The ANBU and the Assassin

Summary: He always thought she was an odd one…

When a 22 year old Naruto sauntered into the Hokage's office (still Tsunade's since he won't be officially taking the Hokage position 'till he was at least 24 years old—hey, even Hokages had to have limits) for his new ANBU partner, she was the last person he expected to be there. She was currently talking to Tsunade, her back turned to him (a mistake he'll have to reprimand her about later) strapped in to her ANBU uniform, minus the cloak, including the short-sleeved, dark blue ANBU shirt, white armor and black ANBU shorts. Her dark violet hair in a tight pony-tail, held together by what looked like two extremely sharp white chopsticks, her hair cascading down her back. The shorts giving him a very good look at her pale, smooth legs, marred only by faint battle scars that were only visible in the special bright light of the Hokage's office.

The two were still talking in hush tones, barely audible even with his advanced senses. Naruto cleared his throat to get their attention, Tsunade—of course—didn't jump but surprisingly neither did the girl—woman.

She turned around and gave him a small smile, her kind, sort of cat-like but slightly—in his opinion—freaky pale eyes didn't convey surprise just a sort of at ease. "Naruto-kun."

Her voice was kind, gentle, soft, and so familiar.

It was the first voice that acknowledged him.

It was the first voice to praise him (even if she thought he couldn't hear her back then).

It was the first voice to lift him up.

It was the voice that said she loved him.

It was the voice he never responded to.

He took a moment to steady himself, when he was sure that neither his face nor his voice would betray him, he stepped out of the shadows, "Hinata-chan."

The words they exchanged were friendly, warm, but their tones were formal, almost cold.

"Great! Now that you guys have been reacquainted, Naruto, Hinata is your new partner. I expect you to treat her with the respect you didn't treat your old one." Naruto's fists tightened, Tsunade was talking about Taki like he was still alive and kicking. Like Naruto didn't see him get his heart ripped out by a rogue Mist ninja. Another thing that would change when he would become Hokage; there would be a proper memorial for his fallen comrades, for his fellow ninja.

Tsunade gave him a piercing glare—one that sent a chill down his spine and reminded him that just because she favored him didn't mean that he could disobey a direct order—and dismissed them both.

"Where are we meeting the others?"

"At the village gates, remember to wear your mask."

"Of course."

They fell back into silence and Naruto took the time to study her—he hadn't seen her in over 2 years, could you blame him?—and was surprised by how much she changed and hadn't. She still walked with the posture of royalty but instead of a timid—and slightly pity worthy and downtrodden—air, it was more demure like she had secrets to hide. And her eyes—once soft but also restless and steely—now were tranquil but deadly in their laziness. Then there was her body, it wasn't quite as curvaceous as Ino's (not that he was noticed or anything, Shikamaru would kill him if he did) or—kami forbid—Tsunade's but she had more of a figure than she did when she was 14. Long, lean, strong, pale legs that attributed to her above average height of 5' 8"—his thoughts took a turn for the gutter when he thought about her legs would look like wrapped around him—he liked short girls just fine but he'd always prefer tall ones. Her lashes were long and dark and slightly tangled and they brought attention to her lavender eyes—he loved it when it was dark and her eyes were a smoky gray—her neck pale, slender, and graceful. Her hands dainty but still capable of killing a man three times her size, her nails short and blunt but could draw blood just a swift as a senbon—his mind flashed to how her hands would scratch his back as he took her against the wall of his apartment before reprimanding himself—her long dark hair that contrasted greatly against her porcelain white skin.

Stop that Naruto, she's not just some random woman on the streets. She's your subordinate, Naruto chided himself.

Doesn't mean you can't take advantage of it. A smoky voice—one that sounded like a mix between Jairaya and the Kyuubi. Creepy—hissed in the back of head.

He didn't want to admit it but instead of throwing the idea straight out the window, he considered it. Only for a second though.

"Everyone in place?" Naruto whispered into his radio.

After some initial crackling over the radio Naruto counted 2 positives, where was the third?

"Tiger? Come in Tiger, are you in position?"

More static.

"Tiger? Dammit, this isn't funny Tiger."

Nothing.

"Dove, do you have eyes on Tiger?" Naruto thought quickly, Sakura was the closest to Hinata but she was far away enough that if Hinata was in trouble by the time she got there it might be too late.

"Yeah but Fox, it's weird." Sakrua's voice came out of the static, softer than usual.

"How?"

"She's not moving. At all, it's like she's a rock. You think she's meditating or something?"

"She better not be this mission is important even if I don't like it." None of them did, their job was to kill an ambassador with ties with the leftover Sound Ninjas, than they had to stick his head outside an abandoned safe house—as a warning from the nations. Normally they wouldn't even blink an eye but this time the guy had his 5 year old daughter with him and they had make sure there were no witnesses. Meaning they would have to kill the girl too.

"I don't like it any better than you stupid." Sasuke's deep voice sounded in his ear.

"I don't either but it's a job so suck it up." Hinata's voice finally crackled into their ear.

"Why didn't you answer?"

"Couldn't. There were guards right beneath me, make a sound or move and I'd be dead." Hinata's voice and language was unusually crass and blunt.

"I didn't see any guards."

"Genjustu, a good one too if you couldn't sense it Dove."

"Thanks. Isn't there another way, Fox? Maybe we could knock her out while we're—dealing with the others."

"Can't say kill princess?" Naruto could practically feel the sneer on Sasuke's face that was directed at Sakrua. The guy had it bad.

"You guys don't want to do it. I will." Then the sound of wind whistling by reached their ears. The shik of a sword being drawn, the sound of hacking, screaming, and the wet sound of blood hit their ears before they finally got their wits together and chased after the ex-heiress.

When they got the scene, they were met with a bloody waste-land. Their eyes were wide as they took everything in. The carriage was on its side, missing one wheel and the delicate rice paper was splattered with red blood. There was so much blood. Some still on the people, most on the spattered on the grass and flowers on the ground.

"Hinata, what did you do?" Sakura whispered.

Hinata kneeled on the ground and pulled up a corpse by the hair and chopped of its head in one motion. She fluidly stood up, not one drop of blood or dirt on her, "What you guys couldn't."

Naruto stepped out of his trance, "Never do that again. We are a team; we go in together or not at all."

Hinata rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't have done it if I wasn't here. And you know it."

Then she was gone.

"She's right you know." Sasuke whispered, and then he left too. Sakura glanced at Naruto one more time before following her "secret" boyfriend.

Naruto took in the clearing again and tried not to think about the way his body tingled when he thought of her doing this. Whirling around like a graceful dancer, her twin daggers flashing in the sun, blood dancing around her like ribbons.

Naruto looked at the clear blue sky, "Is this normal Jairaya? Is this me or the Kyuubi speaking?"

That's the thing about growing up, you may get some of the answers to your questions but you also get more questions. And Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to this one.

The next day Naruto cornered Hinata in the alley behind his apartment. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what? Your jobs?" Her voice was defensive and her eyes were narrowed at him, not accusing but more like annoyed.

"You didn't have to kill the girl; we could have found a way to save her."

Hinata' chuckled, a bitter sound that didn't sound right coming from her, "No you couldn't. She was the dead the moment Tsunade sent me on this mission. She knew you guys couldn't do it, that's why she sent me."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded, his head starting to hurt, a bad feeling swirling around his stomach.

"I'm in ANBU Naruto but not in the regular divisions. I'm an assassin. You couldn't have saved her even if you tried. At least I showed her mercy."

Naruto laughed, licking his lips, "How? You killed her. How is killing a 5 year old girl mercy?"

Hinata stared defiantly into his fiery blue eyes, "You guys would've have hesitated making her spend so long shaking in fear. I made sure she didn't suffer. She never saw it coming. Nobody could have saved her Naruto, especially not Tsunade, Naruto-kun"

How could she be so…so…so damn stoic? She just killed a little girl, a person who is never going to grow up because Hinata had snuffed her out. That made him angry, so angry.

He slammed her against the brick wall, ignoring the way her head banged against the bricks, "She would have. I would've found a way and don't you ever call me Naruto-kun again. You've lost that right."

Hinata didn't go wide-eye or faint or struggle or even blush or stutter, instead she calmly looked into his eyes, "She wouldn't have. Accept it Naruto it's the truth."

Naruto shook his head, his voice hysterical, almost desperate, "No. No. No. We could have saved her. I know it."

"Why is it so important to you?"

"Because!" Naruto exploded, "Tsunade's the Hokage! She's the most powerful ninja in the village. If she couldn't save one girl then why should I try?"

"Don't be stupid, nobody could have saved her once I got there not even Tsunade. Naruto-kun," Hinata spat at him, her eyes cold and her words angry.

Naruto was shaking now, his body full of anger and his head full of jumbled thoughts and if he didn't do something he would end up hurting someone. Naruto did the first thing that he could think of. He kissed her. Not the soft kiss or the lovey-dovey making out one or the chaste kiss but the hot, heavy, angry-fueled one. His mouth was hot and heavy on hers. Just as he came to his senses and was pulling away she tilted her head up, giving him more access and kissing with just as much passion, something inside of him snapped. Their kisses became savage and he started walking her into Naruto's house, still devouring each other even as they began frantically tearing each other's clothes off. Hinata pushed Naruto on the bed before straddling him, both of them already naked.

"I thought I told you not to call me Naruto-kun," he groaned as she grinded against him.

"What are you going to do about it?" She whispered huskily into his ear.

He smirked, not saying a word, as he grabbed her hips and rocked into her. She gasped, her eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"That's what I'm going to do. Anything else?"

This time Hinata smirked, "Nauto-kun."

This time, he moaned out loud as she rolled her hips.

"You sneaky little kitten." He hissed.

"What do you mean you're an assassin Hinata?" He asked her several hours later, not even tired yet (having great stamina rocked) but he had to ask.

Hinata stopped kissing his neck, apparently she wasn't tired either, and rolled onto her back, not bothering to cover herself giving him an eyeful—and something else. "You know I wouldn't even be doing to this if I didn't just kill a little girl you know. Hell, I wouldn't even do this if I was drunk."

"You didn't answer my question Hinata."

Hinata rolled back on her side, "What I said. I'm an assassin Naruto. I'm the one that does the stuff ANBU can't do. I kill whoever the Hokage says and I kill them however the Hokage says. You guys may think I'm the naive, sweet Hinata but news flash. That Hinata died a long time ago, even if I'm still shy about new people." Hinata chuckled humorlessly before her face smoothed out to something unreadable, "My turn to ask you a question."

"What?" He rolled over to face her.

"What does this," here she swept a hand over her naked and body and his, "mean?"

Naruto chose his words carefully, "Well, what do you want it to mean?"

"I want this to not just be a onetime thing but I don't want for it to be just about sex either. No matter how good it is."

"Tell me about it, you're the first girl to be able to keep up with me," he smirked.

Hinata smiled at him than turned serious and whispered, "You know how I feel about you but I don't know how you feel about me."

Naruto sighed, pulling her into his arms, "I like you a lot Hinata. I don't know if I love you like you love me but—I think could fall in love with you, even if we never became a couple."

Hinata stopped tracing patterns on his broad chest—surprisingly not hairy—and looked up at him. "Really?"

He couldn't help but chuckle at her skepticism, "How come you can never see how amazing you are?"

"Because it's been drilled into me for over 15 years that I will never amount to anything."

It got quiet again and Hinata resumed tracing patterns on Naruto's chest, his arms tightened their hold around her.

"Hey Hinata?"

"Yeah?"

"I almost love you."

"I love you too Naruto."

Naruto waited until Hinata fell asleep before he got out of bed, pulling on a clean pair of boxers, and went over to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Hinata was odd but so was he, so was everyone in the world. His eyes softened as he looked at her sleeping form, but he loved her more than he thought was possible. His sapphire eyes hardened into blue chips of ice, no one was going to hurt her like her family did, like the person who kidnapped her and gave her that long scar on her spine, like Pein did. No one hurt will hurt Hinata. No one will hurt his girl. Not while he was still kicking.

He chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee; he was already so protective of her this soon into the relationship.

How did she do that? He knew she could take care of herself, better than most people, yet here he was plotting ways to kill the people who killed her (especially that guy who had tortured her).

What a weirdo…

This…did not turn out how I expected. I don't even know how it came to be like this. Not one of my better ones but I still hope you like it. REVIEW!