Three Hundred and Sixty Two
Hinata turns up at Naruto's house as the sun is rising, just like she always does. Yesterday and the day before, she had a mission with her team (minus Shino). Today, Hinata will have Naruto all to herself. The village is all in a flutter about Naruto's parents getting back from being dead. It took them long enough, in Hinata's opinion. Her undead grandmother is hanging around too, and she is totally on board with Hinata's dad being king of the moon.
Hinata does not knock. She has never knocked. She climbs up the wall to Naruto's bedroom window and taps on the glass. Down on the ground below Hinata, Sparkles and Moonbeam wait patiently for Hinata to finish summoning Naruto. Sparky and Mrs. Sparky sit in the tree near Naruto's window and watch. They stayed with Sparkles and Moonbeam while Naruto was away.
Hinata taps again, and Naruto appears, a big grin on his face. He throws open the window and pulls Hinata inside. "Hinata!" Naruto says, losing his balance and falling over backwards, taking Hinata with him. Hinata falls on top of Naruto, with her legs between his and her breasts pressed up against his face.
Turning pink, Hinata props herself up on her hands.
Naruto just stares at Hinata with this blissful expression on his face. "You smell nice," he says, dazed. "And you're so soft, 'tebayo."
"What is going on here?" demands a voice that Hinata has not heard before.
She turns her head to see a woman who is unmistakably Naruto's mother. Hinata, realizing what this must look like, turns very red.
"Oh, hi Mum," says Naruto, grinning. "This is Hinata. She's always sneaking into my room early in the morning, 'tebayo."
Naruto's mother looks like she is not sure if she should scream, laugh, cry or toss them both out the window. "...uh...what, 'tebane?"
Hinata simply responds by fainting, no doubt giving Naruto another face full of her chest.
The last thing Kushina expected when she went upstairs to wash her hair that morning was this. Naruto, on the floor of his room, with a girl on top of him. She is so stunned she does not know what to do or say. Hinata faints on top of Naruto, and Naruto does not seem to mind in the slightest.
"Naruto, what?" says Kushina.
Naruto sits up, cradling Hinata in his arms and pouts at Kushina. "Mum, I had everything perfect," he whines. "I was this close to kissing Hinata and you interrupted."
Kushina blinks. "Naruto, I am telling her father about this."
Naruto goes a little pale and laughs nervously. "You don't need to do that, I was just gonna kiss her, nothing else, I swear, 'tebayo!"
"You've been spending too much time around Jiraiya," says Kushina. "Get downstairs. I'm going to make breakfast."
Naruto scurries downstairs with his girlfriend in his arms. Kushina washes her hair and heads to the kitchen to make her best breakfast ramen. Naruto has a girl over, after all. Naruto is not as smooth as Minato was, but he has potential.
Kazama emerges, drawn to the ramen like a moth to a light bulb. "Ramen…"
"Yes," says Kushina, crisply. "Breakfast ramen."
Kazama sits down at the table expectantly. "There is supposed to be a no ramen for breakfast rule, but whatever."
"Why, though?"
"Because otherwise Naruto would never eat anything healthy."
"The key is to put the healthy stuff in the ramen."
Kazama just sits there, looking confused, baffled and like she just discovered the secret to life's purpose.
Naruto wanders in with Hinata and two phoenixes. Hinata is still blushing.
"Morning Grandma," says Naruto. "Hinata came over for breakfast, and she brought Mrs. Sparky and Sparky, and Sparkles and Moonbeam, 'tebayo."
"Your mother's making ramen," says Kazama. "For breakfast."
"Awesome!" says Naruto, dragging Hinata over to the table and sitting them both down. Hinata still looks very dazed and embarrassed.
"What's up with Hinata?" asks Kazama. "She's usually first in line for ramen."
"I caught them in a...compromising position," says Kushina, wondering how Kazama would react if Kushina told her that Naruto was trying to steal a hot kiss.
Kazama, to Kushina's astonishment, looks relieved. "You two are still too young for that sort of thing," says Kazama, halfheartedly shaking a finger at them. "Do you want to end up like Itachi and Shisui?"
"Nope, Hinata's Dad is scarier than Mr. Nice Hokage," says Naruto, scratching the back of his head nervously.
"It wasn't like that!" protests Hinata. "I fell on him while I was climbing in his bedroom window!" Then she turns very red.
"And what were you doing climbing in his window in the first place, young lady?" says Kazama sternly. "You are teenagers now, you know. What will the neighbours think?"
Hinata turns even redder and faints again.
Kushina raises and eyebrow. "The way you worded that makes it sound like she climbed in his window when they were kids, 'tebane."
"Oh she did," says Kazama. "Most days, in fact. They went out together all day too, if they didn't have the Academy - and sometimes they skipped school to run off together."
"No wonder Hiashi was so flippant about them probably getting married," says Kushina, her eyes wide.
The rest of the family slowly emerges, and no one except Minato is surprised Hinata is there. Even Mei is not surprised. Vaguely wondering where the reanimations went, Kushina serves up the ramen to everyone.
When Hinata wakes up, she turns to Burifu and says, "Good, you had a proper bath. I have need of a fairy."
"Yes!" says Burifu, grinning. "I can be a fairy for you more often now, because I live here."
Hinata grins. "Cool. I actually have need of a few fairies. Namiko...Kimiko…"
"YAY!" Namiko jumps up in her chair.
"Yes!" Kimiko grins and lets out an excited little squeal.
"What do you need fairies for?" asks Minato, tipping his head to one side.
"I run a business where I hire out unicorns and fairies for weddings and parties," explains Hinata. "I did Kakashi sensei's wedding - that was when I just had the one unicorn and I dressed up as the fairy."
Kushina leaves them all chatting happily and heads off to the Hyuuga compound to chat with Hiashi. When she finds him, she tells him exactly what she saw that morning in Naruto's bed room.
To Kushina's surprise and bewilderment, Hiashi says, "Dammit, Kushina, I could've won that bet today if you hadn't interrupted."
"What bet?" demands Kushina. Are people betting about her son's love life?! How dare they?!
"That they would kiss before age 15," says Hiashi.
"Yeah, thanks for that Kushina!" Hizashi calls from another room.
Tachibana is not too sure about the strange old-young man. However, he can sense the man will not hurt him. Tachibana has already forgotten the man's name. Where did the man go? Tachibana shivers under the blankets. He is not really cold. He is lonely. It his his first time being truly alone, and he does not like it very much. Eventually the man returns and heads to bed. Tachibana tries to sleep, but he is used to having people around him.
Soon the man falls asleep, but Tachibana cannot sleep. He gets out of bed, feels his way down the hallway to the man's room and cuddles up next to him. That's better. Now he can sleep.
Madara wakes up the next morning feeling curiously warm and strangely paralyzed. Someone is behind him, cuddled up against his back, with one thin arm wrapped around Madara. Madara can feel whoever it is breathing peacefully. It must be the kid, Madara realizes. He must've gotten lonely or scared or something and climbed into Madara's bed. The kid probably has no concept of personal space.
But Madara is unable to move because this kid is behind him, cuddling up to him and, now that Madara is thinking about it, the kid has some powerful chakra. Untrained, but powerful. All of Madara's self preservation instincts are going haywire. His fight or flight instincts already gave up fighting and fled. All that is left is the most basic freeze-and-it-might-leave-you-alone instinct.
Someone get this thing off me! Madara begins to panic. He is frozen with Someone-Is-Behind-Me! Nerves.
The kid shifts slightly and his arm tightens around Madara. He's going to stab me, he's going to stab me! Get a grip, Madara! He's twelve! He can't hurt you, you are a full grown man! Just move his arm and leave! Madara tries to reason with himself. But years of not trusting anyone enough to turn his back to them overwhelms any logic and reason.
His two greatest weakness are right behind him - and that's half his weaknesses right there!
Finally, the kid wakes up and lets go of Madara. Madara exerts an exceptional amount of self control to stop himself from stabbing the kid and running for the hills. Madara gets off the bed as if there is nothing wrong at all. No war time induced self-preservation instincts here.
"Good morning, Uncle," says the kid.
"What are you doing in my bed?" asks Madara, trying to keep his voice level.
The boy's face falls. "Oh...was that bad of me?" he asks. "I'm sorry, Uncle."
Madara's eyebrow twitches. Now that the boy is safely where he can see it, Madara realizes the kid is calling him Uncle. Not another one. "You'd best call me Madara," Madara tells him.
"Okay...Uncle Madara," says the boy, smiling.
"No, not Uncle Madara...just Ma..OH, whatever," Madara sighs, realizing he isn't going to get of being called Uncle Madara. "And try to sleep in your own bed."
"I don't like being alone," says the boy, sadly.
He's like a puppy that got abandoned one too many times, thinks Madara, glaring daggers at the kid. He is glad the kid can't see that glare. "Well get used to it," says Madara. "You won't be spending every second of every day with someone else."