Author's Note: Here's another chapter of this for you! The story is starting to come to a close and these chapters are shorter than my other stories so I was able to get this one out a little faster. I did just start a new job so getting back into the writing and working groove is a lot, but I'm enjoying doing this stuff again. Hope y'all enjoy the super awkwardness that is the following chapter!

Chapter Seventeen

Hinata knocked on her father's door and let herself in at his invitation. He sat at his low table where he usually took tea and looked out onto the garden.

"Please, have a seat," he said, gesturing to the cushion next to him. Hinata nodded and folded her legs under her. When he didn't say anything for a few minutes she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw he was staring thoughtfully out into the garden.

"Himiko-san said you wished to see me, Father," she said quietly.

"Indeed," he replied, going silent once again. She waited politely for him to continue. This was incredibly unusual as his formal meeting requests usually had a specific and concise purpose, but she was not brash like her sister and would follow the proper etiquette required of her.

"I had an interesting conversation with some of the elders this morning. They were a bit… agitated."

Hinata furrowed her brows. She knew what her father was saying meant they had been just short of hysterical. Her clan was so focused on rebuilding since the war that there hadn't been much lately that worked them up. Was there trouble in the clan?

"They've always been rather oversensitive when it came to matters concerning you - even after Hanabi was made the heiress - but I have to admit that what they had to say was shocking even to me."

So it had to do with her? What could she have done to upset the elders this time? She'd simply been working and training lately. She'd even received a commendation on her last mission so she knew she wasn't performing poorly.

"It seems they heard from someone that you have been having a, erm, relationship of sorts with the last Uchiha."

Dread coursed through her at the way her father stumbled over the word 'relationship.' It wasn't even true, but she wanted to shrink into the floor and disappear at the thought of her father and the clan elders heatedly discussing her supposed sex life.

"Now, initially I was skeptical, but they had multiple sources of information and so I realized we needed to have a discussion."

"Father - " Hinata tried to interject, but Hiashi held up his hand.

"Please, let me finish. This clan hasn't always treated you well. And I realize that times are changing and that the newer generations have their own ideas of what constitutes a relationship. Uchiha-san is a strong young man. His past is unfortunate, but he seems to be doing well reintegrating back into the village and both Hatake-san and Uzumaki-san seem to have inspired his loyalty. He is the last of his clan, but his was a well known and powerful clan so he would make a fitting suitor, not to mention a sire to strong grandchildren."

Hinata's head was getting lighter and her vision began to dim, but she didn't want to faint.

"I had intended to talk with you this week to let you know I approved of the match and merely ask that certain courting proprieties be followed. Children, however strong, from a relationship should come into a proper environment and children are an inevitable conclusion of such… activities."

Her face felt like it was on fire and she kept telling herself this was a nightmare and wasn't really happening. She had simply fallen asleep while waiting for Naruto and her mind had concocted some horrible scenario from all her anxiety and her conversation with Hanabi the other day.

"I should let you know that Uzumaki-san is seated in our formal waiting area. Which brings me to the reason I called you in here before what I can only assume from his attire and offering is a date. I would approve of Uzumaki as a potential suitor for similar reasons as the Uchiha. His strength helped save the world, he comes from good parentage, and he is on a path to be both Hokage and an important figure in the entirety of the Allied Nations."

Hiashi paused and sighed. Hinata looked at him and noticed he looked both tired and entirely uncomfortable.

"If I could just - " she tried again, but he shook his head.

"You have become a beautiful young woman, my daughter. You look so much like your mother. I just never thought I would need to worry about you having relations with multiple men at once. You always seemed so proper and shy. When you were younger your teammates would have to carry you home sometimes simply because Uzumai-san looked your way. I certainly never imagined it would come to this.

"But what I'm trying to say is I'll support your relationship, whichever you choose. As both the clan head and your father I think it is within my rights to at the very least request that you discontinue relations with one of them. I do not want a paternal scandal should you wind up pregnant. And the elders will support whichever match as long as some of the proper etiquette is followed. I just ask that you make your decision soon. Now, I do not want to keep Uzumaki-san waiting any longer than we already have so I will let you leave. Please think on what we discussed."

Oh Kami, she'd never even kissed anyone outside of the occasional mission and now her entire clan thought she was sleeping around out of wedlock with two of the most powerful men in the shinobi world?! She wanted to correct him, to tell him how wrong everyone's assumptions were - about everything going on - but she was so stunned and mortified that all she could do was nod and walk dazedly out the door.

She made it to the formal sitting room on autopilot and when she slid open the shogi door, saw Naruto shoot up off his seat with a bouquet of irises in hand. He smiled nervously at her and she tried to smile back, but instead remembered all the inappropriate things her father thought she was doing with the man in front of her and finally blacked out completely.

I'll get working on the next chapter (and my other stories)! Let me know what you thought!