The Wanderers
Bonus Chapter – A Night to Forget
A/N: This is a bit of a fun chapter, in thanks of everyone who is reading my story. You guys are awesome; I never thought I'd get 100 reviews. Your reviews have given me a lot of insight and I really appreciate all the feedback I've gotten.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be more drinking.
***Pause in MEGA-Flashback***
Naruto let off a yawn and stretched out his legs underneath the large table that took up most of the room.
"How much longer will this take?" he asked, bored out of his mind while they sat around doing nothing.
Taking a bite of a piece of bread on the table, Shikamaru leant with his back on the wall.
"Shizune-sensei said that it could be months."
"Months? I don't think I can last months!"
Taking a seat down next to him, Hinata smiled as Naruto gestured wildly while in conversation with Shikamaru. She watched the others smile in amusement at the yellow-haired teenager, though many of them found themselves agreeing with his statement. It had been a month since they had discovered Kakashi and Itachi frozen in place, neither of them moving an inch when prompted. They had gone to move them, but Shizune had warned them that they might injure them if they interrupted the technique. The medic appeared to be as frustrated with the situation as the Genin, but knew that they would simply have to wait it out.
"Who's on shift?" asked Sakura, trying to look around the room to see who was missing.
"It's Shino and Neji" replied Sasuke, having taken his brother's advice and tried to talk more with his fellow shinobi.
The rest of the group was relaxing, they were forced to stay at the small village nearby their original mountain position, so that they could still monitor the two Jounin's conditions, but the group had gotten sick of living in the wilderness for weeks on end. Since his full recovery, Naruto had been training like a madman, the group commenting that he was nearing Lee's level of obsession with his training.
Naruto had told Hinata, in private, that without the Kyuubi he felt scared that he wouldn't be able to continue being a proper shinobi, as Itachi had warned that it could have been one of the side-effects of having the tailed beast removed. The young Hyuuga only needed to remind Naruto of his fight with Hidan, as well as his fight with Lee (he had tried to hide it from her, but one look with those big white eyes and he was akin to liquid paste). With an awkward laugh, Naruto conceded her point and began training in earnest. As before they had trained together, with many of the group getting caught up in their enthusiasm.
"Anyone want to do anything tonight? I'm so bored…"
"Naruto-kun, you should be patient. I'm sure Kakashi and Itachi-sensei won't be too much longer."
"I'm not a patient shinobi, Hina-chan."
Across the table, Sakura gave a laugh, remembering her previous missions with Naruto.
"You are just annoyed that there are no ramen shops in this town."
Naruto slammed a fist into the table dramatically, "Not one! We are staying in perpetual hell!"
There was a long silence as the room of Genin stared at him; everybody except for Hinata was amazed at Naruto's appropriate choice of words. Naruto stared at the strange faces, taking a few moments before understanding why they were staring at him.
"Hey, it made sense to me."
Besides him Ino stared at his face, "Its not that…it's just that we didn't expect something like that from you."
"Hey, that's not fair. I read that book you guys got me about different ways of learning."
Next to him Hinata patted him supportively, having learnt while spending time with him that Naruto learnt things quickly, he just had to be shown a different way. Sasuke watched Naruto argue his point to Ino, fascinated at how the normally idiotic blonde was able to hold his own, almost as if he was as educated as the rest of them.
Though if memory serves, he did spend most classes standing outside in the halls for no reason.
The door to the room flew open, Kiba walking in with a yapping Akamaru at his side. He was carrying a large tray covered with a towel, and had a suspiciously large grin on his face. He stood at the front of the room for several moments, waiting for one of them to break. Being the mountain of patience that he was, Naruto's curiosity finally overcoming him.
"Okay, what's on the tray?"
Kiba grinned widely, the group noticing that his canines were getting longer and that his hair was getting even wilder. Though initially annoyed by his unintentional transformation, he had begun to embrace some of the more animalistic traits that his clan had developed, though he still needed help to brush his tail. The Inuzuka walked over and placed the tray on the table, as the group stared at it with fascination.
Lee stood up from the table, wanting to stay and spend time with his teammates but it was time for his shift to watch the two Jounin. He walked out of the room as Naruto kept pestering Kiba to tell him what he had brought. The taijutsu user nodded to Shino as he passed him in the hallway, pointing to where the rest of the group was before making his way to join Neji at the mountain pass. Kiba removed the cloth to reveal a tray full of bottles and glasses.
"Kiba…is that…" asked Naruto, trying to read the characters on the sides of the bottles.
"How did you get those?" asked an intrigued Sakura.
Kiba sat down and let the growing Akamaru sit on a pillow next to him.
"Turns out that Henge no Jutsu is useful beyond just fighting."
"But you suck at human transformations, everyone knows that" said Naruto, already reaching out and grabbing a bottle of sake and two glasses, passing one to Hinata next to him.
The Hyuuga was initially reluctant, but as she saw that Naruto wasn't going to pressure her into it she felt compelled to let him pour her a glass.
"Kiba is proficient at Henge no Jutsu. But only into a transformation of his mother."
Kiba jumped as he saw that Shino had taken a seat next to him and poured himself a glass. The wild shinobi thought he was finally getting used to the Aburame doing that, but he was far too quiet for Kiba's taste. The group laughed as Kiba yelled at his teammate, embarrassed that Shino's statement was true. Sakura looked at the bottle passed to her, looking at the warm sake inside before sniffing it suspiciously.
"Should we be doing this? We are only fourteen."
The group waited until everyone had a drink in front of them before considering Sakura's statement. Sasuke stared at the glass that had been put in front of him, wondering what his brother would think about them drinking alcohol.
He'd probably just give me that look of his, and then look the other way.
"Who cares about that stuff? You only live once right?" said Kiba, barking out a laugh at Ino's face as she smelled the sake.
The whole group winced at the taste, but all finished their drinks fairly quickly, so as to save face in front of the others. Many of the clan heirs had already had sake in the past, mainly at clan meetings where it was expected of them. Naruto licked his lips at the hot drink, feeling a slight burning sensation as the alcohol went down his throat. Kiba gagged at the taste, while Sasuke felt himself almost retching at the taste. He never liked hot drinks, and rarely drank tea unless he was required to do so.
Shikamaru took a slight breath as he pounded down the rest of the small cup, feeling sombre as he remembered the times he would face off against his father in shogi matches whilst drinking sake. His father had always laughed in his deep voice at the young teenager struggling to drink the alcohol. As she took a sip, Hinata found the taste of the sake to be a rather odd vintage. Having been brought up with large amounts of drinking in the Hyuuga household, Hinata was content to pour herself another glass. Not to be outdone by the quiet pale girl, Naruto took the bottle after her and poured himself another glassful.
"Hey, look at Chouji" laughed Kiba, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
Sasuke pointed out to Kiba that he had spilt the majority of his drink, to the embarrassment of the Inuzuka heir as he was forced to take another drink. At the end of the table, the large heir to the Akimichi clan had his face buried in the cloth on top of the table, snoring lightly with the empty glass in his hand. Ino reached over and poked him with a finger, Chouji not even registering the action as he muttered in his sleep.
"Who'd of thought that Chouji was such a light weight?" said Shino, who was reaching up and removing his jacket, despite the coldness of the night. The group stared at the insect user, taken back by his sudden change in demeanour as he threw back another glass of sake. The normally quiet shinobi seemed to be trying to laugh at some unspoken joke, but found that he wasn't sure how to laugh so he kept trying to find the right way to do it. While Shino had been acting uncharacteristically since the battles with the Akatsuki, this was unique even for him. Hinata went to get up from the table and help the insect user, but after he slugged down another glass the Aburame heir shot up from the table and walked out with his hands in his pockets. Hinata stood up slowly, but Naruto reached up and put a hand on her arm, shaking his head slightly.
"But…" she said, but Naruto kept his grip tight.
"Let him go, Hinata" said Shikamaru, taking another sip and letting the warm liquid run down his throat.
She looked at the Nara heir with a sad smile, nodding as she understood why she had to let Shino go.
"I…I always wanted to be a good ninja…"
Ino laughed and slapped her depressed friend on the back.
"You always wanted to get into Sasuke's pants you mean."
Sakura yelped out and swung a hand towards Ino, while the others ignored the battling girls. Naruto threw back another drink and stood up with uneasy legs.
He flicked his wrists and turned to Sakura, "You mean…these pants?"
Both girls stared as Naruto waved the white shorts in their faces; while across the table a slightly tipsy Sasuke looked down to find himself staring at his bare legs.
"NARUTO!"
Sasuke immediately stood up and went to jump across the table at the grinning blonde ninja, but Naruto was one step ahead of the Uchiha survivor. He created a clone and handed it the shorts before letting it flee out of the room. In such a rage at his embarrassment, Sasuke flew after the blonde clone, his hands sparkling with lightning. The girls stared at the empty space as they heard loud curses and crashes outside in the night. Naruto laughed loudly and sat back down, taking another glassful of sake with a wide smile.
"That was cruel, Naruto" said Sakura, thankful that she wasn't the Sasuke fan that she once was; otherwise she might not have survived such an event.
"He'll kill you once he dispenses of the clone and gets his shorts back" commented Shikamaru.
Naruto grinned and reached under the table, taking a moment before once again producing the dirt-covered white shorts of Uchiha Sasuke. The group stared at it for a moment before all breaking out into laughter. Kiba threw his head back as he grimaced at the taste of his drink.
"Did…anyone notice Sasuke's legs?"
"You spend lots of time looking at Sasuke's legs?" asked Naruto.
"Shut your mouth, Naruto!"
With a growing blush on her face from the alcohol, Sakura sighed then stifled a short laugh.
"I think I get what you mean, Kiba."
Naruto considered what they were talking about as he balked at the idea of recalling the image of Sasuke's legs. He gasped as he figured it out, to the amusement of Hinata next to him.
"Do…does Sasuke shave his legs?"
Ino shifted across the table and sat down next to a wavering Shikamaru, covering herself with a blanket to combat the slowly chilling night.
"I've always wanted to know something, Shikamaru."
The young genius was suspicious of the Yamanaka heir, but gave her a gesture to continue. Ino shook her head and took a long breath before collecting herself and staring at her teammate inches away from his face.
"What was the deal between you and that girl from the Chuunin Exams?"
Shikamaru, for all his intelligence, was not expecting that question. Were he in his normal condition, he would have just told her it was too troublesome to talk about and she would likely leave him be after a few hours of nagging. However after four glasses of sake, Shikamaru felt odd motivation in the face of the blonde kunoichi.
"You mean…Temari?"
"Ooo, she has a name…"
Shikamaru frowned at the stupid statement, "Of course she has a…just forget it."
"No, no, no…"
She shifted backwards and put her hands together.
"Please, Shikamaru…I'll be nice."
The Nara heir eyed her suspiciously, knowing that she was likely just waiting for him to say something juicy. He poured himself another drink and sighed.
"Fine, fine. What do you want to know?"
Ino threw back her drink and brushed her long blonde hair out of her face.
"Did you…you know…"
She made a crude motion with her hands, causing Naruto and Kiba to burst out laughing while Hinata felt herself blush, and not because of the alcohol. Shikamaru took a moment to give Ino his best seriously-what-the-hell-are-you-doing look, before being forced to reach up and grab her hands as her actions became more and more descriptive.
"Ino, we were fourteen. What do you think?"
She smiled as her head wobbled slightly in the air, "I saw how she looked at you after the match. I want all the details."
Shikamaru let go of her hands, absentmindedly wishing he had taken up his old teacher's smoking habit for times like this.
"She…approached me a few days before we left Suna. We had…words…and left it at that."
Ino scoffed, "That's pretty boring. Trust you to not take action."
Across from them, Naruto took another swig of his drink, but noticed an odd look in Shikamaru's eyes as Ino went back to her place besides Sakura. He turned to say something to Hinata, but the look in her white eyes told him that she had noticed as well.
"Seems kind of sad, doesn't it?" he whispered to her.
She put a hand over one of his on the table, remarking at how warm Naruto's hand was even though he had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, having noticed without a word that she had been shivering.
"He probably doesn't want to be reminded of it."
Naruto smiled and put his fingers through hers, causing the young girl to smile as she watched the blonde take another drink. After finishing his drink Naruto put down his empty glass and watched as Shikamaru picked himself up from the table and slowly wobbled out of the room, his conversation with Ino having sobered his mood. He checked to see how Chouji was doing, satisfied that the large shinobi was snoring lightly, unaware of anything going around him. Shikamaru's ears perked up as a large explosion caused the whole building to shudder.
"GIVE ME BACK MY PANTS" came a loud voice, causing Shikamaru to roll his eyes.
"I'd better go make sure Sasuke doesn't destroy the town."
The group waved him out, Kiba making an innocuous comment on how they were losing members quickly. He reached for the next bottle, not wanting to be outdone by the only male left in the room, especially one who was holding the hand of his teammate. Sakura whispered something to Ino whilst trying to act like she wasn't looking at Hinata and Naruto. The blonde kunoichi laughed and slapped the table as if Sakura had told her some hilarious tale, but none of the others paid her heed.
Kiba felt himself drifting off to sleep, having slowly become accustomed to the taste of the alcohol, but the sounds of Akamaru sleeping beside him wasn't doing him any help. He took a glance at the four remaining shinobi, noticing that Hinata was being much more open around Naruto then she normally would.
I…should stay around to make sure he doesn't do anything to her…
He noticed that while Hinata and Naruto had both drunk the same amount as the rest of the group, neither of them were showing any indicators of being drunk. Kiba knew that Naruto would likely not be as affected as the others, considering his inexhaustible stamina, but to see Hinata pounding them down as easily as him was unsettling. Kiba was quite suspicious of this, so much so that he felt the urge to see if there was something different about the young Hyuuga girl.
It took him more concentration to summon a little bit of chakra to his nose, immediately regretting it as he smelt a vile smell from a block over. His mind was a bit hazy, but he drew the strength to concentrate his sensing abilities towards his female companion. As Hinata finished off a glass, Kiba could tell that she was leaking out little portions of chakra as the alcohol entered her system.
That's…quite clever. She can act however she pleases, and blame the alcohol.
He waited a while before decided that it was clear that Hinata knew what she was doing, figuring that she had probably learnt the technique from her family at some point before the destruction of Konoha. Kiba reached down and slowly wrapped up Akamaru in his arms, noticing how heavy the white dog had become. The others had made note of how quickly the ninja dog had grown over the past few months, but Kiba couldn't see it. Though he had to note that Akamaru was too big to sit on his head anymore.
"You going?" asked Naruto, his eyes pleading with Kiba not to leave him with the girls.
"Kiba-kun has a shift in the morning, Naruto-kun" said Hinata.
Naruto made no further comment, but nodded in blind agreement as Kiba bid the group farewell. As he was leaving, Kiba could feel the slight bits of chakra coming Hinata fade away. He gave her a quick look that he knew she saw, taking comfort in the confident look she gave back to him. Naruto was completely ignorant of the exchange, happily speaking with Sakura and Ino.
"Say Sakura, you aren't interested in Sasuke anymore, right?"
Ino was living up to her reputation, having been disappointed by her discussion with Shikamaru. Sakura wasn't particularly surprised by the question; she had been surprised that Ino had held it off for so long. She had made no secret of her lack of romantic interest in Sasuke since their travels in Suna, the mere fact that she didn't leap at everything he said was evidence enough. Ino, on the other hand, had been quiet on the Sasuke front.
"I'm not. Why?"
Ino put her face inches away from the pink haired, staring into her green eyes intensely, a difficult task when her vision was quite blurry.
"What about Lee?" she asked bluntly.
Sakura's eyes widened at the question, and for the first time in weeks, she found herself unable to answer.
Naruto leant over and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, "That's a good question, Ino. You guys have been together quite a lot recently."
Sakura shoved off Naruto arm before laughing awkwardly and taking a drink from her glass. Ino continued to stare at her, and after a few minutes it was clear that Sakura had no interest in answering the question. The blonde sighed in disappointment, knowing that she wasn't going to get anything out of her.
"What about you Ino?" asked Naruto, out of the blue.
Ino found herself confused by his question, cocking her head curiously.
"What do you mean?"
Popping her head out from Naruto's side, Hinata smiled sweetly, but her eyes spoke of something more cunning then Ino would have thought her capable.
"I think he's talking about Kiba-kun, Ino-san."
The Yamanaka heir frowned at the question, but still didn't understand what they were talking about. Sakura gasped as she heard Hinata's statement, pointing an accusing finger at Ino's face.
"Hey, yeah! You're always touching that tail of his. Why don't you go kiss him?"
To her credit, Ino didn't crack under the pressure of her questions being fired back at her. She simply stood up, said her goodbyes and left the group in a huff.
"Do you think she's gone to find Kiba?" asked Naruto, completely oblivious to how Ino may have actually been feeling.
Hinata giggled beside him and passed him a glass of sake.
"I doubt it, Naruto-kun. She's probably just gone to bed."
Naruto shrugged and accepted the drink, relishing the hot taste. Sakura sighed and poured herself another glass, feeling abandoned by her friends.
I need to meet new people…
Sakura lasted two more rounds before she pulled a blanket over herself and fell asleep onto the table. Hinata laughed at a joke that Naruto told, feeling her face run red as she let the alcohol run through her system. She couldn't tell whether Naruto was being influenced by the alcohol, but as she saw his large smile she didn't care. More and more throughout the night she had been creeping closer to him, her willingness to wait for Naruto's response to her affections wearing thin of late. Hinata smiled sweetly as she gave in to her emotions, leaning her head into Naruto's shoulder.
To his credit, Naruto didn't balk at the touch, merely smiling and leaning his own head on top of hers. They sat with their hands together for a long time, neither needing to say anything. Naruto felt no interest in drinking more alcohol, and Hinata knew that she had drunken more then she should have at that point. Naruto could feel himself drifting off to sleep, but found that he wanted to stay awake.
"Hey, Hinata…"
The young Hyuuga shivered under Naruto's jacket, her hands clutched around his arm as she nuzzled into him.
"Wha…is…Narut…kun?" she muttered, also struggling to stay awake, though she was also struggling with her own desires.
Naruto went to speak his mind, but as his hand felt her dark hair he couldn't fathom what he wanted to say. After a few moments he gave up on the matter, simply keeping a hand in her hair. Hinata couldn't keep a grin off her face, and felt herself getting warmer as his hand moved from on top of her head to the back of her neck.
Is he making a move? Oh my…wait…what is this feeling…
She shifted her head slightly, Naruto's hand placed at the base of her neck beneath her hair. She could just make out his face, noticing that he had a deep blush on his face and kept taking sideways glances at her smiling face.
Naruto-kun…
She ran her eyes across his face, finding herself oddly drawn to his whisker-like scar across his cheeks, before something clicked in her mind as she saw the warm smile on his face. All her previous nervousness in the situation had vanished from her mind, and the normally proper Hyuuga kunoichi felt some primal instinct overtake her. She reached up behind her head and put a hand into Naruto's before getting up slightly and turning her body towards him. She could tell that Naruto was confused by what she was trying to do, but Hinata didn't give him a chance to speak.
In one quick movement she threw her leg over his so that she was sitting on top of him and planted her mouth onto his, throwing her free hand around his neck as the force of her kiss threw them both flat to the floor. If Naruto was surprised by the action, he made no effort to conceal it, but as he felt her strangely warm lips on his he felt no inclination to stop her. His mind blanked and all he could think about was the young Hyuuga girl that he was pretty sure he knew how he felt about now. He put his free hand onto her back, and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity.
Hinata eventually felt the primal need to breathe, so she broke off the kiss, staring at Naruto's eyes through her white orbs. Naruto stared back at her, and neither of them needed to say anything. Hinata wanted to kiss him again, but she barely made out a sound outside of the room, causing her to remember what she was doing. She quickly removed herself from his lap and put a finger to her mouth to indicate for him not to say anything, Naruto quickly nodded in acknowledgement as Hinata laid her head onto his chest and closing her eyes.
Naruto was thoroughly confused by the young girls actions, but reached down and pecked her lightly on the cheek before laying his head back. That final kiss was enough to send Hinata over the edge, causing her to faint into his lap which was conveniently comfortable enough to sleep on. Naruto smiled and put a caring hand onto her head before fatigue had begun to overtake him.
It'll be interesting in the morning he thought as he drifted off.
"What on earth did we miss?"
Lee shrugged as he walked into the room, grimacing at the smell within the room with the four sleeping teenagers. Neji tensed as he saw the two Konoha shinobi sleeping together, Hinata head rising up and down with Naruto's chest with his jacket around her shoulders.
Lee knelt down next to them with a smile, "That's kind of cute, don't you think?"
"She's my cousin, Lee."
The taijutsu user stood up slowly and stood face to face with the Hyuuga branch member.
"You're actions to Hinata-san are always changing. I'm not the only one to have noticed, you know."
Neji stared at his black eyes, before sighing and stretching out his tired arms.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked, noticing with no serious reaction that Naruto had his hands in Hinata's hair, and both of them had wide smiles as they slept peacefully.
Lee stepped back slightly before gesturing to Hinata's sleeping form.
"I want to know how you go from trying to kill the young girl, to being protective of her against Naruto-kun."
His teammate wasn't expecting the question, feeling under serious pressure as he saw the serious look in Lee's eyes. He looked over at Hinata, noticing that while Naruto had his hands in her hair, Hinata's small hands were holding onto Naruto's shirt tightly.
She seems to be handling herself, in her own way.
Neji sighed again, but for a different reason this time.
"You stopped me, in Suna. You stopped me from making a huge mistake. But…"
Lee stared at Neji's eyes, unsettled by the uncertainty in the genius' expression. He had worked with Neji for a long time, and even after Lee finally defeated him he had always been a stoic force in their group. Neji struggled to find the words to describe himself to Lee, but the green-clad shinobi put up his hands to stop him.
"I think I understand. You don't need to say anymore."
Neji felt a wave of relief as Lee dropped the issue, feeling like it would have been an appropriate time to smile, but couldn't bring himself to do so.
Lee, do you really understand? I…need to protect her; I have no choice in the matter. It's not a clan matter, it's about me. I need to atone, and this is the only way to do so.
He looked over at the sleeping couple as Lee checked on Sakura, the bobbed-headed shinobi being quite respectful, but couldn't help but smile as Sakura was drooling slightly into her blanket. Lee wanted to wake up her so that she could prepare for the coming day, but found himself unable to bring himself to do so, she looked far too peaceful.
"What were they doing?" he asked, finally noticing a single bottle left on the table.
He picked it up tenderly, noticing that it was still full, unable to recognise it with a single sniff. He went to take a drink, but Neji shot out a hand and grabbed it before the liquid could pass his lips, breathing out a sigh of relief while Lee stood with his hands on his hips.
"What was that for?" he demanded.
Neji put the bottle back on the table before picking up another from the ground, showing the characters to Lee.
"Remember what you promised Guy-sensei?"
Lee's eyes widened as he read what the drink was, immediately thankful that Neji had stopped him.
"I…thank you, Neji. I don't think Guy-sensei would have approved."
Neji shook his head as he remembered the tragedy that had occurred the last time Lee had drunken alcohol. He and Guy had been able to restrain him after a horribly prolonged battle, and Guy had made Lee swear that he would never drink again unless it was under dire circumstances. Neji had fought with Lee many times before that event, but Lee had nearly killed him with little effort.
"We should find the others" said Neji, starting to gather his chakra to activate his Byakugan.
They had seen lots of damage to the other parts of the town's buildings, having seen the furious form of Uchiha Sasuke rampaging through the town, oddly without any clothes besides his underwear. They had paid little heed to him though, figuring he was sorting out his own issues.
"Oh gods, my head…"
They had gathered together for lunch the next day, though Chouji had offered to watch the Jounin for the group since he had the least to drink. Shizune had disapproved of the action and promised that they would regret it later. As many of the Genin had informed her, they were regretting it now. The group had laughed as Sasuke had stomped back into the guy's room with two rubbish bin lids covering his front and rear. He was covered in scratches, and glared down any comments about his situation with angry-looking Sharingan.
He eventually made his way back to the main room where he retrieved his white shorts with exhausted dispassion. Nobody but he and Naruto knew what he had been put through, and as much as the Uchiha hated to admit it, Naruto had gotten the best of him throughout the night, and they were only clones. He didn't make an issue out of it with the blonde shinobi, embarrassed that an Uchiha could be defeated so easily he swore to train three times harder to catch up to the Genin.
There was quite a sombre mood in the room as the Genin ate quickly, many of them having headaches that even their trained bodies were struggling to handle. Naruto grimaced and held his head as he passed a glass of water to Hinata next to him, the group noticing that they were sitting a bit too close to each other. The young girl accepted the drink with a pained smile, leaning over to whisper in his ear.
"Do you remember anything from last night?" she asked, her own memory in a haze.
Naruto shook his head then regretting it as pain shot straight through his head.
"Not…much…"
Hinata let her face fall as she figured that all the progress she had made in the night was for naught. Naruto, having learnt more about how to read people, noticed the change in her expression. He gave her a wide smile and slipped a hand into her hands. He leaned down until his mouth was right next to her ear so that only she could hear him.
"But I remember enough."
Hinata gasped as she realised what that meant, Naruto giving her the widest grin he could muster. He gave her hand a squeeze before turning back to the table, Hinata turning bright red as she tried her best not to faint under the knowledge. To her credit, she lasted longer than Naruto had expected. He caught her before she hit the table, picking her up gingerly in his arms as he stood up from the table.
"Is she okay?" asked Shizune, her expert eyes seeing nothing initially wrong with the young Hyuuga girl.
Naruto smiled and shook his head, this time much slower, and began to make his way towards the girls' room.
"She's just tired from last night. I'll take her back to her room."
Across from the table Sakura stood up, "I'll help you, Naruto. You shouldn't be going into our room anyway."
Naruto laughed awkwardly and let her lead him out of the room. Shizune watched the two walk out before turning her attention back to the group.
"Did something happen between those two?" she asked, having been curious about their relationship since learning about it.
The group exchanged glances, several of them having noticed the quiet shift in how the two of them interacted.
"I think its best to just leave it be" commented Shikamaru, taking a bite into the meal on the table.
Shizune thought about it for a moment before shrugging and turning to the meal.
***Resume MEGA-Flashback***
Author's Note:
Admittedly, this was highly amusing to write. And despite being a 'bonus' chapter, this should be considered as part of the story. I haven't had time to write a full chapter, so this was to tide you over until I can.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.