Hiashi and Hiro sat across from each other at the rectangular shaped chabudai, sipping tea.
"My granddaughter is getting stronger." Hiro took a sip from his cup. The steam curled up from the liquid's opaque surface, dancing around his clean shaven face and long slicked back graying hair. "We should keep up her training when she is not spending time with the boy."
Hiashi nodded, placing his own cup on the table. "But will that be enough."
"Besides his vulnerability to love, Kurama's next biggest weakness has always been, being way too impulsive." Hiro advised his son. "He allowed Hinata to be sealed to him without realizing he was exchanging one cage for another.
With the seal, Hinata's love for Naruto will not allow Kurama to turn against his jinchuuriki, and as his jinchuuriki, Naruto's love for Hinata won't allow Kurama to use the seal against her. He'll have realized this by now. I'm sure he has started to try to manipulate them… to try and turn them against each other."
"He won't ever change Hinata's heart." Hiashi responded, confidently. "I've tried her entire life."
"I'm glad you're finally realizing this." Hiro replied without any expression on his face. He sipped from his hot cup again, not wanting to let the tea get too cool.
Hiashi looked over the rim of his cup at his father, trying to decide if this was one of his father's many passive aggressive digs. He frowned. "But can we trust that the boy is also not fickle."
"Hinata trusts him. You should have more confidence in your daughter's judgement." Hiro could tell Hiashi was not buying into this, so he continued.
"I also want to point to the fact that even as impulsive as Kurama can be, he accepted Hinata far too easily..." A slight chuckle caught upon Hiro's lips and stirring in his white eyes. "I think there is another unexpected bond at play that has the kyuubi caught in a trap of his own making."
Hiashi stared at his father blankly. He knew the path that Hiro was attempting to travel down, and he was reluctant to go there with him.
"There has only been one other time that the nine tailed fox allowed one of Hamura's descendants to be sealed directly to him."
Hiashi sighed, raising his tea cup in front of his face again to block Hiro's intense gaze.
"It was one of Airi's reincarnations." The older man narrowed his eyes at his son. "You know that I'm right."
"It is true that Hinata was born an heir. If Airi was reborn in this time, it would be in the form of a Hyuga heiress." Hiashi conceded. "And Hinata's demeanor is very much like history describes Airi. But... the rest... I'm hesitant to stomach."
The secret history of the Hyugas' main family bloodline extended all the way back to the first of Hamura's descendants on earth and his youngest daughter, Airi Otustsuki.
A thousand years prior...
One day while on the moon, Airi accidentally came upon her father as he was called to earth through the seal that bound Hamura and Hagoromo to each other.
Curious about the human clans on earth, she secretly slipped through the teleportation portal behind Hamura and came to earth herself.
Once on earth, she became very lost and wandered for several weeks alone. Finally, she encountered her cousin, Asura Otustsuki, while he was on his long journey to solve the problem given to him by his father.
Not realizing who they were to each other, Asura accepted Airi as one of the followers of Hagoromo's teachings and took her with him to the village that he was supposed to help. During this time, Airi fell in love with Asura and decided to stay on earth to follow him.
Months later when they returned to Hagoromo and he named Asura, his heir, they found out that they were actually cousins. By this time, Asura had fallen in love with a human girl named Kanna, and not long after, he married her.
Airi was heartbroken, but she remained loyal to Asura despite this. That bond would later bring their descendant clans back together under one village.
After Asura vowed to reincarnate to continue his feud with his elder brother, Indra, Airi secretly vowed to reincarnate until Asura loved her in return. Then she left Hagoromo's village alone and wandered west.
Years later, she stumbled into the forest now protected by the nine tailed fox. She was caught by Kurama and was held as his prize. He called her, his byakugan princess. More years past and finally a small clan of humans came to the forest to rescue her from the giant fox demon.
Airi was happy to be rescued, but she would not allow the warriors to fight or try to capture the nine tails to save her. Kurama saw Airi's kindness and compassion towards him despite how he treated her and let her leave with them.
Brought back to the human village, Airi married the clan leader and had several children creating the Hyuga main family bloodline. She lived among them until she died.
"And if Airi has reincarnated in this time that means Asura and Indra have too." Hiro lifted one eyebrow.
"That's the part I choose not to believe." Hiashi replied.
"You don't want to believe it because you know it's highly possible that Naruto…"
"What do you want from me?" Hiashi interrupted abruptly. He knew his father was fishing for something.
"The stronger that Hinata becomes, the further apart the two children can be. Jiraiya is right. Naruto will eventually need to take another long journey in order to gain total control over the demon fox. Reports of the group that targeted the kazekage are becoming more and more numerous. They've taken the two tailed cat from Kumo. Matatabi is definitely a pussy cat compared to Kurama but the feat is still impressive.
You'll have to teach the boy to use the seal to call Hinata to him when he needs her." Hiro continued. "He's an Uzumaki and a descendant of Hagoromo. He has the capability to use the seal better and in more ways than any Hyuga ever has."
"We don't even pass that knowledge among the clan." Now Hiashi narrowed his eyes at his father. "To use the seal to call those bound to you is forbidden."
"It's not our knowledge to keep secret, my son." Hiro sipped his tea again. "As clan leader, you are only keeping it safe for the next Uzumaki jinchuuriki. It's Naruto's jutsu to use or protect. Teach it to him."
Hinata swung her bare legs into the cool water of the waterfall. She lifted her face toward the sky and let the warm sun rays kiss her skin.
With her eyes closed, she listened to the rhythmic sounds of Naruto's grunts and kiais. The damp air hugged Hinata's body, saturating through her clothes, the white t-shirt that she usually wore under her lavender jacket and the pants that she rolled up above her knees so she could stick her feet in the water.
Water splashed off the two Narutos, who stood on either side of her, soaking her long black hair as it lay slick across her face. The day was hot enough that the cool waterfall was just perfect. Hinata sighed, contently.
They had already been there for the entire morning. Kakashi was reading his book in the shade of a nearby tree, and Yamato kept his wood style ready for back up on the ground. Sakura and Sai showed up from time to time at the edge of the woods to watch, but Hinata got a front row seat.
She sat in the middle of the large wooden bridge, which crossed in front of the waterfall. Yamato created the bridge for Naruto and his clones to stand on, as they attempted to cut the flow of the waterfall with his change in chakra nature.
There were presently twenty clones on the bridge. Twenty half-dressed Narutos with water dripping off muscular arms, chests, and torsos. Hinata tried to pretend like she was not looking, but she was definitely sneaking a peek.
Naruto's focus was remarkable. He had been going at it for six hours straight already and he did not appear to be ready to stop anytime soon.
Her cheeks burning, Hinata cleared her mind of all of the impure thoughts she was having about the waterfall and Naruto's impressive body. Her job was to focus on keeping the nine tail's chakra suppressed and separate from Naruto's natural chakra. And as long as he was working hard, she knew she had to stop fantasizing and work hard too.
Keeping Kurama at bay while Naruto accessed his own enormous reserves of chakra was much more difficult than Hinata first thought.
Just her presence suppressed Kurama's chakra naturally, making him more cooperative and less antagonistic. But when Naruto accessed his own chakra, it was like opening the flood gate of a gigantic damned river. His chakra flowed in such large quantities and with such force that Hinata could barely hold her focus on either seal. The enormous release seemed to trigger an even larger chakra response from Kurama, who began to try and take over.
The real Naruto stood to her right. His chakra glowed much brighter and denser than the chakra spread out into his clones. He was also the only Naruto with Kurama's chakra also faintly visible.
She could see some of Naruto's chakra was already entangled with the nine tail's chakra only a few minutes into the training session. But seeing and manipulating chakra were too totally different skill sets. Seeing came easily to Hinata, manipulating without physical contact... not so much.
She had learned some chakra manipulation with the bit of medical ninjutsu that she picked up after the chunin exam. But to manipulate through the two seals was even less tactile and more like genjutsu. Hiro made her go to Kurenai for help with this.
Hinata spent much of the day unknotting what could only be described as endlessly tangled ball of chakra yarn in order to keep Kurama separate and at bay. All of this while in the company of a half naked young man, who she could not tear her eyes away from.
Finally pulling the two separate chakras apart, Hinata focused even harder to keep them separate. She was pulled into another plane. Again, she found herself in the large chamber with pipes tangled across the ceiling and the drip drop of water echoing in the background.
The large gate now sat slightly open and the seal was gone. One of Karuma's large tails lay through the open gate, lazying whipping to the left and then to the right as a loud snore rumbled from the shadows.
Masked by the darkness of the cage, his large head curled back over the rest of his tails and rested on top of them. As Hinata splashed loudly towards him, Kurama opened one fiery eye and looked at her through the gate.
"Ahh... so you've finally come back to see me, Byakugan Princess." Kurama's deep voice caused the gates to tremble.
"Yes." Hinata smiled timidly and continued forward until she was right at the open gate. She reached out and touched Kurama's one tail which hung outside of the gate. His fur was soft and warm between her fingers.
"You should come even when you aren't trying to keep me distracted." He closed his eye again. "Talking to that dunce, who you seem to love so much... gets old. You are much better company.
He continued, "Have you ever thought that there are much smarter and better looking young shinobi in this village? Why limit yourself to the likes of Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Because I love him." Hinata admitted softly. "I fell in love with Naruto the first time I met him. He stood up to a group of bullies, who were much bigger than him. They were picking on me and Naruto stood between them and me -he even took a punch to the face. That is the kind of person that Naruto is... the kind who throws himself in front of a stranger needing help. The kind who sees worth in everyone's friendship."
"Maybe." Kurama responded, unimpressed. "He is also incurably dense. It only took him a thousand years and a handful of lifetimes just to figure out that you are in love with him. But, I'm sure this love affair is not still doomed, Princess."
Confused, Hinata said, "I don't understand."
Kurama let out a puff of hot air and went back to snoring. He did not respond.
Hinata followed Kurama's tail through the gate and inside of the cage. "I would like it if you and Naruto got along better. He never wants to talk about it, but I can tell when he has been arguing with you. It bothers him terribly.
All of us are in this together, right? We should work together... instead of against each other."
"Such optimism." Kurama rolled to his side slightly, as Hinata ran her hand along his belly. "You are the only reason, I haven't erased Uzumaki from this body yet."
Hinata frowned. The tailed beast could not do that, could he? "Then they would just put you in the body of another jinchuuriki -one who you might find worse than Naruto."
"Who could be worse?" Kurama growled, annoyed. Then he paused. "Unless it was that repugnant Uchiha kid. He's definitely worse."
Kurama's entire body shuddered at the thought. "You should be careful Princess. There is something very wrong with that kid. And he is not done with Naruto -therefore he is not done with you either."
Hinata was exhausted by the time the sun was setting and the stars and moon were starting to appear like beacons in the sky.
"Naruto! I think that's enough!" Kakashi called up from the ground.
"Not yet!" Naruto yelled back down. "I haven't gotten it yet!"
He went back to grunting and kiaiing, forcefully slicing into the waterfall.
"Naruto…" Kakashi started another protest.
"I have plenty of energy! The night has barely started!" Naruto yelled, interrupting Kakashi with an overabundance of enthusiasm. "I could go all night!"
"I know… I know… but I'm not worried about you." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, as Hinata, who was still seated on the bridge, swayed and nodded off. She almost tumbled off the edge of the bridge, before being caught by one of the Narutos standing closest to her.
The rest of the Narutos disappeared then, and the real one wrapped her in his arms, wiping the water off of her face.
She opened her drowsy eyes and said faintly, "I'm sorry… I'm so weak Naruto… please don't stop –I just need a little rest and then…"
Hinata drifted off to sleep again. Naruto looked up at Kakashi and said, "We're done for today."
"I know." Kakashi replied, sarcastically.
Naruto carried Hinata down to the ground. She softly snored against his chest.
Kakashi eyed his two students warily and said, "We'll start again tomorrow... maybe in the afternoon."
He reached out and felt Hinata's pulse just to make sure she did not actually kill herself. "You're going to have to be more patient, Naruto… less impulsive. Hinata is not use to dealing with the amount of chakra in a day that you regularly expend just to do simple jutsu… You'll knock her out like this, every time. Patience Kid… take more time, be more thorough. Store your chakra in your hands and then expend it slowly… more efficiently, so Hinata is not killing herself trying to keep up with you."
Naruto nodded. He was not too keen on the idea of holding back… ever. That seemed counter productive. But looking down at the sleeping beauty in his arms, now he felt guilty. "I'll take her home."
Naruto carried Hinata across the village towards her house. But as he got closer, he realized he was still half dressed and Hinata had on a soaked white t shirt which revealed almost everything underneath. He could not bring her to her father looking like this. Besides, a part of him selfishly wanted a night alone with her and without the demon harassing him.
He would tell Sakura to say Hinata stayed with her, and he would take her to his apartment. She could sleep in his bed and he would take the couch. No one would ever know.
Reaching his apartment, Naruto fumbled for the lights while attempting not to wake the girl in his arms. He was not successful. So blindly he made his way through the front room to his bedroom, avoiding as many articles of clothing, shoes, and cartons of old food as his memory allowed. Finally, he lay Hinata in his bed.
He kneeled next to the bed and gently brushed the hair out of her face, thinking she grew more beautiful everyday. He had left the window in the bedroom open, so she was softly bathed in the white moonlight. Her shirt was still damp, and in her sleep, she gave a little sneeze.
Naruto wondered if she should change her shirt. He tapped her shoulder softly, but Hinata only mumbled his name, "Naruto", and smiled, before she turned over restarting her soft snore. She sneezed again.
He rubbed the back of his head. She needed to get out of her wet clothes before she caught a cold. But he surely couldn't do it... could he?
As he stood there wondering how much of a pervert Hinata would think that he was, if he just stripped off her wet clothes himself, a knock sounded on the apartment door.
Relieved of his dilemma for the moment, Naruto got up and walked to the door to open it. Sakura was standing on the other side.
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
"I saw you come this way with Hinata, and I wanted to make sure she's ok." Sakura pushed her way into his apartment. "She looked exhausted after your training session."
Sakura turned on Naruto and looked at him accusingly. "You shouldn't push Hinata so hard..."
"I know. I know. I'm already beating myself up about it. And Kakashi sensei got on me too." Naruto grumbled back. He pointed towards his bedroom. "She's asleep in there. I think she needs to get out of her wet clothes too."
Sakura nodded before turning away to enter the room.
Naruto sat down at the table and waited. Sakura had been especially grumpy since they returned from Orochimaru's hide out. He figured her mood had to do with Sasuke, their complete failure to recover him, and their old teammate's absolute indifference to their presence.
He personally did not remember Sasuke's presence at all, but he was told by both Sai and Yamato that the Uchiha seemed more interested in Kurama than either of his friends.
Yamato attempted to look for Sasuke and to take him by force before they returned to the village, but there was no trace of Sasuke, Orochimaru, or Kabuto by that point.
When they got back to Konoha, Naruto tried to talk to Sakura about Sasuke, but she just bit his head off, telling him to mind his own business.
And so he had minded his own business, but that only seemed to piss her off even more.
Eventually Sakura emerged from his room, shutting the door behind her. She scowled at him. "Hinata needs rest."
"Ok. I'll make sure she gets rest."
Sakura crossed her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her eyes at Naruto. "I'll be the one to make sure that she gets rest."
She walked across the room grabbed one of Naruto's shirts off the ground and tossed it at him. "Go stay with Kiba or Shikamaru."
"But..." Naruto started to protest.
Sakura walked up to him, jabbing him in the chest. "It's not appropriate for you, a young man, to stay alone with two young ladies in your apartment overnight. Particularly since one of them is your girlfriend! Find somewhere else to stay!"
Naruto allowed himself to be pushed out of the door. His cheeks burned as he grumbled and turned to walk down the stairs to the street.
What was Sakura trying to imply? That he was as pervy as Jiraiya? None of those thoughts had even crossed his mind... well, maybe they had... But, he would never act on them... unless Hinata wanted too. UH! That would never happen. Though Hinata had looked at him differently today -more intense while he had his shirt off. He kind of liked it... But Hinata would never... Would she? WHAT was he thinking?!
'You're becoming as warped as both of your lewd senseis,' growled a deep voice.
"I am not!" Naruto yelled angrily at Kurama, who made himself known as soon as Naruto was a good distance from Hinata.
'Oh no? I share this body with you. I know exactly what your hormones are thinking.'
Naruto did not respond. He was trying to be more sensible. And he knew the angrier he got, the greater chance Kurama could take over with Hinata out of commission.
Pushing the fox from his mind, he wondered how he managed to get kicked out of his own apartment. Now he would spend the night listening to the quips of a bitter demon fox spirit instead of watching his beautiful girlfriend sleep. Begrudgingly, he scaled up the side of a building about a block over and knocked loudly on the window.
Sleepy eyes stared incredulously back at him through the glass. Kakashi opened the window. "Naruto?! I thought you were that stupid cat again."
'"Huh? What cat?" Naruto frowned. He was certain Kakashi liked dogs. When did he start hanging out with cats?
'Does sensei mop top always have on that mask? Seems a bit uncomfortable.'
Kakashi rubbed at his eyes and mumbled, "Never mind... What do you want Naruto?"
"I got kicked out of my apartment." Naruto replied, continuing to ignore Kurama.
"What do you mean you got kicked out?"
"Sakura says I can't stay there with her and Hinata."
'I'm sure pervy junior there completely disagrees with that sentiment.' Kurama howled with laughter.
"Ssh!" Naruto hushed, irritated.
"Why are you shushing me?" Kakashi asked, looking annoyed. "I didn't say anything."
"Just joking!" Naruto squeaked innocently. "Can I stay here?"
Kakashi looked back into his apartment. "Well I have a couch, but..."
"Thanks!" Naruto said, quickly sliding in through the window and heading towards the couch before Kakashi changed his mind.
'Well this place is a lot neater than your disaster of an apartment. I guess all humans don't live in such filth.'
"What do you care?" Naruto whispered. "You're a fox who lives in a leaky cage inside of my stomach. I wouldn't exactly call your usual accommodations classy."
'I still have standards.' Kurama growled back.
"Naruto. Can you stop talking to yourself? I'd like to go back to sleep now." Kakashi landed face first in his bed and began to snore again.
Hinata woke up to a strange ceiling. It was horribly cracked, and oddly… there appeared to be sauce stains splashed across it. This was definitely not the ceiling in her bedroom.
She lifted her head, groaning with a headache. She felt hung over... or what she imagined being hung over would feel like.
Where was she?
She lifted her head to find herself on a worn mattress with even shabbier sheets. The floor around the bed looked worse than the ceiling. This was definitely Naruto's place.
She sat up, alarmed and looked down at herself. She was no longer wearing her white tshirt and pants. Instead she had on one of Naruto's large orange shirts.
"Eeek!" Hinata squealed, her face turning bright red. What had happened last night? How did she end up in Naruto's bed? And if she had to endure the shame of waking up in Naruto's bed, why couldn't she at least enjoy the pleasure of remembering exactly how she got there?
Hinata calmed herself down and concentrated. She used the seal to zero in on Naruto's location as her grandfather taught her. He wasn't in the apartment… he wasn't even close.
The door opened and Sakura rushed in. "Are you ok Hinata?!"
"Sakura?" Hinata asked, confused. She looked around herself again. "Isn't this Naruto's place?"
"Yea. He brought you here last night after you were so exhausted from training. I told him it wasn't appropriate for him to stay here overnight and kicked him out." Sakura stated haughtily. "He went to Kakashi's place."
"Oh." Hinata said trying not to sound disappointed.
"But he stopped by this morning and brought breakfast." Sakura smiled. "You're supposed to meet them at the training field again this afternoon."
Hinata nodded. "I should probably go see my father and grandfather this morning then. They will be worried."
"I'll come with." Sakura said, quickly. She left the room and came back with stirafoam cup and a donut, handing it to Hinata. "I wanted to talk with you about something."
"Ok." Hinata looked at Sakura questioningly. The two girls had been relatively good friends for awhile now, but the relationship had never been one of confiding secrets or deep thoughts to each other, and there had been even more distance since Hinata and Naruto became a couple.
"It's just ever since we saw Sasuke a couple of weeks ago after so many years, I've been feeling more and more useless. Both you and Naruto are working so hard to get stronger and I just feel like I should be doing something to prepare for the next time we encounter Sasuke too." Sakura looked down at her hands. "I know Kuranei has been helping you with chakra manipulation through the seal. And I don't want to get in the way of that, but there was a point in time when Kakashi thought I might have an affinity for genjutsu once. I chose to train under Tsunade and she is taught me a great amount, but if I want to keep up with Sasuke and Naruto, I really need another skill..."
"I'll talk to Kuranei." Hinata suggested kindly. "Tell her that you are interested in joining our training sessions. I think she misses leading team eight, so I'm sure she'll be happy to have you as a student too."
Sakura nodded, her green eyes glistening. "Oh... and full disclosure... I'm sorry that I've been acting so funny lately. I was a little jealous of you and Naruto, at first -not because I'm interested in him, mind you. But I guess I just wish Sasuke was back with us... with me. He seemed so cold last time, like he did not even care that he had not seen me or Naruto in almost two years."
