The amusing thing about this fic is that it was inspired by Kylie Minougues I should be so lucky! I was listening to the song the other day and I thought 'aw, that's Hinata' so I then ended up starting this fic.
Even though the song is cheery this is the most angsty in the gossip series and Sakura has some redemption in it because, and I cannot stress this enough, I do not hate her, she just bugs me sometimes!
Anyway, the latest in the gossip series, hope you all like!!
I do not Own Naruto
"I wish you didn't have to do this" Naruto muttered as he watched Hinata strap her weaponry pouch to her leg "You haven't had a mission since the one where we got married!" They were standing in their daughters room where Hinata was making her final preparations for her mission, the small girl was a heavy sleeper and didn't seem to notice her parents less than hushed conversation.
"That's exactly why I want to do this I've been training for ages, I can do this. I'll be back in two weeks." Hinata smiled at him as she slipped on her shoes and sitting on a chair began to tie the laces. "I can fully use my Byakugan for at least an hour at a time now, I'm going to be fine."
"I just liked having you here, having you safe." he told her in a last ditch effort to persuade her not to go, he'd been trying to talk her out of this ever since she was offered the mission a month ago. It was true though, the idea of his wife going on a mission made him particularly miserable, asides from anything else he liked having someone to come home to every day, Hinata would always have the house smelling wonderful with whatever dish she had decided to make that day.
Noting his words carefully Hinata smiled at him, he was so sweet when he worried about her, however she knew that he was just being foolish. "I know you did, but this is just a research/diplomacy mission, practically a D or C rank in terms of safety, just me and my old team. One last job!"
"I still don't like it"
Hinata just laughed as her husband pouted at her trying to dissuade her again but she simply shook her head and moved over to the crib where their five month old daughter lay. "It's going to be easy enough, she sleeps through the night, I'm not breastfeeding her anymore, and you're a dab hand at nappy changing."
"She'll miss you"
"I know, and I'll miss her, but after this I'll be back at the academy teaching occasionally and here at home making your meals, proper housewife."Hinata smiled at the idea of the one time Hyuga heiress being a housewife but she had to admit that she missed her old life. Her voice became wistful as she pleaded with him "Just let me have this one, I need to feel like me again." Hinata pulled her hair up into a ponytail before leaning into the crib where her baby slept, very gently she pressed a sweet kiss onto the girls forehead and whispered an 'I love you my worthy one' before turning back to her husband.
"Just be safe" Naruto begged as he wrapped his arms around her "I really love you"
"I love you too Naruto, please don't worry about me, it's just two weeks."
-
-
Two weeks became a month.
No one had any clue what had happened to team 8, they had gone out and successfully completed the mission but they didn't seem to be coming back. The route they were supposed to have taken was searched thoroughly but with no results.
Kiba, Hinata, Shino and Akamaru were reported missing in action.
-
-
"How are you doing?" Naruto smiled at the young blonde sat on his couch.
"Ok I guess. I'm still sure he'll come back but… I miss him" Ino admitted to Naruto smiling as baby Kata gurgled happily as she pulled on Naruto's hair "Just like you miss her" Ino grinned watching Naruto trying to stop his daughter from hurting him and failing miserably. She had been spending a lot of time here since team 8 went missing, Naruto was one of the few people that didn't look at her with pity whenever she mentioned her boyfriends name.
"Yeah" Naruto frowned as Kata began to chew on his hair "No Kata" he pulled the baby round in front of him hissing as her hold on his hair tightened "Bad baby" he lifted his hand and unlatched his hair from the baby's grasp. "Go pull auntie Ino's hair!"
"Hey!" Ino laughed as she took the baby into her arms and kissed her head "I never pictured you like this, all grown up and responsible. You're good with her."
"Apparently I'm a natural, Hinata said she always knew I'd be able to anything I put my mind to but… I will admit I was nervous."
"Yeah" Ino bit her lip cuddling the baby tighter "Hey Naruto, you know… I was thinking if you need a baby sitter anytime I'm quite willing to do it for you."
"Really?" Naruto was surprised, most of the people in his age range were constantly on missions "I get Iruka and Tsunade to watch her occasionally but… I can't go on long missions at the moment and I must admit they're the best paid."
"Yeah well… I have to give up work for a while" Ino muttered flushing
"Really? Why?"
"Um… mrnpgranpt" Ino muttered unintelligibly
"What?"
"I'm pregnant" she said a little more clearly this time, her face was clearly troubled by her revelation.
"Really? I mean, you're sure?"
"Oh yeah" Ino looked more and more miserable as she spoke "Positive!"
Seeing her sadness Naruto moved to sit next to her "You know Kiba's gonna be pleased when he gets back"
"You think so? I don't know, I'm not even sure what to tell my parents" Ino settled her face in the baby's neck and inhaled her scent.
"The truth, they'll be OK with it, I mean, you guys were living together it was kind of obvious that this could happen. And if you need help with anything I'm always here… you can even have some of Kata's old stuff."
"Thanks Naruto" Ino smiled cuddling Kata to her chest "At least Hinata will be pleased she always wanted one of the rest of us to have a kid, she felt like the odd one out being the only girl from our class with a baby."
"We seem to be the only ones expecting them back." Naruto muttered unhappily
"That's because we're the only ones who know how strong they really are."
There was a frantic knocking at the door that stopped any further conversation, the two of them exchanged a look before Naruto jumped to his feet and went to answer it.
"Shikamaru?" for once it looked as though the lazy man had actually made an effort as he stood on Naruto's doorstep completely out of breath.
"Is…, Ino…, here?"
"Yeah" Naruto moved back into his home letting Shikamaru see into his front room
Seeing who it was Ino stood up and walked forward, she handed Kata over to Naruto as she questioned her team mate "What's going on Shikamaru?"
"Shino and Kiba are back" Shikimaru informed his teammate.
"Oh thank god" Ino gasped at his words and ran forward to hug him. She buried her head in Shikamaru's shoulder and allowed a small sob to escape, Shikamaru hugged her in return patting her back gently.
"Hinata?" Naruto asked urgently
"They don't know, she was captured, they spent a week looking for her but Shino got hurt and was too badly injured to keep going. In the end Kiba was forced to bring him home. They lost Akamaru out there too."
"Where are they?" Ino asked sniffing as she rubbed her eyes
"The hospital."
"Naruto" Ino turned to him "can you come with me? I'm kinda nervous about…"
"I've got Kata" Naruto told her reluctantly, he didn't want to let her down.
"I'll take her" Shikamaru offered immediately surprising them both "Just hand her over, you want to see him almost as much as she does."
"Thanks Shikamaru" shoving his daughter into Shikamaru's Naruto kissed her on the forehead before following Ino out the door way and running in the direction of the hospital.
"Any time" Shikamaru yelled after them before pausing and looking down at the baby he now held "So… please don't cry or need anything while they're 'cause I have no idea what I'm doing."
-
-
"What happened?" Naruto asked trying to remain calm as he questioned Kiba
"I'm not entirely sure" Kiba told him, he lay on a hospital bed with bandages covering one eye and encasing his left arm "We decided to take the most secure route there and back just to be safe, we should have been fine then we were attacked. Eight men just came out of nowhere as we were on our way home."
"Where were you?"
"We were somewhere in the Yael mountains when they struck, we fought really hard even Hinata managed to take out a couple of guys but then another load showed up and then there was an avalanche." Kiba shook his head angrily "Shino and I were buried but they seemed to have something to escape with and were gone in seconds they must have taken Hinata and Akamaru with them whilst we were still under the snow. I'm wondering if the avalanche was even an accident."
"Go on"
"There's not much more to tell we searched for days trying to find her, Shino was in a bad way, his bugs don't work well in the cold and then he almost fell into this crevasse, I managed to get him out but his leg was injured really badly! If I didn't get him back he could have bled to death," Kiba paused, he could see that Naruto was nodding understandingly whilst Ino just held his hand lovingly, his voice broke as he said the next bit "it killed to leave them." Tears welled up in his eyes "but… we had searched for days with no clue. We were a tracking team Damn it! We should have…"
"You were a team, that's the whole point" Naruto told him stopping him from getting too wound up "You and Akamaru are great trackers TOGETHER. Hinata was a great tracker with her EYES, Shino can only track if he can use his BUGS. You lost all three of your tools, Hinata's eyes only work for an hour at a time now and she was gone, you need Akamaru, he was gone. Shino needed his bugs and couldn't use them. I'm not angry with you for coming back."
"No" Kiba nodded "but that doesn't mean I can't be. Hinata was my team mate, she was like my little sister, hell I even had a crush on her at one point" both Ino and Naruto looked up surprised at this, Kiba didn't seem to notice "but most of all she was my friend and I left her behind."
"Don't let this destroy you Kiba" Naruto punched his arm lightly, "especially when you have such good reasons to live" he smiled at the blushing Ino who glared angrily at him.
"Yeah" Kiba looked at his girlfriend and smiled lovingly "I have a wonderful girlfriend and loads of friends and family."
"Yes" Naruto drawled as he stood up "I better get out of here and find out what Tsunade is planning to do now she knows more about this, I'll leave you two alone" winking Naruto walked out of the room, the teasing had made his mood a little lighter and now they knew where Hinata had been kidnapped from he was sure that they would be able to find her again.
He knew she wasn't dead.
"Why's he acting so weird?" Kiba asked after Naruto had left "and why are you so quiet?" Kiba squeezed Ino's hand gently "What's wrong… you're not breaking up with me are you? cos talk about kicking a man when he's down…"
"That's not it" Ino whispered nervously "I was just wondering…"
"Yes?"
"Do you think our kid will have my ability with minds or your affinity with dogs?"
"I've never really thought about it" Kiba muttered frowning at the odd turn in conversation "I mean, I guess they could both, the two aren't exactly irreconcilable and…" he trailed off noticing Ino's odd cross between a smile and a frown "Why did you…? No way!"
-
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One month had turned into three.
For three months Hinata had been missing and for three months Naruto had gone to Tsunade's office every day trying to find out if more was known, when the next search team was going out and if he could go with them.
Everyday Tsunade had greeted him with an impatient but indulgent expression as she gave him easy but well paid missions that kept him far away from the Yael Mountain region.
Today Tsunade met him with a nervous smile and invited him to sit.
"You know something?" he asked hopefully as he plonked himself intot he nearest chair eagar to hear what she had to say
"I'm afraid not" Tsunade sighed "It is customary, when a shinobi has been missing for three months to class them as missing believed dead instead of missing in action."
"No" Naruto shook his head and jumped to his feet "NO! You can't do this!"
Trying to keep her voice as level and businesslike as possible Tsunade merely said "We want to change Hinata's status from missing in action to missing presumed dead" Tsunade spoke as calmly as possible but Naruto's change in expression almost undid her. "I'm sorry Naruto."
"You can't" he shook his head disbelievingly, "she's still out there. She'll come back. If you put her as believed dead then you won't send any more teams out after her will you?"
"I'm sorry Naruto but she's been missing for three months now, it's standard procedure. We've sent teams out to look for her and got nothing. It's time our shinobi were put to better use."
"She's out there somewhere waiting for us to come get her!!" Naruto yelled pounding his fists on Tsunade's desk.
"Naruto" this time Tsunade made herself be cruel to him "Hinata has been gone for three months, 88% of all shinobi that are missing for this long are found dead."
"Hinata will be one of those in the 12%"
"I have named you as next in line to be Hokage, being Hokage means sending people out and knowing they won't come back every time. It hurts every time I have to do this but I do have to do this. This is what it means to be Hokage, it doesn't just mean the strongest, or the most respected it also means the wisest, the person who can accept that sometimes this happens. I'm sorry Naruto, it hurts me to know that you're hurting. You know how much I care about you and your family."
"I know" Naruto's fists were clenched and he stared at the wood of the desk "but I can't do it. I can't just leave Hinata to her fate, the minute I have time I'm going after her."
"No you're not, you have Kata to worry about, would Hinata want you to go after her leaving your baby all alone?"
"How am I supposed to bring my daughter up without her mother?"
"Hinata was."
Naruto snorted, Hiashi's parenting skill were not the type that should be held up as an example "And look what happened there!"
"Ok that's a good point but you've got to make a choice Naruto, you can either make Kata feel miserable for the rest of her life because her mother isn't there or you can do your best and give that girl the best damn life you can give her."
Naruto said nothing for a long time, when he finally looked up at Tsunade again she could see tears in his eyes "Is there something wrong with me? Jiraiya was like a father to me and he died, Hinata was the person I loved the most and I lost her, you ought to keep your distance."
"It's not you Naruto, it's this lifestyle, did I deserve to lose Dan? Or my brother Nawaki? Did Konohamaru deserve to lose his grandfather or Sasuke his family?"
"No" Naruto shook his head feeling bad that he was making such a fuss especially when Tsuande had suffered practically the same loss that he had. "I'm sorry Tsunade I just…"
"I know Naruto. I'm going to be honest with you, this is the sort of loss you never get over, I certainly didn't I went completely off the rails and I've seen many other shinobi crumble completely after a loss like this. "
"How do I get past this?"
"I don't know. Naruto, someone has to tell her family that we're changing her status, I can do it if you want but…"
"No, it's my duty. I'm her husband."
-
-
It was a well known fact that Hanabi never cried, it was not Hyuga to show your emotions and to weep was the weakest way to be seen.
Hanabi cried today, when Naruto met with Hiashi, Hanabi and Neji to tell them the news she didn't care what would thought of her she just cried.
To everyone's surprise Hiashi comforted his younger daughter, instead of talking down to the young girl he placed his arms around her and held her close allowing her to cry thoroughly soaking his clothing.
Neji had obviously been waiting for this for some time and showed no real surprise until Hiashi hugged Hanabi. He and Naruto exchanged a speaking look and left the father and daughter to themselves. "Have you gone to see Kurenai or Hinata's team yet?" Neji asked as he walked away from the Hyuga estates with Naruto
"Kiba and Shino know, they're mad, apologetic, determined to find her, and Kata's with Kurenai, she was upset but she helped me. Talking to her, it was like I was finally talking to someone who understood all my worries."
"Her situation when Asuma died was very similar" Neji nodded "it is logical that she would understand you."
"And she loved Hinata" Naruto sighed as he remembered Kurenai's eyes filling with tears, she had hugged baby Kata tight telling her that Hinata was like a daughter to her and as such she would always be there for her. Normally Naruto would have been tempted to make a joke about how Kurenai was too hot to be a granny but instead he had merely been touched by the promises Kurenai had made.
Now he could see that instead of it just being him and Kata against the world he had back up. Kurenai, Hanabi and Ino were there to help him raise his daughter and Hinata's old team would do anything if he asked.
"If you ever need any help" Neji offered as though reading Naruto's mind
"Thanks Neji, I appreciate it" and he did, but that didn't mean he was ready yet. He missed Hinata, oh god he missed her.
-
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Ino rubbed her growing belly smiling at the rounding bump, for the first time in her life she didn't really mind being overweight, she could eat whatever she wanted and heaven help the person who commented on it. Beside her Kiba was reading a book his hand on the back of her neck distractedly playing with her hair. The blonde smiled at him wistfully, this was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives and though Kiba was thrilled at the thought of having a child he was still broken hearted over the loss of his team mates. Sometimes he and Shino would just sit together staring into nothingness and she knew for a fact that they were replaying the mission in their heads, trying to remember something helpful or work out where it had all gone so wrong.
The pounding on their front door interrupted both her musings and his reading, jumping to his feet and leaving the room Kiba answered the door letting out a shocked "Naruto?" when he saw who was there.
At this Ino sat up properly and waited for them to come into the room, holding his daughter to his chest Kiba walked in looking concerned and was closely followed by an exhausted and unkempt Naruto.
"Naruto!" Ino jumped up worriedly, he looked like death she didn't want to wonder when the last time he showered was.
"Hey Ino" he even sounded different, his hair hung limply around his face making him look like he'd been living on the streets and his clothes were dirty and torn. He looked pale, there were dark rings under his eyes and his cheeks looked thinner somehow.
"Do you wanna sit down?"
"No" he shook his head unenthusiastically as he dropped the bag on his shoulder to the floor.
Ino's worry about Naruto suddenly became worry for little baby Kata but as she turned to look at the child she was shocked, the baby was clean, her nails were well trimmed, her fuzzy blonde hair looked well brushed and she had that sweet baby scent. It looked as though Naruto was pouring all his energies into keeping the child well looked after and forgot about himself. The baby's light lavender eyes opened and a happy smile crossed her face.
"Ino, Kiba, I have a favour to ask of you." Naruto felt nervous as he stood before his friends
"What is it? We'll do anything to help you" Kiba immediately agreed not caring what the request could be, his guilt over leaving Akamaru and Hinata behind was great and he would do anything he could to make it up to Hinata's husband and child.
"I need you two to look after baby Kata for me"
"Naruto?" Ino was shocked, Kata was all he had, was he really giving her up? She had heard people saying that Naruto was on the verge of a break down but it seemed so unlikely that he would actually give in to something like that. He was too strong!
He was quick to reassure her on that score "Not for long, just a couple of days, a week at most. Think of it as practice" he said as cheerfully as possible "For when your kid comes along."
"But why?"
"Hinata and I promised each other something when little Kata was born, we promised that if anything ever happened to one of us, we'd keep going, for her sake. Now… I'm gonna keep that promise but, I need to grieve. I need to get away, and have nothing but myself to think about, just for a few days. If I don't then… I won't…" Naruto's voice cracked and his eyes reddened with unshed tears.
"We'd be happy to" Ino interrupted not making him say it "Where will you be?"
"Just at home, I'll go out occasionally but if anything happens you can reach me there. Her stuff is here, it's not all of it but…"
"We have some of her things here as well" Ino reminded him "Don't worry, I'll look after her"
Naruto nodded before walking forward and taking his baby from Kiba, he held her close, he kissed her forehead and whispered 'Daddy loves you' Kata merely gurgled kissing him back as much as babies that age can. Naruto stared at her for a moment until the sight of her lavender eyes made his heart suddenly ache and he returned the baby to Kiba's embrace and fled the apartment.
-
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The room was dark as two men stood surveying the fight they had arranged in the next room, one was a prisoner, weakened by weeks of ill treatment and starvation but determined. The other was a paid henchman well built, well fed, and merely playing with his opponent as a cat would play with a piece of string.
"It would appear that her eyes are slowly fixing themselves, after an hour of use the Byakugan fails but after a few hours rest her Byakugan works again. The damage that we did was not as permanent as we hoped."
"Indeed we failed in that respect..." two men stared down at Hinata as she fought off her opponent "but as you said she cannot use her Byakugan for long, our attempt to damage her bloodline limit was successful for a while."
In the other room Hinata screamed as a kunai sliced her skin and distracted by the pain she didn't have time to dodge the fist that swung through the air. The punch to her jaw meant that Hinata was thrown back and she crashed painfully into the wall her body going limp soon afterwards.
"I think that's enough for today, we can't get any information out of her if we kill her. Take her back to her cell for questioning, when did she last eat?"
"Three days ago"
"Then give her a little something, just enough to keep her conscious. Remember, she won't be sleeping for another 36 hours. She's a tough one but I will break her"
Oh no Hinata is imprisoned and in lots of danger, Naruto is a single dad and he's not coping well without her! I was actually going to do this the other way around but I think I prefer it this way, Hinata's a shinobi and just as likely to get into trouble as Naruto is.
Before anyone asks this was not planned when I wrote the first fic, it was just going to be a one off but it has kind of grown and I am thinking of releasing it all strung together in order but I haven't decided yet.
Please R&R
