Naruto: A Different Beginning
By Smithjohn2020
Chapter 5: As You Like It
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the words below and the original ideas they convey.
Unbeta'ed. Plot unrelated to the title borrowed.
…o.0.O.0.o…
He wanted to reciprocate her feelings, to reassure her that he would do anything to be worthy of her affection. He wanted to say something … anything … but he couldn't.
She was kissing him.
He kissed her back.
Or at least, that's what he thought he was doing.
Having his right hand still on her sternum for the chakra infusion technique made his posture too awkward to kiss. He wanted to lean in and melt his lips into her kiss, but his hand was in the way.
A part of him wanted to remove his hand from her chest to pull her closer so that he could get better access to her lips.
But a part of him was afraid that doing so – disengaging the chakra infusion – would revert her back to her shyness, and frankly he had taken a liking to this assertive side of Hinata. Plus, his hormones liked having his hand on her sternum, so close to her developing ….
"Naruto-kun … come closer."
She had to break the kiss, if only for a moment. It was so frustrating that she couldn't have a better tasting of her Naruto-kun's lips. She had been fantasizing about this GREAT and MONENTOUS moment for so long that the disappointment resulting from their current awkwardly positioned bodies was getting to her.
"I need you closer."
Again he tried to close in the gap between their heated bodies, but his right hand was constantly in the way.
Actually, had they been more experienced, they would have found ways to better position themselves for a more natural kiss, even with Naruto's offending hand unmoved. As this was the first time kissing for the both of them, the awkwardness was expected. Despite how much Hinata, and in some ways Naruto too, wanted this to be the perfect kiss that they could tell their kids about, the sparks just did not fly in that kiss the way people romanticized about, leaving them both in want.
Hinata took the lead in the beginning. All her pinned up emotions for Naruto made it natural for her to deepen herself into the kiss.
It took Naruto a moment to overcome that initial shock before he learned how his lips were supposed to fit into hers and where he was allowed to touch so as to remain chaste, but natural.
Although it was not exactly how Hinata had pictured their first kiss, it was still a kiss with her Naruto-kun, something which she was elated about.
Then they had to break the kiss again. This time, so they could catch a breather. It wasn't a perfect kiss, but it was good enough that both wanted more. It certainly seemed a whole lot shorter than either had wanted it to be. But, for now, they were content to remain in the moment.
With their foreheads leaning on each other, theirs senses tried to capture the magic of that moment, the grace of other's smile, the shape of his or her lips, the sweetness of their kiss that lingered on, and the addictiveness of the other's scent.
Naruto's hypersensitive smell, which could pick up even the slightest trace of pheromone, was getting showered with an abundance coming from his one and only fan-girl, sending his own hormones into overdrive, compromising his concentration on the Infusion Jutsu.
His right hand slipped slightly … but not too much.
The minute movement was enough to send the already charged Hinata overboard. Her back arched on reflex, pushing her chest into his touch. A soft moan escaped her mouth.
That did it for the blond.
Throwing caution into the wind, he took his right hand off her chest, effectively disengaging the infusion technique, and held her closer to him, pressing their heating bodies tightly together.
His impulsiveness surprised them both.
Naruto didn't know what was supposed to come next. All he knew was that it felt as good as he thought it would to press her body against his.
"Hime, stay with me."
… meaning for her not to faint since she was no longer under the influence of the infusion technique. But it only caused her to blush even more because she thought he'd meant something else, which was not entirely inconceivable in her mind, considering how he had read her most intimate thoughts off of her diary.
"Hh-hum!"
The sound of a man clearing his throat startled them both, Hinata more so than Naruto. She quickly pushed off her crush to put some distance between them.
No, Hinata was not ashamed to be publically identified as the girlfriend of a boy whose alter ego was dubbed as the class clown, or the class dobe as Kiba and Sasuke had affectionately termed him. After some of the speed that she saw in Naruto's henged alter ego, Kal-El, she knew for certain that there was more to him than what met the eyes.
Her issue was how promiscuous she looked with her current posture; though in her mind, all they had managed was exchanging kisses. Perhaps a part of her was also ashamed of her inner desire to act out some of her fantasies and feared that those thoughts could be read by the bystanders.
Crush or not, she still was the Hyuuga heiress and had her good name to keep.
Naruto, on the other hand, received a jolt back to reality. The guttural interjection had somewhat struck a cord with his inner conscience and awaken his need to protect Hinata from the dangers associated with knowing his secret or getting too close to him.
As Hinata was turning her head to see who it was that made the first sound, she was surprised to hear another sound coming from the same direction.
"Hehe, looks like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."
NO! Another person witnessed my kiss with Naruto-kun?
Once she saw the intruders' faces, Hinata's eyes widen in shock. She fainted and was caught by Naruto before her head hit the ground.
Naruto's reaction to the two onlookers was different. Searching through his sensory memory, he remembered picking up faint sounds of two additional sets of heartbeats right when he got up from Hinata's Jyuuken strike. He must not have noticed them as much because at the time he was still shaking off the effect of the Jyuuken and his mind was quite occupied with how to comfort a certain blue-haired cutie crying her eyes out.
He figured that they must have been alerted by Hinata's scream when she saw him lying on the ground motionless. He called out to them.
"Mom … Dad."
Words from his conversation with his father earlier during the day echoed in his mind.
If your enemies can't hurt you directly, they'll go through other means to hurt you. Do you want that?
One look at his father's face caused him to look away in shame. There was no sign on Minato's face that conveyed disappointment or disapproval. Naruto's reaction purely resulted from his own guilt.
"Uh-oh, Mina-kun. Looks like you'll need to have a talk with your son again."
How his wife was able to pick up the subtleties in both him and his son's facial expressions and body postures baffled him. Secretly he believed that she must have some Yamanaka blood somewhere in her ancestry.
"Yes, I believe that would be the wisest course…."
After all, they had both been in love before, and Minato had similar circumstances dealing with the fear of his enemies using his love ones to threaten him. And here they were, married with child. No reason to believe that their son couldn't do the same.
"… Naru-kun, come! Things have changed a bit, so we need to revisit our conversation."
Minato had already turned around and was heading toward home, expecting Naruto to follow.
Naruto looked at the distancing back of his father and then looked down on his lap where the unconscious Hinata was resting her head.
"Dad, didn't you say I have to be back from my mission before tomorrow's team meeting with Kakashi-sensei?"
The twelve-year-old was hoping that his father would slow down or turn around.
What's so important that he needs to do this now? Can't I just spend more time with my Hinata-chan?
"This won't take long …"
Minata turned his head to wink at his son and chuckled heartily before he entered the Namikaze doors.
"… that's if you can separate yourself from your girlfriend some time before tomorrow."
Naruto blushed and then turned to look at his mother who was walking toward him.
"Go, Naru-kun. I'll take care of her. Besides, I need to have a little girl talk with her."
Even though Naruto wanted to know more about what kind of "girl talk," he figured that Hinata would tell him about it later anyway.
Leaving Hinata in capable hands, Naruto ran like any little boy would when they were asked to do something they really enjoy, and Naruto really enjoyed time spent talking with his father, even when the subject was rather serious.
After her husband and son returned to the compound, Kushina was finally alone with the fainted Hyuuga heiress. Her hands went through the seals for the chakra influsion jutsu and turned aglow with greenish chakra. Tapping them on both of Hinata's temples woke her up immediately.
"Well, I guess you're glad that I didn't teach Naru-kun that his hand doesn't need to be on the sternum for the chakra infusion to work, right Hinata-chan?"
Hinata blushed at Kushina's words and her knowing wink. Her index fingers were about to ….
"C'mon, Hinata-chan, get up and follow me to the flower garden. We girls got some time to ourselves before the boys join us again."
Hinata followed Kushina into the Namikaze compound and headed toward the eastern walls where a well-maintained flowerbed with blossoms of all types and colors captured her attention. Hinata was surprised that an accomplished combatant and medic kunoichi such as Kushina would have the interest or the time for gardening.
Those floral arrangement classes were Hinata's favorites at the Academy. She darted her eyes across the garden and rested her glaze on a cluster of lavender irises, her favorite.
"Hinata …"
The red-haired woman called out in a motherly tone, something which the twelve-year-old had terribly missed hearing since the day her own passed away.
"Hai, Kushina-san."
The formality she could understand, but the girl's apologetic tone puzzled Kushina. She dismissed it though, thinking that perhaps Hinata thought she was in trouble getting caught kissing Naruto. She decided it was time someone liberated from her shell.
"Oh, worry not. I kiss Naru-kun all the time, and he lived, didn't he?"
Hinata's pearl white face reflexively turned red.
"I … I …"
While her mind was trying to think of a graceful reply, her temperature rose, and her blush deepened.
Just when she was about to faint, she heard the words "Naruto is in danger" and immediately straightened up herself and assumed into the Jyuuken stance.
"Who? … Where?"
Hinata looked around for her crush, ready to strike down anyone daring to harm her Naruto-kun. Once she remembered that Naruto was with his father, who happened to be the Yondaime, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, she realized that she had been duped. She then heard snickering "Hehe" that sounded like her crush's mother.
This was not public knowledge, but Kushina was a closet prankster. If she wasn't married to the man holding the most important office in Konoha, there would have been no stopping her from being crowned the Prankster Queen of Konoha.
"I'll have to remember that next time you try to faint in my presence."
Hinata lowered her head again, her face deepened in shade, and she ….
"Don't you dare to faint, Hinata, or I won't tell you the secret to becoming my daughter-in-law."
Hearing those words only made Hinata's face redder, but just like Kushina had predicted, she did not faint.
Curiosity usually killed the cat, but in Hinata's case, it kept her from fainting.
"Good. How about I tell you how I met my husband?"
Still not trusting herself to speak, Hinata managed to nod her head. A sense of relief washed over her as she realized that at least for the duration of the story, she did not have to be the recipient of Kushina's teasing or be self-conscious of her own shyness or insecurities.
"It began 15 years ago. The Third Great Shinobi War was already underway. Death was everywhere. I was a Jounin at a distant village, which is now no more, the Hidden Village of Whirlpool. We wanted to remain neutral, but unfortunately Iwa thought our village was strategically located and wanted it for themselves before their enemies got the same idea. They had our village under siege. There was little chance of us surviving another month. Those were the circumstances we met in."
Hinata paid rapid attention to the story, searching for any clues as to how she could garner favor with her potential mother-in-law.
"Minato and his team arrived a week after we sent out our fastest messenger hawk to Konoha. He did take out a few of Iwa's fortresses and proved again why he was the feared Yellow Flash of Konoha; but in many ways, it was too little too late. There was only a few of us left, and the village folded eventually."
It wasn't exactly what Hinata was expecting. She was still racking her brains, trying to make a connection between Kushina's rather brief synopses of her village downfall and the supposed secret to becoming her daughter-in-law.
"I'm sorry to hear that Kush-…"
"Just Kushina is fine. Actually, you want to know how this is related, don't you?"
Hinata looked down and nodded, both ashamed and surprised that she was so easily read.
Kushina wanted to tease the girl more, but she knew when not to overdo it, especially when Hinata was already struggling not to faint.
"You see, my Minato-kun was already famous when we met, and being the only survivor of the Namikaze clan, he had already received marriage proposals from all the single females from Konoha. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those came from married ones as well. I had to be assertive if I wanted him to notice me. But most importantly, I had to be as strong as I could be so that I would not be a liability."
Hinata looked down pensively, already forming some mental association to Kushina was trying to say.
"Your Naruto-kun hasn't made a name for himself yet. He has purposely downplayed his abilities and remained the class clown…. That secret, among many others you'll find out about him, you'll have to keep."
Hinata looked up into the redhead's eyes, knowing that Kushina was getting to the important part. Her eyes met a pair of serious green irises staring at her with an intensity that rivaled her own father's.
"I'm not sure how much longer he can keep his abilities secret. Some will gradually be introduced to the public. Others will most likely be discovered by others during distressing missions when he has to use them to save lives. Either way, one thing's for certain: He'll have ladies flocking to him, just like his father. If you want him, you need to be assertive. It may be cute at your age to be shy around him and faint when it's convenient too …"
Hinata looked away again, part of her self-esteem downtrodden.
She felt a pair of warm hands lovingly raised her chin back up to meet Kushina's eyes again. This time those same eyes were filled with warmth and tender affection. She heard her mentor continuing her speech; this time with a softened tone.
"… but in a few years, you'll mature into the beautiful, graceful, and powerful kunoichi that was once your mother. If your genes aren't enough, you also have your love for Naru-kun. Love … that alone ought to be enough to cause you to blossom into the companion you know he deserves."
The twelve-year-old timidly pushed her index fingers together. Sure, she loved her Naruto-kun, but being punched in the face by the brute reality of things….
"B-But … what if I can't? What if I'm not good enough?"
The redhead kunoichi winced a little at hearing that question and the blunt answer she would have to give in reply.
"Then you're not worthy of him."
Kushina could see tears forming in the girl's eyes. She squatted down to her eye level and wiped them off of her face.
"Hinata-chan, you are a very sweet girl, and I know that Naru-kun has a special place in your heart. But he is a very special boy. I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother either. You saw a glimpse today of what he's capable of. How many twelve-year-olds do you know that can survive the entirety of your Jyuuken strikes, especially with one to the heart?"
Even though the question was rhetorical, Hinata shook her head in response while she continued to listen attentively.
"And there's a whole lot more to him that you haven't seen and probably a few things that even he himself doesn't know about yet."
In Hinata's mind, Naruto's words echoed after Kushina's.
I'm complicated in more ways than one….
Kushina smiled when she saw the girl's eyes widen briefly. She continued.
"He needs someone strong to be his safe haven he can return to, he can love that will not become a liability to him…."
While the redhead woman was explaining things to her, the words of Naruto echoed even louder, eventually overcasting those of Kushina.
I need someone to be my anchor, a safe haven for me to return to, and you can't be one if you don't know where you are and where you're heading. You can't be with me if don't have goals.
"I need to have goals…."
Hinata suddenly said, interrupting the now pleasantly surprised Kushina, who was unsure what brought about the girl's sudden assertiveness, proving that while she was there when the two kissed, she wasn't close enough to have heard their conversation.
"… can you help me to be the strong clan head that my mother knew I can be?"
…o.0.O.0.o…
"Relax, Naru-kun. Hinata is with your mom."
Naruto was not convinced, a look of dread clearly visible on his face.
"But Dad, they are going to have their 'girl' talk."
Minato shuttered on reflex.
"Trust me, son. Hinata will be okay, because she's a girl. But us guys, we need to stay far away from that."
Naruto tilted his head and scratched it while contemplating what his father meant by that.
"Just trust me for now. You'll understand when you get older."
Minato then saw his son's ears twitched a little as they tried to extend themselves.
"So, where are they now?"
Naruto lowered his head embarrassed that his father could read him like a book, but he managed to mumble.
"So Dad, what is it that you need to tell me?"
Minato chuckled a bit before answering.
"That talk I had with you earlier today about hiding your true abilities. Do you think I meant that you can't fall in love?"
Naruto's eyes widen in shock.
"Dad, how did you …? Did mom …?"
"Yep! Anyway, it doesn't mean that. You just have to do it differently than other people" – to this Naruto scratched his head – "You just have to be absolutely sure that she's the right person for you before you tell her your secret."
Naruto scrunched his face. This wayward reasoning went against what he was taught as a child.
"But Dad, isn't trust the basis for any meaningful relationship?"
"It is, but in your case, knowing your secrets also meant bearing that torture stake with you …"
… Minato was pointing to Naruto's stomach …
"… and you can't do that to Hinata just because she loves you. You also must be absolutely sure that YOU love her and that you are willing to be responsible for her."
Naruto nodded his head in understanding. His face mirrored the seriousness of his father's.
"So, I guess me telling Hinata about my seal would be like me asking for her hand in marriage, huh?"
Minato chuckled softly in effort to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, that about sums it up."
Naruto proceeded to rise slowly from his sitting position. He had a lot of thinking to do, but he was glad that his parents had interrupted their kissing before it got too far. On a second thought ….
Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't interrupted.
With his back now turned toward his father, a faint blush appeared on his face.
It was not unheard of for ninja to marry young. Ninja life was hard and short. Those fortunate enough to find love were considered foolish if they let opportunities slipped by.
"If there's nothing else, I'd better get going and find this Jiraiya person."
Naruto was already on his way out of the dojo when he heard a voice calling behind him.
"Just be sure to activate your Henge Seal."
Inside the dojo, a mischievous smile formed on Minato's face.
Sensei is going to be so surprised by your visit.
…o.0.O.0.o…
A/N: Title of this chapter is a direct borrow again, from the incomparable Mr. Shakespeare: "As You Like It."
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