A/N: Hey, you guys! Ah, I'm just so excited. I've gotten a large chunk of the story done and I can't wait to get to the real meat and potatoes of the plot. For now, though, you get this little tidbit! Enjoy!


Chapter 13: Laying Low


It had been a few days of laying low for the group.

Hinata hummed to herself as she rinsed out the laundry, a small smile gracing her lips.

She hadn't minded when she was relegated to washing duty. If anything, she was grateful for it.

She glanced up as she noticed Tsunade and Sakura walking by, sporting cotton tunics and hoods to shade their faces. Both were carrying a couple of wooden boards, each board at least Tsunade's height and nearly a third as wide as it was long.

She chuckled to herself, focusing on wringing out the excess water from the garment. Washing things is quite theraputic, she mused to herself. I could do this forever.

She took a few moments to gaze at her reflection in the murky gray water. A couple of strands of hair fell into her face, and she frowned, tucking them behind her ear.

While her hair was easier to deal with when cut, she couldn't keep away the pang of pain in her heart from seeing it short.

I just hope my family will forgive me for this sin one day, she mourned, closing her eyes.

She reopened her eyes and looked up when she heard Sakura panting as she walked closer.

The sheen of sweat glimmered on her brow, and as she wiped it away Hinata could see her hair sticking to her face.

"Need a drink?" She asked, standing up from the washing station.

"I'd die for one," Sakura replied with a tired grin.

With that, Hinata went back inside, finding Sakura's mug amid their stuff. Dipping it into the bucket of clean wellwater they'd gotten that morning, she went back to the pinkette, gently pressing it into her hands.

"Thanks, Hina," Sakura nodded in gratitude before pressing the rim to her lips and tilting her head back, downing it all in a couple of chugs.

Hinata couldn't help but admire the strength she had. She tried not to be envious of the muscles she'd developed in her arms, but sometimes she wished she could be as built.

Taking away the mug with a satisfied 'ahh', Sakura handed it back to Hinata with a smile.

"Having fun washing clothes?" She teased with a wink. "Not getting bored, I hope."

"Of course not," the lady chuckled after coming back out without the mug. She walked with the girl to her washing station. "I find it as fun as I assume lugging around boards is for you."

"Meh, it's a way to test how strong I am," the pinkette shrugged. "Besides, have you ever seen a woman with muscles like this?"

She demonstrated her point by flexing. Indeed, her arms were sculpted, her biceps taut. Even through the thin fabric, she was sculpted.

"Impressive!" The lady praised, a blush on her face. If a man had done that in front of me, I'd have called him lewd, but... when Sakura does it... it doesn't feel the same?

I don't know how to react to this, she decided when Sakura put her arms down.

"You're too kind to me, Hinata," Sakura rubbed the back of her neck with a grin.


"Shikamaru, are you sure we're not being followed?" Ino asked in a hushed voice, glancing behind herself for the umpteenth time.

"I promise you that nobody's following us," the boy replied in exasperation. "Leader-sama would've noticed immediately."

She nodded silently, keeping her eyes on the trees.

Pein glanced back at them, but Konan shook her head.

"We'll be stopping in the next town," She told them. "From there, we'll get you to Iris, and you can hide."

"Thank you for letting us come with you." Shikamaru replied with a curt nod.

"Violet has had quite the glowing recommendation of you," Pein said simply. "Now let's hurry."

"Violet?" Ino turned to Shikamaru in question, but he simply kept his eyes ahead. "I wonder who they mean..."


Sasuke stared into the sky with a frown. The grass was cool against his skin, but not even the most tranquil spot in the gardens was enough to calm his mood.

"I haven't seen you here in a long time," Naruto remarked as he sat down beside him. "Not since Castle Point."

Sasuke grunted in reply.

The blond glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, a sympathetic look on his face. "Do you... need to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?" Sasuke asked distantly. "You were there."

"Well, yeah, but you were the one who was almost kidnapped." He shrugged.

"I've already discussed my feelings at length with you; I don't see what else there is to confess."

The brief second of silence between them was broken when Naruto turned his body to face the black-haired prince, cerulean eyes staring intently at his pale face.

"You've never told me what it was like, that day," Naruto replied firmly, "watching her in the water."

Sasuke's whole body went rigid, and his heart stuttered for a moment. When he did turn his head so that he could see Naruto's face, his expression was even, but he feared his eyes betrayed the pain within.

"I don't see how my feelings about... about her... would make any difference," he said, cursing himself for hesitating.

"They'd make all the difference, actually," Naruto insisted, his face going stern. "All I remember is that you were never... quite the same after the battle."

Sasuke bowed his head, his bangs covering his face.

"I mean, I remember the pain in your face when you told me she was dead, but... but you never actually told me what that moment was like."

"Please, drop it," the prince whispered pleadingly.

"No." Naruto shook his head once, fiercely. "You out of all people should know that holding it in will only hurt you more in the long run. You're running yourself ragged these days, trying to hunt down both Sakura and Hinata's killers with your dad, and you aren't even giving a moment for yourself!"

"Stop it..." He clenched his eyes shut.

"Just for once, let me into your world!" Naruto cried. "How did it feel, seeing her face-down in that water? How did it feel to see our childhood friend suddenly just... dead?"

"I SAID STOP!" Sasuke finally roared, snapping his head up to glare venomously at his best friend. His eyes were crimson, black tomoe spinning rapidly as his rage filled his body with fire. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT FEELS!"

Naruto stayed eerily calm through Sasuke's shouted rant, not even budging from his spot, even when the prince slammed his fist down right next to him, singing the grass.

"You don't know how it feels to stare your dead loved ones in the face!" Sasuke continued to scream. "You don't know how it feels to know that the ones you love are never, ever, ever coming back, no matter how many of their killers you kill! No matter how much revenge you get! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!"

"Every night I see her," he continued, tears beginning to bubble in his eyes. "I see her laying there, face down, hair stained with blood- her neck was- was snapped, and she had the ugliest black bruise, like someone choked her,"

Naruto stared at him evenly, his face blank.

"I see her and then I know- I know I'm never gonna get her back!" Sasuke began to sob, but even though his anger was fading, he still punched the ground with all his strength. "And then, with Hinata- I just- not a night goes by that I don't get visions of what she must've looked like! How mangled- how charred-"

He finally collapsed on the grass, a blubbering mess, shaking hands clenched into fists around whole tufts of grass. When a couple of bodyguards tentatively appeared from behind some rosebushes, Naruto simply shook his head at them, dismissing them.

"I can't- ever forgive them." Sasuke breathed heavily, his bangs sticking to his tearstained red cheeks. "I can't! I won't! I won't ever forgive them for taking my family away!"

Naruto patted his back, but offered no further comment.

"First, Sakura," he continued to sob, "a- and then 'tachi, and then- and then Hin- nata,"

Naruto simply sighed, tilting up the prince's chin so that he could look into glassy crimson eyes. The tomoe had stopped spinning so fast, but either the prince didn't know or didn't care that his bloodline was still active.

"Look, I'm sorry," he comforted, brushing the hair away. "I shouldn't have pushed you so hard. But you said something earlier that I... kinda have to correct.

"You said earlier that I didn't know what it was like, to stare my dead loved ones in the face." Naruto kept looking at him, even when he looked away, somewhat ashamed. "You said earlier that I didn't know what it was like to know that the ones I love aren't coming back, no matter how much I try to avenge their deaths.

"I'm not gonna get mad, I'm not gonna get angry, but know this, Sasuke." Naruto's face went dead serious, a look that the teenager hadn't seen him pull before. "While I don't blame you for what happened to cause my parents' passing, there's no guarantee that I don't hold the same grudge against the Uchiha who did kill them. Should you ever give me any indication that you're going on the same path he did, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Sasuke nodded slowly, and just like that, Naruto's face softened, and he was comforting again.

"Again, I'm sorry for pushing you so hard." The blond sighed heavily. "But I have to know. It's been six years since her death... and yet, you were the one to find her. I have to know what you felt... if you even felt anything at all."

Sasuke tried to blink away the tears, and while he did so, he deactivated his bloodlimit, causing his eyes to go back to their normal black. "It hurts so much when I see her in my mind's eye," he admitted quietly. "But... but if you really want to know, then... I guess I could tell you some things I kept to myself from that day."

"Please do," Naruto encouraged.

The prince took a shaky breath. He opened his fists, only to reveal blades of grass still stuck to his sweaty palms. He brushed it off the best he could and turned to face Naruto. Taking a deep breath, he began with, "As you know, just before my thirteenth birthday, my father and I took a trip to one of the towns around Castle Point, Morino. It was there that we were ambushed."


A/N: Brace yourselves: Next chapter is gonna be fully backstory!

And yes, Hinata is going to only be in love with Naruto. We've got some kinda strange love-triangle at this point between them, but just remember: NaruHina is endgame. (I'll take any and all Endgame jokes here, and nowhere else.)

Please tell me what you thought, feel free to speculate, and I'll see you next week.