Smoke. Oh kami how that acrid stench of burning wood, clothing and flesh irritates the eyes. The fine particles in the air coalesce into dirty grey streaks with the tears that are already staining her cheeks. The stench of blood and other fluids mixed with the smoke threatens to clog her nostrils and make her vomit. That is if there is anything left inside to purge after everything that has happened.
Oh the screams, all those voices in a cacophony of pain and fear reverberate through the air till one cannot be sure if their voice is part of that hellish choir, or if the horror of it all has rendered them mute. The quick sob that escapes her lips is felt more than it is heard.
Thankfully the greasy smoke helps to obscure the ground somewhat so that it is difficult to tell what is underfoot. She doesn't want to know if it is just part of the now broken terrain, or if it is something or part of someone. Thankfully there is no time to check to be sure, and as long as it doesn't try to attack then it can be ignored. She needs to reach the last place he was known to be without any further delay.
As she reaches to the top of a newly formed hill of broken rock she activates her kekkei genkai and for the first time in her life she struggles to find that bright spark of chakra that has been like a beacon for her for so many years. The shining lighthouse of determination, so strong that it had helped to mold her own soul till it was like a piece of his puzzle, is now growing dimmer with each passing second.
She stumbles down the hill, her eyes blurring with muddy grey tears, and stops when her trembling legs have lost nearly all of their strength from grief. There hovering over Naruto, pouring everything she has left into his body to try and extend his life is Sakura.
As Sakura uncovers her lips from over his she throws back her head in frustration and takes in another deep breath in preparation to give Naruto another kiss of life. As her head descends the two kunoichi's eyes meet, Sakura's eyes narrow angrily as they bore into Hinata's. "Where the hell were you when this happen?"
Hinata goes numb as the guilt she is already feeling tightens like the coils of some oily serpent wrapping itself around her heart. She holds out a trembling hand towards the pale unmoving body lying on the ground.
Sakura's eyes begin to glow like twin green flames as they never stop staring accusingly at Hinata, even as she lowers down her lips onto Naruto's and gives him another lungful of life sustaining air. As she lifts her head back up Sakura sneers as she takes in another breath. "You swore to yourself that you would not leave his side and protect his life with your very own, but just like you have always done… YOU FAILED." She pulls her hand out of Naruto's side and lifts up the blood covered appendage gesturing violently at Hinata sending out a spray of gore. "FAILURE!"
The bright-red blood splatters across Hinata's face. She numbly reaches up and wipes at the strangely cool fluid on her face; but the blood should be warm, it would only be cold if he was really dead. As she looks down at her hand the blood expands and begins to flow up her arm. The droplets on her face begin to grow as well, flowing into her eyes and turning the entire world into a crimson hue. Her nostrils are filled with the viscous fluid causing her to gag, but as she tries to retch Hinata finds her mouth is already full of the tinny tasting fluid as it forces its way into her body. Her body starts to convulse as it fights to keep from drowning in the blood of Naruto, the one she loves. The one she failed to protect.
"Hinata? HINATA!" Naruto yells as he tries to stop his girlfriend's convulsions. He has no idea what is going on, one moment he was asleep lost in a dream and the next his body is being hammered by Hinata's elbows as she flailing about tugging at her throat. Without any better idea he rolls over on top of Hinata and grabs her hands, pinning them to either side of her head. Doing his best to stay astride as her body bucks and struggles against him, Naruto presses his weight further down onto Hinata's and begins to whisper soothingly into her ear. "It's okay Hinata, I'm here… you don't have to be afraid. Just please stop." As her struggles slowly weaken Naruto places gentle kisses onto her cheeks, forehead and finally her lips.
As Hinata wakens she blinks a few times and each time all she can see is blue, rather than the red hue that was dominating the end of her nightmare. Her trembling lips weakly return the kiss before she begins to cry. As his grip weakens Hinata slides her hands free and wraps her arms around Naruto's neck, drawing him tightly against her body. She keeps telling him over and over that she is so sorry.
He presses his body gently against Hinata to give her some reassuring pressure until her sobbing slows down. "It's okay, you just had a bad dream. You did nothing wrong Hinata, okay." Once the tension in her body begins to ebb, and her grip loosens, Naruto slides off and lies down beside Hinata who immediately clutches at his shirt and presses her forehead against his neck.
Naruto strokes her back soothingly for a minute or so before speaking. "Do you want to tell me about your dream?" He can't help but chuckle as she rubs her head back and forth against his collar bone. "Come on, it will do you good."
Hinata eases back and looks up sadly into his eyes. "It is the same nightmare that I have from time to time, ever since the war ended." When she sees him give her a strange look, Hinata's eyes go wide and she nods very quickly. "It's true, and I am not the only one. Several of us have bad dreams from time to time, especially if something triggers a memory or even a stressful emotional event can cause a trigger. Sometimes they can happen even when I am awake." When he opens his mouth to speak she reaches up and places a finger on his lips. She needs to make sure that Naruto doesn't think she is sick or damaged in some way. The therapist she sees from time to time tells her that she is perfectly normal.
"They say that it is normal for shinobi who have been through a traumatic event to have lingering issues. Some people eventually heal on their own, but others may have issues for the rest of their lives." Hinata presses her head against Naruto's neck again and lets out a long sigh. It actually feels good to talk about this with Naruto, just like the therapist said it would. "Kurenai-sensei told me about Kakashi-san and about how he had trouble for years after his teammate Rin's death. She said that had it not been for your father and later the Third Hokage that Kakashi might have been lost." She snuggles closer as Naruto gives her a grateful hug to hear something new about how good of a person his father was when he was alive. "She introduced me to a woman who had helped her, as well as Ino who was not only dealing with the death of her father, but also all of the horrors she saw as a medical ninja. She told me later about how awful it was for them all; trying to save as many lives as they could and having to see those who could not be saved while they tended those who had a chance. Ino can still see the blank look of one woman who watched her save someone else while she slowly passed away." Hinata brushes away a tear as she remembers Ino crying as she retold her story. "The woman did help me to deal with Neji's death and some of the other things that I saw during the war."
Naruto rubs a hand gently up and down Hinata's back as he listens to her explanation, at least until he can't wait any longer. "So, will you tell me what the dream was about?" He needs to know if there is even more coincidences about their lives than he thought possible.
Hinata, not wanting to relive that terrible dream, rolls away from Naruto to try and escape that fate. Her attempt fails as Naruto's left arm wraps around her waist and pulls her against his body; her few initial struggles only draw her deeper into his embrace. She might have panicked and fought harder against his entrapment if it hadn't felt so warm and protective to have her back pressed firmly against his chest and his arm encircling her body soothingly.
Hinata eventually gives in and places her face up against his right bicep as her new pillow before telling him about the nightmarish scene of the battlefield and the sounds and smells she relived in the dream. "When it happened for real I was too far away to try and help, so instead I watched helplessly with my byakugan as your life signs slowly faded. I felt so guilty for not being able to be by your side like I swore I would. I watched as she struggled to keep you alive and I prayed that somehow she would succeed." Hinata tells him of how in her dream she makes it to his side and how in the dream Sakura symbolizes her own guilty feelings. "It is the grief over my failure to protect you which causes the blood to expand over my body and try to suffocate me in retribution."
"Hey, it was a dream right, and I am alive. I am right here with you, tenshi." Naruto reaches down and pulls the blankets up before giving Hinata another reassuring hug. "Everything turned out okay and nobody could have stopped what happened to me in that fight. I think what happened was meant to be how things were going to end." Naruto nuzzles his face against the back of Hinata's head. "You told me that you want to only look towards the future and leave the past where it belongs. Well, let's leave that terrible time in the past too, okay? Now you go back to sleep and I'll watch over you to make sure that you don't have another one."
Their bodies rub against each other slightly as they settle into a more comfortable sleeping position. Slowly, as the minutes go by Hinata's breathing becomes deeper and the remaining tension in her body slowly ebbs. The whole time Naruto's thoughts are lost in deep introspection. He has been terrified to take that final risk, even as Hinata's unrelenting love keeps breaking down that resolve with each passing day like an ocean's wave on the shoreline. It's all been because of his reoccurring nightmare of Hinata's death at Pain's hands. That is why the dreams have become more frequent lately, because deep down he knew that he was going to succumb to the longings in his heart and soul. Some part of his brain is just too scared of losing, or just too stubborn to let him surrender.
Now that he thinks back, maybe that is why those weird guys would ask him those nosey questions when he would go in for his physical or a routine checkup after certain missions. This whole time he thought they were trying to trick him into saying something stupid so that the Hokage wouldn't let him go on new missions and stuff. So he acted like everything was fine and laughed off their questions as best he could, especially when they would start asking about his dreams. If he had only admitted the truth back then and didn't try to act so macho, then maybe he would have been assigned to talk with somebody like Kurenai had done for Hinata? Boy one of those guys could write a whole book on how messed up most of his life has been.
Naruto raises his head up a little and focuses his attention on the woman in his arms. He admires how the faint light coming through the partially opened bathroom door reflects off her perfect skin, while other areas are painted perfectly with shadows. What if he had talked to someone about the damn nightmare, is it possible that he would have already been enjoying nights like this with Hinata long before tonight?
Naruto gives a crooked smile as he looks at Hinata's neck. He is glad that she is wearing her hair up in a ponytail, because it is exposing the tender flesh of his second favorite place on her to kiss. It is a temptation that is so very hard to ignore. Naruto turns his ahead slightly and kisses her apologetically on the neck. "Hinata, I love you." There it is, he spoke the truth of how he feels and look there was no explosion or enemy bursting through the wall to try and kill them in their sleep.
Hinata's body reacts, whether it is due to the words he just said or the physical contact of his lips upon her neck Naruto is not sure. What he is sure of is that the sensation of her body, now that his is paying more attention, squirming and pressing against his own feels incredible. No… amazing might be a better word. No… something better than just amazing. Heavenly? Well, she is his angel. Arousing is another word that comes to mind as he rubs himself against her buttocks and she squirms a little in response.
He loosens his grip from around her waist and slowly, achingly slowly, moves his hand up towards Hinata's chest. Would it be wrong for him to touch her breast, just for a second? Just to see if they are as soft as they look when he glimpses over when she is hopefully not paying attention. Are breasts like they are described in Jiraiya's pervy books? Good question, one time he wrote that they are soft, but in another chapter he described them as firm. So which is it, or are different girls just… different? One thing is for sure they are always described as warm in the books, but how could Hinata not feel warm.
Hinata's body immediately reacts the moment his fingers first come into contact with her breast. Naruto holds his breath as she wiggles again, rubbing her buttocks against an increasingly sensitive area of his body. His eyes half close as a pulse of euphoria radiates outwards, making him feel a little light-headed. When his hand touches her breast again he is surprised at first that it is firmer than he was actually expecting, and not as… smooth. He fans out his fingers a little and feels a pattern of little bumps underneath the t-shirt Hinata is wearing, and there is a strange line that runs across towards her other breast. Higher up, towards Hinata's face and past the strange line, things feel much smoother and softer. Suddenly the supple flesh dips and there is a wonderful crevice where everything feels soft and warm, like putting his finger between a pair of expensive silk pillows.
It finally dawns on Naruto why at first it did not feel as expected. Hinata is wearing a bra, one with some sort of lacy pattern on the outside which would explain the little bumps he felt. 'Well duh, girls wear them things like all day long, so it makes sense that they wear them to bed too. It's probably like her hair and she does it to keep things from… you know… flopping around and getting in the way while she sleeps.' Feeling a little disappointed, especially since he has no idea where her nipples are at the moment, Naruto lets out a heavy sigh and just cups one breast in his hand while placing another kiss on Hinata's neck.
Hinata's body reacts again to the sensation of something touching her sensitive neck. Unconsciously, she flicks her head while simultaneously grabbing onto Naruto's hand. She presses his hand near her heart, squarely between her breast, and rolls partially onto her stomach. The angle puts his wrist in a weird, somewhat painful angle.
Trapped and unable to personally relieve the terrible pressure building up in his loins; and too terrified to continue his interaction with Hinata's body, Naruto lays there in misery waiting till her grip loosens and he can extricate his hand before she catches him with his hand in the cookie jar. 'Oh crap what am I going to do if she suddenly wakes up with my hand… between her…' He distracts from imagining the potential slapping he deserves by carefully moving his head to get the ponytail, which landed tight on top of his face when Hinata flicked her head, off of his face and out of his mouth and nose without inducing a sneeze. A sneeze that could startle a sleeping angel and force her to awaken prematurely.
Once that is accomplished Naruto focuses his thoughts on how he is going to finally tell Hinata, when she is awake, about how he feels. That he truly loves her with all his heart. 'I should tell her in the morning before we get back together with Choji and Shikamaru. This should be something private, and I really need some time to explain why it took me so long.' Also, he wants the moment to be special and not just be blurted out in the middle of the woods like some idiot. No, something this important needs to happen at the right place and time. He will get the conversation going in the right direction and…
Naruto opens his eyes groggily as he bats away at something that is tickling his face. It takes him a moment to remember why the ceiling of this room does not in any way look like his room. He smiles as something familiar does appear in his line of sight, nearly blocking out everything else with a curtain of dark silky hair. Hinata, who is still wearing the ryokan's yukata she wore to bed last night, is kneeling at the top of the futon and looking upside down at him with a smile on her face.
Hinata, who usually is an early riser, woke up to a surprise this morning.
FLASHBACK
Hinata cannot help but smile as she comes in consciousness and she sees the door to the dining area where she had dinner with Naruto last night. It had been a wonderful meal last night and even when things had nearly gone wrong it all ended better than expected. Her smile falters as she remembers the last night's nightmare, most likely brought on by the stress from having to finally talk about her encounter with Sakura.
Naruto had been so wonderful and had held her protectively as she slowly went back to sleep. Even now his arms are still wrapped around her body. Hinata wriggles a little to snuggle deeper into that comforting embrace and is rewarded with him making a little grunt and nuzzling the back of her neck. The hand she is holding tightly to her heart wriggles a little and grabs ahold of the upper portion of her left breast.
Hinata's body stiffens in shock at the unfamiliar groping and she realizes what she must have done in her sleep. At some point after they had both fallen asleep she must have grabbed onto his hand and tucked it between her breast and up close to her heart. She lays perfectly still for several moments, taking in small rapid breaths, as her brain becomes a torrent of 'what ifs'…
What if she had done like she does at home when sleeping in her own bed, and had decided not to wear a bra to bed last night? Thankfully she had ultimately decided to wear one to bed since she usually does when on missions; just in case there is an emergency and she would have one less thing to worry about. More importantly her deeply ingrained need for modesty and her clan's need to maintain decorum when in public had taken hold, tipping the balance against being extremely bold her first night in a bed with Naruto. Otherwise his grab might have been a full handed grope.
What if Naruto had woken up first and found himself in this current predicament? What if she had not worn the bra AND Naruto had woken up first? Would he have been frightened that she would be angry and call him a pervert? She can tell by the look in his eyes that he does seem to worry about that at times. That is to be expected after how Sakura would get angry at any hint of lewdness from Naruto, even when she knew that was not Naruto's intent she would still hit him so terribly hard. How he managed to survive being her teammate for so long is a miracle, either that or it is a testament to Sakura's skill as a medical ninja.
What if instead of being afraid when he found her braless that he had taken advantage of her being vulnerable? She knows that she should be frightened, or at least appalled at the thought of that happening, but instead the thought of it kind of turns her on. The thought of waking up to her Naruto-kun, and only her Naruto-kun, touching her body and kissing her about the neck caused her to let out a little moan and bite her lower lip. The sound and the quivering of her body must have disturbed him a little because right after that Naruto brushes his nose up the side of her neck and gives her a little kiss. Her body goes rigid from panic for fear that she might disturb him further and cause him to waken to their predicament. The last thing she wants is for something to happen and make the rest of the day, or possibly the rest of the mission, an awkward mess.
So she continues to lay there quietly trying to not make a sound or any movement till she is sure he is fully back to sleep. The whole time she imagines rolling over and devouring his lips like they were freshly made pastries. The thought of him looking up at her in surprise at her unpredictability makes her smile. 'Maybe one day.' Once she is sure that he is completely back to sleep she pulls his hand free and gets up to take of her morning ablutions.
As she goes about her morning routine she cannot help but smile every time she looks at herself in the mirror. She actually feels giddy this morning. Was it the confession of her fight with Sakura, or telling him about her nightmares, that lifted a burden from her soul? Maybe it was the night of romance and how falling asleep then later waking in Naruto's arms is such a major leap in the relationship. As she pulls the ribbon from her hair and gives her head a little shake to loosen her hair she feels like she is watching a woman in the mirror instead of just plain old Hinata. 'I just want to grab him and tell him I love him over and over this morning for some reason.'
After she is done and feeling more presentable, Hinata orders some breakfast for them to enjoy while the morning sun bathes the garden with its warmth. She turns her attention to her sleeping boyfriend to watch him sleep for a little while. This is not the first time that she has watched him sleep, nor will it be the last. She sits and thinks about those few missions that she and Naruto had done together and how she had watched him sleep from the far side of the tent, too afraid of getting closer and making a fool of herself with her stammering.
She can remember laying there wishing that she could somehow find the courage to at least put her sleeping bag beside his and be by his side during the night. Now yet another childhood wish has come true and she has not only slept beside Naruto, but spent the night wrapped protectively in his arms. That sensation was so wonderful, and thinking about it makes her want to crawl back under the covers and start the morning all over again. If only they did not have a tight schedule to keep, but once he becomes Hokage she knows full well from watching her father that many mornings will be short and sweet while the time apart during the day will be long and lonely till he returns again to their home.
Instead of being saddened by this thought Hinata smiles because she knows it will be her that he will be coming home to be with at night. It will be her hands that prepare his meals, at least when he is not sneaking off to indulge in his Ichiraku addiction. Oh how the thoughts of being able to focus on being a wife and someday a mother, leaving all the stress as the heir to the Hyuga Clan behind, is such a comforting thought. She places one hand on the Uzumaki Clan symbol that is on the shirt she is wearing and smiles.
A few things will need to occur before this can be her fate, some of those issues are clan related, but those are moot until Naruto is ready to move forward. She knows that she should not be so uncharacteristically carefree about it, but after all she has been through to get to this point with Naruto they do seem a little insignificant. 'I just hope I do not have to wait until I am the clan's leader to take of them, but I think that father is starting to see things my way now.'
Pushing those concerns to the back of her mind, Hinata turns her attention back to waking sleepyhead-san so that he can get washed up and ready for breakfast. At first she thinks about waking him with a kiss, but instead she decides to have a little fun. Hinata takes a little bit of her long hair and brushed the side of Naruto's face, giggling silently as his facial contortions made his whisker marks wiggle oh so cutely. Just as he begins to blink his eyes she leans forward to drape her hair around his head like a curtain, letting in just enough light so that they can see each other's eyes.
END FLASHBACK
"Good morning sleepyhead-san." Hinata reaches up and caresses the spot on his face where she had just recently tickled with her hair.
Naruto arches his neck and back to put his lips in perfect alignment with Hinata's. "Good morning beautiful-sama." He lets his lips linger lightly, enjoying the sensation of the contact, before deepening the kiss. 'I could get addicted to waking up like this every morning.'
'I could get addicted to waking him up like this every morning.' Hinata leans down a little to relieve the strain he is probably in, thankful that she had taken the time to brush her teeth this morning. After a few more moments, possibly minutes, Hinata reluctantly breaks the kiss and leans back a little. "Breakfast should be served soon, I thought you might like to freshen up a little before we eat and then get ready to meet up with Choji and Shikamaru."
Naruto gives her a great big smile and reaches up over his head to massage Hinata's thighs. "I thought I just had breakfast, you mean there is more?" He breaks out in a laugh as she blushes brightly and then slaps his hands playfully while trying to back away from his tickling fingers.
Feeling very playful Naruto rolls over onto his stomach so that he can crawl after his favorite victim, but this new position puts pressure onto his very full bladder nearly causing him to void himself right there on the futon. Trying his best to retain his dignity of not looking like some child, while also attempting to look cool and calm, Naruto slowly stands up.
Hinata, seeing the wave of panic in Naruto's face and then his very measured movements, remembers how her own bladder had felt this morning after all of the tea they had drunk during dinner. Knowing that this is a perfect moment for some mischief Hinata steps closer to Naruto to give him another, much longer kiss than the one they just shared. She just hopes that she can accomplish this kiss without laughing right in his face.
Naruto cannot pass up a chance to kiss Hinata, not just because they rank higher than Ichiraku ramen as something he would like to put his lips on, but if he were to rebuff her offer she might get offended. There is just no way he wants to make her feel unwanted just when he is finally ready to move forward. So he returns her gentle, lingering kiss while trying to not think about the increasing urgency of his painfully full bladder, or how his body wants to start dancing about to suppress his body's insistence on doing it's natural function.
Hinata, feeling merciful, breaks the kiss and steps out from between Naruto and the bathroom. Just as he opens the door she calls out to him and nearly bursts out in laughter when she sees the pained look of panic on his face. "Don't forget this, Naruto-kun." She calls out sweetly as she throws him his bathroom kit. "I thought you might want to brush your teeth." She watches as he deftly grabs the bag out of the air and quickly closes the door. As the sound of Naruto groaning in relief echoes out of the bathroom Hinata wonders if Naruto will realize that she was hinting he needed to fix his morning breath or if he will just think she was being nice. Either way she wins.
A few minutes later, his mouth ringed with foam, Naruto pauses his brushing as he stares at his reflection curiously. Wait, what if Hinata was hinting that his breath was bad when they kissed this morning? Just in case he brushes every tooth till his gums begin to feel raw, nearly gagging himself a couple of times as he also brushes the surface of his tongue for good measure before making his way out of the bathroom.
Hinata's absence and the scent of food in the air leads Naruto to the dining room from last night. There, kneeling beside the table is Hinata who is putting the final touches on making some fresh tea. The glass door to the garden is closed to keep out the chill of the morning air, but the view as the first rays of the sun peek over the wall and paint the garden is breathtaking.
After Hinata silently gestures to the cushion across the small table Naruto sits down and lifts up the tea she has just poured. He takes a light sip and nods to her in appreciation for the tea and then waits for her to take a sip as well. They sit together just like they had talked about yesterday on their way to the ryokan and watch as the new day begins, enjoying the presence of the other as they share the moment. Once their tea is finished Hinata takes the cup from him and refills it with more tea while Naruto lifts the covers from the bowls to see what the owners of the ryokan have provided for breakfast this morning around the flower arrangement at the center of the table. The flower has five large white outer petals with a yellow button like center ringed with tiny blue flowerets.
Unsurprisingly the breakfast is a traditional style breakfast: a bowl of miso soup, a lightly fried egg, pickled vegetables, a bowl of rice porridge with a single pickled plum on top, a grilled trout, and a bowl of natto. Naruto looks at the natto and lets out a little sigh, unfortunately, loud enough for Hinata to hear.
Hinata looks at him curiously as she hands over the refilled teacup. "Is something the matter? Were you hoping for a bowl of ramen?" She asks this last part to let him know that she will call on the staff if he is not happy with the meal.
Naruto gives her a little smirk and then shrugs. "It's not that, it's just that I have never been a big fan of natto that's all."
She leans in close to Naruto just in case one of the staff is just outside the room. "To be honest, I am not a fan either. The flavor can be too pungent and…"
"The sticky threads can be a little… gross." Naruto curls up one lip in a way that causes them both to giggle. "How about we tell them that we were so full from last night's meal that we just didn't have room for everything this morning? That is if we actually want to be able to walk and not roll around like Choji when he does his Human Boulder jutsu." He then puffs out his cheeks and wobbles from to side to side to accentuate his point.
Hinata has to turn away and cover her mouth with both hands to keep from laughing out loud as Naruto continues his antics. Even after a couple of minutes she has to fan herself while she tries to catch her breath. As she finally gets herself collected and looks over at Naruto while wiping a tear from the corner of one eye, Hinata sees that he has just been watching her the whole time with a big smile on his face.
As they sit and eat their breakfast, idly chatting about the garden and the upcoming day of travel, Hinata notices that as they get closer to the end of the meal that Naruto seems to grow more anxious. Just as they are near the conclusion and she is about to ask Naruto what is bothering him the owner's wife knocks on the door.
After apologizing for interrupting their meal and bowing thankfully when they say that it is okay since they were nearly finished, the woman pulls out a small scroll from within her sleeves and reaches it towards Hinata. "This was delivered and asked that it be given to you once your morning meal was complete."
Hinata looks at the handwriting and recognizes it immediately. "It is from Kurenai-sensei." After looking up at Naruto and receiving a shrug she breaks the seal and starts to read its contents while he talks to the owner's wife. What is immediately apparent as she first looks at the scrolls contents is that there are at least four different sets of handwriting throughout the short letter.
Hinata,
I hope that your mission has started off well and it is everything that you hoped it would be, hopefully better than you were expecting. The others and I didn't have a chance to get you a gift as a celebration for your first mission as the newest member of the Diplomatic Division. So we got together and got you something to make your first night alone with Naruto more memorable. It's appropriate after the two of you were caught in the women's dressing room. I thought I taught you better than to get caught in a public place.
I am just teasing out of my love for you Hinata-chan, okay. So please do not fret because I am so glad that you are coming out of your shell and taking more chances. I hope the two of you enjoyed the room last night.
Ino's handwriting Hey it's Ino. The flower arrangement is from us as well, the flowers are a type of snowdrop anemone. They are yours to take when you leave if you want. Also, I just wanted you to know that I was not the one to tell Kurenai about the dressing room. I promised Naruto that I would not tell anybody about what I saw, or at least what I thought was going on in that room before Tenten and I showed up.
Tenten's handwriting She left that up to me, Tenten, because I never made that promise to Naruto. So we went by Kurenai's to talk with her about what would be the most fitting kind of gift for BOTH of you, and we came up with something very fitting. Oh by the way, I told Hanabi about finding you two alone in the dressing room too since we needed another accomplice.
Hanabi's handwriting OH MY KAMI, you and Naruto alone in the women's dressing room! I think that I nearly fainted from shock at hearing such news about my prudish older sister. Yes, that is a joke about your old habit of fainting around Naruto, and we have all noticed how that has quickly stopped. Anyways, I forced myself to remain conscious to make sure that I did not miss out on any more juicy details. I demand to be told everything when you get back home! We all do, but I want a private audience once you get home. I'll even provide the popcorn.
Oh yeah before I forget, I am sort of sorry about the pajamas trick. I thought it was the best way to get you out of those baggy old lady pajamas and into something more interesting for your boyfriend. Did you wear the new lingerie to bed under your yukata and surprise Naruto? We are all squealing with excitement as I am writing the question. Maybe you decided to save that for later and wear nothing at all last night? More squealing by the way, and let me say that it is weird hearing teenage squealing coming from Kurenai. Even little Mirai is running around squealing like the rest of us.
Oh, I think Ino just fainted. Nevermind, she was just imitating Naruto's reaction at seeing you in the lingerie. Just please tell me that you didn't wear those old pajamas that I snuck into the backpack last night. Those things are tight on me now, so they must have rode up like hell when you sat down. Like, ow!
Ino's handwriting Never mind pajama wedges, what I want to know is whether you guys used the onsen, the showers, or the furo together last night? We each placed a bet, one person actually bet on on all three, so don't let me down Hinata.
Hinata, by this point is struggling to breathe and her mouth feels like it is filled with cotton. She reaches down with a trembling hand before unrolling the scroll any further and picks up her tea. She is not sure how she should feel at this moment. This whole romantic night had been a gift, well that and a practical joke in a way, from the others. It is all confusing really, should she be angry that they were sort of tricked into sharing a bed together last night and possibly much more, or be grateful that the others care so much that they went to so much trouble and expense to help get things moving in the right direction.
Did she and Naruto waste such a wonderful gift, even if it was for the right reasons? They may not have another chance to be together in such a romantic place like this till their honeymoon. Would they have acted differently last night if they had known this was a romantic gift? She is sure it would have been a lot more awkward with there being expectations of something happening. Though the physical romance had not happened in the way the others were expecting, a lot of emotional baggage had been released in way that would not have been possible with Choji and Shikamaru around.
The big question, how is Naruto going to react when she tells him the truth about the room?
While Hinata is reading and then thinking, Naruto and the old woman are chatting while she is loading the empty bowls onto a small tray. "Yeah, we had a great time last night. The food as always was really good, and this room is totally amazing."
The woman places one hand over her heart and gives Naruto a deep bow. "You don't know how much hearing you say that means to me and my husband. It is not often we get such distinguished guests like the two of you to stay in our honeymoon suite."
Naruto cocks his head to the side and looks at the woman curiously. "A honey…what?"
PPPFFFFFTTTTTT!
Naruto feels a warm spray of tea splatter across his face as it erupts from Hinata's mouth in shock.
A/N: Well it has now been just over 3 years since this story began and it seems fitting that it coincides with chapter 50. The events of this chapter have been planned for a while now and when I was mapping out the chapters earlier in the year I was pleased to see that these two events would overlap.