Chapter 18
Kakashi 31, Hinata 22 (about a year and a half later)
Inuzuka Kiba strolled casually into the Yakiniku BBQ hut. He requested a private room for 4 (including Akamaru of course). Shino and Hinata were joining him for lunch today and he had been looking forward to this all week.
Kiba had joined the police forces a few years back, and now between that, his girlfriend and the canine pack he took care of, it felt like he barely had time to see his team, never mind the busy schedules Hinata and Shino themselves had.
Recently another dramatic change had occurred to their group dynamic when Hinata became the Hyuga clan head. Sure… Shino was the heir to his clan as well, but his father wasn't showing signs of retiring anytime soon, therefore Hinata had been the first of them to hold a position of such influence. This was also the reason their outings now required private rooms. Kiba was glad he wouldn't have to deal with this drama because Hana had taken over the Inuzuka clan a few years back and he couldn't be happier to have that responsibility off his shoulders.
He had just ordered for the table when Hinata and Shino walked in.
"Hi Kiba-kun," Hinata said warmly, coming to give him a hug. She looked a bit different now, she had the formal white robes of a clan leader on today and recently she had done something different to her hair. It was still long… but now it framed her face.
"What did you do to your hair?" he asked, gesturing at her face.
"Oh… I layered it, do you like it?" she said while sitting next to Shino and giving Akamaru a hug.
"It's nice!" Kiba gave a thumbs up while grabbing a dinner roll and taking a huge bite.
"So… what have you all been up to?" Hinata asked, turning to the group once again with a smile.
Shino filled everyone in on his latest adventures training to be a teacher at the Shinobi Academy. It seemed like the process was going well and he was excited to start teaching. Kiba filled the group in on his job as a police officer. It was a bit boring compared to his experience as a Shinobi, but it paid the bills and it kept him home, which Tamaki was very pleased about.
"Sooo.. Kiba how is Tamaki-chan doing?" Hinata changed the subject with a twinkle in her eye.
"She is doing good, same old same old, you know… we occasionally drive each other crazy arguing about cats versus dogs," Akamaru woofed showing his opinion on the matter, "but things are good otherwise. I'm thinking of asking her to move in with me" Kiba paused, patting Akamaru reassuringly and observing the reactions of the group.
Hinata looked ecstatic and was clapping her hands while Shino was showing his happiness in a much more reserved way. "Thank you," he laughed at his friends, "now Hinata how are things going with Ryoko?"
The blunette fell silent at that topic and fiddled around with her food... it was never a good sign when Hinata fiddled.
"Um.. he's doing okay… I mean we are doing okay…" she trailed off. Kiba only needed to lean forward with a hiked eyebrow for her to continue. "Things have been weird since I became clan head" she finally admitted.
"Why?" Shino probed.
"Now that we are both the head of our clans, I think the problem is we don't know where to go from here. He isn't giving up his position… not that I would even ask him to, but... I'm not interested in moving to Kirigakure either. I love my family and my clan."
"I see" Shino murmured sympathetically.
"That sucks Hinata, I wish I knew what to tell you… I thought Shikamaru and Temari had it tough but your situation is even shittier. I mean personally... I didn't really like the guy too much, he is kind of arrogant" Kiba said, looking at her nervously while taking a sip of water.
Hinata smiled at her teammates. Even though their words weren't particularly helpful she knew that they would do anything for her and vise versa... plus they knew each other well enough by now to be brutally honest with each other when it was necessary.
As much as she hated to admit it what Kiba said about Ryoko wasn't wrong, he had this tendency of trying to manipulate the lives of those around him to suit his or his clan's best interest. In the beginning she had been impressed by his foresight and planning but lately she felt that he went a bit too far sometime and she wasn't finding the quality particularly endearing anymore.
Before long their lunch hour wrapped up and the team headed back to their jobs with a promise to get together next week. Hinata waved goodbye to her friends and then squared her shoulders standing up a little bit straighter, she had an appointment with the Hokage in 30 minutes and she needed to stay sharp.
Hinata walked into the Kage tower in a dignified manner. She had been named the Hyuga clan leader six months ago and she was still adjusting to this new role and life. She'd periodically had meetings with the Hokage over the last few months (as was customary for clan leaders) and as usual she dreaded each one of those interactions. She gripped the clan reports tighter as she raised her chin and continued walking, wanting to seem more confident than she was.
Shizune greeted her warmly at reception with an air of familiarity and walked her in. The older woman now divided her time between the Kage tower and the hospital. The Hokage couldn't seem to function without her around, but how she managed to juggle all her roles blew Hinata's mind.
She discreetly adjusted her hair one last time and popped a mint into her mouth before knocking on the large mahogany doors to the office before entering.
"Hello Hinata-san" the tall man stood up from behind the large desk and greeted her warmly.
"Hello Hokage-sama" Hinata bowed looking at the familiar figure in front of her.
He looked good as the Hokage. Kakashi had been appointed the 6th Hokage of Konohagakure about a year ago. He was extremely qualified and highly deserving of the position of course, he had worked hard for it. And Tsunade had been ecstatic to finally return back to medicine fully.
Hinata looked Kakashi up and down discreetly, it was unfair that he was still as fit as ever. As the Hokage, Kakashi only wore his ceremonial robes and hat when he needed to. More or less on a day to day basis he continued to dress as before, in dark long sleeved sweaters and pants.
"Take a seat Hinata-san" Kakashi spoke warmly, leading her over to the couches. This was one of the many renovations he had done upon accepting his leadership role. He didn't like to talk to people from behind a desk, so he had a sitting area installed in his office. In addition, he had digitized the Kage tower. He had a computer set up in this office and he was leading a huge digitization project for the country moving Konoha into the technological age. It was a significant and ambitious endeavour that would leave a mark on this country for years to come.
Things between them had returned to a sort of new normal. Their relationship now was calm and placid, if not a bit impersonal. Their new roles meant that they needed to have a good working relationship. There was no room for pettiness, and if they couldn't accomplish that people would notice and would question their competence for leadership. That had been a good motivator for both of them to put aside their old issues. Whatever those might have been.
Sure… they were a bit awkward around each other now… but awkward was better than nothing.
"How is your father doing?" he asked as they took a seat.
"He is doing good Hokage-sama, you know how he is… staying busy and butting his nose into how I run the clan… the usual" she smiled and he smiled back at her.
"And how is your health" she asked politely since he had no family to inquire after.
He chuckled, "I'm doing as well as can be expected. Shall we dive into the reports then?".
Just as she nodded and passed him a dossier, a frazzled looking man barged into the room startling them. Both of them paused and calmly watched to see if the man had taken a wrong turn, but when he continued to advance they stood up slightly alarmed in defensive stances. This man shouldn't have been able to get in here and he was holding some kind of package.
Kakashi quickly grabbed her and moved her behind him. Angrily she walked out from behind him and tried to stand between the intruder and the Hokage. Just as Kakashi reached for her again and pulled her to him, the man opened the package and a huge dust of white powder covered the room in a poof. The man then took a running start and jumped out the open window.
What the hell? Within seconds, two guards ran into the room looking panicked, took in the situation and then jumped out the window in pursuit of the perpetrator.
"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked calmly as he held her. She was too shocked to move away from his arms.
"You aren't supposed to protect me" she finally snapped out of it, "You are the Hokage, I am supposed to protect you!".
Just then a swarm of guards dressed in hazmat suites stormed in. Upon closer inspection she noticed that Shizune was one of them.
"What is going on?" Kakashi asked in a clipped voice with his arm still around her.
Shizune stepped forward. "Our apologies Hokage-sama for the delay in getting here, finding the hazmat suits took longer than anticipated."
"Why…. are you dressed in hazmat suits?" he asked calmly. Hinata admired that in this bizarre situation.
"The man who came in here threatened to set off a bio-weapon," the woman answered nervously observing the white powder covering the Hokage office.
"What?" Hinata asked nervously.
"Unfortunately you have both been compromised" Shizune continued in the same nervous voice and all Hinata heard was a ringing in her head.
"What do you mean compromised?" Kakashi barked out.
"We have no knowledge of what this powder is and what you were exposed to. More importantly we have no idea if this in fact is a bio-terrorist attack. We don't know what the health effects of this powder are and whether you two are infectious in any way to the general public".
Hinata gulped, gripping Kakashi's shirt tightly as she realized what was about to come.
"We need to quarantine you both for two weeks… unfortunately" Shizune finished.
Kakashi and Hinata stared speechlessly at the audience in the room. Surely this was a dream?
.
.
They were asked to take a thorough shower and decked up in hazmat suits (separately thank god!). And then they were taken to a medical facility where countless blood samples were drawn along with a physical examination.
After all that they were told to get into a town car and sent to some secure location to quarantine. Hinata had been moving through the day in a daze and noticed that the car had come to a stop. She looked out the window curiously at the house they had arrived at. It was located in a secluded area a small distance away from the town. She had no idea this lodging had even existed. It was a nice two storied home and seemed to be luxuriously built. She got out of the car and looked around in awe.
"What is this place?" she murmured as they walked up the driveway, and now that they were away from people she finally took off the head covering of the hazmat suit.
"This is… my home," Kakashi said sheepishly, scratching his head.
She stuttered to a stop and turned to him, "I thought you lived in Konoha?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes, I have an apartment in the city, but I built this place to... retire in someday. Anyway no one lives here, which is why we are quarantining here".
"How are we supposed to do out work?" she asked in dismay, feeling like crying now that their new reality was finally crashing in. What had she done to deserve this, she silently asked the gods.
"I can have a computer or a laptop brought in for you if you need it?".
Hinata stared at him for a few seconds and then burst into laughter, "Hokage-sama, you have done a fantastic job digitizing the Kage office, but the Hyuga are still a long way behind. Unfortunately, we still work mainly through ink and paper".
"No better reason than an urgent need to create rapid transformation right?" Kakashi called out over his shoulder as he gestured for her to follow him inside.
After walking through the door they entered a spacious hallway. From there they walked down to a beautiful kitchen and living room area. Kakashi seems to like natural lighting because large windows were placed looking out from the main floor into the forest behind. It was a gorgeous house she had to admit begrudgingly. He had designed it well.
"Come on, I will show you to your room upstairs".
"Are you sure we have to quarantine together?" she murmured after him while walking up the stairs.
He stopped suddenly and she saw his back muscles stiffen, "I know it's not the most ideal situation for you Hinata, for that... I am sorry. But we can't quarantine alone, we need someone to monitor us for worsening symptoms".
"Ah" she said simply. That did make sense. "What about the guards who were exposed?"
"They weren't comfortable living with us here, so they were offered different lodging I believe," Kakashi said matter of factly as he continued up the stairs.
Hinata could sympathize with the guards, living with the Hokage would be a bit intimidating.
"Are you feeling okay?" she murmured, climbing the stairs after him.
"I feel fine, how about you?".
"Yes, I feel no different".
They finally made it to the upstairs den where there was a beautiful piano and she fleetingly wondered if he played.
"My room is down the hall, you can go ahead and pick any of the guest rooms, there are two to choose from. I'm going to go change my clothes and call into the office to see what is going on. Sorry I have no female clothes to offer you, but I've been told our belongings will arrive soon. Feel free to wander around and explore the house if you'd like".
She nodded as Kakashi left and peeked into the guest rooms. They were both more or less the same looking but she picked the room that was furthest from his with a view of the forests. After selecting her room she walked around the house getting a lay of the land. The main floor of this house had a living room, powder room, dining room, kitchen and a study, the second floor had the master bedroom, as well as two guest bedrooms, a washroom and a loft area. Then there was also the basement where he had a gym set up. All in all it was a very impressive house but he didn't seem to have it fully furnished or decorated yet. Without people living in it, this space had a sterile feel to it.
Later in the evening their belongings were delivered. Hinata's clothes came in 5 large suitcases. She frowned at the bags… were they expecting me to move in with him, she wondered sarcastically looking down at her supplies. It's as if they packed up her whole room and sent it. She also received a laptop (courtesy of Kakashi) and a small gadget.
"What is this?" she asked, turning to look at him.
"It's a mobile phone, you can call whoever you like privately using that. It didn't seem fair to only have one for myself" he said teasingly.
By the end of that first day Kakashi had his study set up fully operational to work from home. Seated on the living room couch she watched in wonder at how he worked so efficiently and walked around with the phone glued to his ear. She hadn't done much today at all, she was still in shock to be honest.
Hinata looked down at the phone in her hand and figured she would give it a try, it would at least get her mind off things. The problem was that the Hyuga clan only had one phone located in the study of the main house. Here goes nothing, she thought as she dialed the number.
"Hello" a panicked voice answered.
"Hello... who is this?".
"Onee-chan is that you, this is Hanabi".
"Yes it's me, thank god I reached you, how is everything?"
"Everything is fine don't worry about that… we are just worried about you… we heard that you are living with the Hokage-sama for the next two weeks?"
"Yeah" Hianta sighed.
"Oh... that is so bizarre… the elders are thrilled of course… I'm sure you can imagine why, but Otou-san and Neji are not pleased. They tried to pull you into the Hyuga compound but since you could pose a threat to the general public that didn't get approved by the Kage office".
"Yes thank god, they have no idea if this compound is dangerous Hanabi. Please just let me stay here, the last thing I would want is to put anyone in danger".
"Okay if you are sure… are you going to be okay Onee-chan… you aren't uncomfortable or worried about anything are you?"
Hinata laughed, "No, the Hokage is a perfect gentleman. I am not worried about anything like that… if umm… if Ryoko calls can you please give him my number?"
"Yes of course… although you know that I'm not a fan of him" Hanabi grumbled. Hinata smiled hearing the frown in her sister's voice.
"You just don't like him because I would have to leave the country if I marry him".
"Yes... that's exactly why" she said indignantly.
Afterwards they moved on to talk about clan business and concluded their phone call about a half an hour later. Maybe this thing isn't so bad after all she thought looking down at the small black block. Hinata wasn't too concerned about paperwork for the clan, what she was concerned about was the countless social engagements she had on her schedule, as well as the initiative they had underway to merge the branch and main houses of the clan together. Luckily her father and Hanabi would be able to support most things in her absence.
With that taken care of she walked over to the kitchen to assess their supplies.
Shizune had sent over takeout for today, but Hinata had no intentions of eating that everyday. Lately she had barely gotten a chance to cook so this would be the perfect opportunity for her to do what she loved again. Without further ado Hinata got to work making up a long list of groceries and emailed it to her assistant. This was going to be an interesting two weeks she thought dusting her hands after that was taken care of.
Authors note: I know quite a different direction! Konoha is moving in to the digital age and a decent amount has changed in the lives of our main characters :p! This next few chapters are going to have a more modern feel to it, just wanted to add that disclaimer :).