The rest of the day passed quickly, yet quietly. With Naruto still upset over the earlier confrontation with his teammates, Hinata found herself doing most of the talking. But, not being much of a talker, their conversations were mainly short.
They spent a few hours during the afternoon together, Naruto helping her finish up cleaning and Hinata offering repeatedly to replace the dish she'd dropped and broken. Of course Naruto had turned toward her and smirked, shaking his head and adamantly refusing to let her buy him anything, especially not a single plate.
Eventually they both left the apartment at the same time for different destinations. Hinata to seek out Tenten, and Naruto to report to the Hokage tower. Although Hinata had the distinct feeling he'd be seeking out one or both of his teammates after his little meeting with Tsunade-sama.
Thankfully Tenten was still at her apartment and as soon as Hinata began to apologize profusely for leaving in the middle of the night the older kunoichi shook her head and smirked knowingly, telling her that she could hold onto the pajamas until after she left Naruto's and returned home. Hinata had left the apartment, slightly embarrassed at the fact that Tenten assumed that she would be remaining at Naruto's and slightly flustered over the fact that she was right.
Walking through town Hinata stopped by a couple shops, eventually grabbing a bite to eat before she began walking again. Once she realized that she was unconsciously walking in the direction of the Hyuuga compound she froze, immediately turning on her heel and walking briskly in the complete opposite direction. She'd already been gone for a few nights without notifying her family; she couldn't simply return now and expect not to be interrogated about her actions.
No, she'd already gone this long away from home, she couldn't simply turn back now. Especially when she was still so upset from the altercation with her father; she could hardly imagine speaking to him let alone allowing him to lecture her.
Not knowing where else to go, and not exactly wanting to return to Naruto's apartment just yet, she found herself walking a familiar path across town.
Tsume and Hana had always been immensely kind toward Hinata and at times even a bit intimidating with their brashness, something that used to frighten Hinata when she was younger. Now, instead of making her nervous, Hinata simply giggled whenever the two would poke fun at Kiba or work as a team to embarrass him.
She did find herself surprised when she ventured onto the front porch of her teammate's household and was informed that he wasn't there.
"He's with Shino somewhere," Kiba's sister, Hana, informed her as she leaned lazily against the door frame, scratching behind the ears of a large dog that stood to her side. "I think they were looking for you, actually."
After thanking the girl profusely, Hinata took off again, trying hard to find her teammates. It wasn't uncommon for Kiba and Shino to hang out outside of missions and training, but it usually only happened when she was there too. She could only imagine where they were and what they were doing.
But after a visit to Shino's house and after a rather short conversation with his father, she left with no further clue as to where the two were.
They were looking for you.
She thought over Hana's words and then realized that they most likely had gone to look for her at the compound, and finding her not there, they could be looking for her anywhere.
Wandering around the village for a little bit longer and not seeing either of her teammates anywhere she instead decided to return to Naruto's.
Only to find her teammates already there.
"A-ha!" Kiba declared as she stepped foot into the apartment with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. "Told you she was here!"
"I never said she wasn't." Shino deadpanned from where he stood, leaning against the far wall and looking out the window.
"I—what are you guys—is Naruto here?"
"Nah," Kiba shook his head, "but we traced your scent and wound up here." He was currently lying back on Naruto's couch, his feet propped up with Akamaru resting on the floor beside him. Lifting his head up he grinned toward her, "Care to explain that?" His eyes flashed behind Hinata quickly and his grin widened. "I didn't realize you'd moved in."
The moment Hinata opened her mouth to stutter out a reply, her face turning a light pink, a presence behind her made her jump slightly.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?" Stepping alongside Hinata he glanced down on her, his annoyance ebbing momentarily as he gave her a calm look. "Unless you invited them?" Hinata shook her head, still surprised by his sudden appearance. She watched in awe as he the resumed glaring toward her two teammates.
"Looking for your girlfriend," Kiba answered with a teasing tone.
"We've tried to find you for a couple of days," Shino calmly explained to her, not turning away from the window, "you have not been home and we ran out of places to look."
"Who would've figured you'd be here?" Kiba laughed mockingly. "Although it's a lot neater than I remember."
Not paying any mind to the girlfriend comment, Hinata almost wondered if Naruto had even heard it as he walked briskly into his apartment, tossing his jacket onto Kiba's face. Following his lead, Hinata also steped fully into the apartment, closing the door softly behind her.
Kiba, removing the jacket and sitting upright with a wide grin across his face, looked toward Naruto expectantly, perhaps hoping for some sort of confrontation. But when Naruto ignored him, Hinata watched as his grin fell.
"Hey," Naruto stepped in front of her, lightly placing a hand on her arm as he spoke, "I'm going to go take a shower. Go ahead and tell them what happened; I'll be back in a little bit."
Nodding slowly, her eyes fixated on his kind, gentle face, she watched—almost entranced—as he walked away and into the lone bathroom.
It was silent for a couple of long seconds before Kiba stood up abruptly.
"What," pointing with frustration toward the closed bathroom door, "the hell was that?"
Hinata would've smiled if the situation had been any different, but instead she shook her head as she approached her teammates. "Naruto is…" she hesitated momentarily, "it's been a rough day."
"That still doesn't explain why you're here?" Kiba asked, with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. "And why you've been here for literal days."
Sighing, Hinata sat herself down on the couch, waiting for Kiba to sit back down and for Shino to turn his attention toward her before speaking again.
It didn't take her long to go over the entire situation with the two of them; after all, she'd had plenty of practice from telling Tenten and Naruto about it all. By the time she finished Kiba had begun staring at the wall with an angry look and Shino had turned back toward the window.
"What the fuck?" Kiba eventually declared, Akamaru whining at his side in agreement. "You'd think they'd have some goddamn decency about this type of shit!"
"Naruto offered to talk with the elders, but…"
"That's perfect!" Kiba declared, turning toward her and grinning. "He's the hero of the entire damn world, they'd have to at least listen to him."
"I agree," Shino spoke, chiming in as he approached them, "Naruto is highly important to the village and to all shinobi. He's your best bet at getting Neji a proper funeral."
"And it doesn't hurt that you'll probably end up marrying the guy," Kiba added on nonchalantly, "So if they want to keep the heiress happy, they'll have to cooperate."
Hinata found herself taken aback by his words. "Kiba," she whispered harshly, eyes fluttering over toward the closed bathroom door, "not so loud!"
Kiba and Shino exchanged a knowing look before turning back toward her. "Look," Kiba said, rolling his eyes, "I say talk to Naruto, let him talk to them, and then hopefully we'll get Neji his funeral in no time at all!" Grinning toward her he reached down and scratched the top of Akamaru's head. "Right boy?" Akamaru merely barked in reply.
Hinata giggled slightly, happy to have her team by her side and aware of the situation she was in. Leaning down she scratched under Akamaru's chin, giggling louder when the large dog jumped up on her and licked her face.
"Alright boy, let's go," Kiba laughed, standing up and walking toward the door.
"You're leaving?" Hinata asked, standing up as her teammates approached the door.
"Well, yeah," Kiba said, turning toward her and offering a slight shrug. "It seems like you two have things under control." He waited for a moment before speaking again, louder this time, "We wouldn't want to intrude on you two lovebirds now, would we Shino?"
Ignoring his teammate, Shino merely opened the door and promptly left. Kiba grinned again, wickedly. "Just remember you kids, be safe!"
And with that statement and a wink, he slammed the door behind him a little too roughly.
Hinata didn't jump until she heard Naruto suddenly behind her.
"What was he talking about?" He asked, grimacing.
"Nothing," Hinata spoke, turning around a little too quickly, her face just a little too red.
Naruto raised an eyebrow as he studied her face, before nodding slowly. "Kiba's weird." Raising an arm he rubbed the back of his neck, a frown still on his face.
It was at that point when Hinata realized how close they were standing to one another. She then became very aware of Naruto's bare, naked chest mere centimeters from her face. Her eyes followed the water droplets from where they trailed down his chest, past his abs, stopping at the towel he had wrapped around his waist.
It took her a couple long seconds to return to her senses and when she realized what she was doing—openly ogling Naruto's body—her eyes snapped up to his face. But she was taken aback when she found him staring right back at her, a look on his face that she'd never seen before. His eyes were looking back at her, trailing down her body and back up again, an almost dazed expression across his features.
It was a look she'd never seen on his face before, but after a long moment, somehow she immediately placed it.
Eyes widening she could do nothing but stand frozen as he placed a hand around her waist, holding her firmly in place. With his other hand he placed a hand against her face, rubbing his thumb gently across her cheek.
She was shaking on the inside but on the outside she remained perfectly still, not moving a single inch in any direction. For a moment she wondered if this was really happening or if this was just a dream; with the light feeling she felt throughout her body, it must been a dream, she mused.
When she watched his eyes find her own before flickering down to her lips, her heart rate started to speed up to an almost dangerous speed.
But just before he began to lean down toward her, she panicked.
"I—um, I need to use the bathroom?"
Making the mistake of wording her excuse as a question, she cursed herself as she scurried away to the bathroom, swiftly closing the door behind her and leaning her back against it.
What did I just do? What was happening? Did he… was he...?
Hand shooting upward to her cheek, she pressed her fingertips against the skin that was still tingling from where he'd touched it.
Shaking her head she walked up to the sink and turned on the cold water, preparing to wash her face and perhaps snap her out of the strange, almost embarrassing haze she found herself in.
Though when she found herself unable to rid the fresh memory of the feeling of his hand against her cheek from her mind, Hinata realized it was going to be a long, frustrating night.