A/N: OH cruel fate WHY! I could have sworn I put up the 9th chapter a long time ago but when I checked Hinata's Respite IT WASN'T THERE! And when I started writing the chapter I saved it onto a different computer that broke! Now I have to look deep within my mind and try to remember what the chapter was about. T_T

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto so please don't sue


Chapter 9-Village of the no-face part 1

Hinata sighed while taking in the peaceful scenery of the early morning camp site. The glistening dew on the soft grass and the sound of the now awakened birds singing their songs calmed the female Hyuga. Hinata took her watch hours as time for her to think about her relationship with Hachiro. For the past week Hachiro has done everything he could to show Hinata how much he cares about her. From giving her flowers, helping her pack up her things, sitting with her during their breaks, just anything that he could think of to prove to her that he truly cares for her. Hinata at first felt very uncomfortable with all the attention he was giving her but soon found it to be kind of cute and heartwarming. She knew that she had feelings for him and seeing him doing things for her that he knew he doesn't have to do just to be with her is only increasing her feelings for him more. But she kept thinking about the fact that they are from separate villages and, as the old saying goes, 'Long distance relationships never last' Hinata was afraid that once he returns to his villages that he would eventually forget about her and move on to someone else. Another huge problem in her and Hachiro's future relationship was one person…..Naruto Uzamaki. No matter how hard Hinata tries she can't stop thinking about the cheerful blond and it's starting to serious annoy her. She realized long ago that Naruto isn't going to feel the say way but she still thinks about him like she did when she was 12yrs old. When he left to train with Lord Jiraiya, Hinata vowed to be stronger and to secretly give up on Naruto, the latter being harder then she thought. She's 14yrs old and still holds that crush to her. But ever since she met Hachiro, his cheerful outlook on life, his smile, his kindness and even his perverted attitude towards her, she's been thinking less and less of Naruto but sadly that still means she's thinking about him but to a lesser degree.

"Naruto…." Hinata whispered to herself, unknowing that someone was listening.

Meanwhile with Hachiro…..

Hachiro awoke to the sound of a bird chirping in his ear. He yawned and turned to see Tamotsu still asleep. 'Guess I woke up early if Tamotsu is still asleep.' Hachiro thought. This early wakening gives him some time to think about his relationship with Hinata, which to him is going pretty good. He has given her flowers, helped her pack up her things, sitting with her during their breaks, anything to make her happy and he can tell that she's starting to like it and him more. What's getting him is how long it's taking her to decide if she wants to be with him or not. Hachiro isn't the most patient person in the world and he can't wait until the mission is over so that he can finally have his long awaited answer. Hachiro then remembered that Hinata was to take the last watch hour. Hachiro quickly but quietly got up and crawled out of the tent, careful not to wake his teammate. He looked over and stopped to admire Hinata's quiet beauty, thanking God that her back was to him so she couldn't see him. Hachiro sighed to himself while picture himself combing his fingers through her silk-like hair but stopped when he heard Hinata say something.

"Naruto…." She whispered softly. Hachiro's eye twitched in annoyance and jealously. 'There's that Naruto guy again! Why is it that I can't get away from that stupid name?' Hachiro thought darkly. Hinata sensed the dark aura coming from Hachiro and turned to see a pouting Hachiro.

"Good morning Hachiro" Hinata greeted "Are you alright?" Hachiro walked over to the fallen log Hinata was sitting on and sat down with his arms crossed over his naked chest. Hinata blushed at Hachiro's body, trying not to stare at his semi-muscled body.

"Yeah why?" he turned his head away from the heiress. Hinata went to touch Hachiro's shoulder but he quickly grabbed her wrist and stared into her light lavender eyes.

"Hachiro….?" Hinata whispered as Hachiro's lips started to head to her lips. Hinata eyes widen once Hachiro's lips gently touched hers. Hachiro gently wrapped his arms around Hinata's small waist and pulled her closer to his body. Hinata soon fell into his lip's spell and wrapped her arms around his neck and softly pushed her lips onto his more. After a few more moments of pleasure both slowly parted, softly breathing from lack of oxygen. Hachiro grinned cheerfully.

"Good morning Hinata" Hachiro said then went in for another kiss but Hinata quickly stopped his lips from reaching hers. Hachiro looked at her with a confused expression. "What's wrong? You didn't like the kiss?" Hachiro joked but on the inside he was hoping that wasn't it. Who would want to date a bad kisser?

"No….it's not that" Hinata whispered.

"Then what's wrong?" Hinata looked away. How can she tell him that when he was coming in to kiss her again, she saw Naruto instead of Hachiro? Hinata felt so guilty for what happened but she couldn't kiss him while picturing Naruto, she just couldn't.

"I-It's just that….I-."

"What are you two doing?" Hachiro and Hinata quickly turned to see Sakura and Ino smirking at the two while snickering under their breaths.

"S-Sakura, Ino" Hinata quickly got up and stepped away from Hachiro, with a huge blush covering her soft face. "W-What are y-you guys doing up so early?"

Sakura's smirked widen "Actually it's about time for us to be heading off."

"It's weird Sakura; Hinata is usually the one with the perfect time keeping. What could have these two been talking about or doing that would keep her mind off the clock" Ino fake asked Sakura.

"I don't know" Sakura turned to Hachiro "But whatever they were doing had better not been anything dirty" Hachiro blushed and looked away from the pink headed leader. "Well whatever. Pack up your things and let's get going" Sakura turned away from them and went to go wake the others. Ino smiled at the pair and followed Sakura behind. Hinata sighed and walked over to her tent. Hachiro looked over and walked over to the Hyuga.

"Hey Hinata, let me help you pack your things" Hachiro offered like always.

"No it's fine" Hinata said plainly. Hachiro frowned slightly in confusion. 'She never said no before' Hachiro thought.

"Really Hinata I want to" Hachiro stretched his arm out to Hinata's shoulder but stopped feeling her aura.

"I said it's fine" she said softly then went inside her tent. Hachiro stood there in shock. Was Hinata mad at him? Did he do something wrong? Hachiro asked himself this questions while walking back to his tent with a sad expression. Hachiro looked over at Hinata's tent one more time before sighing and walking into his.

~Later in the early Afternoon (with the girls) ~

The group of young ninja has been walking for over eight hours and it has not been easy for either Hinata or Hachiro. Both have been bantered with questions after questions and both were getting slightly annoyed with them. But everyone was starting to get annoyed with the person they were assigned to protect. Katsuro was becoming so much of an annoyance with his many demands and complaints that they had to hold back Sakura more than once. The girls were busy listening to Ino talk about this morning's events

"And we just found them making out on the log like there was no tomorrow" Ino giggled softly. Kiyomi looked over at Hinata with a playful smile. Hinata looked down blushing uncontrollably.

"So, does this mean that you and Hachiro are an item?" Kiyomi asked happily.

"Um…." Hinata stuttered "Not really" They all turned to Hinata with shocked expressions.

"But I saw you two eating each other's faces this morning and you stand here and say that you two aren't together?" Ino almost shouted but was careful not for the guys to hear on the other side.

"It's really hard to explain" Hinata said honestly.

"Well we have time to kill so you might as well spill it" Sakura smiled softly. Hinata sighed, knowing that they were going to get it out of her eventually.

"Well it all started a week ago…" Hinata began.

~With the guys on the other side of the carriage~

Hachiro wasn't having a better time with the guys then Hinata, If not it was worse.

"So Ino tells me that she and Sakura caught Hinata and Hachiro spit swapping on the log this morning" Kiba chuckled. Shino simply sighed and moved his glasses closer to his face "Look at the blush on Hachiro's face! It's true!" Hachiro looked down at his feet "Hahaha!" Kiba loudly laughed, almost tripping over his own feet. Shino quietly slapped Kiba at the back of his head and moved up the line. Kiba glared at Shino then turned to over to Hachiro. "So you and Hinata, huh?"

"Tell you the truth I never thought you had it in you Hachiro" Tamotsu put his arm over Hachiro's smaller shoulders. "So when is the wedding?"

Hachiro coughed in shock and surprise "W-Wedding? We aren't even together!" Tamotsu looked at Hachiro with a confused expression.

"What do you mean you two aren't together?" Tamotsu asked "You kissed her right?" Hachiro nodded, which only raised Tamotsu's confusion. "And you two aren't together?"

"Well it's like this….." Hachiro began to explain.

~With the girls on the other side of the carriage~

Ino stared at Hinata with a confused expression "So, you two aren't together because you're afraid of ruining your friendship with him" Hinata nodded slowly "Oh Hinata" Ino embraced Hinata gently "That's the cutest thing I ever heard!" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"So, when are you going to decide?" Sakura asked her friend. Hinata looked up at the sky sighing.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe this mission would be a good opportunity for me to have some time thinking about Hachiro and I" Hinata said softly but still loud enough for the other girls to hear. Sakura nodded and looked straight ahead.

"He must really love you if he wants to wait until the mission is over for him to hear your answer" Sakura grinned "It's so cute"

Ino jumped in front of Sakura, almost earning a punch from the pink headed ninja. "I say she should be with Hachiro already" Ino suggested "Unless she still wants to chase after Naru-…." Ino quickly covered her mouth.

"Ino you are such an idiot!" Sakura shouted loudly "Don't you ever think or are you too stupid to-…"

"It's alright Sakura" Hinata smiled weakly "I was thinking the same thing but….It's hard trying to give up on someone you love" Hinata said with a heavy heart. Sakura nodded with sad eyes and a sad smile. 'Trust me Hinata; I know exactly how you feel'

Sakura sighed "Your preaching to the choir Hinata" Sakura stopped and looked at the map. "Hey on the map it says that there's a village near here" Sakura said while looking closely at the map. "It's not too far from where we are now actually."

"We can stop there and load up on supplies" Kiyomi said cheerfully.

"Plus we can spend the night at a hotel with beds!" Ino cheered. Sakura shook her head and walked up to the carriage driver.

"Excuse me sir" Sakura looked up at the old man "I looked at the map and I found out that there is a nearby village and we were discussing that maybe we should stop there and reload on supplies"

"That sounds like a marvelous idea young lady" The old carriage driver said kindly "But I would go and inform Lord Katsuro if I were you" Sakura growled annoyingly, nodded then slowly walked over to Katsuro's window. Sakura knocked on the glass slowly. She waited a few minutes until Katsuro popped his head out from his window.

"What is it woman?" Katsuro said grumpily "You interrupted my nap."

Sakura faked a smile "Well Lord Katsuro" Sakura began "There is a village nearby that we think we should stop by and reload on our supplies" Sakura finished.

"Hmm" Katsuro looked at Hinata for a second then back at Sakura "This village, would it have a hotel?"

Sakura looked at him with a confused expression "Most likely sir" Katsuro gave a sinister smile.

"Very well then" Sakura looked up at him with another fake smile "But we must stay there for the night. I'm growing tired of sleeping outside" he said then went back into his carriage. Sakura sighed again and walked back to the front, while muttering curses. "Ino, go tell the guys about what we're doing" Sakura said with a frustration brought headache approaching. Ino nodded and walked over to the guys.

~With the guys on the other side of the carriage~

Tamotsu sighed in annoyance "Dude, are you freakin stupid?" Hachiro glared at his friend. Hachiro has just finished his explanation on why he and Hinata have not become an official couple.

"So, guess you're kind of confused" Kiba said while scratching the back of his head. Hachiro nodded with a sigh. "Well by the time the mission is over, she should have an answer."

"But what if she rejects me or something" Hachiro whined.

"Come on Hachiro. Hinata is not the one to just reject someone" Kiba tried to comfort the brown-headed ninja.

"Yeah" Tamotsu joined "I might not have known the girl for a long time but from what I've seen, she's the nicest girl you could ever meet" Hachiro nodded in agreement.

"You guys are right" Hachiro smiled but then frowned "But can I ask you guys a question?" Kiba shrugged and nodded. "What exactly does Hinata feel about this Naruto guy?" Tamotsu noticed a change in the expressions of Kiba and Shino's face, though Shino's was hard because of his coat. "I mean I heard Hinata say Naruto when I woke up and she said it like she was sad or something."

Kiba looked away awkwardly "Well um….Hinata used to kind of…..h-have a crush on him" Hachiro's eyes widened.

Hachiro, while trying to control his temper asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, "How much does she like him?"

Kiba looked away again "A-Actually Naruto was sort of her first love I guess" Kiba muttered but Hachiro could still hear him. 'HER FIRST LOVE?' Hachiro thought with anger. How is he supposed to compete with her first love? Hachiro controlled his anger and sighed. "B-But he's gone on a really long mission" Kiba quickly said "And he might be gone long enough for you to impress Hinata and win her heart" Kiba sighed, seeing Hachiro calm down slightly.

"You have a point there" Hachiro said thoughtfully. He then grinned and turned to his fellow shinobi "then it's settled then! My goal for this mission is to win Hinata heart from Naruto! There is no way I'm losing to him!" Kiba and the others looked at the determination in Hachiro and grinned, even Shino smiled slightly from under his hood. They all turned to see Ino jump next to the guys.

"Hey Ino, what's up?" Kiba greeted.

"Well, Sakura found a village nearby on the map and decided that we should take this as a chance to reload on supplies and rest" Ino said cheerfully.

"Really? That's cool" Tamotsu smirked "So when should we be there?"

"We should be there in an hour or so I think" Ino guessed "See you guys" Ino jumped back over to the other side of the carriage. Kiba turned to Hachiro with a smirk.

"Hey Hachiro, this is a perfect chance to take Hinata out on a date" Hachiro looked up with a blush and a smile.

"Yeah, I can take Hinata out on a date, show her how romantic I can be and boom! She's in love with me" Hachiro and Kiba grinned.

"Why do I have a bad feeling that this is not going to go as they plan" Shino said with a sigh. Tamotsu nodded.

"You're not the only one buddy" Tamotsu said while watching the two grinned at each other. Akamaru barked and nodded in agreement.

~An hour later~

It's been an hour since they started walking to the village and finally they made it. Ino looked around at the large village. The houses were all colored different shades of brown with dark wooden ceilings and walls. The streets were littered with people of all sizes. The men were all dressed in workers clothing while the women were dressed in bright kimonos. Ino squealed at the bright clothing the women were wearing. But what also caught the blonds eyes were that they all were wearing bright and colorful mask that hid the front part of their faces.

"They must be having a festival or something" Ino said to herself.

"Probably" Sakura shrugged "But if they are that means it's going to be twice as hard to find a decent hotel" She then continued to walk down the crowded road.

It was not long until she and the others found a decent inn for them to stay at for the night. Sakura walked up to see a short woman with dark black hair that was tied in a bun. She wore a bright green kimono with a dark green sash.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked politely.

"Yes I would like six rooms for the night" Sakura said with a gentle smile. The woman nodded and began giving her the keys to the room. Sakura paid her the money then walked out. She turned to her fellow shinobi and smiled. "Okay, here are the room orders. Ino and I will be sharing a room, Hinata and Kiyomi will be sharing a room as well, Tamotsu and Shino will be sharing a room, Hachiro and Kiba will be as well and finally Lord Katsuro and….."

"Kenji ma'am" The driver smiled.

"Right sorry" Sakura apologized "…and Kenji will be sharing a room too"

"Excuse me" Katsuro said outraged "I will not share a room!" he huffed.

Sakura groaned "Lord Katsuro, I only had enough money for six rooms" Sakura said with hidden anger "Unless you want us to sleep outside again" Katsuro thought for a second and growled.

"Fine" Sakura nodded "Well you guys are all allowed to do what you want but meet back here before the sun goes down. Ino and I will be going to look for easier routes to our destination" Sakura said then began to walk with Ino.

Tamotsu looked down at his stomach "I'm gonna go get some food" Kiba nodded and walked next to Tamotsu. Kiyomi smiled and walked with them as well. Shino didn't say anything but just walked away.

"Wait up you fools!" Katsuro shouted "I am hungry as well. Come Kenji" Kenji nodded and walked with the others. Hinata looked around to see that it was only Hachiro and her left. Hachiro smiled 'Thanks you guys' He walked next to Hinata.

"Hey um Hinata" Hinata turned to Hachiro with a smile

"Yes?" Hinata asked.

"You wanna hang out" Hachiro said while looking down at the floor. Hinata blushed and looked away "Or not"

"Okay" Hinata agreed "sounds like fun" Hachiro had to make sure that he was not dreaming. Did Hinata just say yes? Hachiro grinned brightly and pulled Hinata to follow him. Little did they know that there outing was going to be cut short by an evil force.


A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this awaited chapter. I kind of feel that I rushed at the end but what are you going to do. Now here's the plan. I'm not going to make any promises on when I'm going to update this story again but I will try to make the wait less of a wait. Until next time Bye XD