Well, chapter five of the adopted "Peace of Mind". OH GreatGoogilyMoogily, I saw how you had planned for it to go down, but really, I saw sort of a 'hiding in plain sight' sort of thing, just because the idea of Lightning actually getting Hyuga bits would lead to (Another) war, which no country is ready for. But I do have it as a very major plot idea.

Anyways! Onto the story!

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Naruto could only follow Hinata through the forest like a lost puppy, or fox. Did foxes follow people when they got lost? Probably not, but the idea fit him better. She would stop at times, to cut a flower or a fern or just some plant that seemed to interest her. Honestly, without knowing anything about plants, Naruto was more than just a little baffled. How was the branch from a Cherry Blossom Tree, or some, what had she called it, some Seeded Euch or whatever, supposed to make flower arrangements prettier? He could see the Cherry Blossom doing something, but the brown of the bark was just not something he would find attractive. And that seeded thingy was all green, and looked oily. He made a face as they walked further through the forest.

He found it hard to believe that he had made it this far last night in his drunken stupor. He was a pretty decent drunk, not including his temper, but that field had to be somewhere near two miles outside of town. Why would he walk that far just to fall asleep? Why that field?

He tied not to think of it as the young woman in front of him made a sudden right turn. Naruto followed, but couldn't help but start to bother her. "Hey Hinata-chan, where are we going now?"

If he had been in front of her, or even walking next to her, he would have seen a blush shoot up her cheeks. The first couple of times she hadn't noticed his very informal way of talking, and especially not the added '-chan' at the end of her name. But something he had said about the flowers and then asking her about some of the ferns she had gathered, she just sort of picked up on it. And it had embarrassed her to no end. If her father called her Hinata-chan, which he would do every so often, she would smile and speak with him as she worked. But this was a man she hardly knew, who was following her to the village she lived just outside of, talking to her as if they were old friends. And she, for the life of her, just couldn't get passed it.

"U-uzumaki-san, w-we're heading int-to town, I t-told you. U-um, there are shops a-and merchants, but I d-do apologize for how small it i-is, it really is j-just a small village, a-after all…" She kept herself faced forward, she knew if she looked into those eyes again, she probably wouldn't remain conscious for very long. She didn't know why, but those deep blue eyes just peered into you, probing your soul, your mind, for the information they wanted. Well, he did say he was a shinobi, maybe it is one of those, oh my, what did father call them? Oh, yes, Jutsu? Yes, maybe it is one of those…

"Hinata-chan! You don't have to call me Uzumaki-san; I'm not some super important person or something. If I was do you think I'd have fallen asleep in a field last night? Nope, I'd be in a fancy bed with pillows and blankets and other fancy things." He finished his own statement without waiting for her to respond. He seemed content with her silence, and she seemed content with letting him believe what he wanted. She wasn't just going to stop calling him Uzumaki-san. It wasn't proper.

Hinata moved through a line of tree just in front of Naruto, and for the brief second she was out of his sight he put himself on high alert. Rival ninja could be just beyond those trees, Lightning Ninja could be waiting to ambush her and steal her eyes.

Or so much worse…

Naruto jumped from the tree line and looked around. He was standing on a worn, if not slightly bumpy, dirt road. To his left he saw nothing but the road, which continued straight until either a turn in the road or just the distance itself took the rest out of his sight. To his right, he saw Hinata walking down the road, a small smile on her face as she looked at some of the greenery to her own right, the basket still hanging from her left arm. Naruto had to admit, the basket looked rather heavy, 10 pounds of flowers is still 10 pounds. Though he didn't think that the basket was anywhere near 10 pounds, he wasn't just going to make her carry it. If there was one thing Uzumaki Naruto was, it was chivalrous. And he would be until the day he died. Jogging to catch up to Hinata, he grabbed the basket and before she could protest he had snatched it up off her arm and away from her into his larger left hand.

"U-uzumaki-san!" Hinata started, trying to reach for the basket Naruto currently held out of her reach. She would grasp at it, only to have him move it out of her reach at the very last moment, leaving her to grip at nothing but air. Fairly flustered, she tried again to grab at it, only for him to hold it above his head. Arm completely outstretched, he smiled at his apparent victory. Even on her tip toes, with her own two arms outstretched, she couldn't quite reach it, her finger tips just barely gracing the bottom of the basket. "P-please, Uzumaki-san, b-be very careful!" Naruto looked down at the Hyuga female standing in front of him now, her hands clasped to her chest and her eyes gleaming with concern as she stared at the basket he held up.

Slowly he lowered the basket so that it hung by his side, her eyes following the movements all the while. Slowly her hands lowered back to her sides as well, and she moved to stand to his right, her head still bowed. Naruto, just a little concerned, nudged her a bit with his elbow.

"Heya, Hinata-chan, what's wrong? I didn't mean to upset you with the flowers, I mean –"

"I-i-it's alright Na- Uzumaki-san. I j-just… f-f-flowers can be so d-delicate…" She still refused to look at him, though he now understood why she was so worried. He didn't know how long it had taken her to gather all these flowers, but if someone had, even jokingly, nearly destroyed what took him so long to gather, or create, then he assumed he'd be upset too. And she almost called him Naruto. A troublemaking glint came to Naruto's eye, and a smile played at the corners of his lips. By the end of the day, he'd be sure to get her calling him Naruto. Just plain Naruto.

Because in his mind, flustering girls was a really funny game.

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The rest of the walk to town had been rather uneventful by Naruto's standards. Hinata, on the other hand, had tried to maintain a cool head as Naruto walked so close to her, and attempted to answer questions he asked, like how many people lived in town. She had said she really didn't know, but that it couldn't be more than 100 or so people.

Naruto tensed as they neared what looked to be the village. Honestly, it seemed a lot different at night when you were drunk. What sobriety and sunshine could do…

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Naruto started, keeping an eye out for trouble as they neared the entrance.

"Y-yes, Uzumaki-san?" She answered, blushing just a bit when he lowered his head to be closer to head as he spoke.

"This place, it isn't a ninja town is it?" Naruto was almost certain of the answer. Hell, if it was a ninja town, Hinata would be no better than a breeding mare, and her father would either be in the same boat or dead. He heard Hinata giggle a bit, and straightened up just to look down at her.

"N-no, Uzumaki-san, it is j-just a regular village. The p-p-people here farm a-and sell their goods, or are c-craftsmen and women who s-sell their wares. B-but there aren't any n-n-ninja." She gave him a shy look and smile before facing forwards again. Passing through the front, what Naruto grimaced at calling a gate, Hinata picked up her pace, avoiding carts and people going from store to store or stall to stall, looking for the things they needed to survive. She scooted past a mother with two children looking at some vegetables, and Naruto easily followed her. He would have jumped up and traveled by rooftop, but one thought kept from doing just that.

If Lightning hears there is a ninja in one of their non-ninja villages, they may send someone to investigate, and if they do that, then someone will see Hinata, and in turn her eyes. Damn it, I didn't want to stay anywhere for too long. But I can't leave her. Shit…

Naruto followed Hinata to the front of a small one story building, a simple sign hanging from the door with 'Hinata' written in kanji. Naruto smiled. Either she was more conceited than she looked, or someone loved her very much. She took a key out from a chain around her neck, a chain Naruto only just noticed and stared at, and unlocked the door, quickly sliding inside. She stopped and held to door for him, smiling when he entered uneasily.

The building was small, maybe 20 by 30 feet, with a long counter separating the front portion of the store from the back portion. Behind that counter Naruto could see a work bench along the left wall, with a few more knives on it. Through he knew she wasn't a ninja, he also knew that all those knives could spell trouble for her if anyone came here looking for it.

But those were not the most impressive things he saw. The entirety of the back work area was filled, and he was sure this wasn't an exaggeration, with flowers. Not just one or two large baskets anymore. Big buckets, filled with what he assumed was water, sat on the ground and on the work bench. He saw long flowers with multiple pink blooms on the end, and some that looked yellow, but also seemed chartreuse. There were large, blue flowers with yellow in the center, and some that looked like the ones Hinata had cut out in the field.

Naruto couldn't help but look from the large buckets to the petite Hinata slowly making her way to the back of the store. He did a visual one once over of her arms, how they looked so frail and small, but when she moved to pull the door in the front counter that separated the front from the back, he saw the wiry muscles move beneath that creamy pale skin of hers. And he gulped.

"Hey Hinata-chan?"

"Y-yes Uzumaki-san?"

"Did you, you know, gather all of these flowers? I mean, did you get them all today?"

Hinata hid a small laugh behind her hand and she went to the first big bucket on the work bench. "N-no, Uzumaki-san, I d-didn't gather t-them today. T-t-these I had gotten o-over the last few days of c-c-cutting and such." Her small hands went to the rim of the bucket, and carefully, she slid it towards her from the table, and when it was near the edge, she hugged it to her body and picked it up.

Naruto couldn't lie, it looked heavy. The buckets had to be about a foot and a half tall and to have even one third of that filled with water would be pretty heavy. From what he could hear in her small movements, the bucket had to be near half filled, plus the added weight of the flowers. Now, he seemed to have a little more respect for Yamanaka Ino and her family. If those things sounded half as heavy as they were, the Hinata as a non-ninja was probably still very strong.

Not strong enough to fight of a ninja.

Naruto again scolded himself for going down the same line of thinking. He knew he needed to figure something out, and figure it out soon. She said she lived here with her father. Maybe, if he spoke to her father, he could figure out why he would move here.

Just maybe.

He stopped his thoughts and cast a large smile over his face. "Hey Hinata-chan! Let me help you!" He made his way over; through the door to the back she had opened and placed the now seemingly tiny basket of flowers on the work bench. He made his way over to Hinata as she was placing the bucket on the other side of the back room, on the floor. Again, Naruto's masculine side couldn't help but notice the nice way her back curved into that luscious rear of hers. He felt his face heat up a bit, and he turned away, crossing his arms. He would have snorted, or done something go take his mind off that wonderfully round -

Ah, gods damn it! Stop! Right now. Think about something else, kunai! That's a good one! Kunai were developed to be thrown close to mid-range, though they can make the long range attacks with relative ease. They –

Hinata, on her own, had finished placing the bucket down and stood, turning to face Naruto. His back was to her, and her shoulders seemed tensed. She wondered if something was bothering him. Maybe he was upset that she didn't let him help her? Or maybe she was taking up his valuable time by having him stay? She watched his shoulders do a small jump, then tense, then slowly relax. She made her way over quietly.

"U-u-uzumaki-san?" Nothing from the blond man before her. "U-uzumaki-san?" Again, nothing. Slowly, the reached out with her left hand to lightly tap on his shoulder. He jumped again, and spun to face her. She was startled, her pupil less eyes wide and a small blush on her cheeks. The hand she had moved out retracted and came to her chest, and Naruto just smiled wide at her

"Sorry Hinata-chan. I was just…thinking. What did you need?" He peered at her, leaning down a little to try and mask the height difference, though he really doubted that he could or that she minded.

Hinata ducked her head and spoke very quietly, Naruto needed to lean in just a bit closer to hear her. "U-u-um, I w-was going to s-say that you d-don't need to st-stay here anymore. U-um, you helped me c-carry the basket back and t-that was very s-s-sweet of you, so you d-don't need to stay here w-when you could be doing s-something else." Her voice seemed to shrink on her, no matter how hard she tried to speak louder or clearer, her voice would get quieter and quieter with each stuttered word.

"Aaaww, Hinata-chan! Are you kicking me out?" Her head shot up to look at Naruto. He had leaned back, away from her, but peered at her with the blue eyes and he seemed to be making a, was that a pouty face? His eyebrows were gathered in towards the bridge of his nose, and his eyes were squinted to the looked almost shut. His bottom lip stuck out and his mouth held the graceful curve of a frown.

And Hinata thought it was the funniest, cutest thing she had ever seen. She slowly started to giggle, her shoulders moving up and down to the soft laugh. Her hand came up to cover her mouth as her laughing grew more, from soft giggles to chuckles of joy. Her other arm came across her chest as she began to laugh harder, being unable to control herself. She was bent over at the waist a bit, towards Naruto, her eyes closed in laughter with small tears in the corners. Her body shook as she laughed and her hand came from her mouth to wrap around her chest to hold herself somewhat decent. Her mouth was open, and the sound of her laughter filled the entire shop. It surrounded Naruto, who had opened his eyes and straightened up to look at Hinata. That laughter, like a hundred bells on a clear summer day, like the sun appearing from behind clouds after a rainstorm, like a, like a, like other things Naruto couldn't quite think of. All he thought was that that laugh rivaled Tsunade's laughter. Where she could be loud, and you would hear it across the village Hinata's laughter, well, it was the kind that made you laugh too.

So he did. Naruto laughed with her, and he didn't know why. He felt the laughter from in his stomach, and he let it slide from his mouth to join with Hinata's in the air.

After a while, Hinata's laugher subsided, drifting down to regain composure at giggling. Naruto smiled at her and scratched the back of his head. "So, Hinata-chan, you didn't answer my question…"

Hinata smiled up at Naruto, a slight blush tinting her cheeks again.

"No, Naruto-san, I'm not kicking you out."

Naruto's kind smile turned foxy, just a glint of mischief in it, before he pumped his fist into the air with a semi-loud 'whoop!'.

"Alright Hinata-chan! Put me to work!"

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So, that's chapter 5. Sorry it took a while, and sorry it may not be what people were expecting, I have had the worst case of writers block (I know, it's stupid) and I've been incredibly busy planning out a recording trip for a band. I'm helping produce a CD for them, and we need a week away to do it. I'm going to try and bring a laptop and a flash drive so that I can continue working on this while I am away, and hopefully post a new chapter too. It's already in the making.

So, as many say, review. It makes me happy to see that people read this.