"When you're backed against the wall, break the goddamn thing down."

Hinata spent most of her morning on the phone. First, with Neji- diffusing his anger and concern-as she explained why she needed his help. She had the list of accusers. Neji had police and FBI connections. She needed to know exactly who they were up against and how hard the fight was going to be. Neji could provide some of those answers with a few string pulls.

Then she called Shikamaru. What she was doing wasn't illegal by any stretch, but the last thing she wanted was for Naruto's case to be derailed by something she was doing. He wasn't thrilled, but he didn't object. That counted for something, she considered, as she flipped through work folders.

She multitasked like a champion, she had been told, so that was how she kept her mind off of her phone as she waited for Neji to call her back. Three hours later, he did. When she answered his voice was clipped. He wasn't happy.

"What, exactly, have you gotten yourself into?" he wanted to know.

Hinata leaned back in her chair, giving a slow exhale. "That bad?" she asked, voice quiet.

On the other end, Neji sighed as well. "It's not pretty," he commented. "And I'm just scratching the surface. These people...Hinata...they're dangerous."

Tell me something I don't know.

"Look, I need to make some more calls and gather some more information. Like I said, this goes deep, and I'm only just starting but I've already had some serious pushback on the inquiry, and that tells me enough." He paused. "I don't like this."

Despite his not being able to see her, Hinata nodded. "I know," she replied. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't really need your help. I...I'm sorry."

"It's not helping you that I don't like, Hinata. It's the situation. I need you to give me everything that you're not telling me. About Naruto. I can hear it in your voice. What is it you don't want me to know?"

How did he do that? She wondered. Her entire life, Neji always managed to see through her. Sometimes...before he realized how cruel her father was, he would use that skill to belittle her. It was accepted, even encouraged, to make Hinata feel like shit growing up. But as he aged, Neji quickly went from aggressor to defender. Unfortunately his career, and his father's death, put physical and emotional distance between them. The love was still there, however, no matter the infrequency of visits or calls.

Knowing that she owed him as much truth as she could give, Hinata relayed the attack, the events leading up to it, and some of her own concerns. These people had connections-clearly. So why target Naruto? Was it really a simple matter of ego? After hearing Naruto talk in her kitchen, she knew that life on the street was more complicated than she could fathom, and people literally lived and died by reputation, so it wasn't impossible for that to be the motivation.

"Honestly, yeah, it could be simply that-personal." Neji agreed. "This railroad attempt is slapdash at best. Sad thing is, with most people, it probably would have been an easy job of it. Especially a case like Naruto-prior offender and a record without financial means for a decent attorney."

It was terrifying to think of what could have happened that night.

But equally frightening was considering what could have happened if this had taken place during their break-when he truly had been on his own. Well, that wasn't true...he had befriended Iruka, and found his own job with Mr. Hatake and got in with Shikamaru. Perhaps she needed to stop thinking that Naruto needed her as much as she assumed he did...as much as she needed him.

"It's a mess," Neji told her, drawing her back to their conversation. "But it's a fixable mess."

"Thanks, Neji. Tell Hanabi I said hello, and I'll call her later."

Taking some additional information-as well as Shikamaru's number-Neji promised to call her soon. After talking to him, Hinata felt a little more assured that things were going to be okay. She was still stressed… still on edge, but things were going to work out.

Right?

Please.

A couple of more semi-productive hours of work and she was ready to head back to her place for lunch. One to check and see if Argus needed out...and two, just to reassure herself with Naruto's presence. She could only imagine his frustration at being cooped up. He had never done well with stationary before. She didn't imagine that had changed overmuch these past months apart.

She made a quick stop for some take away before making her way across town to her place. Outside of her door, keys in hand, she listened. The place was quiet. "Babe?" Hinata called, pushing into the apartment.

The kitchen and sitting area were empty.

"In here," Naruto's voice called out from her bedroom. He met her at the door before she could walk all the way into the room. She peeked around, eyeing the slightly rumpled bedding.

"Taking a nap?" She guessed.

He shook his head. "No, I was just putting my stuff away. I forgot to do it earlier." He smoothed down his damp hair.

"Did you take another shower."

"Yeah, I was sweaty."

There weren't a heck of a lot of ways to get sweaty in her small apartment, she considered, scrunching her nose. "What were you doing?" she ventured.

"Watching cops." His smirk was amused.

She didn't find that as funny as he did.

"I was just working out a little." He laughingly amended, nudging her a little.

"Oh?"

He nodded before gently grabbing her around I the arm and turning her back towards her living room/kitchen.

"Hungry?" She asked him as they went, her a little ahead. Her hall was narrow.

"Starving."

She paused at that, concern notching a brow. "You didn't eat breakfast?"

"I did." He told her, sitting down at her tiny table. "How was work?"

She didn't want to mention her chat with Neji. Naruto would only worry even more, and the less additional stress she added to his already full plate, the better. "It was fine," she said, dismissively.

Naruto gave her a once-over. "You look pretty fine."

She scrunched her face up again, leaning back in her chair a little. He was such a dork sometimes, but it was adorable. "Eat your food," she admonished, without any heat.

"You're trying to make me fat." He smiled down at the open container.

Hinata rolled her eyes. He had never, ever, been fat. Even at his laziest and sloppiest. Naruto was built fit...he was just now fit fit.

"Maybe you like me better fat," he continued, wagging a fry in her direction.

"You've never been fat." Hinata finally huffed, throwing one of her own french fries at him.

"Don't you like me better jacked?" he asked, flexing.

"I always like you." She dismissed. Because she had and would. Always.

He tilted his head, considering. "You want me to go up a weight class."

It wasn't a question. She had made her feelings on that subject pretty clear.

"Which class you want me in?" He asked, biting into the fry.

Hinata didn't answer right away. She squirted some ketchup down, swirling it in a loop. She'd already told him before. In fact, it had caused a little row between him and Jiraiya. Then again...they argued a lot. It was really odd, though, that Jiraiya hadn't even bothered to collect the keys from Naruto, much less check on him after the gym was open-Hinata had driven by, but hadn't gone in. She was sure he must have heard about it by now...

"Alright. Fine. What do you want my exact fight weight to be?" Naruto's voice pulled her from her wandering thoughts.

Hinata brushed her bangs back so that she could look him in the eye. "I don't want it to be your fight weight. I want it to be your real weight."

"Okay. Lay it on me." He offered.

"One ninety-nine."

Naruto pursed his lips, raising one eyebrow. "We're just blowing past middleweight into light heavy, huh?"

She nodded confidently. He could do it. Easily. She had seen him fight, she knew his power.

"There's a lot of big mofos in cruiserweight too." He shrugged. "I don't know if my kicks will measure up in Muay Thai."

At this she blatantly spluttered, rolling her eyes. "You know you have good kicks. Don't fish for compliments."

"I need your validation, Hinata!" he exclaimed.

Too loud.

Argus, who had been chilling alongside Hinata, dipped his head and pressed against her. He had improved so much on car rides and park visits, that sometimes it was difficult to remember he had issues. Just like with his missing leg-he was so adept, that it often went unnoticed. Hinata was a little concerned by the fact that a male voice yelling caused Argus an abnormal amount of trepidation. His previous owner had a new dog now, and Argus was hers but she couldn't help speculate that maybe he wasn't treated all that well before.

"Oops. Sorry buddy." Naruto quickly grabbed a handful of his fries and dropped them onto the floor next to him like a peace offering.

Argus loved Naruto, so the offering was eagerly-and easily-accepted.

"So, one-ninety-nine ninety-nine? Hm." He tapped his chin.

"Don't get greedy." She pet Argus's head, re-tucked onto her lap. Fries made him happy, but nothing so much as ear scritches.

"That's like almost thirty pounds I have to gain."

Hinata scoffed playfully. "Don't pretend you're still one seventy. You weren't even really one seventy on fight night. You would've drank a glass of water that day and been over the limit."

"Wrestlers do it all the time." He reminded her.

She smiled. "Ah, but you won't have to at light-heavy."

"Yeah, who am I kidding. I'm liable to go over one ninety-nine if I don't watch it." He smiled back, shoving more fries in his mouth.

"Not likely." Hinata promised.

"You don't have a scale." Naruto mentioned. "So it's like roulette. We'll just chance it."

Hinata's smile went stiff against her teeth. She could feel it, even as she tried to ignore it. She could recall each and every time her father marched her up to the scale, pushing her on it. Calling her fat. Calling her a chubster. She could almost feel the tight strangulation of her guts as she skipped meals for days just so the next time he weighed her she wasn't over.

She tried to push the memories down, and cleared her throat, fighting the urge to twist her bracelet. "I don't think scales are healthy."

"It's not like you need one, you're hot as fuck."

"Look at yourself. Look in the mirror. Stop crying! Look at yourself! See how weak you are? Do you want to be ugly and weak your whole life? How will you ever amount to anything if all you do is cry and eat? You need to have discipline, Hinata. You can't be soft. You need to be stronger than this!"

She sort of understood now-why her father was the way he had been. It didn't make it any easier to think about, though. Didn't make those insecurities go away. Didn't hurt any less.

"Excuse me, Ma'am, hello? I'm hitting on you." Naruto sing-songed, catching her attention once more.

She looked up, blinking. "I heard you. You don't need to be so rude."

He tipped his head, blue eyes alight with mischief. "Well you ain't blushing enough. What else do I got to say?"

"Nothing!" She curled her nose, unable to pinch back a smile. "Be quiet and eat your food."

He chuckled, but dutifully ate another fry. "Yes, Ma'am."

Lunch was a nice diversion, even though they both knew they were pretending. Real life loomed just around the corner, but it was easier to ignore when she was with Naruto. He made her heart lighter and the weight of her day was temporarily lifted.

After they ate, she cleared the table, and made her way to the door, making sure to pet Argus on the belly before leaving. "I'm taking the treats with me." She informed them. The bag was less than half full and it was practically new. She eyeballed them both.

Both Naruto and Argus whined in complaint.

"Be good." She giggled, waving.

"Me or Argus?" Naruto leaned against her counter.

She smiled from the front door. "Yes." And then she was outside. On her way across the parking lot, her phone rang. She glanced down and saw Ino's smiling face.

"Hey," she answered.

"Hey." Ino chirped. "Just checking in. Any new developments?"

Hinata shook her head, sliding into her seat. "Not yet, but I called Neji."

"Really? You think that he can do anything? He's kind of across the country."

"I know, but he has resources. I don't know, Ino. I just want to help." Hinata sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"I know you do, babe." Ino soothed. "And you are. He's not in jail, he's with you. It's going to be okay."

"You think?"

"Oh, darling, I know." Ino laughed. "The reason I'm calling though is that I am going to be out of town for a few days. Sai has an exhibit in Philadelphia. We should be home by Saturday, but if you need me, you call. I mean it."

Hinata couldn't help but feel a bit deflated at that, but still, she knew that Ino had her own life to live and that she had already given up more than her fair share of free time over the past year to help Hinata with her issues. "I will. Love you, Ino."

"Same."

Hinata hung up, and tossed her phone into her passenger seat, reaching up to adjust her mirror. As she did she caught sight of a man, tall, dressed in dark clothes, and what looked like a dark trench coat, walking past the parking entrance. He paused, turning towards the cars, and for some unsettling reason she felt that he was looking right at her. She squinted her eyes, trying to see his face. She didn't recognize him. After a moment, he continued walking, shoving his hands in his pockets and rounding the corner.

Hinata shook herself, pushing the chills down. It was just some guy out for a walk. So what if she didn't recognize him? She didn't know everyone in the area. She was just being paranoid.

Right?