Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twice Shy - Story Completion ❯ Fears ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Twice Shy – Story Completion
By eternalshiva

DameWren has given permission to anyone that wants to continue her wonderful fic Two Halves which I intend to do. I greatly appreciate any feedback / comments.

AN –Porn muse alert! Oh hoo I broke my nindo and wrote a citra-licious chapter. I wanted to wait a little longer but my heart is broken because of 437 and my muse retaliated. This is rated very mature. If you don’t want to read the lime, read the first bit then when you get to * * * hit ctrl-f and search for +++ you’re back to the story. Check out my deviantart (eternalshiva at deviantart dot com) page for a kickass desktop wallpaper I made in celebration of Hinata’s confession :) You’re welcome to download it.

Thank you Hinata’s Husband for the beta, I appreciate all the hard work you do and how you put up with my terrible writing in drafts.

Disclaimer –

I do not make any monies off this fanfic. Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto. Sora, Yasu, Miki, Nori, Dango, Kaze Clan, Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.

Italics – Flash backs
‘italics’ personal thoughts

Chapter 6
Fears

Rain drops fell without mercy upon the warring village below. Puddles broke and splashed loudly as a shinobi ran down an eerily silent walkway, echoes from his footsteps were like taunts of the living to the bodies that lay about the vacant street with promises of a brighter future they could no longer dream about.

The dirt and grime from battle had washed out the once joyful colour from the orange outfit. The apprentice cloak had long been discarded after a fierce battle that had ripped it to shreds. Blood stains faded slowly as the rain seeped through the fabric and the cold water marked itself like a lover’s kiss against the skin where unpleasant goose bumps raked the body fighting to keep the warmth close. He blinked quickly against the rain dripping down from his brow; the salt mixed in from his sweat stung his eyes and annoyed him.

“Where did you go?” the shinobi desperately shouted, the sound drowned by the torrents of rain. He looked to the right, the left, and above where there were still remaining roofs standing. “Nothing… still nothing” he thought. Frustrated he quickly passed a hand through his flat yellow hair. The rain had taken away its buoyancy and now it was heavy with water, sticking to his skin. He could feel the water slipping below his collar.

He suppressed the shiver when his feet stepped off the walkway and into the muddy street. He tried not to notice the slimy feeling between his toes; he didn’t want to think about how much blood there was mixed in for it to feel like that. He leaped above the street and landed silently upon the roof of his favourite ramen stand. It was vacant thankfully when the attack had begun but it was not spared. It was ravaged by the blast. Once again he began to run towards the smoke in the center of the village.

“Where are you?” He shouted again, ‘please… please let me find you’ he thought solemnly as his eyes swept the area carefully. His desperation grew as he ran through another empty alley, another vacant street. He held down bile in his mouth when he realized that the bodies of the villagers were far too many, so many innocents were lost in this battle between shinobi.

Thunder rumbled deeply across the heavy impregnated rain clouds, causing him to momentarily look up in awe as lightning chased a new wave of rain to the ground and struck it hard. He stopped running to catch his breath as more complaints could be heard from above. He closed his eyes, looked towards the heavens, and brought his arms out to his side, gathering his thoughts together. He pushed away the insatiable fear that controlled him, the fear that had begun to build the moment he had lost track of her in the battle field. The rain kissed his skin and washed away the doubt – she had to be over there, where the smoke choked the battle ground. His azure eyes opened slowly and lingered on the horizon before he began once again his search.

As he approached the artificial cloud, the sounds of battle broke through the deafening veil of rain. Weapons clashed against each other, grunts and moans of the injured threatened to overwhelm the shuffle of feet against the ground. He could barely see through the dust. He attacked the enemy mercilessly as he continued to call for her. He blew away the dust surrounding him with his wind rasengan when he was jumped by a small group of enemy ninja. He looked around again, his eyes adjusting to the new light and saw a familiar shape ahead of him. He dispatched another hurdle and headed towards her as fast as he could.

He smiled when he felt the familiar pulses of chakra she emitted as she fought; he was close enough now that he could see her cream lilac eyes which held a fierce and determined ferocity as she cut down her foes. His ears tingled as her unwavering voice rang above all of those who fought to protect the village, to protect themselves. Blood flew from her target and splashed against her face, it looked too bright against her pale white ivory skin but the rain was kind enough to wash it away quickly, leaving her unmarred by the brutality of war.

“Beautiful...” he thought as her hair danced closely with her in the rain, her clothes were soaked and stuck heavily against her skin, he could see every muscle move and admired her flexibility. He couldn’t wait to fight by her side and without hesitation hurried to her. Noticing him, she glanced his way, her soft look was not missed by him and he returned it, forgetting for a split second where he was.

“Naruto! To the right!” she yelled snapping him out of the momentarily trance. He braced himself as a dark cloaked figure appeared before him.

“Found you.” The man spoke almost like a whisper, there was something strange about the voice.

The shinobi narrowed his eyes and prepared to attack but felt himself being pulled off his feet as the man raised his hand towards the blond haired ninja. With barely any time to react, he was stopped midair and felt something pierce his body. He groaned against his will and was consumed with a strange sensation that made his chakra flux out of control, it burned deeply within him. A rod-like object protruded oddly out of his body, the blood gurgled out from his chest as he was nailed to the ground. He felt another hit his leg and yelled out at the sensation of the strange flux of chakra. Where had those come from?

“Naruto!” he heard her again yell, her voice was filled with a desperation he’d heard but once before. He watched her run towards him. Everything seemed sluggish; he could almost see the individual rain drops fall before him as fell back onto the ground. He contemplated a moment why she had a fearful look on her face. Didn’t she know he was the fearless Naruto? The man who could do anything if he put his mind to it, the next leader of Konoha?

The cloaked figure stood before him, orange spiky hair defied the nature of water as it stood against the forces of gravity, grey eyes glared down at him, judging him. There was something odd about these eyes, Naruto thought. Maybe if was the endless rings that surrounded the pupil or the greyness of his skin; something wasn’t right.

“Sit still Kyuubi.” The man spoke with a monotone voice before he turned toward the running kunoichi. Naruto’s eyes widen in surprise when the man called him by what he thought was a secret only Konoha residents knew about. He felt a deep sense of foreboding as a long black rod-like object grew from the stranger’s arm and was snapped off. He cringed at the motion, realizing that this man was growing the rods from large flat circles embedded in his grey skin. There was another flash of lightening that illuminated the sky and with unspeakable horror watched as Hinata raised her fists and screamed with a rage he’d never heard before.

“Juho Soshiken!” Twin lion heads appeared around her fists and roared towards her opponent. Thunder screeched above Naruto, the man threw the black rod into the air and used the same jutsu he had taken Naruto down with; Hinata was pushed back away in mid jump as an unseen wave of air pushed her away; she groaned loudly as she hit the ground with a sickening thud.

“Hinata!” Naruto yelled in horror as the rod pushed by the force of the jutsu flew at his beloved. The nauseating sound of flesh being ripped open echoed on the battlefield. Emotions ran wild within him and he began to struggle against the rod that impaled him, Hinata needed him but it was a futile struggle as the chakra rod was keeping him down. The battle continued around them, unaware that the hokage apprentice was slowly losing control.

“Hinata!!” he yelled again his heart overflowed with rage as the man turned and looked down on the heartbroken shinobi. Something snapped deep within Naruto, his head begun to hurt and his skin burned. Deep within the sewer of his mind he could hear the kyuubi taunting him, long red fingers slipped between the bars of the seal and rattled the cage his father had meticulously built to last a lifetime.

“Who do you want to kill?” it whispered with temptation to Naruto. He could hear bubbling sounds surrounding him and heat flared against his face, embracing the kyuubi he felt the surge of power overtake him, shattering the rods that kept him down. His eyes flicked to a slit, his teeth elongated and he let out a feral growl that seeped with malice. The man looked up from Hinata’s motionless body and for the first time emotion showed on the blank face as an eyebrow was raised in wonder.

‘Him. I want to kill Him.’

He watched the lips of the man move but no sound could be heard. Darkness had begun to swallow Naruto. He would remember nothing but the roar of his own blood rushing in his ears and the deep unrelenting thirst to kill the man who had harmed his lover.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes quickly; his body had gone stiff from fear while sorrow ate at him. He lay still trying to slow the beat of his racing heart and noticed that a thick layer of sweat had formed on his body during the surreal nightmare. He quickly looked around and heard rain hit the window of his small apartment. It took a moment for him to realize that there was no danger and after careful consideration concluded that in the dream, he had been much older than his current self. He wondered if it had been a premonition of sorts.

A soft sigh caught his attention and he turned towards the source. His heart swelled with emotion as Hinata’s dishevelled hair came into view. Her eyes were closed, soft pink tint coloured her cheeks as she sighed again in her sleep. Naruto bit his lip unconsciously as relief flooded him. She was there next to him and very much alive.

He recalled that after returning home from Tenten’s shop last night, he had found her still here and asleep in his bed. Instead of waking her up to send her home, he had left word with Neji that she was too exhausted to go home after the exams and would stay at his place. Naruto had to admit that Neji had looked troubled but it wasn’t until he had returned home he realized he had unknowingly given Neji the task to cover for Hinata as she slept at her boyfriend’s apartment. It was far too late to do anything about it by then so Naruto had simply crawled into bed and let sleep take him, easily giving up on the problem and consequence without a second thought.

Naruto rolled over towards her and pulled her into him, spooning her sleeping figure. She stirred briefly as he settled her close to him. Worry flooded him again as he saw a flash of her motionless body from the nightmare, it had shaken him deeply and unexpectedly. She had looked much older in the dream and somehow that relieved him. He concentrated on her breathing, trying to erase the memory but it wasn’t enough. He kissed the back of her neck gently, nuzzling the hair out of the way and breathing in her scent. She stirred again in the midst of his affections, his hands slipped down and over her arms, pulling her closer in a desperate attempt to shake a deeply rooted fear.

He gently moved away the fabric of her shirt off her shoulder with his nose as he continued to kiss the curve, feeling the warmth of her body. She moved her shoulder a little, giving him more room to continue his soft assault as she began to wake.

“Naruto-kun?” her voice was laced thick with the sound of sleep and curiosity but he ignored her question as he continued to kiss her, following the curve of the nape of her neck and without thinking he began to lick her skin, tasting her essence. He smiled a little when she sucked in a breath, her body stiffened at the new sensation he was giving her.

He debated a moment before letting his fingers slip away from her arms and touched her tentatively, exploring her in a very chaste fashion. He could feel her relax as they lightly came down the side of her ribs and grabbed her hip, squeezing it lightly before he slipped a hand under her shirt. Hinata bit her lower lip in anticipation as goose bumps began to form on the areas he was now freely touching. It wasn’t the first time he was like this but it felt more intimate today, maybe it was because she could feel some sort of desperation in his ministration. Her face began to warm when his hand continued to move upwards past the approved zones, her heart was beating fast and with her mind still fuzzy from sleep, she wasn’t sure if she was dreaming.

She sucked in another breath as she felt his tongue lick between the top of her shoulder blades and small nips of his teeth on her skin. It gave her a delicious shiver to which she openly let the sound of her appreciation escape her lips. Encouraged, Naruto braved into foreign but always tempting territory as Hinata reached up and over her head to touch his hair, freeing the access to her breasts in a silent invitation.

She closed her eyes as the rough, callous tips of his fingers pressed against her and caressed the skin below the breast, she felt him pause a moment mid-lick, she complained with a sigh but he was unsure how she would react to his next move – she put her hand over his and pulled it up towards the waiting mounds of flesh eager for his touch. His uncertainty successfully silenced he continued his attentions on her back, his lips pressing lightly against the goose bumps forming at his touch before licking them away. His large hands moulded against her breast and he let out a groan, leaning his forehead against the nape of her neck. She filled his hand with perfection, a gift meant only for him he thought as the soft supple nipple began to harden in the center of his palm.

She shuddered when the wet trail he had left on her skin cooled with the rush of his breath. He softly called her name and she turned nervously to look at him, her eyes peeked shyly to him and to her embarrassment he extracted another small feminine moan from her by squeezing her breast gently. He wanted to see what she looked like when she made that noise. He smiled at her before leaning down towards her lips and kissed her, licked her lips lightly begging to be let in. After a short emergency meeting in her head, Hinata had unanimously voted that this was not a dream and that she had no interest in stopping Naruto.

She smiled against his lips and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. She rolled her body towards him, never breaking the kiss and pulled him closer to her, reacting to instincts as she wanted to be touched more. Naruto’s eyes widen in surprise as he felt her own hands slip under his shirt as she experimentally touched his skin, he noticed the small shake in her touch, she was very nervous but the thought vanished when one leg slipped over his hip and without trouble, he lost himself in the taste of her mouth.

Somehow in the midst of kissing, Hinata found herself under Naruto, she had trapped him between her thighs as he nipped and licked the skin of her neck, she felt flushed and hot as he kept finding new spots on her skin that made her moan without restraint. She wanted to be embarrassed but she couldn’t find it in her to suppress the need to vocalise the things he made her feel, she was drowning in the new sensations his hands and lips were providing and she couldn’t help but shamelessly want to discover more.

She was beginning to pant lightly as she felt his hips grind against her, it was teasing her with a promise of delight she was sure she’d never experienced before. Her fingers made their way up his back and pressed against the muscles, relishing the feel of them tensing; she scratched down lightly with both her hands drawing out a hiss from her love against her neck. She liked that reaction and did it again, only this time he moaned and sucked at the skin of her neck in retaliation, making her senses reel.

She felt her stomach flutter as he growled his pleasure and bit her collar bone teasingly, making her moan again. Her eyes rolled in pleasure as she felt him pinch one nipple lightly, his lips swallowed and tasted her mouth, whispered her name slowly, thick with want. She sucked in a breath and her eyes opened wide in surprise; he looked at her unsure but determined as he pulled up her shirt over her breasts. He smiled nervously at her before his head dipped down towards the exposed firm breast. Thoughts of uneasiness slipped away from her mind when she felt the wetness of his mouth lick the length of her ribcage, the base of her breast and slowly made its way to the nipple. Lastly he nipped the tip and extracted another delicious sound from his flustered girlfriend.

He peered up from his efforts and watched her face. She was biting her lower lip, her brow knitted together as she tried to sort out and identify all the sensations assaulting her. He held back a moan when he thought that the flush of her skin made her glow with want. He closed his eyes and smiled as he sucked down on the nipple and ground his hips against hers. Her heartbeat increased and he could see it pound under her skin before she moaned his name and pulled his hair in need. She wanted his lips again, wanted to taste him.

He moved up away from her breasts and dove deep into her mouth; she kissed him back with fierce passion and unconsciously moved her hips in slow grinding movements. She groaned in his mouth as that feeling between her legs was becoming more intense, teasing her relentlessly. She felt sticky and damp inside her undergarments but it didn’t seem strange, it only added to her pleasure.

Naruto’s erection was aching, trapped under his pants and it screamed to be free. He groaned in her mouth as her movements continued to increase in speed and the pressure of her heated sex pressed against his own picked at his control. He was grateful for a moment they were both still dressed, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to restrain himself if there were no barriers to stop him.

He felt her hands slip down the length of his back and slip under his pants. She pressed her hands hard against his buttocks, forcing him to grind her a little harder. Something was about to break in her, she could feel it. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew he had to keep moving like that.

He hissed again at the feeling of her grinding. Her pants were growing louder, his whispered name lingered on her lips as he began to feel the familiar tingle build in his groin and intensify. He moved faster against her, losing himself in her heat, in her sounds, in the taste of her mouth. Her nails bit into his skin as her back arched suddenly, pressing herself against him, her mouth opened into a silent O as the dam finally broke. She awkwardly squawked out his name and a low moan escaped his own mouth shortly after he realized that she was lost in the throes of a new sensation and without warning soon followed behind her.

He collapsed against her, his forehead pressed in the pillow as he listened to their fast and uneven breathing. Sweat made his shirt stick against his back, Hinata shifted a little under him as she tried to gracefully release a wedgie that had formed with her underwear. She soon discovered that it was impossible and gave up with a grunt and kissed Naruto’s earlobe while whispering good morning to him.

He smiled against her neck and moved off her and slipped behind her, spooning her again and nuzzled her hair, whispering the same good morning. This was the first time they had done anything like this or gone this far. He recalled their conversation in the bathroom yesterday about how he wouldn’t rush them but it wasn't as though they'd had full on sex, just... pleased each other in a very intimate way. He felt a little ashamed, it was the first time he had broken a promise intentionally.

Feeling another kiss on the back of her neck, Hinata blushed as she remembered her behaviour and felt a little embarrassed. She had to wonder if it was like this when they were still clothed, what it would be like when they were bold enough to be naked.

“I had a nightmare.” He spoke suddenly. “I guess I needed to make sure you were real, I really needed...” he sighed dejectedly. “I’m sorry I took advantage of you while you were sleeping.” he said sheepishly.

“I-I don’t mind.” She answered quietly as she turned her face towards him, curious. “Tell me about your dream, maybe talking about it will make it better.”

He leaned in and kissed her shoulder, and began to tell her about what he remembered. She let him pour out his heart, listened to his fears, and squeezed his hands as he spoke the last bit. It was an hour or so before Naruto fell back asleep but Hinata was still wide awake, thinking about the things he said and she couldn’t help but have a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach.

+++

The two shinobi lazed about the apartment most of that miserable morning, their five days in the forest of death had taken a heavy toll on them. Needless to say Naruto had recovered but Hinata was still suffering from sore muscles and generally felt exhausted. She wanted to nap for the rest of the day until Temari came to pick them up. Although they still had to discuss plans and training preparations for the last part of the exam, they decided that due to the rain, they were going to take the day and be the best kind of ninja there was: a lazy one. Naruto’s stomach growled loudly and he contemplated asking Hinata to make some breakfast, he loved her cooking but she peeked out of one eye and glared at him amusingly.

“Considering you broke your promise to me from yesterday,” she started sweetly and a look of guilt reflected in his eyes, “It’s only fair that you declare me daimyo for a day and feed me in bed.” She nodded curtly and smiled at his expression while snuggling deeper into the duvet. Guilt tripping her boyfriend was a skill she could get used too.

Naruto laughed and got up, made a quick breakfast for them and brought it back to his bed where Hinata waited. He sat down next to her and prepared to meet her demands. He playfully fed her fruits while making strange sounds with his mouth to make her open her own and plopped the fruit in through her smile. Her laughter tickled his ears, drowning out the gloom of the rain sloshing against his window.

Several hours later, a knock bellowed in the apartment shattering the peace. Naruto groaned as he unwillingly untangled himself from the napping Hinata. He scratched his head in annoyance as he made his way to the door, the knocking was gradually getting louder and more urgent. He could swear he heard the wood splitting.

“Hold up, I’m coming.” He spoke out loud before turning the knob and with a very well prepared-and-thought-out glare constructed with his feelings of annoyance, stared down at a wet pink haired lump who unfortunately was the recipient of his expression as the cold damp air slipped into his dry apartment.

“Wha-“ he started to ask loudly but his expression dropped and he frowned.

“Sakura? What are you doing here?” He moved aside as he reached her loosely hanging arm and pulled her easily out of the rain, there was no resistance as though all her strength had gone with her will. Her eyes were staring ahead, her mouth quivered and it tore a little at him, there was something seriously wrong.

“He’s missing.” She whispered brokenly as shivers raked her body, the rain had soaked her through and through.

“Who’s missing?” he leaned in to hear her response, his hand was still on her arm and a worried look formed quickly. Hinata had crawled out of bed, and poked her head out of the bedroom door rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes. She watched as Sakura pulled Naruto in a hug, tears freely flowing from her eyes.

“Naruto, what’s going on?” she walked toward the two friends, frowning at the sobbing sounds coming from the dripping huddled form against his chest. Naruto opened his mouth to answer her but yet again, was cut off.

“Oh Hinata, Sasuke’s gone missing!” Sakura spoke exasperated. Hinata’s eyes widen in surprise and a small gasp escaped her lips. A fresh wave of sorrow washed over Sakura as her mind replayed the news from Kakashi.

“There’s been no word from him Sakura, it’s been well over a week. Tsunade’s requested me to put together a search party.” He placed a hand on shoulder lightly as she absorbed the news.

“Let me go with you. I’m a medical ninja, you can use me.” She spoke right away but Kakashi only shook his head in disagreement.

“Not to sound like a stick in the mud but you would be cumbersome. You need to stay here, you are not allowed to go, Hokage’s orders.” He spoke softly, trying to avoid a violent encounter with her. But what came next he didn’t expect. She hugged him suddenly and wished his safe return. She turned and closed the door quietly. Kakashi stood there a bit dumbfounded at her reaction and knocked again on the door but she did not answer.

Sakura had slid down against the door and laid her chin against the top of her knees, hugging them tightly. Her mouth opened lightly as she let out a silent wail and thick tears slipped down her cheeks.

After he had left, she had left her apartment and had been wandering aimlessly for two hours in the rain; she was angry with Tsunade for agreeing to Sasuke’s unreasonable terms and for the first time in several years felt helpless. Without realizing she had climbed up the stairs to Naruto’s apartment and here she was in the heat of his embrace, wishing for Sasuke.

Naruto wrapped his arms tightly around his oldest friend and Hinata rushed to his side, wrapping her own arms around the pink-haired girl. She cooed soothing words to Sakura, calming her sobs and slowly pried her off Naruto so they could warm her up.

“She needs to dry Naruto, go get some towels and some of my clothing. She's soaked to the bone.” He nodded and went about his assigned task. Hinata sat Sakura down on the couch, reached over edge and pulled out a blanket, covering her before she got up and put on the tea kettle. Naruto could hear Hinata preparing tea and momentarily wondered how it was that tea seemed to solve the world’s problems.

“Kakashi… He… gathered up a team and left.” She began, her emotions a little bit more under control. “He took Kiba and Shino I think, they’re the best trackers. He wanted to take Neji as well but… I stopped listening.” Sakura hiccupped between words, her sorrow still raw and exposed. Hinata nodded at the choice for a tracking team and if Neji did go, he would complement the effort.

“Kakashi made a great choice. If anyone can track Sasuke, it would be my teammates and my cousin.” Sakura looked to Hinata with a small glimmer of hope in her eyes, comforted by the words of her friend. She took the hot cup from Hinata and blew the steam away, deep in thought. Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion as he considered joining them. He came out of the bedroom with a fresh towel and clothing for Sakura, laid them on the couch quietly, contemplating what he was about to say. He fidgeted a moment before her as she watched him, her eyes swollen from crying. He could feel the pit of his stomach drop.

“You have the exams Naruto, you can’t just leave and ignore your commitment.” She had read his mind and his face faltered a moment as guilt ate at him. She gave him a sad smile in an attempt to make him feel better about his inability to go but it made him feel worst. She looked broken.

“I don’t feel right about this. I should be looking out there too.” He spoke thoughtfully before putting a towel over Sakura’s head in a brotherly fashion. She squawked at the sudden blindness and Naruto rolled his eyes when she loudly complained. At least for a moment he had distracted her. He sat down at the table and looked at her. Hinata had a finger pressed to her lips, showing she was deep in thought over what could have happened to the boy.

“Tell me what you know Sakura, maybe we can help sort out the mess.” He asked her, busying himself with a cup of warm tea. He didn’t want to look her way as she struggled to compose herself from her loss of control. She cleared her throat before answering his question.

“When you two left the village, there were rumours running wild in Fire Country over an organisation named Akatsuki. They are a ruthless bunch of S-class ninja that have an unknown agenda.” She took a sip of tea, missing the narrowed glare that flashed on Naruto’s face. Hinata reached over and squeezed his hand reassuringly before Sakura continued with her tale.

“Tsunade had set up surveillance on their known hideouts and Jiraiya has been sent out several times to report on rumoured battles between the organisation and Fire country shinobi. The last battle they encountered was seriously dangerous. Jiraiya had explained that the ground was still burning with a menacing chakra and confirmed the death of one Akatsuki member.” She sighed.

“That’s when Sasuke was made aware that Itachi had taken part in that battle and had been severely injured.” She closed her eyes as she recalled the heated argument of that night.

“He then demanded that he be part of the reconnaissance team. His thirst for vengeance had returned in full force. We fought about it, so much. I was scared he’d do something stupid.” Anger laced her last words and Naruto nodded in agreement. He figured Sasuke would do something stupid regardless.

“Two weeks ago, new rumours of Itachi and Akatsuki surfaced. Tsunade sent him out on an information gathering mission to check all the known hideouts and try to determine where the new ones were, pretty routine some would say but I have a terrible feeling.” She looked down into the now empty cup of tea and bit her lip in wonder.

“Now he’s gone missing and I-I… I think he lost himself to revenge if he met with Itachi or worse, he came across a battle he couldn’t win.” She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and sobbed again. She couldn’t bare it, how was she supposed to live without him?

Naruto snorted, Sakura opened her eyes and gave him a confused look. He frowned in disagreement with what she was thinking and didn’t like how she seemed a shell of her old self.

“That bastard’s too scared of you to run off without a word. And I know him well enough that coming home to your violence isn’t something he wants to deal with so he’d do anything in his power to make sure he stayed on your good side. Trust me Sakura, he may be a cold-hearted bastard to everyone else but he loves you too much to die.” He nodded certain of his reasoning.

Hinata had to hold back a groan of disbelief. That had to be the worst words of comfort she’d ever heard come out of his mouth but to her surprise, Sakura laughed. She was laughing hard enough she had fallen over on the couch. Naruto gave her an annoyed look.

“What’s so funny?” he scowled at her.

“I-I honestly don’t know” she squawked out, hiccupping her words between bouts of laughter. His face pinched and pouted and he tried to ignore her hysterical laughing.

“I’m sorry Naruto, but hearing you say that, I got this strange image in my head... in fact it’s the look on Sasuke’s face every time we got in an argument at home. I have to agree, he always had this horrified look on his face when he pissed me off.” He looked at her sideways considering if she was being honest.

“Thank you though... Naruto. You gave me hope again.” He nodded, arms crossed against his chest. He was still annoyed she laughed at him.

“Well, you can stay here as long as you want Sakura.” He offered. She smiled, her eyes dampened again and he looked away, giving her a minute to recompose herself. He knew she was strong but everyone needs a shoulder to cry on sometimes and this was her time.

He watched Sakura gather up the clothes he had laid out at his girlfriend’s request and walk toward the bathroom. Hinata followed after her, their chatter fell into girl talk. She was going to help Sakura prepare for a soothing bath. At first she objected but once her body was submerged deep under the bubbles and felt the heat warm her cold stiff limbs, she was thankful that Hinata had convinced her. She asked Hinata to stay while she bathed. There were certain things she didn’t want to share with a boy in the room and needed a female ear. The dark-haired kunoichi smiled and looked down at the pink head surrounded by a mass of bubbles and offered to wash her back.

“I have a few things to talk about too.” Hinata said.

“Oh? Something happen I should know about?” Sakura wiggled her eyebrows with a knowing grin spreading on her face. Hinata blushed.

He heard the girls' muffled laughter behind the door and rolled his eyes. He had a feeling that laughter was at his expense. Blocking out the musical sound of Hinata’s voice, he looked down at the table deeply in thought and sighed in frustration.

“What did you get yourself into Sasuke-teme?”

* * *

Hinata opened the curtains and smiled as the late afternoon sun peeked out behind the dark clouds. Finally, Sakura was soundly sleeping in Naruto’s room. Hinata was relieved that they had managed to soothe her worries. He grinned at his girlfriend as she opened the windows to air out the apartment – they were expecting Temari to show up any minute.

“What should we do for training?” she asked quietly.

“Well... we should continue to review the sets for partnership. I need to keep developing the nine principles since I’m still having trouble focusing.” He thought about what Nori had said.

“Beyond the forms, Shino-To-Be and Shino-Tsu-Hiko have what are referred to as principles. Once you’ve mastered the forms, you move into a place where the actual punches and strikes you use aren’t where your focus is going. They happen automatically. Instead you are looking towards a, well, almost a feeling. There’s the principle of engulfing, the principle of disorientation, the principle of devastation, and a half a dozen more.”

“So you want me to start thinking about these principle things?”

“Well, we’ll be starting you off really early, and there’s a limited amount I can teach you because I left before I could get much, but I think it’s important to get you started.”

“Why?”

Nori smiled. “Because before you can learn the nine principles, you have to learn intention. And I’ve never met someone who could be as intent on doing something as you.” [1]

He sighed at the memory before continuing, that man had taught so many things, he missed him. “I was thinking of asking Lee to help with some stamina training and maybe get him to help me learn more focusing techniques, I’m sure he’d be full of advice for both of us.” She nodded at his suggestions.

“It wouldn’t hurt to see where we could improve.” She added. “Neji has mentioned that with what he’d seen from my chakra control, there are a few more advanced moves I can learn, some could potentially have a more lethal effect with the Shina-To-Be.” She had brought both her hands up in front of her and fisted them, anticipating the opportunity to learn more about her family arts.

Naruto swallowed hard as he remembered his dream. She had used a move where two chakra lions rushed out to attack. A cold feeling overcame him but he shook it off quickly, unwilling to let her see him react negatively to something she was obviously quite proud of.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” He replied. She looked at him and smiled.

“You need to keep practicing one hand seals, they’re your worst ability right now.” She added as he groaned.

“The earth ones are the hardest. I can’t figure out why.” He pouted.

“Maybe that’s something you should ask Kakashi about, he is your old sensei. He would be able to figure that out and help you with it.” She had turned around by the time a dark look crossed Naruto’s face, completely missing it. He still had to speak with him in regards to his past. Why had he never told him about his father, Sora or anything for that matter?

“Yeah... I guess I should finally take the bull by the horn and see him when he gets back.” Hinata looked over her shoulder as she finished washing the tea cups and gave him a contemplative look.

“I’d rather learn it from Sora or Jiraiya.” He added, at least he didn’t have rage filled animosity towards those two.

“Well you can’t.” She said flatly. Sora was still taking care of Yasu and Jiraiya was... well Jiraiya. From what she understood, he was under special orders by Tsunade to investigate the Akatsuki. He could be anywhere in the world right now.

“Ok, so we’ll meet like before, in the afternoons while you train in the morning with Hanabi. You’ll find out tonight probably if Neji has gone out to look for Sasuke so that may affect your special training.” Naruto began ticking off the ideas from an imaginary list he had created on the table.

“I’ll talk to Lee in the morning and see what his schedule is like and maybe he’ll squeeze us in for a few hours a day. Then we’ll continue our own sparring and ninjutsu one hand seal training for me.” He looked up from the invisible list and waited for her to agree or disagree. Hinata nodded.

“That sounds like a pretty heavy schedule.” A voice floated in from the outside kitchen window. Naruto stood up and walked over there. He couldn’t mistake that lazy non-chalant voice.

“Oi Shikamaru. Eavesdropping does not become you.”

Shikamaru snorted and gave him a lazy look “I’m a ninja, I’m supposed to be sneaky, you on the other hand should keep your window shut when you’re planning to divide and conquer.” Naruto scowled at the shinobi but had to agree.

“Are you two ready?” Temari asked, Shikamaru had already turned on his feet and started to walk back down the stairs, ignoring Temari’s hard stare on his retreating form. Naruto nodded and let go of the curtain. He walked over to the table and left Sakura a note, letting her know he’d be back after dropping off Hinata.

He closed the door behind him and followed the group down.

* * *

“Ah, so you two are together now.” Temari exclaimed as they sat down at the chosen restaurant. Naruto grumbled at his latest defeat when he had been outnumbered 3 to 1 in votes at his choice location for a wondrous dinner. He was a little upset with Hinata since she had shown no support for him. Still sensing his displeasure, she ignored him. There was no way she was spending an evening out with friends at the ramen stand.

“Yes, once we begun partner training, it was crucial that there were no secrets between us.” She blushed slightly at the various memories of their discovery of each other and finally when they both confessed to each other.

“So you got backed into a corner Hinata until you had no choice but to tell him.” Shikamaru added. “I would have paid good money to see that.” Naruto glared at him as Shikamaru laughed

“Actually, I was the first to crack.” Naruto countered. This shocked Shikamaru into silence for a moment while Naruto hid his grin behind a menu. Hinata shook her head mentally and noted that despite all the years away, the maturity they gained, he still acted like the prankster she fell in love with as a child.

“Ok, I take it back. I would have paid good money to see that one.” Temari laughed as Naruto scowled at his friend.

They ordered their food and Temari inquired about their time away. She was herself mostly curious about what the two had been up to but knew that Gaara would ask her about him later so she did it for both of them.

Naruto gave them an overview of what they’d learned, they spoke about their partnered forms, their time in the West and how they helped rebuild the Kaze Clan. He didn't, however, mention the Kyuubi battle nor the Akatsuki fights. These were classified in the mission and he was not at liberty yet to tell them.

“Ah yes, the infamous duo battle Temari told me about.” Shikamaru said between bites of his rice. Naruto gave her a long look and she looked away. He could have sworn her skin was more pink than before.

“What is it exactly that you two did to that ninja? I heard it was quite vicious.” Naruto laughed.

“Not really, we weren’t using it at full force. I was mainly a distraction while Hinata figured out how to beat him. When we team up though, it’s brutal even to my standards.”

“So we should expect a good show at the arena then?” Temari asked. He shrugged and took a bite of his soy-dipped meat.

“Most likely. Hinata and I will be partner-fighting for our lives. We had to go through something similar to the third exam here and technically we’re already Chuunin by Kaze standards since we won the fight.” He took another bite of his food and pondered what to say next.

“The major difference though is that in Kaze, it’s a fight to the death and no ninjutsu is allowed.” Temari blinked at this statement. He had said it so calmly that she found it a little disturbing.

“No, we didn’t kill the team.” Hinata added. She explained that while Shivani had braved the fury of her leader’s clan by throwing the fight, Hinata still had put her in an artificial death state with no Byakuugan to guide her. The other partner had run off before they had been declared winners.

They both went into detail about how after the clan had a new leader, they stayed behind for a year and pretty much trained the younger generations into the arts of Intention, well what they knew. Nori had taught Naruto only very few, he was left with the task of discovering the other principles. Naruto had somehow managed with that strange ability of his to charm an entire village in believing anything you put your mind to can be done.

“Enough about us though,” Naruto smiled and looked at Shikamaru. “What’s happened here for the last while?”

Shikamaru groaned, he hated talking. “Well, I’m a Chuunin examiner twice a year and also I’m a senior in the cryptography division. Tsunade put me there since I seem to have the ability to crack codes pretty easily. The job is very troublesome.” He added. Naruto raised and eyebrow. He had just revealed his role in front of a ninja that was not from Konoha. That only meant one thing if Shikamaru trust Temari enough to reveal this information so casually.

“Temari here is the Sand’s representative. She normally comes down for the High Level Chuunin exams, the special chuunins like you who would walk all over the younger ones but due to odd circumstances, couldn’t rank up. Also, any political affiliation or situation, she’s the girl the Sand calls on to represent them when the Kazekage can’t come. She’s Gaara’s right hand.” He glanced at her quickly before returning to his food.

Temari nodded. “My responsibilities with Gaara bring me here quite often.”

“Besides that, the village is pretty much same ‘ole.” Shikamaru continued. “Lots of missions, lots of political games Tsunade
hates playing. Lots of rumours about overthrowing the Hokage.” Naruto laughed.

“How is that the norm?” he asked. Shikamaru shrugged and that’s as far he would take the conversation, he was bored of recapping three years of routine. Shikamaru raised an eye brow slightly as he noticed a glint in Naruto’s eyes, he frowned as the blond ninja opened his mouth to speak.

“So... when do you tw-“ Hinata kicked him hard under the table and he groaned, clutching at his precious shin effectively cutting off his grossly inappropriate question. She was starting to read his mind, he knew it. There was just no way he was that transparent.

“I’m glad to see you two are so accomplished.” Hinata glared at Naruto and he pouted. Temari laughed at the display before her. Those two had definitely changed and had to agree with Shikamaru that yes indeed, it was nice to see the two again.

* * *

Hinata entered the large manor through the front door, it was still fairly early so she did not have to sneak about and worry about waking everyone. Naruto had left a few minutes ago and his kiss still burned her lips. She walked quietly towards her room ignoring the now familiar feel of her personal stalker.

Her hand reached out to the door knob when she heard a shuffle of servants behind her.

“Yes?” she asked softly.

“Hinata-sama, your father requests your presence.” The woman spoke barely above a whisper. Hinata sighed and nodded.

“Tell him I will be there in a few moments. I need to change.” The servants retreated slowly as she entered her bedroom. What did her father want now? She quickly shed the garments she wore. A ninja outfit was not something you greeted the current head of the family with. She put on a silk off-white Kimono with a large violet sakura pattern. She tied up her hair in a bun and picked out two matching hair sticks from her box and pulled them through her hair.

Once she was ready, she quickly made her way to his office and paused a moment at the door. She took in a deep slow breath and readied herself for whatever her father had to say.

“Enter.” Her father’s voice echoed in the large vacant area. She swallowed nervously before entering the office.

“Hinata, sit down. There are a few things I need to discuss with you.” She bowed before she kneeled. Her eyes met his and she waited for him to speak again. He took in a deep breath quietly as he considered the next words carefully.

“Since you have returned, I have kept a close eye on you. Mostly it was for the wrong reasons at first but as I continued to discover more about the current you Hinata, the more interested I became.” Hinata raised an eyebrow in disbelief. This was pretty unusual that her father was... praising her.

“You have exceeded my expectations in this chuunin exam.” He paused and had to push away a small smile that was forming against his will.

“I requested from the Hokage a detailed report on your battle with the waterfall ninja. It showed me that you have the intelligence and the fighter capability that I have always strived for you to have, the things I wanted you to have to be clan leader.” She carefully looked at her father, not trusting his words entirely.

“I am extending to you an option I would never have considered before.” Her eyes focused on her father and narrowed slightly. He had to wonder if he had instilled this mistrust in his daughter.

“I am willing to accept your modified versions of the Jyuuken if you prove to the elders and I at the third exam that your modifications are complimentary to the Jyuuken and provide a superior strength to their perfected doctrines.” She closed her eyes in thought, trying to see his true intentions; she wasn’t entirely sure what he was trying to get out of her.

“There is another matter I wish to speak to you about.” She looked up at him, her eyes curious.

“What matter would that be father?” she asked.

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

* * *
Juho Soshiken
Read chapter 437 of the series – Hinata’s awesome sauce attack.

[1]
Chapter References for Principals –
Chapter 25 of Two Halves, By DameWren
I brought this back in since I plan on expanding on this aspect. Please note I straight up copy/pasted it word for word and crediting it properly. I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism.

* * *
RR please ^^; I love reviews~