Right, Chapter 2 is here at long last.
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N-Naruto what's g-going on?!" Hinata took a few rapid steps back and glanced at the door, calculating the distance in case there was an incident.
"Would you believe me if I said I don't know?!" cried Naruto, paling at the sight of his newly formed tail.
"N-Naruto y-you need h-help!" stammered Hinata, retreating further towards the door. "I'll g-go call a-a m-medic!
"No!" Naruto leapt forward and grabbed her wrist. "Don't get them involved! No one can see me like this!"
Hinata screamed and tried to pull away. She had never been so frightened in her life! Just then, Naruto's hat decided that now would be a good time to betray its secrets and promptly fell off. Naruto scrambled to pick it up but it was too late. Hinata moaned and fell forward. Naruto left the hat and instead caught Hinata.
"Damn it she fainted…" he noted wondering what to do next.
He carried her to his bedroom and laid her on the clean white sheets. He briefly noticed that she looked kind of cute.
'Fine.' He thought, 'I'll let her wake up and tell her she was dreaming. She oughta believe that.'
As for concealing his ears, whiskers and tail, he had an idea, but in the meantime he would make some tea for when she woke.
***
Hinata awoke to a teapot whistling. She mumbled something about ninja training when she suddenly realized where she was. She gasped and pulled at the sheets. She was in Naruto's bedroom! And with that revelation, the rest of her memories flooded back.
'Something bad is happening to Naruto but I don't know what!' She rose and slid the door open slowly. It obliged without a sound and Hinata caught a glimpse of Naruto.
But… he looked perfectly fine now. She carefully stepped out of the room and Naruto's ears pricked up. He turned to her with a big bright smile on his face.
"Hello Hinata! You fainted at my doorstep all of a sudden so I just took you in. Mind telling me what happened?"
"W-well y-y-you had f-fox ears a-and a-a t-tail s-so ummmmm…" Hinata realized how stupid she sounded just now and fell silent, a blush crossing her face. Naruto chuckled in amusement.
"Sounds like you had one helluva dream huh? You work yourself too hard. Take a break every now and then."
Hinata frowned in consternation. "Y-yeah… j-just a d-dream right?" She took another cursory glance around.
"I-I think I-I'll j-just go h-h-home now…" she was trying to get away as quickly as possible, lest she embarrass herself even more. Naruto replied with a nod and Hinata made her way towards the door. She was nearly out when she stepped on something rather fuzzy.
"Oops." Hinata looked to her feet and saw Naruto's night cap squashed beneath her foot. She bent to pick it up for him and stopped dead. Her eyes widened considerably and her lips parted.
"N-no!" she whispered to herself. Because, on the rim of the cap, among the crop of stiff white fuzz, lay a single solitary orange hair. She picked it up and stared intensely.
'It can't be!' thought Hinata, shooting Naruto a fearful glance. 'It's the same as the fur on…'
***
Naruto was sweating a bit. It was tough to keep up the ruse and he wasn't sure how long the jutsu would last. He had his back turned to Hinata, trying to keep eye contact to a minimum. Naruto was not a very good liar. He heard the door close softly. He gave a sigh of relief and slumped a little.
'Phew… I wonder when this jutsu will wear off. At least Hinata's gone.'
"Byakugan!" a shrill cry rang out.
"What the- ow!" Naruto was knocked into the wall with the force of Hinata's punch. Pain and confusion roiled in his head. So much so, that his jutsu was accidentally released, revealing his newfound ears, whiskers and tail. Hinata retreated a few steps.
"G-genjutsu! I-I knew i-it!" Naruto looked into her eyes, astonished. Hinata's expression was one of mingled fear and sorrow.
As Naruto sat on the floor in shock, a sudden anger filled his head. It felt unnatural, as if someone else's feelings had taken over. Naruto leapt to his feet, tail swishing furiously.
"How did you find out?" he demanded, scaring Hinata a bit.
"Th-the cap…" Hinata tossed him the cap.
Naruto growled furiously. "I'm such an idiot!" He shot an icy look to Hinata. Hinata was taken aback. She had never seen such a scary expression on his face.
"What will you do now?" his voice was dangerously low and menacing.
"H-huh?" Hinata was still in shock at his sudden transformation. Naruto took a step toward her.
"What will you do now that you've seen me like this?"
Hinata couldn't answer, for she had nothing to say.
"I said, what will you do?!" his voice had gotten forceful and his eyes were starting to take on a tinge of red. Hinata was puzzled. This was not the Naruto she knew. Instantly she realized that this had to be related to his strange transformation. She had to say something. She had to help him.
"I-m g-going to h-help you N-Naruto." She said with firm resolve.
"Huh?" The change was nearly immediate. Naruto's eyes took on their beautiful blue shade again and he calmed down considerably as he fought down the suppressing anger that was not his own. He looked at her with a strange expression on his face.
"Do you mean that?" he asked, hardly daring to breathe. Hinata nodded and smiled at him.
"Y-you don't h-have t-to b-be alone." she said.
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Heh…sorry for making you wait dear readers. I hope you'll understand when I say I was busy. This was a little hard to write and I hope it was good. (This is by far the most successful story I've ever written.) I wont be discontinuing so don't worry if I take a while to update 'kay?
Till next time,
Kira
