A/N: Wow, I'm really happy that this story is so popular! I finally got the gist on how Fan fiction works, and so when I went to my story traffic "Beauty and the Thief" had more than 300 readers! That is incredible people, and I wouldn't be able to do this without you! Also, a big thank you to the people who take time out of their lives to review, I really appreciate it! So without further ado, I shall deliver to you nice people of awesomeness what you want, chapter four!
I don't own Naruto; all characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
"Stupid kid! I always knew you would screw up like this!" A deep voice growled.
"Oh shut up! It will be fine, I just don't have to tell her, and you don't have to intervene!" Another voice yelled.
"It is humorous how you are giving me orders when my power could destroy villages, insolent boy." The first voice chuckled.
"Right, well, if I remember correctly you were the one behind the cage." The blond boy smirked, taunting the red fox.
The two were in a pipe-filled, dim-lighted room, where water dripped from the ceiling and rusted pipes creaked under its structures. And before Naruto Uzumaki stood none other than the Kyubii, the Nine-Tailed fox, its head risen up in all its caged glory, the huge eyes staring down at Naruto, having bloodlust in every single inch.
"You are pushing my buttons, boy. At one point the girl will find out, and it will be bad for both of us." The fox growled, its fur standing on its end.
"And so what if she does? What am I supposed to do, kill her? I kill people when I need to, I don't kill people for no particular reason like you do." Naruto retorted.
"You naïve fool! She would never be able to accept you, just like no one else did!" The Kyubii yelled back, chuckling a bit.
Naruto balled his hand into a fist.
"Well, then we'll just have to wait and see." Naruto said, walking away, his face hidden in a mixed expression of pain and anger.
"Mark my words boy!" The Kyubii roared as Naruto slammed the door behind him, emitting a loud noise as the steel door shut.
The Kyubii only chuckled and retreated into the darkness of his cage.
XxXxXxXxXxX
"Hinata, wake up." Naruto said, shaking her shoulder.
"W-Wha-?" Hinata mumbled, drearily opening her eyes.
"Hinata, come on, let's go." Naruto continued. "We're close to Suna; you can rest once we get there."
Hinata slowly sat up and rubbed her forehead, slowly waking up. She was completely tired, but instantly regretted that she had expressed it so much through her body language as Naruto handed her the same white, milk-like, bitter liquid that kept her awake.
Hinata held the drink in her hand, looking at Naruto. He looked like he was in a bad mood. In the form he picked up things, his facial expressions, and his tone of talking made it seem that someone had been pulling his strings. Pushing that aside, she walked out of the tent and stood up, depending that the sky would distract her from the taste of the bitter drink.
"Alright, let's get going." Naruto said, packing up faster than Hinata had thought humanly possible. Then again, Naruto was a very strange person, not to mention very mysterious.
"A little too mysterious if you ask me…" Hinata thought.
Hinata quickly drank down the remnants of her drink and ran after Naruto, who was already on the road towards Suna.
"W-Wait!" Hinata said, finally catching up to him.
Naruto didn't say anything, he only kept on walking, and that was how it was for a while.
"Sunagakure is right over there, see it?" Naruto calmly said after an hour and a half of silence, pointing over at what Hinata could clearly see was a border wall.
She only nodded, not even bothering to speak. Her mind was set on other matters.
XxXxXxXxXxX
They had some small talk on their way, but not anything interesting that Hinata could say had "Highlighted" her day. The sky was somewhat cloudy and it was chilly, so Hinata considered herself lucky that she was wearing the clock.
Before she knew it she was standing in front of a huge door that was open, revealing the village inside. People bustled through stores and small market stalls, while kids ran through the streets, laughing and having a great time.
"Please state your business here." Hinata looked at the person who had talked to Naruto. He was a guard, wearing a Chunnin suit with a cloth covering his neck and head-frame.
"I don't believe I need to, I was under the impression the Kazekage had already stated my being here." Naruto plainly said, looking bored.
"I was not informed of such thing. That means you will be no exception to any other person, now state your business here now or-"
"Let him pass, Haki." A voice said and out of nowhere a red-headed boy appeared, walking towards Naruto. Hinata squinted a bit. It seemed he had risen up from the sand.
And finally Naruto smiled. The first smile he had created that whole day.
"Gaara." Was all Naruto said as the two hugged. A manly hug, but a hug nonetheless.
Both Hinata and Haki felt a bit out of place.
"So how has life been, bro?" Gaara asked finally breaking their rather manly embrace.
"So and so." Naruto responded as Gaara slowly diverted his eyes from Naruto and noticed the blue-haired girl standing next to him.
"And this midnight beauty is?" Gaara muttered out the corner of his mouth. Hinata blushed at his compliment.
A/N: For those of you who don't understand the whole "midnight beauty" phrase, Midnight beauty is traced back to a Brazilian legend of a very beautiful ghost who often wore red or white.
"Hinata. Hinata Hyugga." He said, maintaining his smile. "Hinata, Gaara. Gaara, Hinata."
Gaara only looked at her for a moment before greeting her. "A pleasure to meet you." He said, shaking her hand.
"Likewise." Hinata softly said.
"Well, anyways, Kankuro is waiting for you." Gaara said to Naruto, letting go of Hinata's hand.
"Sweet!" Naruto said, his spirits rising with each moment. "Hey, since you're Kazekage and all, wanna be a dear saint and treat me to ramen?"
"Sure thing buddy." Gaara said as two followed Gaara.
"Awesome!" Naruto said, pumping his fist into the air.
"But no more than 3 bowls."
"Aw!" Naruto sulked. "Six tops?"
"Five."
"Deal!"
Hinata could have almost sworn she had seen a quick grin from the Kazekage.
XxXxXxXxXxX
"So what is that supposed to mean? Does Danzo have something against us or something?" A brown haired teenager asked. He had purple, rectangular-like streaks on his face, and his usual cat-like mask was lying somewhere else.
"I don't know, I'm just saying." A girl with blonde hair responded. Her hair was tied up into two spiky ponytails, had blue eyes, and she carried a fan on her back.
The two were relaxing in a small room, lying on furniture after an exhausting mission. Who would have thought guarding old farts was so tiring?
The girl's name was Temari, while the boy's was Kankuro. Both were siblings to the Kazekage, Gaara, and friends with Naruto.
Suddenly the slide door opened to reveal two, no three, people behind it.
"Hey, Naruto!" Kankuro exclaimed, picking himself up and bumping fists with the blond.
"Naruto." Temari simply said, only throwing him a glance before looking out the window.
"Great, what's up with her today?" Naruto said, his eyebrow twitching. He was already used to Temari's Drama queen acts.
"One of the elders she protected today said her hair looked like 'Two pineapple tops.'" Gaara said, seemingly annoyed just as much as Naruto.
"And that's what she's upset about?" Naruto asked, finding it hard to believe. Temari was a tough girl; she wasn't usually affected by insults.
"No, she's mad that I didn't let her kill him."
"Ok then…" Naruto shivered. Temari was capable of anything.
"Oooh, and this is?" Kankuro asked, looking at Hinata.
"Hinata Hyugga." Gaara said.
"Pleased to meet you, Hinata." Kankuro cheekily said, outstretching his hand.
Hinata took his hand into hers, shaking it. Meeting all these new people made her feel somewhat awkward; she wasn't exactly the social type. After everyone sat down, they all had small talk, although Hinata was not involved in said conversations, at least until Kankuro made a great proposition.
"Hey, Naruto, you wanna go relax somewhere?" Kankuro asked. "We'll grab some ramen afterwards."
The word ramen light Naruto up like a flame. "Sure, what do you have in mind?"
"They just finished building this new hot spring here. I haven't been to it, but the people that have gone to it have told me that it's incredible."
"Alright!" Naruto cheerfully exclaimed. "Gaara said he would treat me ramen so that's taken care of."
"You do know how much he eats, right?" Kankuro asked the red-head.
"I said five bowls tops." Gaara responded.
"Thank goodness…" Kankuro sighed in relief. "Otherwise we would go broke."
"Jerk…" Naruto muttered under his breath, and Temari couldn't help but break a grin. They were like brothers.
XxXxXxXxXxX
"It looks really hot." Naruto said. The three boys -Gaara, Naruto, and Kankuro- were all standing with only towels covering them, standing a few feet away from the water.
"What are you talking about?" Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "We can't see anything in the first place."
He was right though. The steam that came from the water made it almost impossible to see anything.
"I call going in first!" Kankuro said, taking off his towel and setting his toes on the steaming water, sinking in it little by little.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Temari sighed, looking at the steam rising from the hot spring. They were the only girls -likewise, Kankuro, Gaara, and Naruto were the only boys at their side- in the steaming hot spring at the moment. Hinata was only silent, looking down at the milky water, cherishing the warmth after so many chilly days. For some reason she felt extremely weird with her hair wet, and she couldn't exactly discern why, although Temari's hair was the same; her ponytails no longer existed, or at least while she was inside the hot water.
"The boys must be having more fun than this…" Temari thought.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The three boys sighed in pleasure. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't a person who loved hot springs, but he had to admit that it felt good.
"Why don't you just ask him? Kami knows how much you want to." Gaara said to Kankuro much to Naruto's confusion.
"Ask what?" Naruto said.
"He wants to know what's up between you and midnight beauty." Gaara plainly said.
Naruto only raised an eyebrow.
"Does she even know?" Kankuro blurted out.
"Know what?"
"God you're stupid." Kankuro said, face-palming himself.
"That's not what your mom said last night." Naruto muttered.
"You little-"
"Moving on." Gaara interrupted. "You were saying, Kankuro?"
"Does she know of your, well you know, occupation?" Kankuro said after a while of calming himself.
"Oh, right, right." Naruto said, his brain finally connecting.
"Took you long enough…" Kankuro muttered under his breath while Gaara threw him a glare.
"Well duh she does!" Naruto said.
"Really?" Kankuro asked, surprised.
"Why wouldn't she?"
"I don't know, you don't really trust many people, spare us." Kankuro said.
"I never said I trusted her." Naruto muttered. "She just happens to know. I think you're forgetting I'm looked all throughout the Land of Fire. You don't have to be Einstein to recognize me."
"You don't trust her?" Gaara asked, much to everyone's dismay. He wasn't usually the asker. He usually would just listen in and break Naruto and Kankuro apart when they started fighting.
"Wait, then who exactly is she?" Kankuro asked. This was all very confusing.
"She's my comrade." Naruto grinned.
"Ok, but you do realize that for all you know she could stab your back?" Kankuro said.
"I am well aware of that; I am keeping my eye on her, don't worry about it."
"You should be the one who's worried. I don't see what you see in her; she looks like just another person with a normal life. Or at least used to be normal." Kankuro said.
"Or perhaps there are more personal reasons?" Gaara said.
Naruto only looked at him and then looked at an invisible speck.
"I hit a nerve, haven't I Naruto?" Gaara thought, but just like any other thought, his face didn't reflect it.
And just by looking at Naruto's face a bit more, he answered his own question:
"Yes. Yes I have."
A/N: Phew! Sorry this took so long guys, I was focusing on other things and I wasn't really able to complete this until today. I hope you forgive me enough to send me a small review. To make up for this I'll try to put up the next chapter faster, in a few days or so. After all, I have the weekend ahead of me.
-Sky