Let's back up

By Vi

AUTHOR NOTE: YES, I changed my pen-name. I'm sorry, I really disliked 'PuffGal' for quite some time. It was so uncreative.

A/N: To be incredibly honest, I thought I deleted this chapter. This was, originally, the very last chapter AND my favorite chapter, and I was way too bummed out to try to re-write it by memory. I did have several attempts, but—when I finally came across it by accident while writing a whole different fanfiction—I was SO glad. You guys are lucky.

I'll have this story finished by Wednesday if everything goes as planned.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I can't believe you're actually grounded." Cackled the hyper voice of Hyuuga Hanabi as she squeezed her stomach and rolled over from intense laughter. "This is precious."

Hinata frowned. "I don't find it so funny." She was catching up on scrollwork since she was cooped up in her room. Still, being grounded meant that she didn't get any guests either, meaning her sister laughed at her right outside of her room.

"No, it's brilliant!" Hanabi snapped. "You sass back at dad? When did you get interesting?"

Hinata shot her sister a cold look before delicately making a note in a particular scroll with harsher strokes of her brush. "You don't have to rub it in my face."

"No, yes I do. I never got this chance before." Hanabi quips. "This might be the only time I can openly laugh at you and not get grounded myself."

"You are such a sweet sister."

"Yep! Your one and only. So! Did that prick Seijirou say anything after you were officially announced daddy's prisoner?"

"No." Hinata gritted out, "Which would make him a lot more of a gentlemen than I've ever given him credit for. I'm sorry to say that my very SISTER doesn't have that kind of respect towards me."

"Oh grow up, you know you love me." Snorted Hanabi. "You don't mind ME making fun of you. Seijirou doesn't have the right. As you already might have told him—" Hanabi was now almost in tears with laughter, "You'll never love him!" She tossed her head back and literally screamed with laughter. "I wanted to be there when you said that to his face!"

Hinata sighed before pulling out another calligraphy set and tucking her current brush away. "I'm going to be working till very late, Hanabi. You don't have to keep an eye on me—it'll just make you realize I'm not that interesting."

"Let me be the judge of that." Hanabi said snobbishly. "So, writing a love letter?"

"In fact, I am." Hinata said sweetly. "Too bad you can't see it from there."

"Try me." Hanabi stood on her tip toes but Hinata effectively put her bottle of ink on top of her tiny writing. "You're such a brat. I'm not interested anyway."

"Sure." Hinata sighed. "Anyway, close the door, would you?"

"Fine, fine!" Hanabi grumbled and closed the door with a deafening slap. "You are SO not interesting, by the way."

Hinata simply grinned to herself as she stared down at her 'love note' that, for some strange reason only listed scenarios of what she herself would do when certain people would ask her a question. A strange list to be written but around the same minute that Hanabi stormed out of Hinata's way—a second guest came crawling into her window. Hinata turned and cast a secret smile over toward Naruto, who beamed back.

"Are you sure you can keep a shadow clone long enough to fool my family members? I think it's too risky." Hinata said sadly as she listened to her sister's heavy footsteps leave the second story of her mansion.

"I'm confident. And even then, hey—I can make one and send one over to the Hyuuga mansion at any time. So no worries~!"

Hinata gulped, still very worried.

"What are you doing here?" came a third voice and Hinata gasped and turned her head toward her window with a Kunai already in her hand.

Naruto already felt Neji's presence long before he snuck into Hinata's room and calmly looked over his shoulder and waved.

"Hey, I'm sneaking out with Hinata to go to Chouji's party tonight." Naruto said bluntly without any reason to get scared. "Wanna help out?"

Hinata gaped at Naruto, completely aghast and now turning bright pink as she looked over toward her own shocked cousin.

"I must have misheard you." Neji coughed. "Hinata-sama would do no such thing."

"Why not?" Naruto snorted. "Are you going to stop me?"

"No." Neji shook his head. "But the Hyuuga guards—"

"They couldn't even catch me last night. I'm pretty sure we're safe. Unless you think you can do a better job." Naruto taunted.

"I probably would do a better job at keeping Hinata-sama safe from perverts like yourself." Neji said calmly as he leaned up against Hinata's window. He was being discreet enough to remember the rules of a grounded Hyuuga member, and that was to not enter her room at any costs.

"Well, you're free to try." Naruto said in a bored tone, "But seriously? I think you'll fail in the end."

Neji narrowed his eyes while Hinata got increasingly nervous from behind the two boy's staring contest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chouji grinned stupidly when confetti, screams, and lights were shoved into his face with a cry of "SURPRISE!" coming from every corner of the room. He was threatened to enter quickly by his lovely teammate Ino, who bounced right in after him and examined her friend's reaction just as the rest did.

"So? Are you surprised." Ino chirped happily

"Whoa." Chouji only had to say, he even had the courtesy to put down his current bag of barbeque flavored chips. "That was…fast. I knew you were throwing a party…but…"

"You knew?" sneered Ino, all of the sudden flashing away from her sickeningly sweet act to a deathly furious face as she examined the other guests around her. "Who yapped?"

Shikamaru put his hand up lazily without any regret or guilt crossing his features. His very 'I don't give a damn' look made Ino steam and give up that very instant.

Sakura pointed wildly toward the large cake at the corner of the room. "We got you cake from your favorite bakery, Chouji. Congrates!"

"Yeah, congratulations, man." Came Kiba's friendly cheer, "You gotta show us this jutsu of yours sometime—"

"Ah, no. Not a good idea." Grinned Ino, "It can destroy the village. BUT, be prepared to be amazed on our next mission."

"Why in the world are we celebrating it now then?" drawled out Kakashi-sensei as he rolled his one visible eye. "Let's throw some booze around when we're the only country standing."

Everyone quieted instantly and gave him an odd stare. Slowly, Sakura came to realize the bottle that was clenched in her teacher's hands and groaned aloud. Someone allowed this party to have all the booze you wanted, and she had no idea that Kakashi of all people would take the opportunity to be intoxicated.

Then again, he did have a hard week…what with finally being admitted back into doing missions but getting a really crappy client. Naruto quickly linked an arm around his teacher and prodded him toward the feast.

"Ino-chan planned the whole thing, isn't it great?" Naruto loudly asked.

"Sake." Kakashi clarified as he looked up at his students. "Please tell me there is more sake."

Sakura couldn't help but shrug, "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, we're under aged, so—"

"Miss." Kakashi called a nearby waitress, "Sake. All around." He waved toward everybody else, and instantly the whole chattering crowd of under-aged ninjas fell silent. Kiba and Akamaru both glanced worriedly at each other as they scooted away from Lee—their neighbor, as far away as possible. Hinata and Ten ten were also in range if Lee started getting drunk, and started to think up excuses to leave the party in shallow whispers.

"BOOZE FOR EVERYONE!" Kakashi suddenly shouted. "For me! The birthday boy!"

"It's not your birthday!" Sakura shouted, having enough of it already. "NARUTO! Do something!"

"Yeah! He's ruining my party!" Ino screeched back.

"Your party?" Chouji asked as he stopped his chopsticks mid-way from grabbing a shrimp dumpling.

"You know what I mean." Ino said impatiently.

"No. NO!" Kiba said just as a few waitresses came out with tall green glass bottles filled to the top with clear liquid. He was only panicking because he sat next to the most easily intoxicated ninja in the room—Rock Lee. "Aw shit!"

"Uh…" Naruto said quietly, looking over at the rest of the shocked guests as alcohol was suddenly put in front of them.

"Let's all have a toast then." Kakashi said, it was already clear that he was going to try to drink his way back into his younger years. He asked the waitress to pour him a warm glass of sake in a rather large mug before lifting it over his head and demanding a toast. Everyone else—including those who were already of age such as Kurenai and Gai took their cups very reluctantly as waitresses hurried to get them filled. Just as Lee was getting his own cup filled, Kakashi announced, "Thank you for this wonderful party, Ino." He indicated toward the lovely flower girl who looked fearful of the consequences as she nodded. "This round is for you—" he then took the mug and in one big swing—drained it entirely.

"Ahh!" Lee shouted, pumped up as he got up hurriedly as well. "I will drink for YOU, Sakura, my flower!" despite many people around him screaming at him to stop—he took his small cup of sake and drained it just like Kakashi did. "Invigorating! Another!" he cried—bending over to take Kiba's cup of sake.

"Wow, good thing Neji called in sick for this party." Chuckled Ten Ten toward Hinata, who chuckled nervously in response.

"Ah hell no!" Kiba took his own cup of sake and purposefully spilled it before Rock Lee's lips could come near it.

"Would you like another cup, sir?" asked an oblivious waitress.

"No! Don't you dare!" Kiba threatened her but it was too late—Lee was already caving under the influence of alcohol as he danced toward her.

"Uh…" Sakura said, slowly standing up, "This is an unexpected turn of events." She glanced at her teacher, who was slowly turning drunk himself as he kept asking for refills in a giant mug. "Ino, do something!" she hissed while Ino stared at Chouji as he recklessly stuffed his face.

"Eh, actually I think this party's going rather well." Shrugged Ino. "Considering Naruto hasn't started karaoke yet, and everyone still has all of their clothes on…"

"Ino!" Ten ten scolded while Hinata was dragged over by Kiba to help ease the rambunctious Lee.

"How troublesome." Grumbled Shikamaru as he ducked as Lee jumped over the table to attack another sake-serving waitress. "I should've stayed home if this would be the case."

"Shhh! Don't say that!" scolded Ino.

Chouji said loudly, "I for one, am glad that everyone was able to come! Thank you guys! And hot damn, look at how much food there is!" he rubbed his hands together before leaning across the table as he realized there were also serving chicken legs.

"Aw, man… and after sneaking Hinata out to this party… Kakashi totally ruined the mood." Groaned Naruto aloud, catching several non-drunken people's attention.

"What?" Sakura blinked looking over at the blushing girl, who was now trying to break up the fight between Lee and her teammate. "You… you were with Hinata?"

"Yeah!" Naruto said brightly.

"N-Naruto! T-That's great!" Ino gasped. She glanced over at the shy girl who was busy teaming up with her regular team-mates to stop Rock Lee's drunken fist. "You… and Hinata…are… you know, an item now?"

"WHAT?" Naruto's eyes widened, "Ino, we're people!"

Ino smacked her head loudly before Ten Ten came through with her own curious gaze.

"Dating. Are you two dating?"

"Nooo," Naruto said with a shake of his head, "We've passed that stage." He then stared at his now intensely interested crowd with a smug grin, "I haven't told you guys yet, have you? Well, Hinata-chan and I do want it to be sort of a surprise…"

"You're keeping secrets with Hinata?" Sakura shrieked, she stared over at her friend—who was across the room, still busy with the fight between the drunkard and the sober dogs. "I… she never told us!"

"We're keeping LOTS of secrets." Naruto informed wisely, "We don't keep anything from each other now."

The girl's eyes widened, "So… you know…Hinata's deepest secret?"

"Which one?" Naruto asked, with a frown.

"You know…that she likes you?" Ino asked, her eyes sparkling.

Naruto threw his head back and laughed, "Of course she likes me. That's why she's my back up."

That definitely killed the mood.

All the girls who were listening and knew the term gasped dramatically—quickly turning angry as they crossed their arms in unison. Naruto blinked up at now anger-filled eyes, as surrounding men—who were obviously clueless—shrunk back with fear.

"What? Back up? Like she's not good enough to be the real deal?" snapped Ino angrily.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked owlishly. He turned toward an angry Ten ten, "What does she mean? Is she just jealous that I have a backup?"

"No, Naruto." Ten ten said, she had her teeth gritted and she was fingering her weapons in her hidden pouch. "And you better stop flapping that tongue before I CUT. IT. OUT."

Naruto jumped back, obviously not knowing why the conversation took a seriously weird turn.

"Wait, wait." Sakura said, slowly realizing how innocent her teammate look, she sighed slowly—releasing some of her built-in anger before letting it out as calmly as possible. "Naruto… do you know what a back up is?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto retorted brashly.

"Oh." Sakura glared, "Well then… you're a JERK!" she loudly cracked her knuckles and got up from her seat as well—now all the girls were aiming toward him with a crazy look in their eyes.

"Uh…ok, I guess I don't know." Naruto frowned as he pulled up his forearms for a defensive stance. "Why are you guys so angry?"

"Why?" Ino hissed "WHY? You- You're playing with Hinata's emotions! THAT'S WHY!"

"WHAT?" it was Naruto's turn to get angry. "I would NEVER do that! Hinata's my friend—soon to be BEST friend, AND wife. I would NEVER hurt her!" he got up and huffed. "Man! You guys are crazy!"

Sakura released her anger again, "Wait, you really mean that?"

"Of course I do! I'm going to marry Hinata!" Naruto loudly announced—it was loud enough that it caught even Kakashi's ears.

"HA!" the drunken teacher suddenly exclaimed. "My little student Naruto-channnnnzzzzz gettings merr—woops, MARRIEZ! Let'ss have another round!"

This now caught the oblivious Hinata's attention indefinitely as she looked up from the fight between her teammates and Lee… she caught sight of a frightened looking Naruto surrounded by her girlfriends, and she had a sickening feeling she knew why.

"Wh-What's going on?" Hinata asked aloud as many people openly stared at her. When she looked back at Naruto—Sakura was hissing something at him—and didn't look very happy at all. What was that about?

"You fool!" Sakura hissed as she gripped on Naruto's ears.

"OWWW!"

"You want to marry Hinata?"

"That means you're engaged, Naruto." Snapped Ino with her arms still tightly wound before her chest. She was still angry that Naruto was this dense. This word made Naruto squirm out of Sakura's grip and defensively wave his hands around to abolish what Ino had said.

"WOW! Wow, wow—Hinata and I haven't done any of THAT yet." Naruto said quickly. "God damn, Ino—get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Wha--?" Ino shrieked, "ENGAGED is not a naughty word!"

"Really? 'Cause Ero-sennin used to use that word like it was a taboo or something…"

"Oh my god." Ten ten groaned aloud. She looked over at the rest of the guests—half who were actually interested in what was going on with Naruto. "Just explain to him what a back up is quick—let me go talk to Hinata…"

She turned toward her shy friend who saw the exchange between the girls and Naruto and looked deathly worried.

"Why? What does back up really mean?" Naruto blinked innocently up at Sakura.

Sakura sighed, "It means—"

"It means Hinata's your LAST CHOICE, moron!" interrupted Ino harshly. Naruto's eyes widened, and Sakura waved her arms around to signal for Ino to stop, but she just kept going—in her loud, rambunctious voice, "It means that you made a truce with her that if you don't find someone you WANT to marry, that you'll MARRY Hinata when you have NO OTHER CHOICE! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO HER?" she screamed.

Ino fell silent as well when she realized how quiet the room had gotten. She blinked and looked around just before seeing Hinata looking extremely hurt.

"Ino-chan…" Hinata started. "Ino-chan! Stop!"

She ran up to them and wedged herself between the angry kunoichi and her backup.

"Naruto-kun…when he asked me to be his backup, I was the one who said yes." Hinata said desperately. "So don't blame Naruto-kun. It's not his fault."

"You're always defending him, Hinata!" snapped Ino. "Even when he makes a dumb ass move! He needs to grow up some time! It's YOUR feelings you should be concerned about! Look what he DOES to you!"

"No!" Hinata interjected shaking her head and holding out her arms to keep Ino at bay. "Everybody should have a person that would stand up for them no matter what! I will always…stand up for Naruto-kun." Naruto looked up at Hinata, wonder and sadness evident in his eyes. This wasn't just the woman he somehow realized he wanted to marry…this was a person… that loved him. And as he saw her back, he realized… yes, he loved her too.

"Do you like Hinata?"

Yes. He could honestly say he could.

Do you love Hinata?

Of course. A new wave of emotions overtook him. 'Of course I love Hinata Hyuuga…' When she thought that he asked her to be his 'last choice'—she was still there for him. When he bugged her about their back up plans—she was still there for him… When her own family left her, she was still there for people she cared about. She was honestly—the person that he would gladly spend the rest of his life with.

Naruto's lips squared, 'Well… I want to be there for her too I want to be the person who stands up for Hinata-chan…no matter what.'

"Please…" Hinata's voice broke, "Don't get angry at him." She looked down and her shoulder suddenly shook. "Don't get angry at him."

"Ahhh." Kiba muttered under his breath. "Told you he'd make her cry."

And as he predicted, a sob broke through the air, and Ino—once charged with raw anger felt guilt settle in her heart as she watched the girl before her crumple into tears. Dainty hands covered her face and tried to muffle the sound as much as she could, but it was already out in the open.

But as soon as the sob hit the air, and everyone felt a terrible tension—Naruto stepped up boldly and threw his arms around Hinata from behind—wrapping her into a tight embrace and burying his head between the crook of her neck.

"I'm sorry, Hinata."

Hinata's insides turned, her sobbing stilled and a blush crept through her fingers.

"I never meant to hurt you."

"I- I know that, Naruto-kun." Hinata's voice said brokenly.

"I really…" Naruto realized people were still quiet and that people—were watching his intimate moment with his girl. "I don't think I really understood what a back up was."

Hinata nodded slowly—turning redder as her eyes flew across shocked faces that surrounded her. She wanted to tell Naruto that she forgave him already. She wanted to run away from those shocked stares as soon as possible…it was nerve wracking.

Naruto lifted his head and brought his hand up to cup the distance between his mouth and her ear and whispered.

"I kinda like you. You know… like you-like you."

Hinata turned the brightest shade of red she could possibly get before she could hit fainting-mode.

"I do too." Hinata said softly. She saw from the corner of her eye her friends exchanging shocked looks that clearly read that they had no idea what they were talking about.

Everybody else, sans Kakashi who was knocked out from his liquor, stared openly as Naruto tip toed out the room with the Hyuuga Heiress stiffly strapped up in his arms.

"Uh…" Naruto said—indicating toward everybody else—his own face red. "Continue… partying and whatever! I need to talk with…" he didn't finish his sentence however—as he ran out of the party hall and ran down the hall—shifting Hinata in his arms so he was carrying her bridal style.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

To be continued.