Chapter 3 - Considering

Hinata didn't actually have a chance to write another letter until two days later. She'd started taking on some of her duties as one of the apprentices of Tsunade, and she'd also been occupied with moving in to her new apartment. She hadn't recovered all of her energy yet either, and each night she'd collapsed into bed vowing to write Naruto, but just thinking of him had made her feel warm enough that sleep was inevitable. As a result, it wasn't until the morning of the third day that she found time to write again.

Hello Naruto,

I'm not sure if you expected another letter from me so soon. I hope it is not a bother for you, and does not take too much time out of your training.

Tsunade-sama had no trouble healing Sasuke and Kakashi. Sakura was overjoyed to have both of them alright again. It was very difficult for her since she lost all of her team for a while. All three of them are doing well now. I do not know what Tsunade-sama's plans are for the Genin teams. They might be re-assigned, now that you are missing from their team.

Rock Lee had been badly injured in the Chunnin exam, but Tsunade-sama healed him as well. She truly is wonderful. Although I have just started training with her, I think I can learn a lot. Thank you for your encouragement in your last letter as well.

I have just moved into a small apartment here at the hospital on my own. Tsunade-sama felt it would make my training easier. It feels odd, being away from where I have lived all my life, and living on my own. Sometimes it seems a bit lonely.

Thank you for writing back so quickly last time. I do not want to be a bother though, so reply only if you have time.

I hope you are well,

Hyuga Hinata

She finished off the letter and looked it over.

"Hmmm… I hope Naruto-kun doesn't find it annoying to get a longer letter like this one," she thought. "I'd like to write even more to him. There's so much I want to tell. But I don't want to irritate him… bothering him like this. I better drop this off with Tsunade-sama though, so she can send it."

She got ready, and left her apartment ready to face a new day.

"Mornin' Hinata, how's it goin," asked Tsunade, with a bit of a groan. She obviously wasn't a morning person.

"Umm… well, if you could add this in with your report… to Jiraiya," she said, holding up the scroll, and looking down at her sandals.

"Ha, no problem, kid. Listen though: I'll be exchanging reports with Jiraiya once a week, ok? Any more than that, and our methods would become much easier to trace. So write as much as you like, and it'll get sent once a week. Of course, if I find out you're writing a book to him every week, I'll know I'm not giving you enough work," said Tsunade, with a grin.

"O...of course, Tsunade-sama."

"What did I say about calling me that, Hinata?"

"Oh! Sorry… ummm… Fifth Hokage Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade looked like she'd just bitten into a lemon, but then saw the tiny smile Hinata was giving her.

"Good girl," she said with a smile. "Keep it up though, and you'll be baby-sitting in the children's ward."

"Ahhh… of course… Tsunade-sensei," Hinata replied, a bit awkwardly. She felt very awkward about not using a more formal form of address, but baby-sitting held a special terror for her. She had found from experience that children just ignored her totally, and she was far too timid to deal with a louder trouble-maker.

Her day was over in a flash, with medical training in the morning, ninjitsu and taijutsu practice in the afternoon, and more study in the evening. She crawled into bed in the evening, exhausted, and began to think.

"Somewhere out there, Naruto is reading my letter. It might be a week or a month before I read his reply to me, but… it still feels good."

"Goodnight… Naruto-kun."

Meanwhile, far away in a cheap hotel room, Naruto was sleeping like a log. Jiraiya's training that day had been especially rough, and he had been exhausted.

"Huh, good thing the kid is worn out. Between recovering from his training, and working on the reply to this letter… he should be busy all day. So I should be able to do some reaserch… and he won't interrupt like he usually does. Ha! Jiraiya, you're a smart one for sure."

By the time Naruto woke up, it was almost lunchtime the next day.

"Gah… I can barely lift my head…"

"Oi… Ero-Sennin! Ero-Sennin! Huh? I guess he really is out."

"I guess he left me that scroll over there," thought Naruto. "I hope it isn't anything too hard… I know I have energy to spare usually, but he really wiped me out yesterday."

Naruto unrolled the scroll, and another, smaller scroll fell out on the bed. He read the first:

Naruto,

There's instant ramen on the table, and a letter from Hinata. Take some time to write back, because you'll be back training non-stop for the next few days. Anyway, a good Hokage will spend a lot of time writing, and your first effort was awful, so think of writing as training as well. It's another thing you need to improve.

See you tomorrow.

Jiraiya-sama

"Great! A day off, and ramen! Huh, and another letter," Naruto thought. "I guess he's right though. A lot of the time I saw the Hokage, he was doing paperwork. And Hinata's writing was way better than mine, I guess."

Naruto wandered out to get some real ramen with money from his frog wallet, and took Hinata's letter along with him. After ramen, and some sleep under a tree on the outskirts of town, he opened up the letter again.

"Writing practice as well," he sighed. "Becoming the Hokage seems sometimes to be very… troublesome." He laughed out loud, thinking of Shikamaru.

"But I probably won't get to see any of them for another couple years. I wonder how they're all doing… At least I can get important news from Hinata, but… I wonder if I'll have any friends when I show up again." He looked over her letter again.

He pulled out the paper and pen he'd brought with him, and started to write.

Unlike the first time he wrote, it took several tries to get the letter right. Sometimes he realised that he wasn't making sense, and others the writing was just too horrible compared to Hinata's for him to feel comfortable sending it.

He eventually wrote something he didn't feel was too bad, folded it up, sealed it, and put it ready to be sent by Jiraiya. As he drifted off to sleep that night, he found himself thinking of her.

Hi again Hinata!

I'm glad that everyone is ok. It's sort of sad though, that our team is breaking up. I guess it only makes sense, since I'll probably be away for a while, and I guess most people don't even know I'm alive.

Don't worry, Jiraiya has taught me how to make a light with chakra, so while I'm writing this I'm working on my chakra control. He said the two of us might be on a team when I get back there, so we'll be getting all the coolest missions, right? You'll be really strong too, 'cause you said you'd work hard, so I know you will. I'm fine, even if training is hard, and I'm sore at the end of the day sometimes.

I lived on my own for years. It can be lonely sometimes I guess, but you can do what you want to do. I feel kinda like that being outside Konoha, and Jiraiya isn't always around. So stop saying you're sorry for writing, because I like getting letters from you.

I hope you're ok too now after Neji hurt you pretty bad.

Naruto

He woke up the next day, and threw himself into training once again. It would be a couple weeks before he saw her reply, but he found that he was looking forward to it.

Maybe he'd tell her the next time he wrote.

Omake:

Hinata walked into Tsunade's office, her latest reply to Naruto clutched in her hand.

"You got your letter there, kid?" Tsunade said with a grin.

"Yes, teacher," she replied, and handed the scroll over.

Hinata turned to go, but hesitated at the door.

"Ano, Tsunade-sensei?" she asked. "How do you send the letters, anyway?"

"Huh, well I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you saw," said Tsunade. "Very well, marvel at the splendour of…" she performed a series of hand seals and there was a puff of smoke.

A small slug sat on her desk, wearing a postman's hat and carrying a mail bag.

"Slug-mail," said Tsuande. "Sort of like snail mail, but without the shell." She was surprised by a crash, and looked around to see Hinata lying on the ground.

"Hmmm, what's up with her?"

Author's note:

I'm trying not to go too fast with the letters, since I think it's reasonable that they would establish a friendship first, before moving on. I think both of them have been hurt enough by other people that they would need to feel pretty sure about things before risking more. But more about that later, I guess.

The omake is just something I thought of while writing. I have some others, so I might add them after other chapters.

BTW thanks for the reviews people, especially the plaintive asking for additional chapters. It kicked my butt enough that I actually did something about it. And while I'm at it, I guess I should work on the other fics too... And I know, I'm sorry... shortness and all that.