Fanfic theme - confession

NSFW scene at the end of images.

           Naruko Uzumaki was certainly known for her friendly personality throughout the academy, as well as not being the most studious of students, but that didn’t bother Hinata Hyuuga, the angel of Konoha Academy, who was known for her academic prowess, beauty, and more introverted nature, that just made her seem all the more cuter to the people around her.

It was thanks to Naruko that Hinata was not the girl who would not say a word to anyone out of awkwardness, who pulled her from her shell just enough to be comfortable with responding to people, and turning down the many boys who asked her out with kind words and soft tones.

Hinata used to be very lonely until Naruko, with her wild smile and loud personality helped her out with some girls who were teasing ‘the introvert’; she had swooped in out of nowhere and was ready to knock the other girls on their asses, and given that her reputation as prankster, and fighter was well known, they quickly backed off, but it was her kindness to Hinata, that drew the young Hyuuga in to the Uzumaki’s orbit, where she had been since.

They spent a lot of time together after that, helping each other out with the others weaknesses, though Naruko’s seemed to be more academic than anything, while Hinata rose the ranks of popularity as her personality shifted and grew.

And so, their friendship had grown close over the years, and her feelings changed too, grew into something she had not expected.

Naruko had once been very tomboyish, so most boys didn’t really approach her, even though she had many male friends, she was ‘one of the boys’ as Naruko had described, but as she got older, Hinata wondered if she had affected her friend, Naruko was becoming more feminine each year, her body had grown more attractive to boys, and her style of clothing did little to hide the fact of that, and it was a fact that had not gone unnoticed by Hinata, especially after Naruko was getting asked out by one of the guys in class right in front of her.

Her chest has tensed up, like her ability to breath had been snatched from her, her heart pounded, and she trembled when she witnessed the boy walk up and ask Naruko out on a date that weekend.

Naruko was curious, but quickly turned him down when she realised it wasn’t going to be a hang out, stating her disinterest in anything romantic.

While the young man was disappointed, Hinata felt a relief that confused her, a confusion that continued to run through her mind each time a boy came up to Naruko to ask her out on a date.
At the same time, for Hinata, when boys asked her out, she found her interest grew less and less, she felt nothing for them, despite her kind rejections.
And so for years neither had the romantic experiences of dating or boyfriends, with Hinata focusing on her studies, and time with Naruko, while Naruko herself never really seemed to change, being the social person she was, especially in the online gaming world, where she had a talent in FPS genre, to the point she was a competitive player, and was on the way to becoming a professional.

Though Hinata, at the behest of Kushina, Naruko’s mother, made sure Naruko continued her studies, in the hopes she would have a fallback career.

The more time she spent with Naruko the happier Hinata got, and then it happened, it was the day they were deciding on colleges once they graduated, Naruko was moaning about the level difficulty of some of them, and what classes she wanted to take, still undecided about her future career prospects outside of ‘esports pro’ while Hinata was expected to go to a quite high end university.
The idea of being away from Naruko suddenly hit her, and it hurt, but it was more than being separated from her dearest friend, and Hinata realised she never wanted to be.

Naruko caught on to the sadness in Hinata’s expression, and grew concerned.

“Hey, come on, what's wrong?” she asked, “I’ll make a decision, just let me whine a little.” she acted like it was a joke, trying to cheer up her friend, then grinned as she teased her a little. “What? Gonna miss me that much when we go to different pla….” a tease she never finished when Hinata  began to cry.

“H-Hey! I'm sorry, I was just joking, come on Hinata!!” Naruko said in a panic, moving to hug her friend.
Hinata held on to her firmly, her face flushed, enjoying the feeling more this time as the realisation of her feelings were finally coming to light and it hurt more that she may not get to hold her friend, and the tightness of her grip showed.

“Hinata, what’s wrong?” Naruko finally asked, worried about her friend.

“I’m sorry, I just…” she mutters, not sure what to say.

Naruko pulled away and looked to her, “Y-You can tell me.” she says, her tone a little off, making Hinata confused, before recalling that Naruko was not one for hugs.
She’d always shied away from them when Hinata had gotten excited.

“Sorry, you didn’t have to hug me.” she said. “I just… I realised we were going to be apart and… I realised I would miss you.”

Naruko looked at her and sadly looked away. “Yeah… I’ll miss you too.” she confessed.

Hinata smiled a little hearing that helped a little. “You will?” she asked.

“Of course I will, you’re… my best friend.” Naruko replied, hesitating on what she was calling Hinata.
It stung a little for some reason though for Hinata, though she knew that iss what they were, she did want more.

More?!

Hinata knew it, maybe she always had, but, Naruko was a girl, her father expected Hinata to marry and have children one day, so Hinata could never consider her feelings for a girl on a romantic level and would ever be considered as anything but a fleeting curiosity.

“...yeah… best friend.” she said, her tone giving away her disappointment of the fact.

Naruko noticed, and her heart broke a little, but she took a breath and then spoke, opening up about a pain she had never spoken of before.

“You know… in middle school… I confessed to my first crush.” she admitted, Hinata reacting from surprise, and confused as to why she would suddenly bring up such a thing out of nowhere.
Also, who was this boy that Naruko would want to confess to? A spike of jealousy piercing her heart as she wondered.

“It was… hard, they were pretty, and smart… but they liked someone else…” she admitted, Hinata seeing an unusual look of pain in Naruko’s face, as she hugged her own body. “It was the first day I hated being a girl…”

“Why would you hate being a girl?” Hinata asked, feeling more protective of Naruko now, which removed her own pain for the moment.

“Because… if I had been a boy… then maybe… maybe Sakura wouldn’t have… laughed at me.” she said, a few tears in her eyes.

“S-Sakura?!” Hinata gasped, “As in… Sakura from class?”

Naruko nodded, and took a breath. “I’m… I’m interested in… girls… romantically… physically...” she mutters, Hinata feeling that Naruko was afraid of something; afraid of confessing? Afraid of letting her sexual preference be known?

“That’s… why… I don’t like you hugging me…” Naruko confessed. “You… You make me feel…” her face flushed.

And it seemed to make sense in Hinata’s mind, connecting dots that Naruko would always laugh and gently push her off.

Her face went red at the idea that Naruko LIKED HER! Or at the least found her physically appealing.

“W-Why didn’t you tell me you’re… in to girls?” she nervously asked.

“Because… Sakura thought I was weird and I had to pretend it was a joke…” Naruko confessed. “We grew apart after that, and I… didn’t want that for us.”

Hinata could see the first and only confession she had ever given had hurt her. She and Sakura were obviously younger then, and it had affected Naruko deeply.

But what could she do?

Hinata had been interested for a while, and had felt the same fear, the fear of rejection from her best friend, but also for her feelings for a member of the same gender.

Words wouldn’t come to her that didn’t feel patronising, or too friendly, or not enough to express herself; she was still too introverted she thought to herself.

Though her answer was not exactly an introverted act.

She leaned in and kissed Naruko, on the lips with a sudden movement, practically lunging at the blonde.

The kiss lasted for only a few seconds, but it felt longer, and parting felt painful, like she had ripped a bandaid off of her mouth, they burned with the sting of air.

Naruko blushed, but then smiled, and leant in to kiss her back, a little more heatedly this time.

Again the pain of separation hit their mouths, but they both still smiled, and Naruko took Hinata’s hand, and laced her fingers with her.

“I don’t think I’ll mind the hugs now…” she mutters.

“Good… I have a lot to give.” Hinata responded, though the topic of their educational separation would still need to be addressed, their feelings were going to be the bigger topic for now, the future seemed a little further off, now that the present held something far more interesting.