Nothing Is Easy In Konohagakure
"Okay, now that you and Naruto have started getting physical, we need to lay down a few ground rules. Number one is hold off on sex until you are married," Sakura began. Her first rule set Hinata off into a deep blush, already wishing to hide herself away from the snickering of Kiba and Shino. "Number two is that, if you can't wait, you are not doing that in my house, and you are to use protection," Sakura's second rule was even worse than her first, and Hinata was blushing even harder. When was she going to turn on Shino and Kiba, and leave her and Naruto alone? Speaking of Naruto, he was cowering behind Hinata, for the rules seemed to have a somewhat glare pointed at Naruto as well.
"Now, you two," Sakura restarted, finally turning to Kiba and Shino. "I don't care if you have sex. Kiba, you can't get Shino pregnant—it's not physically possible. But if you do anything in front of me or Hinata that will be permanently etched into our brains and make our eyes bleed, I swear, I will have to kill the both of you. Understood?" Sakura's hands were on her hips, and Kiba and Shino looked absolutely horrified. For good reason, too—Sakura had a look on her face that plainly stated if she were to be crossed, consequences would be given—and they wouldn't be the peaceful 'go to your room' type of punishment, either. They'd be the 'oh my god, I'm glad I survived with all of my limbs intact' sort of punishment.
The three boys nodded numbly, while Hinata stood there, an immense blush still painted onto her face, frozen.
"Hey, wait a minute. What makes you so sure that I'd be the one… Well, you know," Shino finished in a blush, unsure of how to state it around Hinata. Being around Hinata automatically made things PG—or else Sakura would probably have to chop off your lips. Sakura had grown oddly protective of the gentler, softer girl.
"Let's just say it's a woman's intuition. Besides, you act like the uke, anyways," Sakura finished with a snicker.
"… What's 'uke'?" Hinata asked shyly.
----
After a long (and rather uncomfortable) discussion about seme and uke, and how uke men are usually effeminate, and how the seme men are the ones that 'get to be on top', the group of six (counting Akamaru, of course) began training. Naruto's jutsu was nearing completion—all that he really had left to do was name it. It was a large beam of chakra that he could control like a whip, and it could easily wrap around a tree and burn straight through it.
Hinata made Naruto promise to only use it when he absolutely had to.
In the middle of training, they received a visit from a certain member of Hinata's family—Neji. He muttered a quick greeting to Naruto, Shino, Kiba, and Sakura without even making eye contact, passing by them quickly, obviously headed for Hinata. Naruto gave her a quick yet firm look in which he attempted to tell her that he was there for her, before turning his attention to Neji, in order to watch what he had to say to her. Hinata had caught his look, only because she had been glancing to him for support. She was scared, and frozen in her tracks.
"Hinata-sama, I have a message for you from your father," Neji said formally. Hinata was almost taken aback at how formal and how serious he was acting—he usually at least treated her with some form of causality, considering he was her cousin.
Neji sighed and continued. "The Hokage will be determined in two months. The day after that will be your wedding day—whether it's to an Aburame or an Uzumaki," he informed her. Naruto and Hinata both froze—had the months passed by so quickly? Had the time really already come? They didn't feel ready for such a commitment as marriage—and Hinata was still faintly worried that Naruto was only marrying her to save her from a fate such as marrying her friend.
"I… see. Is that all?" Hinata asked weakly, though other than the weakness, it was toneless, hardly faltering at all, as if nothing mattered, but Neji could see the deep anxiety that had been placed onto Hinata, the emotional and mental load much more than any physical load, in her eyes. They were shying away from him, and looking to the bottom left corner, signifying that she didn't want to hear this information, and that she was already starting to think about how bad it could end up.
"No… Just as a little bit of extra information… Well, you see, I don't want to see Hanabi as head of the clan. You may… I say may because I don't have any proof or anything… You may have a chance of winning the Head title after your marriage. Your father said he wishes to spar with your after your marriage, and he wants to see how much you've grown. If you beat him or something of the like, he may consider making you the Head of the Hyuuga," Neji explained.
Hinata was once again frozen—last time she heard of the title of Head, it had been so set in stone that it would be Hanabi! But now… now she had a choice. But, the problem was, she didn't know what to think of that choice. Did she actually want to be the Head of such a cruel household?
"I'll change the entire Hyuuga!" Naruto cried out in Hinata's memories, a frequently visited memory registering deep within the confines of Hinata's memories. It had warmed her so to see a boy who barely knew her trying to change the entire clan she lived in—and it was then that she had decided that she would do her part to help in changing the Hyuuga, as well.
The words she had heard weren't his exact words—even she knew that. Minds had a funny way of altering and changing memory, turning them from exact memories into facts—and the fact was, Naruto had said he'd help her family—a family he wasn't even a part of.
So, yes, she'd do her best to help her own family. She might as well start from her origins and work her way out, going from one small clan to helping Naruto run the village, helping and supporting him, while simultaneously being helped and supported, as a married couple should.
"I see," Hinata's voice no longer held the weakness it had before—it was much more firm. She had paused for nearly a minute and a half, but the strength and confidence in her actions and words nearly made Neji do a double take to make sure that it was indeed Hinata he had been talking to.
"Enjoy your afternoon, Hinata-sama," he said with a small bow, walking away from the training area, his manner and voice now back to the norm for him. 'How strange for Hinata to suddenly jump from weak to so strong…' Neji mused to himself.
----
"So… your wedding is in only two months, huh?" Sakura asked slowly. They were both sitting together in Sakura's den. Hinata was curled up to herself, her knees touching her chin and her arms wrapped around the middle of her legs in a fetal position. Sakura was lying on her couch, stretched out, staring up at the ceiling.
"Hai…" Hinata muttered, once again, almost weakly.
"… I think we've been concentrating too much on getting Naruto to be able to propose to you, rather than preparing you for it," Sakura said after a length of time, finally sitting up straight. Hinata looked up from her kneecaps, surprised that Sakura was actually offering her relationship advice.
"What… do you mean?" Hinata asked shakily. Her confidence from earlier in regards to the Head position did not carry over to her anxiety towards the wedding. What if she was pushing Naruto too fast?
"I think… That, well, we need to give you two more alone time so that you can actually start to get to the point where living together wouldn't be such a bad idea," Sakura elaborated with a shrug. "Besides, Naruto, at this point, would make a terrible husband," Sakura explained effortlessly. Obviously, the entire time they had been sitting in silence, Sakura had been deep in thought about Hinata's situation.
"Arigatou. Perhaps Naruto and I should spend less time training, and more time alone together," Hinata said, parroting Sakura's words, a slight blush adorning her cheeks.
----
"So, what do you want to do?" Naruto asked. He had listened to Hinata's proposition, and already understanding that she was nervous about it, he decided to make it as easy for her as possible.
"I dunno… Sakura-chan suggested that we should perhaps, just talk…" Hinata explained.
"We talk all the time!" Naruto exclaimed with a bright smile. He wasn't throwing the suggestion in her face—he was simply trying to make it work.
"Ano… We… Well, we talk about training and stuff… But we don't really talk…"
Naruto sighed in defeat. Okay, he'd talk. But talking seemed so… well, okay, maybe it wasn't as bad of an idea as he had originally thought, but it felt like something he did all the time, and that it wouldn't change anything. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Ne, Naruto-kun… How… Ano, how do you feel towards Sasuke?" The question had come effortlessly from Hinata's lips. Sasuke had come back from Orochimaru's lair nearly a year ago—but, really, Sasuke was so withdrawn from normal society, that it was a wonder people even remembered Sasuke.
Naruto's head hung down. Hinata nearly told him that it was alright, that he didn't have to speak, but he started talking before the words could come out. "I… Well, I can't hate him. But… I don't really like him, either. Whenever I'm around him, I… feel kind of like I'm suffocating with anger and anxiety. I haven't talked to him since he came back, you know."
"But… at one time, wasn't he your best friend…?" Hinata asked, the question hanging in the air, causing the conversation to go from tense to tenser.
"At one time," Naruto repeated with a small nod, clarifying the statement Hinata had just made. Did it really have to be Sasuke, of all things, that they talked about?
"I see… I… I think that you should speak to him," Hinata told him after a length of time. Naruto's neck snapped towards her in shock that she had said such a thing. How in the world was he to speak to Sasuke? After all, he… he had betrayed him! And, even then, he had had the gall to come back after Naruto had actually given up on him!
"… When I saw him for the first time after he came back, I greeted him… Well, I tried hugging him, to show him I missed him and all… And he pushed me away coldly, as if I was nothing. As if he seriously hated me," Naruto mumbled, his head once again hanging down, his eyes transfixed on the ground, as if the ground was replaying the memory or helping him to recall the facts.
Hinata placed a gentle hand on top of his, urging him on. Naruto had more pent-up emotions than she had originally thought—she could tell that pain, anger, sadness, loneliness, and even regret were just under the surface of the usually constantly jubilant blue eyes.
"We… we worked so hard to get him back… And… he even called me his… best friend… But… he treated all of us, all of us, as if it didn't matter… Sakura, who had shed so many tears over him… Shikamaru, who had tried so hard… And I… nearly died… How… how am I supposed to talk to him?" Naruto was softly sobbing, his voice becoming a near whimper at the end of his sentence.
"Shh…" Hinata was gently cooing. She had pulled him awkwardly against her chest, patting his head down as if he were a five-year-old. "I think that starting with that… will be sufficient…" Hinata muttered against his hair as she bent down to kiss his head gently.
"Think he'll listen?" Naruto asked slowly, being the most important thing on his mind now.
"If he doesn't want to, you'll make him," Hinata half-joked, though really, there was a lot of truth in the statement.
"Heh, got that right!" Naruto exclaimed, suddenly jumping up happily, though instantly regretting it—Hinata's chest had been soft and warm, and now, laying back on it without her direct consent would make him seem like such… Well, like a chibi version of Jiraiya, really.
"Come on. I'll help you find him," Hinata offered, standing up from the bench and holding out her hand. Naruto quickly took it and pulled himself up, nearly toppling over Hinata, though he managed to catch his balance quickly.
A/N: Took a while. And I'm not planning on actually typing out the conversation between Sasuke and Naruto. I'm going to have Hinata and Naruto talk about Naruto and Sasuke talking. XD Review, pretty please?