Falling Grace || NaruHina

Chapter One: Snowball Effect

Now, Hinata was never one to drink her tea before it cooled, however, the first and only sip she had taken was scolding.

This item. This single item sitting beside her on the bedside table burned her retinas. She didn't need her byakugan to see the stains on it.

"Hmm," comes a mumble, the only sound she'd made in the past hour. Her tongue had that not quite there feeling to it because it burned so much, and the girl did not even mind.

Tens upon hundreds, seemingly thousands of pictures littered her bedroom wall of her and Naruto together.

Hinata walks over to the very first picture they took, placed above her vanity. Naruto was smiling his usual smile, beaming without a care in the world, while Hinata stuck her tongue out to the camera, throwing up a peace sign. It wasn't noticed before, but she realized that in the picture, she was the one holding Naruto's hand as it lay limp in her own.

"Foolish," comes another noise, from her own lips.

She was foolish. A complete idiot for ever believing he was the one. The one that would never betray her.

A lump forms in her throat. She could swallow a million times and the lump would not disappear.

That photo was two weeks after she was rescued from Toneri. 

~

"Hinata, I've never seen someone as thin as you eat so much," laughs Naruto, grinning from cheek to cheek, "you're so awesome!"

Still new to the whole idea of her and Naruto as an item, a faint blush rises to Hinata's cheeks.

"It must be all the training I do."

Naruto and Hinata continue their stroll through town.  "Yes, but still. Your body is amazing!"

Naruto was still very new to being in his first relationship, so things like this always slipped out. He had no filter and was still so very oblivious that he thought only of the things he says as compliments. Still, it was enough to make Hinata beet red, and enough for passersby to gaze at him in shock.

"Why are you blushing, Sunflower? Was it something I said? Naruto asks, getting closer to his poor, shy girlfriend. Sunflower was the nickname he'd given Hinata some time ago, and it filled her heart with such a full feeling whenever he said it.

 He did take note of when Sakura revealed that real reason Hinata was blushing was because she had been so infatuated by him. He felt so foolish hearing this that he'd long since showed her every ounce of his attention he could spare.

Hinata giggled a little. "Oh nothing, Naruto. You just can be so silly sometimes."

The two continued holding hands, smiling and talking. Everything felt so natural for one another. Naruto was always a gentleman to her, always willing to hold the door open for her, compliment her, and listened to her. Naruto never forced her to do anything she didn't want to, and he treated her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered to him.

"Honestly," Kakashi would say, "I don't recall you ever being so happy, Naruto." That smile Naruto had with Hinata would constantly remind Kakashi of the smile Minato would give to Kushina. 

"I am happy. It feels like I'm on cloud nine every day," the blonde ninja would answer dreamily. "I don't think I've ever felt this way before. Are you sure it's too soon to propose?"

Kakashi would always roll his eyes fondly, agreeing that, yes, it's still too soon to marry Hinata.

As the weeks of dating wore on, Naruto did find himself on bended knee, proposing to the love of his life.