Chapter 13: A Storm
"So Hinata you gonna show us around" Kiba said as he, Hinata, Shino and Neji walked along the garden surrounding the castle grounds.
"I wouldn't know where to start. I've only been to the village two times and both times I was accompanied by either Naruto or Sasuke" Hinata answered as she plucked a yellow rose from a bush carefully avoiding the thorns.
"Well lets get you boyfriend to show us around", Kiba nudged Hinata's arm and she blushed at the term.
"H-hes busy today he has to do some work with lady Tsunade", Hinata twirled the rose between her fingers.
"Tsunade?", Kiba asked as he took a stick from the ground and tossed it out for Akamaru to run after it.
"Shes the current ruler of Konoha", Hinata started plucking the petals off the rose letting them fall behind them as they walked.
"I thought Naruto was the prince", Neji said.
"He is but hes not old enough to have the crown so a temporary leader is placed until he is. I have not met her yet, Naruto said he has to tell her that he would no longer be marring Sakura". Hinata ran out of petals and dropped the stem.
"Do you think that will cause any problems". Kiba asked.
A shattering of glass was suddenly heard far above them. Kiba and Shino pulled Hinata back while Neji jumped back as glass fell. A thump ended the shattering and a book laid on the floor.
Shino stepped forward and picked up the book. "Alcohol of the world", he read out loud.
"Where did that come from?", Kiba looked up the wall of the castle shielding his eyes from the sun.
"Humans are strange", Neji said and they walked around the glass towards a shaded bench.
"Can you repeat that Naruto", Naruto was currently shaking in his tunic as glass continued to fall behind him.
"I-I...", Naruto took a deep breath and straightened his back. "I was just saying that I will no longer be marrying Sakura. Our engagement has officially been broken".
"Oh really because just a few days ago you were making announcements that you were so happy she was marrying you and that you two were so in love." She then slammed her fist on the desk and Naruto's spine shivered, the look in her eyes was enough to send him running for cover.
"Not only were those announcements not run by me first but I had to start writing letters to neighboring kingdoms to announce the news", she held up a stack of letters , "do you know how long it took me to write these".
"DO YOU!"
Naruto flinched and started backing away. Tsunade then threw her letter opener near him and it stuck out on the shelf behind him. "Don't ...move"
Naruto gulped loudly and nodded his head violently.
Tsunade took a deep breath and rubber her temples ." No use getting mad its bad for my skin." She pulled out a bottle from her desk and started pouring herself a drink. "At least I did not send the letters out yet"
Naruto sighed in relief as his mentor calmed down.
"Now then I've noticed some new faces are now in the castle care to tell me who they are"
"Oh right, well we now have four new members of the household they will be staying with us for as long as they wish."
"And why is that"
"One of them is my girlfriend and the other three are her nosy, overprotective friends and family."
"Girlfriend?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head a light blush growing on his cheeks."Yeah her names Hinata. She's a princess so you can't say anything about me not being able to be with her".
"Naruto this is not the dark ages you can be with who ever you please, as long as its not something stupid like a fish", Tsunade brought her cup to her lips just as Naruto started to fidgety.
"About that ...what if say she was...half a fish...how would that affect your view on things."
"Half a fish what are you talking about" Tsunade poured herself another share of alcohol.
"Well I guess there's no beating around the bush", Naruto took a deep breath and Tsunade raised a eyebrow as the cup touched her lips.
"She's actually a mermaid!" Naruto yelled and Tsunade started choking on her drink.
While coughing Tsunade pointed at Naruto " What?"
"I'll go get her and we can all meet each other", Naruto quickly walked out the room and ordered a servant to get some sea water for him.
Naruto ran throughout the castle looking for Hinata. He finally walked into the library to find Sakura and Sasuke reading and asked where she was.
"I think she and the others went outside to explore the gardens. Why?"
"Tsunade wants to meet them", Naruto said as he started running out of the room.
Sakura then got up and started towards the door but Sasuke grabbed her arm as she passed him. "Where are you going?".
Sakura blushed at the sudden contact, "I got a bad feeling they are gonna do something indecent again so I'm gonna go find Tenten to prepare". Sasuke nodded and let go of her.
Sakura had noticed since the wedding break up Sasuke had become very interested in where she would go and what she was doing. Anytime she stepped out of the castle Sasuke would appear to escort her to where ever it was she was going. She had not asked him why he had started becoming so clingy but she was not about to start complaining.
Outside in one of the gardens surrounding the castle the resident merfolk were enjoying the day. Kiba was playing with Akamaru, Shino was looking at an ant hill, and Neji sat on a bench Hinata behind him braiding his long hair. It was quite peaceful and Neji finally felt he could relax.
"Hinata I need you!" Naruto yelled as he sprinted towards the group.
"O-Ok" she blushed finishing Neji's hair. Neji then started mumbling under his breath but Hinata could not make out what he was saying.
"Why?", Neji spoke up when Naruto caught up to them.
"Granny Tsunade wants to meet her...well I guess all of you" Naruto huffed as he was bent over tired from running all over the castle looking for them.
"So we are doing a grand debut to the boss" Kiba said and Akamaru barked up at him.
"Come on she will get mad if we keep her waiting long" Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and started leading them towards the castle.
"Ok" Naruto stepped forward back in Tsunade's office holding Hinata's hand. "This is Hinata Hyuuga".
"It's very nice to meet you" Hinata lowered her head.
"Its nice to meet you too Hinata I am Tsunade temporary ruler and this is my assistant Shizune" She pointed to a women with short dark hair hair who smiled warmly at her and waved. Hinata smiled at her too but then wondered what the animal she was holding was it was small and pink with a strange nose. Following Hinata's eyes Tsunade spoke up. "and that's Tonton".
"and these are her nosy friends and family" Naruto said.
"Nosy?", Neji glared at Naruto. Ignoring the word he stepped forward and bowed"Neji Hyuuga of the Hyuuga kingdom it is a pleasure." Kiba and Shino then stepped forward.
"The name's Kiba, nice to meet ya" Kiba said pointing to himself with his thumb.
"Shino" was all Shino said. They both then bowed.
"Its nice to formally meet all of you, you say you are from the Hyuuga kingdom. I cant say I have ever heard of that kingdom. Is it far?"
"Not really it would only take about half a day to get there maybe even less." Hinata answered.
"Really? How can that be all land around here is recorded on maps already." Tsunade said raised a confused eyebrow.
"You can only get to the Hyuuga kingdom by the sea" Neji said.
"I see, this would not have anything to do with Naruto's wild accusation that you are...",Tsunade looked towards Shizune, a smile on her lips,"I cant do this".
Shizune gave them an awkward smile and continued for Tsunade "I'm sorry this sound silly but Naruto said your mermaids"
"The technical term is merfolk when talking to a group of males and females" Shino said from the back of the room.
"So...your merfolk" Shizune said lifting a shaky finger at them. They nodded and suddenly she felt like taking a drink from the bottle Tsunade had. "But you have legs right now"
"We would be happy to demonstrate. We would just need some sea water", Hinata said.
"I got it" Naruto had taken the bucket of water from a servant when he had first entered the room and shut the door making sure only the necessary people were in the room."Here you are my lady." Just as he was walking towards her with the bucket he tripped over his own feet spreading the sea water over all of them. The sound of everyone tumbling over followed.
"Naruto..." Neji pulled himself up then crawled over to Hinata to help her sit up. Akamaru whined at Kiba as he laid on his face.
"Damn it Naruto!" Kiba sat up and shaked his fist at him, his nose red from falling on it. "Give us a warning next time".
"What happened" Tsunade walked around her desk to the pile of people on her floor. She then noticed all the tails on the boys as the remnants of their pants laid on the floor. "I cant believe it".
"See Granny they are merfolk" Kiba then knocked Naruto down with a swift kick of his tail making him fall flat on his face.
"There are better ways to show her we are merfolk idiot!"
"What the hell Kiba" Naruto rubbed his nose now having a matching red mark on it.
As Naruto and Kiba started bickering Tsunade sighed and brought her attention to Hinata. Neji had pulled her up to a chair and he was currently pulling himself up to another chair.
"Would you mind showing me your tail Hinata?" Tsunade had seen Kiba's grey tail, Neji's white tail and Shino's dark green tail and was curious of what color laid hidden under her dress. Hinata pulled back her skirt to reveal her lavender tail. "Amazing"
Hinata smiled shyly at her.
"So you like that idiot" she pointed to Naruto who was still bickering with Kiba.
Hinata blushed slightly and nodded her head. "Well you look like a sweet girl you but you might be too good for him though. So how do you turn back to humans?"
"Well we just need to dry off." Hinata reached for the back of her dress, while Neji started pulling off his wet tunic. Tsunade pulled back and looked around. Kiba was also taking his tunic off and Shino had already left the room when no one was looking.
"WHAT ARE THEY DOING" Shizune yelled blushing up a storm as they all started taking off their clothes.
"Well we cant get dry with these on" Kiba said now shirtless and pulling himself up to a chair to wait for nature to take its course.
"Wait what. Not in front of her" Naruto yelled. The sound of running feet could be heard in the hall suddenly Sakura and Tenten burst in holding a pile of clothes and a changing screen.
"Not again", Tenten huffed as she set down the screen in front of Hinata then both of them stepped behind it to change her before she got her final layer of wet clothes off.
"Ha Ha back to human", to her mortification Sakura looked over to find Kiba standing up his legs spread and hands on his hips standing triumphantly before them feeling like a winner for changing the fastest. Luckly Akamaru was in front of him covering his lower half.
"Kiba! Put on your clothes"
"Naw I feel like going swimming anyway" Kiba started walking out of the room, Akamaru following him at his side continuing to cover him up.
"Wait Kiba I want to go too" Hinata yelled at him as she had finally gotten the last of her wet clothes off and had legs again she tried to move around Sakura and Tenten but they blocked her path.
"Hinata!"
"We have told you about the clothes thing" Tenten held up a simple blue dress for her to put on.
"But I'm just going down to the beach. I'll change once I get back"
"Hinata you can't walk around naked!" Sakura yelled "When will you guys get it through you thick head"
"Well I for one have had enough of these human customs and am heading out to swim in the only place that makes sense" Neji grabbed an over sized white shirt and threw it on then walked out the room. While everyone was distracted with Neji Hinata wrapped a skirt around her like a towel and ran after Neji escaping what she thought was the long process of getting dressed.
Just before running out the room Hinata stopped in front of Tsunade and Sakura immediately covered Naruto's eyes as she stood before Tsunade.
"What are you doing Sakura!" Naruto fidgeted and Hinata bowed to Tsunade.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Lady Tsunade", she shot Sakura and Tenten a smile then scampered out the room.
The room finally quiet Sakura let go of Naruto then along with Tenten sat down letting the changing screen fall. They sighed in unison and looked over to Tsunade who pulled out a stronger alcohol from her desk pouring two drinks. She then handed one drink to Shizune who quickly guzzled it down.
"Well that was interesting" Tsunade said taking a sip from her cup.
The Next day Sakura had gathered the merfolk and had them sit down in the library. Along with Lee and Tenten .They were going to teach them human customs whether they like it or not. Naruto and Sasuke watched from the sidelines as class started and Sakura stood next to a large piece of paper her hair up in a bun and a pair of glasses on her head.
"why is she wearing glasses?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke.
"She says it makes her look more like a teacher" he answered. Sakura snapped a ruler on a nearby table to catch their attention.
"Quiet you two or your out of here" They nodded and Kiba snickered at them getting scowled by the teacher, nudging Hinata to get her into it too.
"Ok so number one rule which is what I have been trying to tell you all this time" Sakura the turned to the board and wrote "HUMANS WEAR CLOTHES"
"Now then Naruto told me that both Shino and Hinata wore clothes underwater so I assume that there is some standard under the sea with clothing too."
"Wrong" Kiba yelled raising his hand.
"What?" Sakura asked "then why do they wear clothes they cant be the only ones with clothes on"
"Their not but clothes is a novelty really, they get caught on things, you risk danger around sharks and other predators its not very convenient" Neji said crossing his arms across his chest.
"Yeah Shino wears clothes because hes doesn't like the sun and Hinata wears a jacket because shes self conscious about her chest size"
"K-Kiba! Don't say it out loud" Hinata hissed at Kiba.
"Well its true, most girls go topless everywhere. Ino used to too but then she wanted to be distinct and started wearing that vest. Besides you said yesterday your not self conscious any more"
"Really Hinata why?", all eyes where on Hinata know and she started poking her fingers together nervously
"Well when I first came here I was nervous about them because again I felt like I had an above average size compared to everyone else." Tenten and Sakura both looked at each other. "but then I met Tsunade yesterday and I no longer feel so self conscious. If she has them that big their are bound to be women around the same size as her maybe even bigger so I feel a lot better now." Sakura and Tenten then huddled together.
"Should we tell her Tsunade is the biggest we have ever seen and is probably at the top." Tenten whispered.
"No its best to stay quiet and let her have her moment" they both turned around and smiled at her.
"well we are glad to hear you say that but back to the lesson you guys have to wear clothes no matter what."
"fine but can we at least get a dress like Hinata's so we don't have get new pants every time we change accidentally" Kiba asked pulling at Hinata's skirt.
"what? no dresses are for women" Sakura answered her mind thinking about what they would look like in a dress.
"but pants are so constricting cant we wear a skirt or something"
"well their are some men that do wear kilts" Lee said thinking about the people he had heard about from another land.
"ok we will order for some to be made but it will take a while until then wear pants."
"Fine..." Kiba huffed.
"lesson number 2 food"
the lesson went on until they got to the biology session and the girls had to separated from the boys. The lesson was winding down and Hinata was a bit confused."so is their any position I should know for child making"
"Its alright you wont have to worry about that for a long time just make sure you don't let any guy near that area ok, unless you want to" Tenten said.
"oh ok", she was still confused on a lot of things but figured she knew enough to get by.
"well that should do for class lets go see how the guys are doing" Sakura said as she finished putting away the teaching supplies.
As they walked towards the room the boys had walked into shouting could be heard from the inside of the room.
The girls walked in to an interesting scene all the boys were huddled together in a circle they could not make it out what they were saying but could hear vague whispers
"so its always on the inside"
"Then what about when-"
"what are you guys talking about" Tenten said looking at them suspiciously. The boys shot up and look at them nervously.
"Nothing" Kiba said as he walked towards the window. "What a nice day we should go out". On cue Lee volunteered to take them into town and the merfolk ran out the room dragging Hinata with them leaving only Naruto and Sasuke in the room both cursing that they had been too slow to join them.
"Well" Sakura raised an eyebrow at them and both of the boys started sweating.
"Uhhh you know we were just uhh" Naruto stared at Sasuke for help.
"Comparing notes" Sasuke said looking away from her.
"Right" Sakura and Tenten look at each other and walked out the room."Men" they both said together.
Naruto looked out the window staring at the darkening sky. A storm was rolling in and he was starting to worry since Hinata was not back yet. The opening of the door brought him out of him thoughts and he saw his girlfriend entering the room."Hey Hinata how did it-" before he could finish his sentence a boom of thunder went off shaking the windows in the library. Hinata then ran and wrapper her arms around Naruto holding him as close to her body as she could. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked running his hand along her long hair as she buried herself deeper into his clothing.
"She's scared of the thunder" Kiba said walking towards the window to watch the rain fall. "It's not even that scary", suddenly another boom went off and a shiver could be seen go down his spine. "Y-yup nothing to be scared about" he said trying his best to keep a straight face. Akamaru stared up at him and whined.
"Oh" Naruto said as he started rubbing Hinata's back trying to comfort her." It's ok I'm here", he cooed into her ear and she smiled into his tunic feeling better.
"Hey give me a hand with Shino", Neji yelled from the door holding a passed out Shino on his shoulder. Hinata separated from Naruto and he walked over to help Neji place Shino on the couch near them.
"What happened" Naruto asked.
"As soon as the first crack of lighting and thunder started he passed out" Kiba said.
"Really!" Naruto laughed at the thought that the stone faced Shino passed out at a little lightning.
"No you should have seen how he was passed out. He had just stopped walking and was standing in the middle of the street when we asked him what was wrong we realized he had passed out standing up" Kiba and Naruto laughed together.
Naruto slept peacefully in his room. His heavy sleeping habits made him completely ignore the soft knocking at his door. After giving up trying to warn the rooms owner the door opened and Hinata walked in holding her pillow. She saw Naruto's sleeping form and quietly made her way towards him. She gave him a gentle poke on the cheek to wake him up.
"Naruto" she whispered.
But he refused to wake up. She tried poking him harder but it only made him turn his head away from her. "Naruto can I sleep with you", the storm outside had kept Hinata up as each flash of lightning filled her room with shadows and then the thunder would make her shake in fear. "Naruto!" She said out loud now. She did not want to be rude and have him wake up to find her in his bed, last time she had given him proper warning. But again he only turned his head to the side.
"Hmm guess I'll go find out if Kiba will let me sleep with him" right as she was gonna walk away Naruto's arm shot out and grabbed her. She gasped and looked down to find Naruto's eyes slightly open. "Naruto?"
"Wha..." He stared groggily at her he was vaguely awake. He had felt her first poke at his face and was slowly starting to wake up but when she mentioned leaving to go to Kiba his mind shot awake for a second to stop her.
"Oh umm... can I sleep in your bed" she asked quitly squeezing the pillow in her arms.
"Yeah...sure" Naruto shifted to the side and lifted the blanket to let her into his bed. She crawled into the warm bed placing her pillow down. She turned to thank him but he was already sound asleep again. She smiled and snuggled closer to his warm body and quickly fell asleep.
The day after the storm had been suprisingly sunny and so Hinata and Kiba were outside trying out some new activities.
"K-Kiba are you sure this is safe" Hinata said as she wobbled back and forth.
"Absolutely I saw some kids doing it", Kiba currently had Hinata on his back her legs wrapped around his torso her arms around his neck and shoulders while his arms disappeared under her long skirt as he supported her bottom. "they call it a piggyback ride"
"whats a pig?"
"I don't know some sort of animal?"
"Hinata what are you doing?" Kiba and Hinata looked over to see Naruto waving at them.
"Hello Naruto" Hinata smiled down at him.
"Hi uhh what are you guys doing"
"I'm giving Hinata a "'piggyback ride" as you humans call it", Kiba bounced Hinata once on his back to emphasize the ride.
"Kiba saw some kids doing it and wanted to try it out by the way Naruto whats a pig?"
"Its a farm animal. Its kinda big with a funny nose-"
"Do you think it was that weird thing Shizune was holding" Kiba asked Hinata cutting Naruto's words short.
"Maybe it did have a strange nose", Hinata said her face rubbing against Kiba's as they adjusted themselves again.
"Do you think it is related to Seapigs?", Kiba and Hinata continued to talk about a weird animal unknown to Naruto and he quickly started feeling like a third wheel.
"Uhh you know if you get down I can go take you to see one" Naruto said, honestly he did not like seeing the two of them so close and wanted to separate them.
"Maybe later I promised Kiba I would spend the day with him"
"Come on Hinata lets go" Kiba marched off as Hinata held on to his shoulders with Akamaru running along with them.
Watching them go Naruto started grumble under his breath. "Why is she so calm and comfortable around him".
"it seems you have another wall to get pass Naruto" Shino said as he and Neji approached him.
"what?"
"the friendship wall"
"Friendship?"
"Watch" Shino said as he stepped forward walking towards Hinata and Kiba. They turned and started talking to him, suddenly Hinata got down from Kiba.
"What are they up to?", Naruto said watching from afar.
Shino bent down and Hinata climbed up on Shino's shoulders he then stood up and held on to her legs. It took them a second to get their balance but once they knew neither of them was gonna fall she smiled and stared down at them from her new vantage point.
"What the heck. I couldn't even get in on their conversation and now Shinos part of the group." Naruto sat down on the ground and started to sulk.
Neji smirked and looked down at the grumbling prince by him. "That's just it Naruto Hinata, Kiba and Shino have been friends for years they get along really well. I'd have to say they are closer to each other than they are to their family."
"So your second best" Naruto said earning him a glare from Neji.
"As much as I would wish to deny it, its true I was not Hinata's friend for a long time"
"Really. Why?"
"I don't want to get on that topic but you should know it will be a while before you can get into their bubble", Neji started walking back towards the castle on his way yelling back at Naruto ,"That is if you can".
"Hey wheres Hinata?" Naruto asked as he walked into the library to find Neji and Shino. Shino had a bug in his hands while Neji had a book in his.
"She and Kiba went to the beach a while ago"
"Man she has not left his side all day" Naruto dropped himself on to a sit and continued his melancholiness.
"I would suggest not getting between them. You'll just end up losing" Neji said but then began thinking of the possibility of Naruto making Hinata mad and having her want to leave back to the ocean. "Wait never mind continue your pointless battle for her attention."
"I just don't get it what does she see in the guy"
"Hinata, Shino and Kiba have been friends for years and are very close especially Kiba and Hinata" Neji put down his book figuring he was not gonna get to read anymore of it with Naruto's whining.
"Also Kiba tends to get territorial when it comes to her", Shino chimed in.
"Territorial? but she said hes just her friend"
"Yes but what he gets territorial about is her attention. Kiba likes looking out for her and taking care of her as if she was his own little sister"
"I would think Neji would have a problem with that" Neji gave Naruto a look and he raised his hands up "kidding kidding"
"Naruto you are not the first to court lady Hinata many mermen tried to win her heart but they could never come between Kiba and Hinata so many gave up after a while" Neji stood up and looked at the quickly darkening sky "will you too?"
"Kiba I think we should be heading back"
"Yeah the sky got pretty dark didn't it" looking up at the dark clouds over them, they shuddered at the thought of another storm.
As they were walking rain started falling "ohh great just what we needed" Kiba grumbled as they trekked through the woods his boots falling in the mud.
"I'm sure it cant get worse" she said
"Yeah.." suddenly thundered boomed "I-its ok were fine", both of them shivered as the flash of lightning appeared far above them.
Then a gust of wind hit them splashing them with water. "Wait Kiba this is", they both toppled over before she finished. He licked his arm and groaned, "sea water, great now what ", Hinata got to a siting position and looked down watching her dress get soiled in mud. "I guess we wait out the storm"
"We need to find shelter" Kiba said and looked around the forest. "Akamaru!" he called and the large white dog wagged its tail at them. "Hinata climb up on Akamaru and we can ride him until we find suitable shelter"
"Are you sure we are not too heavy"
"Its fine we wont fully be on him and besides he carries me around easily."
Both of them climbed up on Akamaru and hang off of him. Hinata giggled and looked at Kiba. "We probably look like remoras", thinking back to the small fish that hang off of sharks Kiba laughed with her. "I guess we do"
"Ok Akamaru lets look for some shelter." Akamaru barked and started walking forward the two merfolk's tail dragging in the mud.
Hinata and Kiba stared out of the cave opening watching the rain continue to fall.
"Looks like we not going anywhere anytime soon" Kiba said leaning back on Akamaru. Hinata let out a small sneeze and rubbed her nose. Kiba noticed her shivering he then flipped over and locked his arms around Akamaru motioned for him to take him over to where she was seating.
"Kiba what are you doing?" Hinata asked as she watched Kiba come towards her.
"No use for us to catch colds", Kiba plopped down next to her and Akamaru curled up behind them. She welcomed the added warmth along with the odd smell coming from Akamaru's coat and leaned into it. The sound of the rain falling and the security Kiba gave her started lulling her to sleep.
Kiba was also starting to feel his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Soon both were asleep.
"What is taking them so long", Naruto looked out into the rain and wondered where his girlfriend and friend were. "That's it I'm going out to find them Naruto grabbed his hood and a lantern and headed out.
Naruto trekked through the forest looking for Hinata and Kiba. He called out to them but his cries were overtaken by the winds whipping through the trees.
"Damn it where could they have gone", he tugged down at his hood holding out his lantern and kept walking. He had made it all the way to the beach but did not find any sign of them so he started following the usual path back up through the forest. Half way up he found some tracks.
"Finally", he bent down and look at the tracks there were two pairs of foot prints and the tracks of a dog."Ok so they were here but" he followed the tracks to two big indention in the mud "I guess the switched" He then noticed the two skid marks and dog prints leading to a side trail into the woods. He followed it until he came to the opening of a cave. "Hinata! Kiba!", he yelled in and he heard a low whine. He stepped in shining the light of his lantern and noticed the figures sitting down together.
"Hinata!" Naruto ran towards them and keeled down next to them. He cupped her face in his hands and softly nudged her awake. "Hinata you ok". Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she woke up from her slumber to find herself staring at Naruto's blue eyes.
"Naruto you found us", she smiled and Naruto pulled her into his arms.
"Damn it Hinata do you know how worried I was"
"I'm sorry" Hinata felt a bit guilty that she had made him worry.
"Yeah I'm right here too", Kiba said out loud and Naruto brought his attention to him.
"Yeah I noticed, anyway we gotta get you two back to the castle can you get up?"
"Nope the wind is tossing up a lot of sea water so were stuck with tails" Kiba said smacking his tail against the cave floor.
"I guess we could do some trips up back to the castle"
"Why do some trips just you carry one of us and Akamaru can carry the other"
"Oh ok" Naruto reached down to pick up Hinata when Kiba reach up to him. "What the?"
"Sorry Naruto but Akamaru cant handle my full weight", Kiba lied, "but Hinata would be no problem for him so your gonna have to carry me", Kiba shot Naruto a grin and held his arms up to him. Naruto looked at him suspiciously.
"Hinata you ok with Akamaru?", Kiba asked.
"Yeah I can climb up alright", Hinata made her way up Akamaru and positioned herself on his back wrapping her arms around his neck. "Ready"
"You heard her" Kiba said still not wiping that grin away from his face as he held up his arms to Naruto. Finally Naruto sighed and turned around for Kiba to climb on his back. "Naruto what are you doing?"
"Bending down so you can climb up"
"Yeah that would work if I had legs to wrap around you. You gotta carry me in your arms in front of you." Naruto turned around a small blush growing on his face. "Like a bride".
"Fine" Naruto grumbled as he scooped Kiba into his arms holding him like a princess while Kiba wrapped his arms around his neck as Naruto straightened up.
"Well then off we go." Kiba said and Akamaru grabbed the lantern in his mouth leading the way back to the castle, Naruto grumbling the whole way up.
"Do you think Naruto is still mad at us because of last night?" Hinata asked as she and Kiba watched Naruto from a far.
"Naw he'll be fine he likes you too much to stay mad at you". They watched as Sasuke and Sakura went up to him to tease him about how he had valiantly saved the princess from the rain and carried her all the way back to the castle.
"You know what Hinata" Hinata looked up at Kiba. "I kinda like him".
Yay so finally I post a chapter, sorry I have not posted in a looong time but the funny thing is I have most of the chapters from here to book 3's end written I just have to tie up some lose ends before I can post them all anyway Book 2 is gonna be a collection of short stories and introduction to other characters Ie asuma team some other teachers and some family comes to visit and lets just say one of them is not happy to see what is going on. So yeah hope you like the chapter see you soon I hope.