AN: I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Please read and review! XD

Disclaimer: This story is mine, the characters and their worlds are not, they belong to their original creators only!

Chapter 14

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Misao!"

Misao woke with a start. Grumbling incoherently she rolled over and looked towards her door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Wake up Misao! I have an urgent assignment for you from Himura-san!"

Misao groaned as she gave the door a dark look. 'It's the middle of the night!' She thought to herself. "Can't it wait until morning?!" She yelled out.

The shoji to her room slid open revealing the form of Okina, her surrogate grandfather. She squinted her eyes as the light from his lantern blinded her. "No Misao, this cannot wait. Himura-san has sent us a urgent message. Come, I will show you." He said as he turned and walked down the engawa outside her room, leaving the shoji open for her to follow.

With an irritated grumble she crawled out of bed and followed him down to his private sitting room. She was momentarily surprised to see Aoshi sitting there dressed in his casual kimono and hakama, a tea tray and an open letter sat on the small table where he was sitting.

"Aoshi-sama!" She said happily as she entered the room. "I didn't know gramps had gotten you up too!"

Aoshi looked over at her as she settled on the cushion next to him. "I always rise and have tea with Okina-san early in the morning."

"Morning?! It's the middle of the night!" Misao grumbled.

Okina sighed at Misao's antics before clearing his throat to get to get her attention. "Misao, this letter arrived via messenger pigeon a little while ago." He said as he slid the letter over to Misao for her to read. "You have two days to retrieve the diary of a Tomoe Himura from the shrine he has named in his letter and bring it to the Inari shrine that is located just south of Nagoya via the old Edo trail. You will be met by his nephew, a young man named Naruto Uzumaki and his betrothed Hinata Hyuga. Unfortunately, you do not have much time to prepare to leave if you are to make the journey in time as he requests that you meet Uzumaki-san at the shrine at sunset tomorrow."

Misao's eyes widened at this. "TWO DAYS?!" She exclaimed shock.

"Misao, calm yourself." Aoshi said as he sipped his tea. "This is an urgent matter, Himura-san would not ask this of you otherwise I am sure."

"Aoshi is correct. If you will finish reading the letter he indicated that this diary is integral to a confrontation with an enemy that he is currently dealing with. Go Misao and prepare to depart. You will be leaving in half an hour. Aoshi has already agreed to accompany you." Okina said as he too took a sip of his tea.

"Of course gramps." Misao said as she handed the letter back as she rose from the cushion. She hurried from the room, torn between being concerned for Himura and all her friends in Tokyo that were dealing with this new enemy and curiosity about Himura's nephew that she had never heard of before.

Naruto groaned as he swatted wildly, his hand coming in contact with something furry, sending it flying. As he settled back into the haze of sleep again with a contented sigh he could could hear a soft thud and an indignant squeak coming from somewhere near by. Moments later something furry landed square on his face with a loud, angry squeak, startling him. With a surprised yelp he sat bolt upright, trying desperately to pull the angry squirrel off of his face. "What the hell!" He growled out angrily as he finally pried the animal off of his face and tossed it to the grass.

His eyes narrowed dangerously as he took in the sight of his disguised clones sitting in a semi circle by his feet, their high pitched, squeaky laughter putting him in an even darker mood as the squirrel he had just dislodged from his face made a rude gesture and blew a raspberry at him before dispelling, the others following suit.

Naruto gave an annoyed snort. "Kami I hate myself sometimes." He said as he rubbed his face sleepily. The sound of soft giggling had him peeking out between his fingers, a frown still firmly in place. "You think it's funny too, huh?" He grumbled.

Hinata blushed a little at this. "A l-little." She replied, her eyes shining with amusement. "It took them ten minutes to get you up a-and...well...you have always been one for pranks and jokes. I just didn't expect you to not be able to take your o-own is all." She said as she turned back to the map on her lap. She was not about to tell him that it had taken five minutes for her to extricate herself from his grasp before they had started trying to wake him, which the clones had also found hilarious. "W-Why don't you go and wash your face down at the stream? It might help you wake up a bit. I-I already filled our water containers so all we need to do is eat a little and pack up."

"Thanks." He said as he yawned and stretched, causing the blanket on his lap to move and catch his attention. He blushed darkly as he remembered last night when Hinata insisted on sharing her blanket with him because he had foolishly believed he wouldn't need one. He peeked over at her as she studiously studied the map, her own face tinged a pretty shade of pink. "H-Hey….Hinata...about last night…"

Hinata glanced over at him before quickly turning back to the map. "D-Don't worry about it." She replied. "W-We are going to be sharing our lives anyway s-so it's not a big deal." She shifted nervously as she peeked over at him again, her blush intensifying. "I...I would do anything t-to help you Naruto-kun j-just so you know. "

Naruto's blush darkened at this. "T-Thanks Hinata….that...that means a lot." He replied, feeling a little shy. "So...what's the plan for today?" He asked as he indicated the map that was all but forgotten in her lap.

Hinata looked back down at the map, her blush still firmly in place. "W-Well…." She began as she indicated a spot on the map. "This spot here in the mountains is about halfway to the shrine so..I was thinking that if we can get there by late afternoon we could try and catch some fish in the river there for dinner." She said as she looked back up at him. "A-And if we get there earlier we can still catch some fish before moving on a bit farther before stopping for the night."

Naruto nodded in agreement as he looked at the map from his spot next to her. "Sounds good to me!" He said with a grin. "A fish for dinner will help us stretch our food out too."

Hinata smiled at him. "That was what I-I was thinking too."

With a chuckle Naruto moved away and stood up. "Well, you know what they say! Great minds think alike!" He said giving her a playful wink which caused her blush to darken and her to duck her head a bit. "Well, I'm going to take care of some business, I'll be back in a couple of minutes." He said as he turned and moved off into the bushes.

"HA!" Swish.

"HA!" Swish.

"HA!" Swish.

Kaoru watched intently as Yahiko performed his warm-up swings. Walking slowly around him, she eyed him carefully for even the slightest flaw. Once he had finished she stood in front of him, her expression serious. "Yahiko, you have been saying that you want to be stronger than you are now, even though you are the strongest ten year old boy I have ever met. Why?" She asked.

Yahiko stared back at her, his expression equally as serious. "I don't want to be the weak one. I want to be able to protect everyone too." Taking a deep breath and keeping his pride in check he quickly bowed low. "Please Kaoru-sensei! Please train me to become stronger! Please make me your successor!"

Kaoru studied his bowed form for a long moment. "You want me to train you in the succession technics of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu?"

"Yes!" Yahiko said eagerly. "Please Kaoru-sensei!"

Kaoru's eyes narrowed at him before she turned her head away. "I don't believe you're ready. There is a lot more you need to learn still Yahiko." She said.

Yahiko's head snapped up. "WHAT! Dammit Kaoru, I know I'm ready!"

Kaoru quickly moved into her fighting stance. "Then prove it to me!"

Yahiko moved into his own stance. "Alright, I will!"

X

Kenshin stood motionless, eyes closed, letting the breeze ruffle his hair as he soaked in the sounds of the woods around him.

Quick as lightning he stepped forward, unsheathing his sword and slashed through the stand of bamboo in front of him. Not wasting a second he turned, raising his sword as if to block before going through a series of slashes and blocks as he performed his katas.

Once through the set, he resheathed his sword and took a deep breath as he found his center once again, preparing to start the katas from the beginning.

The mid afternoon sun shone down brightly on them as they leapt from tree to tree. Spotting a particularly tall tree, Hinata made a beeline for it, jumping up to the highest sturdy branch she could. Once there she pulled out the map as she tried to gage their approximate location.

Landing on the branch below her with enough force to cause the tree to shake slightly, Naruto looked up at her expectantly. Periodically throughout the day Hinata had been doing this, finding a very tall tree to give her Byakugan the most range so that she could compare the landscape they were traveling through to the map. "Well?" He asked, as he caught his breath. He was a bit winded from the long run, but thanks to the method of travel, not nearly as tired as if they had stayed on the ground. Not to mention that they would not have been able to travel nearly as fast and would be nowhere near their current location, wherever that might be.

"Well…." She began as she looked up from the map and down the mountainside to the south and then back at the map. "...I..I think we are getting close to the halfway point."

Naruto grinned at this. "Really?"

Hinata gave a nod as she continued looking at the map. "I-I can see the beginning of what looks to be a lake to our south. The only lake on the map that is along the trail we are following is fed by the river that marks the approximate halfway point that Kenshin-sensei told us about."

"Awesome! How much farther?" He asked excitedly.

Hinata blushed a bit. "I-I'm not sure...maybe a half hour to an hour? I don't know the exact distance from here." She replied, which caused him to frown a bit as he was looking forward to a break. "B-But we will know that we have reached it because there is a small Hokora shrine by the side of the trail where it crosses the river. We can stop there and do some fishing."

"A Hokora shrine?" Naruto asked, confusion written on his face. "What kind of shrine is that?"

Hinata carefully started folding the map as she spoke. "They are small, mini shrines sometimes used to worship local deities. Kenshin-sensei said that this one is dedicated to the Mizugami of the lake and the river that feeds it less than a kilometer south of the trails crossing point."

"Mini shrines…" He said, almost to himself. "OH! Are you talking about those little mini houses that you see along the road sometimes?"

Hinata looked down at him for a moment before giggling. "Yes Naruto-kun." She replied. "Those are Hokora shrines." Taking another look around Hinata got back to business. "L-Lets go." She said as she took off again with Naruto hot on her heels.

Not even a half hour later they dropped to the trail itself. There was an old bridge about ten meters ahead of them and to their left about five meters down the slight embankment was the small shrine. It was built facing the trail but near the tree line where the bank of the river started. They picked their way down the rocky embankment to the shrine.

"W-We should leave an offering and a prayer to the Mizugami in exchange for the fish we are going to take." Hinata said as she stopped by the shrine and dug out her bento to take an onigiri out.

"You think so?" Naruto asked curiously as he watched her.

"Y-Yes. It only seems fair to offer some of our food for the fish we want to catch. A-And I would not wish to offend the Mizugami by being impolite." She said as she put the bento back and stepped up to the shrine and placed the offering at the base of the shrine.

"Here, let me get one of mine too then." Naruto said as he dug out his own bento and took out an onigiri. "I hope the Mizugami likes onigiri since that's all we got!" He said with a bit of a chuckle as he stepped up next to her placing his offering down next to hers. "So, what should we pray for?" He asked.

Hinata thought for a moment before answering. "Well, we should thank the Mizugami for the bounty of the river and ask for guidance in getting the food we need." She said thoughtfully.

"Alright, sounds good to me!" Naruto replied.

They both settled on their knees in front of the shrine and with a clap of their hands they bowed their heads to offer their prayers and food to the Mizugami of the river and lake.

Once done the stood back up and made their way around the shrine to the bank of the river. Hinata activated her Byakugan to take a better look around. "Well…" Said as she studied the river. "...the current isn't very fast here so if we need to get into the water we won't get swept away, and I see a lot of fish out towards the middle of the river."

Naruto grinned at this. "Leave that to me then!" He said as he started to strip. "Makes sure to have plenty of kunai ready, ok?"

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed as her face flushed a dark red.

"What?" He asked as he looked over at her, his kimono top was already on the ground and his hakama were half off revealing his underwear.

Hinata couldn't help but stare at him wide eyed. "W-What are you doing?!"

Naruto blinked at her in confusion. "I'm getting undressed." He replied. "I don't want to get my clothes wet when I jump in the river to scare the fish to you."

"O-Oh...ok." She said as she tore her eyes off of him and back towards the river.

A minute later Naruto was standing on the river bank in his underwear. With a few quick hands signs and a quick 'Kage Bunshin no jutsu!' he and made a dozen clones and took of running over the top of the river with half of his clones following him down stream while the other six went up stream.

Hinata waited patiently on the bank, four kunai in each hand as she watched the 'Naruto's' dive into the water. Activating her bloodline she watched intently as Naruto and his clones herded a school of fish in her direction. Once the fish were close she let loose with one handful of kunai and then the other managing to hit three of the eight target. A moment later she saw the clones that had gone upstream headed her way with another group of fish in front of them. Quickly palming another eight kunai in her hands she waited until they were in range. Letting the kuani fly she was able to hit four out of this group.

Naruto's head popped out of the river about fifteen meters out. "How..was..that?" He asked as he gulped in some air. "Do you need me to scare in some more fish?"

Hinata shook her head as she bent over and started rolling up her pant legs. "N-No. I think I got more than enough for us for dinner." She said as she then removed her sandals and waded into the water and started collecting the kuani and fish, which she tossed up onto the shore.

Naruto grinned broadly as he swam towards her. "So, how many did you get?" He asked.

Hinata blushed a little as she replied, feeling a bit self conscious that more than half of her kunai missed even with her Byakugan. "S-Seven."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Whoa, you got that many? That's awesome Hinata!" He grinned broadly as he started helping her retrieve her kunai and fish. "When I did this with the Teme he only got three." He said.

Hinata studied him out of the corner of her eye as they worked. "W-Well….we should clean them here and then we can get going again." She said, carefully changing the subject. "We still have a few hours before sunset so if we press on for a couple more hours we can stop for the night and cook our fish and be more than halfway to our meeting place."

Nodding Naruto made a couple fresh clones, the other ones having already dispelled, and put them to work helping gut the fish. "Sounds good to me." He said with a grin. It didn't take them long to clean the fish, taking care to properly wash and discard the guts and string them on some wire. Once that was done, Naruto redressed and they took off, crossing the bridge and taking back to the trees.

Behind them at the small shrine a pale blue shimmering light could be seen surrounding their offering of onigiri before they disappeared.

X

An hour and a half later found them slowly coming out of the mountains, but instead of being relieved Hinata was worried. There was still about an hour before sunset but the sky to the west was dark and a wind was starting to pick up. There was going to be a storm that night and they needed to find shelter. Scanning the area as they traveled she spotted a treefall where a large tree had been uprooted in another storm. She quickly changed direction and a couple of minutes later dropped to the forest floor.

Naruto landed next to her, his landing making a loud crunching sound in the old dead leaves. He scanned the area as he spoke. "Is this where we are stopping for the night?" He asked.

"M-Most likely." She said as she studied the fallen tree, which had been growing on the edge of a sharp incline. Carefully climbing down the steep slope that, thankfully, leveled out about five meters down they discovered that when the tree had fallen, it's root ball, which was still intact above them, along with the trunk made a partially covered shelter of sorts if you were to crawl underneath.

Naruto watched Hinata curiously. "So, you think it will rain tonight?" He asked as he glanced up at the sky.

"Y-Yes. The clouds are really dark to the west." She said as she straightened up from checking out the fallen tree. "We need to start a fire and get those fish cooking a-and then try to turn this into a shelter."

"Well, I'm sure you paid more attention to this stuff in class than I did." Naruto chuckled as he rubbed at the back of his head. "If you want, I'll get the fire going and get the fish cooking and you can work on the shelter? I'll even give you a couple clones to help you!"

Hinata nodded at this. "That sounds good." She replied. "I only remember a little myself, b-but I'll get something put together."

It had taken Hinata and the four clones Naruto had made to help her almost an hour to put it together, most of this time had been taken up by three of the clones as they scoured the area for enough branches to form the kinda roof/wall like side of the shelter. Once enough branches had been found they had been braced up against the fallen tree with a bit of wire here and there to secure them in place. The branches were then covered on the outside with a thick layer of dead leaves and some evergreen branches that had been cut from an evergreen down by the small stream that one of the clones found. The inside Hinata had scooped out the dead leaves, twigs (which got fed to the fire) and rocks and then a fresh layer of leaves had been put down so that they weren't sleeping on bare dirt. By the time this was done dinner had also been done which they both had happily devoured.

Dinner itself was a quiet affair, they were both too hungry and tired to makes small talk. Hinata sighed tiredly as she finished her meal. 'I over did it today.' She thought as a wave of exhaustion swept over her. Deciding that she should go to bed, she rose stiffly, staggering a little in her exhaustion she headed towards the shelter where their belongings were already stored and the blanket laid out.

Naruto's eyes trailed after her. He had noticed a few minutes before that she was quieter than usual and upon a closer look she almost looked like she was wilting into herself. His brows furrowed in concern as he watched her move. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"I-I'm alright, I'm just tired." She replied. "I'm going to bed, you should come and lay down too, we have another long day ahead of us tomorrow." She said over her shoulder as she crouched down by the shelter.

"Yeah...alright. I'll come and lay down once I get this fire put out." He said, as he stood and stretched, feeling the for the first time just how sore and tired he himself was.

A distance roll of thunder sounded as he worked to bank the fire before putting it out. The fire flared as a gust of wind tore through camp. 'Shit, we are going to get one hell of a storm tonight.' He thought as he worked.

A couple minutes and a quick trip to the bushes later camp was set for the night. Making a few quick hand signs he set a couple transformed clones into the surrounding woods to keep watch before crawling into the shelter himself.

He could barely make out her form laying in the back of the shelter in the in the quickly waning twilight. As he moved further in to get away from the entrance, and keep from getting wet when the storm hit, he noticed that she had laid out the blanket in such a way that, even though she was curled up underneath it herself, there was more than enough for him to crawl underneath it as well.

He blushed darkly at this realization, he hesitated for a moment before nervously crawling under the blanket with her, making sure to leave a few inches between them. 'Well, she did say that she didn't mind sharing the blanket with me...and she did leave more than enough for me to use.' He thought as he tried to get himself to settle down enough to rest. He lay there staring up at the branches above him for a few minutes until he had gotten his embarrassment and nerves under control and, with a stretch and tired sigh, he started to doze off.

Naruto had no idea how long he lay there when movement to his right roused him out of sleep. Mumbling something incoherent in her sleep, Hinata rolled over. With a sigh, she snuggled up to him, resting her head on his shoulder and draping her arm across his stomach.

Naruto's eyes popped open and his face flushed a bright glowing red at the contact. Turning his head he looked at the top of her head. 'What the hell?! She's….she's cuddled up to me?!' He thought to himself, feeling slightly panicked. 'Should...should I wake her? Will she be mad if I wake her? Oh kami, what should I do?!'

After a couple of minutes of debating with himself, he decided to try and wake her enough to get her to roll over. Reaching over he gently shook her shoulder. "H-Hey...Hinata…" He called, trying to keep his voice low. Getting no response he tried again. "Hinata?" He called, shaking her shoulder a little harder this time.

With an incoherent mumble she buried her face into his shoulder and, he had no idea how, got even closer to him. 'Well that didn't work very well.' He thought with a sigh. 'Maybe I should just roll her over?' Deciding to give it a try he took a firm, but gentle, grip on her shoulder and just as he started pushing on her shoulder to roll her away there was a flash of light and a thunderous boom of thunder seemingly right over the shelter as the rain started. Hinata let out a whimper and tightened her grip on him. Sighing to himself he decided that maybe it would be best to just let her be. Getting himself comfortable he started to think, that's the one thing that he both loved and hated about rain storms. He always turned thoughtful and a bit introspective.

He stared up towards the roof of the shelter, listening as a gust of wind whipped through the branches causing them to rattle. To be honest he was quite impressed that with the steady rain that was coming down there wasn't more than an occasional drip from above. And, now that he thought about it, he was also surprisingly comfortable, even more so than the night before. Turning his head he looked out at the rain just as another flash of lightning lit up the night, seconds later the thunder crashed causing Hinata to twitch at the sudden loud noise but other than that she remained fast asleep.

He turned back after a few moments to study the sleeping girl curled up against him. Now, even though he couldn't really 'see' her, he laid there, soaking in her warmth. With his face turned towards her he could pick up the soft scent of her hair as his nose brushed against the top of her head. This was an unique experience for him, and not an unpleasant one either. Having grown up alone, positive physical contact had been limited to the grandfatherly pats on the back from the old man and the occasional ruffling of his hair from Iruka-sensei. He could count on one hand the amount of times he got an actual hug before Ji-san had come for him. Now though, while no one here was the 'huggy' type, there was a level of affection that everyone had that he enjoyed greatly. It was like they were all a real family, even though there we no ties of blood binding them all together. But with Hinata there was a difference. He didn't know what it was, whether if was just because she was a girl his age, because they were betrothed or something else, something unique to Hinata. Whenever she was close she had a strange affect on him. Even now, though he was still blushing a bit at the contact, he couldn't help but be soothed by her soft rhythmic breathing and the warmth she was radiating. He also felt safe, wanted and needed with her cuddled up to him like she was, which were new feeling for him. As he continued to contemplate her, his brow furrowed in mild concern as his thoughts turned to her behavior earlier. What had him concerned was the fact that while they ate she had seemed to almost wilt or deflate as the day caught up to her. He only hoped that she would be fine after a good night's sleep.

Letting out a soft sigh he pushed his thoughts away as he reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers through her hair. It was something he found himself wanting to do lately and wasn't sure why. He had never realized how pretty her hair was before getting to know her. In the dark it looked black, but when light shone on it her hair shown with indigo highlights and was all shiny and silky looking.

He let the silky strands slip through his fingers. 'I wonder what she would look like with long hair?' He thought idly.

Another flash of light and crack of thunder had him glancing out at the storm again before giving in to his own tiredness as he turned back to Hinata. Carefully shifting himself and being careful not to wake her, he extricated his arm that was trapped between them and then wrapped his arms around her as he settled back. With a tired sigh he buried his nose in her hair and closed his eyes. He was quickly lulled to sleep by her steady breathing and the rhythmic sound of the rain.

Thunder boomed causing Misao to wake up startled. Rolling over with a groan she pulled the blanket tighter around her. The storm had rolled in about an hour after dark, thankfully they had found shelter under an old decaying bridge before dark so that their small fire hadn't been put out but that hadn't stopped the wind that had picked up.

Misao burrowed further into her blanket as a gust of wind blew through their camp and watched the banked fire spit sparks as one of the branches broke apart. Looking up she looked at Aoshi, who was sitting with his back to one of the support columns of the bridge, his blanket wrapped around his shoulders apparently fast asleep. 'How can he sleep through this storm!' She growled to herself. Grumbling quietly she turned over again, trying to get comfortable.

The quiet, steady voice of Aoshi broke through the sound of the storm. "Go back to sleep Misao, we leave at first light." He said, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"That's easy for you to say!" She growled out before letting out a quiet sigh. "But I'll try."

The open shoji behind her rattled in its frame as another gust of wind tore through the yard but she stood there unfazed, tea in hand, as she watched the rain come down. The sound of movement behind her was her only indication that she wasn't completely alone.

Kenshin stepped through the doorway, a cup of tea in hand. "Kaoru-dono, what's wrong? You are unusually quiet this evening." He asked in concern.

Kaoru turned towards him as she studied him for a moment. "I have just been thinking, that's all." She replied as she turned back to look at the rain.

"About what?" He asked as he studied what he could see of her profile from the light of the kitchen behind them.

"This storm is pretty bad...at least it is if you were to be caught out in it." She said as another flash of lightning lit up the yard.

Kenshin nodded in understanding as the thunder boomed. "Aa….I imagine so, but I am sure that they all have found places to keep dry, that I am."

"Are you sure Kenshin?"

Kenshin smiled softly at her. "I know you are worried for everyone. Misao can take care of herself just as well as Naruto and Hinata. It is hard not to look at them and see them as children and not the adults that their village has trained them to be. While they have not finished maturing and in some ways are still not more than the young teenagers that they are, remember that they are looked upon as adults now that they have earned the right to be a shinobi of their village."

Kaoru hummed at this. "It sounds like Genpuku a bit though, don't you think?"

Kenshin chuckled a bit at this. "A bit." He said in agreement. "That is why we must not worry about them too much. They have each other so they are not alone. They will whether this storm and learn from it just as they have with everything else that has been thrown their way, that they will."

"I'm curious though, if it's similar to Genpuku, and they are considered adults, wouldn't they be able to marry?" Kaoru asked.

"Aa, well there has been an age limit placed on marriage." He replied. "As I understand it, it was put in place to allow the younger generations of shinobi time to physically and emotionally mature before taking on the responsibilities of marriage and family. Although, to be honest, with an arranged marriage an earlier age can be pushed for. If either me or Hiashi had felt it necessary or beneficial, we could have petitioned Tsunade-dono to have them married before we left the village."

Kaoru looked at him surprised. "Really?"

"Yes." He said as he nodded slightly. "Personally, I feel they are too young. They need this time to grow and discover themselves as they bond. They have enough to worry about without adding the responsibilities of marriage to the mix."

"That makes sense." She agreed as she turned back to watch the storm.

They stood in companionable silence for a moment before Kenshin turned to her and placed a gently hand on her arm. "Come Kaoru-dono, I will refill your tea and you can tell me what training you have planned for Yahiko. He was most energetic and determined today, that he was."

Kaoru laughed softly at this as she turned and headed into the kitchen. "He was…..he still has much to learn but, I believe he is ready to start on the succession technics."

"Succession technics?" Kenshin asked in surprise. After a moment of thought he continued. "He does have much to learn, that is true." He paused as he poured the hot tea into their cups. "It is also true that he has had to grow up faster than most children his age...he may be ready and he may not be. I suppose the only way to truly find out is to just go ahead and teach him."

Kaoru smiled as she took a sip of tea. "That is what I was thinking this morning while I watched him train."

"Then we are both in agreement." He said with a smile as he finished his tea. "Which is good as Yahiko's training is important to both of us." Kenshin placed the cup in the sink before heading towards the shoji. "Good night Kaoru-dono" He said. "I will see you in the morning."

"Good night Kenshin." Kaoru called after him as she too finished her tea and headed off to get some rest.

AN: Well, everything is moving forward and soon Naruto and Hinata will meet Misao and Aoshi for the first time! As you can see, these next couple of chapters (including this one) are a bit more NaruHina centric and of course have some fluff and character development as well. I am trying to keep it to a reasonable and realistic pace, so for those of you who want quick love development between them, I do apologize.