Chapter 14: The Understanding.

The next morning, Naruto wakes up to Hinata gently pushing his side. He sits up, looking around and stretching his shoulders.

"We're gonna need to leave in about 25 minutes. If you need to take a shower, it's just down the hall." She says, pointing.

"Yeah, thanks." He says, putting his feet on the floor and walking towards the door.

"How long have you been up?" he asks, looking back over his shoulder.

"About an hour or so." She replies, making the bed up for him.

"Oh, okay." He says, entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Hinata returns to her room and quickly checks through her things to make sure she has everything. She hears Naruto turn on the shower and get in. He seems to be moving kinda slowly.

"He must not be a morning person." She thinks to herself.

Naruto is standing in the shower, the water running, trying to figure out why he has that weird feeling again. He tries to remember what is causing this, but stills seems unable to remember anything. He finishes rinsing off behind his ears and gets out. He towels himself off, and walks out. The towel wrapped around his midsection.

"Are you okay?" Hinata asks, concerned.

"Yeah, just a little tired is all." Naruto replies, entering his room.

Hinata was confused. Usually Naruto was excited right before a mission, but today he seemed almost upset.

"Hey, do you mind… uh you know." He says, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." She says, heading for the door to give him some privacy. She closes it behind her, and sits down a little ways down the hall to wait.

"Thanks." He replies, smiling sheepishly.

Naruto still couldn't figure out what had happened at Sakura's house that night and if it was connected to his uneasiness. Maybe if he talked to Hinata, he could figure it out.

Naruto gets dressed, grabs his bag, and heads for the door of his bedroom. He finds her on the other side, leaning against the wall.

"You ready?" he asks her.

"Yeah, let's go." She say, picking up her bag and leading the way to the front door.

The whole trip from Hinata's house to the village gates is silent. Both Hinata and Naruto are lost in their own thoughts. Finally Hinata breaks the silence…

"Are you okay? You seem a little distracted today." She says.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just spacing a little is all." Naruto replies, looking at the ground.

Hinata stops as does Naruto a few feet after her.

"What's the matter?" he asks.

"What's bothering you? Usually you're full of energy right now. Did something happen?" she asks him.

"No, nothing happened. I'm just having trouble remembering something, and it's bothering me a bit." He replies.

"Don't worry about it, it'll come to you when you need it. Don't strain yourself." She says, smiling.

"I guess you're right." He says, looking a little more focused. "Do you want to get started on getting to know each other better?" he asks, cuddling up to her with a sinister look on his face.

"You are such a guy!" she laughs, running ahead.

"Hey, don't be like that. I was just making a joke." He says, chasing after her.

Hinata continues to run ahead and Naruto follows in her wake.

While back at home… Sakura is heading to Naruto's house to see if he wants to get breakfast with her. She knocks on the door, but no one answers.

"That's weird, usually he doesn't get going till later in the day." She thinks, peeking in his window. "Maybe I should go check to see if he has been anywhere else today." She says.

Sakura runs off in search of Naruto. Meanwhile on the other side of the village, Kakashi is reading the paper to see if he'll finally get on the front page.

"God dammit all! When's my turn to be in the news. It's not like all I do is read Makeout Paradise all day!" he says, extremely annoyed. "And yet Guy gets in the paper for winning a flippin' cow milking contest. Stupid newspaper." He rants, throwing it across the room.

"Have you seen Naruto?" Sakura asks, not startling Kakashi at all.

"Goddamn woman! Use a doorbell for Crissake!" he says, yelling at her. "You might want to talk to Tsunade though, she might have given him a mission. He hasn't been on many since he got back." Kakashi says, still irked at her.

" Thanks. And don't worry, the paper is having an expose on ninja teachers and their former students. I already gave a quote, so I figure they'll probably come looking for you sooner or later." Sakura says, trying to brighten his mood.

"Sw33t, front page, here I come!" he says, obviously excited.

Sakura heads to Tsunade's office, laughing at how vain Kakashi had become lately. She wonders what that could mean… hmm.

Anyway, she heads to Tsunade's to find out where Naruto is being sent to. When she enters Tsunade's office, she finds no one there. She walks over to the desk and starts shuffling through the papers lying about. She finds his mission acceptance form, he's heading to the Country of Clouds. And he's not alone… Hinata's name is signed at the bottom also.

"Great… I can't leave those two alone for 5 minutes without her trying to go on every mission she can with him so they can be alone." She says, obviously getting pissed of at what she could be doing with him right now.

Sakura puts the papers back on the desk and heads for the door. As she reaches it, someone walks through from the other side. They are carrying a large stack of papers and don't seem to notice Sakura standing there. The person runs right into her dropping the papers everywhere.

"What are you doing here?" the person asks her.

"Uhh, nothing. I was looking for Tsunade-sama." Sakura replies hurriedly.

"Well, she's out. She'll be back in about 2 weeks." The person says, placing the papers she had picked up on the desk.

The attendant type person turns to look at Sakura, but sees that she had been talking to thin air and an empty doorway.

Sakura heads home and packs a bag of the… essentials. She leaves a note for her mother explaining that she'll be gone for a few days and not to worry. She figures that Hinata got a half day head start on her and that she'll have to move quickly to catch up before night falls.

Hinata and Naruto decide to stop at a little bed and breakfast just off the path and do a little research on the Country of Clouds. They also use some of their time to get to know each other…

Naruto is sitting near the fire in the main living room, Hinata sits down next to him and cuddles up to his right arm. They sit there in silence, when Hinata looks up at Naruto.

"Can I ask you something?" she says.

"Huh? What is it?" he says, still staring at the fire burning away in the hearth.

"Do you like Sakura?" she says, rather bluntly.

"What makes you ask that?" he says, looking intrigued.

"Well I saw that you guys were getting along… well but I didn't know if you were dating or not." She says.

"We're not. You have to remember that her and I are on the same team so we usually see each other a lot to begin with." He replies, trying to see where this conversation is going.

"Okay, I was just curious." She replies.

"You wouldn't ask me if you were 'just curious', what's really the matter?" he asks.

"Isn't it obvious, I love you!" she says. "I was just afraid you still liked Sakura."

Truth be told, Naruto thought about it and still couldn't have figured it out up till now. He was shocked at the fact that she said it so blatantly. Women could be so hard to read…

"I thought I was pretty well prepared for this mission, but I think you caught me." He said, shaking his head.

Hinata laughed.

"I just wanted to get my feelings out is all. I've had a crush on you for a while now and you never seemed to notice." She said.

"Yeah, I'm kinda oblivious that way." He says, laughing nervously.

"It's okay, you don't have to do anything yet. I just wanted to let you know." She says, smiling.

"Umm… thanks?" he says, more confused then before.

Hinata leans in, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"You're a really nice person you know… you're just an idiot when it comes to women. I wish we could be on this trip for regular reason rather then for a mission." She says.

Naruto laughs, still VERY nervous. They stay huddled on the couch, in front of the fire together all night. The next morning, the proprietor's wife wakes them much to their embarrassment. They get their stuff and leave, back on the trail to continue their journey together. The proprietor's wife smiles as they leave, remembering when she and her husband were that age.

Hinata and Naruto continue on the path, Hinata clinging to Naruto's arm for most of the morning…

(End Chapter 14)

Sakura is following the duo in hopes of stopping them from getting closer. Will her efforts succeed?

Are Naruto and Hinata entering into a relationship?

What will Sakura if she's left again by the man she loves?

Next Installment:

Chapter 15: A Hinata inquire.

(Begin A..N. Time)

Obviously I've found my notebook. I've replaced the fake Chapter 14 with this one. I'm REALLY sorry about the wait, I'm had an… interesting Summer. Much like the one Naruto is having. Anyway, along with the next chapter, there is gonna be a contest. It's gonna have a once in a lifetime prize for the winner(s). Any number of people can win. Anyway, the full rules will be posted along with the next chapter. So until then… Chakurakid15 out!

(End A .N. Time)