Author: G.A.M.M.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Hyuuga Hiashi couldn't sleep. Shikamaru was gone, his daughter was out of control, and his servant had mistakenly brought him the wrong brand of tea.
On his desk was a scroll that he had been staring at for the last several hours. His eyes flickered to the large grandfather clock in the corner.
'4:30am? I might as well stay up. It's almost dawn anyway.'
He reached forward and deposited the scroll into the sleeve of his long robes. He stood from his desk and smiled ever so slightly.
"I believe its time I gave this to you, daughter."
By the time Raven Name got back to the flat there was no point in going to sleep. It was almost 2:00am and they had to be down at ANBU HQ by 4:30am. Besides, they were both wrought with confusion over what had transpired between them only half an hour earlier.
After she had come back to him and declared she wouldn't run away, Naruto had initially felt greatly relieved.
Another impromptu make-out session had occurred shortly after her first tentative kiss. It wasn't quite as passionate as their other bout, but in retrospect it troubled both of them more. Passion was in the vocabulary of Dark Fox and Night Orchid, affection however... well it was better not to dwell on the subject.
They had both dawned their masks a few minutes later and returned in a tense silence to the apartment. Naruto had sat down on the couch with a speculative look in his eyes while Hinata poured herself a much needed glass of hard sake. She had poured a second one for Naruto, but he uncharacteristically declined. Apparently he didn't want to take any chances with that slight loss of judgment that even a single drink could render. Hinata had just shrugged and had it herself.
The young heiress had wisely decided not to have another, and instead settled for some chocolate she had stashed away in the back of the vegetable drawer; a place her partner never dared venture. In Naruto's opinion the small facsimiles contained in his ramen packets were more than sufficient, given he took some vitamin supplements and consumed the occasional stirfry his domestically gifted partner cooked for him.
Unfortunately, there were only three pieces left. Of the three one was milk chocolate with a mint filling, something Hinata was not particularly fond of... at all. Feeling rather generous, she walked over to her partner, who was quite obviously in deep thought, and offered him one.
"Chocolate?" She asked delicately.
"Huh?"
"I said would you like some chocolate?"
Naruto's eyes flicked to the small piece she held in her hand. "Milk chocolate?"
"I don't really like this kind, and I know you prefer milk over dark so..."
The Kyuubi host rolled his eyes. "Gods, calm down Hinata. You don't need to worry about explaining every little thing to me. Partnership. Trust. Remember?"
"S-sorry," she stuttered, blushing prettily, "I'm not feeling that secure right now."
Naruto accepted the chocolate and popped it into his mouth. He leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He had expected some witty remark to come to the surface of his brain, but oddly enough it didn't. The heavy atmosphere must have been dampening his sense of humor.
'Kami-sama, but this is going to get real complicated real fast...' He reflected.
"I guess I know what you mean." He answered finally, not really saying anything substantial in his reply.
"Um, Naruto?"
"Hm?"
Hinata poked her fingers together. "D-do you like me?"
Naruto gave her the oddest look. "Are you joking? You're really falling back into those habits again? Come on, Hinata, grow up."
"But-"
"Of course I like you, idiot." He interrupted her. "I would think it would be clear after... well..."
Hinata silently chastised herself for letting her buried insecurities take control. Naruto was right. There was no reason to let her old idiosyncrasies slip into her demeanor just because of him. That would be... pathetic.
"It won't happen again." The Hyuuga said in a strong voice, then softer: "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Now just isn't the time." Naruto asserted. "Focus on the mission."
She furrowed her brows together and tried to do what he said. Despite her efforts all she could think about was what she had learned about Naruto's life. The host of the Kyuubi? It explained so much. Now that he had told her it seemed so obvious.
'And I'm supposed to be perceptive.' She criticized herself.
Well its not like they had anything else to do until they left. She decided she might as well bring it up.
"Its still difficult for me to believe you've been harboring Kyuubi all this time." Hinata began.
"Well, my father was talented." Naruto retorted.
"He must have been to be able to seal something like that." The Hyuuga agreed.
Naruto shrugged. "It could have been worse."
"Oh?" Hinata prompted.
"Yeah," the blonde continued, "it could have been the Jubi."
Hinata didn't really know what to say to that. Even if it was supposed to be funny, the thought of the Jubi was so terrifying that it washed away any humor.
"Did they ever find it?"
"Sit down. Its awkward with you standing there." Naruto said irritably. "No, they never did."
Hinata carefully placed herself on the opposite side of the couch. No reason to take risks with temptation. Discretion was the better part of valor.
"What do you think Madara did with it?" She asked, a hint of fear contaminating her otherwise flawless facade.
"Who knows? He was the only one he was able to control that monster anyway." Her partner stated. He seemed awfully calm about it.
Hinata put the first dark chocolate treasure in her mouth, thinking. "You're not worried it might break free or something?"
Naruto shrugged. "Not really. Madara sealed it using his own chakra. He was afraid that someone might try and double-cross him. By doing that only someone with his same chakra signature, or someone with significantly more power than him could reactivate it. Needless to say I've yet to meet someone with even close to enough power."
"How did you ever beat him?" The silver-lavender of her eyes swirled with intrigue.
The Konoha pariah's eyes lost focus for a moment. "I don't wanna talk about it." He said quietly.
"I understand."
A stagnant space filled the room and neither of them spoke for several minutes. Hinata's thoughts were centered around the probability of Naruto surviving everything he did. She quickly concluded that he had more luck than anyone person should have been entitled to; that it might run out. No matter, if it ever did, she would be there for him.
Naruto on the other hand...
'Did he really do it? There's no way. He had to be joking.' He closed his eyes and focused on taking deep, even breaths. 'Sasuke-teme, you idiot!'
Hinata watched the conflict brewing behind her partner's eyes. She speculated on his thoughts while savoring the last chocolate in the small box she held. She placed the empty container on the small table to the left of the couch where a small lamp was situated. As she did this, some little piece of memory snapped back into her mind.
"Why did you tell me never to follow you?" She asked, breaking the long spell of silence. "You know, when I first moved in with you?"
Naruto opened one eye and the corners of his lips lifted in an indulgent smile. "Would you want someone to interrupt your weekly meditation?"
"That's it?" Hinata let out an exasperated sigh. "And to think you had me all worked up over something like that!"
The Kyuubi container snorted. "Well it was important."
The young woman scowled. "Don't you think your warning was a bit overkill?" She vividly recalled how deadly serious her partner had been when he told her not to follow him at night.
"Apparently not." Naruto replied dryly. "Who was it that showed up to my private clearing tonight?"
"That's hardly fair." Hinata pointed out. "You wanted me to follow you. Besides, I had forgotten about your little 'warning' until just now."
"See? What did I tell you?"
"You're impossible." Hinata huffed and folded her arms beneath her full breasts.
"Keh! I never forced you to stick around ya'know."
She stuck her tongue out at him in protest.
"Yeah, real mature there, Hinata."
"Bleh!" She pulled down on one eyelid an Naruto let out a little chuckle.
"I gotta admit though, you could pass for fifteen any day of the week."
Feeling emboldened because of the light feel of their conversation, Hinata decided to mess with him bit.
"Is that what I am?" She said in a husky voice, laughing throatily. "Just a little girl, Naruto?"
The young man began to sweat. "Uh... I um, don't know about that..."
Hinata beamed at him at giggled prettily. "Gods, you're easy!"
A hint of pink dusted Naruto's cheeks. "Well, you learned from the best." He said in a show of false ego.
"Apparently." She reached over and poked him in the side. "After all, you were the village's number one maverick prankster, right?"
He elegantly arched his eyebrows and sniffed, doing his best to look haughty and prideful. "Who says I ever lost that title?"
Hinata looked at him, suspicion in her eyes. "Were you the one who kept on sanding the joints in Shikamaru's chairs?"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Hina-chan." The supposed ex-prankster said, looking sickeningly innocent.
She poked him again. "Uh, huh. Riiight."
Little crinkles appeared in the corners of her eyes and she laughed, blinding him with her smile.
"You really need to stop doing that." He said, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Eh?" Hinata remarked in genuine confusion.
Naruto winked. "Being cute."
"Oh, please." She made a shooing gesture with her hand. "You're just jealous my act is better than yours."
"Do I need to bring Naruko into this?" He teased.
"Otherwise known as your expose-the-closet-otaku-jutsu?" The young heiress laughed.
"Who said anything about closets? I just use it to see Kakashi-sensei sweat in front of Anko."
Hinata clutched at he abdomen with one hand and covered her mouth with another, trying to calm her frazzled nervous system.
"I swear I've been hanging around you too long."
"Obviously." Naruto stated.
A sudden thought struck her. "Do you think that blood transfusion could have affected me somehow?"
"Eh?" Naruto looked skeptical.
"When I almost died... I mean do you think it could of-"
She was cut off: "I talked to Sakura about it a while back. She said it was a possibility, but one that was very unlikely. At the most I might have imprinted my chakra on you." His speech pattern slowly shifted from casual and light-hearted to informative. "I sincerely doubt that it corrupted your personality any more than I already had." He looked at the expression on her face that he often saw in the mirror. "Have." He amended.
"Imprint?" She questioned, abandoning their banter to her curiosity.
Naruto sighed. It was such a small possibility, he was really wasting his breath talking about it. Whatever, she could believed what she felt like believing. "Think of it as hanging out with someone all the time, for example, me. Anyone you spend a fair share of time with will affect your personality and mannerisms to some extent. Same principle. Having a little of my blood circulate through you might have familiarized your body to my chakra. It's possible that you took on a few of my traits... I mean, I've never seen you put so much chakra into a single part of your body. It might be that your coils were altered slightly either to carry more chakra, or to withstand the pressure of a greater chakra density. Again though, this is just speculation."
"It was hardly 'a little blood.' " Hinata scoffed.
"So you think that's the case huh?" Naruto said doubtfully.
Hinata considered it.
There were several changes she'd experienced since recovering from her coma. She had trained up faster than expected and was a lot hungrier all the time. Her body craved foods that she normally hated, which forced her to eat a better diet. Then there were the batterings she could withstand from her partner like she had earlier that night. Not to mention having slightly faster reflexes, greater strength and higher chakra output than she recalled possessing before. Still, everything she'd thought of could still be attributed to the sheer intensity of her training.
The only things that didn't make much sense were... well her senses. Her regular eyesight and her Byakugan were both a little better than she remembered, a little sharper. Her smell could decipher what was missing in a recipe easier when she cooked, and music seemed a bit more pleasant to her ears. Still, it sounded far fetched to her. It was very possible that is was purely pyschosomatic. Then again, she didn't want to rule out any explanations.
Plus, it was nice just to here the sound of her partners voice.
"So my improved resilience, increased metabolism, higher chakra output, and heightened senses could be because of an 'imprint' your blood gave me?"
Naruto shook his head. "As I said, it's only a minor possibility. I mean, you seemed to have plenty of power before that incident... what the hell is that technique anyway?"
Hinata blushed. "Actually I'm not sure. Whenever I get really, really mad, or in a life or death situation everything slows down. It's not something I taught myself, I just did it. The first time was about two years ago. I was still working in a group of three then. Some jonin jumped us and knocked Kiba-kun and Shino-kun out. They were going to kill all of us and I just snapped. My teammates never found out. Thought they wondered why I had fainted. When it first started happening I would pass out whenever I used it. Even now, it takes a lot out of me."
"So if you never learned it. Why the name?" Naruto asked, not really caring about the particulars of the jutsu's after affects.
"Shining Stance? Well it just seemed appropriate."
"Uh, huh. You sure you haven't been watching too many old-school animes?" He questioned perceptively.
Hinata rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I know how it works." She continued, ignoring his verbal jab. "I just don't know how to do it without the catalyst of anger or danger. As for the technique, its basically an improved, sustained version of the Kaiten. I constantly spin chakra really close around my body, kind of like body armor. When I'm in that state manipulating chakra into other techniques is really easy. The rotation pretty much happens without me thinking about it, so all I need to do is increase the amount of chakra I'm outputting to a certain section of my body. That's how my hand wasn't disintegrated by your rasengan."
"Hmmmmm... sounds similar to how I was as a genin." Naruto observed. "I could use the Fox's power directly, but only if I was mad or about to die. Ero-sennin... I mean Jiraiya-san threw me off a cliff once just so I could use the chakra to master a summoning technique."
Hinata guffawed. "He did not."
He smirked. "Sure did. Lucky for me, it actually worked. Anyway, eventually I learned to call on the Fox's power whenever I wanted."
"You think we can work on that with my technique?" Hinata asked hopefully.
"Maybe, I'm not sure if it'll work the same."
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
Hinata paused and realized why they were talking about what they were talking about. Or more accurately, how they were trying not to talk about what had happened earlier that night.
"We keep dancing around what happened to us at the clearing." She said in quiet resignation.
Naruto chuckled. "Well I'm not as keen to talk about it as you."
"I guess."
The young kunoichi closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "I... I don't know how this happened, but somehow we started to develop feelings for each other. Maybe in a different lifetime, one where we didn't have so many responsibilities..."
"Like?"
"Like ANBU. We can't be romantically involved, its against policy." She almost laughed at herself for that, but how else could she try and talk about their feelings unless she approached it from a technical and logical viewpoint? " Besides, even if we could keep it a secret, our emotions could get in the way of us completing missions effectively. Then there's the rest of the village to deal with. How would they take it? Not to mention my father's reaction would be."
"Screw em." Naruto suggested caustically with a hint of sarcasm that only his partner could ever pick up.
"I'm trying to be serious here." The frustrated ANBU complained.
"And I wasn't being serious?" Her partner asked in a sotto voice. "Hinata, no matter what we do about it, its still there. All that we can do is choose which path to take. Anyway, as far as regulation is concerned, people break it all the time. I mean, how else would the council be able to ensure the future of Konoha's forces? Did you know that three-man cells were developed to inspire relationships? One girl and two boys- it becomes a competition for the guys, and its probable the girl will like at least one of them."
Hinata scowled. "You think I don't know that, stupid? It's different in ANBU."
"Well, only a little. I mean, it used to be the same way until they started making duos instead of trios. Now most of the partnerships are same-sex, but it's not uncommon for a man and a woman to be on a team: about one third of the black ops. is comprised of male-female combos. I bet you half of them are involved with each other." He snickered childishly. "So what's one more pair of lovers going to hurt?"
He couldn't believe he'd just said that. Did he really want to cross that line with her, or did he just want to scare her off? Was the latter of those two thoughts only justification for asking? Was he secretly hoping she'd agree with that load of crap he'd just spouted? His thoughts ran him in circles until he was dizzy. Still, he just couldn't understand...
'Why in the hell did I say that?'
"Your logic is seriously flawed. And we're not lovers." She pointed out.
'Do you want to be?' He thought huskily, then panicked when he thought he'd said it out-loud. A quick rational study of her facial expression assured him that he hadn't.
"And you're just being stingy. Look, we've already dropped the suffixes. It's all downhill from there." He said, trying to recover his composure with some much needed levity.
"This conversation is going nowhere." Hinata stood and marched away into her room.
Naruto watched as she ran away. Again.
'And it looks like we're going nowhere too.'
The "Launch Bay" as most ANBU operatives affectionately called it, was located behind the great rock wall of the Hokage Monument. Hiashi had always found it silently amusing that the large stables containing the numerous messenger pigeons and travel hawks were stored in the back of the Sandaime's head. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "bird for brains."
The long flight of stairs that led from the base entrance of the ANBU HQ to the large room he currently presided in had taken him ten minutes to climb. Despite his excellent physical condition he found the schematics of HQ annoying at best and detestable at worst. Still, he had his mind set on something, and as the leader of the Hyuuga he needed to follow through with his duties.
'5:00am.' He thought, looking at the large circular clock in the northwest corner of the room. 'They should be finishing their briefing anytime now.'
He technically was not permitted to be where he was. Fortunately being the Lord of the Hyuuga clan had its perks, such as a 'no questions asked' policy whenever he glared at a subordinate chuunin. He smiled at the thought. It was so easy to intimidate the younger generation. Had all the backbone finally been bred out of the common families of Konoha? It made no difference to him. The Hyuuga were a proud and noble clan. What did he care for the welfare of commoners?
He heard the sudden approach of echoing footsteps and straightened his posture even more (if it was possible.) From around the corner a shock of blonde hair affronted him. Following closely by its side was a noble sweep of blue-black silk. Both carried themselves with great pride. He was almost pleased with their entrance until he noticed:
Why were they standing so close?
The blonde shot him a glare from across the room and the blue-black ignored him completely. After they had strapped their bags and provisions on to the back of the large hawk-mounts an attendant with a clipboard went to give the birds and their tack a thorough check. It was the end of the graveyard shift, so only other operative present was the stable master, who was gently working to apply fresh bandages to a hawk with an injured wing. With both of their focuses elsewhere, it was the perfect opportunity for Hiashi to speak with his daughter... and the demon-boy.
His approach was steady and proud. The distance was closed in a tense silence until he stopped two meters from the duo.
"What do you want, Hiashi-sama?" The Kyuubi container all but growled.
"To speak with my daughter regarding matters that do not concern you." He snapped.
Hiashi could almost see the hackles rise on the tall blonde, but fortunately his daughter stepped forward. He did not miss her calming touch to the Uzumaki's forearm.
"Father." She said plainly.
"Daughter." He acknowledged in a tone equally bland.
She relaxed slightly, silently communicating that she wasn't in the mood for a fight.
"I have come to give you this." The Hyuuga Lord said, not bothering with pleasantries.
He removed a weathered and ancient looking scroll from his right sleeve. It was bound by a single piece of white cloth material around its center.
"What's that?" His daughter asked warily.
"Just an heirloom. It's time you take a look at it." Hiashi explained stoically.
He extended his arm to its maximum range. His daughter did the same and calmly removed the scroll from his hold. She lifted it to her eyes, as if contemplating. Then in a minute display of annoyance she exhaled forcefully through her nose.
Hinata removed the piece of cloth and opened the scroll.
"Father, this is written in a language I don't recognize."
"I don't know." Naruto said speculatively. "It kind of resembles ancient Celtic."
For a split second Hiashi's eyes widened. The display passed over his features so quickly that neither of the two ANBU noticed.
"Well, its yours to keep." He said with a nearly imperceptible edge in his voice.
"Something wrong, Father?"
"No. I merely forgot that I need to return to estate. I have an early audience with the elders concerning a trifling matter."
"I see..." Hinata said slowly.
"Be safe, Daughter." His eyes briefly met her gaze, then flickered to the Kyuubi-boy. "I expect she will not insult the name of Hyuuga again, Uzumaki."
With a slight nod and an arch of his eyebrows he dismissed himself, turning on his heel and exiting the room.
"Well that was bizarre." Hinata said after a beat.
"Eh? What was, Hinata-san?" Naruto asked, remembering to keep his honorifics in line while in the presence of others.
Hinata turned to face him with a puzzled look on her face. "My father gave you a compliment, Naruto-kun."
"He did? Sure looked like an insult to me."
The young heiress shook her head slowly. "No, that was his way of saying thank you."
"What?" Naruto exclaimed a bit too loud to be considered discrete. The bastard had complimented him?
"Essentially he said that he trusted you to make me stronger. And I'm pretty sure he's not in the Kyuubi appreciation club." The latter was said with obvious sarcasm.
"Really? I guess that is pretty strange then, isn't it?" Naruto agreed, calming down.
Their conversation was cut short by the attendant, who had just marked off the last box on his pre-flight checklist.
"Dark Fox, Night Orchid." He called, grabbing their attention. "Your mounts are ready."
Hinata retied the scroll and slipped it into a tube-shaped scroll carrier on the side of one of her packs.
Naruto leaped effortlessly and landed in the seated position the large travel saddle. As he strapped himself in he said: "You ever traveled by hawk before, Night Orchid?"
Hinata slipped on her mask, using the mini stair to climb atop her own bird. She regarded him through the small slits in the ceramic tigress face.
"No, but there's a first time for everything." She yelled over the noise of the launch platform hydraulics lifting them up.
The large circular dais moved up to an identically shaped blast door that opened as they neared it. Wind ripped down the short runway and over the forms of their mounts as a rock wall slid out of place in front of them to reveal a quickly darkening sky dotted with storm clouds. The powerful talons of their hawks gripped the wood of the take off zone with their legs bent, prepared to spring at the signal of their riders.
It was a scant hundred yards to the narrow rectangular opening. The birds had roughly 35 foot wingspans and the run-space wasn't more than fifty in width.
"Pretty cozy up here isn't it?" Naruto yelled over the scream of the wind and pelting rain that began to strike them at a nearly horizontal angle. "Did you ever learn how to command one of these guys? Its going to be a really rough flight from what the meteorologist had to say at the briefing." His mask looked sinister in a sudden flash of lightning that lit the darkened area.
Hinata smiled a challenge, her bold gaze visible even through her mask. "No. But there's no time like the present is there?"
Naruto's laugh was drowned out by a loud rumble of thunder that vibrated the deck beneath them.
Behind them three birds came in for a landing.
The runway was at a diagonal in the monument that allowed for a single straight strip to be built for both take-off and landing. The stone walls at either end were both opened for any activity, so the birds could take advantage of any headwind that might be blowing through. A large elevator at either end of the hundred twenty yard deck let both take-offs and landing occur simultaneously.
With a loud whoop Naruto pressed his inner thighs against the body of his hawk. The bird lurched forward and in a sudden burst of acceleration sprinted down the runway, flapping its wings to gain lift and airspeed. Just as the sheer vertical cliff of the drop came into the view the bird lifted off the ground. The amount of space between Naruto and the ceiling was so small that had he stood and reached up with his hand he could have touched it.
Hinata took all of it in and grimaced. This was probably a very bad idea, but her partner hadn't backed down so...
She yelled in defiance of her fear and kicked the sides of her bird, startling it into a headlong rush out the doors.
Just as she was about to clear the opening a flight deck officer came rushing out of a side entrance screaming: "WAIT!"
But it was too late. In a rush of air and adrenaline she took off into the turbulent skies above Konoha.
Hyuuga Hiashi watched as the two large birds took off into the angry sky. As he watched them he couldn't help but speculate, 'Why, why can she do it? What makes her different from the rest of us? Was Hiama really right? Were we wrong to exile him? My daughter, this was unexpected of you... The elders must know at once. Nobody has ever accomplished what you have, and without giving so much as a second thought. We've had experts work on it for decades with no results and now... '
There were so many questions that needed to be answered and so little time. 'And the Kyuubi-boy. He too...'
His daughter had been unable to recognize the language and the Uzumaki had thought it vaguely resembled Celtic. That they were able to identify the writing as a forgotten language and not just gibberish was not what troubled Hiashi. True that was remarkable progress, but it paled in comparison to what they had already accomplished the second they had opened the scroll.
For the last three generations that scroll had been blank...
"Kami, it was rough out there!" One of the three ANBU said as he dismounted his bird in the holding bay, below the flight deck.
"Yeah," another agreed, "I'm surprised they let that last flight off the ground!"
"Takes guts." The last grunted.
"This is flight operations commander Fujita." An authoritarian male said loudly over the HQ's PA loudspeaker system. "A hurricane is forming off the coast and conditions are too dangerous for air operations. All scheduled sorties are grounded. Please report to your C.O. for new assignments. That is all."
The three operatives shared a knowing look.
"Whoever those two were, they were either incredibly foolish or suicidally brave." Said the leader.
"We better report to the Commander that a sortie took off before the announcement." Added the second.
"Hopefully they both have the experience to handle the hawks and get them back to base before anything bad happens." Said the third.
"But even if they can manage the turbulence, they're bound to get lost in those clouds..." The second trailed off.
The leader grimaced. "We have to talk to the commander. Its up to them whether they live or die."