Chapter 14-

Naruto opened his eyes and found himself on his couch, where he had accidently fallen asleep watching T.V. He rubbed his eyes so he could adjust to the light and slowly sat up. He felt horrible and felt his burning forehead to see that he was sick, followed by his fever he had a cold. "AHHHHCCCCCHHHHOOOO!" Naruto sneezed violently.

"I'd better call Hinata to tell her I can't pick her up to go to work" He said to himself as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?" Hinata answered.

"Hey, do we have to work today?" Naruto asked in a scratchy voice.

"No… Naruto are you okay? You sound sick; do you want me to come over? I can bring some soup and I think I have some cold medicine…" Hinata asked as she began to trail off.

"You shouldn't, I don't want you to get sick too. I think I have some medicine somewhere…"

"No, it's fine, I'll be over in a few minutes. Bye"

"Thanks, bye" Naruto said as he hung up his phone.

About 20 minutes later Naruto's door bell rang, Naruto being too lazy to get up from the couch croaked in a barely audible voice for Hinata to come in. She opened the door to reveal herself in a doctor's mask, plastic gloves and holding a bag that looked full of stuff. Naruto looked in her direction and snickered. "I thought you didn't want me to get sick" Hinata said embarrassed.

"I know; I'm sorry" Naruto said as stopped laughing.

"Here, the medicine" Hinata said as she pulled out the cold pills to hand to Naruto "I'll get you some water and I'll start the soup" She then went to the kitchen and handed Naruto a glass of water.

Naruto swallowed the pills and relaxed as he waited for them to eventually take effect. "Do you want to go lay down in your bedroom?" Hinata asked as she removed her gloves that were easily becoming annoying and started doing something else.

"No, the couch is fine" Naruto said as he began to motion for Hinata to come over.

After she turned off the stove she came and sat next to him on the couch. "Can I lay my head on your lap?" Naruto asked drowsily.

"Um…Sure" Hinata said nervously.

Naruto gently laid his head on Hinata's lap and closed his eyes to relax. Hinata looked down at him and blushed; it had been the first time that she had looked at him this closely. Her eyes explored his face as she examined his child-like features, 'he looks so…innocent' Hinata thought as she brushed some hair from his face. Just then Naruto's eyes opened slowly to look up at her which caused Hinata to turn red. "You know Hinata, I'm completely vulnerable right now" Naruto said jokingly as he caressed her face.

"Naruto stop" Hinata said laughing as he sat up to face her and kissed her forehead.

"Come on Hinata, you'll be fine, you have that mask on" Naruto assured her as he cuddled with her.

"Okay" she said realizing she didn't really have a choice as Naruto lifted her onto his lap.

"Mmmm…" Naruto said as wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes so he could nap.

Hinata sat there and listened to Naruto's silent snore. She eventually dozed off and they slept.

A week had passed and school started back up only to surprise the students with a school camping trip. "So this Friday our whole Junior and Senior class is going camping as a weekend retreat, everyone will be sleeping in a tent with one other person….of the SAME gender" Kakashi said "There will be a sign up sheet going up before this period is over, choose you partners wisely, if you get in trouble it's going to be hell for everyone. Also bring plenty of blankets or you'll freeze. Other information will be going out during the week, I want everyone to take these permission forms now and have these turned in by Wednesday" He said as he passed out the forms.

Naruto examined the sheet and noticed that there was a spot for a parent/guardian signature, he sighed and realized he was going to have to go to his grandparent's sometime soon. "What's wrong Naruto?" Hinata asked as she looked at him with concern.

"Nothing" Naruto said smiling at her.

She stared at him and knew he was lying, but decided to drop it since it probably wasn't a big deal. She looked at the sheet longer and realized that there were quite a few parent signatures required 'I wonder how Naruto is going to get his filled out…' She thought until she suddenly remembered that he had grandparents somewhere. "Oh" Hinata said to herself quietly as she figured it out.

Minutes later the bell rang and the students flooded out of the room except for Naruto. "Kakashi sensei, I have a question regarding the permission slip" Naruto said.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked.

"Well I don't know who I should have sign my parent/guardian area, is there a way I can slip by?"

"You live alone? I think you could get by if I sign it… The administration doesn't even check those things anyway…"

"Okay, thank you sensei" Naruto said.

"Are you sure you don't have a guardian that could sign this"

"Well, it's complicated"

"How so?"

"It's a long story…"

"I can write you a pass" Kakashi said as he held up a slip.

Naruto told him his story of how his parents died and how his grandmother despised him. And after he finished he let out and exhausted sigh that was a long story to tell in one breath. "Well, there's not much I can do, I can write you a pass to miss the rest of school today so you can go get it signed, your attendance is pretty good so I think you'll be fine…" Kakashi said.

"Okay, thanks" Naruto said as he took the slip and went up to the office to check out.

He sat in his car and began to take the 3 hour drive to his grandparents. "I hope they have the same number" He said as he pulled out his cell phone and hoped that his grandfather would pick up.

"Hello? Naruto? What do you need?" His grandfather asked as he looked at the caller ID.

"Oh, well there's this thing I need signed to go on a field trip I was wondering if I could come over to get it signed" Naruto said relieved that his grandfather was the one who answered.

"Oh yeah, that's fine. You're grandmother went shopping for a few hours so she shouldn't be here when you get here"

"Okay, I'll be there in a few hours"

With that they hung up and Naruto drove on.

Lunch

"Hinata, where's Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, I saw him earlier…" Hinata said concerned.

"I didn't see him in the hall way…" Shikamaru said as he remembered that he usually saw Naruto on his way to second period.

Naruto drove into the familiar driveway and walked out to see his grandfather waiting for him. "Hello" His grandfather said.

"Hey" Naruto said as he handed the permission slip and a pen to his grandfather.

"A camping trip… sounds fun" He said as he signed where needed.

"Yeah" Naruto said nodding.

"So you drove 3 hours to get this signed, what's important about it? Do you have a girl friend?"

"Well camping would be nice I haven't really gone before" He said avoiding the girl friend question.

"Oh okay" His grandfather said as he handed him the papers back.

"Alright, thanks" Naruto said as he began to leave when another car came into the drive way.

It was his grandmother. She got out of the car and glared at Naruto as he got into his truck trying to avoid any contact. Naruto drove off with his grandfather waving him good bye and his grandmother giving him a scowling look. As he left Naruto sighed in relief that he was able to avoid her.

Hinata walked out of school and pulled out her cell phone to call Naruto as he had been absent all day except for first period. "Hello?" a male voice said over the phone.

"Naruto, what happened? You disappeared after first period, are you sick again?" She asked concerned.

"No I'm fine" he said "I had to go to my grandparents, are you still at school?"

"Yeah, I am" She said as she wanted to ask him about his grandparents, he hasn't really mentioned them to her before.

"Okay if you wait for a few more minutes I'll pick you up"

"Alright"

The call ended and Hinata waited. 'I wonder why he doesn't live with his grandparents….' Hinata thought. Moments later a blue truck pulled up and she walked towards it and got in. "Hey" Naruto said as he turned up the heater.

"Hello" Hinata replied back as she closed the door and Naruto began to drive.

They remained silent until Hinata subtly brought up his grandparents. "So…What are your grandparents like?" She asked.

"Old" he said attempting to ignore the question.

She looked at him and tried to get another answer "Where do they live?"

"In a house"

"Naruto, don't you think it's weird I don't know anything about your family?" she asked quietly.

Naruto sighed "It's not a big deal; I don't even live with them"

Hinata looked at him for a while "I want to know though, I feel like I don't know much about you" she pleaded.

He glanced at her with was probably his worst mistake because the way her eyes were looking at him he wasn't going to be able to resist "Okay" he said as he began to tell his story again for the second time today.

She stared at him and tried to soak in what she had just heard; her eyes softened up as she looked at him and felt bad for squeezing it out of him. "Oh" Was all she could manage to say.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you, I like to keep it to myself because it's really not that bad, I'm used to it" Naruto said as he could feel her sorrowful stare.

"I'm sorry" She said facing forward again "Thank you for telling me"

"Yeah" He said.

The rest of the ride was silent as they pulled up onto the drive way and they departed.

End Of chapter 14.!