Naruto stretches his arm and searches for his wife's body in the dark. She's on her side, with her face to him, and his hand touches her belly with tentative fingers.

He lingers and stares at the ceiling. Seeing nothing and only listening to Hinata's soft breathing and the wind rustling the leaves outside. He doesn't want to leave the bedroom.

When he sits, he shivers as the cold finds him. He takes a second to feel Hinata's warmth and then leaves her side with a reluctant face nobody sees.

Jiraiya is always there waiting for him. And the training continues, wherever they left it at. The cold wakes Naruto and he is conscious of his body, present in whatever instruction Jiraiya shares. And yet he doesn't see results.

It is frustrating and annoying and it is difficult for Naruto to ground himself when he knows he needs to control this as fast as he can if he wants it to have any real effect on his body… on his lifespan.

Hinata's breath on his neck keeps him awake at night.

Jiraiya senses some turmoil, but Naruto knows he won't pry. He knows he can't do anything, and Jiraiya is pragmatic at heart. He has never inflated Naruto's dreams, has never told him of hopes he doesn't share.

Naruto has forgotten what those are supposed to make him feel.

He has a baby on the way and enemies that seem to multiply.

The shame he feels when he stands and Jiraiya tells him that he has to keep on practicing. The irk that feels him as he realizes that he can't even focus enough on his pregnant wife. The fear that seems to seep from his bones as he merely thinks about an attack.

And all the things that can go wrong.

There are plans. There plans and backup plans and backup plans for those backup plans. He knows them by heart, recites them inside his head when his mind runs wild.

But his feelings are always running amok.

Shikamaru is right beside him and Tsume and Shino check time and time again their perimeter. Nothing moves without Naruto knowing.

But they all know this is the calm before the storm.

The Beast Tamer meeting is a taunt. A game and a chance someone is taking for reasons unknown. They gather all the information they can. Read it and classify it and read it again. They have ideas, but nothing sure, and no one really trusts what the other Beast Tamers have to say.

Gaara is the only one they trust and although he tries his best, he comes up with the same information Naruto can gather.

So they set out to know more. And Naruto has meetings upon meetings with his vassals. He smiles, he laughs, he pries and he tests. And his heart rests a little as he realizes that most of them are still on his side.

With only a few exceptions.

He can see it in their eyes, in the way their body shifts and their words come out too late, too quick. He zeroes in on one.

Lord Graff comes into the room with a smile plastered on his face. Naruto makes small conversation and offers a drink the man accepts with a slight tremble on his hand.

They could drug him, they could kidnap him, they could very well torture him to know more.

But if their movements have been so cautious before, if this whole ordeal is a careful plan, he fears what they can do when brought into a corner. So he will play along.

And he asks about mundane things he doesn't care about.

Lord Graff relaxes after a while. With Naruto sharing information about the other vassals with whom he has had subsequent meetings too. He has to show himself to be cautious, but he can't show himself to be suspicious of someone. Not yet. Not until he is where they want him to be.

"Harsh times we are going through, huh?" Naruto says, just after sipping his sake and giving a defeated sigh. It comes to mind that he doesn't really need to act up the anxious-worried tone he laces his voice with, and that is enough to make him huff out and add a touch of exasperation Lord Graff buys immediately.

"Indeed, my lord! Harsh times indeed! Such a shame things seem to have piled up upon you these days! But I am sure with this new Beast Meeting information you have so kindly shared with me some fruitful ideas will be laid out!"

Lord Graff is new money and has always been eager to rise the ranks, but money? Power? Naruto hadn't pegged him as such a greedy man. His beaded eyes run over Naruto and Naruto makes sure to show his body feels fine.

Information for what? His family doesn't seem to be affected by this ordeal and neither does he seem to be threatened.

A grudge? Naruto has barely known him for a couple of years.

Lord Graff babbles on without Naruto saying much. He has downed their sake on his own, as Naruto controlled his intake and encouraged the man to keep on drinking. Naruto is in fact surprised the man still can control what his mouth says in such a situation.

Maybe he doesn't know much. Naruto wouldn't let a nobody know about what he plans to do.

"Is everything all right with your lovely wife?"

Naruto doesn't flinch. His hand doesn't tremble and his voice comes out with a worry he practiced beforehand. "She is, thank you for asking."

"Oh, of course! The lord's wife is a precious person so it stands to reason that we worry so much about her. In fact, it seems that no one has seen your wife in a long while and well-"

"I am sure you can understand, you know, with all that has been going on and what not."

"Oh, oh, absolutely, as long as everything is all right, my lord."

"It is, thank you." Naruto takes a deliberate slow sip out of his cup, as hostility begins to fill his body, "I take it your family is well, too?"

"Yes, yes, my lord, thank you so much for asking."

There is nothing Naruto gets out of him and Lord Graff leaves after a while, positively drunk and yet tight-lipped as always.

The cold wind helps Naruto relax before walking in to the innermost part of the compound. Lord Graff is either another fool that knows nothing or his overbearing questions mean something, and Naruto wishes whoever was behind all of this would just turn up in front of him to fight it out with their fists.

He wants peace and tranquility and his life seems to refuse to have anything to do with those concepts.

He enters his bedroom the moment he knows his brows are not burrowed and his muscles are not taut. There is no one inside and his heart leaps inside his chest and his mind is filled with thoughts he never wants to think about.

He begins listing places and schedules and hours and he is barely turning the first corridor when he sees Hinata walking alongside Sai and a couple maids in the distance. She is fresh out of her bath and her cheeks are rosy.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Naruto hides before anyone can see him, his back pressed to the wall, his head tilted back. He breathes in and out, and then in and out again.

He needs to control this damned Beast, control it. But the moment he even thinks of harm coming to his family… of danger being near Hinata, his mind goes into overdrive and he knows he will tear everything apart to keep her safe. Himself included if need be.

His hand is shaking and he stares at it till it settles. The cold wind bites at his skin and after a while he resumes his way back to his room.

⁂⁂⁂

Naruto comes into the room with tired eyes and Hinata is ready to let him sleep and rest and cuddle him, but the moment she walks to him to help him undress Naruto envelops her in a hug that makes her yelp.

"You smell good."

Hinata blushes as Naruto drags his nose down her neck, laying a couple of kisses on his way.

"I j-just took a b-bath."

He hums in appreciation and then rests his head on top of her head, letting a heavy sigh leave his body.

He must be exhausted.

"Sh-shall we go to bed?"

He puts space between them and brings his finger to her chin, lifting her face to him. "Do you feel all right? Are you tired?"

Hinata has to bite down the scoff that wants to leave her body, as he looks a hundred times more haggard than her, but she knows how worried he is and how anxious he feels about not being with her as much as he wants to, so she kissed his palm and makes him follow her into their bed.

She undresses him and although Naruto complains about being able to do it himself and how she has to take care of her body, she loves being able to give him comfort, so she insists.

He has his head on her lap as she caresses his head, their eyes on the garden outside. Naruto finds this relaxing most of the time, but he feels tense somehow, and although Hinata kisses his cheek, and does her best to soften his posture, he doesn't budge.

"Did s-something happen?"

He says nothing. He only turns his face to her, blinks as if pondering and then turns his whole body to hers, his face buried between her belly and her thighs. He brings his one hand to her bottom and the other claps the hand that caresses his face.

"I just don't wanna go to that meeting," he whispers.

And Hinata says nothing, because she doesn't want him to go to that meeting either. She rubs her thumb over his hand and drags her fingers over his scalp.

"I-I'll be waiting for you."

Naruto buries himself even deeper into her body and then sits with slow movements. He cups her face, maps her face with his blue eyes, then dips his head for a kiss.

"I love you." He says and repeats. "I'll be back before you notice."

Hinata doubts it, but she can't bring herself to tell him. Sometimes he reads her better than she can.

She kisses him back, brings her body closer. "I'll be waiting."

Naruto licks her lips, drags his hands down her body. "You smell like soap."

Hinata is about to tell him again that she took a shower, but Naruto opens her sleepwear and kisses her overflowing breasts. "I'll help you take a bath again, don't worry."

Hinata laughs and Naruto brings his head up, confused and worried he may have overstepped. "Is that all right?"

He looks so pretty under the lamp, Hinata can only stare dumbstruck. "I w-won't need another bath." The saliva on her skin is getting colder and it brings memories that make her legs rub together in anticipation, "I love having your s-smell on me."

She expects Naruto to laugh or smirk, give her one of his usual winks. Be playful like he always is. But he just gives her a bittersweet smile that makes her want to gather him in her arms and never let go.

Naruto is faster, though. He kisses her neck, brings her head to his shoulder, then clasps her hand and squeezes.

He doesn't seem to want to let go either.

This one was tough to write, intermission chapters always seem to get stuck someplace, you know.
Anyways, done with it, on to the next one!
Take care and see you next week! (❁´◡`❁)