Chapter Five

It's strange. A week ago, Hinata swears Tsunade would have done anything to get her out of the house a little more often. Now, she seems to find any excuse to keep her their. Not to get her wrong, Hinata's grateful for the care Tsunade and Jiraiya have provided her, and she doesn't really mind the chores; it's just that she finds their actions strange.

Because it's not just the chores. Jiraiya and Tsunade have taken to watching her over the dinner table. More so, they've taken to both being home for dinner.

She wonders if she's just being paranoid. Naruto sure doesn't seem to notice anything. Then again… perhaps she should stick to her own instincts… just in case.

Three days later the group (Hinata still felt weird thinking of them as a family) of four gets two surprise dinner guests. Hinata gasps when opens the door. The incredibly tall and muscled man would be intimidating under normal circumstances, but he's even more so with the mask covering half his face and the large scar running down the length of his recently unbandaged arm. For a moment, Hinata can do nothing but stare up at him silently, more than a little afraid… until she spots Haku's considerably smaller form peeking out from behind the large man filling up the doorway.

She still can't think of what to say, but luckily, she doesn't have to. Because a second later Naruto spots their company.

"Haku! Zabuza!" He rushes forward, beaming, and throws the door open. Hinata backs up as the two walk in, the unfriendly man - the Zabuza that she's heard Haku praise so highly - grunts in Naruto's direction, but it doesn't face him in the least.

But it makes sense to her as the two sit down for dinner with them. She'd wondered why Tsunade had ordered so much food (as it turned out, she couldn't be bothered to cook even when they were expecting company). Hinata herself had gladly cooked the various vegetables Jiraiya had brought home from the market, just happy to have something to do after being stuck inside all didn't. She didn't think they turned out too bad.

She sits down between Haku and Naruto, not realizing until too late that this places her across from Zabuza. He stares at her for a moment, then averts his gaze, something she did immediately. Soon Tsunade and Jiraiya sit down, setting the food down with them. For a moment they eat in silence, until Tsunade initiates conversation.

"Your injuries are looking better," she comments to Zabuza.

He grunts in respone. It seems clear he's not much in the mood for talking, so Hinata's not entirely sure what possesses her to ask, "What happened?"

He lifts his gaze to her once more, but this time she feels he's staring less because she's an anomaly to this hosuehold. This time, she sees him taking in the scars that are fading, but noneless still cover her face and her exposed arms. Hinata resists the urge to look away especially when she sees Haku smiling kindly at her.

Finally Zabuza leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest, if anything making his large scar more prominent.

"My last mission didn't go so well. I was ordered to stop a man fleeing through this very forest. He was stronger than I'd expected and got away."

He says his words so matter-of-factly that Hinata's surprised. There's no tough-guy pride causing him to cover up his mistakes. She thinks that perhaps it comes from being strong enough that he can deal with certain losses.

"What was he fleeing from?" Naruto asks, caught up in the drama.

But Zabuza does nothing to feed his imagination. "Confidential," is the only word Naruto gets in response.

There's a moment of silence that Jiraiya breaks. "Well, I'm sure you'll be back out there to redeem yourself soon enough."

If Zabuza's heard him, he give no acknowledgement of it. Their meal continues. Soon Naruto starts up a new conversation with Haku and any talk of Zabuza's previous exploits have been forgotten. However, hard as she may try to block it out and listen to the boys, Hinata's aware that Zabuza's watching her with the same look that her host and hostess have been giving her. It's as if they're all watching for something. If only she knew what…

After dinner, Haku, Hinata, and Naruto leave the adults inside and go out into the yard. It's the first breath of fresh air that she's taken in what feels like forever, and when Naruto suggests they take a walk through the woods before it gets too dark, Hinata's the first to agree.

Naruto leads them through the dense forest until they come to a small pond. Lily pads litter the surface, and at one edge a wooden bench for two had been constructed. Hinata doesn't even have to stop to wonder if this is Tsunade and Jiraiya's place. She's seen multiple toad statues around the house along with other strange carvings. Jiraiya seems to have a thing for toads and Tsunade favors slugs (she can't imagine why).

Naruto's already headed down the short slope to the water in search of frogs. Hinata smiles. As serious as he can be, he really does have a bit of a short attention span. Hinata herself sits on the bench with Haku.

"It really is good to see you again," she says for the sake of small talk.

Haku smiles at her. "I'm sorry about all the awkwardness tonight. Zabuza can be a little hard to read sometimes, but he really is a good person. Like I told you before, he took me in off the streets when I had no where to go." Haku hesitates as if he's unsure whether or not to say something, then decides to blurt it out anyway. "And he saved you."

Hinata blinks, eyes wide, confused. "What?"

Haku fiddles with his hands. "He didn't want me to say anything. Said he didn't want to take any credit when really Tsunade was the one who brought you back to health. But… that night when he was returning home from the mission he failed… he came across your body on the way back. He figured you two had been attacked by the same person." Haku chuckles. "When he returned and I was treating his wounds, he kept going on about how surprised he was that you were still breathing when he went over to inspect you. Anyway, he left in Tsunade's front yard where he was sure they'd find you. Tonight at dinner, her wasn't staring at your wounds. He was observing how much better you looked."

Hinata looks out over the pond where Naruto has slipped and is nearly submerged in water, still attempting to capture the elusive frog. Her mind is positively buzzing with this new information.

"Wow…" she manages, her voice a whisper.

Haku gives her another of his soft smiles. "I'm glad you're okay. You're lucky you were attacked in these woods. Zabuza left you with the best care possible."

Hinata looks down at her hands and mumbles, "I think I would have been luckier if I hadn't been in any forest at all that day." As soon as she says it she wants to bite back her words, but it's too late now.

Haku is silent for a moment. Then, "You're right. I'm sorry; that was thoughtless of me."

"No, I'm sorry. I really am grateful to all that Zabuza-san has done for me. Could you let him know? I promise I won't tell anyone what he did," she says as this time both of them turn back to the pond. Naruto's finally caught the frog and is holding up his prize by one of its legs as the frog flails, upside down.

"Look at this, Hinata-chan!" he calls, his voice so loud she's sure it echoes throughout the entire forest. "I caught 'im!"

Hinata laughs and Haku calls, "You better put him down, Naruto, we should probably be heading back." But it turns out that his first piece of advice wasn't needed as, a second later, the frog wriggles from his grip. His spirits still high, Naruto comes bounding up the hill and leads the procession back home.

When they return home the adults are already outside, waiting for them.

"Haku and Zabuza were about to head home," says Jiraiya as the taller man nods at Haku. "I'm going to accompany them back. Don't cause any trouble while I'm gone," he says, half-jokingly to Hinata and Naruto.

As it turned out, he needn't have worried. The two of them fall asleep almost immediately upon returning to their rooms.

….

When Jiraiya returns the house is silent, but he is positive Tsunade at least is still awake. He shuts the door behind him as silently as humanly possible and creeps to the room they share.

He finds her dressed for bed with a glass of wine in her hand. However, while she's drunk enough to have a hangover the next morning, she's still lucid and staring forlornly at the wall.

He crawls up onto the bed behind and wraps his arms around her neck, guessing what she looks so sad about. After all, it's been on his mind a lot recently as well.

"Hey," he says softly, making his voice sound sympathetic.

When all he gets in response is a bittersweet smile, Jiraiya sighs. "You know it's going to come out eventually," he whispers, not meaning to be harsh, but truthful. "You've known it from the beginning when you first suspected who she was."

A sob tears its way out of Tsunade's throat.

"I know why you're doing this," he says gently. "I know you're still hurt and angry… believe me, I am too. But keeping their daughter away from them isn't going to bring Minato or Kushina back."

"I know," she sobs, sounding absolutely miserable. "I know I'm being a horribly selfish bitch… and Hinata doesn't deserve to be kept in the dark either… it's just… I want them to feel what they made us go through… even if it's just a taste…" She's crying too hard to say any more.

"I know…" Jiraiya murmers, rubbing her back. "I know."

Review please!

I don't own Naruto! I actually planned for this to be shorter… Well, I suppose that's good at least. (: