"See, the thing is that Sasuke's fine for the most part. He's listened to all of granny Tsunade's requests and he's gone along with pretty much everything. But, for some reason he won't apologize!" Lifting his bowl of ramen and sipping on the broth greedily, Naruto placed the bowl down on the table a little too roughly, causing it to spill slightly. "I mean, I know he's stubborn, but this is literally the easiest request and the one request he hasn't listened to. And it wasn't even requested by granny! It was requested by the freaking council!" Frustrated, Naruto placed his elbows on the table—not even caring that his jacket was currently soaking up spilt ramen—and rested his head in his hands. "He's so aggravating."

Hinata listened intently as she ate her ramen, her eyes focused into her bowl as she thought to herself. Hinata knew Sasuke as well as she knew the Tsuchikage—which was not at all. She'd never spoken to him and their interaction was extremely limited. In fact, her reaction to him on the roof was the most time she'd ever spent alone together with him. Although she supposed truthfully they weren't really alone with Naruto only meters away the entire time.

"So all he has to do is say sorry?"

"Pretty much," Naruto half-shrugged, "I mean, it'd be a bit better worded then just a plain 'I'm sorry', but that's really all he has left to do."

"Perhaps Kakashi or even Sakura could talk to him about it, too?" She offered, not exactly knowing what to say but giving another option to try and be polite. But after she spoke she regretted it; the way Naruto's eyes darkened upon mention of Sakura's name made her with she hadn't even opened her mouth.

"Kakashi-sensei hasn't really spoken to him too much. He's still really busy with all sorts of political crap between the nations." Naruto pouted at this, "He's like granny Tsunade's little messenger. Or helper. Or whatever the word is."

"Ambassador?"

Naruto snapped his fingers, "Yes! That's it, ambassador." He shot her a thankful smile before lifting his bowl up again, slurping up more broth. "But I see Sasuke every day. Or night I guess." He frowned slightly as he placed the bowl back down. "He doesn't like going out during the daytime. Too many people."

Hinata nodded absentmindedly. It made sense of course, to want to avoid being in the public eye, especially when people were always watching your every move and whispering things about you.

"What about Sakura?" She asked, voice quiet and unsure. Although she'd usually avoid topics that she had a feeling would end with a not-so-positive conversation, her curiosity was truly getting the better of her. She supposed the lack of sleep she'd gotten in the past few days was contributing to her lack of a filter.

Naruto let out a long sigh, shaking his head. "Sakura-chan has been," he paused, as if looking for the right words, "a bit hesitant about… things."

Hinata frowned as he spoke. Sakura was one of her best friends; she knew that throughout everything that had happened the girl had never stopped loving Sasuke, even when he was at his lowest. But thinking back before the war, an uneasiness settled in the pit of her stomach when she remembered hearing about how the two estranged teammates had attempted to take each other's lives.

Eyes fluttering up to study Naruto's face for a quick moment, she averted her eyes swiftly. She didn't know how Sakura had done it; how she'd built up enough strength and courage to try to kill the one you love most, even if for their own sake.

Switching their roles, Hinata couldn't even imagine having to kill Naruto, no matter how corrupt or destructive he became. She loved Naruto, but she didn't have that kind of strength to go through with something so torturous.

Always so selfish, she thought to herself.

"She's been keeping pretty busy at the hospital," Hinata commented, trying to keep the conversation from getting too awkward. "I saw her yesterday. She's been working hard."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, frown still on his face, "a bit too hard if you ask me. She hadn't left the hospital since last Saturday."

Hinata blinked, mouth slightly agape. She hadn't known her friend had been overworking herself. And she had a feeling that the return of a certain Uchiha had a lot to do with it.

"I hope she doesn't get herself sick working so much," Hinata voiced her genuine concern, placing her hands in her lap and staring down at them.

Naruto shrugged, "Both of them can be stubborn as hell when they want to. It's just a matter of which asshole can out-last the other one." Shooting Hinata a quick look, he smiled sheepishly, "Sorry." He apologized, clearly not feeling entirely comfortable swearing around her.

She let out a small laugh, "It's alright."

He gave her a small smile before shaking his head. "I'm happy to have him back, y'know?" He stared into his empty bowl of ramen. "But I just… I wish that things could go back to normal."

"Naruto…" Hinata looked at him sadly.

"I know, I know. It's ridiculous to think that things could go back to the way they were; especially after all the shit that's happened." His eyes flashed up to hers again. "Sorry. Again."

She gave him another gentle smile, "It's okay, Naruto-kun. I honestly don't mind." She didn't think she had to remind him that Kiba swore all the time. She'd heard it all and her teammate's affinity to use mainly swears in his vocabulary had never fazed her in the first place.

"Even doing something small, like sitting with Sasuke and Sakura at Ichiraku's…" he smiled at the thought. "Even that would be good enough for me."

Pained at seeing Naruto so defeated made her chest ache. Feeling confident, reaching across the table she grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it in an attempt at reassurance. "Give it time, Naruto."

Squeezing her hand back and shooting her a small, but grateful smile, he shook his head. "I know. I'm just not really good at being patient, ya know?"

She smiled back, "It takes practice."

"I bet," grinning back at her, he squeezed her hand once more before releasing it and standing up, "I'm going to get myself another bowl; you want anything?"

Eyes finding her half-eaten ramen bowl, she shook her head and smiled, watching as he strode back into the kitchen. She hadn't been particularly hungry, but she couldn't bring herself to turn away from the chance of eating a meal with Naruto in his own home.

"Enough about me," he spoke, returning promptly with his bowl filled to the brim once more with steaming-hot ramen, "how have you been doing?" Sitting back down across from her he took a few generous, messy bites before placing down his chopsticks and looking at her expectantly.

"I've been… okay." She spoke, placing her hands in her lap and avoiding eye contact.

"Just okay?" He asked, as if waiting for a more elaborate answer.

"Yeah," she spoke, trying to make her statement more believable by raising her voice slightly in pitch, "I'm doing okay." She forced a smile onto her face, still avoiding meeting his gaze, taking an almost too-large bite of her soup in front of her.

"I don't really believe that."

Shocked, Hinata finally looked up at him with wide eyes, "Excuse me?" She was expecting him to have some sort of smirk on his face, perhaps getting a laugh at of making her suddenly nervous, but instead she found him staring back at her, mouth in a straight line and expression entirely serious.

"Hinata," he leaned forward slightly, brow furrowed with concern, "I just found you running around the village, hysterical, in your pajamas." His expression changed slightly to a pained one; he was worried. "That's not 'okay'."

Biting the inside of her cheek Hinata was suddenly embarrassed. Sure, she didn't want him to worry about her, but lying to him about it was definitely not the right way to go about doing things.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Her quiet words were spoken barely above a whisper as she lowered her head to stare in shame at her hands in her lap.

"Hey," she didn't see him move around the table to be on the same side as her but suddenly she felt his arm fall over her shoulders "it's alright."

"I'm sorry," she repeated, her voice cracking slightly, "I didn't want to worry you and… and you've been so busy I didn't want to add on to your stress or anything like that. I'm sure you don't need another thing to worry about—"

"Hinata," grabbing her shoulders he gently turned her toward him, lifting her chin with his finger, forcing him to look up at him, "I'll always worry about you."

Her eyes widened slightly, "Oh, no. Naruto I really don't want you to worry—"

"I'll always worry," he interrupted, restarting his sentence, "because I care about you."

Suddenly her breath was caught in her throat and she was immediately rendered speechless. Staring into his light blue eyes she could see the truth in his look alone.

"Hey," he repeated, his face contorting with worry, "hey, why are you crying?" Embarrassed, Hinata quickly lifted her arms and began wiping her tears away; she hadn't meant to let her emotions take over, but she couldn't exactly control them recently. "Hey, Hinata," grabbing her hands within his own he stopped her desperate rubbing at her face, leaning toward her more, "don't cry. Please don't cry?"

"I'm sorry," she sniffled, blinking rapidly to try and clear her eyes of any excess tears, "I didn't expect that."

"Expect what? For me to tell you that I care about you?" He asked incredulously. "Of course I care about you!" He paused for a moment, his eyes flickering from her face, to his window, and back to her face again. His mood seemed to dampen almost instantaneously. "I'm sorry if I haven't made that very clear. I'm not really good at this stuff." He sighed, scratching the back of his head, "I've always cared about you though. I mean, I care about you more now, but like, I always did even before everything, ya know?"

By the time he'd finished speaking she was already crying again, arm lifted to cover her eyes from his sight as she held in her sobs. But without her meaning to, a whimper slipped out of her mouth and before she knew it she was hysterical again.

Within seconds she felt warm arms embrace her tightly, completely surrounding her with comforting warmth.

"I'm sorry," she cried, her voice being muffled against his chest, "I'm sorry, Naruto."

"Oh, Hinata." His arms tightened around her. "Don't cry. Please don't cry. Please don't be sad. Please." He began rubbing her back and eventually pulled her into his lap in order to hold her closer. "I wish you wouldn't cry. I wish I could make it so you're never sad again."

His words which were meant to calm her down only caused her tears to continue cascading down her face, her emotions pouring out in an uncontrollable flood.

He held her for a while, arms securely around her, holding her to him as he rubbed her back. Every now and then he'd whisper more to her, about how she was alright, and how he hated seeing her so upset. Eventually as he comforted her she began to calm down, her breathing steadying itself and her tears halting.

Without being prompted, she began talking in a quiet, small voice about her argument with her father, telling him about their disagreement, about Neji's burial situation, about how she stormed out of her home a couple nights before and hadn't gone back since. As she spoke she could feel Naruto reacting to her words; at one point she felt him stiffen beneath her, his arms tightening around her.

"They can't do that," he spoke after she'd been silent for a few, long seconds. "Why would they do that?"

Hinata could feel the anger, the frustration building inside of him. "The council has their ways," she said tiredly, "They're very stubborn and—"

"Wrong," he said sternly, cutting her off. "They're wrong. They can't do that. Neji is… he's a hero! He saved your life, he saved my life! He deserves a proper send-off!"

"I know," she whispered, lifting up her head to look at him. But as she met his eyes she realized how close together they were; there were only centimeters separating their faces. She could feel his breath on her face. "That's what I was saying. But my father keeps insisting that there's nothing that can be done."

"No," he shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to believe that. There has to be something that can be done." The paused for a moment. "Let me talk to them. The council."

Hinata's eyes widened, "I don't know, Naruto…"

"If they listen to me and it fails, at least I tried," he shrugged, "but we need to do something."

"I know," she admitted quietly, her head falling again, "Just… I can't go back to the compound just yet."

"That's alright," he squeezed her, his arms still wrapped around her, "when are they planning on doing the little ceremony?"

"In about a week or so, why?"

"That gives us some time," he nodded, seemingly pleased at having an idea to put into action. He looked down at her again, "You should've told me sooner."

"I know, I just… didn't want to give you another thing to worry about. You've been busy with Sasuke and—"

Naruto cut her off with an abrupt laugh, "Sasuke's a big boy. He can deal with wandering around by himself for a few days. Actually I'm pretty sure he'd prefer that." He smirked at the thought and she couldn't help but smile too. "Come on," all of the sudden he moved his hands around her waist and lifted her to her feet, "let's get you in bed."

A minute later they were in his room. She was crawling in his bed and he was standing beside it, watching as she climbed underneath the covers.

"So you're sure you don't need anything?" He asked, fiddling with his hands as he watched her make herself comfortable. "A glass of water? Another blanket?"

She silenced him by smiling up at him. "I'm fine Naruto. Thank you."

"So uh, I guess I'll see you in the morning?" He asked, shifting from one foot to the other, hands shoved in his pockets.

Hinata had to suppress a giggle, "Yes."

"Okay," he grinned brightly down at her before turning around and walking toward his door.

"Naruto," she called out to him before he could leave the room. As he turned she felt her chest flutter, "Thank you. For this," she gestured to the bed, "for everything, really."

"Don't worry about it," he smiled, his features more gentle. "Goodnight Hinata."

"Goodnight Naruto," she whispered after he'd closed the door behind him.

She fell asleep that night, wondering what it would be like to wish him goodnight every night.