As your ever dutiful and beloved writer I was up well past one in the morning last night writing this when I finally looked up at Kathy and said, "You know what, screw you. I want some sleep and there will be plenty of time to write tomorrow." And so I walked up stairs with my rebel swag and got some much needed and beloved sleep.

When I came back downstairs this morning I found that Kathy had gone, leaving me alone. But I thought that since I had gotten my sleep that I could write even if she wasn't there. It wasn't that big of a deal.

Oh, how wrong I was.

I sat at my computer for hours until she finally came back and looked my crying pitiful form up and down with a sneer and told me that if I tried to disobey her again I'd pay.

Never. Never again. It was terrible.

Well, here you are! All finished and pretty, just for you!

Hinata nibbled on her lip nervously as she tried to talk herself into doing... something. Looking down at the small silver key in her hand she told herself that it would be perfectly easy to just lift up that key, slip it in the little hole and turn it to let herself into the little apartment. So easy to do, so simple and yet the little key felt as if it weighed two tons in her hand.

A few weeks before Naruto had been sent on a long mission and had given her the key after asking her to come in and water the few little plants he kept, and she had happily accepted, blushing and stuttering the whole time. Of course, she hadn't really known what to expect when she had first stepped into his apartment, but it certainly hadn't been what she had found.

To kindly call it untidy had been a generous thing, and soon enough Hinata found herself tidying everything up- throwing out the expired foods from his fridge, washing forgotten dishes, throwing away old and empty ramen containers, picking up discarded clothes from the floor. She had had a few bad moments such as when she had picked up a pair of Naruto's boxers and had only just barely stopped herself from fainting, but when she had last left the apartment it had been tidy and the plants had been dutifully watered.

It had only been when news of Naruto's arrival back into town had reached her that she realized that Naruto might take what she had done as a serious invasion of his privacy and might very well be justifiably mad about it. So Hinata had been avoiding the blond boy for the past week until a little rumor had tickled her ear about Naruto not being seen since he had first arrived.

What if something had happened to him?

What if he was hurt?

What if he was sick?

What if he got hurt and then got sick because he was hurt?

And so with these thoughts swimming in her head she had made the decision to come back to the apartment and abuse her power as the only other person to have the key to Naruto's apartment to check in on him. But now that she was standing in front of his door she just couldn't figure out what she wanted to do. What if he looked at her coming into his apartment without his say so as an even bigger offense than her cleaning out his apartment? What if he was just so mad that he'd want her to leave as soon as he saw her?

She was about to turn and leave at these thoughts until she remembered that Naruto could very well be sick and dying in there alone and she could be the only hope of saving him.

Quickly gathering her strength she inserted the key into the lock and twisted, letting herself in just in time to see Naruto -a towel slung low across his hips, droplets of water dusting his skin and weighing down some of his hair- stepping out of the bathroom.

They both froze in place and stared wide eyed at eachother for a few breathless moments until Hinata's face flushed a violent shade of red and she quickly whipped around, a strangled 'eep 'of shock falling from her lips.

"Hinata! Are you okay? What- Oh God, I don't have any clothes on. Hold on a minute, okay?" He shouted as he started to rustle around in a dresser, sending desperate looks at Hinata through his open bedroom door to make sure she didn't faint and bust her head open. The shade of red her face had turned had been darker than anything he had seen before and he wasn't all that certain that his girlfriend was okay.

"I-I-I'm f-fine, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata managed to stammer, holding onto the doorknob and lucidity with a deathlike grip. Her knees were so weak that they were only just able to hold her up and she wasn't certain if it was a warning sign of her fainting or if it was from just how amazingly sexy the sight she had just seen was.

Naruto, almost naked, water droplets covering him with this one little droplet slowly trailing down his chest and his abs, getting closer and closer to the towel and-

Hinata's face flushed impossible redder and her knees finally gave out on her as her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell back into the strength and security of Naruto's arms.

"Hinata? Hinata, hey, come on back now." Naruto calmly said as he lightly shook the girl, wondering if he should splash water on her face or something. He had heard somewhere that that worked.

"Hinata?" He called to her again, watching as her eyelashes fluttered up slowly to reveal her bleary white eyes. "Naruto?" She murmured, blinking her eyes clear as another blush dusted her cheeks, this one thankfully less severe.

"I-I'm sorry." She muttered as Naruto helped her sit up, averting her eyes from him. "I... I d-didn't mean to i-intrude. I was just w-worried since I-I haven't seen you s-since you g-got back." Naruto grinned at her, happy to see that she was back to normal, and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, sorry. I've been with Baa-chan going over everything that went on during my mission." Looking away from the girl to give her the necessary time to compose herself Naruto looked around his little apartment, noting how clean and organized everything was.

"Hey, did you clean the place while I was gone?" Hinata hesitantly nodded her head, looking at Naruto through the veil of her bangs.

"Ah... Y-Yes. S-Sorry th-that I-I-" Naruto shook his head to cut the girl off and smiled at her.

"Hey, it's not like I'm mad. I should probably actually be thanking you since I've never actually seen the place looking this good, so thanks." Hinata's blush grew pleasantly deeper as she ducked her head a little bit, smiling at the blonde warmly.

"Y-You're welcome." She said, her eyes widening as another thought occurred to her. "O-Oh, here. I-I should probably g-give this back to you now." She murmured as she held out his key to him, becoming confused as Naruto shook his head at her.

"Nah, it's okay. You can keep it."

"B-But-"

"I want you to keep it, that way you can come over whenever you want to. But we'll have to make sure I'm wearing clothes the next time." He said, laughing at the blush that grew all the way to the tips of her ears as she remembered.

"Hey, have you eaten?" He asked her, grinning and jumping up off of the floor when she shook her head, holding out a hand so that he could help her up. "Then lets head over to Ichiraku's and get something to eat and you can tell me what's been going on since I've been gone."

Hinata smiled gently at him and nodded, secretly thrilled when he didn't let go of her hand and continued the hold as they made their way to Naruto's favorite place to eat, content to simply listen to him talk and bask in the warmth that his presence always made her feel.

As he walked her back to the Hyuuga compound Hinata couldn't help but wish that there was something else to do or something more she could say so that they could be together for even that much longer. She just loved being beside him, watching how animated he was when he talked and listening to the sound of his voice. She wanted him to continue to hold her hand so gently and yet so strongly and she wanted for him to keep on giving her those little looks that she had only ever hoped to get from him before.

They stopped just a little before they got to the gates of the compound and Hinata lifted her face to Naruto's for the goodnight kiss they had ritualistically been having for the past few dates. As always a delicious little thrill spread through her when Naruto's face lowered and his lips gently brushed her's, and she breathe out a gentle sigh at just how... wonderful everything was.

And then, slowly, the kiss changed into something new.

The pressure of his lips against her's remained unchanged as he tilted his head slightly, one of his battle roughened hands coming up to cup the side of her neck, his thumb lightly brushing over her fluttering pulse. Hinata's lips parted on another gasp and taking this as an invitation Naruto slipped his tongue into her mouth, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers ever so slightly.

Hinata froze for a moment, unsure of what she wanted to do, what she should do. It wasn't like she was used to kisses like this, she had had a hard enough time getting used to the light pecks hey gave eachother without fainting as soon as she got into her room. What did she do? How did a kiss like this go? How-

And then when Naruto's tongue lightly touched with hers she discovered that this was all it took to have all the thoughts in her head simply fly away, leaving her completely open to freely accept the feelings and sensations that were making her head dizzy and light as a cloud.

Hinata hesitantly let her tongue brush with Naruto's, allowing him to guide her through the kiss as it became deeper and hotter, dragging her into a sea of warmth and wonder.

Naruto's hand left her neck to drift into her hair, threading his fingers through as his other hand went to her hip, pulling her the slightest bit closer. Hinata found herself being walked backwards until her back was pressed to the wood of the high fence, and the feeling of being pressed against that ungiving surface while Naruto pressed into her sent a heated tremor straight into her very core.

The kiss grew harder and hotter as Hinata's hands drifted up Naruto's chest and up to his shoulders, her hands gripping the soft cloth of his black T-shirt and the steady strength of his muscles as she tried to keep her legs from collapsing out from under her. Her knees had grown so weak that she wasn't even sure that they were there anymore, and Hinata didn't know if this was a cause for alarm or another reason to simply melt into Naruto.

Naruto began to move as if to pull back, his one hand leaving her hair as his other began to ease from her hip and all Hinata could think about was how wonderfully amazing the kiss had been and about how it couldn't be ending. Not yet. She wasn't ready to go back to the real world so soon.

"...No." She gasped, wanting nothing more that to drag him back the few centimeters that were separating them and she was just about to do that when Naruto was no longer there, having jumped back to leave a good few feet of separation between them.

Hinata was still trying to puzzle out how he had managed to get that far away from her when she wanted nothing more than for him to stay against her when he thrust out a hand and grabbed hers, giving it a brief and confusing shake before he released it and managed to simply disappear before her wide eyes.

Hinata stared, wide eyed and shocked, at the spot where Naruto had only moments before been standing, leaning heavily against the wooden boards of the fence as she tried to get her panting breaths back under control.

Looking around as if she would be able to spot some kind of clue as to what had just happened Hinata managed to sink down to the ground, letting the wood against her back support her as her head swam from both the dizzying effects of the kiss and the confusion of Naruto's disappearance.

Hinata let herself into Naruto's apartment again, though this time there was less hesitation and far more determination.

Naruto had been trying his hardest to avoid her for the past week and it was both hurtful and angering. He never said a word to her and avoided even looking at her, instead staring at random walls or even up at the sky until he was able to get away from her presence.

She hated it, hated the way everything had been so gloriously perfect the past few months and then she had done something -it had had to be her- to upset it all. And the only thing that came up when she thought it all over was that last kiss.

Maybe he hadn't liked it like she had, or maybe she had just been such a terrible disappointment at it. She had been absolutely clueless as to what to do and he had had to show her how, and maybe he thought that her cluelessness was annoying. Maybe he found her boring and dull and stupid and ugly and weak and everything else she had seen when she had looked into the mirror earlier.

Well, no matter what happened -no matter how torn her heart became or how broken her soul was left- she was going to face Naruto tonight and settle this new and unsettling turn everything had taken.

The apartment was empty when she stepped in so she went and sat on the little beat up couch, perching herself on the edge as she waited, steeling herself for the coming events.

A sudden flare of a familiar chakra signal flashed beside the window and Hinata sighed. "N-Naruto." She called as calmly as possible, her gut a swirling vortex of unease, "I-I know that y-you're there. Come in so w-we can talk." There were a few moments of still silence before the door creaked open, a sheepish Naruto peeking in around it.

"Ah... Hey."

"H-Hello." She replied, watching as he slowly slunk in and closed the door behind him, managing to look at anything and everything that wasn't her. Hinata had to wonder at how deep the crack in her heart would grow as the night wore on. Maybe it would simply shatter underneath the pressure of her mind numbing sorrow.

"I'm sorry." He suddenly blurted out, making her jerk back in surprise and forcing tears to pool in her eyes. This was it. He was breaking up with her.

"I've been really trying to hold back and everything since you're... you know, but it's just really hard. I mean, I traveled around with the most perverted guy that ever existed so I know a lot of stuff and I'm just now getting a lot of that stuff, and it's all towards you, so it's hard."

It hurt so much that she was going numb. All those years of loving him, all those wishes and prayers and he was just going to leave her like she had been nothing more than a phase. He was just going to walk out of her life like it was nothing and expect her to do the same, turning a blind eye to how deeply she bled.

"And I get the whole taking it slow thing and I want to go slow too! I promise! I guess I just got caught up in the heat of the moment and you were so cute that- Hinata! Why are you crying?! Are you alright?!" He was suddenly crouching down in front of her, grabbing her wrists gently, pulling her hands away from her face so that he could get a good look at her.

"B-Because y-you're breaking up w-w-with m-me!" She hiccuped, wishing that she could have at least gotten through it with a shred of dignity, even if it had been a tiny one.

"What?" Naruto gaped at her, releasing her wrists so that he could wipe her tears away, more rapidly flowing out past her guard to take their place. "What in the world gave you that stupid idea?"

Hinata hiccuped again and looked at the tear blurred form of Naruto, sniffling as she tried to figure out how all of this was coming together. Naruto seemed genuinely confused and worried so maybe, just maybe, he wasn't breaking up with her.

"W-Well i-it wasn't like you l-liked m-me in the f-first place a-and I'm n-not very pretty o-or strong a-and you've always loved S-Sak-kura..." She led off, not really wanting to confess the rest of her insecurities or worries, especially not when he was giving her a look that called her three different kinds of crazy.

"What are you talking about? Of course I like you! Do you think I would have been dating you these past few months if I didn't like you? I'm not that kind of person, Hinata. And you really need to stop saying those things about yourself, I mean, it's obvious to everyone else that you're pretty. You're the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen, even when you're crying! You're also one of the strongest people I know, what with everything you've been through and how hard you work. And Sakura... Yeah, I love Sakura but it's not the kind of love that you're thinking of. She's like my bossy sister, and it's that kind of love."

Hinata sniffled at him again as the last of her tears dried up. "R-Really?"

Naruto grinned up at her and grabbed one of her hands, lacing their fingers together comfortingly. "Yeah, really."

Hinata timidly smiled back at him until another thought struck her. "B-But what ab-bout the other night? W-When y-you left?" Hinata watched as Naruto blushed just the tiniest bit and looked away, averting his eyes from her almost as if he were embarrassed.

"Well, you see... Everyone has been warning me to take it really slow with you because... because. And I don't mind it, I really don't! Slow is good and easy and it gives us time to get used to each other. I like slow. But the other night I went too fast so when you told me to stop I thought that you were mad and-" Hinata stopped his hurried speech by pressing a finger to his lips, blushing furiously as she did so.

"I... ah, I w-wasn't telling y-you to st-stop." She managed, snatching her hand back before she gave into her desires and started tracing his lips with her finger.

"Then what was the 'no' for?" He asked her, growing even more confused as her blush grew more pronounced.

"I... I s-said 'N-No' b-because I didn't want y-you to stop." Hinata said, the final word coming out as a nearly silent whisper as she grew quieter and quieter with each syllable.

Naruto continued to stare at her -gape at her really- and Hinata started to nervously nibble on her lip, her blush deepening as she worried over what Naruto was thinking. Was she wrong to have wanted the kiss to keep on going? Was she wrong to have admitted that? Maybe he thought that she was loose now, and what if he didn't like her that way? Maybe he actually hadn't liked the kiss and had just been trying to spare her feelings.

Hinata bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and mentally gave herself a shake, telling herself that she needed to stop, that after what Naruto had just told her she needed to stop doubting him and stop doubting herself and for once in her life just... stop.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked hesitantly, squeezing his hand where it was still intertwined with hers, "I-Is something w-wrong?"

"Ah..." Naruto looked away from her and flushed adorably, clearing his throat. "You... Didn't want me to stop?" Hinata nodded and looked down at her lap, both of them avoiding each other's eyes as they thought over this new revelation.

"I-" Hinata started as she looked back up at him, wanting to break the silence that was rapidly growing thicker around them, only to be silenced herself when Naruto pressed his lips against hers.

For one heart-stopping moment Hinata was frozen in place from the shock but then Naruto's tongue lightly traced the seam of her lips and everything simply flew from her head as she opened up to him.

After what felt to be eons and yet only a few breathless seconds Naruto pulled back as far as Hinata's arms twisted around his neck would allow. They were laying on the little couch, Naruto on top of Hinata and pressing her down into the thin cushions, her legs parted to accommodate him, their panting breaths mixing as they stared into each others eyes.

"Wow." Naruto managed, grinning down at her. "That was... wow. I guess Ero-sennin's books were good for something."

"W-What?" She panted, looking up at him confused. It was a strange time to bring up his deceased teacher's books.

"Well, it's not like I go around kissing girls like this every day. I was kind of clueless until I remembered some of the stuff from his books." Hinata blinked at him and then blinked again, unsure of what to think about the fact that Naruto was taking instruction from a porn book. But then again, that meant that he was just as clueless about these things as she was, and that they would both be going through them the first time together.

The thought of them going through their firsts together sent a warm tingle through her blood.

"Y-Yeah." Hinata said, smiling up at him slightly, watching as his eyebrows knit together in confusion with amusement. His face was always just so expressive.

"Yeah what?" Hinata looked to the side and nibbled on her lip as she flushed, not noticing the way that Naruto's eyes immediately zeroed in on the innocent action.

"Y-Yeah... W-Wow."

Hinata jumped slightly when Naruto's head dropped down to her shoulder, and she looked down at him in concern when he sighed. "N-Naruto-kun?"

"You are way to cute for your own good." He muttered, moving so that he could bury his face into the curve where her shoulder and throat met. Hinata flushed a deeper shade of red and blinked rapidly up at the ceiling.

"W-W-What? N-Naru- Eep!" She gasped, flinching back. Naruto pulled back slightly from where he had nuzzled her throat lightly, a wicked grin twisting his face.

"You're ticklish?" He asked her, watching as she flushed impossibly brighter.

"N-No..." She said, gasping again when one of his fingers poked into her side. Suddenly she was wriggling and twisting, gasping and giggling girlishly as she tried to get away from his torturing hands. "N-Naruto! S-Stop!" She managed to choke out, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

Her hands went to his shoulders as she weakly tried to push him away, bucking up on another gasp as he found a particularly sensitive spot at her waist. Hinata tossed her head to the side and covered her mouth with one of her hands since she thought her giggles were unpleasantly high pitched, and her eyes caught on the clock in shock.

With another gasp -this one from shock- Hinata quickly utilized her skills as a ninja and flipped Naruto off of her so that he landed on the floor with a thud and a grunt. "I-I didn't know it w-was that late!" She gasped, jumping up off of the couch and grabbing her bag, looking down at Naruto apologetically.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Naruto-kun. I have to g-get back home." Naruto pushed himself up and grinned at her, waving her apology away easily.

"Nah, that's okay." Hinata nodded to his gratefully and quickly made her way to the door, hoping that she had just enough time to get back home before her curfew. But she paused just before she stepped out of the door, looking back at the blonde boy on the floor.

"W-Will I s-see you t-tomorrow?" She asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah. We can catch a movie or something." Hinata flushed pleasantly and smiled at him, her white eyes glowing.

As soon as the door closed behind her Naruto flopped back down on the floor with a groan, covering his eyes with one of his arms. "So cute." He muttered, the empty apartment's silence answering him sympathetically.

Okay, the part whole first make out scene? That actually happened to a friend of mine and her experience was the inspiration for this chapter. Apparently her and this boy she liked were making out on her couch when she said no like Hinata did and the boy jumped up off of her, shook her hand, said "Friends?" and left.

She said it was one of the most awkward moments of her life, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

I decided to make Hinata ticklish because I myself am extremely ticklish everywhere, my ankles in particular (strange place, I know). But all of my guy friends have this thing with tickling me, and last year I had science class with my friend Cory and we sat in the back with our other friends. I'd prop my legs up in his lap during class and one day he started to rub my ankles and... it was terrible. He wouldn't let go and by the end of class I had tears running down my face and marks from where I had pressed my hands over my mouth to stop from giggling like a nit-wit in the middle of class.

He calls it cute, I call it mortifying.

But it isn't like my ankles are easily accessible, so it's not that bad. If only I could cover my waist, stomach, legs, neck, throat and side as easily (Even my arms a little bit, but you have to know the right spots).

It's extremely difficult being me.

Few things from some comments-

1) No, I will not be following the storyline from the manga and killing Neji off. I'm kind of ignoring what happens in the manga unless I like it, and I have been since it showed Tsunade cut in half and dying.

2) Up until a little piece in the last chapter I've been putting off saying what happened to Sasuke in my story until it got to it in the manga, but since I don't like the whiny little emo I've decided to just have him be killed or something. (His clothes are stupid, he won't shut up about his stupid revenge, he's too stupid to care about anyone but for his brother (and he's so bipolar about his brother it's annoying), and his stupid brother fetish is annoying. He's annoying and I hate his face.)

Yes, he is quite literally the only character I can't stand in the series. Naruto should give up and Sakura should get over him (He won't because that's what makes him great and she won't because that's what makes her stupid.)

I love you all until eternity! See you soon!