Naruto walked back to town. 'I have two options right now, talk to Sakura or talk to Neji. Well, I want to avoid Sakura for as long as I can, I'm not looking foward to me telling her no, So I'll go to Hinata's house and have a man to man talk with Neji," he said and set off to Hinata's house. He arrived after a few minutes of walking. He walked up to the door and knocked and wondered why he was doing this, Hinata said she would talk to him, he was either going to make things a lot better or a lot worse and it was to late to turn back now.
--
"I'll get it, Master!" Hanabi jumped up from her meditation and ran to the door, opening it to see a familiar boy, one she remembered seeing but couldn't quite recognize. Finally it clicked in her mind and she smiled. "Hey, you're the guy who beat Neji nii-san a long time ago!" She coughed, forgetting her manners. "I'm sorry, are you in need of something?"
"Hi, I am Uzumaki Naruto, I am actually here to see Neji, I have something important to discuss with him," Naruto said in the most formal voice he could, he knew Hinata's family was very proper, unlike him, so he had to pretend while he was around the family that did not know him personally so it would not make him seem worse. "Is he here available to talk at the moment?" Naruto asked her.
"Um, he's not here right now. He's off doing...well, I really don't know what he's doing, but he's probably training. He'll probably be back soon, though, so I can give him a message from you." She tipped her head to the side slightly. "Are you sure he's who you want to see? I mean, not meaning to sound rude or anything, but I don't really think he likes you..." She really wasn't trying to be rude, she was just being genuinely curious.
"Yes I know he does not like me, that is sort of why I want to talk to him. Well since he is not in, just let him know Naruto was looking for him and that I needed to talk to him about something, okay?" Naruto said to the young girl. "Well, I guess I'll get going then, bye," Naruto said and walked away from Hinata's house not sure of his next destination.
Hanabi smiled and nodded. "I'll be sure to let him know, Uzumaki-sama!" she called out to him as he left. As she closed the door and reentered the training room she saw Neji coming out of the kitchen with a snack. "Who was that Lady Hanabi?" he asked her.
Hanabi looked at him incredulously. "When did you get here!"
"...I've been here, Lady Hanabi..."
"...oh. Well, Uzumaki-sama was looking for you," she said, shrugging. "He just left. You could probably catch him if you hurried."
Neji stared at her and sighed, running out the door to catch up to Naruto before he got too far away. "Hey, Naruto-kun!" he called, perhaps a smidge too friendly.
"Oh hey Neji, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon, but it's good that you're here, we need to talk about something, well someone rather, do you have a couple of minutes to spare?" he asked, walking back to Neji. "I want to talk to you about Hinata and what you saw," he said and stopped in front of Neji with a good distance between them so they could both talk in a casual voice. "So do you have the time?"
He shrugged. "Apparently so. I wouldn't have chased you down otherwise, now would I?"
--
As Kiba and Hinata continued to train, they chatted about what had gone on and what they wished would happen and all of the stuff that normal friends just chat about.
--
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," he said, then changed to a very serious tone. "So I know that you saw some things happen between Hinata and I, and I want to know why you have such a problem with it. Other than the fact that I defeated you during the chunnin exams, what do you have against me? Is it because Hinata likes me, and you don't like seeing her happy, or maybe you don't like seeing anybody happy, so well what is it then?"
Neji smirked and laughed. "Now what makes you think that I have a problem with it? Honestly, are your opinions of me that low? I'm hurt, truly." He mocked a tear. "Maybe I'm not the one not wanting to see you two happy. If you're so bent on the idea, maybe it's you." He shrugged and turned away from him nonchalantly, still smirking. "If there's anything I want most, it's your happiness, Uzumaki-sama."
"What are you talking about, why wouldn't I want us to be happy, and why would you want me to be happy, I swear Neji, sometimes you're harder to understand then another language!" Naruto said crossing his arms in confusion and in thought. He put his hands back down by his side and spoke confidently. "I love Hinata, I want you to know that if you don't already so these little mind games of yours are not going to work on me."
He laughed. "What mind games? All of these years of being a ninja have made you paranoid, Naruto. As for Hinata and you, I won't stand between you." He held his right hand up seriously. "On my honor." He turned away, hands behind his back. "Years have passed, Naruto. I don't hold grudges. And what grudge would I have?"
Naruto stood there in a silent confusion for a few moments. "So you're not going to tell Hinata's father that we're together, you're going to let us bring it to him?" Naruto finally asked after a few more seconds of silence. He wasn't really sure if he would believe Neji anyway, but he had no reason not to, Neji had done nothing bad to him recently, other then the occasional insult, but he did that to everybody.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd be afraid of him finding out, if I were you. He won't be too happy to find out that his eldest daughter is with you. You might rethink telling him." He sighed. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to training as it's getting late in the day. How has your training been going, by the way? Not getting lazy, I hope." He smirked.
He scratched the back of his head. "Well I have not been training everyday exactly, but I try to as much as possible," he lied, he knew well that other than today it had been a week or maybe two since his last day of real training. "And I'm sure Hinata's father would think more highly of me if I were to bring it to him, rather than going behind his back, and have him find out on his own," he said, thinking it would be more honorable that way, so it would help him in the long run, because her family was very intent on having honor.
He smirked again and turned back around to face him. "Sounding smart, Naruto. The years have obviously been good to you." He turned back around to begin walking off, but stopped to say something. "We may have our differences, but take care of her. I don't think she'd like it very much if anything happened, and I don't think she'd be able to handle it very well."
"I will, I promise," he said keeping it simple and turrned around and walked away from Hinata's house. He let what Neji said mull over in his head, about Hinata's father, his lack of training, and most importantly the last thing he said about taking care of her and he not thinking she could handle it. Not that he wanted to hurt her, in fact that was the last thing he wanted, but for Sakura to just kiss him like she did means she must be determined, and something like Hinata's feelings wouldn't stop her. 'Maybe I'm thinking too much. Maybe she'll be okay with my choice, and Hinata's father will accept me with no problems,' he thought, but knew that Kisame would help make a pool in Tsunade's grounds before that would happen.
Neji continued his walk until he was home, all the while thinking of what was to happen. He smirked, thinking of the trust he had suddenly been lent. He marveled at how trusting Naruto had been, and how easy it had been to gain acceptance.
--
Meanwhile, Hinata and Kiba slowly began to wind down from training and prepared to head home, but they agreed to go get a snack because they had eaten little that morning and had skipped lunch. Kiba couldn't help but notice how jumpy Hinata was and laughed. "Can't wait to meet up with him again, eh Hinata?" Hinata smiled sheepishly.
--
Naruto was walking around town aimlessly, just thinking of all the possibilties and consequences that would follow. As he was walking he spotted Hinata and Kiba as they were turning a corner. 'Ah this will be perfect for me to practice my stealth, I'll just follow them around for a while and see if they notice me,' he thought as he jumped onto a nearby rooftop and quietly followed them.
--
Kiba bought the snacks, one for him, one for Hinata, and one, of course, for Akamaru. He blinked and turned swiftly, feeling like he was being followed, but turned back around when Hinata asked what was wrong and he saw nothing. He shrugged and decided that he was being paranoid. "Well, we'll take you home first, Hinata, so you can rest and then head home ourselves. I'm tired!" He stretched and Hinata nodded agreement. They followed the path towards the Hyuuga home.
--
Naruto continued to follow them from the roofs, bushes and other places he would not be seen, all the while half wishing he did not, because Kiba might have gotten him something to eat as well, but it was too late for that, he just kept on sneaking along feeling proud that two people who are supurb scouts had not noticed him thus far.
--
As they neared the property, Kiba stopped along with Hinata. "You go on home, Hinata. We wouldn't want some hidden predator following us hurting you, now would we?" Hinata giggled and took off running towards her home, waving goodbye to Kiba. Kiba meanwhile turned back around and began walking his own way home. "There's a snake hiding somewhere in the grass..." he said loud enough for Naruto to be heard.
--
As Hinata entered her home she found it to be strangely quiet. "Master? Hanabi-chan?" She looked around, still recieving no answer. "Neji nii-san?" As she continued to walk through the halls a growing sense of dread started to fill her. She heard a light squeak on the floor behind her and spun around to see her father, and as she almost felt like relaxing she noticed that he had a very angry countenance upon him, and her dread began to swell again. "How long has this been going on?" he asked her, holding out the underoutfit she had worn the previous night, a small spot where a little bit of ramen had fallen. She gasped, knowing that he knew, and knowing she knew exactly how. Neji nii-san...
--
Naruto sighed, he had been caught, or had he, Kiba might not have figured out it was him yet. 'Time for test number two,' he thought and with a quick poof he changed into Sauske and revealed himself to Kiba. "Well you got me, I saw you two walking together and figured I'd follow two of the best people at detecting people I know," said the faux Sasuke, but he still kept his distance from Kiba, as not to give his scent away so easily to Kiba.
"I'm flattered, Sasuke-kun." Kiba smirked as Akamaru began to bark furiously at 'Sasuke.' Kiba decided he'd let it drag on, no sense in bothering with details. "Haven't seen you in a while, Sasuke-kun. How have things been?" Aw, what the heck? He'd might as well have some fun with it. "Say, do you remember that top secret thing I told you the last time I saw you? You know, the one that I made you swear to never tell anyone?"
--
Hinata backed away as her father stepped towards her, his entire presence menacing at the time. "F-father...I-" He cut her off mid-sentence. "You will address me as 'Master,' Hinata. And why didn't you tell me about this sooner!" She felt his rage growing.
--
"Why do you ask such stupid questions, obviously I remember, who do you think I am, Naruto!" he asked using Sauske's attitude to his advantage, but now filled with curiousity he decided to try and drag it out of him as carefully as he could. "I also think we should discuss it further I don't think you went into enough detail last time, so why don't you continue?" Naruto said while mentally patting his own back, he was quite proud of how well he thought he was being Sasuke.
Kiba mentally groaned, the attitude was certainly accurate. But he decided to play pouty to the attitude. "Well obviously since you know so much why don't you tell me and then we can continue?" He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
--
"Well daughter, care to tell me why you hid this from me and I had to get my information from someone other than you!" Hinata's father persisted with his onslaught of verbal abuse.
Hinata grimaced. "B-because you wouldn't have a-accepted us!" She looked away from him quickly, expecting some kind of attack. She was surprised when none came and even more surprised when she looked back up at him.
"Hinata, I am your father, not just your master. I always want you to tell me these kinds of things." His face was soft and understanding, and Hinata began to feel safe and wanted to spill everything until his face hardened once more and took on its usual firmness. "But you are correct in believing that I am your master as well, and as such, I forbid you-"
"You can't!" Hinata practically screamed at him, knowing what he was going to say. And that earned her a smack across the cheek. "I forbid you to see that boy!" he continued harshly, his hand stinging from where he had hit her hard.