So...apparently it's been almost 2 years since I updated. Time sure flies when you have writer's block. And I had a pretty severe case of it. I'm REALLY sorry for not updating sooner. I kinda lost momentum and got super stuck on this story. It ended up collecting cyber-dust in an abandoned corner of my laptop for quite a while as I worked on a few other stories and went to school. Truthfully, it would probably still be there with half this chapter written if NaruHina didn't ask me about it. So thanks :)

Anyways, I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, particularly since i'm already quite behind on Blindsided, which is supposed to be my main focus right now. So, it will come out when it does, hopefully in less then two years.

Hope you enjoy,

Trouble 1

ps. sorry if there's spelling/grammar errors. I haven't been writing much lately and I'm apparently a little rusty.
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NARUTO CONT.

"Then how did she die?"

"It was about a year ago. Ryuu was three and it was the first time since moving here that we thought of going home."
- - - -

"Come on, we could make it," I said to Hinata at our meager dining room table. Our son was already asleep in the other room so I was trying to keep my voice down. "Ryuu's three years old now, he's old enough to travel."

"You forgot that he's your three-year-old," she said, continuing once I gave her a confused look. "He hasn't figured out what the word 'quiet' or 'hush' means."

"Yes he does. He's tells me to hush all the time."

"Then he doesn't know how to implement it. He's just too loud to cross a guarded boarder yet."

"It's been five years since the last time we tried to cross, I doubt he still has people there."

"But he could, and Ryuu would draw them right to us."

"Then we travel while he's asleep. He never makes a peep once he's out cold."

"I still think it's too dangerous," she stated after a moment of thought. "We should wait a few more years until Ryuu's old enough to understand the dangers. At least then we'll have an easier time getting him to stay quiet."

"But I don't want him to understand." Now it was Hinata's turn to give me a strange look. "If he understands how dangerous everything is then he'll be scared of it. I don't want him to grow up scared all the time. That's not how a childhood should be spent. If we leave now then he won't remember most of this and he can grow up like a normal kid in Konoha."

"I do too, but I'd rather see him grow up here than not at all."

"Can we at least try?" I asked. "If we find it's too dangerous or there's too many guards, I swear we'll turn right around and wait another four or five years here. But if there's even the slightest chance of us making it back I want to take it."

"But Naruto-kun…"

"Please Hinata-chan. We'll never know if we don't try."

"Alright," she relented. "But I decided if it's too dangerous."

"Ok."

"That means if I say turn back, we turn back and you won't complain about it."

"Yes Ma'am!" I said with a salute that made her laugh. "I'll go pack."

"No, we're going to sleep. If we pack now then you'll wake up Ryuu. And you'll be putting him back to bed."

"Ok, packing in the morning it is," I said extra quiet. "We can leave once we're done right?"

"Right," she said, smiling as I silently cheered.

The next morning we indeed, started collecting all the necessary items we would need or want for our journey. Ryuu seemed extra excited as he ran from room to room, fetching what we asked him to. I'm not sure if he really understood what weren't coming back, but I doubt he'd really care either.

Once everything was packed, we ate lunch and started our journey. Ryuu's excited mood was infectious as he ran here and there, occasionally bringing back something to ask what it was, then run back to find more. I almost keeled over laughing when he brought a baby garden snake over to Hinata, claiming it was a worm. She yelled and threw it back while I rolled in the grass. She shot me a dirty look before trying to calm Ryuu down who had been quite startled.

It was around 7 that he finally crashed for the night at which point we continued on with him sleeping on my back. A couple hours after that we saw our first border patrol goon.

We were only a mile away from crossing the border when Hinata motioned for me to hide. We ducked under some overgrowth, letting our seals keep our chakra hidden. We saw him pass by within feet of our hiding spot, looking as if he were scouring the grounds for people just like use. We stayed silent until he was so far out of sight that even Hinata couldn't make him out anymore.

"They're still here," Hinata whispered to me, still not secure enough to speak normally. "We should turn back."

"It was only one guy," I told her, my voice matching hers in volume. "We ran into a lot more last time."

"So? They've downsized. It doesn't change the fact that there are still guys looking for us to cross here."

"Well, maybe that's the only guy."

"You know as well as I that where there's one, there's always more. We should turn back now, before we can't anymore."

"Let me at least see what we're dealing with."

"Naruto…"

"I'm not complaining, I just want to know how many there are up here," I told her. "I'll scout ahead real quick to see what their numbers are like and then come back to tell you. If you think they're still too high then we can turn back."

"Alright, but hurry up." I gave her a grin, as I passed Ryuu to her before I started sneaking away. I had only gone a few feet before she called back to me.

"And Naruto?" I looked over my shoulder towards her. "Be safe."

"I will," I answered before I left.

I stayed low to the ground, trying not to make a sound as I scoured the area. As I got closer to the border I was a bit surprised not to find anyone else nearby. Despite my optimism, I had expected to find at least two or three more men patrolling the area but that wasn't the case. It was basically empty.

I spent a few more minutes observing the border, walking up and down it a ways just to make sure. There was still nothing. I stood there a moment, grinning in excitement. With just the one guard, we could definitely make it across. The three of us would be home in no time.

I had just started to head back, thinking how surprised Baa-chan would be when we showed up when I heard a scream. It made my blood run cold as I recognized the voice. It was Hinata's.

I abandoned all thought of stealth and rushed through the underbrush. I had no idea what was happening but I knew darn well it couldn't be good. Hinata never screams.

It felt like forever before I got back to where I left them. And when I had finally got there, I knew we never should have left. The place, itself was no different; the trees were undamaged and the foliage looked barely disturbed. The only thing that had changed was the pool of blood growing in the center, and Hinata laying in the middle of it.

"Hinata-chan!" I shouted, running to her side. I dropped to my knees beside her, trying to ignore the blood that was soaking my knees. I searched frantically for where it was coming from but there was just so much that it was hard to tell.

I had just noticed that she was having a hard time breathing when I found it. A gash in her chest that seemed to go straight through to the other side. I started to panic, unsure of what to do. I hadn't been the best student when it came to anatomy so I had no idea where the heart was, or whether hers had been hit or not.

At some point, I remembered that you had to put pressure on the wound. So I took off my jacket and pushed it firmly against the gash. Hinata made a small sound of pain before she opened her eyes.

"Hinata-chan!" I exclaimed, feeling relieved now that she was conscious again. "It's going to be alright."

"I couldn't…stop them," she answered in a course whisper.

"That's ok."

"No, I couldn't stop…them,"

"It's going to be alri-"

"No! You don't…understand. They took…They took Ryuu."

My mind stopped at these words. That was one of my worst fears since he was born and I had forgotten. I wanted to bang my head against a wall, curse myself out for being such a horrible father. But Hinata spoke again before I could even start.

"You have to go…go get him."

"But you-"

"Don't bother…with me!" She tried to shout, only to end up wincing in pain. "Save him! Please, just go…save him."

I nodded reluctantly as I watched her eyes well up with tears. I placed one of her hands on the jacket to replace my own. I stalled for only a moment more in order to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I'll be back. Datteboyo," I whispered, earning a small smile from her in return before I took off.
- - - -

"I don't really remember what happened after that," I said, taking a deep breath in order to continue. "I know I followed their trail, which was obvious due to some non-shinobi in the group. When I finally caught up to them, I saw they had Ryuu in a sack and I kinda, snapped."

I didn't meet my audience's eyes as I continued, but I could feel their shock. I ignored it, not really wanting to face them yet.

"Next thing I know they're all dead, my sword and I are covered in blood, and Ryuu's bag was left in the middle of it all. I feared the worst when I ran over to him, but it turns out he had been asleep the whole time. There wasn't a scratch on him."

There was silence for a moment while I tried to figure out how to continue. When my mind came up blank, they must have figured I needed a little push.

"What about Hinata?" Sakura asked, making me look up at them once again. "You went back for her, right?"

"Yeah, but by the time I got there, she was gone."

"Gone?"

"When I was getting Ryuu, they had another group grab her. I couldn't go after her like I did Ryuu because it would put him in danger. And I knew damn well that Hinata would have killed me if I did that."

"Doesn't that mean she could still be alive?" Kiba asked eagerly.

I didn't answer immediately, my eyes wandering to the sealed vase on the shelf.

"No," I said quietly. "They made it… quite clear she was dead."

"But how do-"

"They sent me her head, Kiba," I interrupted. "It wasn't even a week after our failed escape that they displayed it in a clearing she used to frequent. They left it there so I'd find it, so I'd know that she's dead, and that it's my fault."

"Naruto, it's not-"

"Not my fault?" I asked, turning back to them. "I was the one who insisted on trying to leave. I was the one that talked her into not going back when we saw the first patrol. I was the one that left her when she was injured. I let them take her and I let them keep her. I might not have killed her myself, but gave them every opportunity to do so."

"I'm so sorry Naruto," Sakura said, looking like she was close to tears. "We should have come sooner, or never given up searching. We should have known you wouldn't have died so easily."

I was at a loss for words. Sakura blaming herself was not something I had expected to hear. It wasn't their fault, how could it have been. There was nothing they could have done. I tried to find the words to say so, but before I could express them Shikamaru spoke up.

"Sorry to interrupt the 'we should have' party but we have some more pressing matters to figure out before tomorrow morning," the genius said, making the rest of us curious.

"Like what?"

"Like how we're going to get home with two extra people that this Collector doesn't want to let go."

"Don't bother," I replied, getting everyone's attention again. "Ryuu and I won't be going."