Chapter 36: Back together
"Mitsuki-chan!" Kiba shouted when he finally found his girlfriend. He rushed over to her and caught her in a hug from the back, what surprised the girl and made her blush. "K-Kiba-kun?" "Are you alright?" Mitsuki only nodded. They were silent for a while.
"Ano… thanks for stopping me back there," Mitsuki finally whispered. "What was going on there? Why did you suddenly attack him? And what about that Kyubi thing?" Kiba started asking. "Th-that from Kyubi… you-you heard that?" Mitsuki said shocked as she turned to look at him. Kiba only nodded. Mitsuki stared at him for a while before turning her head away. "Actually… you're not supposed to know it unless Naruto tells you," she finally muttered. "Naruto huh? Mitsuki, please tell me. I want to know what is going on. Lately I'm getting the feeling you've been hiding things from me."
There was another silence and Mitsuki buried her head in his chest. "I… I wanted to tell but…," she started to sob. Kiba pulled her closer as he waited for her to continue. Slowly and hiccupping, she told him the complete story, drenching the front of Kiba's shirt since he wasn't wearing his jacket today.
Kiba was shocked to hear the Hyuga leader had threatened her, though he was less shocked when hearing Naruto having Kyubi sealed inside him. "I should have known when he got that foxy look," he grinned. "Please don't tell him you know," Mitsuki begged, with tears in the corners of her eyes as she looked at her boyfriend. Kiba gently whipped away the tears. "Don't worry. I won't," he whispered and kissed the girl.
Not far away from those two Ryudo was standing, watching his two friends. He gained a smile on his face, even though Mitsuki was the girl loved and she was now kissing someone else, although the guy was her boyfriend.
The boy then looked up as a small dragon circled down and landed on his shoulder. "Ubuwingu," Ryudo whispered as he stroke the dragon's head. "They're on their way, Ryudo-san." "Hm… thank you." The little green dragon turned his head towards the two further away; they were still embracing and kissing. "Did she choose?"
Ryudo sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea, though… I think I decided." "What do you mean?" Ubuwingu asked confused. "Mitsuki and I… we spend a lot of time together when we were kids, but we both moved on. We have to let go of the past."
Ryudo turned around and started walking. "Next to that, she seems to be happy with Kiba and he's a great guy," he smiled. "You're not hurt?" "Maybe… I'll be fine."
--
Naruto scratched his cheek and turned around, slowly waking up. When opening his eyes and seeing Hinata beside him he shot up and stared with widened eyes at the girl. Wondering if it was a dream he pinched himself several times in his arm. Yet he really was awake and now only wanted to do three things. Crying from happiness, hug her and kiss her. Except for the crying he didn't do those things, he didn't want to wake her up.
Carefully he lay down beside her again and just stared at the girl until she would wake up, which took around an hour. In the meantime his tears dried up, only to shed new ones when she woke up and whispered his name in surprise. After that he couldn't resist the urge to hug her tightly.
"Na-Naruto-kun… are-are you crying?" she stuttered worried. "I'm just happy to have you next to me when waking up," Naruto said as he rubbed his tears away; a mission impossible at that moment. Hinata smiled at him and kissed him as she went with her left hand to his cheek. And without realizing her right hand went under his baggy shirt. She stopped that for a moment when she found out what she was doing, but she couldn't help feeling like doing this, so she continued. Naruto stopped kissing her when she kept on doing that, blushing furiously since she was going a step further than normal.
His azure eyes looked down as shivers ran through his body. That touch just felt… so good he had no words for it. Slowly he watched her in the eye as she continued. He then grabbed her and rolled on his back, having his girl on top of him. She was a little surprised by this, but with her right hand still under his shirt she continued stroking him as she got caught in another kiss in which Naruto's desire for her seemed to have increased in the last minute.
"Ahum!"
Releasing the kiss in shock and getting her hand from under his shirt, Hinata looked up and saw her father with a raised eyebrow. "Fa-father…!" Hinata muttered alarmed, "I-I can explain." "You can?" he father asked as he folded his arms. "Uhm…" she started, "okay, I can't."
In the mean time Naruto was having the shock of his life, getting afraid Hiashi would now definitely kick him out.
"Hinata, go get a shower and get changed. After that you will come to my office." "H-hai," Hinata whispered and ran away. As soon she was gone, Hiashi turned around. "Naruto, follow me," he ordered and started walking.
Naruto gulped as he got up and followed the Hyuga leader. The blonde got even more scared when they ended up in Hiashi's office and the Hyuga leader sat down in his chair behind his desk. With a serious face he looked at the blonde who once again gulped.
"I don't know what you two were planning on doing, but I will not tolerate that." "I-I-I…," Naruto started stuttering as he stared at the floor, "ano…she-she surprised me with it when she did that… I-I… don't even plan on doing such a thing for upcoming years. I'm not like Sasuke-teme."
"Uchiha Sasuke? What does he have to do with this?" Hiashi asked a little confused. Naruto looked up. "Well… I don't know if I should talk about it, so please don't tell anyone." Hiashi only nodded as reply. "Sakura met him during her last mission and he made her pregnant." "Wh-what?" "It's my fault… I should have brought him back. I… I wonder how Sakura is doing, I haven't seen her for quite some while… what a team-mate I am… I really am selfish." "The one who has been selfish is here," Hiashi sighed as he stared at his desk, "Though I needed to be bitten by a wolf, kicked down by her partner and brought back to sense by the son of my best friend." Naruto snorted, "Well if you had listen to me earlier, you wouldn't have been bitten by Rakuna." Hiashi sighed, because the blonde was very much true. "Anyway, about… about my parents… would you please not tell anyone? No-one, except you, knows I know about it." "If you don't want that, then I won't tell anyone." "Thank you." Hiashi nodded.
Naruto smiled thankful at him, but suddenly got stricken by a chakra attack of the mixed chakra and fell down on his knees in pain. 'C-crap….'
He was glad the attack only lasted for thirty seconds, but it was already thirty seconds too much.
"Naruto, something wrong?" Hiashi asked deactivating his Byakugan, which wasn't noticed by the blonde for he was looking at the floor.
"I'm... I'm fine, didn't eat or sleep enough the last couple of days," the blonde replied whilst standing up. "I see, take it easy then," Hiashi said and then there was knocking on the door. And after the Hyuga replied with 'come in' a nervous Hinata entered.
Naruto could merely stare at her when he saw her not dressed in her ninja-outfit but in black trousers a purple shirt that was short so it showed her belly and a white but not baggy vest. "Ha-Hanabi-chan told me to wear this," she muttered whilst blushing.
Hiashi chuckled somewhat, which surprised the couple. "Hinata, I will say it to you as well. No such things, got that?" Hinata, knowing what her father meant, started to blush even more, if that was even possible. "H-h-hai," she mumbled softly.
The two were then allowed to leave, which they did in silence. Without saying a word the two walked to the gate. There Naruto finally found the nerve to grasp her hand and pull her close. From the back he hugged her and kissed her in her neck. "You look gorgeous," he whispered in her ear and then kissed her on her cheek. All this made the girl gain a few shades of red. "I feel not worthy walking next to you." Hinata looked a little shocked at him. "Wh-why?" "You look fancy I look… well I don't have fancy clothes, let's put it like that." Hinata turned around and laid her arms around his neck. "Then why don't we go buy you some clothes?" she asked with a smile.
"It's not that I don't have the money for it… they just don't want to see me in their shops," Naruto said sounding a little sad. Hinata kissed him once and then said, "Don't worry, I'll be with you this time. No-one dares to kick me out." "Then there is still another problem," Naruto sweat dropped grinning, "I have no sense of what looks okay and what not." Hinata giggled. "I will help you. Let's go."
So hand in hand the two left.
--
Hiashi followed the two with a worried face. "You got to let go," he sighed to himself and turned back into the office. Yet he couldn't help to wonder why Naruto suddenly collapsed and the weird chakra that was swirling around in his body at that time.
All of a sudden someone slammed the door open and Hiashi jumped. He looked at who had done that and sighed when it was Mitsuki. "What do you want this time?" she asked in a rather rude way. Next to her Rakuna was on guard, ready to attack if necessary. "The only thing I want is to tell you I am sorry, though I don't think that would be enough for what I have done."
Mitsuki opened her mouth to say something but was so overwhelmed and taken aback she closed it after she couldn't say a word. "I also want to ask Rakuna something," Hiashi continued as he looked at the wolf. "Huh? Me?" Rakuna asked confused as she looked up. "Just this; do you remember?" "Do I remember what? What are you talking about?"
Hiashi kneeled down and laid his hand under the wolf's muzzle as he looked her in her eyes. "You forgot about that time didn't you? It makes me wonder what exactly happened that day, you are probably the only one who saw and is still alive."
Mitsuki looked at this with confusion. "Wh… what is this about? What time are you talking about?" she muttered. Hiashi stood up, "You will know when necessary." Mitsuki stared at the Hyuga leader's back. "What's with the sudden change of attitude?" she asked on a serious tone. Hiashi sat down in his chair before answering. "I went over to Naruto as an attempt to kill him…" "WHAT!" "However! He said thing that reminded me of things." Mitsuki looked somewhat surprised at the Hyuga leader. "His parents," she whispered. "Oh? You know them?" Hiashi asked interested. "I… I do…" "How?" Mitsuki sighed as she scratched the back of her head a few times before explaining. "Hinata found a picture with Uzumaki on the back, so she gave to Naruto as birthday present. Later on, when Tsunade saw the picture when Naruto was in the hospital, she told me and Hinata who those on the picture were."
Hiashi leaned back in his chair. "What was on the picture?" "Uhm… well you were on it as well. Kushina and Minato were in the river and Kushina gave Minato an annoyed look." "Oh Kami, that picture," Hiashi laughed. Mitsuki gave him another surprised look. "My twin brother made that picture with his new camera. The two fell in the river by accident."
Mitsuki blinked a few times.
"Minato was my best friend that is all I am going to tell you now, Mitsuki. You and Rakuna may leave now… although I would like to know where you were last night." "K-Kiba-kun," the girl muttered completely confused.
As soon Mitsuki and Rakuna had left. Hiashi wondered if he should go see Tsunade about his findings of Naruto. In the end he stood up and made his way towards the Hokage tower.
--
Feeling somewhat uncomfortable Naruto stood in front of the door of one of the clothing shops Hinata liked. They had stuff for guys as well, Hinata told him. "Come on Naruto-kun, let's go in," Hinata said whilst looking at her boyfriend. He nodded slowly.
Hinata entered and was welcomed graciously by the counter lady, but as soon as the woman saw Naruto she quickly jumped up from her stool and opened her mouth to say something but was stopped by Hinata. "He's with me. If he isn't allowed to come in I won't come here ever again," Hinata said assured of herself. Naruto looked astonished at her. The woman sat down. "No no wait, you misunderstand. You…," the counter lady looked at Naruto, "you are the one who went to the Land of Waves not too long ago right?" "Uhm… yes," Naruto muttered puzzled.
"I just… my sister lives there and her son was had that… well strange illness. I heard you were the one who helped everyone, so I… I want thank you," she uttered and bowed at the end of the sentence.
'She's forcing herself to do this…'
Yet Naruto put on a smile and said he did it because he hated to see all those kids being harmed. After the lady gave him a surprised face, Naruto and Hinata went searching for new clothes for Naruto. Naruto more or less stood there while Hinata was searching, she showed him something now and then and Naruto merely looked at it.
Hinata giggled, and just got a few things and then pushed the blonde in changing cubicle and gave him the clothes. Every time the blonde came out Hinata judged if it looked right or wrong, which was tiring the boy though he enjoyed it.
--
"Hiashi? How uncommon," Tsunade said as she looked up from her paperwork. "Indeed it is, but there is something bothering me." "Oh what might that be? If you start about Naruto loving your daughter you came here for nothing," Tsunade said clearly annoyed.
Hiashi sighed. "I deserved that I guess." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, watching the guy. "You finally talked with him?" Hiashi merely nodded. "I see… then what is bothering you?" "Well it is about Naruto though…" Hiashi started but stopped when Tsunade slammed her hands on her desk. "What Hiashi?!" Hiashi sighed once again and then continued his story. "He suddenly collapsed when we were talking." "Wh-what?" Tsunade stuttered as her eyes widened. "I was watching at him with Byakugan and his chakra was looking really weird." "Shizune!"
Shizuna came running in and looked at her master while being out of breath. "What is it, Tsunade-sama?" "Get Jiraiya here at once. After that I want Naruto here too, but first Jiraiya." "Hai." Shizune left the office in a rush… she mostly left the office in a rush after being called by Tsunade.
"You know more about this?" Hiashi asked a little confused. "I think I know what is going on," the Hokage said on a serious yet soft tone.
--
Naruto came out of his bathroom, drying his hair. After they had finished their shopping they went to his apartment so he could get a shower and change clothes. He was now only wearing his boxers, which caused Hinata to blush immensely. But his new clothes were in a bag in the living room, so had no choice then go there in his underwear.
"Gomenasai," he muttered blushing as Hinata offered him the bag. He got dressed and then pulled his girlfriend into another hug. He missed doing that. But what he had missed the most was kissing her, so the blonde gently placed his lips on her as his heartbeat raised and his mind was completely blank.
When they parted after a minute of fifteen Naruto laid his head against hers whilst smiling. "I missed you so damn much, Hinata-chan." "I missed you too, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered back. "I love you so much I don't know how to tell you," he said softly as he pulled his head back and gazed at her eyes. "I love you too," she replied with a smile and went standing on her tones so she could kiss him again.
"Did you grow?" she asked smiling when they stopped. "Huh…? Hehe could be," Naruto grinned, "you want to go with me to Sakura?" "Of course, is something wrong with her, you sound worried." "I think Sakura should tell you about it," the blonde muttered. Hinata stroke him through his hair and then grasped his hand. "Let's go," she said she leaned against him. Naruto smiled and nodded.
It was Sakura's mother who opened the door and looked at the two with surprise. "Where here for Sakura, if that is okay that is?" "Uhm, of course." The woman stepped to the side. "Come in, I will get her, she's in her room." "Thank you," Naruto smiled as he and Hinata entered. The two waited in the living room.
"Ah Hinata and… Naruto? Woa you look different in those clothes," Sakura was astonished to see her team-mate in the clothes he was wearing. He had black trousers, his shirt was dark green and over that he wore a light brown vest with his sleeves tucked up; on his left bottom pocket there was a small orange fox. That was the only orange the blonde was wearing.
Blushing embarrassed he rubbed the back of his head. "Hinata-chan helped me," he mumbled. Sakura looked at Hinata, "So you two are back together? You look nice too, Hinata." "Thanks, and yes," Hinata smiled.
"Do you kids want some tea?" Sakura's mother asked. "Yes please," the three responded and went to the kitchen, there they sat down at the kitchen table. "So why did you broke up in the first place?" Sakura wanted to know as she looked questioning at the two. Naruto avoided her eyes as well as Hinata's, "Hiashi was hurting Hinata-chan, Hanabi and Mitsuki because of me. I don't like it when someone gets hurt because of me so I broke up." "What about trying to talk with Hiashi?" "Tried that many times, he kicked me out every time, not even listening," Naruto answered while looking at the table top.
"I heard father got attacked by Mitsuki and Rakuna and then went to Naruto-kun." "Yeah, it was then that I could finally talk to him, although I'm still a little confused about it. But how are you, Sakura?" The pink haired looked at her team-mate for a moment, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Did you tell Hinata yet?" Naruto shook his head, "Though Hiashi knows, it kinda slipped my mouth when he thought I would do something like that to Hinata." He blushed embarrassed and had an unsure smile on his face.
Sakura started to giggle while Hinata looked at her with confusion. Then the pink haired sighed and put on a serious yet sad face. "Hinata, when I went on a mission with Ino I met Sasuke-kun." This shocked the Hyuga girl and she looked to the side to Naruto. "What's worse is he made her pregnant," he mumbled. Hinata looked from her boyfriend to Sakura with widened eyes. Sakura put on a small smile. It was silent and they got their tea. Still not saying a word they drank it with ease.
When there was somebody at the door Sakura's mother opened it.
"Oink! Oink!"
Naruto, Hinata and Sakura blinked a few times when they saw the pig of Tsunade looking at Naruto. Then Shizune appeared in the kitchen. "Well done, Tonton. Naruto-kun, Tsunade-sama wants to speak with you." "Huh? What about?" Naruto asked confused. Shizune sighed, "If I knew that. Anyway it seemed to be important."
Sighing the blonde stood up, having some kind of idea of what it was about, though he wasn't sure. He kissed his girlfriend on her cheek. "I see you after I talked to Tsunade." Hinata smiled and nodded. Then Naruto turned to Sakura's mother. "Thanks for the tea."
Together with Shizune and Tonton the blonde left. Arriving at the Hokage office Shizune opened the door and let Naruto go in. Three faces looked up from their discussion and gave him a surprised look. It made Naruto feel uncomfortable.
"Nice outfit, Naruto," Tsunade finally smiled. "Uhm thanks. I went clothe shopping with Hinata-chan."
"Tsunade," Jiraiya said. "Oh, right. Naruto how long are you having those attacks that makes you collapse." "Didn't we discuss this already," Naruto said looking serious. Tsunade sighed. "I didn't know you collapsed because of it." "Didn't I collapse at the time YOU were trying to fix it?" Tsunade stood up, slamming both her hands on her desk. "Listen brat, just tell us what is going on with you!" she shouted annoyed. "You know what is going on so why ask again?!" Naruto shouted back getting irritated.
Jiraiya held a hand in front of Tsunade when she wanted to shout back. She looked at her old team-mate with angry face. "Naruto when did you first collapse? Or better said when was the first time you figured out about the fusion?"
"Don't know as in exact date," the blonde replied irritated, "though when I first found out I was in front of the seal itself. When I touched it, it sucked up my chakra and after that it all calmed down somewhat." Jiraiya got a thoughtful face.
In the mean time Hiashi had become confused. "Fusion?" "The sealed is designed that way," Naruto replied, "But it's not gonna happen." "How many times do you collapse?" Tsunade demanded to know. The blonde sighed. 'I am so not in the mood for this. They can't help anyway…' "Fine! Almost every day, depends on how I use my chakra." "Your chakra?" Jiraiya asked.
"I have my own chakra and Kyubi chakra. Now there is something like a third, which is our chakra mixed. This chakra is what is attacking the seal. I can use that chakra in a jutsu so it becomes less and won't attack the seal or at least doesn't have enough force to be painful. In the beginning the attacks were the most painful, it became less… until BAA-CHAN tried to fix it with that stupid jutsu, which wouldn't work anyway. The first days after that it seemed like I was back at the beginning, when the attacks first started."
It was silent for a while. "Can I go now? There is nothing more to this." Tsunade nodded and Naruto turned around without another word.
"Well this explains a few things…" Jiraiya mumbled. "Do you think you can help him?" Tsunade asked. "Maybe…" "It does explain what I have seen with Byakugan." "The thing is, he is talking about a seal inside," Jiraiya mentioned thoughtful. "Hm… we should see it from the inside then." "How?" Hiashi asked, "Is there a justu for something like that?" "We can search for it in the secret Hokage library… which is not that secret anymore since Naruto broke in."
Hiashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Hiashi, we might need your help," Tsunade said as she looked at the Hyuga leader.
--
"What was it about?" Hinata asked worried. She had been waiting for Naruto just outside the Hokage tower. "Random stuff," Naruto mumbled. He was bothered by what had happened in the office. They kept on whining about it.
"Let's go eat something, it's already two and we still haven't got lunch," he then suggested. Hinata nodded and Naruto laid an arm around her shoulders, which caused her to blush and not being able to talk for a while. The two ended at the dango shop. Naruto bought dango while Hinata was waiting for him on the bench near a tree. When he came back he sat down beside her and offered her some dango. Hinata got it while she kissed her boyfriend on his left cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.
The blonde blushed and smiled. Though, that smile disappeared as he thought over what had happened before they went her. Realizing he should tell her about the fusion he looked around if no-one could overhear them, but there was nobody around so the blonde lowered his dango before even taking one bite.
"Hinata-chan," he said softly. The sound of his voice made Hinata know there was something bothering him. "What is it, Naruto-kun?" "I…" the blonde started as he looked away from her, "I found something out about… about Kyubi. Well I already know it for some time actually." Hinata watched him, wondering what it was, yet getting a little worried because of the way he was acting. She laid one hand on his leg and waited for him to continue. "The seal… it's designed to let me fuse with Kyubi," Naruto mumbled.
Now the dark haired could only stare at him. "What do you mean?" she asked after a while. Slowly and softly Naruto explained what had been going on the last two months. Hinata hugged him when he was finished. "Why don't you ask Tsunade for help?" she whispered. "I don't need their help. I can handle it on my own, I always did, so why not now."
Hinata pulled back and looked at him. "Don't say that." "Hinata-chan, I've done fine without help. We aren't fused, I just need to find something to calm the mixed chakra down." "Naruto-kun, stop being so stubborn. You can't do this alone, you DO need help with this. The ones who know the most about the seal are Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya, they know more than you do. You need their help before it's too late."
Stubbornly the blonde turned his face away from her. "I can handle it on my own." "I know you could do it on your own, but takes too much time. Next to that you already suffered enough, don't you think?" She placed hand on his cheek which made him look at her. "But…" he mumbled. "Naruto-kun, please." "The attacks aren't that bad, I'm used to them now," Naruto whispered as he looked down. "It's not just suffering from that, I mean it in general. You're not alone anymore. You don't have to do everything on your own." She gently kissed him on his cheek. "Please, Naruto-kun. Go to them for help," she whispered in his ear which caused shivers running through the blonde's spine. "O-okay…" Naruto finally mumbled. Hinata smiled at him and kissed him.
--
"If you hadn't been so stubborn, you wouldn't be hurt now." "Tenten, please, it's just a scratch." "Just a scratch?! Your arm was completely open! You should have listened to what I said and none of that would have happened. We are really lucky we completed that mission."
Neji sighed as his team-mate kept on ranting. Their mission was actually quite simple, but he had been a little distracted and… well as Tenten just said, he got wounded because of that and they barely managed to complete their mission.
"… so next you should do what I say and…" "Would you stop it?" Neji interrupted her. "NO!" she replied. Getting annoyed by her behaviour he was glad they were almost at the Hyuga grounds. "Tenten, you should go home too." "Not until you listen to what I say. Have you heard even one word?" "No," Neji admitted. "Neji!" The Hyuga genius sighed once again. "Tenten, I'm okay. The wound will heal okay. I promise I will look out more next time." Tenten placed her hands in her sides as she gave him a stern look. "You better do, or you'll have trouble with me." As Neji stared at the girl he was trying to fight that urge that had been coming every time he saw her.
"Promise me you'll be careful and not stare into nothing next time," Tenten said with the same look on her face. Yet Neji didn't reply. "Neji!" Tenten said annoyed. Still no response. "Urgh… whatever." The girl wanted to walk away when she suddenly got pinned against the wall that divided the Hyuga grounds from the rest of Konoha. Neji went with his face to her ear. "I just said I would be more careful next time," he whispered in her ear.
Tenten blushed, overwhelmed about what was happening. She then got caught in a short kiss. And after that Neji looked her in the eye. She stared back not able to say a word. "Don't worry so much about me. I'll be fine," the Hyuga said. He then let her go and went through the gate.
Tenten kept on standing against the wall processing this. 'He…he kissed me while not being drunk… what does this mean?'
--
"Sorry Naruto, they went to the Hokage library," Shizune said. The blonde nodded as Shizune left with a pile of papers. Naruto looked at Hinata, "Should we go there? Tsunade could be busy, maybe we should wait until tomorrow." "I think she wouldn't mind bothering," Hinata said as she looked up at his boyfriend.
So together they went to the Hokage library and search for the Hokage and Jiraiya over there. Though, they were nowhere. "Maybe they already left," Hinata said. "I don't think so," Naruto said as he walked over to two bookshelves. "Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" "Watch and you'll see," Naruto smiled as he shove the bookshelf away.
Inside the hidden part of the library three faces turned to the blonde who started to feel somewhat uncomfortable. "Busted kiddo," Jiraiya grinned. "Uhm… not really I was searching for you and Tsunade," Naruto said as Hinata appeared at his side. "Father?" the girl said surprised.
"What are you two doing here?" Tsunade asked. Naruto kept quiet until he got a prod from Hinata. He then avoided there staring gazes and mumbled, "Just…uhm… asking if you could help me…" Tsunade looked at Naruto for a moment and then smiled. "We already are. We're searching for a hint in here."
"I already searched here…" Naruto said. "Yeah, so far for being a secret library," Tsunade sighed, "Naruto you stay here tonight. If we find something we can help you directly." The blonde nodded.