I'm back once again. I'm feeling better, getting the inspiration in the tank little by little. Well hope you enjoy this new chapter.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Kyuubi"

(Standard Disclaimer)

Chapter 15: Being With You

Hinata looked at herself in the full length mirror of her temporary room, mentally judging herself as she looked in the mirror. Did she look good enough for him, she knew he had to be the best looking guy in Konoha. Her mind drooled at the thought of him but she kept herself poised and sighed. This was the best it was going to get. She quickly ran her longer hair once through with her brush, grabbed the picnic basket, then headed to the front door.

Naruto sighed happily as he lie on his bed, he had just come from a good shower. It felt so good to be cooling off after a hot water experience. He felt his hair and found it was already dry and that same went for his tails. Maybe the natural Kitsune fire element did have its advantages. He stretched then got dressed in a clean version of his new outfit, quickly hand brushing his hair before leaving for the front door of the main house.

Hinata stood by the door looking down the halls for Naruto to make his usual sudden appearance. She sighed after a few minutes of waiting, he didn't come. 'Maybe he changed his mind...' she thought sadly when suddenly a knock on the door shocked her from her thoughts. 'I don't think father has any appointments to see anyone today...' thought Hinata as she slowly opened the door to find Naruto standing there with a foxy smile on his face.

"Hey Hinata-chan ready to go?" he asked. All Hinata could muster past her blush and stutter was a nod. Naruto smiled and said, "great! I'm thinking of a place for us to go, unless you have anything in mind." Hinata shook her head and said with a shy smile, "I'm s-sure it'll be w-wonderful Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled and stepped away from the door, bowing while saying, "ladies first." He held the door open as he let Hinata leave first and as he left he could almost swear that he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned and just barely caught a glimpse of dark hair disappear around the corner. He shook it out of his head and left, leaving the branch house woman who had seen him with Hinata to go spread rumors.

Naruto walked down the street with Hinata next to him like he did every other day. Same glares of hate from the men, same hungry stares from the women. He was feeling really uncomfortable with this, he could even swear something big was going to happen in the next few minutes. He kept it together though, just so Hinata wouldn't need to worry.

Hinata was walking shyly alongside Naruto, her hands clutching the handle of the picnic basket in front of her while her eyes were transfixed on the ground a few steps ahead of her. With time she was looking up and at the people around her and Naruto. She would see the mens dark glares at Naruto and she felt a twinge of pain. Why did they look at Naruto like that, it was a question she could never figure out.

Her eyes once or twice caught a glimpse of the women staring at Naruto. All those predatory looks filled her with an uncharacteristic anger. It made her eye twitch and a threatening growl build up in her throat. It was her day with Naruto damn it! All those harpies could find their own guy, Naruto was hers.

Then something happened that Naruto and Hinata would never forget. They felt the earth tremble, they heard the people scream, they felt the impeding doom breathing down their necks. Naruto and Hinata turned to see a large group of girls, three of them carrying a sign that read, 'Foxy Fan Club.' "Oh holy crap..." Naruto said as he watched the mob of girl running toward him.

Naruto quickly made the cross shaped hand seal and in an instant a dozen Naruto's appeared in a massive puff of smoke then disappeared in random directions leaving the 'Foxy Fan Club' to scatter to find the true Naruto. Hinata blinked and watched this all happen, leaving her head to drop in disappointment. Naruto-kun just took off like that without saying goodbye.

Hinata sighed and started the lonely walk home until she saw something completely out of place. Leaning on the wall of a building was a healthy and lucius green leaf. Hinata blinked a few times in confusion, the leaves didn't fall off the trees for a few weeks and this one looked perfectly healthy.

In a large puff the leaf disappeared and in it's place stood Naruto, a relived smile on his face. "Whew, got those girls off my tails for a while. Let's get going Hinata-chan before they figure out all my clones were just clones," Naruto said as he grabbed Hinata's hand and led her to the spot he picked in a hurry.

Hinata smiled at Naruto's quick thinking and blushed as Naruto grabbed her hand. She tried her best to keep up with his swifter pace without spilling their lunch, all the way there they were holding hands. Hinata slowly got over her blushing until it felt more then natural to have Naruto's hand holding hers, cradling it in it's warm embrace.

Now Naruto may be an idiot at times but he does have his moments. This just happened to be one of those moments, 'Hinata-chan hasn't pulled her hand back yet. Maybe she...no we're friends just friends, besides she probably hasn't noticed. Not that I'd want her to or anything it just...uh...oh god this mental conversation is over.' Naruto dismissed his thoughts and concentrated on the path to the picnic area.

Kyuubi snickered to himself in his more than comfortable cage. Since he had been stripped of his body the open cage seemed much larger then before. It also seemed since the kid, as he referred to Naruto as, had his body the place seemed to be more clean. Less like a holding cell and more like a permanent hotel room. No mints on his pillows but hell it was better then the dank and smelly cage he was used to.

"The kid is clueless, as usual," Kyuubi laughed to himself as he watched the world through Naruto's eyes. "Makes me wonder..." Kyuubi mused as he lie in the back of his 'room', "what would happen if a Guardians eyes and the Byakugan were to mix in the gene pool." Kyuubi chuckled to himself and resumed looking through Naruto's eyes. "We need a name for it by the way..."

Naruto slowed his pace to walking when they reached the field like outskirts of the village and Naruto smiled. He loved this place, it was the only place he could train in piece and at any time of the day it was beautiful. He led Hinata by the hand to the ridge of a small hill and turned to face her with a smile. "Here we are," he said as Hinata looked around.

'This place is beautiful,' thought Hinata and she was right. The hill was on the upper slope of the village and because of that it caught a lot of the suns rays making it a beautiful place to sun nap. It looked over a large amount of the village, creating a small picturesque scene of the village and the Hokage monuments. She looked up to the sky and the few clouds in the sky occasionally cast shadows on the village but were quickly vanquished by the powerful sun.

"Let's get eating," Naruto said as he let go of Hinata's hand much to both their reluctance. Hinata set up the small picnic as Naruto laid down on the grass and pulled a Shikamaru, he watched the clouds pass by. When Hinata finished the set up she called Naruto over and he jumped up, ready for some of Hinata's wonderful cooking.

They ate and talked, both enjoying the others company. It was just like when he was stuck in fox form, they would just sit and talk. By the end of their conversations Hinata's stutter dissolved and she talked as normal as possible, all be it softly but still it was without a stutter. However these little talks never really stuck and the next day her nervous stutter was back again.

Today her stutter seemed to be gone quite quickly and they just talked and laughed. Hinata telling stories about what happened when Naruto was away and Naruto telling more stories of when he was with Jiraiya.

"So the pervert runs into the bathroom and yells, 'Naruto you little ass! Why did you paint all over...my...face...' Oh man the idiot didn't even check to see if there was a genjutsu on the restroom signs!" Naruto said as Hinata giggled softly. "Naruto-kun, you shouldn't pull pranks on your teacher like that," Hinata laughed out softly. "Eh Ero-sannin deserves it," was Naruto's smiling reply.

Hinata giggled and reached for one of the rice balls that sat on the small handkerchief. At that same moment Naruto reached for another riceball causing their hands to meet in the middle. Naruto and Hinata looked at each other then quickly retracted their hands, both blushing and turning away in some way or another.

"Heh so...uh..." Naruto said while brushing back his wild hair with his hand trying to think of something to say. "When did you learn Kaiten?" he asked in curiosity. He didn't think much of it at the time but now he was interested. He never did figure out how she learned it and he never thought to ask until now.

"When you left I trained more," she offered as a simple answer but she saw Naruto wasn't buying the short explanation. "I asked father to teach me but he refused. Then Neji offered his help and taught me. He made me swear not to tell father because it was sacrilege for a main house member to learn from a branch house member," Hinata said. Naruto smiled and said, "well I think that little problem will be taken care of really soon."

Hinata raised and eyebrow in confusion, "what do you mean Naruto-kun?" Naruto laughed, "I just have a feeling Hinata-chan." Naruto took a large bite from a freshly acquired rice ball as Hinata just looked at him confused until she dismissed it, was it worth questioning when you're with Naruto-kun?

Naruto and Hinata finished off the rest of the rest of the picnic and headed for home, neither had noticed that they had spent the whole day on their picnic. Naruto was on high alert due to the 'Foxy Fan Club' but it seemed that those clones really did their job well. Naruto and Hinata walked next to each other, closer then before but with no hands connecting the space between them.

Soon the were both standing in front of the massive Hyuga main house mansion. Hinata and Naruto stopped but it was Naruto who said something first. "Hey, Hinata-chan?" he asked in a softer voice then his normal boisterous voice. Hinata looked to Naruto with her pale violet orbs in question and Naruto continued. "I've had something on my mind all day and...well, why did you ask me on the picnic today?" Naruto asked with his eyes rarely meeting Hinata's.

"I...I r-really like spending t-time with you Naruto-kun..." Hinata said showing impressive control over her stuttering voice. Naruto blushed but she wasn't finished, "you are also an...inspiration. You were changed into a fox and gained enough strength to change back...well almost." Hinata blushed heavily at those words and had to look away so not to use the Byakugan, it was getting harder and harder to resist.

"C...can I ask you something Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she continued to look away from Naruto though her blush had subsided well. "Yeah no problem Hinata-chan," Naruto said in his new softer voice. Hinata thought for a second then turned to look Naruto in the eye, her own pale violet meeting his golden edged cerulean. "Why did you say yes?"

Naruto was stunned for a second but then smiled softly, "I like spending time with you too Hinata-chan. You listen even if I tell some stupid stories, you're the nicest person I know." Naruto smiled wider as he watched Hinata blush and turn her face away but still periodically looked at Naruto from the side of her eyes. "Besides, if I didn't have someone like you in my corner how else would..." his voice broke off for a second until he finished with, "how else could I have gotten stronger."

Naruto wrapped his arms around Hinata in a soft and warming hug. "You're awesome Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he hugger her. Naruto hugged her with a smiled on his face as he lay his head in her dark hair, slowly feeling her return the hug. 'When did this happen...god when am I ever given a clue on things...when did I start to like Hinata-chan,' he thought with a mental sigh.

Hinata reveled in Naruto's warm embrace as she returned the hug with one of her own. This was pretty damn close to what her version of heaven was and she was going to enjoy this as much as possible. 'Naruto-kun...please never let this end...' thought Hinata but as usual she didn't get her wish.

Naruto slowly and reluctantly separated himself from Hinata leaving the both of them feeling cold. "You should be getting inside Hinata-chan, you father's probably wondering where you are," Naruto said with a sad smile. Hinata nodded saddly and slowly opened the door to walk inside. "Goodnight Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a shy smile. "Goodnight Hinata-chan," Naruto said as he returned the smile and left to go to the branch house dormitories.

Naruto smiled and was in his own private paradise as he walked into the branch home. It didn't matter if every one was looking at him oddly. Nothing mattered at all, he had just had a great day, nothing was going to break it.

"Naruto..." came aseething voice from behind him. He blinked and turned just in time to catch a glimpse of a fist flying at his face.

End Chapter

And there we stop. Ok...I get the point people want to know what the Kabuto depants incident was. That'll be in the next chapter, special edition! Well time for Q and A

Q: Sasuke to Snakey? Come in Snakey?

A: Well...you'll see in the next chapter along with the Kabuto depants incident.

Well that was short, I wish I had a preview but I don't. Well later all.