home is where the heart is

(1)

"Taaaaaaaadaima!" Naruto calls cheerily into the empty house, grinning when Hinata giggles beside him.

"Who are you calling out to?" She asks, walking into the kitchen and hefting the bags up onto the counter. She thinks one of the eggs broke on the way back here, but upon further inspection she finds that three of the eggs broke.

Naruto enters the kitchen behind her, tossing his own bags onto the table, earning a frown from Hinata. "Nobody really," he answers, emptying the bags on the table and putting the groceries in their rightful place. "It's just…habit, I guess; kinda embarrassing." He rubs the back of his neck, smiling at her slightly.

Hinata returns the smile and comes to stand in front of him, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I think it's sweet. And sad, I suppose." Standing on her tip toes, Hinata presses her mouth against his cheek, holding it there for a few moments. "Okaeri, Naruto."

She's afraid for a moment that he'll push her away, and is pleasantly surprised when his arms go to her waist, long fingers spreading across her hips, face moving so his lips meet hers in a heated kiss.

Glad she'd forgone wearing her sweater, since Naruto seemed to be radiating heat. Her own hands flutter for a moment, before finding their place on his shoulders, fingering the soft baby hairs along his hairline.

He begins walking her backward, and Hinata gasps when he back hits the edge of the counter, fingers tightening on his hair. "N-Naruto," she murmurs against his mouth, hands trembling as his deft hands make their way under her t-shirt. His fingers leave her skin burning and she presses closer than before, sighing when his mouth moves from hers to her jaw.

"I really," he begins, but doesn't finish, instead sucking a bruise onto her neck, big enough to be noticeable, but not big enough to stand out too much. She knows what he was going to say, though, and it makes her face burn and her stomach flutter.

"Yes," she breathes, her own hands drifting down over his shoulders and chest, fingers playing around the waistband of his pants. He growls into her mouth, hands smoothing over her bottom and resting on the backs of her thighs, lifting her onto the counter. Her head hits the cupboard, but neither of them notice when her legs wrap around him.

He's hard, she notes almost lazily, pressing her own kisses to his jaw, letting out small noises when his hands fumble with the clasp of her bra. He's hot through his pants, and his erection presses against her, leaving her gasping into his hair. "N-Naruto, did you buy…?"

"Wha…?" He looks up, blinking at her. His lips are swollen and Hinata smirks inwardly, happy to know that it was her that made him look so disheveled, "Condoms? Uh, yes, always, bedside table," He pauses for a moment eyes widening. "Wait. Sex is happening? We're doing sex?" He grins when her face flushes, then pumps his fist into the air. "We are so doing sex!"

She pinches his nostrils shut, face burning. "Stop being so loud about it," she admonishes lightly, pulling her hand away when he nips at her pinky finger. "But yes, we're doing sex. I'm going on a mission s-so I thought we could—"

He kisses her soundly, hands curling in her hair, keeping her mouth on his. By the time they part for air they're half way to his bedroom, clothes scattered throughout the hallway. Naruto says between kisses, "I—thought that you weren't—supposed to go on missions anymore? Now that—ohhh—you're a teacher?"

Kissing away the sting from the bite she'd left on his collarbone, Hinata reaches back and undoes the clasp on her bra when he fumbles once more. "This is a special mission," she murmurs, head falling back when his mouth takes one of her nipples, sucking and swirling his tongue around the sensitive skin. "A um, d-diplomatic mission. S-she couldn't send Uchiha," the last word is emphasized when Naruto pinches her other nipple between his fingers, rolling it.

"Please don't talk about Sasuke when we're—"

"You asked," Hinata mutters, smiling when she feels him scowl against her skin.

By then they reach the bed, falling onto the soft mattress. She immediately reverses their positions, moving so she is overtop him, and trails kisses down his chest, tongue swirling around his belly button, before reaching down lower with her hand and cupping him over his boxers. She's proud now, to say that she can do this without stuttering, or fainting, or passing out, and the look on Naruto's face every time she does things like this is so worth it.

She giggles, settling herself between his legs, pulling him free from his shorts. Hinata does flush when she meets his eyes, dark with something she doesn't care to name, mouth open as she tightens her hand around his cock slightly. They don't speak, and Hinata quickly gets to work, running her tongue up along the shaft of his penis, before taking him into her mouth as deeply as she can.

Naruto arches under her, or tries at least. Hinata rests her arm against his hips, one hand working the rest of his cock that she can't take into her mouth, and she holds him down that way, not particularly enjoying the way he shoves himself down her throat.

Bobbing her head, she swirls her tongue around the head of his cock, tasting his precum. She pulls a moan from him when she sucks particularly hard, and Naruto had once described it to her as "trying to suck his brain out through his dick," which Hinata found hilarious and a bit embarrassing.

His hand on her head stills her, but he coaxes her up, pulling her up along his body, skin meeting skin. Naruto's fingers tug impatiently at her panties and he whines, "Why are these still on?"

"Yours are too," she murmurs, keening when she feels his cock press against her. Even through her panties it's hot, and she—she wants it –

"Here," he murmurs, reversing their positions once more, so she is on the bottom. He trails lower, tugging at her panties until she lifts her lips, then pulling them off and tossing them behind him without a second thought. His boxers are soon to follow, and soon it is only skin against skin, his mouth working her into a frenzy.

What feels like hours later, he is propped overtop of her, nose running along her jaw, tongue darting out to taste her skin. "You ready?" He asks, reaching over to the bedside table to grab a condom. He rolls it on easily, like he's had tons of practice, and she is almost hypnotised by the movement.

"Mm," she nods, pulling him back down to kiss him, tongues sliding against each other as he pushes into her, swallowing her moan and replying with one of his own.

She loves that they can be like this together. When she had thought about being Naruto's girlfriend when she was younger, she had always imagined being taken on dates to Ichiraku, or sparring together, or going on walks and holding hands. The thought of having sex never crossed her mind, and kissing on the lips was hardly a thought she entertained. But now, being together like this, being together in general, it's all she could have hoped for and more.

Her chest heaves when she comes, fingernails scoring his back when she drags them. Naruto himself buries his face against her neck, mouthing words she can't discern into her skin. He tenses for a long moment, before sagging down against her, making sure to keep most of his weight off her.

They are silent for what seems like hours afterward, only the sound of their breathing mingling in the air. It's peaceful and calm, and she doesn't want to disturb is for anything. Hinata doesn't ever want to get out of this bed or part from him, and she knows it seems sappy and clingy, but she can't help it. She loves him.

Carding her hands through his hair, Hinata shifts beneath him. "I need to shower before I head home," she murmurs, turning her face so their cheeks press together. Naruto moves off her, sliding out of her, and props himself up on an elbow beside her.

"Do you want company?" He grins, eyes twinkling again. "It'll save hot water."

"I bet it'll waste it, actually," Hinata giggles, but before she has a chance to argue, Naruto is already up off the bed, walking toward the bathroom.

"You coming, Hinata?"

Blushing, Hinata follows.

(2)

"Naruto…?" Hinata calls into the apartment. She spots his shoes on the mat, so he must be home… Why hadn't he answered the door?

Several ideas come to mind, some of them worse than others, and she listens carefully for a few moments, trying to figure out if he is…indisposed. Upon hearing nothing, Hinata wanders into the apartment, toeing off her sandals at the front door. The grocery bag in her hand rustles with each step, so she stops in the kitchen to put away the food she'd gotten for him, before heading down the hall toward his bedroom.

She drags her fingers along the wall on her way to his bedroom, eyeing the photos he's hung up; pictures of the Konoha Twelve; Team Kakashi; his new genin team; a photo of the two of them. There are at least eight up there now, and happiness fills Hinata at the sight.

When she reaches his closed door, she knocks lightly. "Naruto? Are you in there?"

She hears a groan from within, then, "Hina -chaaaan?"

She opens the door and looks inside; frowning lightly at the mess he's made since the last time she had been in there. He's still lying in bed, blonde head and two blue eyes peeking out at her from beneath the blanket. He'd closed the blinds, but sunlight was filtering in still. When she steps into the room, shutting the door behind her, he lifts up the edge of his blanket. "You're home late."

"It's one in the afternoon," she laughs, choosing to sit on the bed rather than lie down with him. If she lies down, she may never get back up. She'd returned from a mission the night before, and she was still pretty exhausted.

"I meant from your mission. I thought it would only take a week," he whines, pulling her down against him. She wrinkles her nose at the morning breath he has, pinching his lips shut with two fingers.

"I thought you would be a better sensei than Kakashi." At his raised eyebrows, Hinata sighs, "I saw your genin team on the way here; they were sitting at Training Ground Eight and asked me to kick you out of bed." Actually, Ai, the smallest and feistiest on his little team had been a bit sassier than that and used language that Hinata would rather die than say, but he didn't have to know that.

He mumbles something between her fingers that sounds like "Whoops."

Laughing quietly, Hinata sits up and reaches over him, finally removing her fingers from his lips. She throws the curtains open, and is met with three angry glares.

"Go. Away." Naruto calls out, turning away from the sunlight and burrowing his head into the pillow. Hinata wants to do the same, having been caught in bed with him (though she was fully clothed and they had been seeing each other for two years). Ai raps hard against the window, snapping, "Let's go Naruto-sensei!" before the three genin dart off across roofs back toward the training ground.

"I hate Granny Tsunade," Naruto moans into his pillow. Hinata takes a moment to survey the damage of his room in the sunlight, and realizes it's not that—was that her bra? "I hate genin teams."

"They hate you more, I'm sure," she mumbles, moving off the bed to collect her bra and shove it back into the drawer Naruto had deemed as Hers. "Why don't you get up and shower and after you've spent an hour torturing them we can go get something to eat? I have to stop by the Yamanaka's anyhow…"

His arms encircle her waist, mouth pressed against the back of her head When had he gotten out of bed? Either she was really exhausted from the mission, or he was getting better at being sneaky. "Mm, how about I brush my teeth and I can show you how much I missed you…?"

"U-uh, Naruto," she laughs, face burning when his hand wanders up to grab her breast. "We both have things to do today…"

Naruto sighs, mussing up the hair at her neck, before pulling away and grabbing a towel from the rack on the back of his door. "Give me five and I'll walk with you to Ino's."

He returns to her before he can leave, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "Okaeri, Hinata."

Hinata hums at him, watching him head into the bathroom before turning around and getting to work, picking up his dirty laundry and tossing it into the hamper.

Five minutes turns into ten it seems, though Hinata isn't really complaining that much. She'd gotten a lot of work done in those ten minutes; his room looked livable now, and the food that was outdated was thrown into the garbage.

"Stupid water," Naruto is muttering as he walks into the kitchen, pulling on a blue sweater and buttoning his standard jounin pants. "Honestly, I gotta move outta here soon."

"What's wrong with your apartment?" Hinata asks, tossing him an apple she'd bought. He catches it without looking and bites down into it, still scowling. "Everything, this building is so old. Plus I've saved up enough money to buy a new apartment. Maybe I'll send my team on a scouting mission." He grins at the thought, and then nods to Hinata. "You wanna head out?"

"Sure."

(3)

He can see a light on in his apartment on his way back from a meeting with Granny Tsunade. It's either Sakura or Hinata, and his bet is on the latter. Why she is there is something he doesn't know, but Naruto doesn't mind one bit, especially since the meetings lately have had him swamped, and the meetings with her own family have had her stressed and almost irritable. Hopefully that is not the case tonight.

The first thing he does when he enters his new apartment is say, "Tadaima."

It feels nice to finally be able to say that to someone, even though that other someone doesn't live there. For long, his mind supplies for him, or maybe it's Kyuubi just being a dick, but yeah, so maybe he's thinking about asking her to move in, what of it?

Hinata calls back a quiet, "Okaeri." It smells strongly of paint in the house, even with the windows open. The whole house in itself smells new and like her and him mixed together and Naruto loves it, inhaling deeply as he drops his flak jacket off on the coat hanger. It slides off moments later from not being hung up properly, but Naruto ignores it in favor of finding Hinata.

The apartment is spacious and new, which is something Naruto can't really get over. There aren't any watermarks on the ceilings, or pieces of wall missing, just showing the wood and wires behind it. It's also unnerving, being some place new when all he's really known was that little apartment near the Hokage monument, but he'll get over that eventually.

He especially likes the view.

Hinata is bent over, inspecting something at the bottom of a freshly painted wall. He wonders if she knows he's there, and then decides she probably does. There isn't much Hinata doesn't notice.

He notices that she's wearing a pair of his pajama pants, and he especially likes how she fills those out. "Whatcha lookin' at?"

"A mistake."

"Oh," Naruto frowns, coming to stand beside her. He squats down, careful to keep away from the wall, it's still wet and glistening slightly. He scans the wall but doesn't find what she's talking about. Beside him, she stands to her full height and crosses her arms under her breasts, turning away slightly. "I don't see anything."

"I meant to paint the bedroom this colour."

"Oh," Naruto says again. He doesn't really see a problem with the colour. Of course, he doesn't really care what colours the rooms are; he'd let Hinata pick the colours for that very reason, but she seems really upset about it. He frowns when she lets out a sigh, arms dropping to her side. "It doesn't look bad, Hinata. Actually, it looks really nice—"

"But it wasn't my plan. I hadn't planned it." She tells him, sounding exhausted and annoyed. So the meeting today hadn't gone well, Naruto realizes suddenly, standing and watching as she makes her way toward the kitchen. He feels annoyed, though he isn't sure if it's toward her clan or her for letting them get to her. It's not fair, he knows, but he can't help it. He had hoped to come home and christen the new bed, not talk about her problems. This must be what Sasuke goes through. Sakura probably always wants to talk about her feelings.

He makes his way into the kitchen, coming up behind her as she sits at the table. His hands rest on her shoulders, pressing down slightly. He smirks when she relaxes into his touch. "Is everything alright? You seem a little tense."

Hinata is silent, and Naruto feels his mood deflate. She gets like this whenever something doesn't go well with things, just shuts down or pretends like things aren't wrong. Naruto is the opposite, acting rash and angry and emotional (Kiba says he's more like the girl in their relationship when it comes to things like that, Naruto disagrees).

They work together, though, which is a lot more than he can say for any girl Kiba has dated. He and Hinata work, even when they don't.

He steps away from her and begins to move around the kitchen, thanking the gods that Sakura had gifted them with the several bags of groceries as a house warming present, since she figured neither of them would remember to do it until they went to make something.

He makes tea, placing it down in front of her. She reaches for it, nodding at him slightly, but doesn't take a sip or meet his gaze. With a look of determination, he goes for the apples Sakura had bought, rinsing one off in the sink, and then sitting down in the chair beside her, beginning to peel it.

"So today Ai picked a fight with the tall kid on Sasuke's genin team and…" he begins to tell her about his day, watching as she picks up the pieces of apple he'd sliced for her, popping it into her mouth and chewing slowly. Eventually, she turns to meet his eyes, resting her chin on her palm and even smiles slightly when he tells her how Ryuji fell into a mud pit on their mission today. By the end, she's cheered up significantly, and Naruto counts that as a win.

She reaches out, meshing her fingers with his tightly, inspecting their hands. Hers are small and calloused and pale, and his are large, smooth and tan. He likes how different they are. Scooting his chair closer to hers, Naruto asks, "What happened today, Hinata?"

Sitting back in her chair, Hinata offers him a shaky smile. "I stepped down from becoming clan leader, today. Hanabi is officially the heiress."

Dumbfounded, Naruto can only stare at his girlfriend. She attempts to pull her hand away, but Naruto tightens his grip, clearing his throat. "Hinata, are you…why would you do that?"

She swallows visibly, wiping at her eyes with her free hand. "They wanted to be sure the heir had the Byakugan, and to do so the heir would have to have two Hyuuga parents." She shrugs, running her thumb over his knuckles. "It was a pretty easy choice."

"So we would have had to…to break up, but now we don't? But what if—I mean, not now, of course, but sometime along the line we want to have kids, if one has your eyes, then doesn't he…don't you have to get the seal?" He's not sure how to process all of this right now. She chose him over running her clan, she picked him over her family basically, and he doesn't think he's ever been more in love with her, or more worried for her.

"I believe that when the time comes, Hanabi will make the right decision and abolish the curse seal." She answers slowly, wiping her eyes more. "And um, I-I-I don't want to s-sound forward but, I um, I was wondering if—"

"Move in with me?" Naruto offers carefully, tugging her off her chair and onto his lap. "Is that what you were going to ask?"

"Yes."

"Okay," he grins, moving forward to kiss her. He feels hot tears on his face soon after, and Hinata buries her face in the space between his shoulder and neck. His fingers sift through her soft hair, twisting it at the ends and watching is fall back straight along her back. "You never had to ask, y'know."

With a final hiccup, Hinata sits back, wiping at her face with the sleeve of her shirt. She still looks a bit upset, and he wonders if there was more to what happened than she told him. Was her father angry? Or Neji? How did Hanabi feel about all this?

Naruto pushed the questions to the back of his mind, locking them away and saving them for another day. Right now he needs to comfort her, not upset her more. "Do you want to go to bed?"

Resting her hands on either side of his neck, her thumb traces his pulse point slowly. "I just…I think I want a hot bath." Her smile isn't sexy or mischievous, it's tired and grateful, and Naruto stands, sweeping her into his arms, chuckling at her tiny gasp.

"Right away, miss," Naruto says, attempting to sound proper and failing completely. Hinata laughs into his neck, kissing his pulse point.

"Thank you, Naruto."

He doesn't say anything, just holds her tighter.

(4)

Arm slung around Sasuke's shoulder, Naruto slumps against the door. "What am I gonna do man?" He slurs, jerking his thumb toward the door behind him. "I real—really fucked up."

Sasuke removes himself from Naruto's hold and crosses his arms over his chest, frowning. "I don't know what you should do, and yes, you fucked up. I don't know what else you want me to say, other than good night."

"Don't," Naruto reaches out, snagging Sasuke's sleeve and pulling, much to the other boy's annoyance. "Don't leave yet. I still don't know what to do, I mean holy shit she was so mad that I thought she was gonna, y'know," he mimics the gentle fist movements, or tries to, but Sasuke thinks it looks more like he's trying and failing to dance. "Gentle fist the fuck outta me, and not in the sexy way."

Sneering, Sasuke turns away. Sakura was probably wondering why he wasn't home yet. "Dobe, I don't know what to say. I'd kill you if you did that too."

"But I meant well!" He whines, knocking his head back against the door. "I didn't mean to make her angry or nothin', y'know, just to show her that I care and shit, and that they're wrong for bein' pricks to her, but I fucked up and even Shino was being more silent and stingy than usual!"

"Keep it down," Sasuke stresses, pressing his fingers to his temples. He really needs to go home or he'll snap and do something crazy like fucking beg the Hyuuga girl to forgive Naruto. "She's probably sleeping and you waking her up won't make her any less mad at her."

Naruto pouts at him, and Sasuke remembers that the Kyuubi keeps Naruto from getting too inebriated. This is probably all Naruto right now and Sasuke wishes he'd had more than those two beers. "Listen," he tries, putting his hands on Naruto's shoulders to get the blonde's attention. "I'm sure she knows you didn't go and talk to her family just to be a dick, okay? But the Hyuuga's are stingy bastards and would have been jerks anyway, since you're essentially the reason their heiress stepped down. And they were bound to tell her and freak out, so, yes, a bad move on your part, but please man the fuck up and get in there before I put your through the door."

Jaw slack, eyes wide, Naruto pokes Sasuke in the chin, prompting the other boy to step out of reach. "What the—"

"You're being helpful. Why?"

"Because," he snaps, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Because Sakura was making a good dinner tonight and I skipped it to be a good goddamn friend and now I want to go home and—"

"Revive your clan?" Naruto interrupts, eyebrows wiggling.

"—spend time with my wife, dobe."

"Riiight," Naruto drawls, standing to his full height. He's two inches taller than Sasuke and never gives up a chance to shove in in his face. "Thanks, Sasuke-teme. You were uh…helpful, I guess." He takes a deep breath and turns his back to his friend. "Wish me luck."

"Yeah, yeah, luck," Sasuke says, already walking to the end of the hall, down the flight of stairs leading back to the street. "And don't bother coming by later if things go sour. I'll be busy."

Naruto glares at his retreating back, and then turns back to his front door. It's very plain, just a brown wooden door, but Hinata had made it seem homier; putting up a welcome sign that Yamato had given him as a house warming gift. He remembers how he had tried to help her put it up, the way she'd smirked and flicked her finger at the nail, the chakra from her finger pushing the nail into the door. I don't need help, but thank you, she'd giggled.

She was right, though. No matter how much he wanted to, she didn't need his help with anything. It was appreciated, most times, but when she was cooking or cleaning, she didn't need him hovering over her shoulder, or making things messier by turning the vacuum on the wrong setting. And she especially didn't need him fighting her battles for her. She had more than proved herself in his eyes and her family's, and he knows that, but he hates the way they treat her sometimes, more so now that she'd officially stepped down from her position as clan head.

Hanabi was the only one who at least attempted to help him out when he'd asked for a meeting with Hiashi, but it had done little good. Hinata's father was angry and didn't hesitate to tell Naruto how bad he was for his daughter, village hero and next in line for Hokage be damned. Hinata wasn't supposed to get so attached to him, and he had blamed himself for his daughter's shortcomings. It had pissed Naruto off, and he'd made sure to tell Hiashi that.

How Hinata found out was anyone's guess. It could have been Neji, or Hanabi, or hell even her old man, but she had found out and she had been pissed. It wasn't the kind of angry Sakura or Ino got, shouting and punching their way through whoever pissed them off, it was the silent, intense sort of anger. She spoke low and venomous when she'd confronted him, and had barely given him a chance to explain himself. Then, she'd run off to Kurenai's house, where he had tried again to talk to her, but Asami, Kurenai and Asuma's daughter had kicked him in the shins, and Shino and Kiba had slammed the door in his face.

That had been two days ago. She had come home the night before, but had chosen instead to sleep on the couch, ignoring him every time he attempted to explain himself.

It was frustrating. He wasn't used to people being angry with him like she was. He wasn't used to her anger. Hinata was always calm and in good cheer but now…

Opening the door, Naruto steps inside the dark apartment. Her sandals are sitting neatly against the wall, and he's relieved to see that she's actually home.

Not wasting any time, he steps into the living room, walking toward the couch where he can see her sleeping. He drops to the ground, sitting criss-crossed as he begins to speak. "I uh, I'm sorry. I know I've said that a lot these past few days, but I really mean it. Talking to your dad like that wasn't cool, and I should have known better. You can handle yourself, I know that, I do, but. But you're my girlfriend, you're—you're more than that, really, and I want them to treat you how you should be treated. Just because you decided something for yourself for once and went against what they wanted for the first time in your entire life, doesn't mean they should push you away the way they have.

And I get that they're pride is wounded or something, but like…it's bullshit, you know? You're making your own decisions and you're old enough to do that. Sasuke he…he pointed something out to me earlier tonight and I feel like such an idiot. You're probably thinking you made the wrong choice by choosing me over them now that I've screwed everything up and I can't really fault you if you do think that but…but I wish you wouldn't. And I hope you know that the reason I even said anything was because I love you. I really do, and I want you to be happy and I thought talking to your dad would help but it didn't and I'm sorry, Hinata."

The blankets don't shift or move. And…actually, they don't move at all, not even to indicate that she's breathing. Naruto moves so he's sitting on his knees and leans forward, pulling the blankets back to find…that she's not actually sleeping there. She's not even there, and he feels like such an idiot, pouring his heart out to a bunch of blankets. "I'm so stupid." He mutters, smacking his hand against his forehead.

"Yeah," a voice chimes in behind him, soft and warm. Naruto turns, eyes wide when he spots Hinata standing in the doorway, towel wrapped around herself, wet hair left down and dripping onto the carpet. "But I like you anyway."

He smiles at her, and if it's a bit shaky, she doesn't mention it. She makes her way over to him, kneeling and taking his hand, staring down at it intently.

"I'm glad you're here," Naruto murmurs, clearing his throat and turning away, slightly, shrugging his shoulder up and wiping at the moisture on his face.

"Tadaima," she nods, leaning forward to kiss him. He returns the kiss slowly, tentatively.

They pull away a few minutes later, Hinata between his legs as he leans back against the couch. Her wet hair leaves his shirt sticking to him uncomfortably, but he doesn't care. "So you heard all that?"

"Yes," she answers, fingers tracing the veins on the inside of his wrist, "And I…understand. I think my father does, as well."

"Did you talk to him?"

She doesn't say anything, just shifts closer to him. He takes that as a yes, and considering she's not even angrier, he guesses that whatever they talked about went well. At least well for them.

He's almost on the brink of sleep when she pulls the blankets down, using them to cover the two of them. The towel she'd been wearing is set down by the end table, and she shifts so they're lying together more comfortably, pulling him down on the ground. Naruto traces his hand up her body, thumb brushing over the scar Pain had left when he'd tried to kill her.

"Do you really love me, Naruto?"

Blinking dazedly, Naruto locks eyes with her. They're both sharing a pillow, and while usually it would be uncomfortable, he doesn't think he could handle being any farther away, as cheesy as that sounds. She's naked and warm against him, and Naruto smiles, closing his eyes and nudging his nose against hers. "Of course; I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble for just any girl, y'know."

He feels her press even closer, mouth brushing against his, just as he's falling asleep.

"I love you, too," she breathes. Naruto tightens his hold.

(5)

He gets home on a Wednesday night, flanked by his cute little genin, and the only thing he wants is to go home to his cute girlfriend.

But, since Izumi and Ai had both been injured on their mission, Naruto had to bring them to the hospital, and then, since Ryuji wouldn't leave his teammates, he had to not only walked two of them home, but three of them. Usually he wouldn't mind, really, he wouldn't, but it had been the most agonizing two weeks of his entire life, and all he wanted was a hot shower and to fall asleep with his girl in his arms.

So by the time he makes it home, Hinata is already in bed, the lights all shut off in the apartment. Naruto attempts to make things as quiet as possible, gathering his pajamas from the drawers in their room. He stubs his toe on the edge of the door when he leaves the room, and barely manages to supress the loud stream of curses that come bubbling forth.

He hops to the bathroom, scowling at his toe for being a nuisance, and then decides to have a bath instead of a shower. His muscles could use a good soak, and he has tomorrow off, so he could sleep as late as he wanted, and maybe convince Hinata to stay in bed a little longer too…

Stepping into the tub, he slides down until his mouth is covered by the warm water. His whole body relaxes into the water, and Naruto shuts his eyes, wondering how long he can sit here before the water begins to get cold. Probably quite a while, really, and the idea is very alluring—

One eye opens when he feels the air shift in the room. Hinata settles herself down beside the tub, eyes sleepy and face relaxed.

"Hello."

"Hey," he smiles, shifting so he'd sitting up in the tub, reaching over for a kiss. It's a bit sour from sleep, but he presses forward anyway, having missed her kisses the last two weeks.

She pulls away first, cheeks pleasantly flushes, eyes more awake than they were a few minutes ago.

"I hope I didn't wake you," he says while she reaches around him, grabbing the shampoo and squeezing some into her hand. "I know I wasn't exactly quiet when I stubbed my toe."

"Is that what you did? I was wondering," she laughs quietly, lathering the shampoo into his hair, nails scraping along his scalp. He purrs like a cat, to his embarrassment, but Hinata doesn't stop, she only does it more, reaching down to his hairline at the base of his neck, then dragging them back up. When he starts to push up into her hands like an actual cat, she drags her hand down his face, leaving soap suds dripping off his chin.

"Thanks a lot," he sticks his tongue out at her, pulling it back in when she moves to pinch it. "Hey, hey Hinata I'm not one of those little brats at the academy!" He teases, smearing his own handful of soap suds over her chest, grinning when her nipples harden through the material of her t-shirt.

Flushing, she sits up enough to press down on his shoulders, dunking him under water. It's not really worth it, seeing the look on his face, because she ends up getting soaked when he comes back up, shaking his head like a dog.

"A cat, a dog, what next?" She sighs, not missing the sharp edge of his grin. "Don't you dare, Naruto," she laughs, scrambling back on the tiles, trying to get away from his wandering hands. "I already showered."

His hand wraps around her ankle, impossibly warm, and Hinata flushes when he pulls her closer. She's glad she's only wearing pajama shorts, because her pajama pants would be soaked by now.

She knows she can break out of his hold easily, but she can't bring herself to. She's far too awake now to go back to sleep anytime soon and she's sure Naruto can tire her out.

Both her legs are in the tub now, and Naruto keeps pulling her up, hands pressed into her hips, lifting her over the ledge. She lunges when he does this, taking him by surprise.

Water sloshes out of the tub, onto the clean set of clothes Naruto had set out for himself, and her pajamas are soaked and more than a bit soapy. "You're such a nuisance."

"Well yeah," he shrugs, rubbing himself against her covered center. "But I'm your nuisance," he purrs, pulling her bottom lips between his, sucking it lightly. Hinata feels herself grinding down into him, warmth curling in the pit of her stomach.

"I guess," she says, eyes twinkling, mouth pressing back against his.

It's not until they're in bed later, Naruto kissing her softly, that she murmurs between their kiss, "Okaeri, Naruto."

He smiles against her mouth, pulling away and tugging her close.

Welcome home.