Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Author's Notes: Wow! I cannot believe the response I've gotten for this story. So much so that I am going to go ahead and post Chapter 2 earlier than I had originally planned. Some of you asked for a longer chapter this time. This is slightly longer but not by much. I'll work to lengthen future chapters for a better reading experience. There was also a request to know who Hinata's previous partners have been. I will give more details in the future. This chapter is just laying a little more ground work for the story ahead. I hope you enjoy! As always, I look forward to your input so please review!
The next time they met Hinata was prepared to suggest they talk in more detail about how they would approach the actual objective of the mission. Namely finding the information that they needed to not only stop the newest hits but to take down Tsubasa, and his entire network. The ugly truth of the matter was that cutting the head off the snake only rarely stopped organizations like this. There were often more than enough underlings ready to step into the breach. Taking Tsubasa out too early, and not removing his lieutenants with him, could cause a catastrophic fracturing of the organization. Instead of dealing with this one known, Konoha would find themselves dealing with several unknowns. Something that Hinata was going to do her best to avoid.
They met in the same place, a remote training ground just on the outskirts of the village. Hinata arrived first and seeing that Naruto was not yet there moved to sit in the shade of a tree. She placed the file she had brought with her on the ground opening the covers and beginning to review the information as she waited. The breeze blowing across the training ground made the papers flutter and she paused to find several small rocks to weight them down before they could blow away. Hinata had started to arrange the papers in a pattern on the ground when Naruto arrived.
He called his customary greeting as he dropped from the branches of the tree above her to land with a slight displacement of air beside her. The papers ruffled and a few pulled loose from the rocks on their corners shuffling out of line. "Oh sorry! What is this anyway?" Naruto said as he bent to help her gather them up and watched as she laid them back out in the pattern. "I've been reviewing the file, I think I've found a pattern. A possible place to start" Hinata answered before turning to him and smiling her hello. "I thought we could talk a little more today, maybe work out a few of the more logistic aspects of the mission" she continued as he rubbed the back of his head and nodded looking from one page to the next. With a sheepish grin he said "Sounds good, could you start by explaining the pattern?" "Hai, I've been able to lay out a potential pattern of how he chooses his victims" she said focusing back on that papers but at a small noise beside her she turned and caught a strange expression on Naruto's face. "You've found a pattern to…. How? No one else was able to" Naruto stated, disbelief plain in his voice. Hinata flinched, not really surprised by his reaction.
She looked back down at the papers, squared her shoulders and blushing a little from embarrassment and maybe a little hurt she continued "I think he's using politics, more specifically village politics to move behind the scenes. He selects his victims in whatever village is the most politically active, usually in some type of disagreement. Then plans to have what kekai genkai users he can, caught and moved in some fashion that is covered by the unrest in the village. Missions gone awry mostly, there's even a case where a young girl 'ran away' with a boyfriend who was later found in another village living quite happily without her. The boyfriend swears they had separated a long time ago but the family and her friends swear the opposite. Nothing could ever be proven in regards to whether he was involved or not but maybe…either way the pattern plays out in that way with Tsubasa always so far away he claims he couldn't possibly be involved." She paused long enough to look at Naruto, she'd been pointing to various papers arranged in a semi circle arched away from them as she talked. He seemed to be focusing on what she said but his brows were furrowed and she was afraid she wasn't explaining well enough.
Focusing back on the papers in front of her she reordered her thoughts and began again, pointing to the second row of papers in a semi circle under the first she said "These papers are the alibis that Tsubasa used in each case. He's always in a village at least three days travel from where the disappearances occur. Since we've learned of his…preferences, we've been able to confirm that there are clubs in each of these towns. As his associates take care of gathering the victims he goes and enjoys himself somewhere he can use as an alibi. But," and she paused there as well to check Naruto's expression, to see if he was piecing it together as she spoke. When that did not appear to be the case she continued "he always travels to the victims' villages one week later. Once he became a possible player his movements were tracked, and in the last three cases out the many that we know of he's made sure to be in the town exactly one week later. A week after that, the victims' are usually discovered. None live through the stripping of their abilities, even though we know that they don't have to die."
"You think that he does the deed himself, then kills them so that they can't throw off his alibis?" Naruto cut in, voice tight and body tensing next to her. "I'm not sure, but I think he does supervise" she paused before adding "He would want to watch." She looked up and met Naruto's eyes, watched as the realization struck, watched the pieces fall into place. He looked back down at the papers and then to her and with a humorless smile said "I think that is the most I have ever heard you talk." Hinata blinked in surprise and flushed, looking back at him. "You are brilliant Hinata-chan." Hinata felt the heat in her cheeks increase and turned her head to let her hair hide her face. "Arigato, but I'm not sure I'm right. I know I don't have all the pieces together yet. It's a start though and it's a possibility." Naruto seemed to get caught in the pattern again and then spoke with a sudden burst of energy, "If you're right it means that we have until a week after they take the victims to find them. It could give us a little more time to get the information we need."
Hinata shook her head, "We can't take the chance that I'm wrong. We will have to continue with original plan. Find out where and who before the date that was given. We also have to assume that this information, while it seems to be correct could be slightly…off. Especially given the manner in which it was retrieved. We only have about a week to finish preparing and that only gives us a couple of weeks to get close to Tsubasa and to find out all the information we need to stop this." Naruto was quiet after she'd finished but not still. He reached out to brush her hair back from her face, his own serious. His fingers grazed her cheek as he did so. Hinata did not jump at the touch but it was a close thing. One 'touch' session was hardly going to familiarize her with the new knowledge that it was Naruto who was touching her. Silly though it was with her experience and training, Naruto's touch still had a very different effect on her.
Letting out her breath in a steady stream and drawing in another, Hinata lifted her head. Turning it as she did, she ended up leaning into Naruto's touch. It was on purpose, a subtle continuation of their earlier training the day before. Naruto seemed to realize this because he kept his hand where it was fingers sliding along the curve of her ear as he tucked her hair out of the way. Then lingering on her cheek and finally sliding down and around to the back of her neck. Unconsciously, Hinata softened letting her head fall back slightly to be supported by his hand. She watched Naruto's reaction, the shift in his expression that suggested he hadn't expected the acceptance. He did not seem to mind however as his fingers began to lightly massage the tense muscles of her neck. "We will complete this mission. Look how far you have gotten us already. We have a potential insight into something that has been known for about a week. The intel was giving under extreme circumstances but that doesn't mean that we can't trust that in the basics it is true. We plan the best we can and then we adjust as we go" he said, his voice confident and just light enough that the dark mood of moments ago began to drift away.
"We should talk more about this, and we need to settle our approach. We still haven't come up with a back story or a way to explain our sudden, and if what Tsunade-baa-chan is suggesting, attention grabbing appearance in the club. And we need to continue the training from yesterday" Naruto said. Hinata remained relaxed in his hold, letting the gentle kneading of his finger continue to banish the harsh feelings inside her. After a few minutes she lifted her head and his hand fell away, brushing his fingers along her throat as it went. She tamped down on the shiver that wanted to rise and nodded. "You're right. I was thinking the same thing before coming here today." Hinata gestured to the papers spread before them "Perhaps we can do both trainings at once, time is limited and we need to move quickly." "Hai" Naruto answered and then waited, and Hinata realized he was letting her lead. Taking a deep breath she slid closer, waited a second for Naruto to shift his arm out of the way and then pressed into his side. She felt his easy acceptance of her presence, her closeness. Settling in so that she sat with her knees folded and out to her side away from him, she leaned against him and slid her hand to rest against his knee. Her arm from elbow to fingers rested on his thigh for support and after an initial slight tensing as her fingers had moved Naruto relaxed and settled his arm around her waist.
Hours later, they'd developed at least a basic plan. They needed to travel quickly to the village in the Land of Water. It would take almost three days moving at top speed and they couldn't afford to draw attention. They decided to move at a moderate pace, sacrificing a few days of training in the village for continued training on the road. More practical in that it would require them to convince other people of their 'relationship' before ever reaching Tsubasa.
As for their 'relationship', they decided that newlyweds would be best. Two people who had been together for years before moving on with their plans for marriage and travel. They would suggest that they hadn't decided where to live yet, would be simply checking out several possibilities. All of these possibilities would need to have clubs or places that would allow them to enjoy their other intimate 'interests' which would in some ways at least have to coincide with Tsubasa's in order to draw a tighter connection.
"We might not be able to convince him that we have a lot of experience in these clubs" Hinata said quietly. At one point Naruto and she had shifted to lean back against the tree, Naruto's back flush with the bark while she leaned into his shoulder. Near legs touching from hip to calves. "I think we can do it" Naruto stated with his usual confidence and Hinata smiled up at him. "Have you ever been to a club like this Naruto-kun?" she asked. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, face coloring just a little and shook his head. "Well, I have" she felt the small jolt of surprise that hit him as his head whipped around so he could look at her. It was her turn to flush, though she had never had that response when discussing these topics with Ino or other partners in the past. "You've been to places that….You've been to..." Naruto trailed off, and couldn't quite seem to figure out what he'd meant to say. Hinata nodded to confirm and then said "Hai, for a few missions in the past. They are very different places and usually each one has a different feel and rules. We will have to be knowledgeable novices. We need to have a good idea of what to expect but still be new to the experience." "Which in my case is going to be true" Naruto said slowly and Hinata could still feel a minor tension in how his arm settled around her shoulders. She wanted to ask him why but figured it was more that he did not know the full extent of her training or her experience with missions such as this one. "It will work out just fine that way" Hinata tried to assure him. He seemed lost in thought though and she hesitated to say anything further until he had spoken himself.
While he thought, she let her attention move to where her hands were resting, one partially curled on his chest. The other was resting on her own leg. With no thought to what reaction he might have, looking more just to comfort than anything else she shifted. Raising her hand to capture the hand over her shoulders, she tangled her fingers with his. Hinata squeezed his hand then untangled her fingers from his to lightly trace them. Gentle ghosting touches that would bring his nerves to life, even with the calluses that his duties and training had given him.
She was sure she imagined the ever so slight increase in the tension in the muscles of his body. Wanting to see his face again she turned to look at him and found his blue eyes trained on her. There was a moment when her brain did a stutter step before falling back in the normal rhythm. "That feels nice" he said simply but his voice was just a little different and Hinata felt goosebumps shiver along her skin. Maybe awareness, or lack thereof on Naruto's part, was more a product of his never having looked at her in that way. 'Or maybe you are hoping for something that is going to result in more pain than you can accept' Hinata scolded herself mentally before tangling her fingers firmly with Naruto's once again.
"Okay, so my lack of experience with these clubs is actually a benefit" Naruto said suddenly, voice light and normal. His body relaxed and he settled in once more. Hinata felt the internal ricochet of her own feelings and used more of her training to keep the discomfort from her face. "So you said a basic understanding of what to expect?" Hinata heard Naruto say and it was a second before she caught onto the question in the words. "Um…Hai. You can expect a lot of physical contact between the people there. Depending on the club there might be private rooms or there might not. If not there could be couples or more in the process of…well…" she trailed off and Naruto gave a soft guffaw of laughter. "There will be people having sex in public" he stated and she was strangely thankful he'd said it for her. "Yes and other things. We don't have the full details of what the club rules are. So it might be that we will have to see when we get there and I'll do my best to navigate us both through" Hinata said quietly, hesitating to imply Naruto would need help. "Alright" he said in return and his easy acceptance was back.
He seemed completely over the shock of her past experience and not the least bit bothered. Hinata once again felt the hurt rise up. The ache that while knowing he had had past partners hurt her on a fundamental level, he was unaffected. She hated herself for it even as she began to draw away from him. "Gomen Naruto-kun, but I need to go. I have to meet with my father about clan business and Ino is coming tonight to drop off the outfits that were chosen for me" she said as she disentangled herself and stood brushing debris from her pants and jacket. She was moving to gather the papers back into the file when Naruto surprised her with a hand on her upper back. The lightest touch between her shoulder blades raising goosebumps once again.
"I'll pick them up, I was going to ask to keep them and take another look tonight. I'm not as quick with this stuff as you are" foxy grin in place he slid his hand off of her back and gathered the papers in his hands. "Tomorrow?" he asked, looking at her as the sun dropped below the horizon. Hinata nodded even as she registered the fact that they had spent an entire day together, most of it in close contact. "Same time? Here?" Naruto prompted and she drew herself back to the moment. "No" she said, shaking her head, "We should meet somewhere public, in civilian clothes, preferably the ones we are going to be wearing on the mission. We need to move forward with the training." "Alright, Ichiraku? Around 11?" he asked and she nodded before they said their goodbyes and headed in opposite directions.
Hinata couldn't quite shake the feeling that something had shifted. Something between them was different. For the mission that was undeniably good, as for Hinata herself, well she would have to wait and see if she came out of the mission intact.