Chapter 27

The walk home

Naruto had surprised Hinata by grabbing her hand like that and offering to walk her home. She wasn't sure how he would hold up with walking distances since he hadn't been out of bed walking as usual for about 2 weeks. He did fine though and they laughed and joked the whole way to her house.

Once she got home she saw that her father was there and she decided it was not the best time to invite him inside.

"Thanks for walking home with me Naruto," she blushed as she let go of his hand.

"No problem," he said, "Hey Hinata, I'll see you around." He smiled with a pained look on his face, he knew if he didn't make himself leave he never would.

Hinata saw the pained look and panicked "Are you okay Naruto," she lightly grabbed his elbow, "are you in pain."

"Yes and no," he answered. "My arm is fine, I'm not having any issues with it or anything, just recovering from the last battle, you know." Technically this wasn't a lie.

"Yeah," she eyed him suspiciously, "let me know if anything changes, okay?"

"I will Hinata," he reassured her. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Naruto" she called as she went into her house with a big smile on her face.

Her father was sitting having tea with her sister.

"Hi father, hi Hanabi," Hinata greeted both of them.

"You look happy," her sister said, "Was that Naruto out there holding hands with you?" she teased.

Hinata looked at her father to see if he was going to say anything about it, he didn't appear to notice the conversation happening directly in front of him.

"I'm going to bed," she announced and she walked into her room, threw herself on the bed, and buried herself in the covers. She dreamt of her and Naruto, of him telling her he had feelings for her. She dreamt that he loved her as much as she loved him, and then she woke up.

It was sunset and she was fully awake, there was no way she could get back to sleep, especially after the dream she just had. She got up and took a shower to see if that might help her fall back asleep. It didn't work though and after a while she decided to get dressed and go to do some training since she hadn't been in a while.

She started walking to her training grounds, lost in her thoughts about Naruto and when she would see him again. She hoped he was settling in well and that the pain he experienced today was truly not in his arm.

She noticed she was far from her training grounds, she had actually walked toward town. Now she would have to double back and lose time from her training. There were still some shops open though and she was getting hungry, she should have grabbed a snack when she left the house but she didn't think about it.

She walked past the shops, many closing for the night and several already closed. She looked to see if there was anything she wanted. She smelled the ramen from the ramen shop and she decided not to resist. She walked up to the tent and took a seat. There was no one else there but her, which was fine because she enjoyed being alone sometimes. She could eat and be lost in her thoughts without fear of being rude.

"Hi," she said, "I'd like to order a bowl of shrimp ramen please."

"Sure thing," Ayame replied, "coming right up."

While she was waiting another customer came in. "Hinata," he asked in disbelief.

"Naruto," Hinata also said in disbelief.

After a pause Naruto spoke "I didn't know you liked Ramen?"

"Yes, I do," was all she replied. She was thinking about him and even dreaming about him, and then all of a sudden, here he was, "unbelievable" she thought."

Naruto placed his order and he sat down next to Hinata "What are you doing up so late?" he asked with a smile "I thought you were going to catch up on your sleep?"

"I can't fall back asleep," she mentioned "What about you, shouldn't you be resting,"

"I just got back from the hospital for my check in," he told her, "Plus, right now I can't really cook well, being one handed. Technically until I get the movement back."

She hadn't thought about that, about how he would cook for himself, she felt guilty for not thinking that through.

"I have a new place and I got to check it out today, it's pretty nice. I can't really settle in until I heal though…" he added.

They both got their ramen and started to eat while continuing to talk.

"Naruto, I'm sorry that I didn't think about you being able to cook with one hand. I can help you get settled in your place though, so it can start to feel like home, if you would like."

"Are you serious Hinata," he asked "that would be great!" he hurried up and ate his ramen and so did she. After they were done he walked her to his new place, an apartment building that was the near Kurenai's place. He opened the door and she could see that the place was bare except for a few small items, no more than 10. It was a sad sight but he was probably lucky to have anything.

She wasn't sure what to say about the state of his place.

"I bought some pans and food today, so that's pretty much all I have right now," he brought his hand up to rub the back of his head while he had an embarrassed look on his face.

Hinata half smiled "Don't worry Naruto, I'll help you," she said "it might take a few weeks to get everything you need but we can do it." She reassured him. "I'll be back tomorrow and I'll bring a few things." She stepped toward the door.

"Thanks for helping me Hinata," he smiled at her. He wanted to give her a hug, hold her hand, he just wanted to be close to her. Now he had a reason to be for the next few weeks. He was glad that he ran into her.

She smiled back, "have a good night Naruto," she opened the door and left to head back home.