A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is several of the Manga books and the first two uncut DVD box sets.
This one was a bit rushed but I wanted to put it up before heading out of town for a few days. I apologize for any glaring errors. Next update will probably be sometime between next Monday and Wednesday if all goes well.
Ch 10.
Naruto woke up a few hours later to a pins and needles sensation in his left arm. He was pretty groggy and forgot where he was for a moment. As he opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was a mass of black hair that had a bluish sheen to it that really stood out in the dim light. His heart skipped a beat as he realized he had been sleeping with Hinata on the couch. The nervousness didn't last long as the smell of her mixed with her lilac perfume invaded his consciousness and immediately calmed him. Still he couldn't stay like this. With the utmost care he slowly extracted his hand from both of hers. He then carefully lifted his arm that she was using as pillow and pushed the pillow he had been using into the space his arm, he then slowly pulled his arm out leaving her resting on the pillow. Using the skills he acquired climbing trees and walking on water he 'stood' on the arm of the couch shuffling around their jackets and slowly walked around the arm until he was able to step onto the floor and walk normally.
He glanced at Hinata who seemed a bit agitated but was still asleep. He started shaking his arm and running it through a few stretching routines. Looking back across the common area there were actually two couches and four chairs in the center of the common area with a decent sized coffee table in the middle. Looking around some more and he noticed there were several doors off of the common area. Two near the front door were across from the fountain. That was something he would remember to the end of his days he knew as he smiled. He slowly and quietly walked over and opened the first door and found a decent sized closet Something seemed odd and he had felt uneasy as he walked towards that first door but it faded slightly as he took a step closer to Hinata. The link! He had almost forgotten about it. He walked back to the couch gathered up the two jackets and hung them properly in the closet. Rubbing his eyes he checked the next door and was stunned to see a nice sized hot tub. He was no longer absolutely sure of Tsunades motives but he certainly wasn't going to complain. Looking back over the major part of the common area he counted four more doors, two on each side and then noticed a fifth across from the kitchen area next to the eating area. He hadn't noticed earlier but the table was pretty big and had eight chairs, that area was really just an extension of the common area.
The door closest to the fountain was open so he decided to check that first. As he quietly peeked in he was surprised to see Kurenai sensei fast asleep in the first of two large beds. Carefully he backed out afraid that he would wake her up. He should have known better. Even though he didn't see them due to a simple genjutsu Kurenai had invoked, her eyes were open and she was watching him intently. He checked the room next to Kurenai's and found another bedroom with two large beds and its own set of doors. Checking those two doors despite the growing feeling of unease he discovered a bathroom and a closet. Walking across he checked the other two and they were basically the same. The only difference he could see was that the rooms on Kurenai's side of the suite had the bathrooms and closets further away from each other. Kurenai's bathroom and closet were actually up against the fountain and the other room on that side the bathroom and closet were up against the kitchen. The rooms on the other side though had what had to be the bathrooms and closets between the two rooms, Naruto wasn't about to go and check just to be sure since he worried that the uneasiness he felt would also be felt by Hinata and he didn't want to wake her. Looking through the last door, which was luckily open, from the coffee table area he saw what looked like a meeting room with the edge of what looked like a large table and he spotted some chairs.
He went back to the room between Kurenai's and the kitchen. Going up to the first bed he pulled back the covers. He then headed back to Hinata and very carefully hooked one arm under her knees and the other behind her neck across her shoulders and slowly picked her up. Hinatas free arm dangled for a moment before she murmured something he didn't understand and she actually reached up to grab his shoulder without waking up. Naruto carefully walked her to the bedroom where he had pulled the covers back and carefully put her down on the bed and slowly pulled the covers back over her. He quietly left the room and headed to one of the empty ones on the other side of the common area.
Every step he took away from her made him more and more apprehensive as he opened the door on the other side of the common area he actually felt an odd sort of tug back to Hinata. He suddenly froze as he heard her shuffling around and he realized she must be feeling this tugging as well.
"Damn!" He cursed quietly but still intently.
He gauged the distance of all the beds in relation to each other in all the rooms. Cursing under his breath again he realized there was only one solution to his problem if he was going to get any decent sleep in a bed instead of staying on the couch. With a nervous gulp he headed back into Kurenai's room using every bit of stealth at his command. Sneaking past the apparently sleeping Kurenai he pulled the covers back on the second bed next to the one he thought Hinatas sensei was sleeping in. Again drawing on every ounce of stealth in his being he snuck back out and headed back to the room where he left Hinata. Carefully pulling back the covers again he picked her up again and softly brought her into the room with Kurenai and carefully put her in the second bed and pulled the covers over her again. He looked down at his girlfriend sleeping and tenderly brushed her hair away from her eyes. This time he leaned over and softly kissed her on her forehead before he turned and snuck back out to the common area.
Breathing a great but soft sigh of relief he finally relaxed slightly, until his stomach growled softly. He eyed the kitchen and figured that even though he was sure he'd seen a few boxes of trail mix bars in one cabinet there was no way his link with Hinata would allow him to get them without disturbing her. Looking around he noticed their holsters and belt kits on the coffee table. He had absolutely no memory of either of them taking their gear off but he was happy to see them. He knew he didn't carry anything in his that would solve his current problem so he checked Hinatas and smiled when he saw a few more ration bars in her kit. He had always kept extra kunai in his kit but after this evening he was going to reconsider that.
He quickly wolfed down two of the ration bars leaving one in her kit. He suddenly yawned and realized that he was still really beat and it had to be something like 3 or 4 in the morning. Quietly he entered the bedroom closer to the kitchen and crawled into the bed he had tried to leave Hinata in earlier. He smiled as his head hit the pillow because there was the faintest scent of lilacs on the pillow. Before he knew it he was fast asleep.
Kurenai silently got up and looked in on Naruto with a smile on her face.
"Good boy, Naruto." She softly whispered. 'Although boy doesn't really apply to him anymore.' She thought.
She heard a soft rustling from her room and quickly cast another genjutsu so she seemingly melted into the wall. Hinata stumbled in, looking distraught and with her eyes only half open.
"Naruto-kun?" The young woman whispered as she walked up to the sleeping blond ninja.
He didn't visibly really react it seemed but if she had been more awake she would have noticed that he smiled a little more from the sound of her voice. She leaned down and softly touched his shoulder.
"N-Naruto." Her quiet voice had a slight quiver to it. That slight waver in her voice shocked him awake.
"Hinata?"
"Why did you leave me alone?" Hinata asked as a small tear welled up in her eye.
Naruto bolted upright, his eyes wide in panic at the sight of the half tear.
"I'm sorry!" He whispered intently as he reached out and took her hand. "I thought it was the right thing to do, you know. I didn't mean or want to leave you alone. Besides Kurenai sensei was asleep in the other bed, so you weren't really alone."
"She was? I didn't notice. I only knew you were gone." Hinata hesitated for a moment before asking. "Can I stay with you please?"
"Oh!" Narutos eyes grew wide in shock and a small bit of fear. As he looked at her standing there in the semi-darkness on the verge of tears his heart melted and he gave her the only answer he could. "Of course you can. You can do whatever you want."
"Thank you Naruto-kun." She said as she climbed into the bed with him.
"Besides I thought we already established that you're the one in control here."
"Of course, silly." She gave him a quick little kiss that barely brushed his lips before rolling over and putting her back against his chest.
"Well as long as we keep our clothes on we'll be fine…right? I wouldn't want Tsunade-sama to end our relationship by killing me." Naruto said just before he was overcome by a yawn as he wrapped his arm around her.
"I don't think you have anything to worry about." Hinata finished as she almost instantly fell back into a deep sleep with a soft smile and one final word silently going through her head 'Yet.'
Naruto smiled as he lifted his arm to pull the covers over the two of them and put his arm back over her to take her hand. This time having a bit more space and each having their own pillow he knew he didn't have to worry about his arm 'falling asleep' again. For a few moments though he lay there wide eyed in shock as the realization settled in that he was in bed with Hinata. It didn't take long though before the faint smell of her body mixed with her lilac perfume completely relaxed him and he was also fast asleep.
Kurenai dropped her genjutsu, shook her head with a smile and silently left the room. She knew Hinatas father would be extremely upset over this but she also knew there was nothing to worry about. Although the thought of telling him herself crossed her mind she decided she couldn't do that to Hinata. It certainly would have been entertaining though.
Several hours later Kurenai walked in to wake them both up. She chuckled at the bright red faces of the two teenagers and simply told them to join her out in the kitchen for breakfast as she walked out of the room. Naruto and Hinata sat there stunned for a few moments before getting out of bed, sneaking a quick kiss and heading out to the common area. While Hinata and Kurenai went about making a decent breakfast Naruto polished off an entire box of trail mix bars. They weren't as 'complete' as the ration bars he had earlier but they were a damn sight tastier. Naruto was intrigued by the two women cooking. He was what he considered a 'survival cook', basically he could boil water. That usually meant instant ramen in a cup but he would occasionally cook up a batch of rice for himself as well. On extremely rare occasions he would go as far to attempt a nori wrapped rice ball but that always turned into a pile of rice on top of a mangled sheet of nori.
Breakfast was looking to be quite filling, possibly even for the ravenous blond ninja. He was actually slowing down his voracious guzzling of food during his third set of helpings, not counting the trail mix bars of course. After seeing how he had been eating since leaving the hospital Hinata had prepared enough food for Naruto alone that would have satisfied at least a half dozen people. Kurenai originally started to protest but Hinata told her to simply trust her. A short time later as Naruto began work on his forth complete meal Kurenai silently admitted to herself that Hinata had been right.
There was a short knock on the door. Hinata and Naruto both got up to go together but Kurenai stopped them and said.
"Naruto I'd like you to try answer the door yourself. I'd like to see the two of you start stretching the limit of this link."
"O.K." Naruto mumbled as Hinata simply nodded
He got about half way to the door when he felt the tugging back towards Hinata. Stopping for a moment to look back he could see that Hinata was visibly uncomfortable but otherwise o.k.
"Go ahead Naruto, it's like stretching I would imagine. Just keep pushing and lets see how far you can get.
Much to his surprise he actually made it to the door. Opening it he was surprised to see both Hanabi and Neji, each holding two travel bags.
"I think you guys may have overdone things a bit, she's not moving in permanently you know." Kurenai said as the two entered.
"Father figured it was best to send too much than to send too little." Hanabi answered.
"Fine then just put everything in the first room on the right there, please excuse the mess we haven't had a chance to clean up yet."
Naruto closed the door and was about to head back to the table when the door knocked again. He was still feeling ridiculously uneasy but he turned and answered the door anyway to find Kakashi sensei and Shikamaru standing there with two of Narutos travel bags.
"Kakashi sensei? Shikamaru? I can't believe both of you are up this early!"
"Well if you weren't such a headache I wouldn't be." Grumbled Shikamaru.
"I'm always up earlier than this Naruto, I just changed my plans a little for you." Kakashi said, obviously grinning behind his mask.
As Naruto took the two bags from his teacher and friend Hanabi and Neji came out of the bedroom Kurenai was using.
"If any of you haven't had breakfast yet we still have plenty left and can easily make more." Kurenai said to the crowd.
Kakashi and Shikamaru elected to stay while the Hyugas decided to leave. Although Naruto was completely oblivious to it, Kurenai smiled to herself as she watched Neji closely watching Naruto as he deposited his own stuff in the second room. Kurenai was certain that word would get back to Hiashi that Hinata was sharing a room with her sensei while Naruto was in the next room over. As much as she would have enjoyed tormenting Hiashi she cared too much for Hinata to let anyone know about the real sleeping arrangements, other than Tsunade anyway.
Naruto finished off his fifth helping, although it was more of a half helping as the additionally food was split between Kakashi and Shikamaru. Hinata and Kurenai each ate a small amount themselves. Kakashi and Shikamaru each said thank you to the ladies and left. Kurenai told Naruto to clean up the breakfast dishes and the ones left from last night. He was about to summon up a few clones to help him out when Kurenai stopped him.
"Tsunade doesn't want you to be doing anything that uses chakra until she has had a chance to look you over." She told him to his dismay before she looked to Hinata. "I'm going to take a shower and I don't want you helping him either."
"Yes Kurnai sensei." Hinata looked down actually saddened by Kurenais command.
"Don't worry about it Hinata. If this is all I've got to do to get a good meal I definitely have got the better end of the bargain, you're a really good cook." He smiled greatly as he started gathering the dishes into the sink.
"Kurenai sensei, is there going to be a problem with Naruto doing the dishes while you are in the shower?"
"Not with these suites Hinata, we could run all four showers, the sink and fill the hot tub and not have a problem."
"Hot tub?" Hinata squeaked out as Kurenai disappeared. Much to her dismay though Naruto heard her.
"It's near the front door Hinata-chan, second door across from the fountain. You should check it out its huge." Naruto called out over his shoulder as he ran a large amount of soap and water into the sink creating a huge pile of bubbles.
Keeping her back to him to hide her red face Hinata slowly walked to the hot tub door. Each step she took made her feel more and more uneasy but it also seemed to be easier to tolerate. She was surprised, as Naruto said it was huge. She figured it could easily hold eight if not a dozen people. She wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with something like this in any way involving Naruto just yet though. With a great sigh she left the hot tub room and forcibly calmed herself as she headed back to the kitchen, getting closer to Naruto through their link certainly helped.
Naruto seemed to be more intent on making more and more bubbles than actually cleaning anything it almost seemed. He was certainly scrubbing furiously at the pots and pans and while the dishes were certainly getting cleaned Hinata didn't think she'd ever seen so many bubbles before. She smiled impishly as she jumped up to sit on the counter across from the sink.
"Do you think you have enough bubbles there Naruto-chan?"
Naruto froze for a second before slowly turning around with a large eyed, hurt puppy dog expression. Sticking his lower lip out as he tilted his head down so he seemed to be looking up at her, he said.
"I thought you weren't going to use that any more Hinata-chan." Trying desperately hard not to smile he made his eye brows quiver just a bit.
Hinata felt as though her heart was melting at the sight of Naruto pouting. Jumping off the counter she nearly flew the three feet to him to grab him into a great hug.
"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!"
"I think I'm going to need a kiss for that one." Naruto smiled.
Hinata didn't notice there was the slightest touch of mischief to his grin. As she pulled him down to her lips and began to seriously kiss him he almost completely forgot what he intended to do but his inner prankster wouldn't let go. As he brought his arms from behind his back Hinata never saw that both of his hands were full of soap bubbles. He softly deposited them on top of her head and proceeded to lower his arms to encircle her into a hug of his own. For a moment he completely forgot about the bubbles and lost himself in her kiss. Unfortunately it didn't last long before a small stream of bubbles slowly flowed down her hair and slid over to her cheek. Hinatas eyes sprung open as she felt the warm water and soap. She struggled a bit since Naruto had pinned her arms within his own but he was too distracted to remember he was supposed to keep her arms trapped. Reaching up she felt the large amount of bubbles on her head and she pulled back ending their kiss.
"Why you!" She said ominously. She suddenly pushed him away so he was back up against the sink. Backing up herself a bit she suddenly jumped forward and actually jumped on top of him grabbing his hips with her knees and wrapping her arms around his neck. Naruto was stunned into complete passiveness as once again she locked her lips onto his and this time she drove his lips apart forcefully with her tongue before she suddenly switched to softly running her tongue along his. She grabbed the edge of the sink and pulled while pressing him down with her kiss. Letting go with one hand she quietly began to pile more and more of the suds onto his head. His blond hair was completely covered and suds were beginning to run down his back before he began to realize what was happening. As his eyes popped open she took a final handful and deposited it on his chin running her suds filled hand down his throat and to his chest before she jumped down and started laughing loudly.
"I can't believe that you're as bad as I am!" Naruto realized that he must have much more bubbles than Hinata. "Forget that I think you're worse than I am! I think you're going to get a lot more bubbles now!"
Naruto grabbed her waist and picked her up and started to turn, fully intending to deposit her completely into the sink. Hinata actually squealed and started giggling because at that very moment as she went to grab him, she discovered that in some spots Naruto was extremely ticklish. Naruto had to let go with one of his hands in an attempt to grab the edge of the sink so he wouldn't fall down as Hinatas tickling drove him to laugh hysterically. Unfortunately he grabbed a pot that he had already cleaned but hadn't finished rinsing the soapy water out of. With a sudden crash he lost his footing falling to the floor while pulling the half full pot of warm soapy water on top of them both. Naruto wound up flat on his back with Hinata sitting on his stomach while one of her hands was on his chest. Both of them were completely soaked and bubbles were spreading out across the floor.
"Hinata! When I told you not to help him I didn't mean you should get creative about it and start washing him instead of the dishes." Kurenai said rather loudly as she was suddenly standing over them with her hair in a towel.
The two teenagers began to blush as they realized just how bad their situation must have looked.
"Hinata! You're wearing a white shirt! Get off of him and go get cleaned up, NOW!" Kurenai didn't quite yell (except for that last word) at the young woman but it was close.
Naruto hadn't noticed before but once Kurenai mentioned the white shirt he couldn't help but to look down from Hinatas eyes. Not only was Hinatas shirt completely translucent but the lavender lace of her bra that he had caught a glimpse of the night before was only used for the back support and straps, the cup material itself was extremely sheer. Although the water had turned the material of her bra to a somewhat darker almost blue color, the sheer material was also very translucent. Naruto could easily see that Hinatas nipples were very erect and the darker flesh around them was impossible to miss. They both felt their faces burn with embarrassment. Hinata gave a high pitched squeak, leaped off of Naruto and vanished into Kurenais room, slamming the door shut as she flew past it.
Naruto was so completely stunned that his brain had basically shut off and he just lay on the floor blinking with his mouth slightly open.
"Naruto get up." Kurenai said as he lay there. When he didn't move she continued. "Great, just great."
Kurenai picked up the pot and stepped over Naruto quickly rinsed the soapy water out of it and filled it with cold water. She decided to give him one more chance.
"Naruto, come on, get up now or you're going to regret it."
Naruto was still in shock and simply continued to blink. Kurenai shrugged and dumped the pot of cold water on top of him. Naruto started sputtering as he sat up, still blinking though.
"Go on, Naruto got get showered and changed we've got to see Tsunade.
About twenty minutes later the three of them left the guest facility and headed off to the Hokage tower. Kurenai quietly smiled as they left and walked to the Hokages office. Naruto and Hinata were also very quiet as they stole small smiles from each other as they walked the streets hand in hand.