Part 2: Shippuden Era, F is for Found Family
Summary: Because even recovering war heroes need help.
He figured it out, why his doorbell kept constantly ringing—so much so that he'd had to leave his door unlocked most of the time.
They were on a rotating basis, his visitors.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, the guys always came over. And while Naruto appreciated the thought and the efforts, they always got in the way more than actually helped him.
"Stop complaining or I won't come over anymore," Kiba threatened.
"I wasn't complaining!" Naruto protested. He looked around at his even messier apartment. The guys were supposed to have cleaned the apartment for him because he was having trouble doing it all one-armed.
Instead, cards were strewn all over the living room floor, leftover plastic bags of potato chips littered the sofa, and paper plates were haphazardly squished into his trash bin.
"I'm just saying, Kiba, if you're going to bring me food, don't bring me the kind that I need to eat with both hands because obviously, I can't do it." They both glanced at the space where his arm should be. "Are you going to feed it to me?"
Knowing Kiba hated being teased, Naruto blinked his eyes flirtatiously and then opened his mouth.
"Ahhhh," he said, waiting for Kiba to chopstick-feed the rice into his mouth.
"Stop it!" Kiba yelled and resolutely folded his arms while Shikamaru beside him snorted with laughter.
Lee, though, took it seriously and picked up the chopsticks. "Yes, Naruto! You need energy to help you recover quickly and be ready for the surgery Tsunade-sama has planned."
Lee then quickly shoveled the rice into Naruto's mouth, making him almost choke.
"Lee!" he gasped as he pushed away at his friend's arm. "You have to let me swallow first before you put more in my mouth!"
"That is a statement I never want to hear you say aloud ever again," Shino said gravely.
Kakashi and Iruka took turns coming over on Fridays.
"Kakashi-sensei, I wish you would come over every day and cook. You always make the best grilled fish!"
"I'm already struggling to read my books and be Hokage, Naruto," Kakashi only replied. "I just don't have the time to babysit you. Besides, nobody's paying me to become your personal chef."
But they grinned at each other over the kitchen table, where Kakashi discussed his plans to rebuild Konoha with Naruto while they ate their simple meal together. Naruto, aware that he was expected to pay attention because this was part of his Hokage training, asked pertinent questions that made his former captain look at him with pride in his eyes.
Iruka-sensei was a terrible cook. So he did the next best thing by delivering Ichiraku's ramen to Naruto instead.
He learned to eat ramen one-handed—with a fork. When Iruka asked why, Naruto explained, "The guys always try to feed me, and I just don't want them to be waving sharp things around my face, almost poking me in the eyes. If I wanted that, I think I can do the same thing by myself with just the one arm I have."
Iruka nodded with sympathy.
As they waited for the ramen to cool enough so that Naruto could eat it, they reminisced about his memories of Jiraiya and then Tsunade's retirement. They talked more about how things were going to change in the future. Iruka-sensei had always been a good listener, and Naruto found it easy to unburden his thoughts with the first person who ever acknowledged his worth.
"Yeah, no question about it. I love my dad," Naruto said quietly, but then he blew some more on the steaming cup of tea Iruka made for him. "I know it was a very brief moment, but having him beside me during the war really helped a lot." He sighed. "I just hated having to say goodbye to him when it was all over."
"At least you got a chance to say goodbye." Iruka smiled, and Naruto noticed the flicker of sadness he tried to hide. "As you know, not many people get the chance to have that type of closure."
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Ino and Sakura usually came over after their shifts at the hospital. While they were neater and more efficient than the guys, they were more ruthless and sugar-coated nothing.
"Ugh, what a mess!" Sakura commented when she surveyed his apartment. She then plopped a whole bunch of unappetizing food pills on his table. Naruto looked at them with dread, knowing he needed to find a way to get rid of some of them. He just couldn't eat them all. He'd taken to dumping the rest of the pills in his flower pots. Sakura meant well because those things were obviously healthy—judging by the state of his plants. Unfortunately, her food pills were going to be the death of him.
Ino, meanwhile, was already placing some of the flowers she'd picked into the vase she'd gifted him. Today, she'd brought a colorful mix of carnations and daisies. Already, they brightened up the room.
"Now sit down." And then Sakura proceeded to poke and prod him with her medical equipment to make sure he was healthy and healing.
Ino did her inspection mentally as she entered his mind with her family's technique, probing for the trauma that he always tried to hide.
In the privacy of his mind, she coaxed him gently and slowly to open up, but she responded with sympathy each time he refused. "I don't think I'm ready yet, Ino?"
"I know," she said with a sigh. Then she smiled. "But I'm not giving up on you. When you're ready, I'll be here to listen."
"Thank you."
Her smile grew bigger. "Actually, we're all here for you if you need us."
Then they would both return to the physical world where Sakura would be waiting and the girls would share a secret look that he could never interpret.
But for some reason, his heart always started pounding when he thought about Saturdays.
That was the day Hinata came over.
He always felt bad as he watched her helplessly because she would clean his apartment—all the mess that had accumulated from everyone's visits.
Naruto made sure to explain that it wasn't his mess alone she was cleaning up, that he was not normally this messy, and that the garbage she was tying up in a bag was from the impromptu party that Lee had instigated in his tiny apartment.
"I couldn't say no," he said as he swept the remaining piece of trash into the dustpan with one arm. "He just wanted everyone to be happy."
"I know," she said, smiling as she wiped the table. "Kiba and Shino always tell me what goes on—almost like a warning for when I come over. Then Sakura and Ino always give me advice on what else needs to be done to help with your medical care."
"Still, I feel bad that you're forced to do it."
"Oh, but I wanted to do it!" The protest came out before she realized what she'd said. When she did, the flush came over her face, but then she smiled reassuringly and said, "It's fine, really."
And he would watch again as she tied her hair up in a ponytail and then proceeded to efficiently help him clean up the living room and the kitchen.
In the beginning, she used to bring her younger sister with her.
"Gross! This place reeks of stinky feet and boys!" Hanabi exclaimed as soon as they walked inside his apartment.
"Hanabi! Stop that!" Hinata, flushing with embarrassment, scolded her younger sister. But Naruto laughed and winked at Hanabi who only grinned back at him. He didn't mind because he loved how honest and brutal Hanabi was. No wonder Konohamaru was always singing her praises.
And he noticed, too, that Hanabi only said those things to make her older sister forget her nervousness when she was around him. Hinata was jittery and unsure when it came to him, but with Hanabi, she made sure that her baby sister was acting properly and wasn't being outrageous. It kept her busy and made it easier for the both of them to talk to each other directly without much of the awkwardness that seemed to pervade them when they were together.
Plus, Naruto liked that about them, that Hinata constantly mothered Hanabi, which made it so enjoyable to watch the back and forth between the sisters. It reminded him a lot of his own relationship with Konohamaru.
Eventually, Hinata became comfortable enough to come over by herself.
"I made some cookies, I hope you don't mind," she said with an excited smile as soon as he opened the door. She was holding up a bag that smelled buttery and sweet, causing his stomach to answer with a growl.
He grinned at her and opened the door wider so she could come inside.
After the surgery, the visits gradually stopped. Having the peace and quiet of his apartment brought him some relief, but he admitted to himself that he did miss everyone's company. He was back to his old routine, going on missions and hanging out with everyone whenever they would meet up in town.
And after spending so much time with her in his apartment, he noticed that not having Hinata in there gnawed at him. For some reason, the absence of her in his place bothered him so much that he started seeking her out instead.
Most days, when he wasn't so busy with his own missions, he'd stop by the Hyuugas and ask whether she was home.
"I've come to repay you for all the help you gave me when I was recovering from my wounds," he announced when Hinata came out to meet him at the gates.
She smiled first then asked, "Have you done the same for the others?"
He looked at her guiltily, realizing that he'd never even entertained the thought of asking the others out to join him for a meal at Ichiraku to repay them for all their help. "Uh, no?"
Her eyes widened, surprised by his honesty. "Only me?"
"Yes?" he answered, grinning because he was starting to really like that startled expression on her face.
"Okay, then."
He beamed at her. "Awesome!" Then he waited expectantly to come out from behind the gate.
"Oh, you mean right now?!" she squeaked.
"Yup!"
Eventually, she did reluctantly step from behind her hiding place and they walked together to Ichiraku.
Afterward, struck by the feeling of not wanting her to go home just yet because he wanted to prolong the evening with her, Naruto invited her to go shopping with him.
"You know, for the others," he explained with an awkward rub at the back of his neck. "You mentioned earlier, that I should probably repay everyone for helping me when I was armless. Maybe I should get everyone a gift, but I just don't know what. I don't really have experience with these things."
Her face cleared. "Of course, Naruto! I would love to help you."
He had so much fun that night, almost like…they were on a date.
A date.
He gazed at her happy face as she reached for what she thought would make a perfect gift for Ino and Sakura. He listened attentively when she pointed out that the store would even engrave names on items to make the gift more personalized.
All the while, the idea of spending an evening on a real date with Hinata made his mind explode.
When he walked her back home, laden with bags of gifts for the others, he refused her offer to walk back to his place so that he could unburden his haul, and then she could walk back home by herself from his apartment.
He wanted to do this properly.
"Tonight was fun," he said when he was saying goodbye.
She smiled at him before she nodded in response. "It was!"
She'd been expecting him to then turn around and leave. Instead, her eyes widened when he placed the shopping bags on the ground and looked at her solemnly.
"Thanks for helping me out with the gifts, Hinata."
"I was happy to do it."
"Then you wouldn't mind if we do it again?"
She blinked in surprise. "Huh?"
He cleared his throat. "You know, properly, next time. Like a real date."
"A date?!"
And he took a deep breath and said, "Yes. With no pretext this time."
She blinked when she realized the meaning behind his words. "No…no pretext? You want to go on a real date? With me?"
"I do. I mean it." He took a step forward, his gaze on her face eager.
Then Hinata beamed at him, and he realized he would never forget that joyful expression on her face for as long as he lived. That when she smiled at him, he felt like a hero again for making her feel so happy that she was twinkling before his eyes.
"Oh, Naruto! Of course, I would love to!"
And with both hands, he reached for hers and squeezed gently. "Thank you, Hinata." They smiled at each other. "For everything."
