Ch.75

The strategy

"I'm not sure if I know what you mean…" Naruto replied.

"We will have to tell our story, all of it." She said with a pained look on her face.

He knew what that meant. There were some embarrassing parts to their love story, like how thick headed Naruto was being and how Hinata was nearly dating the Kazekage.

"That's going to be kinda embarrassing Hinata, probably for both of us…"

"For both of us? What do you mean?" She knew their story had some rocky roads, but she didn't think that she had anything to be embarrassed about.

Naruto started to laugh, "come on Hinata, like how you almost started to date Gaara?"

Hinata was surprised that she felt herself glaring at Naruto, she noticed he had stopped laughing.

"You're not planning to slap me, are you? Because last time you glared like that…" He thought back to the fight between him and Obito after Neji had died when Hinata slapped his senses back into him.

"Is it that funny to you now that I would date Gaara? Because to tell you the truth Naruto I was starting to get used to the idea before you showed up and told me how you felt. It's not wrong to want someone who's kind to you and likes you for who you are? Is it?"

That was exactly how he felt about Hinata, did she have feelings for Gaara still? His face became more serious.

"It's not funny, it's just after us being together it seems odd to think of either of us with other people, don't you think?" It was obvious that he was trying to save face.

"I agree, but that's part of the point. If you use me and Gaara as a…"

"Please stop saying your names together." He cut her off with his polite and jealous request.

After a moment Hinata figured something out. "Are you jealous Naruto?"

"No," he said a little too quickly. "It's just, do you still have…you know…feelings for him?" She noticed he didn't use Gaara's name.

She stood up and started pacing again, Naruto took that as a bad sign.

"No," she smiled at him. She thought his jealous side was kind of cute. "I've only ever been in love with one person. For a short time I thought that if I couldn't return home then maybe there might be a chance, but I would never be truly happy, but as close as I could be without getting who I truly wanted. I was very honest with Gaara about that and he accepted it."

"Of course he would." Naruto muttered.

"What?" Hinata asked.

"He would accept that. You're great Hinata, anyone can see that, even those people tonight that were upset about us not getting married. That's a small price to accept for someone as wonderful as you."

She stopped pacing and was frozen to the spot. Naruto didn't always say how he felt about her, so when he did it surprised her. He wasn't even trying to be sweet, he was just stating what he thought was a fact. He was still lost in his own thoughts and hadn't even seen her reaction.

He was trying to internalize her strategy but what if all the villagers like the idea of Gaara better than him. How many years would people whisper Gaara's name when he walked by and make an issue out of something he wanted to put in his past…

"Can I clarify something with you?" He asked.

"Sure Naruto, what is it?" She started moving and sat down right next to him again.

"You want me to talk about how Gaara almost stole you're heart from me and how I had to fight to get you back?"

"In order to help our friends," she added. "I would never ask otherwise." She saw how trying this was for him and she kissed him on the cheek.

"What if they see either me or Gaara as a bad guy? What then?"

"Both of you are hero's and no one will look at you guys that way, how could they? Plus, the purpose is to create a parallel for Shimakaru and Temari, to get people to see that love between the villages isn't bad and that it doesn't need to be complicated. We have to have the people ask this question for themselves and consider the real possibilities. Then we can change their hearts about it, and that's when we change their minds."

Now that he had finally heard the whole plan he saw what she was getting at.

"What if they ask Gaara, shouldn't we at least talk to him before telling this to the Shinobi world? Won't this have effects for him too?"

"I would normally say yes, but I don't think we have time to tell him before we finish our business here. Since he's the Kazekage people are going to see that this wasn't just any other villager. They won't see him as a rule breaker, but a trailblazer, and we need that on our side right now too."

Naruto was amazed at how she had an answer for everything. He ran his fingers along her jawline and imagined kissing her soft lips. Then he considered the pain he had in his stomach from the gentle fist juitsu. Hinata would be worth it every time.

"It's going to be hard for me to sleep knowing that we're in the same room together…" he said as he pulled her closer to him.

"Why? It's not like that when we sleep outside on our way to our missions?" She pushed up from his grasp a little to look at his blue eyes.

"We usually are close together, and not under the watchful eye of a village, this is just a little bit different, that's all."

Hinata pushed Naruto's shoulder so that he would lay down on the bed as she laid down with him. Then she scooted up next to him and started blushing. "We both fit here just fine," she said and she reached up to touch his hair. She started running her fingers through it.

He reached out and put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She was taken back and stopped moving her hands. He put his face up to hers and she could feel him breathing on her lips. And then she did it before he had a chance to. She held her fingers in his hair and pulled him to her and kissed him passionately. After a few moments he pulled away.

"Hinata," he said as he wiped her bangs out of her eyes and ran his fingers through the rest of her long hair.

"Hmmm" she replied, content.

"I don't think we should share a room unless we plan to get married. And I don't want to lie to the villagers and say we've made plans we haven't made. I agreed to your plan, but I'm not willing to negotiate on this…" He didn't want to hurt Hinata's feelings but he also didn't want to stain her reputation. He wanted to tell Lord Hiashi that they hadn't shared a room and that he'd kept his hands to himself, and now he couldn't even report that.

"Is this about my father again?" She asked.

"No, Hinata, I want to kiss you. And I want you to sleep in my bed all night…" He thought about how to word this to her. "I just want you to be my wife before that happens…"

He caught her off guard again, not trying to be sweet but taking her by surprise. When she heard him say those words she could feel that he was being sincere and that she was pressuring him. Judging by the look she made, Naruto felt that he probably messed up again.

"I'm trying to say that I love y…" he was interrupted by another kiss. She loved that he wanted a future with her eventhough she wanted to wait to get married. His respect for her was just another sign that he truly loved her.

She kept kissing him so passionately that he was starting to lose his self control. He felt himself kissing her back just as passionately as she was kissing him. After a moment she broke away and moved to her own bed. A mixture of longing and relief washed over him.