11 Valentines Day Date

[Alright, so I wrote this chapter a year ago and I couldn't help but start thinking I went a bit overboard after rereading it in 2020, so I went back through and added and removed some things while toning down the convo between Naruto and Hinata, forgive me but after getting in my first relationship I realized it was highly unbelievable so I tried to make it a bit more believable, but I know I'm not a God of love so bear with me.]

It had been two days since Naruto had discovered the problem in the mission Team 7 was doing, but, today he let his mind wander from it. Today was a special day after all, and he knew he had to do this perfectly, because today, was Valentine's Day. He woke up early, around 5 am and went to work with a kunai in giving himself a quick haircut, as he no barber in Konoha would agree to cut his hair and would just throw him out. The result of his cuts got rid of the spikes on the side of his head but left the front, top and back as is, he also used some gel to keep it down and in the end, it appeared as if he had normal hair for once. Once done with his 'grooming' he donned a pair of black pants and a green shirt that he had borrowed from Lee as they were of similar size, and his pair of open-toed sandals and his forehead protector tied around his left bicep.

Once he was presentable, Naruto held out his right arm as the summoning formula began to glow before a familiar white-haired Queen and a teddy bear wielding girl appeared. Giving a smile to the two he reached out and handed the two the boxes of chocolate he had acquired after asking sakura to purchase them, to the two girls. Annie didn't even question him and curiously took the box and opened it, immediately she squealed in happiness and began devouring the chocolate. Meanwhile, Ashe also accepted hers and tasted one, pleasantly surprised at the taste she looked to Naruto with confusion, laughing, Naruto explained. "I just wanted to give you two a little gift after all the help you both gave me."

Ashe gave an admittedly adorable smile and thanked Naruto as she ate a few more before resealing the box and saying, "I must thank you for this delicacy, I have never had anything like it, truly this is an interesting world. I must apologize, however, as I have a meeting with my friend, Anivia soon, I made time as it might have been an emergency, but seeing as it was only this, I must apologize and take my leave." Naruto gave a smile and told her not to worry about it and Ashe soon disappeared in a puff of smoke, box in hand. Annie also glanced up after finishing her box completely and mumbled something about 'finishing playing with someone' before she too vanished. Naruto chuckled at his two summons before summoning his third and final companion.

Fiora appeared in her usual raiment and sheathed rapier at her side, Naruto didn't give her a chance to spout her usual pleasantries and merely handed her the third, and final, box of chocolate. Fiora, however, seemed to be more aware than the previous two ladies and noticed the very apparent pink ribbons and red hearts. While Freljord may have had less in terms of infrastructure and in turn, fewer specialty goods like this, In Demacia, it wasn't uncommon for people to associate hearts and pink colored gifts as a subtle way of asking to court a maiden, smirking, she addressed the young jinchuriki, "Oho, I seem to have caught the fancy of my summoner, whatever shall my young maiden heart do?" She teased with faux-embarrassment.

Naruto immediately blushed and tried to explain away her supposed misunderstanding but she merely laughed, one of the few times he had witnessed it. She gave another smile which Naruto dared to think belied a more profound emotion than amusement as she stated, "Try again in a few years little boy, maybe then I might give you a more 'appropriate' response than this, as she leaned down and gave him a quick peck on his forehead before unsummoning herself. Naruto completely mute and stunned merely stared forward and absentmindedly touched the still-warm spot on his forehead before muttering, "I don't know whether to laugh at her teasing or cry at the fact I'm still a child.."

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Once all this was done he grabbed his wallet and began his trek over to Yamanaka flower shop. He walked past a blushing Asuma-sensei, he wished him good luck in his heart as he put his hand on the door handle. The bell over the door jingled as he walked inside and he heard Ino's voice sound out "Welcome to Yamanaka flower shop, take your time. Oh, good morning Naruto, you're up early."

"Yeah, I wanted to get a head start on the day, say do you guys do flower deliveries?" Naruto asked with a slight blush, after all even in his past life when he was in his teens he had never dated anyone, so this actually took a good bit of courage on his part. Though Naruto was slightly surprised Ino didn't take any jabs at him, it seemed she may only do it to put up appearances in public, he may need to reevaluate her character, she is only a child after all...

A glint of mischief seemed to flash over Ino's jade eyes as she asked: "Oh, it depends, who are they being delivered to?" Naruto hesitated for a second before looking her in the eyes as he said "Hinata-chan." Ino's eyes widened at this, it was easy to tell that Hinata had had a crush on Naruto for a long time since the first day of the academy no less. "I'll do it, but let me warn you Naruto, if you ever do anything to hurt Hinata-chan, I will beat you black and blue myself... Now, what kind of flowers do you want to be sent?" The switch between deathly serious and bubbly threw him for a loop for a second but he quickly rebounded and began looking through different bouquets of roses and violets before grabbing one of the bigger bouquets. "Alright, your total comes out to... Six thousand Ryo." Ino said simply, but Naruto cringed inside, that's half of his current savings... but it's worth it. He was brought out of his money crisis when Ino asked him a question. "Do you want to have a letter to go with it? I think I have one around here." Naruto quickly nodded and Ino went into the back of the store and came back with a letter that was covered in pictures of hearts, he wasn't going to be picky though. He took a pen that Ino offered him and began writing in neat handwriting that surprised the blond kunoichi, and she couldn't help but read it as he wrote.

'Hinata-chan, I hope these flowers are to your liking, I hope in the future we can spend some more time together as I hope we could become friends, maybe more. I hope I don't offend you with wanting that, but these are my sincere thoughts. I hope we can meet at the place we first met to talk, Sincerely-Uzumaki Naruto'

Ino was absolutely stunned by the contents of the letter and started to think in her own mind if Naruto had grabbed them out of a romance novel like she read, though she found it sweet and wondered if Sasuke would ever say those kinds of words to her. Why couldn't he say something like Naruto just wrote. Why couldn't he act more like Naruto? She came back from her thoughts in a start as she was thinking to herself 'Did I really just compare Naruto to Sasuke... I mean from what Sakura told me, he isn't all that we thought and he is actually pretty mature and smart and even has a unique jutsu. What am I thinking? I'm dedicated to Sasuke-kun' she told herself but inside, the seed of doubt had already begun taking root.

With Ino asking her mother to watch the shop for a minute she took the money from Naruto and began her walk to the Hyuuga compound but on the way there she realized something, the Hyuuga are a renowned clan and are very proud and wouldn't take well to having their heiress contacted by an orphan, let alone the one known as Naruto. She left the roses and letter a little bit from the compound before walking up to the sealed gate and knocking. A guard opened a slit in the door and she asked to see Hinata, a few minutes later the short-haired girl appeared and Ino motioned for her to follow as they walked to where she had the flowers stashed.

When they arrived at the spot, Ino motioned to the flowers before saying to Hinata "A little bit ago Naruto came into my shop and asked for me to deliver these to you, there is a letter in the bouquet as well. My job here is done, so I will take my leave." she said before walking off, but she stayed close enough to watch her reaction, she didn't know why she did it though.

Hinata was rooted in her place for a little bit before she reached out and picked up the flowers and fished inside the stems until she found the letter. She opened the seal carefully as to not tear the let letter or card inside at all. Once she had got it out and opened it while holding her breath she slowly began reading the short message, at first she was shocked then came a fierce blush then, she started crying. She carefully put the card back in the letter and placed it in her pocket and began running towards the academy, flowers in hand.

Ino was surprised but followed after her, all the while asking herself why she was doing this.

A short minute run later a huffing red-eyed Hinata stood in the line of sakura trees, she saw Naruto leaning against a tree with his back turned to her, she stood there rooted in her spot, she tried to call out to him but it seemed like her voice was gone and her mouth dry, she stared at his back as she fought every shy cell in her body as she took the first step forward that seemed to way 10 tons, then the second and then the third. Eventually, she was just a few steps from his position and she managed to squeeze out a barely audible "Naruto-kun.."

Naruto turned around with a start as he looked into the blushing face of Hinata, he noticed her red, puffy eyes and her clammy face, it seems she was scared and shy, it probably took every ounce of courage in her body to come here. Her mouth seemed to open and close like a fish out of the water as she tried to voice the feeling that she had held in her heart since the day they met here but she couldn't make anything other than 'Nar- I uh- Me a I mean'.

Naruto smiled at the fumbling Hinata, his words in the letter weren't something crazy, but for the shy Hinata, they were like a powerful drug, she had absolutely no idea on what to do or say. He knew that he couldn't really do anything crazy right now but he assumed that the least he could do was this. He took a step forward and pulled her into a hug as he whispered to her, "Thank you for coming, it means a lot to me. It may have sounded like I was confessing to you in the letter and technically I am, but I know your family's situation so I won't force you to tell me your response.

She nearly passed out when he did it but she managed to hold on as he whispered into her ear "Take your time, I can wait, calm down." She took some deep breaths before she started talking with her face smushed into his shoulder, she started out barely audible "I also.. since that day you stood up for me against those three bullies. I've been watching you since then, at first, it was curiosity then I kept liking you more and more, every day I watched everyone else bully and ignore you for no reason when your such a sweet and nice person, I watch the adults hit and shove you out of stores and you had to rummage for clothes from the trash outside of stores. I wanted to help you, I asked my father to help you, but he just told me to avoid you, that you were dangerous." Her voice got stronger as she lifted her head off his shoulder and stared into his blue eyes and she sounded as if she was calling out the cries of her soul. "But I know you're not dangerous! I know you're not a bad person! I know you deserve better than you are treated! I know this because I like you! At her last words, they were basically yelled in his face, but he didn't mind. He wasn't sure if it was his own feelings or the original Naruto, but right now, he was so happy, so..happy he was on the verge of crying, just like the girl in front of him, they weren't sad though, they were just so happy. Two people that were never treated like real people, one treated as a demon with the soul of a loner that never knew what it was like to know anything but familial love and the other forced into competing against her sibling and never being shown love by her parents. Naruto couldn't help but pull the crying girl into an even tighter hug as he kissed the top of her head. Hinata stiffened and then wrapped her arms around his back as she sniffled before giggling slightly and for a few minutes they remained together until Naruto pulled away. She started talking to him in a soft voice as her puffy eyes looked up at his "I really like you Naruto-Kun, I wish I could be with you if I could, but my clan would never let us.."

Naruto adopted a stern expression as he said to her, "I like you as well, and I want to be with you as well, I won't let them keep you away from me, I will prove to them, prove that I'm worthy of you, and then I will make them let you be with me.

Hinata's eyes seemed to shine as she pulled herself into his chest, and he heard a small voice come from her "Yes... I will wait for you." With these, he hugged her even tighter than before as the two held each other in their own little world. But unknown to them there was another person in the background slowly walking away.

Ino was confused, was that really a valentines day confession between two 12-year-old Genin? That seemed more like something from a movie, but even still, she could tell they were serious and she silently prayed for their success in her heart as she returned to her shop.