Hinata POV
'It has been over a week, since the last time I saw Naruto, I have thought of him more and more each day, especially after the last staring encounter in front of Ino's flower shop, he appears to have noticed me and it makes me feel hopeful and brave to finish this gift. I'm on my way to get some more red yarn, since I ran out last night.'
Hinata is walking towards the fabric shop in the village, she smiles to herself thinking about how much time she has passed and all the nights she has been working on this red threaded scarf. Every single thread is a memory, story or reminder of something Naruto did that brought a smile to her face, as well as deepened her love for him.
------Flashback to 5 year old Hinata------
One winter morning, Hinata was walking in the snow thinking about how much of a failure she was, every time her father would ask her to do something. Hinata always messed things up and struggled. While other Hyuga family members were a lot quicker and smarter. She went home and faced, yet another evening of being a disappointment in the Hyuga clan.
The next day after school ended Hinata decided to go for a walk instead of going home right away, knowing what awaits only brought frustration and reminded her of her worthlessness. She walked observing her footprints in the snow, a smile came on her face, the silence and a few birds chirping around brought peace. A swing attached to a tree in front of her caused her to stop. 'where did this swing come from', it happen to be in front of the academy, but it was a distance away from the entrance, and it was the first time she saw it. I decided to sit down on the swing and enjoy the cold breeze from moving back and forth. Something about that swing made her smile and she was glad to have found it. After some time passed, she went home feeling encouraged for some odd reason.
A week has passed since she found the swing, when the academy bell for dismissal rang, Hinata walked in the direction of the swing, but to her surprise it was occupied by a blonde haired, blue eyed boy, wearing an orange jacket, with black pants, and a long red scarf around his neck. He is looking down on the ground and appears to be sad or thinking. She recognized him from class in the academy but doesn't remember his name. She decided to walk a different way to get home, since she didn't want to interrupt the boy on the swing.
As she walks she realizes she is lost and is feeling frightened for she needs to be home at a certain time but cannot find the way. As she searches around her, she is startled when she sees three boys walking in her direction, they are older boys and she has seen them in the academy, but they look like bully's.
"Hey look its the freak from school, man look at her eyes she is so weird looking" One of the boys say it loud enough that Hinata can hear it. She wants to cry but try's to stay strong and thinks of is a strategy to run away. They continue to call her mean names, and as they approach her, Hinata's heart is beating faster and she is frightened, she realizes how weak she is compared to the three older boys. She closes her eyes waiting for the attack that she will not be able to avoid, do to her poor fighting skills.
When nothing happens she opens her eyes and finds a fourth person has arrived, when she sees his face she is reminded of the boy on the swing. The boy says his name "Naruto Uzumaki" and she remembers now that she has heard that name before, after some time she sees that the boy has protected her and stood in front of the bullies in her place. Instead of her getting beaten or mistreated, he was taking the pain and beating for her. She was confused 'what compelled him to do this for me', they don't even know each other, her mind could not stop thinking about him and his actions.
The bullies finally left and Naruto is left bleeding and his red scarf is a few feet away unraveled. Hinata grabs the scarf and walks back to her new friend and thanks him. Then she try's to give him the scarf, but he shoots it away and lets her have it. ' I will treasure this scarf, and remember this moment .' She saw him walking away after saving her, sadness overcame her, but at the same time hope, that if he can be as bold and courageous, then Hinata will do the same and be like him. Naruto Uzumaki encouraged Hinata to be courageous and bold and to put others first. From that day forward Hinata will never forget that name.
--------flashback Ends----------
(Sakura is walking in the village and sees Hinata walking towards the fabric shop. Sakura approaches Hinata and is curious as to why she is heading to the fabric s came shop)
"Hello Hinata, how are you? It's been a while since I've seen you, what brings you here to the market?" smiles Sakura as she stares at Hinata's eyes.
"Hello Sakura, I'm getting some supplies I need for a gift I am making." Hinata continues walking and politely excuses herself. But Sakura insist on talking to her about this gift.
"Hmmmm, you are making it for him, aren't you? Tell him already how you feel and give it to him right away" Sakura has both hands on Hinata's shoulders and kindly shakes her, as a way to encourage her to just do it and not wait any longer.
Hinata smiles with excitement and then heads to the shop. An hour later she heads home to continue knitting the red scarf. She has been working on it for quite some time, she smiles and giggles at the thought of her tall, blue-eyed man, wearing it and accepting her love.
(Hiashi, Hinata's dad, arrives home early to pack some extra gear and clothes for his long journey ahead, he hears Hinata giggling in her room and walks in that direction, she appears to be snuggling against a red scarf and he is puzzled into what his daughter is doing and curious to know where that red scarf came from or if she made it or if she was going to give it to someone.)
"Hinata, I have arrived, but I will only be staying to pack more clothes and then I am off again to another mission" Hiashi stands at Hinata's door as he says this, Hinata quickly grabs the scarf and appears to be hiding it, and then she responds to her father.
"Hello father. How was your day? So, you are leaving again, ok I understand" Hinata stands up and faces her father.
"My day was busy as usual, much to be done with the clan's responsibilities and after the 4th Shinobi war, we have had more meetings on how to be more involved in the community efforts of the Shinobi villages. I was surprised to see so many changes happen so soon, but it's for the furtherance of our clan. Well, I will go wash up and finish packing, by the way, I see that you are working on something, a red scarf, did someone give that to you?" Hiashi smiles and stares at Hinata out of curiosity on what the meaning of this scarf entails. Hinata is shocked that her father noticed and tries to think quickly of an answer, but she decides to say the first thing on her mind.
"It's a gift for a friend of mine, father." Hinata blushes as she looks at her father. Hiashi smiles and gives a surprise hug to Hinata.
"It's fine by me, you are well known for all your efforts from the war and I knew this day would come that you would have more friends, just keep me informed, if there happens to be a boy involved." Hiashi is serious when he says the last part and then he reminds her of one more thing "You still have a duty as the eldest in the family, while I am gone, please watch over Hinabi, and I will be home as soon as I'm done." Hiashi closes the door and heads to his room to get ready for his mission.
'I wonder what father is going to do, he has changed so much since all that has happened these past few months, before he would never talk to me about personal stuff, it was always about the laws of the clan and obeying them. Please come home safe father, I would love to talk to you more about my feelings towards Naruto. I hope you approve of him.' Hinata smiles as she thinks about this and then she continues knitting the scarf.
-----time Skip------
{Hinata is pacing back and forth. She has finished the scarf and she really wants to give it to him, but how she doesn't know how to go about doing it, she decides to head out of to the village and try looking for him,
'If I see him alone, I will be bold and just give it to him.'
Hinata walks around the village to see if she sees her blonde-haired crush. After several minutes, she found him, but he was not alone, worse, he was surrounded by so many people, a nervous feeling came upon her when she saw how many girls were near him, they were giving him gifts. She feels a sense of sadness and decides to head back home, hoping no one saw her, but to her dismay she was caught by Sakura.
"Hey Hinata, where you going? Are you hungry? come and join us, Naruto is treating all of us to Ramen, something has made him so happy" Shouted Sakura.
"Hey Hinata come join us" Naruto feels that weird feeling again but tries not to show it.
"oh..ok" Hinata walks toward one of the seats, she gets ready to order, she overhears the girls behind her talking to Naruto, she cannot take it anymore, since she wishes she was brave enough to talk to him, so she decides to excuse herself out, she walks off and heads in the direction of her home.
'This was a bad idea, I'm better off not knowing how popular he is, with all this attention he is getting, I doubt he will ever notice me' Hinata's thoughts wander as she is running and crying and to her surprise Sakura has followed her.
"Please wait Hinata" shouts Sakura
"Hey Sakura" Hinata is trying to wipe her tears so her friend does not see her crying.
"Did you finish the gift? Is that what you have in your bag? Just give it to him already, you can do it, believe in yourself..." Sakura gives an encouraging hug to her friend and continues "...don't worry about those girls, you have way more memories and experiences with Naruto, I know he can be an idiot, but believe me he doesn't like any of those girls, they just follow him around, since he is the village hero." Shares Sakura. While giving a deep hug and then leaves Hinata to make her decision.
Sakura heads back to Finish her meal, since she just ordered food and was hungry. Hinata walks slowly back to her home, she feels sad, but is encouraged by Sakura's words.
'I know my friend Sakura understands, I feel selfish, at least the man I desire is here in the leaf village, where Sakura's man won't be around for quite some time. Fine. I'm heading back and this time I'm going to wait for Naruto by his apartment. I hope he comes home ......alone.' Hinata starts heading to Naruto's apartment.
Hinata practices what she wants to say to Naruto a few times. And to her surprise she sees Naruto behind her.
Naruto POV
'Is that Hinata? Why am I feeling this way? I'm happy to see her...but why is she here in front of the steps of my apartment, of all places?' Naruto thinks to himself and smiles as he approached Hinata.
"Hey Hinata, why did you leave so quickly earlier? Are you ok? I'm glad to see you again." Naruto stops in front of Hinata and lets the warm feelings settle in when he stares into her beautiful eyes.
"Hey...Naruto...kun...uh...yeah...about earlier...uh" Hinata stops talking and she looks up at Naruto and sees he is wearing what appears to be a blue striped scarf around his neck, she feels like crying, but instead decided to run, but then Naruto's hand kindly grabs her arm.
"What's wrong Hinata? Did you need to tell me something? I'm here for you if you need to talk." Naruto looks at Hinata's eyes and sees a sadness he cannot explain, he doesn't understand why, but he just feels like hugging her and helping her feel better. Then a familiar noise stops his train of thought, he hears Hinata's stomach grumbling.
"Sounds like you are hungry, I can make you something to eat in my apartment." Says Naruto with excitement.
Hinata emotions got the best of her, she was embarrassed and started running off, back in the direction of her home.
Authors Notes: Hello readers, I have added a slight change to how the movie Naruto: The Last Movie depicted this scene. The next chapter will be about what happens (in my perspective) 6 months after the moon mission.