(Disc: Hindi ko sariling anumang bagay – thanks to free web translators)

Moonstruck

"Just like a star cross my sky, just like an angel off the page, just like a song in my heart, just like oil on my hands…only to love you."

- Like a Star: Corinne Bailey Rae

"N-naruto…" somewhere between her collar bone and her pulse, the words got lost as Naruto kissed her neck.

"Mmm…" He ignored her blatantly and Hinata braced herself as the kisses continued up her jaw.

"Naruto…r-really, t-this is not the…Ahh…t-time…" Naruto tugged her bottom lip and she was sucked back into a kiss. Her fingers curled uselessly on his shoulders. His breath fanned across her mouth.

"It's the perfect time." He growled huskily and Hinata leaned her head back against the wall; was it just her, or was he picking her up, her legs tieing themselves naturally around his waist? When his tongue rolled its way into her mouth (and Hinata was beyond shocked) and everything Hinata had planned on saying kind of fell to the floor, she just about lost her mind. Naruto emitted a strange low sound as his ministrations continued without pause, and to Hinata it almost sounded like the purr of a cat.

"Naruto" She whimpered as he distracted her with his breath, now against her ear. He was pressed against her and his hands had somehow slid so far down Hinata's head was spinning. Fingers tightened against her and she dug her nails into his shirt, panting.

"Just a moment." He said and Hinata's eyes opened against his shoulder. His chest heaved, "Just a moment…I'll be good…just a moment." He repeated and Hinata looked towards his face.

"Naruto?" He opened one eye and Hinata recoiled. Angry red and a deep black slit stared at her from within the white of his eyes; the hands supporting her scratched slightly with elongated nails. He smiled dangerously, sharp tiny incisors making themselves known against the animalistic tone his face had now taken.

"Sorry…got too carried away." He said, still staring at her before closing his eyes and curling his face into her shoulder. He gasped once and his body shuddered, Hinata holding fast to him as he shook before stopping, looking back up with another smile, this one less beast-like. She just stared at him.

"Naruto...?" She asked hesitantly and he leaned in, kissing her leisurely.

"Don't worry yourself…it's just too much emotion." He said softly, and Hinata pushed him back, her hand finding his mouth to push her palm over it.

"Naruto, what was that?" She whispered and Naruto just blinked, big blue eyes looking awfully innocent in the darkness. He slowly lowered her to the floor and Hinata's hand removed itself as he stared down at her.

"You don't know? I never…I mean, well, you kind of told me you'd figured it out…" He touched a lock of her hair, fingers trailing on her cheek. "I thought you'd have known even now, about the Kyuubi."

"Oh!" Hinata exclaimed, throwing her hand to her own mouth this time. Naruto looked worried.

"What? Are you upset? Did I show too much? I mean, I can keep it more in check, I just get so…well, comfortable…" Hinata shook her head violently from side to side and a very interesting sound came out from between her fingers. Naruto pulled his head back, "Hinata, are you…laughing?"

Hinata tried to contain herself; she really did. But she just couldn't help it. The idea that with Naruto's lust was a demon fox just came across as, well, comical. In reality, it probably wasn't really a laughing matter, but Hinata couldn't help it. He had been purring.

And, even funnier still was that…that…she'd liked it. She'd known for a very long time about the demon encased within Naruto. It hadn't been hard to understand.

And Iruka had been blunt.

But she didn't know to what extent it went, how much was really fused with Naruto and how much was just sitting useless within him. To her defense, the whole concept of demonic possession seemed hard to get. She didn't really know, and never thought of asking, about how much was fox demon and how much was only seal.

She'd never loved him an ounce less, but it had never truly occurred to Hinata that the demon could possibly show itself.

And never in a wildest dream would it have occurred to Hinata that such an occasion would be so undeniably sexy, and now that Hinata knew why, she just felt herself giggling.

She had been turned on by a fox. Go figure.

"S-sorry!" She laughed, her hand pulling away, another wave of laughter emitting from her body, "I-I knew, I just…!"

"What?" Naruto looked at her defensively. Hinata swallowed a breath and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, still laughing.

"Oh Kami…" She chuckled, "Oh Kami-sama, I'm into bestiality apparently!" She barely said it, too consumed with the funniness to really stay coherent. She continued to dissolve into hysterics. What on Earth…what on earth would Neji say? Not that it mattered. Oh God, what would her FATHER say?

"I mean, m-me!" She laughed, "I…Oh, Kami…Naruto, don't l-look at me like that!" She said, grabbing his hand as he started to leave, looking irritated.

"Why not? You're making deliberate fun of a very serious thing." He said sternly and Hinata just took one look at his serious face and bit her lip.

"Ah…ah." She whimpered, and Naruto shook his head, "Naruto! Naru-to, stop!"

"You."

More giggling, though eventually she calmed herself, and red-faced and worried he was honestly angry, she squeezed the hand she held.

"Naruto."

"Hinata." She touched his cheek to keep him on the same page and he just looked at her, all stony-eyed. The bare traces of a childish pout were present on his features and Hinata just shook her head internally.

"I'm sorry. But it was…surprising? I did not realize that a demon could have a personality within its container." She said, trying to be straightforward, a tactic that Naruto seemed to appreciate. He didn't truly like sugar-coating things, and Hinata was happy to oblige if it put him at ease. He softened a little under her touch and rolled his eyes back up to hers, pressing them both back up against the wall.

"Old Kyuubi can do more than people give him credit for." He said brushing the hair from her forehead. She felt her eyes lid a little as she touched the back of his neck hesitantly.

"Like…what?" She asked, skimming the bottom of his jaw with her nose, ignoring the dull pangs of butterflies exploding in her stomach. Naruto's chest rumbled with a chuckle.

"Well, he enjoys it when I eat rabbit." Hinata lifted her head.

"No." She said softly, a tiny, quirking smile on her features. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"Don't believe that?" She laughed and he took her hand, threading his fingers through them. The tension of earlier, the pent up energy that had ruptured so evenly evaporated and Naruto tugged on her, leading her away from the office. Hinata stepped over a strewn piece of paper and followed him as he took her out into the hallway, nudging the door closed with his foot as they left.

"He also makes a great band aid." Naruto said over his shoulder as he led her to the porch, opening the sliding door and pulling her out onto the wooded patio. Hinata's hand burned in his palm and she stopped, halfway through the door.

"What?" Hinata stared at their intertwined hands and shook herself free of the thought.

"Nothing." She replied and stepped fluidly over the threshold and out into the nighttime air. "So…he heals you?"

"I can't exactly die on his watch, no." Naruto said, sitting slowly down with his feet hanging off of the edge of the deck. Hinata sat beside him and felt the fingers slide away, her hands folding themselves automatically onto her lap.

"The stars are beautiful." She mused, staring up at the painted clouds and inky-black smeared by the Milky Way's glistening finger prints.

"Mmm. Sometimes you forget to look." Hinata knew he was referring to being a shinobi and nodded her head in accord. It was true; you spend so much time underneath them you forget they exist.

"Naruto…I'm forgetting." The man turned his head slightly and Hinata was still trained on the stars. Her eyes emitted light of some kind and he was drawn to them like moths. Fireflies floated lazily up from the lawn, gathering in clumps around the bushes towards the back, blinking with sleepiness, and the moon hovered low on the horizon, bathing Konoha head to toe in her beams.

"What are you forgetting Hina-chan? Hinata felt the funny pulse of her heart beneath her clothes.

"I'm going to forget how I got here Naruto." She looked at him now and her hair fell over her shoulder in a smooth waterfall of indigo. She was radiant. She left him star struck, no. Moonstruck. Left him wondering half the time how he ended up with her, "It feels like I woke up from a dream and that was it. I'm starting to…remember everything." She raised her eyebrows a fraction.

"If you forget our anniversary in three weeks I'm not going to let you get away with it. I feel like it's been ages since you've taken me out." Naruto looked at her in surprise.

"You remember that?" He whispered. She nodded.

"I remember a lot of things now. Little things." She traced a pattern on the wood and rocked her head. She smiled to herself. "Like that time you surprised me…with the dinner."

"I would have thought you'd want to forget that. It kind of was a disaster." She laughed. It had been. There had been flour in places she didn't know it could get. He'd expected it to be a way to get her mind off of a particularly disturbing mission, but it had ended up being more of a mess than a help. But that was Naruto, and that was what she loved. Messes out of his heart were her favorite kind to clean up.

"Oh no. It's even better the second time." She said with a giggle. Her face was lighter than Naruto had seen it a long time. Peaceful.

"Naruto, I'm losing myself here. A part of me is disappearing and I won't be able to retrieve it unless I leave."

There was a heavy pause.

"What are you saying exactly?" Naruto said, hesitating. He wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to know the answer, he already knew it. Hinata stared at the fireflies beating their wings on the lawn.

"I'm going to have to go."

There was nothing to say on Naruto's side. He wished there was something he could have said, something to help himself and maybe her too, but he knew it wouldn't have worked.

"Not now Naruto. Not until it's finished, and that is going to take a very long time. But Naruto." He felt the hand on his tighten in pain, "It can't go on forever. I wish it would Naruto, but it can't. Not this time at least. This time…this time is going to hurt more. It's going to hurt very badly." Naruto felt something grow in his throat. The thought of losing her. Losing her when? He wouldn't be prepared, even if he did know. He'd never be prepared to lose her. Never. Even if they grew so old he couldn't see her or hear her or feel her. He still wouldn't be able.

It was selfish, but it was always his last wish to go before her; to spare himself the pain and death that would be her own. He wouldn't be able to live.

"I can't say why things turned out this way Naruto, but I do know that it isn't coincidence, and it isn't a dream. I think…I think it's a chance. Because, at the time I came here, I was out of hope for us. I didn't think it ever would happen, and now that it has, I can live the way I have always intended, because now I know it's possible."

"Besides, there's more resting on this than only me. There's my child now too." Her voice dwindled, choking off, "I can't let him fade into nothing. I can't let him be a dream or a memory…I think he's the one that has me here. He doesn't want to be an idea. He wants to exist."

"We'll do it right next time, ne Hina-chan." He said softly and Hinata's head was bowed, their hands still touching. "Next time. Next time we'll do it right."

She gripped his hand so forcefully, as if he was the last tie holding her in.

"Don't ever break that promise you gave me Naruto-kun. Take care of me forever."

Eyes wandered to the fireflies dancing in the moonlight.

"Forever."

Forgetting was a strange thing.

It happened very fast. Rapidly so.

She woke up beside him and it was like being born again into the very same skin. It was far away, it was shattered glass and a picture frame replaced. Nothing more.

The picture itself stood upright on the dressing table; their wedding photo. Traditional and black and white with the hood surrounding her hair and the black kimono suiting him in a way that made girls like Ume Fujiwara swoon on the spot.

She remembered Ume. She had three children now, a son and a daughter and a little baby boy. Her husband was a strong man and Hinata was glad for them. She remembered seeing her once with the boy and smiling at him and Ume smiling at her.

Peaceful. That was her world. She was soft-spoken and polite and kind and soft. She was a picturesque wife and a horrible daughter and a wonderful lover and friend. It was natural as air and water and Naruto becoming further wrapped around her as he slept.

Silly man.

The incident ebbed away and time moves on because time does not wait for anyone.

And Hinata, with a smile on her face, moved with it towards the sun.

But Naruto sometimes does not move in time. His beat is off a mark or two. Forged out of silence and solitude, it is syncopated against the rest of the worlds. Which is why, though she nagged and pestered and wrote it down and put reminders anywhere she could, he still forgot.

Hinata did not like sitting in the restaurant by herself. Not because she disliked being alone, because she actually savored it on occasion; especially now.

For reasons she couldn't quite grasp, Naruto had been more than protective. Perhaps it was the small bump just starting to become noticeable or the recent trip to the hospital where Sakura had told both of them the baby was already about the size of their hands spread open. Men don't really get it until you tell them things like that, Hinata supposed. Anyway, it seemed as though there was now an impenetrable line of people surrounding her all the time. Kiba was at the house often, doing things that were both unnecessary and ended up making more messes. Shino often accompanied him and Sora too came to do odds and ends. Mostly, a lot of plant killing was done. She knew (because Naruto was not very subtle) that it was a very odd display of love and devotion, but it didn't detract from the annoying factor.

She'd never forget it when Sasuke got involved.

"Sasuke, what are you doing out here?"

*Sigh*

"Watching you." Hinata had felt a drop of sweat slide down the side of her face as he stood there with the ultimate dead-pan expression plastered to his face as she had tried to edge around him.

"Shouldn't you be…somewhere else?" She asked cautiously as the Uchiha turned and followed along as she made her way down the drive and onto the street. "I mean…what about the police force…"
"Do you have something I could carry?" Sasuke looked at her with hooded eyes and she just fingered the small cloth bag across her shoulder.

"A-Ano…Sasuke, it doesn't have anything in it."

"Hn."

"Sasuke, did Naruto put you up to following me?"

"He said you were going 'out' today. He assumed that meant running around the village and into imminent danger."

"Danger?"

"I believe the terms used were 'steel bear traps' and huge burly criminals who happened to be in the neighborhood, you know, just looking to ravage someone." Hinata was a bit alarmed by the typical Sasuke bleakness and the casual way he referred to truly unpleasant things, but she could also sympathize. Knowing Naruto, he'd probably gone into his head, imagining poorly drawn scenarios where innocent Hinata would be taken advantage of.

Hinata just deflated as Sasuke passed her up, already heading for the grocery store. "It's either me or Kakashi, and he was told to have a hand on your person at all times just in case."

And so, heavy objects seemed to disappear from sight and were replaced by the likes of Lee and Sasuke and other such trustworthy individuals who would escort her to the bathroom if she'd let them, which she didn't, and had started using a simple lock on the door.

That was one thing that always got a ninja: something normal. They were so convinced that everything was complicated they spent hours snooping around trying to figure out just how they could get inside under the influence that it was seal or trap or some other crazy ploy. Kakashi had been harder to fool, but he was always appearing out of nowhere regardless of circumstance, although according to rumor, a new coordinator at the hot springs had been holding a lot of his attentions.

"She's a friend, who happens to be a female. I don't see what the fuss is about." The scarecrow had said, tossing back whatever Hinata happened to have made out of boredom. Hinata just rolled her eyes.

"I know! It's not like you're one of the most coveted men in Konoha." She'd replied sweetly to which Kakashi had just stopped eating and given her a look before shaking his head.

"Women."

But at the moment things were a little less than nostalgic. Her nails were tapping the lacquered wood softly, just barely rippling the ice water in her glass.

Six o'clock. She'd told him last night. Six o'clock.

She'd told him that because she knew he'd be late. Their reservations weren't until six thirty.

It was seven.

"Hinata-hime, would you like something small to eat? You must be starving." The chipper waiter approached the table yet again and Hinata smiled as kindly as she could.

"No thank you." She started to stand up and the waiter took the crook of her arm, helping her along. She shook her head and he let her go, looking apologetic.

"I do believe I'll go home and rest, if that's alright. Thank you so much for your kindness. We'll try again next year."

"Hai Hinata-hime, we would all be honored." He bowed and Hinata bobbed her head in accord before leaving with enough dignity to make everyone just stare in awe.

Such grace, even though everyone could tell she was upset by their Hokage's absence. Naruto had been missing out. His wife looked ravishing in swaths of cherry red and rich gold and ivory; the kimono showed off just enough taste of her bump that everyone had been pleased, and she herself had been as beautiful in mannerism as in face.

Yes, their Hokage was truly missing out indeed.

And where was their beloved Hokage? Well, as it is with shinobi men, no one really knew until very, very late that night.

"Ssssassuke, man, I just…I just don't know how to THANK you." Sakura heard them coming a mile away and felt sheer irritation roll off of her to make the plant near the door wilt. Sasuke came barreling into the front room, Naruto's arm strung over his shoulder, Kakashi trailing behind in a slur of poetry about something, all three of them jumbling together as Sasuke paused in front of his furious wife.

"What the hell are you three doing."

"DRINKING!" She craned her neck around to see Sai was somewhere behind Kakashi, a dimwitted smile and a bottle of cheap beer caught up in his hand. "DRINKING! DRINKING!" He crooned to which Kakashi slapped him in the back of the head.

"Shut UP Sai. Jeeez, you'll wake the baby."

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto exclaimed arms open for an embrace that sent him reeling back onto the floor.

"YOU." Sakura hissed, shoving aside a dazed Sasuke, "Do you have ANY idea what you've done? Hmm?"

"Sorrrrry about that trashcan Sakura-chan." He whimpered, "I'll clean it up t-tomorrow." The dopy smile that crossed his face made Sakura boil.

"Sasuke take this asshole into the living room, and YOU TWO." The dark aura emitting off of her caused even Kakashi to wince as Sai cowered behind his back. "The nerve you had letting him go out with you. You knew that this was the night. The NIGHT. I TOLD ALL OF YOU! Now, get out of my house!"

They both stood there, facing her with blank expressions and she rolled her eyes before slamming two pulsing hands on their foreheads.

"I hope that headache is a bitch!" She growled as Kakashi and Sai sobered up so fast they were left clutching their faces in agony, shuffling out of the Uchiha district like two beaten dogs.

Turning on her heel, the woman made her way to the living room where Naruto was playing with a horribly folded paper airplane made of a medical report and Sasuke was spaced out on the futon, dead asleep.

"Naruto." Sakura sighed, walking over to him. She was too tired to exert any more anger, only disappointment as she quickly pulsed clean chakra into his system, pinpointing it towards his brain and his liver, attempting to process the alcohol at a faster rate, "You are in an incredible amount of trouble."

"Oh God…" Naruto groaned grabbing his temples, "What the hell did I do, hit my head with a hammer?"

"Close enough. You missed your date."

"What?"

"Your date. Your anniversary? Ringing a bell?" Naruto's hazy blue eyes squinted in thought before widening in fear.

"OH SHIT!" He cried, jumping up, almost losing his balance in the process, "How the hell did that happen?! I made sure I left work early…and then I saw Kakashi…and…Oh…." He dissolved into a pile of mush as he remembered the simple request for a drink before leaving because Kakashi hated drinking alone because of the packs of fangirls that stalked him through the streets. Then Sasuke then Sai saying that he would be without an important part of his anatomy unless he got drunk. Drunk shitless. And Naruto just couldn't have that. He was not whipped!

It had not ended well, unless you count tequila shots a good thing, which it wasn't.

Kakashi freaking LOVED tequila. (A/N: I actually got this out of a fic…which I can't remember at this moment! D:!! I just remember it was funny and involved Kakashi and tequila, so whoever owns it, cheerios to you!)

"Is she mad?" Naruto asked hesitantly and Sakura helped him move towards the door.

"Worried." Naruto felt his heart break. That was even worse, "Why didn't you at least call idiot? When will it be the day that you bastards actually listen to me?"

"Never." She just shook her head and opened the front door.

"Hurry and get home, she's probably still up. She called half an hour ago. I'll call her and tell her you're on your way."

"Thanks Sakura." She just closed the door and moved for the phone, but paused for a moment next to her husband.

"Sasuke, get up. You reek of gin."

Absolutely nothing, and several attempts later, he was still passed out. So, Sakura resorted to what she was hoping to tell him some other time, but apparently would have to do for now.

"Sasuke, I'm pregnant again."

Two eyes flew open as if they'd never been closed.

Thank you so much for reading this far :]

Please review!

xoxo,
Spoons