Chapter 10: Ghosts and Comfort

Without Naruto the bed was cold. Hinata shivered as she pulled the covers tighter around herself, a kind of half sleep keeping her eyes shut but her body moving, trying to find a comfortable, warm place. She had put on her coat over her nightgown, and yet even with this and the covers wrapped around her the loss of Naruto's body heat seemed to have left the bed incurably chilly. Hinata had slept nights in this bed without him before, obviously, the work of a Hokage often dictated a late-nighter or two, but it had never been like this. It was yet another reminder that he was really gone. Somehow, she'd known this would be bad, staying in the hospital with Usagi and delaying her return home, but now she was back. Back at home, back in her bed, back in his bed, the bed she had shared with the only man she'd ever loved. A widow's bed, she realized suddenly, and the thought was almost enough to bring fresh tears to her eyes.

She jerked on the covers, trying to wrap them tighter around herself as though to force them to bring her warmth. Instead she only managed to pull the blanket off her lower body, exposing her legs to the chill air. She lay still a minute and just shivered from cold and frustration, her semi-conscious state the only thing that kept her tears from spilling. She couldn't take it. She felt like crying. It was all slowly slipping back to the way it was before Naruto had come into her life, before he'd cared about her, been there for her, taken care of her, even before he'd meant to. With him it was like she could do anything, nothing was too challenging, nothing was too hard. Now she couldn't seem to do anything right. She shivered. How she wanted Naruto to hold her close to him again, caressing her skin with his warm hands, easing the chill.

"Hinata . . ."

The voice was barely a whisper, barely audible, barely even there. A comforting creation of her half sleeping brain, Naruto's voice, saying her name with all the love and tenderness he usually put into it.

"Hinata-chan . . ." the voice sounded closer now, and she could almost feel warm breath on her cheek. It eased some of the biting cold, and she sighed a little at the relief.

"Hinata-chan." whispered the voice, stronger now but full of sadness, full of longing and pain. Then she felt them. She merely felt the warmth, but she knew what they were, or were meant to be, her own mind's creations after all. The feel, the heat emanating off two hands as they ghosted, slowly and sensuously, over her bare legs. Every inch of flesh that felt that warm touch, that almost touch, was freed of chill. She felt suddenly warm, sheltered, protected.

"Hinata . . ." whispered Naruto's voice against her ear, "I love you. Always."

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's eyes flew open as she snapped awake, sitting up quickly and activating her byakugan to scan the room. She had felt him. She had heard his voice. She had felt his breath on her cheek and his hands on her legs. And yet as she look out into the night, her eyes seeing all through the tower and well out into the darkened village, there was no one in her sight that could have been the First Golden Hokage. Hinata collapsed back onto the bed and, pressing her pillow into her face, sobbed. She might have cried herself to sleep if it weren't for the noise from Usagi's room.

Hinata bolted out of bed and raced down the hall, sliding and hitting the wall once in her haste. Her heart was pounding as though to escape her chest, all traces of sadness gone as she tried to swallow her panic. Her mind clamped around one thought; not my daughter, please not my daughter. Her speed swept the tears from her eyes as she flashed down the hallway and flung open the door to her daughter's bedroom.

"Usagi-chan!"

"Hinata!" Tenten stood abruptly from where she had been kneeling by Usagi's bed, stroking the little girl's hair. She stared at Hinata, her eyes wide in shock for a moment. Hinata stared back as her breathing returned to normal. For a very long moment, nobody said anything. Then Tenten exhaled sharply and suddenly, and a smile crept tentatively over her face. She laughed. Hinata gave a frightened sort of giggle through her nose, then she laughed too. The two of them stared at each other, standing in a child's bedroom at two in the morning less than a week after the death of her father and the first signs that all hell was to break loose on earth, and they laughed. Tenten sank to her knees, he head thrown back as she laughed up at the ceiling. Hinata leaned on the wall, pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle the sound so as not to wake the child. Usagi stirred anyway, opening her eyes and peering at the two women in confusion.

"Wazo funny?" she asked sleepily, which of course only served to make both of them laugh harder.

Tenten rested her head on Usagi's bed, catching her breath and staring with as sort of tired contentment up at the little girl as her hysterics died down. "Nothing, Usagi-chan," she half laughed, half sighed, "just life. Life is funny, in its own way."

Usagi stared at Tenten a moment, then grinned. "Of course it is, Aunt Tenten," she replied, laughing herself now, "after all, what would be the point of life without laughing?"

Hinata sank to the floor, clutching her sides as her whole body shook with laughter. Tenten looked over at her friend, to find tears streaming down the younger woman's face.

"Hinata-chan!" Tenten shouted, darting over to her. Usagi crawled out of bed to stumbled over the cluttered floor to where the weapon's mistress now held her mother, pressing Hinata's head into her chest as the widow sobbed. Laughing and crying, she clung to Tenten as Usagi wormed her way under her mother's arm, the three of them packed tightly together, holding each other close against the cold night air.

"I hope we're not interrupting something," said a voice from the window. Tenten and Hinata looked up, to find Temari standing on the sill, Shikamaru beside her, their son cradled in his arms.

Hinata shook her head, smiling. Temari gave her strange and frightening grin and jumped down into the bedroom. "Come here kid," she called, opening her arms and bending down as Usagi stood up and ran into her tight hug. Temari lifted the girl up and, balancing her on one hip, walked over to where Hinata and Tenten were getting shakily to their feet.

"What are you doing here?" Hinata asked tentatively, looking at Temari with lost eyes.

"Well, mine doesn't settle down nearly as well as yours," Temari laughed.

"Little guy's not sleeping through the night yet?" Tenten asked.

"No, I mean this one," Temari gestured at her husband, who glared at her from behind.

Tenten took the child from Shikamaru, who instantly went to hover over Temari, who, for her part, ignored him.

"How you feeling kid?" she asked, still grinning.

"Better," Usagi shrugged.

"You gave us all a scare, you know," Shikamaru told her, lifting her out of Temari's arms, "attacking Jonin level shinobi when you haven't even entered the academy yet is definitely not a good move."

Usagi glared at him. She still couldn't believe not even Shikamaru could understand her motives for confronting Neji. An ambitious clan head hanging around the Hokage's family, then suddenly the Hokage is dead, naming said clan head his successor? Were they blind? Couldn't they see that Neji'd had something to do with her father's death? It was all too obvious to her, and she'd give up her glider before letting that traitor get away with murder.

There was a small clatter from the kitchen area, and all five of them turned towards the door as they heard footsteps down the hall. Shikamaru tensed and Tenten pulled a kunai from nowhere, but a moment later Ino poked her head around the door frame, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry!" she twinkled.

"Ino!" Hinata gasped, "what . . . why are you . . ."

"Choji thought you might like a nice breakfast on your first morning back home," Ino explained.

"Then why are you here in the middle of the night?" Tenten asked, staring wide-eyed at Ino as though she were crazy.

Ino grimaced. "Choji said he needed time to cook!" she complained, tossing a death glare over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen.

Hinata stepped tentatively forward, then rushed to catch Ino in a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered as Ino, very surprised, wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

The blond haired kunoichi looked down at Hinata in confusion for a moment, then grinned. "No problem, Hinata-chan," she smiled, patting Hinata's head, "By the way, you do know Gaara's in Mizu's room, right?"

And so the night went on like that. They all filed into the living room to find Kiba trying to maneuver in Akamaru as Shino came through the window. Lee and Sakura had shown up after a while, and not too far behind them had been Sasuke. Kankuro had come with Gaara, the two of them coaxing Mizu out to join the party blossoming amongst Naruto's collection of family pictures. Because it was a party. Choji had managed to fill the kitchen with all kinds of good things to eat given the minimal amount of food, besides ramen, that was kept in the house. From a radio somewhere soft music was playing, and a bottle of sake had been broken out. People were draped across couches, sitting on the arms of chairs and in each other's laps, talking and laughing. Lee and Sakura were dancing, swaying slightly to the slow music as they held each other close.

And the stories. There was an endless supply of stories being tossed about the room, with Mizu and Usagi sitting on the floor with the Nara clan's youngest member, listening intently as they were recounted all the things their father was remembered for. Temari told about how Naruto had become the first person to ever defeat Gaara. Kiba remembered the time Naruto had been mistaken for a member of the Inuzuka clan, seeing as he was such a "wild thing" like the family of dog-handlers. Tenten spun the tale of how Naruto and Lee had defeated one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist with the help of the Curry of Life. Even Sasuke had a story to tell, recalling how the deep gash had been made in his first forehead protector during his first real fight with Naruto.

Shikamaru had shied away from the congregation, choosing instead to sit on the window sill, gazing out into the night, and after her story and a few drinks from the sake bottle, Temari wandered over to sit beside him.

"What'sa matter, Shika-kun?" she purred, crawling into his arms, leaning into his chest and rubbing herself against him, "you too lazy to have fun?"

Shikamaru didn't reply right away, just absentmindedly stroked her hair, still looking out the window at nothing in particular. Temari frowned up at her husband. She reached up and stroked her fingers along his neck, and when he still didn't respond she dug her nails into the soft flesh. Shikamaru winced and glared down at her.

"Tell me what's wrong," Temari said, suddenly more serious. It wasn't a question or a request. He sighed.

"Something's still bothering me about this," he told her simply.

"About what?" she asked, frowning, "the party?"

"No," Shikamaru turned his gaze pensively out the window again, "about the nine-tails. All that energy was locked inside Naruto's living body. The fox protected him when he was alive because that was the only way to keep itself alive, but that much chakra doesn't just disappear. When he died it all should have flooded out, but Sasuke said nothing of the kind happened. So where did it all go?"

"Maybe he stashed it somewhere," Temari suggested, tracing light patterns on Shikamaru's chest.

Shikamaru snorted. "He couldn't have stored it in an object, if that could be done there would be no need for jinchuuriki. If he was going to get rid of it, he would have had to put it in someone."

Temari just shrugged and leaned her head against his chest, blinking sleepily. Shikamaru, however, couldn't stop his eyes from wandering appraisingly over his gathered group of friends. People he'd known his whole life, his friends, his comrades, his teammates. His wife and son. And especially the two children sitting wide eyed on the floor, listening to stories of the very man who seemed to have made the nine-tails disappear.