"Don't go easy on me, please."

Well, that was much easier said than done.

Naruto was the kind of boyfriend that was so enraptured by his girlfriend—the way she giggled, the way she flipped her hair out of her face, the way she sounded when she spoke—that while his focus was indeed entirely on her, sometimes it was not the part of her that he should have been focusing on. Today was no different.

"No offense, Hinata," Naruto began wryly, scratching the back of his head absently, "but I'm not sure I'm comfortable sparring with you…"

Hinata feigned confusion, if only to see where this conversation was headed, "Why?"

"Uh…" Naruto started dumbly, "I don't want to hurt you?" He phrased his statement tonally like a question.

"I'll be fine," she coolly dismissed his point. Boy, was she cool…

"Well….how am I supposed to not go easy…and also not be afraid to hurt you?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed. She activated her Byakugan in order to hide her annoyance under the guise of preparing for a small sparring match with her boyfriend.

"Who says you'll even touch me?" she said, getting in her Gentle Fist stance.

Naruto saw the seriousness in her eyes and heard the confidence in her voice as clear as crystal. When Hinata had said she wanted to practice taijustu but Kiba and Shino were gone, Naruto volunteered to train with her gladly, not realizing this was what she meant…

God, she's hot.

"But…uh…" Naruto vocalized, still not convinced.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata began, not breaking her stance, "I thought you thought I'm strong?"

Wow, I never knew Hinata was this incredible…

Don't be so down on yourself, Hinata; you're strong!

Damn it, Naruto. The blond sighed and acquiesced, getting into no real stance in particular. He waited for Hinata to come at him; he'd be damned if he let anyone see him hit her first. They were both best in close range in and out of hand-to-hand combat and Naruto had faced a Hyuuga before, but Hinata's taijutsu had been rumored to have improved markedly, and he couldn't deny that when he had to watch her fight Pain…

This was going to be one giant fucking disaster.

She ran towards him wordlessly and he had supposed she felt a bit sorry for him, because she started out with a simple knee to the gut, perhaps to wake him up to the fact that she was one-hundred percent serious.

Naruto gasped at the impact, doubled over, and watched as Hinata jumped back, surprise painted her face.

I don't know why I expected a shadow clone…she thought.

"N-naruto-kun?" she tentatively reached her hand out towards him, then pulled back at the sound of his chuckling.

"Okay, okay," he began, squatted down and rubbing his mouth with the back of his arm, staring at the grass beneath him, "I get it; you seriously want to spar"—Hinata nodded, resolute—"Okay, I'll try my best."

He looked up at her and smirked, "Alright, Hina, come at me."

She nodded once and went on the offensive. He saw her beautiful hair shine in the sunlight, her eyes fill with intensity, and her body…

Aw, shit…

He was knocked out of his thoughts by Hinata's palm striking him under his chin. Naruto flew backwards, tumbling on the ground before landing on his bottom.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in surprise and ran to his side, "I'm sorry, was that too hard?"

"I'm—I'm fine," Naruto reassured Hinata hastily, "I just wasn't focused that's all."

"Is something wrong?" she asked him innocently, wide eyed.

Naruto glanced to the side, looking at nothing in particular. He was only trying to avoid Hinata's doe-like gaze. He rubbed the small of his back and grunted before standing up.

"No," he replied, "I'm ready this time. For real."

Hinata smiled weakly at him before momentarily disappearing. She reappeared next to the wooden training posts. Eventually, she got back into her Gentle Fist stance. Naruto could see her mouth the word "Byakugan" and he gulped hard.

It's okay Naruto, you can go toe to toe with your own girlfriend, he told himself in his head, just don't hit her face and you're fine…

"What the hell am I saying?" he mumbled to himself, "this is crazy!"

All of a sudden, he could hear rapid footsteps. She was charging at him again and now that he was paying attention to her movements, he noticed a slight hesitation in them. It was no doubt caused by Naruto's previous absent-minded slip ups, he gathered. So, to be fair and show he really was serious before going on the offensive, Naruto started to block her attack with his arm, but then he remembered his fight with Neji and how being touched anywhere would make him incur some kind of damage. Instead, Naruto jumped to the left of him and let Hinata pass. Once his feet touched the ground, he ran towards her, fist up.

Please dodge this, he begged internally.

Hinata did more than that. It was fast, but Naruto saw her get low, beneath his oncoming fist, and make moves to hit the chakra points in his stomach.

Shit! the Uzumaki swore internally and momentarily forgot that this opponent was his girlfriend. Now, he was focused on survival. In a last ditch effort, Naruto grabbed for her wrists and stopped her fingers from touching more than his jacket.

In frustration, Hinata's face scrunched up into furrowed eyebrows and a pout and she tried to wriggle herself free and was finding it rather impossible. Naruto smiled warmly at the sight.

She is so cute…

Naruto felt Hinata stop squirming; her pout was nowhere to be seen as she kept her head down. Naruto thought she had given up, a bittersweet notion since he never wanted to do this in the first place, but he was disappointed in her for doing what she said she'd never do again.

"Sorry about this," Hinata said to her boyfriend, barely above a whisper. Wrists still gripped powerfully by Naruto, Hinata jumped up and kicked Naruto's chest with both of her legs in an incredible yet self-destructive display of core strength. Naruto flew back, releasing her wrists, while she barely landed on her feet after skidding backwards a few times.

Naruto coughed violently. He had to get Hinata to share her leg exercises with him.

The Uzumaki had to admit, he was getting angry now. He stood up, saw her huffing in a mad grab for oxygen, and smirked.

"When you sparred with Neji," Naruto shouted to her, "how hard was he on you?"

Hinata smiled, remembering her and Neji's time together.

"He gave me all he had." she yelled back.

Naruto nodded. And this time, with no fears holding him back, safe in the knowledge that Hinata, his strong, intelligent, fearless girlfriend could handle him, their match moved like an elaborate dance.

Naruto was happy to know that Hinata was holding her own against him and that this seemed okay was no longer afraid. She could do it! She could—

"Kick his ass Hinata!"

"Ooh, a lovers' quarrel! Move over, Kiba!"

"Go, Hinata! Cha! Wipe the floor with him."

While Hinata seemed hardly phased, Naruto had become extremely distracted. He faltered and Hinata tripped him.

Side of his face in the ground, Naruto glanced up to see Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and Shino looking at him and his girlfriend trying to beat each other.

"What the hell happened Naruto?" Sakura began, walking towards the couple with the others quickly behind her, "You were doing so well!"

"I say too well," Kiba chimed in, "I think he was trying to hurt our teammate, Shino."

Akamaru barked in agreement.

"I think the notion that he'd try to hurt his own girlfriend is even worse," Shino replied calmly.

"Yeah Naruto," Ino started, "what happened? Hinata was going at it. What'd you do? Cheat or something?"

Everyone else hummed in agreement, as if considering it a viable explanation.

Face still planted on the ground, Naruto ranted,"Do I seem like a cheater to you?!"

Naruto Uzumaki could hear Hinata's laugh above the chit chat among everyone else. He smiled, relishing in the sound. Hinata held her hand out to him, helping him up.

Naruto groaned. He never wanted to do this again.