Disclaimer - Don't own Naruto

Naruto groaned slightly, he had been awakened by one of his (many) least favourite things, morning sunlight. It was a horrible pervasive thing, ignoring whatever you placed in its path. It would cut through curtains and drapes (although he was pretty sure they were the same thing), sneak under the crack in the door, and utilise a variety of other dastardly means to assault his poor unsuspecting eyes.

His body immediately informed him that something was different. There was a weight on his chest. Not the 'I've done something terrible and can't stop thinking about it' weight, but the 'Oh my Kami there is a naked girl on top of me' type of weight.

Hanabi was nuzzled into his side, her hair draped across his torso as she used him as a pillow. The sight made all the grumpiness fade away; the last night settled firmly in his brain, many images filed in the 'Things I don't want to ever, ever, ever forget' folder. But now, looking at her blissfully sleeping form in the sunlight, she was so Kami-damned beautiful. The blonde decided he didn't want to wake up just yet; as he drifted off to sleep once more, his right hand gently stroked the ivory skin of her back.

Hanabi awoke in a good mood. Better than she had felt in, well ever. She had him back finally, and he had himself back. She wasn't going to let the machinations of petty men get in the way of her happiness. All the council members spoke of how it was the 'privilege' of the Shinobi to sacrifice themselves for the village. She wanted to snort but couldn't be bothered. She'd never seen any of the civilian council making sacrifices. And a sacrifice was willing. Screwing over a member of your village to suit the ambitions of a crazed ruler thousands of miles away was not a worthy sacrifice in her eyes, and her eyes were bloody good (in her Oh-so-Humble opinion).

There was something in the air, or perhaps underneath her body, that made it impossible to feel angry.

As much as the brunette (she maintained that her hair was brown, very dark, but brown nonetheless) wanted to, she couldn't sleep on top of her lover forever. Ever so softly she moved up so that she was practically kissing his ear.

"I didn't know it was possible to feel this good." Hanabi confessed with a sigh, her milky lavender eyes would be dilated if she had pupils. "Mission accomplished Naruto. I forgot about being angry. Maybe I won't have to punish you for being such a self-sacrificing, pushover of a neurotic idiot." His breathing remained even, he was still asleep.

But they couldn't laze in bed all day. Today was their last day of preparation, when night fell they would leave this village, possibly forever. There was no way that Hanabi would allow the scumbags that ruled this place the chance to touch what belonged to her, and both of their plans for her lover concerned her. One especially, she wasn't ready for kids yet – she was a few months shy of seventeen still – but she'd like the option one day.

But she'd let him sleep a little longer, her last year had been hell, but his… with the council and a psychotic Uchiha out for blood, he deserved to be content for a while.

As she slipped out of the bed and made her way towards a much needed shower, a brilliant blue eye cracked open, and a whiskered face split into a grin. The blonde had been awake again for some time and he'd been granted an opportunity to think, something that, unless it came to a fight or learning a new jutsu, he'd never really had before. A village was composed of individuals; if said village was not protecting the rights of the individual, then it in turn was not worth protecting. All those who sided with him had been entrusted with a tri-kunai; with the Hiraishin No Jutsu mastered he could be back in a blink from anywhere in the Elemental nations. His friends knew how to summon him, the council did not.

Naruto would leave Konoha, he would keep his name, he would keep his family's possessions, and he would keep Hyuuga Hanabi.

He was bored through much of the day. Hanabi had left after her shower to 'get ready'. He'd packed the night before so spent a lot of time doing nothing. Nothing of any worth at least.

"Pair queens," one of his clones presented his hand in poker. They were playing with matchsticks, they'd been looked over in the sealing frenzy of the night before. The real Naruto grinned, he always won at poker. It was probably the way of whatever Metaphysical representation of Luck that you subscribed to of making up for the way his 'fellow' humans treated him. His clones inherited none of this insane luck, and were considering Creator-cide, if that was a thing. Naruto flipped his two cards down.

"Royal Flush Spades, again." He was met with a chorus of groans. Clones 1-3 just threw their cards on the table, clone 4 went to 'kill something', and clone 5 dispelled in protest. "Well that's just rude." Before long they were interrupted.

"Hey Boss," Naruto turned, it was one of his sentry clones. "You got to get ready, one of Hanabi's clones swung by, she said to 'get your butt in gear' as it's nearly nightfall" Naruto practically grunted in response.

"How did she get here without being seen?" The clone smirked.

"She used a Henge, you know how good her Henges are." It was true, Naruto had spent most of the time in Hanabi's squad teaching her. The other members blew him off as the 'Demon', ignoring the fact that the single most powerful Shinobi in the world had offered to train them. The end result was impressive. Hanabi was easily more powerful than most Jonin in the village, but he was the only one who knew that.

It dispelled, and after remembering the disparaging way in which a dog had spoken to him (Hanabi's clones could be almost as lippy as his own) Naruto sulked for a bit. His lover's clones were always mean to him, they were lucky they looked too much like her to kill. Unless it was a spar, in a spar he had no such reservations. Naruto supposed that he should follow the dog's advice. That wasn't something he ever thought he'd end up thinking to himself.

It a fit of laziness, he used the Hiraishin to flash to the entry hall way, where the sum total of all his belonging sat in the form of his red sage cloak. That wasn't all he owned by any means, but Naruto was by now the most accomplished fuinjutsu master in the entire world, with all the wealth of both the Namikaze and Uzumaki's knowledge at his fingertips. The council had tried to deny his much of it, but he ignored them for the most part.

The inside of the cloak was littered with over a hundred storage seals, each one crammed with further sealing scrolls, in which lay everything he would need to take: An already set up tent, with bedding and chakra heater; enough instant ramen to feed a battalion for a year; other food for Hanabi, since she refused to admit the wonder of Ramen, her only fault he actually took exception to (even that was a blessing in disguise – The less Ramen she ate, the more for him); thousands of jutsu scrolls and instruction books.

It was only at this point that Naruto remembered that he didn't in fact know where he was going.

"Hmm, guess I'll have to swing by Gaara's place, they like me. Then wave, hmm, maybe Koyuki would like a visit, or Shion, after I cleared up the whole 'helping get a new priestess' thing she said I was still welcome to visit, definitely shouldn't let Hanabi find out about that it was weird enough having Sakura explain It." The Blonde ex-Jinchuuriki shuddered at the violence of that particular memory, in fact now that he thought about it most of his memories of the pink-haired medic were of unwarranted beatings… hmm, food for thought.

He was still wearing his Orange jumpsuits, but that wouldn't do anymore. It was a symbol of a more innocent Naruto, a Naruto who despite all he had been through, still believed in a virtuous Konoha. That Naruto was gone, he was still stubborn as all hell and didn't see it as giving up. More like realising that, as a whole, the village was not worthy of him.

Naruto had, for much of his life, been trying to prove himself to the people. It was about time they proved themselves to him.

He'd have to use his feet for this, and it was something he never thought he'd do. He trudged up a flight of stairs to a door he had only opened once. His parent's room. Every step resonated like the tread of a giant, silence was suddenly a deafening torrent of thunder. He pushed a simple wooden door open, half expecting the ghosts of the past to overwhelm him. But nothing happened. It was an ordinary room.

"Hi Mum, hi Dad. Long time, no see." He smiled brightly to a large picture of his parents on the wall. He'd almost forgotten that. Wordlessly he summoned a clone, with orders to seal anything of emotional value.

In this room, he always felt alone. It reminded him of the absence of his parents. Before he knew them, he had been able to shrug it off. But meeting both of them, even if they were but shades; seeing their last hours. He could still feel the embrace of his mother in his mind; remember her last words as a living person and a chakra signature that helped him gain control of Kyuubi's chakra.

Naruto turned to the wardrobe, sniggering slightly upon opening it. Most of it was taken up by the Mother's stuff. His father's coats and Shinobi gear relegated to a tiny fraction of the left. Uzumaki Kushina may have been a badass ninja, but she was still a woman. He wasn't interested in the coats, he had his own, which he personally thought was better. But the rest.

Minutes later he was garbed in his father's raiment. Much more like a Shinobi should be. He left out the flak jacket and headband. He was no longer a Konoha ninja, he would not pretend to be.

Naruto spent a few moments more in the room his parents used to sleep. Running his hands over polished surfaces, fingering the drapes of their bed. Reaching into his pocket he placed explosive tags in the cardinal points of the room, eight in total, one in each corner both floor and ceiling.

He followed suit for each and every room in the entire house, running his senses over to determine how much bang would be required. Normally he would be excited, Naruto loved explosions and he always remembered not to look. Cool guys don't look at explosions. It was a sombre duty however. One that required reverence. He had spent sixteen years not knowing who he was. And now he was going to erase any evidence (that the council had been unable to anyway) of his parent's presence in the Village Hidden in the Leaf.

His macabre duty done, the Last Known Uzumaki, and the Last Namikaze, donned his Sage coat, and left, the Toad Summoning Scroll and a Bo Staff (He'd always thought that they were badass, and they could double as a walking stick) his only visible tools.

Naruto had set up two lines of Fuinjutsu to prevent the destruction of the Namikaze estate being known before he was far enough away. First a Containment seal. It prevented any kinetic energy, be it sound or a shockwave or fire, from leaving. It would magnify the force of the explosion as it reverberated back, and he had already gone pretty overboard with the explosive tags. Then one of his own devising, an Illusory Containment. It absorbed the image of whatever was inside when it was set up, then created a 3-D image until it ran out. With the amount of chakra Naruto had pumped into it, that would be when ANBU came a-calling after he failed to show up to his public humiliation.

As he walked to the gates he gathered natural energy, it was a new trick. He had gained enough control to gather it even in the middle of a fight. If he so wished, except for when he was asleep or engaged in 'certain activities' he had the capacity to always be in Sage Mode. He clicked his fingers; his enhanced nature senses detected the estate's reduction to a smouldering heap of ash. Naruto breathed out gently, drew upon his power, and for all intents and purposes, vanished.

Hanabi released a sigh of relief when she reached Ichiraku Ramen undiscovered. She knew how good she was at masking her chakra; how good she was at Henges, but even so, when you live with a bunch of people who all claim to have all-seeing eyes, and you were planning on becoming a missing-nin, it was hard not to get nervous.

She was transformed into a middle-aged blonde with green eyes, sporting a lime green kimono. Odd yes, but it was just an illusion after all, and it was easy for someone to pass her off as a random weirdo. It might seem like backwards logic, but anyone questioned would either remember nothing out of the ordinary or just brush it off as nothing that any interrogator needed to know.

But even so, she still felt exposed, the onus was on Naruto now. He could sense her despite everything she could do. It used to unnerve her. Then it made her feel safe. No matter where she was, not matter what someone tried to do, Naruto would be able to find her; she was fairly certain that he had a seal for his Hiraishin concealed somewhere on her, in addition to his little kunai. She smiled at the thought.

As a child she never thought someone other than her nee-san would care, certainly not that she would fall in love with someone who, as Naruto had already proven, would be willing to give their life to protect her. Hanabi most definitely never thought that whoever she found would be willing to wade through a river of blood and fire; possibly laying waste to most of the known world at the time – she couldn't be too certain Naruto wouldn't do that if something threatened her. It made her feel good, a little worried for his sanity, yes, but good nonetheless.

But as her heart opened to love and companionship, it also opened to pain. Being separated from him had wrenched her heart in two. The thought of being caught when they were so close, when after so long Naruto had decided to set out on his own; when Hanabi had finally been able to 'convince' him to take her.

A heavy hand falling on her shoulder stopped her heart for an instant; she almost screamed. But then she heard it.

"Hey Firecracker-chan. You seem tense." He'd masked his voice, but Hanabi knew it was Naruto. He was the only one to refer to her as Firecracker, let alone Firecracker-chan. It was strange, Hanabi refused to call him anything but his name, and he loved it; while he came up with nicknames for her all the time. She'd never admit it, but she liked being called Firecracker. He leaned close, his warm breath tickling her ear, "How about when we get far enough away I help you with that."

Rolling her eyes Hanabi ignored the innuendo and surveyed his disguise. A man, late thirties, brown hair and a tanned, slightly wrinkled face; Naruto had chosen to be a working man, his build and height he left at his natural 5'11". It was easier to maintain without a disturbance that way.

"Just order your ramen so we can go." He smiled, not a Naruto grin so he wasn't given away, but a normal person smile. It looked strange, even though it wasn't his face it still didn't look right.

"One bowl of miso ramen please Ichiraku-san." He couldn't order too much, it would be remembered, but he wanted just a taste of his precious Ichiraku Ramen before he left, Hanabi had known he would, which was why this was the designated meeting point. There was a good chance that neither of them would be coming back; she wanted them both to leave in the best way possible.

Teuchi served the dish with a smile; Naruto hesitated, trying to eat slowly, to savour the flavour.

"Itadakimasu," he gave swift thanks, heartfelt despite the simplicity. Hanabi shuffled closer, laying her head on his shoulder in silent support and he sipped the broth and slowly relayed the savoury noodles to his eager mouth. She knew it would be hard, before Iruka, before Kakashi, before Jiraiya or Tsunade, there was the Ichiraku pair. Ayame became his Nee-san, and Teuchi his surrogate father.

"I'm ready when you are love." It was the first time Hanabi hadn't called Naruto by his name, but stubborn as she was Hanabi wasn't stupid enough to say his name in public. Without her Byakugan she couldn't be certain of the location of any ANBU, and rumours of the Root's continued existence had flourished under Sasuke's reign.

In a rapid jerk, Naruto tipped the bowl to his lips, downing the remaining broth. He placed a few Ryo coins on the counter, took Hanabi by the hand, and left.

To the eyes of the village they would look like husband and wife, like any other thirty-something couple, for a moment she could pretend that nothing was wrong; that the ruler of the most powerful Hidden Village in the world wasn't after her boyfriend's blood for an unknown reason. Hanabi wrapped both her arms around Naruto's right as they wandered, seemingly aimlessly, but ever closer to the main gate.

"Is anyone in sight?" She couldn't check without her distinctive Kekkei Genkai being felt, but Naruto could.

"No." She dropped her disguise and wrapped herself tightly against his muscled body, bringing her face to his in a kiss. When she retreated, his whiskered countenance shone back in a radiant smile. It was a real smile. Not the fake one plastered all over him for the last nineteen years. Kami Hanabi loved his smile. Love was a weird thing. She knew Naruto could be a bumbling, blustering idiot at times, and his obsession with Ramen drove her nuts, but sometimes the smallest little thing would make it all worthwhile.

"Alright then Naruto, let's disappear." Hanabi kissed him again, feeling his chakra seep through his tongue into her, as she slowly faded from sight. It was a form of mental impression Genjutsu, persuading the viewer that no-one was there, but backed by Jiraiya's camouflage jutsu, making the pair all but invisible. Lastly, Naruto used his mastery of nature chakra to create a paralysis and amnesia shroud around them that was impossible for anyone but a Sage to sense. Ultimately, they were invisible.

Hand in hand they walked back to the main street. Few people were out, it was too late. Those that walked the streets at night didn't see them; any that got too close seemed to freeze; then continue as if nothing was wrong.

"I didn't expect to feel so—"It was hard for her to find the word.

"Melancholy?"

"Yeah," Hanabi agreed. If it had been anyone else, they would have jeered, asking how he even knew the word, but Hanabi knew. He had never been taught well, so as a child and early teenager, hell, even at fifteen Naruto was uneducated. But with a practically infinite capacity for increase and learning, Naruto rectified the situation. She remembered being on his team as a young(er) girl. He had thrown himself into training, into learning. He even asked her to teach him the manners of a noble. In the end neither of them could stomach it so they left Shadow Clones the undesirable task.

"I am a little upset to be leaving. There are people I will miss. We have a right to be sad at leaving our home. But… tomorrow we will be happy, we will be excited, and we are going… to the Capital of the Land of Fire." Hanabi snorted at his theatrics, just squeezing his hand in hers.

"You're an idiot…" He pouted, "But you're my idiot. Just know if any of Jiraiya starts popping up I'll Jyuuken you into next week." It was the blonde's turn to laugh.

"I love you."

"I know, someday I'll figure out why. I mean, I know I'm hot and all…" She was fishing; she could tell Naruto knew it. Sometimes he'd be nice and it'd work anyway, of all the people she knew, Naruto could understand the need for positive reinforcement.

"Hot isn't the right word." She damn near slapped him on the spot, only her sixth sense for run-on sentences saved him. Naruto would have turned to face her, but she couldn't see him, and his eyes couldn't see her. "Beautiful is better."

Hanabi stopped, her hand pulling him to a halt as well, he'd never said that before. He'd said that he loved her, but not that she was beautiful. "Elegant, smart, strong… words pale in comparison. You are my Fire Queen, my little flash in the darkness. My Mum told me to find someone like her; in so, so many ways you are not. But where it counts? You would do anything for the ones you love, even let them hate you, even attack them to protect them from your father. And woe betide any man who tried to mess with you. Because after you've killed them, I'll raise them from the dead and do it all over again." An invisible hand stroked her cheek; she should have known he'd be able to sense her better than any eyesight. "I love you Hanabi, because you are you. It took a while to chip away the fake that Hiashi put in your place. But the fireworks were worth it.

"You were more of a teammate to me than anyone on Team 7 ever was, after a brief… warming up period. You listened, you knew everything about me but instead of backing away you tried to help me." He grinned, "Plus you're smoking hot."

"Let's go faster." She announced, pulling him off to the nearby gates.

"Why the hurry?"

"Because you deserve a reward for that speech; I don't think you made me forget enough, I still remembered my name." If Naruto wasn't trying to be stealthy he'd have burst out laughing, he wanted to crack a joke about him not being the perverted one, but he really didn't want to find out the consequences of that.

"I keep expecting something to go wrong." Hanabi confessed. She needed to talk, if only quietly, her heart was threatening to leap out of her ribcage and bounce around the village. "I know this was my plan, but… I just don't want to lose you. I'm so scared something will go wrong.

It didn't. They quietly made their way out the gate and into the forest. After an hour, they began to run. After another, Naruto took down their protection.

It was exhilarating, the trees flashed past so quickly they were just blurs, powerful leaps in unison propelled them forwards, linked hand-in-hand. They began to laugh, clear and loud, hard and strong. They were finally free, both of the lies and the physical restraints. By midnight, they were over one hundred miles away from the place that had tormented them for so long.

By some wordless agreement they stopped to rest. They wouldn't be able to sleep long, especially as neither had any plan of actually sleeping any time soon, but it would be sufficient.

With a prick of the finger and a drop of blood Naruto unsealed a scroll, then from that a readymade campsite, tent already erected. Hanabi grinned mischievously and pulled him inside.

A long time later, she lay naked in his arms; Hanabi could feel the warmth of his skin against her back, the strength of his muscles against her made her feel secure. Even out in the middle of nowhere, Naruto made her feel better than anyone ever had.

"Hanabi-chan?"

"Hmm?" A satisfied groan was her only response.

"What are we… you know, to each other?" Hanabi tensed, where was he going with this?

"What do you mean?" She was deathly quiet, terrified, paranoia swelling within her, had he used her for sex? Was that all he wanted? She forced herself to be calm, Naruto wasn't like that; he said he loved her, he never went back on his promises and he never lied, unless it was for a prank of course.

"Well I was thinking, how we will introduce ourselves… people would think badly of you for travelling with a man unaccompanied…" He trailed off, Hanabi thought she knew where this was going, and her heart went into overtime, Naruto needed a few prods.

"I don't care about what they think about me."

"I do. I don't want anyone to think badly of you. I love you too damn much for that, I was thinking…" Again he couldn't say the words. Apparently more poking was required; something had to defuse the tension else he'd never get to the point.

"If you're going to ask me to marry you this proposal sucks by the way." It was his turn to tense. She grinned smugly; glad he couldn't see her face.

"Wha—uh, yah." Gibberish mostly. Naruto smiled, she was right. He turned her in his arms gently, so he was looking her in the eye. "Hanabi you know that I love you… will you marry me?" She wanted to make him stew, to think about how terrible this proposal was, but something inside her squealed like a little(er) girl and answered with a knee-jerk reaction.

"Hai, a thousand times hai." Naruto held her a little tighter, her soft body moulding into his. He kissed her lightly, as if to say goodnight. "But, without my family's permission, how will we?" Naruto grunted, as if it didn't matter.

"I'm friends with two Daimyos; a priestess and at last count two Kages; I think we'll be fine. Goodnight my little Firecracker-chan, I love you." His words of comfort in her ears; pressed closely to the man she loved, Hanabi drifted off to a contented sleep.

Naruto laid awake for a few minutes longer. He had only one more mission, protect Hanabi. He just had to decide what the best way to do that was.

Authors Note

Thank you to those who reviewed, and I've done my best to take all comments to heart.

Just as an update - Yes I have aged Hanabi by two years, she is supposed to be 5 years younger than Naruto, I have reduced this to 3.

Please Read and Review - Constructive Criticism to help me improve is welcomed, pointless flames will shatter my sanity.

La3nus

End Transmission