Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A wise man somewhere once said that many are most oblivious to what's most obvious. Hyuuga Hinata would find that out first-hand many times over the years, all courtesy of a certain individual.
i.
Sharp, freezing daggers of wind sliced through Hinata's bones as she clutched the tattered red scarf in her coat pocket as though it was a protective talisman. Snow the color of her eyes danced through the air and was rapidly collecting on rooftops and trees. The fact that she was currently indoors meant very little, as Iruka-sensei had gone out of the room a few minutes ago and some fool thought that it was a brilliant idea to open the windows in his absence.
Just another freezing, wintry day, hardly a week into the new year, and she had found herself without a bento for lunchtime.
Usually, her bodyguard Ko would have packed something for her – yesterday it had been karaage chicken with her favorite mini-cinnamon rolls, and the day before that, it had been something boringly healthy – natto with egg and rice (her stomach churned unhappily at the memory).
Today, though, he'd been called away in the early morning for an urgent mission from Hokage-sama. The usual security guards had both spontaneously come down with a flu, Ko was apparently excellent at keeping watch on things, to the point that even Hokage-sama had thought he would be fit for gatekeeping duty, and therefore there was no lunch for Hinata.
Her stomach seemed desperate to make its displeasure known at this unfortunate event. Hinata turned pink as it emitted a low, angry grumble, rather like a whiny child.
Hinata scowled down at her belly.
"Stop that," she mumbled, fully aware that she would have looked insane if any of her classmates passed by and saw her talking to her midsection.
Her stomach growled again just to spite her.
No part of her body listened to her instructions. Not her hands, which could never block other Hyuugas' blows during taijutsu sparring matches, and not her legs, which couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way during those sparring matches. Definitely not her eyes, which, her father was disappointed to discover, could only see five kilometers away, and not ten. And not her stomach either, apparently.
She glanced around the classroom, her eyes inexplicably taking pity on her today and searching for a distraction from her irate stomach.
"Slurp...slurp...slurp."
Hinata's eyes finally found the distraction.
Bright sunshine-colored hair waved cheerfully at her from two seats away and the mouthwatering smell of chashu tickled her nose.
Her stomach rumbled again, though her eyes were so mesmerized by the sight in front of her that this barely registered in her mind.
"Slurp...slurp...slurp."
Hinata couldn't bring herself to remove her eyes from his face. His lips puckered in concentration, his whisker marks scrunched up, with steam obscuring his nose and eyes as he devoured the cup ramen like a starving man who hadn't seen food in ten days.
Starving...
She was starving...
"Hinata? Are you okay? Hinata?"
Naruto was somehow suddenly right in front of her, and she hadn't even noticed, a sharp contrast to her usual hyper-awareness around him.
Her body really wasn't interested in listening to her, was it?
"You kept staring at me," Naruto continued. "What happened? Are you hungry?"
Her tongue decided to become lead at that very moment. Fortunately (or unfortunately), her stomach came to her rescue and decided to growl for the umpteenth time.
Oh...oh no.
Such humiliating sounds...
In front of him.
Naruto laughed like it was no big deal. (It was. It was a big deal.)
"I guess you are hungry, after all! I noticed that you didn't have a big lunch like you usually have every day and it always looks so yummy, ya know, and I've always wanted a bite – "
Oh my God, she thought.
Naruto had been watching her eat lunch every day?!
What if she got rice stuck between her teeth the day before yesterday? What if he didn't like the smell of natto?
What if he saw her devouring cinnamon rolls like a monster?
"Hinata? Hinata!"
A pair of hands shook her, but once again, her eyes had decided to not cooperate. Her vision blurred.
"HI-NA-TA. You're so pale. Do you have a fever? Hang on, I know the best cure for a fever!"
Suddenly her leaden tongue was enveloped in the wonderful taste of chashu doused in salty, creamy broth. The chashu...being held by a pair of chopsticks.
If her memory served her clearly, those were chopsticks that Naruto was using to slurp up noodles five seconds ago.
She was eating ramen toppings from chopsticks that had been in Naruto's mouth.
Oh my God, her mind moaned again.
"Hinata? Are you okay? Hinata!"
Naruto gazed at the near-catatonic Hyuuga girl in bemusement.
Hinata sure was a weirdo. He was just trying to help her out because she looked so pale for some reason, but now she was spacing out on him. Was it because she didn't like chashu? Why though? Chashu was awesome.
Oh well. He'd have to try another topping then.
He shrugged and proceeded to stuff a naruto fishcake in her mouth.
She twitched. A bit of what looked like foam dribbled down her chin.
Hinata was so weird.
He just didn't get it.
ii.
SPLASH.
Hinata groaned slightly, reluctantly opening her eyes just a pinch.
She wiped her face gingerly. Water. Someone had splashed water on her face. Who was it...? Naruto...?
Her face heated up like a flaming candle again.
"Just shut up and come with me!"
It was way too sudden. They'd just seen each other for the first time in three years!
...All the same, if only he was still around, she would have accepted in a heartbeat. She really wanted to shut up and...go with him.
"Oi, Hinata, Kurenai-sensei is down the corner!" came Kiba's voice. "Waaaake up."
Oh, that was right. Team 8 had been assigned by Tsunade-sama to track some suspicious character who was suspected of being an assassin. She had to be in top-form. Her Byakugan was sure to be a crucial asset and she coudn't burden Shino and Kiba with everything.
He snickered as she slowly got to her feet. "Naruto sure hasn't changed a bit, has he? Still so short and annoying."
She scowled at him. Naruto was not annoying. And...
"He's taller than you, Kiba-kun."
"Whatever. I think he's hideous-looking though, you know? Those weird whisker things on his face don't have anything on my face paint. Right, Akamaru?"
Akamaru barked in agreement.
Embers of irritation flickered to life in her stomach.
Somehow, Kiba attacking Naruto made her feel really bad. Almost like it was an attack on her.
"Naruto-kun looks amazing, Kiba-kun," she said in a heated voice, a once-in-a-century event. "And...and whiskers are cuter than face paint!" she added for good measure.
Wait.
What did she just say?
A look of triumph crossed Kiba's face a second too early.
A look of panic crossed Hinata's face a second too late.
"Hinata, have you been checking him out with your Byakugan lately?" Kiba teased.
Blood rushed to her face.
"N-No!" she squeaked.
"Hinata's a perv..." Kiba said in a sing-song voice as Hinata's face assumed a shade of red not out of place in a volcano. "What do you think, Shino? It's always the quiet ones, huh?"
"It's so kind of you to notice me now of all times," Shino said, silently emerging from behind a tree, his face as inscrutable as ever under his humongous coat and sunglasses. "I have been observing you two for the past fifteen minutes and neither of you had realized."
Hinata gazed at Shino in relief, despite the not-so-subtle rebuke directed at her (and Kiba). Shino would back her up, wouldn't he? He was always nice to her!
"Nevertheless," said the Aburame. "Yes, I do believe Hinata has salacious urges towards Naruto. Why? Because – "
"OKAY, that's enough!" Hinata said, raising her voice again in a twice-in-a-century event. This was the last thing on the planet that she ever wanted to discuss, least of all with her teammates.
"Nah, we have to set you up with him!" Kiba yelled excitedly. "Right, Shino, Akamaru?"
Akamaru yapped in agreement again and Shino gave the tiniest of nods.
"Excellent! As leader of the fabulous, most awesome team of Konohagakure, I hereby – "
"Kiba, you are not the leader of Team 8. Why? Because Kurenai-sensei – "
"Aww, give me a break, Shino!"
Some barking. Hinata sighed. She hoped they wouldn't do something extremely humiliating in some hare-brained scheme to "help" her with her love life.
...So of course they did something extremely humiliating in some hare-brained scheme to "help" her with her love life.
"Remember, do it exactly like we practiced," Kiba encouraged, shooting her a thumbs-up. Akamaru nudged her reassuringly with his wet nose and Shino squeezed her upper arm comfortingly.
Then they pushed her into Naruto's direction; he was currently walking down the street, undoubtedly to get lunch at Ichiraku.
She took a deep breath and decided to go for it. Her teammates would never stop nagging her until she tried.
"Naruto-kun!" she tried to yell, but instead it ended up as a squeak.
Naruto turned around and beamed at her. "Awww, it's Hinata! How are you, Hinata? Is your fever gone?"
Hinata blinked. "Fever?"
"Yeah, you passed out when I saw you last, remember?" He kept smiling at her good-naturedly. "You have to take good care of your health, ya know?"
"Um...right." She had no clue why he thought her passing out meant that she had a fever, but she was grateful for this regardless. She took a deep breath again and tried to get out the words, just like she had practiced with her teammates. "Just...sh-shut up..."
Wow, this was as tough as eating clay, even though she'd practiced this so many times before.
"Just...um, please shut up..." She cringed. "And come with me...?"
Naruto looked bemused. "Come with you? Where do you wanna go?"
"Um...um..."
Beads of sweat poured down her face. Come with me on a date. That was what they had practiced. And that was what she couldn't say.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Naruto drew his own conclusions about where she wanted to go.
"Oh, I get it! You want me to come with you to the hospital!" he said, nodding sagely.
"Yes!" Hinata yelped in relief.
Then she blinked as his incomprehensible words washed over her.
"Um...what?"
"For your fever!" Naruto yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her away. "We need to ask Shizune nee-chan if you're okay!"
Hinata blinked again.
"Um...what?" she repeated.
"Don't worry, Hinata! I've been watching you for a really long time and I get it, ya know! You tend to get sick a lot and you need some medical help!"
What.
"And then we can get ramen! Nothing cures a fever better than ramen!" The oblivious moron squeezed her hand comfortingly as he dragged a dazed Hinata around the village.
Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru watched with puzzled eyes.
"Uhhh, so..." Kiba turned towards Shino. "Does the mission count as a success or...?"
Shino sighed.
Akamaru bit Kiba's hand.
iii.
Naruto sighed as he stared at Hinata's bandaged, sleeping form, a small crescent of moonlight spilling into the medical tent the only source of illumination.
Hinata was so weird. He just didn't get it.
Why did she rush in to save him from Pain?
He said that he didn't want any help. Didn't need any help. He could have taken Pain on his own.
A small part of his mind – the part that remembered how he was pinned down by Pain's black rods – disagreed.
That part of his mind was only full of blank red rage, a broken seal, and the deep voice of the Kyuubi.
Hinata was so weird. She said that she wasn't afraid to die protecting him because she loved him?
He supposed that made sense. After all, Haku had told him that it's when you want to protect something precious to you that you become truly strong.
Hinata was strong that day. He could feel it.
But did that mean that he was precious to her? Why? What did that mean? Why was he precious to her? What did his smile do that it saved her? His smile wasn't that important...was it?
That selfsame part of his mind seemed to disagree again, preferring to force him to recollect what Pervy Sage had told him a few years ago, back when he was writing his boring Icha Icha book and they talked about hatred in the shinobi world.
"That smile of yours will save us all."
He sighed again.
This was so confusing. He hoped he could figure it out soon.
Until then...
He reached out and squeezed the sleeping Hinata's hand comfortingly.
...He'd have to content himself with the fact that somehow, in some way, she was precious to him too.
iv.
"Um...Naruto, take her home in one piece, okay?" Kiba requested nervously. "She's still a bit...concussed, so um...if she says or does something funny, just ignore it, all right?"
"Uh...all right."
But how did she get concussed anyway?
It was just a B-rank mission. Surely injuries were few and far between for a tracking team as qualified as Team 8.
"Do not take this as an indictment of Team 8's or Hinata's skills, Naruto," said Shino, seemingly reading his mind. "Why? Because we were dealing with three A-rank missing-nin from the bingo book and Hinata helped take them all out with only her bare hands. Some injuries are almost certainly expected in such scenarios. And her concussion is somewhat mild, so there is no need to worry, according to the doctor."
"Wow, really? I thought that there wouldn't be too many criminals running around after the war ended, ya know?"
Kiba just shook his head.
"Anyway, she's all yours." He gestured to an unconscious, barefoot Hinata still in her scuffed up mission gear, curled up on Akamaru's back, her face pressed into the giant dog's shoulder as she slumbered, a smile on her face. The only evidence of a concussion was the bandage wrapped around her head.
"...Right." Naruto gently lifted her off Akamaru and wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a piggyback. "Um, where's the Hyuuga compound again?"
He could now feel Hinata's face pressed into his shoulder. Her long, dark hair tickled his chin.
For some reason, this made him feel really...
Something funny.
Shino sighed in exasperation. "I have already explained to you once that you must take three turns right and then go straight – "
"Oh! Right!" Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, yeah, don't worry, Shino, I just...totally forgot for a moment...ha ha...well, I'll be off now..."
He waved goodbye to Team 8 and set off into the night.
...Carrying Hinata on his back was doing funny things to his brain. Was it normal for his brain to short-circuit when carrying people in a piggyback? Somehow, he didn't think so, because he'd carried kids like Konohamaru on his back before and it never did funny things to his brain...
Ugh, you're such a moron, Kurama grumbled within his mind. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're the one who got concussed.
Hey, what's that supposed to mean? he asked indignantly.
Kurama did not dignify his question with a response, preferring to rest his head on his paws and drift off to sleep.
"Fine, be that way," he muttered as he turned a corner.
"N-Naruto-kun?" mumbled a drowsy voice into his ear.
Naruto almost jumped a mile out of his skin.
He took deep breaths and willed his wildly beating heart to go a bit slower.
"Yeah, Hinata? What's up?"
Hinata talking into his ear did funny things to his brain too.
"Are you...carrying me?"
Her voice had a faint, indistinct quality to it. He supposed that was the concussion talking.
"Yeah...looks like your B-rank mission went to A-rank, huh?" he said quietly.
"Mmmm...hmmmm." Hinata burrowed her nose into his neck. "They...were...suuuuper tough, but I beat them...ya know?"
She was copying his verbal tic. Once again, probably the concussion talking, but still...
What was wrong with his brain today?
"He he...Naruto-kun carrying me..." she muttered happily. "It's...'s'like a dream come true."
He frowned. "It's your dream for me to give you a piggyback ride?"
"No...that's not what I meant...you're...you're so stupid sometimes, Naruto-kun."
Wow, wasn't this supposed to be a somewhat mild concussion, according to Shino? Hinata seemed to have developed a split personality here.
And his brain was still acting funny.
Thankfully, the Hyuuga compound came into view at that moment.
He breathed a sigh of relief. It was too much work for his brain to deal with concussed Hinata.
"Aaaand we're home!" he said, quickly pushing past the doors and rushing into the compound, which was luckily quiet. Thank God he didn't run into any of her relatives. That would have been awkward. "Where's your room, Hinata?"
"It's...ah...right...there...in front of you." She poked at his cheek affectionately, short-circuiting his brain again as he opened the door.
She slipped off his back and made her way unsteadily to her bed.
Naruto gripped her shoulder in worry. "Hinata, whoa, take it easy, I can help – "
She gave him a vacant smile. "I'm...fine, Naruto-kun." She flopped onto the bed. "See? Now...good...night..."
And then she leaned over, placed a big kiss on his cheek, flopped against her bed again, and started snoring away.
Naruto's jaw dropped.
He was supposed to...ignore that...right? Hinata had a concussion...she wasn't being herself.
Ugh, you're such a moron, Kurama grumbled again.
v.
Hinata's honeymoon was supposed to be one of the most amazing times of her life. And...well...by all rights, it would have been.
Shikamaru had booked a room in a fancy hot spring hotel just for her and Naruto in a surprisingly thoughtful gesture. She was sure that it wasn't cheap, and the room service didn't disappoint in the slightest.
The problem was her husband.
To be fair to him, he was an amazing husband, in Hinata's opinion. There was a reason she had fallen in love with this certain individual as a child, and it had everything to do with being the recipient of the most dazzling smile in the world, a smile that could put the sun to shame.
Many people, including all of their friends, considered him a total moron, though. Hinata did not like it when people thought this way about Naruto. He was smart. He could say things that other people couldn't. He could do things that other people couldn't. He noticed things that other people didn't.
He wasn't great at book knowledge, but that wasn't the be-all and end-all of knowledge. Naruto was the kind who learned by doing.
And yet...
Sometimes Hinata would think that all those people sometimes had a point (though she'd immediately feel embarrassed and somewhat guilty for thinking this about him).
Although it was true that he could say things, do things, and notice things that other people didn't, it was unfortunate that the reverse also applied. There were so many, so, so many things that most ordinary people would have noticed right away, but for some inexplicable reason, flew right over Naruto's head.
Yes. Hinata was loath to admit it, but right now, Naruto was being an oblivious moron. Oblivious to what he was...doing to her by lying down on that futon, in that light blue onsen yukata, with his collarbones exposed.
He had very nice...collarbones.
It was so unfair. How was she supposed to deal with his collarbones...?
Unfortunately, the onsen did not have mixed bathing, and she, so far, had only gotten a tantalizing glimpse of his...collarbones, when she wanted to see so much more.
She suspected that she was sounding bizarrely like Jiraiya of all people, and had no idea what to do with this fact.
A fleeting memory of Kiba forcing her to practice saying, "Just shut up and come with me!" a hundred times as "dating practice" came to mind.
Well...it was better than nothing, right?
She took a deep, calming breath and sat down next to him on the futon.
"Naruto-kun?" she asked, closing her eyes shut for a moment so that his collarbones didn't distract her.
"Hinata." Naruto beamed at her. "What's up?"
He was asking her what was up. Like they were sixteen years old or something.
It was time for her to put her dating practice to good use.
"Just shut up and come with me."
Her practice paid off, many, many hours later.
v + i.
"Hinata!" he said nervously. "Um...good morning...ya know?"
He meant to speak loudly and clearly, but his voice became mangled halfway through his vocal cords and it came out as a squeak instead.
Naruto gulped as Hinata turned her big white eyes his way.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun," she said kindly, her smile reaching all the way to those big white eyes.
He gulped again.
What was that new mission gear, and why did it have to accentuate the exact shade of her big white eyes?
His brain was acting funny. Why was his brain acting funny? It was like that time last year when Hinata got concussed and he had to give her a piggyback ride home.
His brain kept acting funny whenever Hinata was around lately.
It was so confusing.
But if she kept smiling at him like that, maybe being confused all the time was worth it.
You're a moron, Kurama grumbled for the umpteenth time that year.
Naruto ignored him.
"So...um...do...do you want to...come with me...to...to..." He gulped for a third time, trying desperately to finish his sentence and invite her to Ichiraku.
"Come where, Naruto-kun?" Hinata blinked at him curiously. "Are you feeling all right? You look so pale. Do you need to go to the hospital?"
Naruto despaired.
Kurama laughed in glee.
A/N: While writing this story, I had to do research for a bunch of random things, including the aroma of different kinds of ramen, how confused people usually are after concussions, and men's yukatas on Google Images. It was fun and interesting, and I might not have researched those things if not for writing this...ha ha. :)
I know that in real world Japan, kids usually eat school-provided lunch, but since this takes place in a fantasy ninja world, I took some liberties and had Naruto and his cup noodles make an appearance. And Hinata does look gorgeous in her mission gear in The Last, wouldn't you agree? :)
I kept searching and searching for those "five plus one" things that seem to be so common in fanfics and I couldn't find any for NH, so I decided to write my own. If any of you lovely readers know of any, I'd love if you would tell me. So without further ado, please enjoy this extremely cliched, but extremely fun scenario, NH-style. :)
Reviews are love. :)