Quick Q/A:
Naruto and Sasuke don't have the Six Paths Power. I didn't feel Hagoromo could be worked into the story in a logical way because I altered how Madara died and Kaguya never made an appearance necessitating the need for his additional power. Both Naruto and Sasuke are plenty strong enough without the additional buffs.
I DID give Naruto sage mode, granted I never had him really use it in the story because I wanted to explore outside of what was shown in canon like the abilities of the Uzumaki clan (because really Naruto just spams his shadow clones and different variations of his rasengan for the most part lol). I'm not the best at writing fight scenes so I probably didn't do a very good job of that. Hopefully these ending chapters will clear up some confusion/questions!
Chapter 22: Of After
"Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people." ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in The Heart
Naruto & Hinata
At some point the sky became blanketed in a pink-gray hue, sunlight somehow managing to sneak through the slits of his blinds.
6:32 am.
Far too early to be awake.
'How long were we asleep?' A drowsy thought rises up.
His gaze roams over to his left, mop of violet hair sticking out from between the mess of his blankets and pillows.
"Hinata." He whispers her name, grin curling at his lips.
The first of many mornings where war doesn't settle like a cloud over his thoughts, where the thought that none of his strength is enough. He turns himself to look at her fully taking all of her in, of knowing this is the start of him truly having a family and someone to come home to day or night.
"I have secrets to share with you Hinata, ones I've never told anyone about." Naruto begins.
He's never said aloud the terrible things he's done, burying them down into the recesses of his mind where no one can touch them.
His throat feels full of gravel, like tiny rocks scattering about making his voice feel tight and sore. Nightfall makes this somewhat easier, darkness hiding his sweat and clenched teeth. Only the stars and dim glow of the streetlights keep them from being completely hidden from each other.
Hinata turns over in his bed, pulling his bedsheets down enough to look at him properly.
"Like what?" She breathes.
Naruto forces a grin, hoping he can keep his voice lighthearted; easy-going.
"Well, like that I've hurt people before. A lot of people in the village as you already know hated me for having Kurama sealed in me and while I did try and brush it off for as long as I could, I still had a resentment build in me. I've hurt regular citizens of Konoha, a shopkeeper who only saw me as someone who killed his son..." He blurts out in a rush.
All those dirty looks, whispered remarks in a second became too much.
He recalls then the deep scratches that marred the man's skin the aftermath, bruises in the colors of sharp magentas and violets that bled into each other...
And it that second it felt like all of his training at Mount Myoboku over control, everything he learned from Jiraiya and studying his own clan's family scrolls he managed to unearth amounted to nothing when lost control once more.
During the war he had been momentarily distracting from all these feelings, with it all coming to an end now these thoughts are free to fester once more.
Hinata reaches to rub his arm, fingers tracing at the pricks in his eyes.
"I know you're not that type of person Naruto, don't ever forget you aren't either. Yes, you had a moment of weakness, but we all have them."
A glint of sunlight catches on her barren shoulder now, creamy skin still flushed the faintest red that brings up memories of the previous night.
Soft gasps, the mingling of their shared sweat and heat...
He gently pokes at her cheek, opalescent eyes drifting open. The way the first rays of sunlight catches them makes them truly shine like a pearl, a view reserved only for him.
"Naruto?" She murmurs out his name in-between a sigh and a yawn making his whole body burn with renewed energy.
He pulls the covers down enough to reveal her breasts to the air, dipping his head low to the curve of her neck.
Her eyes widen a fraction, squirming at the sudden exposure. He's already seen all of her body though from last night, memorized the story behind each faded scar or mark along her skin.
"I want you Hinata. Again." Naruto breathes out in a smirk against her collarbone before he presses his lips downward.
He takes a nipple into his mouth just as Hinata parts her lips in a soft groan, fingers moving upward to his back.
He sucks until it is hard against his tongue, trailing wet kisses to the opposite breast.
"Naruto, ahh." Hinata squeezes her eyes shut at his ministrations.
"I'll scratch you again, maybe harder than I did last night." She gently warns when she gets him to pause and Naruto chuckles, said cuts she describes only a distant pain now.
"I can take anything you give me Hinata." He volleys back, voice turning to a growl when one hand brushes against his growing erection.
Her toes curl in anticipation as Naruto slides himself between her legs, blue eyes stormy with lust.
"Fuck, you're still so tight." Naruto groans mid-thrust.
He palms at her legs, stretching them wider and pulling her closer.
"Mmm." Hinata purrs, nails digging into his back, forming crescents and streaks of white and red into his skin.
Naruto thrusts into her without abandon, rough when Hinata curls a leg over his shoulder, slow when she whispers she wants to feel all of him inside of her.
"I'm close." Naruto grunts between the slapping of their skin, pounding into her with with a slower pace to drag it out. He faintly hears and ignores the old springs of his bed snapping, at this rate they'll probably need to look for new one before the week is over.
"Ahh, ahh; I know!" Hinata gasps, squeezing him tighter.
And she tilts her body to him, stilling as her orgasm washes over her.
"Fuck, I'm cumming too." Naruto hisses through garbled curses, spilling into her.
He pants, sweat dripping into his eyes he blinks away, pulling himself slowly out of her to rest by her side.
Hinata brushes at hair sticking to his head, beaming just as wide as him.
She curls his blankets back around her form, moving to sit up. The sun burns brighter, morning coming in proper along Konoha.
"Aren't you meeting with Kakashi-sensei and Lady Tsunade to discuss reconstruction and peace talks with the other nations this morning?" Hinata suddenly asks, peering towards his alarm clock.
It's a quarter to 8:00 am.
She herself still needs to finally go back to the manor, prepare for Father's burial with Neji and Hanabi...
And eventually pay a visit to Ao, still in intensive care.
"Yup, don't worry though that meeting isn't until 9:00 am!" Naruto exclaims.
Hinata giggles, sliding away before Naruto can pin her back in bed.
They'll never probably leave this room if she lets him curl into her again no matter how tempting.
"I'm going to use your shower and then we can make breakfast." Hinata decides, reddening feeling Naruto's gaze taking in the marks and sore spots he has left upon her.
"Great; I'll come with you!" Naruto cheers, paying no mind to his own nudity, gathering Hinata up in his arms in spite of her squeak it's unnecessary (and he'll only risk them both being late to their respective destinations).
He can still smell the faint hint of vanilla on her, now mixed with his own forestry scent making him grin.
'Mine.'
-X-
Sakura
Somehow, she's managed to avoid Sasuke's room throughout all of her night shift.
She checks in with Mr. and Mrs. Fujimoto, reunited with only a few scrapes and burns to be discharged later today to Miss Noriko, confused and sweaty still trying to remove her wound vac stopping the spread of her leg infection...
Each unique, from the young to the old with a single commonality: being survivors of the war.
'Alright, you've put this off long enough Sakura.' She berates herself, heading in the direction of the private wings.
The last bits of a half-moon follow her along the hallway, silver light bright enough to form her shadow along the walls.
It is only her in this wing.
This section is normally only used for VIP patients like dignitaries or Kage visiting Konoha the area needing sudden emergency medical care. But other times like now they are used for high-risk patients that need one to one care or supervision.
She pauses outside his door, listening for any sounds of footsteps or hushed voices, the nurse assigned to Sasuke is supposed to be a relatively neutral party; a woman named Aiya from a village near the outskirts of the Land of Waves. The most she knows is that she came to Konoha to practice in her specialties of infectious disease and trauma care after learning from the best medicine men, women, and pharmacists of her tiny region. Granted, even a person from the most remote village or town has heard of Sasuke's name, it's what happens when you're an Uchiha.
She doesn't hear Aiya's voice now, nor see the curtain of her dark hair anywhere nearby. At knowing she was assigned to Sasuke she recalled seeing her lips had twitched as if about to frown, before nodding and heading down the hall.
Disinfectant, saline, and blood hit her nostrils as soon as she enters the room, taking in the line of tubes and machines before her eyes finally rest upon Sasuke. His blood pressure remains slightly low, heart rate bouncing between high and low to try and compensate.
The beginnings of sunrise fall upon his face, orange to amber hues highlighting his bandages and Sakura swallows back a sour taste bubbling up at the memory of first finding him there back at the Valley of the End, blood and dirt smeared upon his slashed eyes...
Blind.
His vision, the sharingan and all ocular abilities distinctly known from his clan are now lost to him.
'Aiya was here.' Sakura notes with some ease, taking in the fresh gauze and wrappings around Sasuke's eyes. She reviews over his chart of updates she left on his bedside table, a low-grade fever around 1:00 am controlled with an ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory. Heart-rate remains erratic, noted staph infection to eyes, being treated with bacitracin ointment, IV antibiotics, and wound dressing changes. Ophthalmology team to come in morning around 7:00 am to review how severe damage is to eyes.
Had he woken up at any point for all this she wonders, realized his world was still as dark as if night had never ceased?
Does he know about what's coming after? The jail-term that still hasn't fully been set yet based on what she's managed to hear from Lady Tsunade?
'Kabuto, Orochimaru, and most of his old gang are being held in questioning. I don't think even with Sasuke's help during the war is going to change how his sentence will be.' Sakura muses.
Have Naruto or Kakashi-sensei stopped by to see him? She imagines maybe the latter, she's barely seen Naruto herself since repairs started on much of the crushed in and abandoned buildings.
"I'm not going to visit him Sakura, you and Kakashi-sensei can; I'm not going to get in your way or command that you don't." Naruto argues.
"Naruto, you shouldn't-" Sakura protests, about to speak again though Naruto holds up a hand stopping her from going on.
"This isn't something I'm going to budge on Sakura; I don't want to see Sasuke at this time despite his help in defeating Madara he still felt like destroying Konoha and killing me afterwards. Seeing him brings up too many dark memories for me right now, too much reminders of how much I felt myself slipping into darkness and hatred like him." He interrupts.
"Sakura." Sasuke states her name softly and she jolts, nearly stepping back knocking into his IV pole.
Her body straightens in alert, watching as Sasuke sifts himself up on his pillow. He restrains a wince attempting to move his broken arm, settling in his head in her direction.
"You...You can't see me, can you?" Sakura whispers out, loud enough to echo into the room.
"No, but you have a distinct scent. Of wildflowers and strawberries, it's one you use that isn't too overpowering or overwhelming to others." He answers back, voice dry.
Sakura purses her lips before something of a garbled laugh or cry can escape. It is strange that only now when Sasuke is broken and blind before her that she is learning he knew all these little details about her, details she never even thought of herself. Maybe he only learned them to get under her skin, to remind her that her feelings for him aren't as dead as she wished they would be.
She grabs the lone chair by his bed, scooting it closer and plopping down.
"I've been on my feet all night." Sakura starts, stretching out her sore legs.
"Avoiding me." Sasuke replies, not really as a question, but as a knowing.
"Yeah...though then again I know I'm part of the reason you're here. That digoxin, it's still messing with your heart even now." Sakura murmurs and she can't fully hide her smile in knowing he must've been a little surprised during that final moment fighting Naruto. She observes on his monitor as the rhythm of his heartbeat abruptly pick up in speed.
Sasuke clenches his teeth, opening his mouth about to speak before letting out a sigh.
Neither speak for a long moment, jade orbs studying Sasuke still as if he is prepared to fight the lines and sheets surrounding him.
"I didn't think you had it in you." He finally says.
Sakura blinks, hesitating before reaching for his hand. "Why? Because I love you?"
She imagines beneath his bandages Sasuke is furrowing his brows, dark eyes narrowing the same way they do when he's frustrated or confused.
"...I'm not deserving of your love Sakura." Sasuke considers after a pause.
And as he is about to slip his good hand out of hers, she reaffirms her grip.
"Sasuke, you know there's something that lingers between us. You could've killed me twice over by now, however you didn't. I know you've been without a proper family for so long, though you don't have to keep living that way." Sakura relates.
At his silence she pushes on. "You and I aren't the same as we were when we first met back at the Academy or even when we first became Team 7. We've seen the ugliness of war and death to the prices paid for power. And now as this new day dawns, I've been thinking of what I want to do next. To travel now that each nation is more at peace with each other, explore medicinal practices down in Iwa, Kumo, maybe even Ame. I also want...to start over with you."
"Start over?" Sasuke repeats.
He doesn't deserve that. Sakura shouldn't even be visiting him despite his muscles easing knowing he isn't just listening to the sounds of the machines beeping or the mutterings of the doctors and nurses forced to take care of him.
"If you want to in a sense; yes. I'm Sakura Haruno, one of the leading doctors in the emergency and intensive care units at Konoha's Central Hospital. That hasn't been really put to paper yet, Lady Tsunade still keeps my title as just one of the experts in medical ninjutsu to go to for any questions! In my spare time I like to brush up on medical textbooks, enjoy some dango from the sweets shop, and gossip with one of my oldest friends Ino." Sakura begins.
'Just like when Kakashi-sensei told us to give introductions on ourselves.' Sasuke muses.
Though this time he has nothing to say about himself. His revenge on Itachi has long since been completed, his family is still dead, his eyes are now gone...
Can even really call himself an Uchiha without the sharingan and it's different forms?
Because without his clan's abilities, without being able to even see the world around him he is nothing, no matter how much his body recovers from this.
"I'm just Sasuke." He states, playing along with her game for now.
He can feel Sakura's smile however, the light pressure of her fingers along his knuckles warming and tingling his skin.
"Good. I don't need you to be anything more than that."
-X-
Kakashi
Once a war ends, one doesn't expect to be greeted with mountains of paperwork.
Most involve permits from construction companies to begin rebuilding fallen facilities, some regard people wanting to seek permanent residence in Konoha, and others are simply over creating a balance in the prices at the market now that various goods are starting to flow in and out of each region.
All things he never imagined he would have to worry about!
'I'm not sure why you would've wanted this job Obito, or anyone for that matter.' Kakashi muses, extending his '5 minute break' by another 5 minutes (making it nearly 45 minutes now since he left to 'use the restroom and get some fresh air'). He hops to an adjacent rooftop just as he sees the shadow of Lady Shizune approaching, surely to reprimand him that he's been gone far too long to the point the other officials are worried he's been kidnapped. Shikamaru is there at least to help placate them (and Naruto will too once he decides to finally show up) and take notes for him. He'll give him an update later on so did he really need to be there?
The excuses sounded better in his mind than they did aloud.
"You can't keep putting this meeting off Lord Sixth!" She yells after him and Kakashi internally cringes.
He doubts he'll ever get being used to called by such a title.
He makes it over 3 rooftops before he hears another familiar beckoning to him, a blur of green entering his peripheral.
"Going for a mid-morning run Kakashi?! Good to see you're still as energized as ever!" Gai waves to him from below.
Kakashi halts then, taking in the casts to his right arm and leg that have put him in a wheelchair for now. Though he hadn't sat in during his conversation with Lady Tsunade and Sakura, he had heard from Lee and Tenten that the damage to his dominant side was extensive enough it had hit some of his nerves. Even with physical therapy, severed nerves can't be recovered...
Gai catches him staring and if possible his grin seems to widen. "I'm thinking of getting them fitting in a shade of green to match my outfit! I know they typically save the more colorful casts for the pediatric patients, though they might make an exception for me! If not, I can always get some paint from one of these builders!"
"It'd be best to not inhale all those paint fumes with how loony you already act on a regular day. I'm sure Sakura or one of the other doctors can find something for you during your next appointment." Kakashi cautions, hopping down beside him.
Gai considers the very thought before laughing boisterously, nodding his agreement. "You always did think 2 or 3 steps ahead Kakashi! I can see why you've been picked next to run the village."
Kakashi shrugs, feeling the stares of one or two onlookers as they weave through the crowds. People who already know who he is, wondering if this rocky peace is going to last. He waves at them and they begin to smile with more certainty, waving back before continuing on their way.
"It's not like I want the position." He retorts.
Gai shakes his head, gesturing in the direction of the Hokage rock. Eventually, his face too will be up there as well just like Minato-sensei and again his chest constricts at what-if's.
This was Obito's dream, not his...
And it feels as if he stole something else from him once more without meaning to, visiting his and Rin's graves at the cemetery and the Memorial Rock suddenly don't feel like enough knowing this talk of him being the 6th Hokage is soon to become a reality.
A breeze passes over them, warm and tinged with the scent of smoke and wood.
"Don't overthink it Kakashi; you were picked for the job for a reason even if you don't see it yourself just yet. I'm sure the dead that watch over us feel the same as well." Gai mentions, already sensing where his thoughts had gone.
Slowly, the tightness in his chest eases up, departing for now with the wind. It will come back again most likely when he least expects it, like a sudden storm or chill in the night, a painful shock that will fan the flames of old aches, old memories...
Gai nudges him none too gently with his good arm, dark eyes flickering between him and the Hokage rock with one of his sparkling toothy grins.
"What's say you and I race to that old rock just like the good old times?! I'll even let you have a head-start if you think you're going to lose due to all this apparent stress you're under!" He jokes.
As if to prove his point he slows his wheelchair down, brows furrowed watching for what he'll do next.
Kakashi blinks, feeling a small grin rise up.
Despite all his insulting of him throughout the years, Gai never stopped being upbeat or at least reminding him of their rivalry.
"Sure, I could use a good view of the village from overhead anyways."
Gai nods, spinning his wheelchair properly once more to keep up with his stride. "Now that's the spirit Lord Sixth!"
Kakashi rolls his eye, maybe he can pass a rule stating for people to just keep calling him Kakashi or Kakashi-sensei.
"Don't call me that."
-X-
Hinata
'Room 1053, this is it.' Hinata reads.
And below said room number is Ao's name written in plain black ink and her stomach churns recalling the anger that burned in her during their last encounter.
Goosebumps race along her skin despite the heat of the midday still warming her from her walk over.
She's late getting here, however it is still quiet hour in this wing of the hospital telling by the hushed voices and dimmed lighting of the halls.
'Is he going to recognize me, will he even know that I'm here?' She swallows tightly, pushing the thoughts away before they take root and make her abandon this whole idea.
He's the sole survivor from the intelligence division, Shikaku's and Inojin's corpses recovered from the scene late yesterday afternoon.
There are mutterings Ao himself might not even survive through the night, the right side of his body having been heavily crushed in with metal and wood debris.
"He's been through 5 surgeries so far. Two for his right arm and leg respectively and one for the right side of his face." Natsumi reveals softly.
That didn't include operations to remove shrapnel still embedded in his skin, wound debridement of his chest cavity, eventual prosthetics and physical therapy...
Hinata walks around to the side of his bed, opening his windows just enough for golden sunshine to peek through. More clouds have rolled in since morning, a mix of a cotton white to steely gray.
She sets down the simple floral arrangement she got from Yamanaka's into a vase resting in the corner: a simple bouquet of white orchids and blue hyacinths.
The symbols of apology and sincerity in the language of flowers.
"I know I haven't been the nicest to you and for that, I apologize." Hinata starts.
That eye he stole from one of her clansmen so long ago is gone now, crushed and as mangled as his very body is now. To honor Hideaki she had created a white origami crane placed by his tombstone, a habit he had apparently enjoyed in life for bringing good luck prior to major missions and in his case war. Now it would mean for him to know that even years later he wasn't forgotten by the clan.
To her surprise Ao's left eye flutters open slowly, blue of them dull and watery.
His eye connects with hers, cobalt to lavender before his alarms resound in a buzz across the room.
Hinata hurriedly moves to stand, lights flashing red on his cardiac rhythm and breathing rate.
"Relax, the war is over." She calms him, lightly gripping his bandaged hand.
She isn't sure if he can properly hear her, but his monitors quickly stop blaring as his eye shuts once more.
'Has anyone visited him?' Hinata considers as she settles back down. A sheen of dust rests over his bedside table where she placed the flowers. Save for the nurses and doctors attending to him, she imagines maybe only one or two have come in passing before her.
There is of all his fellow shinobi back in Kiri, the comrades he's gained and lost throughout these wars...
"I'm surprised he hasn't reacted worse to your presence. Changing his bandages and IV lines is always a challenge with him." Natsumi voices beside her, startling her.
Hinata watches as she steps around her, adjusting the speed of his antibiotics while slowing the rate of his normal saline with finesse.
Honey brown eyes regard Ao testily once she's done, sighing at his mild fidgeting.
"Shinobi like him that were born in wars, know only of war rarely make it a few years after recovering." She mentions.
"Things are different now though. The nations are no longer at war and technology is advancing." Hinata counters.
Natsumi blows out a breath and Hinata restrains a scowl knowing she thinks her too naïve, too hopeful of the coming future.
She twists her gaze back to Ao, for war veterans like him she would make sure he too wasn't forgotten.
-X-
Naruto & Hinata
"How are you feeling today?" Naruto questions softly.
This early Konoha's cemetery is quiet, faint sounds of the night crickets filling the silence between them. The moon rests low against the skyline, sunlight to soon scatter and curve against the mountains and trees bringing another new day.
"I trust you'll take care of Hinata." Hiashi speaks aloud, not as a question but a firm statement.
"Of course, why the hell wouldn't I?! Ah, I mean to say of course I will you know! Hinata means so much to me, it's hard to even put it into words." Naruto replies in mishmash of words, further cementing his embarrassment at Hiashi's dry laugh.
"It's not like you to get tongue-tied." He chuckles.
That was one of the last conversations they had together back at the compound, before War broke out, before he lost his life protecting him...
His eyes mist as his mind rewinds yesterday and the burials of the dead, mourners from both Hyuga branches and shinobi alike paying their respects as Hiashi's body was lowered into the earth.
He squeezes at Hinata's hand when new tears bubble up in her eyes, too many for her to blink away as they shimmer against her wet cheeks.
"Better, despite how I must look right now." She rasps out.
She bends herself down to the new memorial plaque with Hiashi's name engraved, bundle of white lilies fresh with dewdrops lining the center.
'Neji was here.' Naruto realizes.
Perhaps on an early morning run/mediation walk or simply like them to give Hiashi an update on how their lives have been now that the war is over.
"Father, there's a lot of new buildings rising up around the market district. Many war refugees want to seek temporary asylum here in Konoha or seek permanent residence." Hinata starts.
"It's a lot for Kakashi-sensei or err Lord Sixth I guess now or maybe I should say up and coming Lord Sixth...never mind; his title doesn't matter! Anyway, Hinata and I are looking at some of the houses Yamato-sensei is building. Particularly the ones closest to the Hokage office." Naruto adds in.
A bird chirps overhead, both glancing up to see a swallow circling them with a note attached to it's leg.
'I've ordered a breakfast buffet for this morning at the compound. You two are welcome to stop by if you're available, the caterers should be here between 8:00-9:00 am.' They read together.
"Such a formal way to invite us over for breakfast." Naruto snickers, Hinata nudging him before devious thoughts can sprout up of teasing him.
"Let's go, it will good to see everyone together at one table instead of separated by walls." Hinata announces, twisting them in the direction of the manor.
She looks over her shoulder one last time before they truly go, watching as Hiashi's plaque shines a golden yellow in the coming sun.
'"Until next time Father." Hinata whispers out, words falling to the wind and scattering up to the skies of her promise.
The long route to the compound avoids the knowing smirks of the shopkeepers, the not-so-quiet gossip of the old ladies at the bistro wondering if another baby boom is coming just like when the Third Shinobi World War ended.
"You didn't need to come this early." Neji mentions upon greeting them at the gate, auburn hair already pinned back and ready for the day.
Naruto shrugs, beaming at his usual mask of stoicism. "Well, there's much to discuss isn't there?!"
Neji looks from him to Hinata then, arching a brow taking in her reddened cheeks. "You're...not already pregnant, are you?"
They both fluster at the bluntness of his remark, shaking their heads rapidly in equal succession.
"What?! No!" Hinata cries.
At least she doesn't think so, she and Naruto have been careful in tracking her period and she herself keeping up with her gynecology appointments.
Naruto wraps a hand around her waist, bemused grin making her heart flutter and cheeks burn brighter when he catches her eye with a wink.
"Funny you should say that though! Hinata and I were just reminiscing over how we told Hiashi we plan to start a family, boys or girls that you and Hanabi can spoil. He said it was absolutely critical we get to work in starting the process of creation at every opportunity we get!" Naruto explains with an exaggerated air of importance.
Neji only regards him flatly, ushering for him and Hinata to walk inside.
"Hiashi never said such a thing regarding the intimacy between you two, nor would I like to hear it about it." He tacks on when Naruto opens his mouth once more.
His lips twitch with a smile though when they aren't looking as Naruto leads the way to the garden where Hanabi is waiting.
The words he spoke during that battle between them in the chunin exams ring to mind; the Hyuga clan truly was changing. He wishes it was something his own Father and Uncle got to witness, even his old preteen self who had only scoffed and brushed off Naruto's words back then would be shocked that his words are actually becoming a reality slowly but surely.
He watches as Naruto and Hinata share a secret grin, Hinata's cheeks burning pink at what is surely a crude joke Naruto whispers in her ears. Their hands brush each others before locking their fingers together properly.
This man he once thought so beneath him is now the very same one who makes Hinata laugh freely, makes her beam with confidence, who he can happily say at least to himself is a welcome addition to the family.
-x-
Stay tuned for the epilogue! It's been one heck of a ride for me creating this story (a story that at one point that I felt truly low and uncertain about.) I'm glad to be finishing up this story and hopefully start soon on another NaruHina story idea that's been buzzing in my mind for a few weeks now. Let me know your thoughts as always!
Enjoy. Review. Favorite. Follow!
