and rushed down the stairs to the ground floor.

People were still wondering about the explosion, falling ninja, and the two broken windows in the apartment complex when Hinata got out on the street. Inspired by Naruto's actions, she decided to try, just this once, running like a madman, and dashed off at full speed through the crowd. As obstacles appeared, she'd spin gracefully around them, sending up small spurts of dust.

"Yahoo!" she cried, unable to control herself or her big grin as she made her way to the Hokage's office.

She passed a broken apple cart and had to avoid tripping on some soda cans as she ran. Just for kicks, she smashed into the orange cart and through one of the other soda displays.

So this is how it feels to be Naruto, she thought, and giggled softly to herself.