Naruhina "Always By My Side" ch. 2
Naruto and Hinata talked for a few hours until someone nearby cleared their throat rather loudly. The teens looked up to see Hinata's father, Hiashi Hyuga, staring them down impatiently with a scowl on his face.
Naruto bolted up only to awkwardly sit down again as Hinata slowly stood and quietly said, "Father, I..."
"Hinata," the angry Hyuga interrupted his daughter with an authoritative voice, "I had a feeling I would find you here." He glanced at Naruto who shrank under the pressure directed at him. "We were worried about you last night!" Her father continued.
"I-I'm sorry father." Hinata apologized sincerely as she bowed to him.
The older Hyuga smiled slightly, but still had the same authority in his voice when he told his daughter, "Yes, well you look exhausted, wait for me outside and I'll walk you home."
She couldn't bring herself to look at Naruto and quickly left the room with her head down. Naruto's eyes followed the girl as she left, even as Hiashi sat beside him.
Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head and began to apologize, but before he could get any real words out, Hiashi spoke up, "You know, she really cares for you Naruto."
Taken aback, Naruto stammered, "I, I..."
Hiashi continued, "And I can see why... you were very impressive yesterday, the way you handled that beast, the way you saved the entire leaf village from Pein. You are quite the shinobi"
Naruto finally pipped up, "You were pretty impressive yourself, old man! The way you and Hinata handled Madera and Obito, I couldn't have done anything without you two!"
A little upset to be called an old man, but glad to be acknowledged, he smiled at the boy slyly and said, "Yes, Hinata has really blossomed into a fine shinobi as well, don't you think?"
Naruto beamed and exclaimed, "Oh absolutely! I mean, wow! She's just amazing..." he trailed off and blushed as he realized what he was saying and who he was saying it to, "Well, er, I mean..."
Hiashi interrupted him, "I saw the way you looked at my daughter...So tell me Naruto, what do you intend to do about it?"
Naruto gulped loudly, "uh, well..." He stared into space for a moment until he shook his head, faced Hiashi Hyuga, and said, "With your permission..." he paused and Hiashi raised an eyebrow but then nodded at the boy to continue, "With your permission, I would like to date Hinata." Naruto said this with confidence and looked to Hinata's father expectantly.
"You have my permission, and would you do me the honor of joining my family for dinner this evening? We would like to celebrate Konoha's victory, as well as our newly formed, uh friendships." Hiashi said this to Naruto with a smug yet playful look on his face as he awaited Naruto's response.
After a silent moment of Naruto contemplating everything that just transpired, he smiled and blurted out, "Yes, of course! Sounds great!"
"We'll see you at...how about 6?" Hiashi asked as he prepared to leave the room.
Naruto nodded cheerfully, "Yes, 6 o'clock then!"
The room suddenly felt dark as Hiashi spoke again, "Oh, and Naruto," he paused, the boy's smile dropped at Hiashi's grave facial expression, "If you do anything to hurt my daughter, you won't live long enough to regret it!" He then smirked and laughed lightly as he turned to walk out the door and said, "See you tonight!"
'Yikes!' Naruto thought to himself as he gulped nervously. He soon left the hospital smiling though and could not stop smiling as he prepared for the evening to come.
Hinata awoke to a gentle tapping on her door, "nnn uh" she groaned. Her father opened the door, "Did you have a nice nap, Hinata?" She pulled the covers over her head in reply, but her father opened the blinds to her window and pulled the covers back again, "I'm glad you got some rest, but I need your help. I need you showered and dressed nicely, we have company coming for dinner."
"Company!" She complained, "Tell them I'm ill!" She rolled over until her father spoke again with a smirk, "Oh but I think you'll quite enjoy the company we're having." He got a sideways glance from the girl. 'Heh,' he thought to himself, 'Peaked your interest?'
"Who's coming?" She asked, curiously.
"You'll have to get up to see, now won't you?" He said with a mischievous smile. As he got up to leave he said to her, "Wear that blue sun dress, and hurry up child, I need you to set the table."
Hinata did as she was told and wondered what her father had gotten her into as she came to the kitchen to help. "There's my beautiful girl!" He said beaming at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him with a little attitude as she walked over to help her sister Hanabi set the table.
Everyone jumped to the sound of knocking at the door. After a quiet moment of staring at each other, Hinata sighed and went to get the door and Hanabi giggled. As Hinata left the room, Hiashi smiled at his younger daughter and chuckled with her.
Hinata was wondering what was so damn funny as she went to open the door. Once opened, she quickly shut the door and her fake smile she had prepared for the visitor took on the expression of complete shock.
Naruto was standing on her porch with flowers and a bottle of wine in his arms and a confused look on his face. "Uh, Hinata? I hope I'm not too early?" He frowned.
'You have got to be kidding me!' She thought to herself. She stilled her thoughts and opened the door once again. "S-sorry Naruto!" As she cursed herself for her previous actions, she looked him over. He was so neat and clean, his hair was styled with no headband and he was wearing a black button down shirt and slacks and, 'Wow, he's so damn freaking hot' she panicked in her thoughts. "P-please, c-come in," she barely managed to squeak out.
As he watched Hinata shut the door behind them, he let out a huge breath as if he'd been holding it in for a while. His smile was so big, it was contagious and she smiled back at him. As his eyes swept over her body he blushed and said, "Hinata, you look amazing," he stood there gaping, "just beautiful..." a goofy look struck his face and shoved the flowers in her direction, "Uh...these are for you..."
Her smile grew as she took the flowers from him and sniffed them, "Oh, thank you Naruto!" She said excitedly.
He looked at her and relief swept his face as he thanked Jiraiya, wherever his soul may be resting, for that bit of advice.
Hiashi and Hanabi came to welcome their guest, and Naruto gave Hiashi the bottle of wine. "Ah, a great choice my boy," Hiashi said as he read the label and patted Naruto on the back.
'Apparently that bit of advice was on target as well, thanks again Pervy Sage!' He said again in his mind to the ghost of his old sensei, rest his soul.
Hiashi frowned and said, "Wait, you're not of age yet are you?"
Naruto shook his head, "No, no, not for 4 more years, but the wine came with my house... I hope it's not too old. Anyway, I guess my parents had quite a collection, and I'd hate to see it go to waste."
Hiashi smiled and said, "Well, Hinata is not of age yet either, but we are celebrating and I say we can each have a glass of wine with our dinner tonight!"
"Me too?" Hanabi questioned her father.
"Uh, well you'll have to have grape juice, sorry my sweet," he responded and she nodded solemnly as her father walked back to the kitchen.
"Excuse me, I'll just go put these in water," Hinata said distantly as she hurried after her father.
"Oh and I had something for you too Hanabi, but where did I put it?" Naruto searched his pockets franticly as the younger Hyuga eyed him curiously. He stopped suddenly and said, "Oh here it is!" As he reached behind the girl's head, he pulled out a pink rose from behind her ear. She gasped in awe and delight as they both got the giggles.
"Father, what is the meaning behind all this?" Hinata pleaded with her father in the kitchen.
"What?" He frowned as he went back to stirring their meal. After a moment, a huge frustrated sigh escaped his daughters lips, he smirked and said, "I wanted to get to know my daughter's new boyfriend." He beamed at his sneaky response and she seemed not to notice what he had said at first.
"Well, you are crazy! You could have told me... wait... boyfriend? What? I..." she stammered.
"Oh, he hasn't told you yet? We had a talk this morning, and I gave him my permission." Hiashi's smile was so big it was starting to hurt he mused to himself.
Hinata stood there stunned as Naruto and Hanabi raced into the dinning room together laughing.
"Hinata." Hiashi snapped his daughter out of her trance, handed two plates of food to her and said, "Dinner's ready, place these on the table for me please."
"Mmmm! Smells great, did you cook this Hinata?" Naruto asked.
Before she could respond, her father came out behind her and said, "No, I did, and this is my favorite." His eyes widened in excitement as he set the other two plates down and gestured for everyone to sit.
After eating they sat and talked around the table for an hour until Hiashi asked his two daughters to clear the table. As soon as the girls were busy with the dishes, he leaned over to Naruto and talked in a low voice, "Now Naruto, understand I'm going to have to give you a hard time, for Hinata's sake at least!" He chuckled. "But I am going to be honest with you, it has been a pleasure visiting with you this evening, it is so nice to have another man around the house, I was beginning to worry I'd gone soft with these two princesses running around, ha! I digress, you are welcome back anytime."
"Thank you sir!" Naruto smiled, "Anytime you're cooking, just let me know, because that was the best! I can't remember the last time I had a home cooked meal like that!" Both men chuckled but soon straightened and stood as the girls walked back in.
After thanking his daughters, Hiashi turned to Hinata, "Why don't you two take a walk? Show Naruto the sculpture garden, I'll turn the lights on for you." She smiled questionably at her father and he turned to Hanabi, "You go brush your teeth and I'll read you a story."
Hanabi made a sappy frown face and ran to give Naruto a tackle hug. "Good night Naruto, watch out for the boogies!" She stuck her tongue out and waved her hands at him, he repeated the gesture and they both laughed. "Goodnight kiddo." He said playfully.
Hiashi and Hinata exchanged a glance and laughed as well.
Once outside, Hinata lead the way up the lighted path to the garden in silence. She was smiling though, and her reassuring smile gave Naruto a fuzzy feeling in his chest and he coughed nervously, the tension palpable.
She finally stopped and sat at wooden bench facing a pond surrounded by wooden carved sculptures lit by colorful orbs scattered around the area.
"Wow Hinata, this place is awesome!" When she didn't respond, he sat down quietly a couple feet away from her on the bench. After a moment, she sighed heavily and he turned to her and quietly said, "Uh, did I do something wrong?"
She finally looked at him and saw the worry in his face, "No! Not all!" She exclaimed, and Naruto's face relaxed. "I'm sorry," she continued, "it's just, well, everything's happening so fast, I mean not in a bad way, uh, I was just lost in thought trying to process everything."
'What is it that I'm trying to say?' She wondered to herself.
"Well and my father," she continued, "oh, my father! What did he tell you this morning?!"
Naruto put his hand behind his head nervously scratching as he searched for the appropriate answer. "Well," he paused, "uh..." he stammered as he scooted closer to Hinata. He decided to forget about the speech he had prepared, he couldn't remember it anyway, and as he took her hand in his, he faced her seriously and began to wing it.
"Hinata," he looked deep into her eyes, "Look, don't worry about your dad, he's actually a pretty cool guy." He paused, thinking, "But you and I... I mean...Well, you... you are an incredible person and the more I get to know you, the more I can't get enough of you, and now, I really can't see myself without you there by my side, just as you have always been, but I was just to blind to see it!"
Naruto's heart was racing as he nervously searched Hinata's face for her reaction. She looked tense at first, frozen in place, but she began to relax a little, and not knowing what to say, she simply looked up at him and smiled.
The tension caused both ninja to look away, but Naruto scooted even closer, right next to her as if they were connected at the hip. He felt her shivering and shaking and asked with concern, "You cold?" When she nodded, he placed his arm around her.
'He's so warm!' She thought to herself as she relaxed even more, 'like a hot springs, ahh' she thought as she leaned into him. Although she was still shaking a bit out of nervousness, "Thank you Naruto," she said in a whisper.
He turned his head toward her and his lips brushed against her ear as he whispered, "Anything for you Hinata."
When she laughed, he pulled away and pleaded with her defensively, "Hey! I mean it!"
She felt bad for laughing at him, "Ah, I know! you tickled me!" She explained.
He laughed at this, but his face quickly turned serious as he lowered his voice, "I mean it Hinata, anything you want, It's yours," he paused, "I'm yours."
Now she was in shock, her heart and mind racing at what he said. She then mumbled quietly, almost to herself, "My what? My boyfriend?"
"If you'll have me." He said hopefully.
"Yes" she whispered as she exhaled and instantly wrapped her arms around him, and he wrapped his arms around her in response, resting his chin in the crook of her neck, his gentle breathing there gave Hinata a pleasurable chill that ran throughout her entire body.
They were so close, that when she pulled away slightly to look into those wonderfully blue eyes of his, his face was merely inches away from hers. He exhaled with relief and he let a slight giggle escape before he closed that small distance between them and kissed her lips gently.
Just then, the lights went out. Then they turned back on, and off and on again repeatedly. Hinata and Naruto reluctantly pulled away from each other in confusion. Looking around, they began to laugh when Naruto said jokingly "I guess that's my cue to leave before your Dad tries to kill me!"
"Not before I die from embarrassment! Oi father! Who ever thought the Byakugan would be such a curse!" She face palmed.
The teens hurried back toward the house, but as the lights stayed on, they slowed a bit wanting to take their time.
Naruto smiled as he held out his hand for Hinata and she took it as she led him to the side yard where it was covered in darkness. Once concealed, they embraced for a moment before Naruto reluctantly pulled away and opened the gate saying, "Goodnight Hinata," he then turned around and bowed to her smiling, "Thank you for a magical evening."
She giggled as she said goodnight and a wave of sadness rushed over her when he shut the gate behind him.
Naruto kept walking but slowly turned back and said quietly, "hey Hinata?"
She peeked up where the gate curved and met the wall so she could see him.
"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" He paused, "oh wait, well, not tomorrow, I have a training session all day, but Friday, I have a day off, you want to hang out, maybe go to the lake?"
She nearly squealed with excitement, "ok, that sounds great Naruto!"
He gave her a thumbs up and said, "Awesome! I'll stop by around 10?"
"Hinata?" Her father called
She gave her thumbs up as a response and shooed him off playfully.
He waved and walked off goofily, taking large steps trying to act all quiet. She covered her mouth trying not to laugh, but couldn't help it, when she turned the corner to go back inside, she ran into her father.
"Oh father!" She laughed, "You're terrible, I should hate you forever!" She laughed a little but then seriously said, "How long were you watching us out there with your Byakugan?"
He tried not to smile, "I am always watching princess, and don't you forget it, now get to bed, and don't forget to floss!