-…Konoha, front gate; 12:00 pm…-
"Sir you can't go in without a pass." Izumo got in the way of a stranger who attempted to just waltz into Konoha trough the front gate.
"I need to speak to the hokage." The old man looked at him strictly.
"I understand sir, but you have to wait to be approved for entrance."
"I don't have time to wait!" The man pulled his arm out of Izumo's grip several times, causing the guard to get in his way and send him flying a few meters back into the dust. "Sir I can have you cleared if you will wait..!"
He didn't notice that from the forest, more and more people were approaching. Kotetsu ran out of the booth and shook his friend by the shoulder, whose mouth dropped upon seeing the enormous crowd coming their way. "Shut the gate?"
"Shut the gate." He confirmed dazed by the sight.
A few minutes later, the large crowd of pissed off civilians was yelling out accusations against Naruto. He killed their farms and livestock, he starved their children, he took their markets, he destroyed their schools, ruined their lives. To them, the blonde smiling kid Izumo and Kotetsu knew, may as well have been the devil himself.
-…Hokage's office; 9:05 pm…-
Ruckus in Naruto's office got so loud no one was listening to anyone else. Everyone was attacking Naruto with their demands at the same time. "Brilliant." Shikamaru was the only one standing behind his desk, looking out the window at the people gathering around Konoha, with begrudging admiration for the person who thought this up.
"What do you mean brilliant?!" Naruto was obviously upset.
"How do you defeat a shinobi village?"
"Huh?" Naruto didn't follow.
"You send people they can't kill after them. They know we can't just deal with this crisis diplomatically over night, and we certainly can't use violence... Brilliant."
"Naruto how will we treat the death threats?" Sai who was supposed to report back to the gate asked him.
"Naruto we can't just postpone..." "I was talking first..!" "If we could just..!"
Naruto pressed his forehead to his palms, with everyone in the room talking at the same time once again.
"Naruto some of them need medical attention!" Sakura who was among them a few moments ago felt the most urgency to get approval to go out there.
Naruto abruptly got out of his chair and stood by Shikamaru facing the window. Everyone went quiet realizing he's not responding to them.
"It's going to rain." He looked up at the sky.
"Not our problem." Sasuke remarked, frustrating Sakura who was trying to achieve the opposite. She shot him a glare that he ignored on purpose.
"I am their hokage as well." Naruto said calmly, though this wasn't technically true.
Shikamaru who was just looking out the window pressed his forehead against the glass exasperated. "Naruto you can't house all of them."
"I can house 90 right here."
Everyone in the room looked at him bewildered.
"You're not serious." Shikamaru faced him.
"I'm not letting them freeze out there!"
"You do realize they are here for your head?" Kiba interjected.
"What do they know?" Naruto looked at Sai and Sakura who just came from there.
"Trading paths and markets got closed. These people claim they will lose everything by the end of next year, unless something is done." Sakura explained.
"They think you're gearing up for a coup' and have a hand in this. It's why they came here to demand their rights." Sai added.
Naruto looked at Sasuke now obviously frustrated.
"We were hit much less than other areas on purpose." Sasuke explained, his jaw clenched. He didn't see this coming and it was obviously killing him. "They went hungry, turned to the capitol, the capitol pointed the finger at us."
"We can explain everything to them." Naruto was still set on his intention to bring these people inside.
"Naruto…" Shikamaru began lazily, while internally cursing Kakashi for leaving him here alone.
"No." Naruto cut him off sternly. "Those are the people we are meant to protect! Our countrymen and women. Now think... How can we really help them?" He spoke to everybody in the room.
No one said anything…
Finally Shikamaru responded."You'd need a booming market, huge temporary housing area, thousands of workplaces and an open trading road with heavy import of all imaginable goods to actually help these people. Otherwise you're just postponing a disaster." He still had every intention of talking Naruto out of it.
"So… Like a festival?" Naruto responded confused.
Choji asked. "The fall festival? Here?"
"Fall festival?" Sakura's eyes widened.
"My family goes every year. It's an annual event that capitol can't hold if they don't have supplies, right? I mean you can't have it without cotton candy and seed markets and the fireworks and.." Choji numbered using his fingers.
"The fall festival." Naruto smiled his eyes growing.
"Maybe if we open a back channel for foreign merchants from other 4 nations, salvage what we have, redirect all our construction immediately…" Shikamaru stared at the floor, that absent look in his eyes. There will be interest... This is the biggest trading event of the year, so the starting capital can't go bellow million yen for the farmers alone, we're talking allied investors who are already losing money on this, security aid from Suna...
"Shika is on board!" Naruto put his hand on his shoulder with a determined grin. Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts, nervously realizing there was no going back after seeing that insane, steely look in Naruto's eye.
"You are talking about opening the whole village to a million people for at least a week." Sasuke objected.
But it was too late. Naruto was holding up the shadow clone sign.
Everyone tried to run, but it was too late. 70 clones appeared in the room, pushing everyone to move and shuffle uncomfortably. Five clones began to give out commands, the loudness returned, they exited trough doors and windows, and the room emptied pretty quickly. The clones spread out yelling out commands throughout the village, gathering as many shinobi as they could and soon they were knocking on doors asking people if they were able to offer civilians a place to stay for a while. Hyuuga were all sent to the gate to examine the chakra networks of the people being let in, making sure those were genuine civilians. They would have to have undeveloped networks and much weaker chakra flow to be believed. On the towers, the guards could see some of the "civilians" turn back as word spread of people being examined for advanced chakra networks.
"They can easily infiltrate a festival once it starts." Sasuke objected.
"They won't open war on us with civilians around. Sabotaging this could end in a country-wide riot." Shikamaru was obviously converted now.
"I'm not worried about a military, but spies." Sasuke warned.
"Then do your job asshole." Naruto slumped into his chair.
"Stop tying my hands behind my back dumbass." Sasuke looked really irritated.
Shikamaru saw how informal these two were when no one else but him was in the room, and couldn't help but notice Naruto was the one who actually provoked it.
"What do you want from me?" The blond hokage spread his arms, palms in the air, as if giving up.
"If you're going through with this idiocy, crisis alert on level 4, a curfew until the festival opening, free shake downs, ally aid and a temporary police force."
Shikamaru began. "Sasuke you know how the police force was disbanded. There is no way.."
"He can bypass the council in crisis on 4." Sasuke interrupted while still staring at Naruto.
"He has to justify it first."
"And he can." Sasuke didn't give up.
"Yeah, yeah! Ok… Help me justify crisis alert 4 and you'll get you your police." Tired annoyed Naruto gave Sasuke thumbs up with one hand, before he loosely hung it off his chair.
Sasuke was about to leave.
"Hey!"
The raven haired shinobi looked at him, by his nervous expression, knowing what Naruto was going to ask. "Any word?"
"No." Sasuke responded regarding the last set of spies he sent after Kakashi.
Naruto pulled on a drawer in his desk, took out a tin can of that disgusting, cold, sugar free coffee and threw it at Sasuke. This one caught it and left the room.
"You want?" He offered the second can to Shikamaru who shook his head no.
From the other side of the door, they heard muffled sounds of a conversation.
Temari who ran into Sasuke was actually asking the most random questions, confusing him and just as he grew suspicious enough to think something is up, she pissed him off by pressing her hand to his mouth looking at him completely serious, before she said. "Mm, that was nice." A bit louder, smudged her lipstick and walked on towards Naruto's office with an innocent smile on her face, wiping her hand on a handkerchief. Sasuke immediately got the hell out of there. He wanted nothing to do with this and made a mental note to stand away from Temari in the future.
On the other side of the door Naruto and Shikamaru stared at her in shock and then Shikamaru started laughing. "Hahahahha! You don't seriously think I will believe that?!" She's so cute!
Temari looked a bit surprised and quickly took out her mirror fixing her lipstick, her face returning to that appearance of fake confusion. "Believe what?"
As he was laughing he turned wondering what she did to Sasuke and saw him exit the building, with red color smudged on the side of his lips. He immediately stopped laughing and looked at Temari, color draining away from his face.
"I am leaving for Suna tonight, I was told you have a message for my brother Naruto."
"Uhm.. Yeah I… The festival." Naruto got himself together." We need back up! As many people as you can give us, we're on alert level 4 as of tomorrow."
"I'll let my brother know." She bowed and exited the room, quickly followed by angry Shikamaru.
-…Konoha Village Front Gates; 11:39 pm…-
"We all heard stories you were a hero hokage Naruto, we're sorry for thinking otherwise!" A group of girls surrounded Naruto's clone who was just visiting to inspect how the Hyuuga were dealing with everything going on. "I'm so sorry girls, but I have to get some really important information from my comrades." He grinned blushing.
"No!" They protested. "Visit me." One winked.
But Naruto jumped over them still waving and smiling as they watched him walk away and called him to come back.
"Naruto!" Hinata blushed and bowed.
"How's it going here?"
"There are 5 families still left."
"Still 5?! No one has any more space?"
"No one else volunteered since you last visited."
"How many people is left?
"T-twenty seven."
"I can't take anyone, I'm already sleeping on the floor." He sighed.
"I-I was going to take the last remaining ones." Hinata admitted. "I just didn't think there would be… This many…"
"You? I mean Sasuke's house is pretty big, I guess..?"
"Have you spoken to him?" Naruto has previously promised to consult Sasuke about taking people in, so Hinata wouldn't have to leave her post.
"Suuuure! He's ok with it!" Naruto grinned lying trough his teeth. He totally forgot.
"R-really? And this many?" Hinata was rather surprised since she was sure Sasuke wasn't the type of person to be this charitable, or even tolerant of random people living in his house for that matter.
"Oh yeah! Ecstatic!" Naruto grinned patting Hinata's shoulder as he led the red faced girl towards her new roommates.
-…Uchiha Household, bedroom; 3:33 am…-
Sasuke hit the light switch above her nightstand and leaned over sleeping Hinata mildly pinched her cheek awake. She opened her eyes and he stood back allowing her to lift her upper body and look at him. "Hmm?" She asked, her voice faint and high pitched, as she was not yet fully awake, wobbling ever so slightly on her outstretched arms that supported her.
"Who are those people?"
"The civilians." She tried opening her eyes.
"Why are they here?" Sasuke glared at her.
Hinata blinked confused and paused. "To stay until the festival."
"You went behind my back. 27 of them!" Despite restraining, Sasuke was upset far more than he normally would be over something like this. In the tired, overworked state he was already in, with Hinata being the cause on top of it… He seriously thought about kicking all of them out immediately.
Hinata finally came to, surprise growing on her face. "I thought you agreed... I'm sorry."
"What made you think that?" His eyebrows scrunched up, creating that deep crease in-between them, which was making him look even more menacing.
She paused, nervously bringing her closed palm to her chest, guilt really stinging her. "I asked a friend to ask you." I should have known!
"Who?"
Hinata shut her open mouth tightly, looking at him a bit nervous. Obviously she didn't think it was right to just rat Naruto out, since it all could have been a mix up and not his fault. She decided to take the blame and remained silent looking at Sasuke, still refusing to lie to him.
"I see." Sasuke's lids lowered a look of irritation still in those piercing eyes. He turned around discarding his sword to the side, exhaled taking off his flack jacket and headed for the bathroom. "Go back to sleep."
-…-
After he crawled in right behind her and hugged her, his anger has faded away and he just wanted to get some rest. Only under his palm, her abdominal muscles contracted rather unusually. What? Once, twice, three times… Sasuke slipped his palm under her body, grabbed a hold of her waist and in one move flipped her on her back while lifting himself on his elbow. His sharingan glistened in the dark surprising her. The shocked, wide eyed face looking back at him was wet with tears. No... "Stop that." His eyebrows furrowed. Don't…
"I'm sorry!" She quickly moved her hand from under the blanket and began to dry her eyes.
His chest actually hurt all of a sudden, this wasn't good. "I didn't mean to scare you." His breathing was restrained and shallow. He was tense and looked genuinely disturbed, at a loss as to how to fix it.
This finally displayed how Hinata remained looking so calm when most girls didn't. She was raised to think crying is a crime and got scolded for it. So she trained herself to let it out in the dark where nobody can see her. "I'm not scared I just feel bad… I'm sorry I cried!" Only now, Sasuke intruded on that privacy.
"Why?"
"You were so kind, and I did… this." She pressed her lips together, holding back more tears.
"You didn't do this." Sasuke didn't understand her logic.
"I didn't?" Her eyebrows rose.
"You think I'll let you protect that moron?" He said irritated, suddenly feeling relief confusion replaced the tears on her face.
"H-how do you know who..?" Hinata fully expected to take the fall.
"He's the only one not afraid of me." In a weird way, Sasuke appreciated Naruto for that.
"Oh…"
Her attempt to continue the conversation went ignored by Sasuke who placed his hand on her stomach, aching to get some sleep. "Turn around." His lids dropped half way while he still stared at her.
Suddenly, his touch felt large and heavy and weirdly comforting, like a second blanket... Her skin tingled lightly every where they made contact as she turned her back to him and he pulled her close. But Hinata didn't pay much attention. She forgot what that meant since all feelings around Naruto grew too strong, too fast. Fear, nervousness, imitation, obsession… Naruto was her ideal, almost like a totem. That was little Hinata's concept of love. She didn't remember how gently it started when she met that blonde little boy who protected her and got himself beaten up in the snow. So now, she attributed feeling the same things for Sasuke, to their closeness, her compassion, and a flood of protective feelings his statement provoked. In the silence that ensued, she wondered if this is really what he thought others felt about him. "I'm not afraid of you." She finally said.
Sasuke smirked. "So you did this?"
"No!"
He simply remained silent having fun with her believing him, all that weird happiness bubbling in his chest again.
-…-
"Sasuke?"
"Hm?"
"You forgot the ropes."
"Forget the ropes."
"Why?"
"You don'wanna know." He mumbled drifting back to sleep.
-…Konoha Hospital gates; 4:52 am…-
"Naruto?!" Sakura who was getting in on the early morning shift spotted her blonde friend waddling trough the street. The rising sun was reflected in the cold fog around him, creating a halo around Naruto who didn't seem like he knew where he was. He was still in a regular white T-shirt and inappropriately shabby sweatpants.
"Oh hey Sakura…" He smiled. He looked awful.
"What are you doing?" Sakura stared confused.
"Oh, I fell off my bed a few times, so I thought I can get some shut eye in…" He was pointing at the Hokage mansion, which wasn't very far from the hospital.
"Who is in your bed?"
"A kid… Kids." He mumbled drowsily.
"Naruto how many people did you take?" Sakura stared shocked.
"I don't know... Aaa" He suddenly yawned.
"Come with me."
"Why?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Just come Naruto!" She raised her voice annoyed and walked inside the building. Naruto who seemed a little drunk when he was this sleepy, just shrugged and followed Sakura straight to the 3rd floor hospital room. "This room is for medium risk patients and there is no reason it should fill up today." She brought him in. "Lie there." She pointed at the bed furthest from the door.
He obeyed smiling. "Sakura you're the awesomest." He thanked her as he pulled his blanket up.
"You can't just let people use you Naruto..!"
But Naruto snored interrupting her.
-…Konoha Hospital 1st floor hallway; 11:14 am…-
She nervously noticed when he came up, but Sakura kept her eyes to the chart, feeling the pressure of Sasuke's presence close in on her.
"Why is dumbass in the hospital?" Sasuke was calmly looking into her face.
"He overworked himself and took too many people into his apartment. He didn't sleep." She responded sighing, and then kept rewriting the wrong prescription, because her focus has dropped to zero.
"He's fine?"
"Yes." She turned to face him, but Sasuke already disappeared.
Sakura blushed and an air of sadness remained lingering on her face as she went about her work.
-…-
"What's up your butt?" Ino looked at her.
"I'm fine." Sakura got herself together and went back to the paperwork the two girls did together every day during lunch. This allowed them to clock out early and they found they enjoyed the time they started spending together consistently, after all these years of petty break ups of their friendship.
"Well ok then Miss Fine… Will you explain to me why you're executing your patient?" Ino stared at the paper Sakura was writing on.
This one's eyes grew wide and then she ran out of the room as fast as she could.
-…-
Sakura collapsed back on the chair in the cafeteria and looked at Ino sad and frustrated. "I think I really messed up with Naruto."
"Why?" Ino looked up from her work.
"He actually told me I need to stop talking to him about Sasuke." Sakura confessed obviously upset.
"Why would you be talking to him about Sasuke?!"
"I don't know! I feel like really hurt him this time…"
"I mean… Why are you still talking about Sasuke?"
"I'm not, I'm talking about Naruto!" Sakura complained.
"Sakura!" Ino forced her to stop dogging the question.
"I didn't do anything wrong." Sakura looked away annoyed.
"Sakura I love you, but I swear if you try to ruin Hinata's marriage…"
Sakura stared irritated. If only you knew...
"I'll tell Naruto on you." Ino cocked her head, threw her pen on the table for emphasis, smirked and crossed her arms indignantly.
"Oh yeah? What is Naruto going to do?"
"What Naruto always does?" She shrugged amused. "He'll make you feel like crap for being a bitch."
Sakura huffed blushing and kept working refusing to talk to her friend anymore.
-…Uchiha Household, garden; 1 day later,3:13 pm…-
People were all over the place. That mooching ninja cat Sasuke failed to get rid off was obviously enjoying the attention and lying around being petted by chattering women. "Come here kitty kitty kitty!" The little girl next to Sasuke's legs crouched and called the cat who was far more intelligent than any one of them could predict and simply ignored her sleeping in some woman's lap. He appeared behind a spread white bed sheet Hinata has just stretched to dry in the first burst of sunlight they've had for days. A group of women and girls in a knitting circle began smiling and looking over at Sasuke. Hinata looked at him when he appeared right in front of her.
"Whose is that?" He grabbed her wrist when she went to hang a pink male shirt Sasuke has never seen before.
"I'm not sure." She blushed a little.
"You're doing their laundry." He held onto her.
"Hm." She nodded.
"This is not a hotel." His eyebrows lowered.
"They promised to help out too." Hinata blushed.
Sasuke released her and looked at the women working on the porch. They immediately turned away from Hinata and him, trying to appear distracted.
"I don't see it." He turned back.
She looked at him a bit nervous. "They have to make clothes I guess…" In reality Hinata's request was ignored by those women who claimed they had to finish the outfits for the festival.
Sasuke turned around. "Come with me." Hinata, dropped the shirt back into the clean laundry basket and followed him inside ending up in the bedroom, the only room other than the study she has sealed to prevent access. Sasuke leaned against the wall his hands in his pockets and waited until she faced him. "If you don't make them pull their own weight, I'm kicking them out."
"They don't have enough tents." Hinata objected scared by the idea.
Sasuke smirked. "Then you better try harder."
She nodded. She knew he's right in the end. She couldn't let the lawlessness and the mess these people were making go on. And a part of her, a part she didn't really want to admit to herself right now, felt relieved Sasuke was willing to do this. It almost felt liberating to let him have control like she was naturally inclined to do, and thus shift full responsibility for what happens to these people, on him. It also immediately made her feel horribly guilty and she was determined to fix the situation. She was obviously nervous, conflicted and about to say something.
"That's not going to work." Sasuke interrupted, observing the confused, sheepish expression.
"Wh-why?"
"You have to look more intimidating." He waited to see what she was going to do. This was actually quite interesting to him. Hinata forced her face into a pseudo-angry expression that looked like she was trying push on something really hard. A small smile escaped him. He genuinely wanted her to handle these people herself, because if he had to, he feared he wouldn't have enough patience left to tolerate them for any reasonable length of time. Not on top of everyone that was landed in his hands already. He also couldn't admit that for some reason, he didn't feel comfortable with Hinata seeing him act cruelly, and he didn't trust himself not to be. He eyed her with a teasing smile and instructed. "Try serious." Hinata blinked and then fixed her face as best as she could. She was good at serious. Blank... "Now try scaring me." This time her fake anger looked a lot better, but Sasuke actually couldn't take it seriously. That's what made it so amusing. He looked up above her head smiling, which discouraged Hinata. "That." He confirmed not looking at her.
"You don't mean that." She was suspicious.
Sasuke fixed his gaze on her, deliberately staring in order to "break her" and make her look away. She didn't and was starting to really blush. "Imagine you're mad at Kato." He finally said smirking.
"I'm never mad at Kato."
"I always am!" Sasuke responded surprised.
"You don't mean that either." She finally smiled back, the genuine cheerfulness of it getting to him again.
Sasuke lowered his lids and got back on point. "You do it right with Kato." He explained calmly.
Hinata tried again, but Sasuke had to face the fact that he himself just couldn't see the scary. He's seen too much of her shyness, childlike honesty, selflessness, clumsiness, weakness, kindness… He's seen too much of all the weird that was Hinata Hyuuga, for his brain to be able to process this new expression. It was too damn innocent and Sasuke was getting out of there before he let himself discourage her again. "Don't force me to deal with them myself Hinata. You won't like it."
"I won't!" Her nervous high pitched voice came out more loudly than she intended.
-…Uchiha Household, living room; 3:30 pm…-
"Uhm, Mr. Amizawa, would you mind helping out the others with the bedding? Everyone is working really hard…"
The middle aged bachelor, who was sitting on the outside porch leaning on his knee, smoking a cigarette, huffed and responded under breath. "Fuck off." On his back he had an old, unmaintained sword he obviously barely knew how to use.
"We all have to help ou..!"
"I said… Fuck off you little…" He put out his cigarette and got up threateningly towering over Hinata. "Shinobi bitch."
Hinata's eyes grew wide with fear. But it wasn't he who intimidated the young girl, it was the huge black flame actively burning the entire back of his black, worn out hoodie. She panicked and in an effort to save this person from Sasuke, whom she couldn't even locate, she activated her byakugan and slammed her palm in the middle of his torso, directing her chakra to inflict the most pain, without blocking or hurting his body. He flew backwards and landed back first on muddy ground. The flames disappeared. "You have to help out!" She commanded loudly, her high pitched voice fully serious and threatening, just like it should have been. She was saving his life and this made her care enough to fight him. The man writhed in pain for a minute and as soon as he could, he got up off the ground and ran around the house towards the washroom, holding onto his stomach, completely terrified. All the remaining people who were hanging around, scurried away hurrying to do all the chores that had to be completed in preparation for the festival and to tend to the mess they created since they came in.
Hinata breathed quickly still excited and nervous, her whole body shaking. When she finally calmed down, she looked around.
She was alone.
-…-
Over the next few days, almost every time Hinata has failed to assert herself, she'd find the cause of even minor troubles, being literally roasted. At this point, they were all convinced their shy, sweet hostess had an ability to make fire with her anger, and poor Hinata had to throw people around attempting to put them out, and has even doused a few. The incidents were now very few and far between as Hinata has gone out of her way to become as assertive as she could possibly be, while most guests were sufficiently terrified, and even those among them who genuinely helped out and liked Hinata, began to fear she had some telekinetic anger management issues. She herself wasn't aware Sasuke had full control of the flames and was putting them out himself. He actually had to remind himself to keep the illusion going, because making Hinata kick "these idiots" around was beyond amusing for him.
The first time it happened, Sasuke was genuinely pissed off and lost control of himself. He happened to be walking by in the hallway, when he saw that filthy looking civilian get too close and threaten Hinata, trough half open doors. But seeing her fight to save him despite everything, Sasuke finally realized what pushed this girl into standing up to people who attack her… The desire to protect them. It boggled his mind, but it was useful. That's why he made sure he was in earshot and didn't mind taking little breaks when he was home, to freak poor Hinata out when she'd try to be too nice to those who don't deserve it.
He just woke up, lying behind her in bed, first morning sunlight coldly filling the still dimly lit bedroom. He's finally adjusted to her closeness and even found a way to roll her hair so he didn't have to breathe it in almost every morning. Holding onto her was beyond frustrating, even without him accidentally pulling his arm up to gently touch lower parts of her breasts, her unconsciously grinding her hips against his crotch which really came as a surprise the first time it happened, or just the scent of her hair, which was intoxicating. But it was also exciting, comforting, filled him with unusual energy he didn't experience before… It was the best part of his day. Sasuke was a creature of habit and began to wonder if he will eventually have trouble falling asleep when she finally leaves his bed.
Lately, he would wake up, but refused to move for a while. She didn't say anything, so he started indulging in those moments of laziness every morning, extending them bit by bit. They would lie there awake, relaxing, enjoying the silence the early morning hours offered as their only gift, wrapped by the warmth created by their bodies. Sasuke concluded it had to be her considerate kindness towards him that made her wordlessly allow for this practice to go on. The alternative, and the actual reality of the situation: that she was feeling genuinely cared for, slightly excited despite trying to deny it to herself, and somehow very safe, didn't come up as a reasonable possibility to Sasuke. He felt like he was stealing these moments from her, not sharing something made in understanding, trust and unspoken attraction.
She has finally decided to make her request and broke the silence herself, for the first time. "Good morning."
"Morning." He smiled. They've been lying there for about ten minutes, both awake and aware of it.
"Sasuke?"
"Hm?" He opened his eyes.
"Can you please stop burning people?"
He shifted slightly against her. "No."
"I realize what you're…Trying to do and thank you, but… I want to do this alone." Hinata turned red.
"I'm not doing it to aid you." He explained. She turned her head a bit and Sasuke let her go allowing her to roll on her back next to him. He then placed the same arm back over her stomach and propped himself up on his elbow.
"I know that." She looked down. "You must have heard what I did to Naruto…"
"What did you do?"
"You know… When I slapped…him?" She touched her pointer fingers together nervously, her hands peeking out from under the blanket.
Sasuke did not know that. His eyes widened. "Why?"
"He was going to give up." She looked at, now shocked, Sasuke. "During the war,I- I had to save him!" She added nervously, feeling the sudden need to justify her actions.
An unexpected smile spread on Sasuke's lips.
"I thought you knew."
"I wish I did…" He suddenly grinned as if about to laugh. How did I miss that?
"It's not funny." She pouted slightly annoyed.
He forced himself back to a mild smirk to cover up how funny this was to him. "I won't touch any of them anymore."
"Thank you." She forgave instantly feeling relieved by the promise.
"You earned it."
Hinata was quickly realizing he was just way too amused by her slapping Naruto. She tried to put the conversation back on course, she had something important to say. "It was more because of your support, you know. Always making me feel protected... It makes me feel like it's not so scary, even without you somehow." The smile on his face disappeared and he just stared at her. "And you did that always, since I came here." She looked at him dead serious, but turned red, making him blush a little in turn. "I just…Thank you." Confusion seeped into her gaze as she began noticing his cheeks change shade ever so slightly..? But in the next second Sasuke casually put his palm over her eyes. "Uhm-a!" She let out an incoherent sound as he gently pressed her head into the pillow. "Nh..Sasuke."
"Don't disappoint me then." He stopped moving and responded, watching her pull on his hand, trying to pry him off her eyes, which he was playfully covering.
"Ngh..! Let m..Mean!" She couldn't move him. Without chakra filtration, which was highly inappropriate with trivial matters like this, he was much stronger and obviously much more annoying when he messed with her. She pulled a quite a few times, but gave up and started smiling, with her palms still on the hand-claw that was stuck to her head. Somehow, despite not being able to see him, she knew that evil-looking, silly grin from moments before, was back on his face.
-…-
"Hinata."
"Hm?" She turned to look at Sasuke who quickly walked into the bedroom just as she was about to change out of her work clothes.
"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt." He went silent, crossed his arms and stood there leaning against the wall.
"Get out." Her eyebrows rose in confusion.
"I won't look." He just stood there, staring at her.
"Sasuke!"
"What?" He smirked.
"Out please!" She exclaimed all frustrated, red and panicky.
Sasuke slowly walked out.
-…-
"No that's my toothbrush." She corrected him early in the morning as they stood side by side drowsy and disheveled. But Sasuke continued to apply toothpaste and was about to put it in his mouth. "No!" Hinata reached and grabbed his forearm. She looked rather annoyed with him. Sasuke smiled and handed her her toothbrush, as if rewarding a kid with a lollypop. Hinata proceeded with her morning routine somewhat confused.
-…-
"Hinata I decided to kick them all out." Sasuke said after finishing his meal, that Kato joined in for. All the civilians filled the living room during lunch time, so the three remained in the kitchen.
"Why?" Kato and Hinata looked at him.
Sasuke shrugged looking dead serious.
"No, you can't!" Hinata shook her head alarmed by his coldness.
"Fine." He proceeded to wash his bowl with a smile.
What is he…?
-…-
"Hinata."
"Hm?"
Sasuke smirked and stared at her, not saying a word.
Her eyebrows nervously furrowed. "No."
He started laughing.
-…-
"Hinata." Sasuke leaned over the bed shirtless, staring at the girl who blushed a little attempting to avoid eye contact. He was a really attractive man. Hinata observed his clean shaven jaw for a moment, face improperly wiped, neck wet from washing. His biceps bulged as he leaned over the bed, supporting himself on outstretched arms. Sometimes looking at Sasuke was rather difficult, more difficult than she expected it to be after all this time anyway.
"Yes?" She had a book in hand with her nightlight on. She instinctively pulled the book to her, covering her chest with it. The guests were starting to move out and temporary markets have started to fill out. Some farmers have even gotten what they came for and headed home, while the house slowly emptied, as people moved to the newly built area, returning to its previous peaceful atmosphere.
"I need you to do something."
"Yes?" She blushed now avoiding eye contact.
"Ask your father to stop spying on us."
"I can't accuse father!" Hinata nervously looked at him. "I can't even visit now."
"You'd save me so many resources if he's ashamed of you."
"No, I can't, I'm sorry." Hinata faced him properly, obviously uneasy, but now firm in her response.
Sasuke smirked. The blush went right back on her face. He isn't asking seriously at all. "What are you doing?" She asked her eyes widening.
"Going to bed." Sasuke just climbed in and slipped under the blanket.
He saw her blush, he saw her look at him, and now so close and pulling her in, he was literally holding back from trying to seduce her. What held him back and satisfied this appetite, was the fact that he got her to simply say no to him. Sasuke was creating a bond, imbuing her with what he knew best. Freeing her and claiming her both at once... All while lying to himself he just needed to condition her to be more self reliant, so she can clear people out of his way.
-…Ninja Academy; 8:00 am…-
"Sis!" Hanabi ran up to her sister in the Academy courtyard. She saw her trough the window of an the upper floor and ran down to talk to her. "Are you the senior demonstrator?" She asked excited by the possibility of doing her mandatory teaching assignment for the Open Doors Day at the academy, with her sister, of all people.
"Hanabi."
"Wow you're well!" She smiled. "Mum wouldn't let me see you after you got discharged!"
"Don't worry." Hinata smiled holding onto her books a bit tighter.
"What are those for?" Hanabi looked at the stack in her arms. They were exclusively there to demonstrate taijutsu so the books made no sense.
"Uhm, well… I'm not here to demonstrate." Hinata admitted nervously.
"What are you here for then?"
"M-medical training class."
"Does father know?!" Hanabi's eyes grew wide.
"No, and you can't tell him!" Hinata warned urgently.
"Are you sure about this?!"
"Father wouldn't use my seal for such things…"
Hanabi seemed clearly uneasy about this whole thing, her sister's out-of-character willingness to rebel, going so far as to even calculate if their father would murder her for it... "Has it faded?" She looked at Hinata's forehead changing the subject.
"Some." Hinata nodded as her sister reached for her bangs moving them out of the way.
She then let go and stood in silence. "I won't tell anyone I saw you."
"Don't lie."
"Why?"
"Please, trust me. Just say I refused to tell you why I was here."
"Why would… Is father tracking you?!" Hanabi's eyes widened.
"I don't know." Hinata looked to the side in the direction of the Hyuuga compound and then turned to her sister, briefly touching her head. "Do your best." Worried, Hanabi nodded and Hinata hurried to enter the building.
-…-
"Hinata." Sakura asked her to come with her to the back of the class after she has revived her seventh fish in a row, while the rest of the class was still struggling over their first. "I don't think you belong here." Sakura whispered to her friend.
"I don't?" Hinata seemed disappointed.
"Hinata you aided me with people many times, I trust your abilities. This is rudimentary stuff only."
"I just wanted to sign up today." Hinata explained.
"Even if I did that, you can't remain with my trainees. You need a private teacher for the advanced stuff."
"Oh." Hinata nodded.
"I am in charge of beginners, I can sign you in but someone else has to take y… Why all of a sudden? I asked to teach you before." Sakura was rather confused.
Hinata leaned closer. "I need to be alive Sakura, I... For Naruto's sake, I can't let myself be on the front line." She looked down saddened.
Sakura's eyes widened. "And I would teach you myself!" She suddenly seemed completely serious and passionate about this. "I'm sure Ino would too if she knew!" She pressed her hand to her forehead trying to think. Hinata remained quiet. "I'll ask Naruto to tell Ino." Sakura spoke louder than she intended gesturing the idea as it popped into her head.
"Sakura…" Hinata was about to object. Telling people was no small thing.
"Yamanaka took her off everyday duty so she can become a full medic for now. We can get her on our side." Sakura put her hand on Hinata's shoulder trying to seem encouraging.
"She'd do that?" Hinata was very unsure about this plan.
"Just get Naruto to tell her! She can drop full hospital internship and do part time like I do. She's only doing it to compete with me anyway!" Sakura smirked.
"Get Naruto to tell her?"
-…The Hokage mansion; 12:35 pm…-
"No way!" Naruto objected once more.
"Hinata can be a great medic!"
"NO!" He yelled out even louder. "This is top secret Sakura. You can't just tell everybody… Really!" Of course the implications behind doing this were more than just telling Ino. Naruto didn't feel comfortable with Hinata wanting the same thing Sasuke was attacking him over. He didn't trust it.
"Well only Ino!" Sakura argued irritated. "Naruto, we never had a Hyuuga actually train as a medic. This could.."
Hinata was nervously standing there and reached out to get Sakura to stop.
"Hinata?!" Naruto turned to her, startling her, making her retract her hand.
"I-I do think that would be good, but I'll do my best to learn on my own if Ino cannot be told!" Hinata raised her voice as much as her shyness allowed, trying to end this argument.
"There! You'll learn on your own!" Naruto smiled.
"You can't learn that stuff on your own Naruto." Sakura angrily shook her head, her lips now pressed into a thin line.
Naruto sat back in his chair and went quiet. He stared at Hinata serious, trying to gage her reactions, long enough to make the poor girl turn completely red. "You talked to Sasuke?"
"Yes."
"And he's not forcing this?" In the end, if Sasuke really wanted to go this far, he'd have done it with a simple clan contract ban. Maybe she was telling the truth.
"No." Hinata had no idea Naruto meant legally.
He went quiet for a while longer. Too long... The doors opened and Shikamaru came into the room and approached, confused as to why all three were ignoring him. "Ok Sakura. You win." Naruto tenderly looked at her and smiled at his pink haired teammate. He himself trusted all of rookie 9 and didn't truly mind it. He knew it was nagging Shikamaru he was forced to deal with, that was his true payment for doing this.
"Thank you." Sakura blushed, bowed still looking somewhat irritated, and pulled Hinata out of the room moving as fast as she could.
"I leave for 10 minutes… What happened here?" He looked at Naruto.
"We're telling Ino about the marriage and the mission."
Shikamaru stared at Naruto, slowly inhaled, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
His headache was back.
-…BBQ joint; 10 days later; 18:22 pm…-
"Hurry, we've got 40 minutes left until curfew." Shikamaru warned Choji who was preparing to attack a huge platter of meat in front of him. The whole of Konoha, which was now built with all manner of festival displays and activities, which were now expanded outside the walls creating the largest temporary market, which attracted all investors who were convinced Daimyo was going to force them to lose money this year… That same Konoha which looked nothing like its old, private, peaceful self, was completely dead silent at sundown. This allowed for recounts, locking of the gates, internal work which required extra security and prevented nighttime infiltrations. Konoha police force was re-established hiring people from every clan, under control of police chief Guy. Guy was ridiculously motivated about the whole thing and Sasuke who was in charge of Naruto-chief Guy correspondence, didn't feel like he had to be too involved in the actual running of the place. He decided he liked teacher Guy.
"Gross." Ino interjected annoyed with Choji.
"Hoy, Sasuke!" Naruto called him over to the table where all of rookie nine were seated, except him.
"Is that blood?" Sakura noticed alarmed.
"He's fine." Naruto rolled his eyes annoyed with Sasuke for not having the decency to change out of his work clothes.
Sasuke silently sad down right next to Hinata in front of a pre-ordered plate and after making eye contact with everyone, turned to her, leaning in closer, speaking quietly, his breath in her hair. This made most people look away. The whole display looked quite intimate even though Sasuke hasn't intended it as such.
"Everyone's together again." Sai noted.
"Sai, pass the salat." Tenten reached out.
"So what's up with you two?" Ino who was the only one unaffected smiled teasingly, and leaned forward, staring at Sasuke who began his meal, and Hinata who looked at her lightly blushing.
"Ino I have something to tell you guys. Please just..!" Naruto gestured for her to lean back so he can speak to the whole table.
She gave him the evil eye as she pulled back into her seat.
"These are perfect!" Choji celebrated.
"Akamaru no!" Kiba warned his dog, whom the whole restaurant was eying uncomfortably.
"Everyone just shut up!" Sakura calmed the noise instantly. She of all people was anxious for this news to get out. She couldn't stand Ino treating Sasuke and Hinata as if the marriage was real. She didn't want to acknowledge it was Sasuke who was making her far more uncomfortable than Ino was.
"Yes, thank you Sakura." Naruto coughed. "Shikamaru and I were talking…"
"There's your problem." Ino grinned at her lazy teammate who looked at her annoyed.
"Ino!" Sakura warned.
Now Ino rolled her eyes.
"As I was saying!" Naruto emphasized. "Shikamaru and I were talking and have decided to rearrange the internal circle information network."
"To what?" Lee asked.
"To all of you."
"Really?" Choji actually stopped eating.
"We don't intend to bring you in on all the decisions, but you will begin working as extensions of the hokage office in Konoha. New information has come to light and the circumstances changed. We have devised a plan of action and need you all to help."
"What plan?"
"Sai this is a BBQ joint." Sakura objected.
Sai quickly wrote down. Not appropriate to ask about mission in BBQ joints. Ino who was sitting next to him laughed.
"Sasuke, what do you think?" Sakura asked him.
"That this is ranked S, and half of you should get killed." Sasuke responded leaving his food alone.
The table immediately went quiet.
"We're shinobi. That's ok." Hinata responded quietly and calmly looked up at him.
Now everyone was staring at her in slight surprise. Sasuke moved his head slightly sideways and eyes all the way to the left to look at her. A micro movement of his lips betraying the smile he held back.
"Yeah..." Ino finally nodded a fierce look in her eye.
"We're all jonin here." Shino joined in.
"No one will die." Naruto looked very annoyed.
Sasuke moved his eyes from Hinata directly to Naruto who looked as determined and as naïve as ever. That's the part of Naruto's "idiocy" he most respected, even though it provoked him to insult his hokage every time.
"So where will we meet for the mission details?" Shino asked.
"Here." Shikamaru responded sighing. "This place will close when the curfew hits. It will empty and we'll have it to ourselves."
"And how will we get home?" Ino seemed skeptical.
"Sasuke runs the new police force, there will be officers escorting you… Except Shino and Kiba, you're on towers tonight." Naruto added smirking and threw their passes in front of them.
Shino took his and Kiba looked a bit annoyed. "Maybe I should be a medic too." He mumbled under breath resentfully.
"Sasuke congratulations." Ino blushed looking at him. "Do you guys have uniforms?" She smiled teasing again. Now both Sakura and Tenten perked up, staring at Sasuke, lightly blushing.
Sasuke stared back at them a bit annoyed and refused to answer the question. Sai crossed out the note he wrote down earlier. Not appropriate to ask about mission in BBQ joints. Adding: Wear uniform
-…-
"I'm still hungry!" Choji put his face on his fist complaining.
"Choji we're starting."
"Well just..!"
"NO!" Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Kiba responded at the same time.
"Good night." The owner bowed and handed the keys to Shikamaru who was escorting him across the room.
"Thanks again Mr. BBQ Man!" Naruto grinned waving.
The man nodded politely and left.
"So… We first have an important piece of information to share."
Shikamaru approached and sat next to Naruto at the table.
"For political reasons… We asked Hinata-not demanded!" Naruto added nervously. "T-to well… Marry Sasuke."
No one said a word for a while. Naruto looked like a prisoner on death row.
"Why?" Ino asked, her face in utter shock.
"We needed her grandfather's connection to gain majority vote in the council." Shikamaru responded seeing how Naruto appeared rather incapacitated.
"So this whole time, you guys weren't..?" Tenten asked.
"No." Hinata responded calmly.
The questions were one by one fired from every direction and the chatter picked up again with one exception. Kiba wasn't moving, the dark angry expression on his face was emanating hatred directly at Sasuke who finally looked at him. And all it took was that one second of eye contact. Kiba jumped out of his seat and hurled at Sasuke, knocking over the few glasses still left on their table. Everyone was on their feet and Sasuke was gone, standing a few feet away from Kiba who broke the part of the seat Sasuke was on, right next to Hinata.
"Kib..!" Hinata stared in shock.
"You piece of shit!" Kiba fired from that position, his claws growing, trying to get his hands on Sasuke's face. But everyone was now holding him back.
"Please!" Hinata called out trying to calm her friend.
"What did you do?!"
Sasuke stood there wordlessly.
"Nothing!" Hinata ran out in front of him, standing in between him and Sasuke.
"Don't cover for him Hinata!"
"I swear to you on my honor as a shinobi." Hinata looked at him serious, desperate to calm the situation. He still struggled against all the people holding him.
Sasuke took a few steps forward and lightly touched Hinata's back with a part of his torso, obviously and purposely standing so close, now looking down at her. He provoked Kiba out of spite, felt slightly excited and possessive of her for a moment, simply happy about the way she reacted. But this action also served to prove Sasuke's point to everyone. She was clearly on his team. Hinata turned her head looking up at him and when they made eye contact, Sasuke bent down placing his ear closer to her mouth. "He smelled something… I think." She quickly whispered, hoping she didn't have to repeat it more loudly, as Sasuke didn't get close enough for a whisper.
The room was quiet again.
"Is that possible?" Sasuke's eyebrows lowered.
They were staring at this intimate display of collusion in shock, including Kiba who stopped struggling.
"He can always tell." Hinata responded a bit more loudly since Sasuke stood straight.
"Tell what?" Confused Naruto asked.
Sasuke was about to speak, but Hinata cut him off. "It has to be a mistake, Sasuke was always nice to me." She spoke just like she's become used to speaking to her guests. With a hint of determination and strength in her normally thin voice. This change of pace in her assertiveness was now a bit more apparent to everyone, even though it wasn't so obvious to be remarked on thus far. Hinata felt responsible to face her best friend herself… And actually did.
"What mistake?" Tenten asked.
"Sasuke was nice?" Lee raised an eyebrow.
She looked determined to cover for him and appeared almost calm. Sasuke was so proud of her, he had to restrain from looking smug. He quickly reached with the hand that was hidden by Hinata's body and gathered a handful of the hair that was falling long down to her lower back, took hold and pulled very gently, without moving her head, while bringing his mouth too close and whispering into her ear. He knew he was really pushing it at this point, but the affection for her and the power he felt in this moment, was too delicious to pass up on. Hinata's eyes widened and her face turned tomato red as he spoke. Sasuke knew exactly what Kiba could have smelled to make him this angry.
"Hey!" Kiba looked back and forth from one to the other, getting Hinata's attention. "Hey, hey stop that!"
"Our clothes mixed, it's possible you smelled that." Sasuke began speaking loudly into Hinata's hair as he moved his head away from her.
"Clothes don't "mix"!"
"Mix? Someone explain this right now!" Naruto was now irritated as well, but with all of them.
"Kiba can smell when..People interact." Hinata forced herself to look at everyone. Normally she wouldn't be able to even speak in this state.
"Don't insult me Hinata!" Kiba scolded her angrily. "I know what I fucking smelled!"
"Kiba..." Hinata's eyebrows rose and she looked at him sincerely, her blush intense, but slowly fading. "We just sleep in the same bed." She explained hoping he will stop this and allow her to finish the conversation in private.
"Why?!" Sakura who was standing to the side spontaneously stepped out ahead.
"Because they are married." Sai responded looking at Sakura serious, as if that's the first time she could learn this information.
"Wait what, you two sleep in the same bed?!" Bewildered Naruto bent forward loosening the tight hold on Kiba who was no longer on the attack.
"Father spies on us." Hinata explained plainly.
"Hiashi does?" Shino asked.
"You should have told us…" Wide eyed Sakura stared at her saddened and nervous.
Hinata now looked at Sakura, feeling guilty for springing this on her like that.
"We-h could have made a clone, or replaced…something." Sakura looked sour and lowered her voice when Sasuke suddenly fixed his gaze on her.
Hinata tensed up, she wanted to apologize to Sakura, but doing so would make the whole situation worse.
"Wow…You're a badass Hinata." Naruto responded his mouth agape. Her whole face turned really red again when she looked at him. "You of all people. You're so shy but you did all that?!" Naruto was still surprised by what he was hearing. "And you stood up to us! Hah!" He laughed smacking, still angry Kiba's back. "We're sorry!" He looked at her tenderly and patted Kiba who, he didn't realize, wanted to bite him.
Hinata held her head up, trying to stay just as strong as she was so far, especially after being commended. And she held out quite a bit longer before finally caving and looking down, hiding behind her bangs. Hiding just the way she did when she was a little girl, every time Naruto would come around. Sasuke released her hair the second her head moved, lifting her hair out of his grip.
"But Sakura's right, you should have told us." Naruto's eyebrows furrowed and he now looked at Sasuke.
"I'm handling it." Sasuke responded, no longer struggling to look serious.
-…-
Once they were seated once again, Sasuke was sitting on an extra chair away from Hinata and the part of the bench Kiba destroyed. He felt a pang of jealousy. But it wasn't it that was the problem. It's not like he wasn't realizing he was pushing his luck and stepping over some serious boundaries. This was seen as good in his mind. It let him know he needed to back off.
Kiba was still angry and dead set on getting Sasuke, but remained quiet and attempted to appear civil and detached. It didn't work, everyone could see him boil internally. Shikamaru was holding his head in his hands. He had to actually talk to the owner about the damage.
"Viva la revolution!" Lee cheered after Naruto finished explaining the plan they've devised.
"This is not a joke." Tenten scolded him.
"So everyone's clear on their roles?"
"Wait, so Shikamaru will be the only one in charge if you leave?" Ino raised an eyebrow at Naruto.
"Konoha will fall apart!" Choji laughed at his friend.
"There will be a council meeting and the senior Jonin assembly. Some older jonin we have left are interested in taking the temporary hokage position in case Kakashi isn't found."
"You guys are the ones who know us best. We trust you to do what Shika and I would have wanted and don't want to burden senior shinobi with our intentions. We have too many leaks." Naruto added firmly, and kindly looking at his friends, who were taking in the gravity of what was going to go down. "Not everyone in power will agree with what we are about to do."
"Naruto Kakashi is alive, right?" Choji looked at him compassionately.
"He's gone underground we assume. Sasuke is heading out tonight, so..." Naruto looked nervous and wasn't convinced of mission success.
"Go on Naruto, we'll help." Choji spoke as he and Ino turned. They seemed to have discussed it and were staring at him wanting approval.
"I need you guys here." Naruto nodded, thankful to the two who understood what it was to lose a teacher.
"Then Hinata you want to start tonight?" Ino asked regarding their medic-training sessions.
"You would?" Hinata seemed surprised.
Ino smiled playfully. She wanted to dig for information. This was too juicy. Choji was eating again. She reached out while still staring at Hinata and pulled the plate away from him. "Have some manners." Choji violently pulled the plate back and the food spread all over the place, a steak landing on Hinata's face. Lee removed it and Naruto started laughing, passing the tissue from Sakura onto her, the noise was rising, Hinata began to giggle as well back at Naruto and the atmosphere became light all of a sudden. "Sasuke and these two have to work tonight, but you guys have drinks on me." Naruto got up from the table leaving too much money in the register, after which he poured drinks for his friends, together with Sai who joined him to help out.
"Non-a-alcoholic please!" Hinata responded shyly when Naruto called out to her. She was extremely lightweight and despite alcohol being a social lubricant she could really use, she never got to have any without getting knocked out soon after.
"Rum!" Lee raised his hand.
"Orange juice!" Tenten grabbed it and pulled it down, while yelling over Lee.
The chatter and long missed break they all needed continued on into the night. The only people not participating were Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura forced a few smiles here and there and normally went out of her way to understand Naruto's plan, which sounded rather worrying and radical. She really wanted to openly oppose it, but didn't feel like she had the strength. Sasuke on the other hand… He watched them all together, care and love one another, attempt to cheer up Kiba, laugh, trust and rely on one another. Naruto smiled his way provoking him into light debates, and others playfully followed suit. Sasuke was intelligent, perceptive and arrogant, which made him rather interesting company. There was too much gesturing, spilled drinks, bets made and plenty of laughter. But after a while even as a participant in the conversation, all Sasuke saw, were these people standing at one another's graves. With the exception of Naruto, they were all so vulnerable. He knew the potential pain they will feel. And then he looked at Hinata who was no longer in his reach, who was not really engaging him like the others, yet had the most powerful effect. His chest constricted as if he was being electrocuted, his body tensed with desire to pull her close. And then… On her grave, Sasuke saw himself.
He left early, with his Kakashi-search and rescue mission, which wasn't starting for another 4 hours, as an excuse.
He didn't make the excuse.
Naruto made the excuse so others wouldn't begin to wonder how broken his best friend really was.
- Author's Note -
I've been burned before, for not warning people about pairings ahead of time, so... I intend to write ShikaIno into the story.
I hate that I gotta spoil you guys, but I'm protecting myself against a mob of angry ShikaTema fans who will come for my head (probably anyway). I unintentionally self insert as Ino seeing how we're very much alike. And I know myself enough to predict that if I don't give that girl something to keep her distracted, this will get out of hand and I will troll my own story.
Thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following. I truly appreciate your efforts to give feedback.
Please don't murder me.
Love,
kia53
