Usual disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
I'd like to thank oceanmoon for being the beta-reader for this chapter!

CHAPTER FOUR: WEDNESDAY

It was midday on Wednesday, and a few short hours ago; Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Lee, Ino, Sai, Shikamaru and Tenten, had arrived back in Konoha after their overnight stay at the Hot Springs resort. Naruto sighed as he rolled over in the grass in a park that was near his house. The heat was becoming more intense, and there was nothing more in the world that Naruto wanted than a nice, cool breeze to pass by. Except Hinata. He wanted her.

His thoughts went back to a flashback; they had just arrived back in the Hidden Village when Kiba had asked for a 'favour'.

"Aww, come on Naruto!" Kiba pleaded.

"I don't know, Kiba. Can't you ask someone else?" Naruto asked.

"Please! It'll just be for today and tonight," Kiba looked over at Hinata and tried to appeal to her good-willed nature, "He'll be no trouble for you, I swear."

"Okay, Kiba-kun," Hinata said with a smile to her team-mate.

Kiba threw his arms around Hinata and Naruto, as he squeezed them tightly he said, "Thanks guys!"

Why? Why had they agreed to look after Akamaru until Thursday morning? Naruto knew nothing about looking after a dog, the closest thing he'd ever had to owning a pet was a small brown mouse that used to scavenge around in his house amidst all the empty cups of instant ramen.

He glanced over at Akamaru who was sprawled out on the grass beside him. So far, all seemed to be going reasonably well. Naruto rubbed his eyes just as cool breeze grazed by.

"Ahhh," he said to himself quietly.

Naruto stood up and stretched his arms, picked up the red-coloured, rope lead that was attached to Akamaru's collar and began to walk to the Hyuga clan compound.

Naruto knocked twice on the front door of the Main Branch household for the Hyuga family, Hiashi answered to door. "Oh," was all he could seem to muster.

Naruto tried to push Akamaru behind him, but it was difficult task as the dog had suddenly become restless. "Is Hinata at home?" Naruto asked, refusing to be intimidated by his soon-to-be father-in-law.

Hiashi closed to door on him and called for his daughter. "Oh, hello, Naruto-kun," she said, coming to the door barefoot in a baggy t-shirt and shorts.

"Hey, so do you fancy going on walk with us?" he tugged on the lead so that Akamaru was now beside him.

She smiled at Naruto and then knelt down beside Akamaru and ruffled his long, white fur. "I'll go and get changed."

She returned several minutes later wearing a pair of navy blue three-quarter length trousers, and a clean white v-neck t-shirt. Although it was not flashy, Naruto still thought she looked beautiful in it.

"So where do you fancy going?" Naruto asked as Hinata tied her long, violet-coloured hair up into a ponytail.

She paused for a moment, "Let's go to the river, Naruto-kun."

As they walked up the road from the Main Branch household, the events that had unfolded the previous night were discussed.

"How's your back?" Naruto asked, Akamaru's pull suddenly becoming a lot stronger.

"Much better, thank you," Hinata replied, a small blush growing on her cheeks as she remembered their naked encounter.

They walked for several minutes in absolute silence. After making a right turn near Konoha's Hot Springs, Naruto decided to break the silence. "So, um, about last night."

Hinata tried to look at Naruto, but was far too embarrassed and averted her gaze, "Um, yes?"

"I'm sorry."

Hinata looked over at her fiancé, "Why are you sorry?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head with his left hand, "I don't know. I just feel like I might have made you feel," he paused when Akamaru saw another dog and tugged the blond forward in a violent motion, "uncomfortable."

Hinata blushed again, she put her left hand over his right hand. "You didn't, Naruto-kun."

After bringing Akamaru back under control, Naruto grinned at his fiancée. "You look really beautiful today, Hinata."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You look very handsome," she leaned in to him and kissed him gently, "as always."

The couple then made another right turn, heading south-east to pass by the Uzumaki clan compound where Naruto resided. Along with various other wedding agreements that were to remain disclosed until the ceremony (such as what Hinata's dress would look like and their vows), Naruto had only one request, that he be able to choose the location of where the ceremony would take place. Initially, Hinata feared that the ceremony would take place in Ichiraku's, but these fears were dismissed when he said it would take place, "in a place that is outside and is very important to me."

After walking past Naruto's house, they came to a junction where they took a left turn and headed north on one of the main roads that ran straight though the village. After a couple of minutes, they joined up on the main road which was filled with shoppers milling around. Naruto was prepared to push his way though this swarm of shoppers in order to get across to the other side of the road, but was instead pleasantly surprised when the people began to disperse, making a clear path for himself, Hinata, and Akamaru to pass through.

Since Naruto had saved Konoha from complete annihilation after the fight with Pain, he had become something of a celebrity. People no longer held prejudices against him because his was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, they looked at him as the embodiment of peace—and hope.

With his newly discovered celebrity status, he smiled and waved as the shoppers moved aside for their hero, "Thank you!"

They continued walking north until they reached the Akimichi clan compound, where they made a right turn and walked up the road that would eventually lead them to the river. Soon enough, after passing the Konoha Police department, the couple reached the river and Naruto foolishly let Akamaru off his lead. As Akamaru ran off into a nearby cluster of tress, Hinata reached over to hold her fiancé's hand.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but I've got to go home," she said.

"Oh, okay," Naruto replied as he tried to find Akamaru.

"Will you two be okay?" she asked, genuinely concerned if Naruto was capable of looking after her team-mate's best friend.

Naruto gave Hinata a wide smile, "We'll be just fine. Won't we, Akamaru?" Akamaru then barked to show Hinata that he too believed in Naruto's ability to look after him.

Hinata laughed, "Okay. I'll see you both later." Hinata walked back towards the village, and for a split moment, panic rushed over Naruto. What the hell was he going to do?

Naruto slumped down beside a nearby tree, "So what do you fancy doing, Akamaru?"

He shook his head. What had become of him? He was talking to a dog for goodness sake! Was he expecting Akamaru to talk back to him in the Queen's English, saying that, "one would most like to go and roll around in some mud."

He tilted his head back slightly; some clouds were beginning to form. He stood up and called for Akamaru. "Akamaru!"

"Here boy!" He called again with a feeble whistle.

Still nothing, Naruto was becoming irritated, "Akamaru!"

He wandered through the rest of the clearing and came to the water's edge, and there was Akamaru, sitting comfortably in the water.

He sighed as he rolled up his trousers to his knees before wading into the water to retrieve the dog. With the lead now attached to Akamaru, he made his first attempt at trying to pull the dog out of the water.

When Naruto had finally managed to get Akamaru out of the water, he proceeded to shake the water off his fur.

"Why?" Naruto asked, Akamaru looking up innocently at him like he hadn't done anything wrong.

As Naruto tried to pull Akamaru away from the water, Akamaru pulled him back with greater strength.

"Come on! I wanna go home," Naruto said, but when he turned to see what Akamaru was making a fuss about, he saw a small black cat.

"Oh for the love of..." Naruto said as he rolled his eyes.

"He won't be any trouble," Naruto said, trying to impersonate Kiba.

With one swift pull, Naruto found himself falling head-first into a pile of mud, and Akamaru was wildly chasing the cat in question away.

He lay in the mud for a moment, thinking about what he had ever done to Kiba to be entrusted with this mischievous animal in his care.

"When Kiba gets back tomorrow, boy is he going to get an earful from me," Naruto thought as he pushed himself out of the mud.

He walked back over to the river, taking off his shirt in a vain attempt to try and get some of the mud off it. He scrubbed his face and soaked his hair. Where had the dog gone now?

He called for him again, "Akamaru!" This time, Akamaru ran straight to him and obediently sat down beside Naruto.

"You wouldn't be this troublesome for Kiba now, would you?" Naruto asked as he put the lead back on Akamaru. God, now he was starting to sound like Shikamaru.

Naruto had never felt as relieved as he did when he handed Akamaru over to Hinata. He'd told her what Akamaru had done, but instead of being surprised, she simply said, "That's what dogs do, Naruto-kun."

Perhaps they did, but surely they must be aware of when they are being a complete pain in the arse. Naruto looked out of the window in his bedroom, the Sun was slowly setting and hues of red and orange were mixing wonderfully in the sky.

"Three days, huh?" Three whole days for more things to go horribly wrong.