Five years later found Naruto moving into a small house on the very edge of the Hyuuga estates, initially he was a little worried when he went to ask for Hinata's hand in marriage and Hiashi had made living here for a month part of the deal. However, one look into Hinata's eyes and he knew that even living a year suspended over a volcano would be worth it.
Now here he was, on a chilly November day hauling everything he owned across Konoha and into a small house, which may be his home if Hiashi approved of him. His and Hinata's, he mentally corrected as he entered the house, seeing her directing the steady flow of shadow clones where everything would go. It surprised him that the shy heiress had held a crush on him ever since the academy days, he'd always written off the kiss from Hinata as her being really out of it.
The house was a small and cozy five bedroom, three baths building at the very southern end of the estates, with the nearest building being the main house. There was even a small area for him to transplant his plants and expand into a garden. And there was a nearby waterfall that had Hinata turned a lovely shade of red, she looked so cute that Naruto couldn't even remember to ask her about it.
Naruto realized that he had stopped carrying his boxes in, when the shadow clone behind him bumped into him and fell to the ground, dispersing itself and spilled a worn locked book and several photos. Naruto set aside his box loaded with his undergarments and dove after the scattered pictures and book, piling them up in their box again as quickly as he could.
"Is something wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, bending down to pick up a picture that had fallen near her, only to have Naruto snatch it up in a panic.
"NO! I mean no, nothing's wrong..." Naruto corrected with a nervous laugh, "There's just some... embarrassing pictures here..."
"Oh... You know I won't think any less of you Naru-kun..." Hinata purred softly as she hugged him from behind. "We all have embarrassing pictures about ourselves... if you want I could show you some of mine..."
Despite every instinct, every fiber of his being, including Kyuubi, begging and pleading Naruto to just roll over and give Hinata what she wanted he pulled away. "That's... that's alright... I mean we've got stuff to do... so maybe another time, right?"
Hinata looked at Naruto worriedly for a moment before smiling sweetly and nodding. "Sounds good Naru-kun... another time," Hinata replied before turning back to work, guiding a pair of clones carrying a kotatsu on the precise location for it to go.
Tucking the pictures and book back into their box and squirreling them away from curious eyes, Naruto never noticed one had fallen out of his grasp, and had drifted down into Hinata's shinobi sandals. Naruto and the clones continued to carry and put up the boxes with his and Hinata's stuff, and lugging around the furniture under the careful guidance of Hinata.
Hours later, when Naruto finally finished, Hinata offered to get some ramen and sushi for dinner. Naruto readily agreed from his spot on the couch and offered to go with her. Hinata waved him off, saying he'd done enough for today.
Hinata sat down in front of the front door, pulling on her sandals when she found a picture inside them. She was about to call Naruto about it, when she noticed what it was. Their entire class was laid out in the classroom, apparently on the day that they had all gotten drunk, no one remembered what happened, or at least that's what they claimed... so how'd this picture get here. Naruto had this picture all the time, and never told anyone about them. She felt the need to tell the others about this.
Tapping her shoe into place, she rushed out of the house. Along the way to Ichiraku's she ran into Sakura, when a question spawned in her mind. Approaching the pink-haired girl she gulped nervously, this was going to be awkward.
"Ano... Sakura-san..." Hinata called out quietly to get the other girl's attention. "D... Do... do you remember that day Iruka-san brought in the bottles and we all... woke up in those... odd positions?"
Sakura turned around with a confused look on her face. "No, nobody's been able to remember a thing about that day... why do you bring it up?"
"Ano... I... I was just wondering... if... maybe Naruto mentioned anything to you about it... being as you're on his team and all..." Hinata whispered, twiddling her fingers nervously. She didn't like going behind Naruto's back, but this was something many of them were bothered by. This was further complicated when Sakura winced at the mention of their team.
It had been a little over a year ago that Sasuke had come to attack Konoha, and the Konoha Eleven had been the ones to fight him off. Team Seven had faced Sasuke himself, while the other teams went to deal with his three companions. It had been a rough day on all of them, but Sakura seemed to have taken it the worst.
Naruto and Sasuke got into it, a really heavy slugging match. Naruto's Sage training had put them on nearly even footing, but his desire to bring Sasuke back alive lost him the edge needed in the fight. Naruto had been knocked down, and Sasuke stood over him with his sword ready to descend down into Naruto's heart. He would have killed him, had it not been for Sakura's timely arrival. Her punch to his skull saved Naruto's life, but unfortunately broke Sasuke's neck.
After the battle was over, and everyone was in the hospital or healed, Sakura had gone home and started crying. No one could get her out of her room, until Ino stormed in, took over the pink haired woman's body, and carried herself to a restaurant for some food, surrounded by all her friends.
Hinata was drawn from her reminiscing by Sakura's voice, "Why would you be asking about that? He wasn't even there, was he?"
"Ano..." Hinata bit her lower lip before holding out the picture she had found earlier. "I... I think Naruto took this picture..."
Sakura's face went through several interesting and curious expressions, each one making Hinata more nervous than the last. Until finally Sakura took a deep breath, and smiled evilly. "I'm going to go 'talk' to Naruto..."
Hinata's eyes widened in fear as she grabbed Sakura's arm. "Ano... I think that maybe we should talk to the others, see what they think... Maybe it was just a coincidence?"
Sakura turned to Hinata with a smile that made her wonder if she had said exactly the wrong thing at the right time. "That's a great idea... all of us together might be able to get more out of him then any one of us..." Sakura mused as she looked around. "I'll get everyone together tomorrow... Naruto will probably be training in his sage form tomorrow, around ten, so I'll get everyone to meet at the ice cream shop off of main, and we'll make our plans from there."
"I'll... ano... I'll be there... but I think if we just ask, I'm sure he'll explain how he got these pictures..." Hinata answered, trying to calm her down. "Maybe he just got them from the school's camera system or something... because he wasn't there, was he?"
"Which makes that picture even more suspicious..." Sakua replied, tapping the picture in Hinata's hand, "Better put that away, don't want Naruto or anyone else seeing it, do we?"
"N...no..." Hinata muttered, slipping the picture into her coat's inner pocket, inadvertently giving Sakura a view of her cleavage straining against the old, tight shirt she had thrown on for moving and cleaning. It wasn't until Sakura started muttering about jealousy and unfairness did Hinata realize what Sakura was staring at. The blush she got following that was one that rivaled the day Naruto proposed to her in front of the entire Hyuuga clan and the Hokage.
Sakura smiled, hugged Hinata goodbye and left. "I've gotta go meet up with Ino, see about us getting some dinner, so I'll see ya tomorrow, ok?"
"H...hai..." Hinata stuttered out while returning the hug. As Sakura turned to leave, she began to wonder about the rumor that Ino and Sakura were a bit more than just friends like they continued to claim. She hadn't seen anything more than just friends, but sometimes they way they talk, and act made her wonder. Not that there was anything wrong with that lifestyle, it just wasn't for her, although she had to admit she did occasionally think about it, but her heart belonged to Naruto, and always would be.
Turning back to her quest for dinner, she dismissed the thoughts from her mind. Smiling and nodding to the people as she walked past, her mind returned to the thoughts of a strange dream she had once from the day no one could remember, she was pulling Naruto close and kissing him gently. And then the dream would end with her falling asleep shortly afterwards. It was a nice dream, but for some odd reason she could never write it off as just that.
Maybe she should ask Naruto about it, if he was there at all.