summary: here in town you can tell he's been down for a while, but oh, it's so beautiful when he smiles.
notes: we're back to normal chapters! and we will never go back to the vignette types. ever. i don't like the feel of them in a serious fic like this, (and apparently you guys don't either!) but they were the best way for me to convey what i needed to convey.
ps: i'm expressing hinata's stutter in a different way. i don't like the traditional way of how her stutter is written, and i think that she's gotten more confident, so i show it in the style of her speech, and inserting lots of ums, uhs, and ahs.

chapter six:
thinking maybe you'd come back here to the place that we'd meet

They were finally on their way home. It had taken almost two months, and so much talking. On their last couple day's stretch to travel back home they all walk with a slugged gait and pass the time in an exhausted silence.

Their mission had been an arduous task, both mentally and emotionally. They had all been drained of energy and willpower after the end of the war, finally content to relax in the peace of their new world. The news that some nations wanted Sasuke's head had been almost earth-shattering to them; and so despite their tired souls and aching hearts, they mustered up whatever strength of will they had to save their friend.

They had traveled to Iwagakure first, as it was farther away from the other two and more than likely, the most stressful. The Tsuchikage was a stubborn old man, and he had never taken to Naruto's brashness, nor his so-called "complete and utter disregard for authority". They figured that if they could convince the Tsuchikage, they could win the other two over without much effort.

It hadn't been easy, they would admit that much. Ohnoki had definitely been stubborn as they thought he would be, and his chosen advisors had been just as opinionated and loud as the old man was. They had stayed a little over a month in Iwagakure, the longest of their stays, simply because of all the arguing that had occurred.

Calm logic and reasoning was not the way to go, in that particular case — and Naruto had been the only one willing to fight that way at first. Of course, he was the only one that Ohnoki wouldn't listen to. One by one, the rest of Team 7 became more aggressive in their defense of Sasuke — even Sai, who by no means felt any sort of connection to his new teammate. When asked why, by Sasuke no less, he had replied, "Because you are dear to my friend. Therefore, you are my friend, as well."

Eventually, the Tsuchikage had conceded, albeit begrudgingly. He warned them, however, that the moment Sasuke did anything that could be considered aggressive toward Iwagakure or any of it's shinobi, he would not hesitate to order for his assassination. Although the threat hung heavy in their heads, they left the Land of Earth feeling some relief sinking into their hearts.

They had made their next trek to Kirigakure, and the journey there had been almost unfortunately long. They had ended up crossing through the remains of Otogakure on their way there, and they all watched as Sasuke tightly clenched his fists as they passed half-buried skeletons with their hitai-ite's still tied to them. They had said nothing.

They all watched as they passed the crumbling ruins of Uzushiogakure, the small island visible from their boat. Naruto's throat had closed up, and his hands trembled in his tight grip. They all stared in a sad silence as it came and went, and did not judge Naruto for the tears he let fall.

They were greeted with open arms when they finally arrived on the central island, despite that behind the welcoming smile of the chosen ambassadors, they could see a sharp coldness behind their eyes. Their words were tight and laced with saccharine praise. While Team 7 had courteously smiled and doled out their own string of compliments, it was purely political. It was an unspoken agreement among the six of them that these were the people they did not quite trust.

However, they were, ironically, the most easily persuaded — the Mizukage and chosen her company were calm and listened to Team 7's prepared speeches about why Sasuke should be allowed to live. Mei held little contempt for Sasuke, and the only incident she brought up in refute was the Five Kage Summit. Despite protest from some of her aides, of which she had quickly silenced, they were grateful for her leniency on the matter. She had sent them off and on their way to Kumogakure before they had even stayed in the misty village for three days.

Meeting with the Raikage, however, was probably the tensest situation of them all. Despite that Naruto had hoped for it to go easily, A was a stern man who kept to his convictions. The most prominent of these convictions was something that was quite akin to Naruto: protect your precious people at all costs. It was hard to argue when he brought up the fact that Sasuke had attempted to kill Bee back when he was a part of Akatsuki.

They had made Sasuke formally apologize, which was a long and ostentatious process that involved an unfortunately long letter in which he apologized for each of the grievances Kumogakure had against him, and a public spar of which he had to lose on purpose. Sakura had rolled her eyes and said it was typical of boys. But then again, they were ninjas and really, she knowa that's just how things are.

So despite the long, somewhat arduous and completely draining quest of theirs, Sasuke was okay. After the fight they had gone through and ass-kicking it had taken to get him back, they knew they weren't going to let anything change that.

Naruto is just grateful to be close to home again. He knows this worn, dirt road well. He knows every tree that frames its pathway, tall and full of rigor and alive with greenery. He knows every beaten out trail to the nearby river, and all the dug out pits used for camping by many of Konoha's shinobi. He knows the crisp smell of winter in the Land of Fire, the air rich with the brittle chill. Hell, he could walk back to the village from here with his eyes closed.

This is home.

He's happy for his home. He's happy for the whole shinobi world, of course, to finally be at peace now, but he thinks it's his people that deserve it. They had fought off the destruction of their village how many times in the past four years? Not to mention the fact that Konoha, though fast rebuilding, was most likely going to permanently be in the huge crater that "Pain" had left.

But his people are happy now. He protected them.

He wonders when he started calling the people of Konoha 'his'. He certainly hasn't done it all his life, not when they hated him, when they despised him. Even in his early childhood ambitions of recognition, he had not called them his people. He supposes it could be when he came back from Sage training at Mount Myoboku, in the middle of Pain's invasion. The rage he had felt when he saw the devastation, it had been for the people of Konoha.

The people precious to him. The people that he hoped he could one day truly call his.

Naruto, deep in thought, almost doesn't notice the man that comes swinging a kunai at him. He steps back at the last second, easily grabbing the man's thin wrist and twisting it behind him. The blonde plucks the kunai out of the attacker's grasp with his other hand without much effort.

Upon closer inspection, the kunai is old and dull, muddled with dents. The man's clothes are ragged, covered in dirt and grime that is no doubt weeks old. The man is gaunt and frail, and old, it seems. A twinge of sympathy goes through Naruto as the man begins to shake.

"Who are you, and why do you attack the shinobi of Konoha?" Kakashi asks, the standard question when confronted with a bandit.

Naruto thought it was odd — why would this man be so close to Konoha, if he had no shinobi skills, especially after their victory in war? An act like that was practically begging for trouble.

The man shakes his head and drops to his knees. He does not say a word, nor attack out again as Naruto releases him and tosses the kunai somewhere into the forest.

They wait, in terse silence, before they all share a look.

"Hey, man," Naruto says, gingerly touching the man's back. "Do you need food? Or shelter?"

The man wrenches away from the blond's grip, and the bags under his eyes are accompanied by the dark discoloration from what is undoubtedly exhaustion.

"I don't need any help from Shinobi," the man sputters angrily. His eyebrows knot together over cold, beady eyes that glimmer with hunger and madness. "You know what shinobi did? You took everything away from me in your damn war. First, it was my wife thirty years ago. Now it's my home, my business…! I don't want your sympathy or your kindness, if you even have any. Leave me be! I won't take anything you people!"

Naruto's heart hurts and his stomach churns apprehensively. He doesn't know this man at all, but he can tell that the old man used to be one of his people.

He doesn't realize that he's been standing there, opening and closing his mouth at a complete loss of what to say to the man, until Sasuke sets a hand on his shoulder and pulls him along.

"Come on, dobe," he says, and despite his usual stoic demeanor, Naruto can sense a tone of sadness in his friend. "There's no point. Let's go home."

The blond's knees lock into place and he clenches his hands into fists, but Sasuke shoves him forward, forcing him to continue. Naruto grits his teeth and begrudgingly shuffles forward. He finds that he cannot meet the angry eyes of the old man. He knows he deserves that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach because he does not help the stranger, which is something he has always done his entire life.

He is tired. Naruto is tired and for once, he finds that he cannot find the strength to help.

"Things aren't always going to be the way they are now, are they?" he says, after a couple minutes of silence.

Sai raises a thin eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Things aren't always going to be peaceful. Something's going to come up. Some conflict. The peace…the world that we worked so hard to create…one day, it's all going to be for nothing!"

He is shaking and if he was younger, elongated nails would be digging into the palms of his tightly clenched fists. He almost shivers instinctively, when he knows the rush of the malevolent chakra of the Kyuubi would be clawing it's way into his system. But he's in control.

"That's how the world works, Naruto," Kakashi says.

It's the sad truth. Naruto knows that his sensei understands — his sensei, who was in a war himself at the vulnerable time of childhood. But that doesn't stop an iron grip from suffocating his heart inside his chest.

"Nothing ever stays the same for long. But what's important is how we enjoy it." The older man clasps Naruto's shoulders tightly, and the blond is forced to look up at Kakashi's face. "You are the savior of the world, Naruto. Enjoy the peace while you have it. Enjoy the happiness you will find. That is what matters in the end. Live life for the moment now. We will cross the other bridges when we come to them."

Naruto takes a deep breath, and allows a sense of calm to flow into him. He's just concealing what's really there beneath the surface.

For now, it'll have to do.

The Hyuuga sisters breathe in and out in perfect harmony in the crisp, early morning air of December.

They're supposed to be meditating, and though she thinks Hanabi might be, Hinata is definitely not. Her thoughts keep running all over the place and she can't herd them all in quickly enough. She is completely unbalanced today.

She's tired, for one — it was another late night studying Hyuuga scrolls, although she had been able to get a better head start on her reading than she had last time. Her mind was still processing and going over all the information she had absorbed last night. Despite the fact that she was exhausted, she was proud. It had taken her so long to finally achieve the respect of her clan, of her family, and she allows herself to feel happy in her accomplishment. She would do whatever it took to properly lead her clan, the way it needed to be led — to help her people and her village.

Her village, which was flourishing. Despite that around this time of year, the city was usually down in its spirits in reaction to the uncharacteristic chill in the Land of Fire, something had seemed to come alive in the village. Everyone smiles at one another, shinobi often took extra shifts for no pay at all, just for something to do, to help out in some way. Hinata thinks it's because they could sense that their savior, their hero was about to come back.

It had been two months since Team 7 left, and two months since she had been anxiously awaiting her answer to a question that has been long asked.

She's anxious. She doesn't know how relationships work — do any of them? It's not like she could ask for sound advice from any of her peers. None of them know how relationships work, either. They never had time for relationships, despite the constant fawning they had all done over someone at some point.

If she was honest with herself, she's never thought anything would come out of this, not with him. She always thought she was forever consigned to watching and admiring from afar. She would have been okay with that. Maybe.

But it was her courage — rather, her selfishness that had changed everything, wasn't it? He would have never known, if it hadn't have been for that day.

Hinata wonders how he feels. She thinks that he might like her, just maybe, but mostly she hopes. She hopes that he feels something, just something for her, too. She hopes that he also feels the pleasant, fluttering tingle whenever they lace their fingers together, that he feels the same warmth unfurling in his chest whenever they look into one another's eyes. She hopes that he also understands the frantic thudding of her heart when he's near, of the smile that can't help but grace her face when she hears his laughter.

Oh, she was so hopelessly, pointlessly in love with him.

She knows that Naruto will not break her heart, because that is not the kind of man he is. But even so, Hinata is terrified and so she prays.

"Hinata."

She jumps slightly, an obvious display of her failed attempt at meditation, something she usually excels at. She bashfully averts her eyes from her father's, an old habit from harsher days. "Yes, Father?"

"Your team is waiting for you in hallway," he says in a hushed tone, trying not to disturb Hanabi, who is quiet next to her.

Hinata nods her thanks, before checking out the hallway. She's wearing her casual Hyuuga robes that she always meditates in, and realizes they must have a sudden mission when she eyes them in their shinobi garb.

"Guard duty at the gates," Kiba explains as they begin to walk to her room. "Nothing special. Just a formality. Guess they just forgot to fill in someone until now."

"Tsunade-sama is very busy," Shino agrees. "It does not surprise me that she would have overlooked something as insignificant as that at a time like this."

Hinata darts inside her room to quickly change into her proper attire, while her teammates wait outside the door.

She remembers when they had returned, when she had been able to strip away the grime and the blood that stained her uniform and her skin. It had been comforting to put on her jacket again, something familiar after weeks spent in the standard Konoha uniform during the war. After the weeks spent in foreign land, it had smelled like home and brought her relief in the form of familiarity.

There was a lot she did just for a glimpse back into the past. Some nights she curls up with Neji's old robes clutched to her chest and talks to him. Pretends he's there with her. When she saw Hanabi emerge from her room one day, wearing Neji's old Genin shirt over her normal outfit, she broke down into tears. Her sister had, too.

But the mood of her team had snapped right back to normal after the war, during the day anyway. While they were much stronger as a team now, much more emotionally connected in so many new ways, it was normal to be like they always were. During the day, they could all pretend everything was ok, because they trust each other. They knew that when it mattered, they would be there for the tears and the grief. They knew that they couldn't cry all the time — they had to be useful, for their village, for each other, and for themselves.

For now, it was simple and easy.

"Kiba, you reek of dog." Since Shino's stay at the Inuzuka's, he had taken to becoming a lot more blunt and much more playful around them. "You really shouldn't let Akamaru sleep in your bed with you."

"Hey, fuck you!" Kiba sputters, and the canine at his side whines accordingly. Hinata jabs him in his ribs with a clear look that he's seen many times before — don't curse in the household. "If you and I get to sleep in a bed, then Akamaru should too! He's as good as any ninja person!"

"Yes, but you and I also bathe regularly." Shino lifts an eyebrow. "Or is that just me?"

Hinata's tittering laughter chimes like bells with the Shino's low chuckles and Akamaru's accompanying yaps. Her boys, her family, always make her feel so numbingly pleasant. She can forget absolutely everything when she's with them.

"Looks like we should give you another bath, huh, Akamaru?" she teases, ruffling the top of the large dog's head. He whines playfully at her and nips at the back of her legs.

Everything is easy between them.

They make their way to the village gate and relieve the team on duty, who were playing cards on the grass. Guard duty nowadays was more formality than anything — no one would attack another village after the war. It was an era of peace, after all, and who would dare cause an end to it? So most shinobi spend their guard duties fooling around and mostly doing a whole lot of nothing, but Team Kurenai does it with as much effort and seriousness that they do anything with.

An hour passes by slowly, and unfortunately, they're on the lunch-to-dinner shift.

"So hungry," Kiba moans, clutching his growling stomach.

Hinata reaches behind her from her post to grab a backpack. With an almost smug smile, she pulls out three bento boxes. "Well, I'm glad I already had some lunch made for us today."

Kiba's eyes go wide and a wide grin settles across his face. "Hinata, you're the best. I'll get it writing."

"How did you prepare for this?" Shino asks with a grateful tone, taking a bento. "We weren't assigned duty until this morning."

"Oh, I just thought we would be training around this time anyway," she answers, handing a bento to Kiba before opening her own, "and I thought it would be nice for us to share a home-cooked meal together for lunch, instead of just going out like normal."

They smile at each other and set themselves down on the grass in a circle to eat. They chime their thanks and begin to eat. They share laughs and jokes in between bites, and it's like normal, like it always was. She couldn't ask for better friends, better brothers, really.

Her teammates love her for her thoughtfulness and care without any warning or any desire to be paid back. She was simply sweet, in the purest sense of the word.

Akamaru, who was taking a nap as they ate, suddenly lifts his head and barks.

Kiba raises an eyebrow, before turning to smirk at Hinata. "Hey, guess who Akamaru just smelled on their way?"

With a quick glance of her Byakugan, her suspicions are confirmed. Team 7 was on their way back, and perhaps only ten minutes away.

The anxiety that had faded away into the pit of her stomach suddenly blossomed inside her. Her heart feels like it's going to burst inside her chest. Her mind races through the heartbreaking thoughts had plagued her over the past couple months without his reassuring eyes to calm her down.

What if he said no to her? What if he thought she was creepy? What if he had just been humoring her for the past couple months of their talking, just waiting for a chance to push her away?

"Eh? So what's up with you and lover-boy?" Kiba asks, nudging her in the shoulder with the end of a chopstick. "You're definitely freaking out. I can see it in your pre-blush."

A true blush creeps up her neck at her teammate's teasing.

"It's just — we just, he said…" She can't even process words right now, what the hell was she going to do? In frustration, Hinata covers her face with her hands, and the frustrated squeal she lets out is muffled.

"You're going to talk about your relationship, correct? Now that he's back."

She nods, a heavy flush evident in her cheeks, and quickly returns to eating her lunch. She wants to be done before Team 7 passes through, after all. "I'm so overwhelmed, I just, ah, I don't even know what to do. O-Or what to say! I feel like I always have it all planned out but when it comes out it's just like, well, mush."

"If I was Naruto, I would probably find it cute," Kiba says, eating his final bite of lunch and setting the top back on the bento. He gives her a grin. "Knowing Naruto, he probably does."

"D-Don't say that, Kiba-kun! That's embarrassing!"

"But it's a compliment." Shino and Kiba give each other a look. "You have to work on accepting compliments more readily. Do you truly have a problem with being 'cute'?"

They all know she's gotten better at it, but whenever it came to Naruto… They all knew it was a special circumstance. But it was always fun to tease her.

"Oh, just stop!" Hinata smiles as she says it, and punches them both playfully in the arm. They pack up the bento together and take their posts once more.

Hinata can feel the anticipation growing inside her as she feels Team 7's unmistakable chakra signatures coming closer and closer. Her teammates say nothing, satisfied in their teasing for now. They know that for her, this was very serious and they knew when to stop the jokes. They can see her hands as they begin to shake ever so slightly.

"You'll be fine," Kiba murmurs to her, when they can finally see the group in sight. "Just breathe."

She takes a deep breath in and out, but staring straight at their approaching figures still makes her nervous. Her Byakugan is active, as was the norm during guard duty, so she can see the shock run through Naruto's body as he realizes it's her standing there. She watches his heart rate rise a little — so he was nervous too, huh? That makes her feel a lot better.

"Oi!" Kiba calls with a grin when they're within earshot, only about a few dozen meters in front of them. "So you're still alive, eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes at the brunette in the classic Uchiha glare, before sighing. Kiba harrumphs at that — not even worth a biting remark?

Typical from this guy, he thinks with an eye roll.

"We're glad that you have returned safely," Shino says.

He was always making up for his teammate's rancorous behavior. He knows that it was a tease, but really, Kiba should know by now how far to push their other comrades. Though Shino supposes he can't blame the brunette. After all, this was how he teased the other guys, why should Sasuke be any different?

During this exchange, Hinata's pale eyes flicker up to Naruto's, as they continue walking. She can see the nervousness in his eyes, the tension in his body language, but at that moment his eyes soften and he relaxes. She feels her heart flutter and soar at the gentle look he gives her.

There was a new kind of determination in their eyes. Despite the trepidation both of them had been feeling before, the nervousness, they know that they don't have to be afraid. It reminds Hinata of the war, of the way they had been able to stare into each others eyes with determination. Of the way she had been able to pick him back up for once. It reminds her of the way that the resolve in his eyes had always allowed her to pick herself back up, too.

He says no words, but she can tell from his eyes what he's asking her. The way they cautiously gaze at her, the slight widening of his pupils, the small, upward twitch of his eyebrow. Although she usually couldn't read him, Konoha's Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja, she hears the words that his lips does not speak.

Hinata gives a small, almost imperceptible nod, before shyly glancing away. But she sees his sapphire eyes light up and the way his mouth stretches into a grin.

"Oi, quit harassing my team, Mutt-breath!"

"Excuse me? I'll kick your ass for that!"

"You can try!"

Hinata takes a deep breath, in and out, and smiles. She saw it in his eyes — he would not break her heart.

They would meet at that bench again, tonight. After her guard duty was over, after he had settled back in, they would meet. They would talk.

She would know exactly how he feels.

ending notes: i feel like this chapter was written kind of awkwardly, so i'm sorry for that. my style has always really been influenced by how i feel, and i honestly wrote better when i was depressed. life is painfully funny, sometimes. despite that, i hope you guys enjoyed it! please let me know what you think!