He could tell, that as soon as he said it, he made her nervous.

"Talk?" She repeated, quickly, but in the little, quiet way her voice peaks. "Talk about what?"

He couldn't see her face on the phone, but knew her wide eyes, blinking nervously. Her pouty lips pressing together tight.

He laughed, not to make fun of her obvious worry, but to help diffuse it. "Babe. We talk all the time. Everyday. I love talking to you. What are you stressing about?"

"Yes, but we don't specifically state that we're going to talk. That implies there's something specific to be talked about."

"I just meant like, hey come over tonight but let's not watch TV the whole time so we can hang out and talk. I mean, if you want to come with specific topics, that's fine by me." Naruto smirked.

He could actually hear Hinata's pout. "No, you're the one-"

"Yeah, yeah Hyuuga. I get done at nine. Don't forget your note cards."

He felt bad. He didn't want to stress Hinata out. He shouldn't have used the words "hey I wanna talk" because it did sound way too close to "we need to talk". But, in his defense, they really did need to talk!

He wanted to move on in their relationship. He wanted to jump off the high dive into something way more than either of them had ever done. He wanted to marry her. He wanted to get a house with her. He wanted to be equal partners and support her in life and all of that cheesey bullshit.

And it wasn't some fake ploy to get her to be with him again. He really, truly, wanted those things with her.

And to do that, they needed to get over a ton of bullshit that surrounded their very long relationship. And devastating break up. He needed to apologize for all the things that he had done wrong, and tell her how he had genuinely changed and he much different he wanted things to be going forward.

He knew that she had things that she needed to say too.

Of course, he would much rather let that shit go under the rug. Nobody wants to hash shit out. Nobody wants to strain a fledgling relationship.

It was still necessary.

He was never going to let them get to the place that they were before. He was never going to put the burden of their entire relationship on her. He had been selfish, and he had used her. Abused their relationship by not putting the same amount of effort in as she had. He had been complacent, and let her take the brunt of everything.

He couldn't use his upbringing as an excuse. Nor the fact that he was bipolar. The truth was, that yes, he hadn't known how to take care of himself really, or manage his disorder and the side effects.

He had been "raised" by nobody, thrown in a group home that just made sure he didn't die. His friendship with Sasuke which had started out as a bond between two children, left on their own by society, to also an incredibly toxic situation. Sasuke paid for Naruto to live, and Naruto looked the other way on his blatant drug abuse and subsequent addiction, and somehow, in their deep bond, a rivalry brewed under every surface, dragging in Sakura Haruno, who Naruto now couldn't even stand.

His own mental health, taking a complete nosedive until his erratic suicide attempt that had pushed him and Hinata together.

And even though he loved Hinata more than anything or anyone else in the world, he had to come to terms with the fact that their first relationship wasn't healthy. It was wrong. It was built on an unstable foundation of a caretaker and patient.

He had to recognize that, apologize to her, and try and move on from that.

Move on to a healthy relationship built on mutual trust, and love, and support.

He had to get all that out on the table before he asked her to marry him. He had to set those boundaries.

He was going to take care of himself this time. He was going to contribute equally to whatever kind of family they decided to have. She wasn't going to take care of him anymore. She could love and worry about him, but he needed to take care of himself.

And even though his condition and those side effects would always be there, he knew how to manage them now. It was his responsibility.

So, all in all, not a very fun conversation to have. But a necessary one.

Maybe she had a reason to sound nervous?

He was trying hard not to be as well.

Working at the gym was probably his new favorite job. Nothing against Teuchi. It was a lot of cleaning, but also, he could get a workout in all the time. He'd used the lulls of time after wiping down equipment for getting in his kicks, his punches, elbows and knees, jumping rope, combos.

He'd started running and biking even more now, to try and keep the weight off.

The bell dinged above the counter in the middle of right kicks. He didn't even look up from his bag.

"Make sure to sign in." He called over there, anyways. He could double check it when he was done.

A good high kick effect more than just his legs. It was a full body workout. Hands up, legs back, full torque. Complete concentration. Nothing could throw him off.

"Working hard or hardly working?"

Naruto's left foot pivoted to the sound, his arm coming out quick to steady himself. The kick coming out a little wonky, but could you blame him?

Hinata, freaking babe, Hyuuga, was just chilling, on the mat, in her sexy ass pantsuit, pin straight hair.

She quirked her eyebrow a little. "That last one was a little sloppy, you better not count it."

Naruto leaned his head closer to the bag, his little shit eating grin creeping up on the corners of his mouth. "That's funny, you know what else I like really sloppy?"

Hinata's playful face narrowed.

He laughed, and decided to let it go with a little laugh. "What are you doing here so early?"

She shrugged her shoulders, arms still folded over her chest.

"You miss me and can't stand to be away from me?" Naruto bit his bottom lip.

Hinata rolled her eyes and turned away from him, the apples of her cheeks looking a little darker than normal.

Natural pushed off the hanging bag and walked off the mat to her. He knew the real reason she was there. He had stressed her out with all the "We need to talk" business.

"I hate to disappoint you, but this place is kinda boring." Naruto wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into a side hug.

"You're sweaty." She complained, but didn't pull away from the hug.

"Ya."

"And I've been here before." She reminded him gently.

He nodded, kissed her temple. "True. Alright, I'll stop messing around and let's see if I can get some shit done now. Maybe we can bounce a little early."

"Naruto." Hinata frowned disapprovingly.

"I won't bail if people are still here." He promised, laughing at her cute grumpy pout. "Friday isn't a booming evening. People usually go out, ya'know."

There was only a couple people in the gym, anyways. It wouldn't be hard to clean the parts that weren't being used.

He made his way over behind the desk, reminding himself that he did not need to double check that someone signed in. Because that someone was his cutie patootie girlfriend. Instead he fished out the basket of cleaning supplies.

It's was kind of rinky dinky, some Clorox spray and rags, broom and dustpan and an old school mop and bucket.

He nabbed a spray bottle and rag, to tackle the equipment he had just been using.

"I'll help." Hinata offered, reaching out toward his hand.

Naruto stepped one foot down, and turned around, slipping out of her grasps, like a football juke, or one of those hockey deke spins.

"Nah. You don't wanna ruin your sexy clothes."

Hinata scrunched her face, embarrassed. "These are my work clothes." She corrected quickly.

"I know what I said."

She snorted, letting the back of her knuckles brush her blushing cheeks.

He shot the bag a couple times with the spray, following it with the cloth.

"That stuff smells lethal." Hinata complained.

Naruto shrugged. "It's gotta be. Ringworm is a bitch for wrestlers. Or any of that kinda shit you don't wanna get rolling around the mat."

Hinata nodded following the conversation.

"I mean, s'not like you'd know. I've never seen you rolling on the ground." He meant, in light teasing.

Hinata tucked a piece of hair behind her ears. "Yes you have."

Naruto stalled, grabbing the bag dramatically, resting his face against the freshly cleaned canvas. He was wafting in the bleach and losing brain cells. "Daaaaaaaamn Hinata, why you do me like that?"

She blushed. "Stop."

"Me stop? It's you. You're doing it!"

She giggled a little, shaking her head. "Back to work."

"Mmmmm, yes ma'am."

He finished cleaning the bag and then quickly sprayed down the mat he was on, folding each section up as he went.

"So tell me about your day." Naruto prompted, not wanting his special guest to get bored.

Hinata shrugged a little. "Just work. Nothing special."

Naruto smirked. "Yeah, sure. Don't hit me with that same old, same old B.S."

"What about you?" Hinata asked, sitting down on a pile of mats that he had just added to.

"I worked till two at Teuchi's last night, and then I did an open till close today, so I can have off tomorrow." He wink at her.

Their date was tomorrow. The date that he had big, big plans for.

"That's a lot." Hinata said quietly.

He knew she disapproved of him working so much, but he wasn't like her. He didn't have enough skills to just have one job. Not in this city. Especially living alone. It was different when they lived together, but-

"I have my fight coming up." Naruto interjected, if only to cut off his own train of thought. "Muay Thai."

She nodded. All of his fights were already marked in her planner, as soon as they became solid. She was real supportive like that.

He started sweeping the area, quickly.

"Are you nervous?"

He looked over at her. "Nah." He smirked.

But she was. She always was. It was cute.

"You know I got it in the bag." He pauses to lean on his broom, trying to lighten her up a little.

She nodded.

He swept up the little pile of dust into the pan. "I'll be right back. Gotta get some water for this."

He crossed back the gym, checking on the couple of guys that were working out, making sure nothing was going out of place.

"Aye, toes straight Chief." Naruto yelled over at one of them at the speed bag.

The guy good naturedly waved him off. "Yeah, yeah." But corrected his foot work anyways.

He took the bucket back to the sink and turned it as hot as possible, which really wasn't that hot, but it was an old building. The detergent was just as strong as the spray but he'd gotten use to that weeks ago. Hinata was sure to wrinkle her nose though.

Maybe he could open a window for her.

The door dinged again, as he was moving the bucket slowly back to the corner of the gym he was working on.

"Make sure to sign in." He yelled, grabbing the mop and a wet floor sign for when he was finished.

"I'm actually here for something else."

Naruto looked up, balancing all three, awkwardly shaped and weighted items.

A tall, red head, dressed in a black suit, red tie with some weird print on it. Clouds, maybe? Manhattan causal. He stood at the desk, looking vaguely familiar, like maybe Naruto had seen him on the street sometime.

"Uh, sorry man, we're not looking to buy anything." Naruto tried to let him down easy.

The red head rolled his eyes, pointedly annoyed.

'Fucking dick.' Naruto frowned.

"Yahiko would like to talk to you." The redhead replied.

Yahiko? The motherfucker he'd swept a couple weeks ago?

"Me? What he wanna talk to me for? I don't run anything here. Old man will be back in the morning though if he-"

"We know where he is. Yahiko wants to talk to you." He cut off.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah? Why don't he come in and talk to me then? He need an invite? Is he a vampire or some shit?"

He could tell that he had just pissed Ginger off. His narrow, pale face darkened. "It would be a mistake on your part not to accept his offer."

Naruto dropped the bucket with a little splash, leaning the mop and the sign on it. He stood back and up to his full height and took a step forward.

"Would it?" He countered.

He'd been threatened by much scarier men then this pathetic noodle in a suit.

Plus, he'd already shown once that he could take Yahiko down on a one on one.

Who the fuck did he have to be scared of?

A like hand and quick pinch on the inside of his arm shook his attention for a moment. Hinata was at his side, arm in his, looking a whole lot less certain about the guy.

It wasn't until the unique and oddly colored eyes of the guy shifted around the gym that Naruto noticed that everyone else had stopped what they were doing and crowded around, also coming to his defense.

Six against one didn't look so great, especially for the poor stiff. He took his defeats in silence, swiftly and quietly exiting the premise.

There was an awkward lull, after the abrupt departure. Naruto laughed a little to fill the silence. "Wow, them Mormons are something. Missionaries must be wylin' after that play, am I right?"

The guys laughed a little and headed back to their stations, one of them donning a hoodie to head out.

"Hey, lemme know if you need a spot!" Naruto turned to called over to the guy at the weight bench, realizing that Hinata was still on his arm.

"Told you this place was real boring." He wrapped an arm around her to squeeze her against him, lightly.

She gave him a little look.

"Side eyeing me?" Naruto blew out a breath. "Well, Sassy Pants, why don't you go sit down while I-" He toed the bucket.

Hinata, in all her stubbornness, picked up the wet floor sign for him to carry over, and plopped herself down on the freshly dried pile of mats.

Mopping was a relatively easy task, much faster than sweeping, really, beside the dry time. But he just had to tent up the yellow plastic and that was that.

"Like my sweet skills?" Naruto winked, holding his hand out for Hinata to jump down.

Hinata nodded slowly. "I didn't even know that you knew how to clean."

Whoops.

Another sore spot.

Obviously.

How many times had he left their place a wreck just because he couldn't get his ass off the couch? Or because he was hyper focused on something else. Or - news flash asshole - he just didn't respect their relationship enough to put in the effort that was needed.

Well, that's what he was planning on talking to her about tonight, wasn't it.

"Psssht." Naruto slipped over the blip. "I keep my place spotless baby, you should see it."

Like she wasn't going there right after?

The rest of the evening went similarly. Easy talking and hanging out while Naruto cleaned the parts of the gym that were not being used. Slowly but surely, the patrons cleared out and Naruto was locking up.

He hauled out a thick, black, heavy duty utility trash bag out of the front door, dropping it on the side stoop. Hinata stood next to him, zipping and buttoning herself in, tucking a black scarf up and around her neck. He missed the locked three times, too busy checking her out.

"Whoa, sexy, is that a new scarf?" Naruto paused.

Hinata frowned at the nickname, tucking herself deeper into her scarf, trying to hide her blush in vain.

Muffled through the scarf. "Yes."

Finally, managing to tear himself away from how cute she was, he jammed the lock into the keyhole, turning the deadbolt. Jiraiya didn't fuck with any alarm systems or things like that.

He shoved the keys back into his pocket, before turning back to her. "You already know what I want."

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Throw the trash away first, silly."

Obviously.

Naruto pursed his lips and bobbed his head sassily, before hauling the trash bag over his shoulder. It was mainly old cleaning stuff. Paper towels and old water bottles. Nothing too gross. Not like the trash at home. Household trash was like a compost pile before it was taken out. One of his least favorite household chores. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if he took it out more often?

He'd ask Hinata later.

"I always thought it was weird, locking up trash." Naruto mumbled as they approached the dumpster at the back of the building.

"If you don't lock it, other people will fill it before you can." Hinata reasoned.

"I know, I know." Cause he did, he understood the logic. "It's just real inconvenient." The fished the keys back out for the lock.

Hinata shrugged. Such is life.

"Plus the neighborhoods getting bad over here. Don't want nothing weird turning up in your garbage that you can't explain." He swung the trash bag back for some momentum, yeeting in with a heavy 'flump'. The lid slamming back down on the metal lip.

Hinata looked down at the ground, shifting her feet.

Naruto rubbed his palms down his hoodie, like that would somehow clean them off.

"Yeah, that little in and out place across the street, the one with the Chinese couple."

"They were from Taiwan." Hinata corrected, softly.

"Oh yeah. You're so smart babe." He beamed over at her, locking the bar back up. "Anyways, that place got all busted up a couple days back. Like guys gotta work that hard to get overpriced chips?" He scoffed.

"They has that ramen you liked." Hinata interjected.

"Sure did." Naruto frowned ruefully.

He was strictly forbidden from ramen for weight related purposes.

"Anyways, they already got cameras up and everything now." He continued.

They started the walk back to where ever Hinata had parked her car. Naruto had walked from home this morning. It wasn't that far, but as we was explaining, this place wasn't where you wanted to leave a vehicle for long.

"Can't be too careful." Hinata pulled up close next to him, grabbing his hand in hers.

Naruto squeezed her hand in his. "Yeah, but I betcha they wished they had those before hand, huh?"

She shrugged thoughtfully. "But they're open?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup, didn't even miss one day. Dedication."

"Do you wanna stop and get some ramen?"

Naruto stalled, weighing the options. They were stopped right next to the place in question, busted front windows and all.

Yes, he did. "I can't. My Muay Thai fight. Gotta make weigh in again or my girls gon be mad at me."

She scoffed, unamused. "That's not why I was mad."

She wasn't mad that he didn't make the weight. She didn't even want him at the weight. But Jiraiya was viciously against him bumping up higher. He said it should be hard to maintain, it would give him an edge against his opponents. Being naturally bigger and fighting.

It was just ruthless and grueling on his body.

"Hey, why don't we-"

"Help!"

Naruto and Hinata stopped dead in their tracks, Hinata pulling even closer to to him, pressing her entire body against the side of his.

Just a couple feet away, was a mini side street. One that connected to the backs of the buildings, where the garbage was stored. Like back at Jiraiya's place. They were also used to cut through, if you knew your way around the place.

A woman, tall and thin with a thick top bun, stepped out halfway. "Help! He took my purse!"

It was immediate. He didn't need to think about it or weigh his options.

Someone needed help.

He could help.

He literally got paid to kick people's ass.

He took a step forward. Hinata's hand clamped down on his to keep him close, but he flexed his hand, fingers splayed, hers slipping from his.

"Wait!" He could vaguely heard her behind him.

But it was like in the fighting ring. The world was stripped away and he was the only real thing left. Him and what he had learned how to do with his body.

Like every other moment of his entire life, Naruto knew immediately he should've listened to Hinata.

Especially when he was instantaneously grabbed as soon as he stepped foot in the alley way. Luckily, getting fucked up by Lee enough times to know a thing or two about body weight. He grabbed onto the guy just as hard, and used his own momentum to flip both of them on the ground, Naruto side up.

What he extra-extra wasn't expecting, was to get kicked off of him by another person.

Two on one was not an ideal situation. But Naruto was pretty confident that he could at least get away from them. It was much harder to catch and hold a person than it was to try and evade.

One moved to kick him on his stomach, which any fighter knew was a lot worse situation to be in. You defend on the back. Easily. All Naruto needed to do was flip onto his back and he could kick them off him.

That plan immediately went out the window when he was struck in the back. Hard. With someone that was not a persons fist. Two quick succession of a blunt object to the back, was enough of an opportunity for them to grab his arm and get them into a bar, one of them with a forearm to the back of his neck, grinding his face into the dirty street.

"You're dumber than you look."

Naruto had to focus his eyes, which was difficult because he was looking up from the ground, at an angle. Tall, crop of orange hair, and Naruto had been right, those holes were piercings, dotting Yahiko's whole face.

"Which is saying something." He finished with a laugh.

Naruto grimaced, just his face muscles moved against the gravel on the ground hurt. "I work with what I got." He breathed shallowly.

"That's funny." Yahiko sniffed, stepping closer to Naruto's face. "You think you're real funny huh?"

Every breath cramped the part of his ribs that had been hit, he tried to keep them even, not let the severity of the situation spook him like a cat.

"I've been known to crack one here and there."

Yahiko let out a dark humorless laugh. "I've been trying to get a hold of you."

Besides tall, dark, and fucking weirdo coming into the gym a couple hours before hand, that was news to him.

"You want my number or something. Lemme let you down easy, but, uh," Naruto squinted under the deepening of pressure from the two men on top of him. "I'm taken."

Yahiko didn't laugh that time. "You think this is a joke? The old man ain't around to protect you anymore."

Naruto had no fucking clue what that meant. "Are you mad me? Feels like your mad at me?"

"You think you can waltz right in here, start scalping money out of the fighting pool? Just cause the old man has connections doesn't mean that we can just let you fuck up a good thing we all had running."

Jiraiya's warning replayed in his mind for a moment.

'Don't go fucking with things that needn't be fucked with.' Or something along those lines.

Well look at him now.

"Don't pretend I kicked your lights out just 'cause I'm Daddy's favorite." Naruto smiled.

Yahiko's eyes darkened. "Listen. I'm gonna fuck you up. Teach you some manners. Then when I'm done… who knows. Maybe I'll fuck your girl up."

Naruto's eyes followed Yahiko's to Hinata, pinned on the alley wall with the girl that had yelled for help in the first place, and the redhead.

"Give her a little taste of Brooklyn. Know what I mean?" Yahiko winked before standing up, over him.

Naruto's whole body stilled. Like when he'd get too riled up at the hospital and they'd just have to sedate him. It was like an ice bath of calm.

Naruto's voice was very calm, even, matter of fact. "That, was the wrong thing to say."

He took one, deep breath, and within the next heartbeat, he was gone. The beast replaced him. He saw red and like an out of body experience, he watched more than he felt the movement, jerking forward, dragging his face into the ground, cutting open his skin, but loosening the hold on the back of his neck. Enough for him to twist, and punch the lights out of the guy on his left side.

That monster in him couldn't revel in the sheer beauty that took, to knock someone out from the ground.

Because he had already locked on to his next target. The right side guy, who was desperately scrambling to regain his hold on Naruto's arm. Instead, Naruto locked his arm around the back of his neck and threw his body weight, bouncing his head into the concrete.

Like a sixth sense, he felt Yahiko's kick coming before he saw it. For whatever reason, Yahiko wasn't coming in with a Muay Thai style kick, with power, and the throw of his whole body. He was just stomping him, like a regular street fight. Naruto could've laughed. How many times had he been stomped on, in the street? Even just counting middle school alone.

The kick to the face should've hurt worse than it did. Adrenaline? Or maybe, Naruto had well and truly fucking lost it this time.

He grabbed onto his calf with both hands, and twisted, rolling himself on the ground, twisting Yahiko at the knee, a weak point and flinging him onto the ground.

Yahiko was a Muay Thai fighter.

Yahiko was not a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter.

The ground was Naruto's forte now. He could've snaked around him, grape vined and choked him out. But like fighting Zabuza, Naruto didn't want to finesse his way out. Didn't want to keep it clean. Naruto wanted to go ape shit.

And he did.

It took him a couple punches to Yahiko's face to realized that his piercings were tearing up his skin on his knuckles. But not even that was enough the stop the barrage of hammer fists raining down on him.

He didn't stop until Hinata was physically grabbing his arm. "Stop! Naruto!"

He blinked a couple of time. It didn't sound like the first time she had said it, either.

"Let's go." She tugged him up.

Naruto wasn't done yet though. The redhead stood a couple steps away, like he thought about making a break for it but second guessed himself. He picked wrong though.

Naruto stepped out of Hinata's grasp and rounded on the guy, closing the gap between them and Sparta kicking him in the chest.

The guy, who looked as strong as a ritz cracker, flew back into a pile of garbage, smattering rats into the street.

"Fucking rats!" Naruto raged.

"Naruto. Please. Let's go. Please." Hinata sounded like she was about to cry, or crying, grabbing his hand and tugging him back to the street.

He had one more thing to do first.

The three guys lay exactly where he had left them. Like dead body chalk lines on the street.

He crouched down next to Yahiko, patting down his thighs, and the front of his coat, looking for his wallet.

"Last time I got a thousand for fucking you up." He informed the groaning lump of bloody mess he had left behind.

A small, brown leather trifold was in his left, front pocket.

"Next time, you can schedule me through my manager."

"Naruto, please." Hinata pleaded.

He took a few breaths, trying to calm down. To focus on her. He grabbed her upper arm, trying to give her a once over. But she was not having it.

"We need to go. Please."

He touched her hair, for a second, nodding.

Focus. He breathed. Hinata needed him. She wanted to leave. He needed to do that for her.

She grabbed his bleeding hand, tugging him out of the alley way. The skinny, top knot sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, holding her throat coughing.

"Damn babe, you do that?"

Hinata didn't even glance at him.

"Babe, I knocked a guy out from the clench. Did you see that shit."

"Stop." Hinata choked out.

Her hand was clamped down on his like a wrench, tears poking out the edges of her eyes.

"Okay." He conceded immediately, finally seeing how worked up she was. His thumb rubbed against her hand and they hurriedly made their way to her car. "Okay."