- 7 Days -

"Well?"

"Neji said as long as I'm with you, it's alright." Hinata shrugged.

"Good." Sakura smiled, "oh, I hope you don't mind, but a couple guys invited themselves to come along..."

Hinata felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to only let out a groan of annoyance, "you're kidding..."

"Look, we're here. No backing out now." Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Yeah, come on, Hinata. This can still be fun!" Naruto remained the optimistic one, no matter how much seeing Hinata's face made him want to go hide in a corner.

"Sorry..." Sakura chuckled as she glared at the two intruders, "they somehow overheard and are now here..."

"Hey, you can't turn us away now." Sasuke smirked, "so are we going or not?"

Sakura glared, but sighed in defeat, "let's go, Hinata. We can leave them to themselves, we can do our own thing."

"O-okay..." Hinata muttered as she followed Sakura down the entrance of the mall, not worrying about Naruto and Sasuke, who only followed not too far behind.

____________________

"We've been here for an hour already, and we've found nothing..." Sakura groaned as she took a bite of her pretzel, "Hinata, I hate to bring it up, but you dated him last year, right? What does he like?"

Hinata finished her pretzel and tapped her chin, "do you think we can just get him something dog-related? He likes dogs..."

"Oh please. You girls wouldn't know anything about what to get him."

Sakura hunched her shoulders at Sasuke's snood remark, "well what do you propose we do, Mr. Smartass Uchiha..."

"Well..." Naruto grinned, "we do know what Kiba would like. Not sure if you two want our help or not, though."

"Oh, Naruto. Who are we kidding." Sasuke shrugged pitifully, "they never wanted us to come in the first place. Ms. Smartass Haruno said so herself. Why don't we just leave?"

Naruto nodded, "good idea, Sasuke. I'm sure they know what they're doing."

Sakura stood up, clearly annoyed, "okay, hold it you two."

"Oh?" Sasuke looked at her. "I thought you--"

"Shut up." Sakura crossed her arms, then sighed, "... Will you please help us find what Kiba would like?"

"Why sure." Sasuke smirked.

"Sports stuff." Naruto nodded, "he's that sportive type. It's a soccer scholarship we're celebrating, after all."

"Soccer! Duh, of course!" Sakura beamed, "come on, Hinata! We'll beat them to it!"

Hinata chuckled as she and Sakura took off running.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, "that's not fair! We helped you guys!"

"Well, if they want to play dirty, then that's the way it'll be." Sasuke cracked his knuckles, then took off after them, Naruto close behind.

___________________

By the time Naruto and Sasuke got to the sporting goods store, Sakura and Hinata were already going through soccer gear.

"I love these cleats. But I don't think it's his color..." Sakura inspected a pair of shoes.

"This one's red." Hinata picked up a pair, "but... What's his size?"

"Uhm..." Sakura groaned, "I don't think shoes are--"

"He's a size 10 in men's, right?" Naruto's voice called mockingly not too far from the girls.

Sasuke nodded in agreement, "Mhm..."

Sakura gritted her teeth as Naruto and Sasuke were picking out a pair of shoes... Knowing Kiba's shoe size, "let's go Hinata..."

"I saw some soccer balls over there." Hinata pointed as they walked away from the boys.

"Think he'd like this one?" Sakura held a red and black soccer ball.

"You know, Sakura." Naruto told her, "don't you think he'd have a lot of soccer balls already?"

"I have to admit, you could be right..." Sakura considered.

"Hold on, how about a frisbee?" Hinata suggested, "not only would he love it, he can use it to play with his dog."

"Yeah! Akamaru would love this too!" Sakura nodded, then turned to Naruto and Sasuke, "this is our idea. Go get your own."

"Don't worry..." Sasuke smirked.

Hinata grabbed a frisbee from the shelf and went to the counter to pay for it. Seeing the man at the counter shocked her, "Y-Yahiko?!"

"Hinata! What a surprise! Where's Hidan? You two are always together out in public."

"Ah, it's just me and Sakura." Hinata gestured to Sakura, hoping and praying that Naruto and Sasuke don't--

"What's he doing here?"

Crap... "Oh, I-I'm not sure... We never realized they were here..."

"What?" Naruto peered his eyes at Yahiko, "listen up, why don't you just get Hinata her items, before we go get your manager..."

"Tsk..." Yahiko clenched his teeth as he scanned the frisbee, "... Seven ninety-nine..."

__________________

"Thanks, Naruto." Hinata muttered as the four headed out to their cars.

"Eh, don't mention it. He was getting on your case, and also on mine." Naruto chuckled, but his tone turned serious, "he said you and Hidan are always together in public... What's that about?"

Hinata watched as Sasuke and Sakura were tossing the frisbee across the parking lot. She hesitated, but for some reason, she felt more open to him than she's ever felt in the longest time, "he never wants me going out without him... If I want to go shopping, he wants to be with me. If I go out to eat, he wants to come."

"And let you pay for it?"

"Most times." Hinata rubbed her elbow, "he would be pissed... No... He will be pissed if he finds out about this from Yahiko... I don't know what I'd say if--"

"You have no freedom."

"Huh?"

"He keeps you on a leash like that? I thought the paying for dinner was one thing, but I never knew the whole extent of your relationship. Please tell me it's not like this all the time, Hinata!"

"It... Is."

"Hinata, you have to break up with him! You know what the real purpose of a relationship is? It's love! It's marrying someone not for their money or for their body! It's knowing that the person you're with will stay by your side for the rest of your life! Hidan can't give you that! And that's all I'd ever want for you, is to let you be free in a relationship. Not to be his play-toy."

"N-Naruto... I..."

"What?"

Hinata paused, but shook her head and smiled, "thank you."

Naruto smiled and nodded, "yeah."

"Hinata! Look out!"

Naruto looked back at the shout of Sakura's voice. She and Sasuke watched in fear as the frisbee she had thrown was moving fast towards the back of Hinata's head.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he reached behind her and caught the frisbee before it could hit her. From there, all time seemed to go slower.

"N-Naruto..." Hinata stared up at Naruto's face, only inches away from hers.

"You okay?"

"... Yeah. Yes. Thanks... Again."

Naruto stepped away from her, "watch where you're throwing!" He yelled before throwing the frisbee back to Sasuke.

"I... Uh... I'd better go." Hinata said.

"Wait, Hinata! You should come play with us, first!" Sakura called.

"Yeah, Hinata! It's been forever since you've hung out with us. We've really missed it, you know." Naruto chuckled.

"Here, catch!" Sasuke called as he threw the frisbee in her direction.

She reached out and caught it. Smiling, pleased with herself. She chuckled as she threw it out to Sakura. She then passed it to Sasuke, who then threw it to Naruto. The pattern continued until Naruto pulled out his phone. Sasuke wasn't paying attention and threw it to him. The frisbee only hit Naruto in the face, making him fall backwards and onto his butt, holding his nose.

"That hurt, you know? Sasuke!!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto!!" Sasuke yelled in response as Naruto ran after Sasuke.

Sakura was laughing her head off, and Hinata couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else.

This... Hinata set her hand over her heart, This feeling... I haven't had this feeling of happiness in the longest time... Now...

"Hey, sorry guys. That was my mom. She wants me home already. You know how she is when she's furious." Naruto said in between breaths, "it's been so much fun! We should definitely do this more often."

"Mhm." Sasuke nodded.

"Hinata, you totally need to tell us when you're free so we can do this again!" Sakura grinned.

"Alright!" Hinata agreed, happier than they've ever seen her in forever.

"Thanks for today, guys." Naruto thanked as he walked to Hinata, "thanks for agreeing to this, Hinata. I really missed hanging out with you like this."

"I have to admit... I guess I never realized how much I missed it, too." Hinata smiled.

"Well, see you tomorrow." Naruto grinned.

"Yeah." Hinata muttered as he ran off to his car.

"Sasuke, you dummy! You have to get someone's attention before throwing the frisbee!"

"Well sorry, Mom, I'm not the one who threw the frisbee at the back of someone's head, Ms. Haruno!"

"Actually, you shouldn't be saying anything, Mr. Uchiha, as you just threw the frisbee at Naruto's face!"

Hinata watched as Sasuke and Sakura exchanged insults and couldn't suppress the smile that only grew wider on her face.

So this is true happiness, isn't it? I always thought being with Hidan, being with a boy I can call my boyfriend would make me happy. But this is what being happy really means. Or rather, this is what it really looks like. Doesn't it.