Naruto is sitting at his desk when Hinata wakes. She just rustles and turns until she can see him from where she is and then stares. His back is curled and he's reading some documents with his eyebrows furrowed and Hinata waits.

She waits till he looks at her. A glance, his eyes passing over her out of habit and then catching her eyes looking at him.

"Good morning," he smiles and Hinata rises immediately. Walks over him on her knees, grabbing the bedclothes around her naked body.

Naruto receives her with open arms, his hands slide through her waist to her back and he brings her closer to him. "Slept good?"

She rests her head on his shoulder as she nods. Naruto is soft with her, moves her hair out of the way and lays kisses along her jaw. Hinata accommodates herself in between his legs and Naruto keeps on moving papers in front of him. He brings one out for her to read.

"We'll be going to this one in a month," he shares. Hinata looks at the document and nods in understanding.

"The s-summit."

"Ever gone there?"

"No… Neither has f-father. He thought it w-was…"

Naruto chuckles, "Yeah, well, it's more or less the Beast Tamers putting up a show to check on each other."

Hinata reads the names written in there, guards and servants and an itinerary. She doesn't really know how to feel. She is excited to go there and actually see one of the biggest festivals the Beast Tamers have to offer, but now she is part of them and it means…

Naruto moves his hand up and down her body, presses her skin to catch her attention, "I can't wait for us to get there. I want you to meet Gaara."

Hinata stills a second, remembers her classes with Lord Minato before saying, "The One-t-tail."

"The one and only," Naruto chuckles.

"Lord Minato d-didn't tell me you two were f-friends."

Naruto shrugs, steals a kiss from her lips, "Dad usually doesn't say much unless necessary or asked." He lets the papers fall on his desk and buries his face on Hinata's neck. She squeaks and Naruto finds it endearing, "We've known each other since I was like 12."

Hinata opens her eyes in surprise and tries to bring Naruto up to her, "I didn't… I didn't know that."

"It was a point in time where I was super rebellious and my dad thought I needed a friend who was actually going through the same thing as me," he has a smile in place still, "he's a year older than me and now is super aloof and mellow, but at the time he was even more annoying than me." He gives a loud laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. "We fought and I got pretty roughed up but I won," he gives her a smirk, pride in his eyes.

And Hinata is still trying to grasp the story, "Why d-did you fight?"

"I… actually don't remember," he squints his eyes in effort, but gives up soon after. "At that time…"

He pauses, gulps down out of nervousness, but Hinata stares at him with nothing but open interest, and Naruto talks, this time softer, this time quieter, "I was just starting to see the outside world. I grew up sheltered and followed my dad everywhere. I didn't know what being a Beast Tamer entailed, I didn't remember anything regarding the sealing so when I had to go under the reinforcement… I started to feel pretty resentful, you know? I wanted to be normal... Whatever that means. And I started to act out. My father, bless his soul, did his best and then thought it would be a good idea to put us two together for a while. Gaara's dad accepted under the condition of my dad checking his seal and so they came here." Naruto looks down at her, kisses her temple, "Two kids who hated themselves and everything around them, I don't remember exactly why we fought but it must have been the dumbest of reasons. We were just ready to fuck everything up at a moment's notice. So we did."

"How… you s-said you are friends."

"Oh, for sure." He laughs again, shakes his head as if remembering what he wanted to say, "we ended up roughed up and all but by the end we were friends. In the fight… I guess I ended up lifting him up? He felt worse than me, that's for sure, and I guess I ended up telling him that we could lick each other's wound, being the same and all. That I understood… what he was going through."

Naruto looks lost in thought again, and Hinata raises her hand to cup his cheek. He nestles into it.

"I-I'm glad you two became f-friends."

Naruto locks eyes with her and Hinata can't remember ever seeing him so melancholic. His childhood must have been… different. She opens her mouth to say something, anything to help him feel better, but Naruto opens his arms and hugs her again, buries his face on her body.

Hinata squeals in surprise and Naruto laughs. Laughs and kisses her and although Hinata doesn't want to let this topic go, Naruto doesn't go back to it. They talk dates and guards and servants and Naruto doesn't let himself fall back into that lost look he had before.

⁂⁂⁂

Kiba finds her one afternoon. He looks around her before getting closer and Hinata knows he's trying not to meet Sai.

"My lady," he greets. Looking to the two servants behind her, "may I take over and guard you where you are going?"

Hinata smiles at him and dismisses the servants with a polite nod. Kiba may be brash and bold to an absurd level, but he has been nothing but civilized and nice with her and even though his sense of humor might be crass, she has come to enjoy his open-mouthed laughs.

"Has the lady been able to check the name of the guards tasked with protecting you at the Summit?"

Hinata nods, knows where he's going with this.

"And the lady is all right with them?"

Another nod, and Kiba looks at her like she has just told him she hates dogs.

"Because you can totally tell me that you don't want them guarding you, you know?"

When it's the two of them, when it's them and Naruto or the people close to him, Kiba lets go of the way he addresses her normally. It's a breath of fresh air. He made sure to check with her if she was comfortable and the moment she shared she rather enjoyed it he had smiled like a child.

Naruto had thought she was doing it because she didn't want to bother him, but Hinata really enjoyed his company and his conversations. Naruto had chuckled, and told her that she was really something. Preferring Sai's or Kiba's company over a polite servant.

But she's sure Naruto would understand if he stayed in the Hyuga compound for a while, where loud laughs like Kiba's or the honesty of Sai are never heard. She's sure anyone would understand if her only source of entertainment came from what people told her. She loved hearing Kiba's boisterous voice narrating the most mundane of activities as if they were big adventures. Or Sai's overly meticulous explanations that almost fell into comedy at times.

"I mean, Sai you already know and like, don't ask me why," Kiba walks with a gait that makes him look ferocious. His unkempt hair and the coat with fur lining over his hood only adding to the look. "but I'm here to vouch for Shino, all right."

Hinata smiles, because both of them know Hinata wouldn't turn down Shino either way. Quiet and somber, but polite and nice always. Almost always near Kiba, as their techniques are most suitable for surveillance, and almost always making Kiba groan in frustration. Very much like Sai.

"Gloomy, sure, weird, also sure, but he's good, ok?"

Hinata giggles as Kiba's lackluster defense of Shino continues. He will stay, as the clan still needs to be protected and his mother asked for him to work with her. His sister, Hana, is away on a mission and his mother, as the chief, refused to let him go. Their master may be away and watchful eyes may go from the compound to wherever he goes, but still, the clan must stay protected.

Kiba leaves her inside her room, with guards outside and servants at the ready. Hinata looks around the room, moves towards the garden and sits right next to the window. She's nervous and excited and although she worries about a list of things she tries to forget, she can't help the giddy feeling that surfaces inside her.

A trip like she had never had before.

⁂⁂⁂

Naruto comes late into the night and does his best to remain silent. But like many other times before, Hinata stirs awake and stands to help him undress.

He has told her time and time again that she doesn't need to, doesn't have to, that she should sleep without worrying when he's late, and she has evaded his pleas with smiles and kisses he can't resist.

He worries, because he wonders if she feels she has to wait for him. He worries, because her hands always travel places that make him feel on edge and whenever he answers those advances she's eager to accept. He worries, because there's been hardly a day in which he hasn't spilled his seed inside of her and…

Her body is soft and plump and Naruto never tires of grabbing and dragging her to him. His passion is never-ending and seeing her eyes fill with longing and lust is everything to him. Because if those eyes ever fill with worry…

Naruto feels his stomach tightening, and Hinata clamps around him making him gasp for air. She huffs and puffs and her hands search for his face and Naruto kisses her palms, searches immediately for her eyes. Craving and hunger. He sighs in relief, brings himself down to her and kisses her. Lets his tongue move lazily against hers.

When his hips move away from her, Hinata crosses her legs around his waist, shakes her head no. "Don't p-pull out," she breathes, and Naruto can already fill his thirst for her washing over his body. "M-more."

Naruto takes his time. Touches and teases, drinks her, breaths her. Naruto takes his time because this is not a chore now, and will not become a chore later. The moment his mind wanders to unwanted thoughts he buries his face on her body, concentrates on her breath and the way her hands drag over his body, the way she squirms under him and presses to him whenever possible.

He looks at her eyes, feels himself hardening at her rosy lips, her hair splayed out, his hands never quite able to hold her breasts on them. Her moans…

Naruto comes inside her and he grabs hold of the legs over his shoulders. Hinata shivers under him and drags her nails over his thighs, making Naruto gasp in pleasure brought by the sharp feeling.

The pop of his penis exiting her fills his ears and he cleans between her legs with care before giving a fast wipe over himself. He brings her to him, searches for her hand to hold. He has stopped watching his seed fall out of her in fear of giving her the wrong idea. He has stopped caressing her flat stomach after sex in fear of making her fall to the wrong conclusions.

He's not worried. He's not in a hurry, either, but it pains him to think she is troubled. Makes him want to bring her closer to him and whisper in her ear that there is nothing to worry about.

But he can't. So he kisses her goodnight, nuzzles his face on the back of her head and sleeps with her body close to his.

And he worries… for her.