CHAPTER 7
** DEMON COUPLE **
** DEMON COUPLE **
Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto had been travelling for two days now, and were coming close to their location. All three of them were silent, mostly wondering what the outcome of this would be, if they could finally get Sasuke back. But Naruto couldn't seem to get his mind off of a white eyed kunoichi. Not that it was surprising; he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her for a whole week now.
A sparkle appeared in Naruto's eyes when he sensed two chakra signatures ahead of him. He immediately knew who the signatures belonged to. One signature was obviously demonic, and he smiled at the thought of Misaki standing dutifully next to her mistress.
Naruto smiled widely as he whispered, "She's here," loud enough for Sakura and Kakashi to stare at him confusedly before he took off sprinting towards Hinata's chakra signature.
Hinata didn't know what hit her. One moment she was standing in the middle of a break in the woods, the next something barged into her and she flew onto the ground, landing on top of the thing that barged into her. Looking up, she saw cerulean eyes for half a second before lips pressed against hers.
Hinata smiled into the kiss, she knew who those eyes belonged to. She could also tell it was Naruto by the way he kissed, his lips were firm and warm and yet they had this gentleness about him when he kissed her.
After breaking the kiss, Hinata smiled up at him, "Hello to you too. I missed you." She smiled, but suddenly felt another two presences in the training field. Turning around, Naruto and Hinata were met with Sakura and Kakashi whose mouths were gaping and eyes bulging. Naruto laughed at their expressions and Hinata just blushed.
The two snapped out of their shocked state as Naruto and Hinata quickly got up. Kakashi smiled, but Sakura wasn't so positive. She immediately got a suspicious look on her face and turned to Hinata, "Who the hell are you?"
Hinata blinked a few times at Sakura's furiousness, until she felt warm arms wrap around her waist. Looking up and smiling at Naruto she turned back to Sakura, "Hinata. But you might've remembered me as Tamika."
Sakura gasped after that, "You? You're a damn traitor! Who the hell do you think you are coming here? This has nothing to do with you! And Naruto! What do you think you are doing with her?"
Hinata stood still in a bit of shock at Sakura's outburst, but gave her a firm look and spoke, "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be able to find Sasuke right now. I'm the one who told him to come here because that's where his brother was going to show up. I may be a missing nin, but I'm still loyal to Konoha and I'm not a traitor." She said calmly, in her gentle quiet voice.
Sakura snorted, "I don't believe you! The whole reason you left Konoha was because you're a traitor! It's not like we cared anyway! You're not strong! You've always been weak, and no-one wants you back anyway!"
Hinata was hurt by that, until she heard a growl coming from deep in Naruto's chest in defiance. Looking down, Roki was also glaring at Sakura, teeth bared. "You know what Sakura?" Hinata looked up at her, determination glinting in her eyes, "You can call me weak as much as you want! I don't care! I've been told that for my whole life, that I was weak, useless. But now I know that I'm strong. And that's all that matters! And you want to know why I left Konoha? I left because my family was planning to kill me! You see I have been burdened my whole life, with something I didn't even know I had until I was thirteen! And then they were going to relieve me of my burden, which would've killed me, and given it to my sister! I'm not going to let Hanabi live through what I have! So don't make accusations when you don't know what's going on!"
Sakura just rolled her eyes and was about to speak when Kakashi interrupted her. "He's coming."
Hinata nodded to herself and removed herself from Naruto's arms, "Hide and conceal your chakra. I don't want him to see you yet. If he sees you he'll know it's a trap and leave. So stay hidden." She ordered.
Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Roki complied, hiding deep into the trees where they could see, but weren't close enough to be noticed.
That was when Sasuke showed up, running over to Hinata and grabbing her by the collar, "Where's Itachi?" He ordered.
Misaki immediately started growling at him for threatening her mistress but Hinata spoke up, "Misaki, don't fight." She said then, as Misaki took a step back, turned to Sasuke, "I'm not going to fight you. There's no need for violence, Sasuke."
Sasuke glared, but let her go and asked, "What are you doing here? I don't want to see you again. You better not be following me!"
Hinata sighed, "I'm not one of your fangirls. So why would I possibly be following you? I really don't care what you do."
"Then why are you helping me find Itachi?"
"Because the Akatsuki are kind of after me. And it would be a lot easier if he was out of the picture." Hinata explained, a story she had already thoroughly thought through.
"Why would Akatsuki want you? You're not a jinchuuriki… wait… are you?" Sasuke guessed.
"Those reasons are none of your business." Hinata secretly hoped Sakura hadn't heard that part.
"Hn… I never would've guessed. You are a jinchuuriki. I guess you would be a worthy opponent for one day."
"Who said I'd want to fight you? I try to avoid violence if possible." Hinata sighed, taking a few steps away from Sasuke's cold stare.
"Coming from the girl who ran away from Konoha. You're a missing nin now. Lots of people will want to kill you." Sasuke said bluntly.
Hinata sighed, "And I'll deal with that as it comes, even though I left my home, doesn't mean I'm not still loyal."
Sasuke's eyes widened, "What have you planned?" He knew something wasn't right as soon as the word loyal came out of her mouth. He took a couple threatening steps forward, narrowing his eyes, "Itachi isn't coming, is he?"
"Well, about that~…" Hinata kept backing away from him.
That's when team seven decided to show up. The four took their stances, Naruto standing directly in front of Hinata, somewhat protectively, and face-to-face with Sasuke. "Nice to see you again, Teme."
"Dobe? You brought the dobe here? Are you an idiot?" He yelled at Hinata.
"Naw, you had to insult me? Couldn't we just talk this out casually?" Hinata sighed.
Sasuke glared, "I'm not going back to Konoha!"
Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Okay, I might give your decision a thought if you give me a decent explanation why."
Sasuke looked at everyone in the group and sighed, "You know why I can't come back. I need to be stronger. I need to defeat my brother. Only after I defeat him, I will return." Sasuke explained angrily.
Hinata took a few steps forward, so she was standing next to Naruto now, "Look, Sasuke," She started, in her gentle, calming voice, "You should come back with us to Konoha, you can get stronger there. And if you stay with us, Itachi will come."
Sakura turned on Hinata, "Sasuke's not going anywhere near you! You're just a demon! No one wants to be with you! Thank god Akatsuki is after all you demons! We don't want you so it'd be better off when you die!" She yelled.
Everyone was speechless, and Hinata had tears in her eyes, threatening to fall. Everyone just stared openly at Sakura, sometimes giving a glance to the horror-struck Hinata.
"That's a lie!" Naruto finally yelled defiantly, "I want to be with her! So why don't you just shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" He growled.
She looked at Naruto, shocked for a moment, "You want to be with her? She's a damn Jinchuuriki!"
"Well so am –" Naruto was cut off by a small soft hand covering his mouth. He looked over to the owner of the hand and she was shaking her head.
"Don't," Hinata whispered in her soft voice, but he could hear her and nodded slightly, before she dropped her hand from his mouth and turned back to Sakura.
"Sakura. Don't talk about stuff you know nothing about! Hinata isn't evil dammit! She's probably the nicest person you'll ever meet -"
"She's probably faking it! Don't you get it Naruto? She's using you! Can't you see it?" Sakura yelled.
Sasuke was watching this whole thing confused. Had they forgotten about him? He thought so until he heard Hinata's gentle voice say, "Sasuke-san," Making him look up to her.
"I'm willing to give you a chance. You can travel with me and Misaki. We aren't going back to Konoha, and we're getting stronger by the people we pass. Soon enough, Itachi will come after me. You will have your fight then. And then you can do what you want. Okay?" Hinata asked softly.
Kakashi quickly put a hand over Sakura's mouth before she could interrupt, watching Sasuke intently. Sasuke was fidgeting slightly, but looked up to her nevertheless, "Okay. There's nothing else Orochimaru can teach me anyway, I'll give this a chance."
Naruto gave Sasuke a small smile, "I need to talk to Hinata-chan for a moment." He turned to her, "I've made a decision. But we need to talk about it privately." And with a nod from Hinata, the duo retreated deeper into the forest.
** DEMON COUPLE **
"So you have made your decision?" Hinata asked gently, looking up to Naruto, eyes sparkling.
He smiled lovingly at her, giving her a cute kiss on the forehead, "Yes."
"Well…?" Hinata snuggled her way into his chest, chin against his torso, looking upwards at Naruto. Happy to finally be able to show him affection after so long.
Naruto ruffled her hair gently, "I'm coming with you."
Hinata raised an eyebrow, letting the information sink in, "Really? Why?" She asked.
He grinned that smile she loved, "Because I love you, silly. I've already talked to Baa-chan about this, and I get a year-long mission to train, in which I'll be with you. Then after the year is done, I'm going to come back to Konoha. And I'm kind of hoping you'll come back with me. We can take on the Hyuuga clan together." He looked over to Hinata hopefully.
Hinata was uncertain, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea…"
He looked over to her confidently, "Well, I got a year to convince you!" He pecked her on the nose.
She smiled at that, "And you won't become a missing nin?" She asked hopefully.
"Nope, I'm still a ninja of Konoha, just on a training mission which is to keep watch over a certain missing nin." He looked over to her meaningfully.
Hinata let out a small squeak of happiness and wrapped her arms around him, murmuring her thanks into his chest.
"Come on Naruto, it's time to head back to Konoha." Kakashi suddenly appeared with the glaring Sakura by his side.
"I'm not going with you." Naruto looked up to the group defiantly.
"Huh! Why not!" Sakura yelled.
"Talk to the Hokage. She'll explain everything. I've got a solo mission, and it starts now." Naruto looking down to the girl in his arms with a smile.
"What is this mission, exactly?" Kakashi asked Naruto, curiously glancing between Naruto and Hinata, thinking that she had something to do with it.
"It's confidential." Naruto said, which Kakashi roughly translated to 'I'd-tell-you-but-Sakura-would-blow-up-in-my-face-and-I-don't-feel-like-arguing-with-her' in so many words.
"Okay. Let's go Sakura. We can talk to Tsunade about Naruto's mission later. Okay?" Kakashi sighed as the duo left.
"So you're travelling with us?" Sasuke asked, standing next to the couple.
Naruto grinned widely, "Yep!"
"Well, where are we heading first? Anywhere in particular?" Sasuke turned to Hinata.
Hinata thought for a minute, "Well, I hadn't decided anything. So you guys can choose where we go next. As long as we're not going to Kumo, because they are after my eyes. OH, and preferably not near Oto either, since Orochimaru is probably still after you, Sasuke." She said thoughtfully.
"I know! I know!" Naruto yelled in realisation, "Let's go to Spring Country! I wanna see Princess Yukie again!"
Hinata gave Naruto a questioning look, "You know the princess of Spring Country?" She asked.
"Yeah! We saved her life ages ago!"
Sasuke nodded, "Well, it's fine with me. Which way to Spring Country?"
Hinata pulled a map out of her back pocket, "Well, we go north-east from here, and we should get there in four days if we walk."
The trio didn't run, they were in no rush. This wasn't a mission or anything, they were just wandering. Misaki and Roki were walking out the front of the group, navigating, and Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata were just behind them. Hinata was in between the men, holding Naruto's hand firmly as they continued to walk.
"Sasuke," Hinata asked innocently, "What's it been like with Orochimaru training you?"
"Well, everyday I'd meet up with him at his training grounds, he'd show me a jutsu which I'd have to copy with my sharingan, then practice that jutsu for the duration of the day." He explained casually.
Hinata then turned to Naruto, "What about you? What's it like training with Jariyia?"
Naruto snored slightly, smiling at his girl, "Well, he was an A-class pervert. He'd start by showing me a jutsu, giving me a brief description on how to do it and leave me to figure the rest out while he'd go peeping at girls in the hot spring." He sighed, "It was really frustrating, but I learnt a lot in the end." He smiled over to Hinata, squeezing her hand slightly, "What about you? What have you been doing in three years?"
She sighed loudly, "Travelling. I'd travel around countries and towns, learning some jutsu from the people who were nice enough to teach it to me, but that was very few. So I'd train by myself, creating my own new jutsu out in the forest. It was awful lonely, but it got better when I got Misaki." She explained.
Soon enough it was getting dark, and everyone decided to stay in a clearing for the night. Naruto set up the tents, while Sasuke collected the wood, and Hinata set out to catch some fish to cook.
"Hey Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as they were sitting around the fire eating the fish Hinata had cooked, "What's going on with Sakura? She was so…" Hinata drifted off, trying to think of a word to describe her when Naruto came up with one for her.
"Bitchy?" He tried with a smile.
"Yeah." Hinata agreed, looking over to him, question in his eyes.
Naruto sighed loudly, putting an arm around her, "I don't know. I really think she's lost it. I'm not sure, she's been like that ever since I got back from my training."
"She might be jealous." Sasuke tried, making everyone turn to him, "Well, you know how you always fawned over her, Naruto? Now that you've finally come to your senses and got over her, she's angry."
Naruto thought about that, "Hmm… But she doesn't like me anyway, why would she feel bad if I finally got over her?"
"She likes attention." Hinata stated, snuggling up a bit more to Naruto's chest, "She probably misses the attention that you used to give her and is now angry."
"Makes sense." Naruto said, wrapping his arms around Hinata as she snuggled into his lap, head resting in the nape of his neck. He smiled when he felt her kiss it softly before she drifted to sleep.
** DEMON COUPLE **