Blah blah blah: regular text
"Blah Blah Blah" regular speech
'Blah Blah Blah' regular thought or flashback
"Blah Blah Blah" Kyuubi/demonic or summon talking
'Blah Blah Blah' Kyuubi/demonic or summon thinking
Check the copyright if you think I own Naruto
Who's the Hostage
By: EDelta88
Chapter 5: Hide and Speak
'Oi vey, I remember this.'
"What? You mean this part here where you tried to run yourself into the ground for four days straight?"
'So sue me! I didn't know how long I had before they figured out that Hinata was missing.'
"You may be a stamina freak but HONESTLY! What in all the hells were you thinking?"
'Something along the lines of get the hell outa dodge.'
"Yes, but four days straight? And only stopping for water and to give the girl a ration? You've pulled stupid stuff before, but this is going a little too far don't you think?"
'Soldier pill, fur ball.'
"You mean that little pellet you popped wasn't candy?"
'How long have you been stuck with me again?'
"…"
'What's with the look?'
"You actually thought to use one of those?"
'Yeah…'
"Who are you, and what have you done with Naruto?"
'OH FOR THE LOVE OF-'
Somewhere in River Country
'Ok this will do,' thought Naruto as he set his captive against the wall of his new hide out.
Looking around, it wasn't much to look at, but he had found the cave system several miles from a small city in north River country near it's border with Wind country and now he was getting ready to dig in for a good couple of weeks, but first...
'Food,' running for four days stopping only for water, snacks for Hinata, and bathroom breaks (that had been really interesting) over difficult terrain to throw off any pursuers tends to work up an appetite. So after setting a few traps Naruto disappeared to search for something they could eat leaving Hinata to her thoughts.
'Ok, Naruto-kun said that we would be staying here for a while so…' she thought as she continued to iron out just what the hell she planned to do to get her notoriously dense (among other things) crush to realize that she liked him. (1)
A short while later, Naruto returned with a pair of dead rabbits and a bundle of plants clutched in his hands, presumably wild spices and vegetables for whatever he was making.
'Oh, poor bunny,' thought Hinata as Naruto began skinning and gutting his catch.
He must have seen the look she gave them, because as he was laying the pelts aside he spoke, "Don't worry I killed them quickly. They probably didn't even have time to be scared," he stated while giving Hinata an apologetic look before leaving again to dump the innards. (2)
'Naruto-kun...' Hinata thought with more then just a little longing, 'Even though I'm your prisoner you still treat me well. How can someone so kind, someone who has done so much, be treated the way you are? Well... 'how you were treated' I guess.'
Coming back in Naruto sat down and started cutting the rabbit meat into pieces and dropping it in a pot that he took from his pack. While he was doing this he seemed to realize that he had forgotten something and proceeded to smack himself in the forehead which, looking back, could have ended very badly considering he was still holding the kunai he had been using to cut the meat. Either way he crossed his fingers and a moment later…
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he called summoning a small group of shadow clones, "Alright you," he said pointing to one of the clones, "go get the water. The rest of you I need, you to collect fire wood." With that the clones scattered leaving Hinata and Naruto alone once more.
For a few minutes Naruto busied himself with chopping up the remainder of the ingredients to what Hinata assumed to be a soup. A deafening silence settled over the cave, broken only by the sound of Naruto's kunai and returning clones. Quickly making a small cooking fire Naruto set the pot over the flames before sitting back against the wall of the cave. Once Naruto deemed that it was done he poured some into a bowl and began walking around the fire toward Hinata.
'Wait, he can't risk untying me, so that means…' Hinata thought as Naruto sat in front of her.
Reaching out Naruto removed the tag sealing Hinata's mouth before taking hold of the spoon and, "Open wide."
'He's feeding me!' Hinata was on cloud nine, 'This has to be a dream, this even tastes good.' Naruto must have seen the far away look on her face and taken it as depression because as he gave her the next spoonful he spoke.
"You know, as long as you don't try anything I can leave the gag note off," he explained.
"O-ok," she said then as Naruto made to give her another bite she shook her head, "No thank you, I'm full."
"You have got to be kidding," he exclaimed in disbelief, "You've had barely half the bowl."
"I've n-never been a big eater," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Ooook…" he replied clearly still skeptical as he moved back to the pot.
Deciding she needed to change the subject Hinata spoke, "So, what now?"
Sighing slightly Naruto stared into the flames, "Well for now we'll just sit tight till things calm down and then... I don't know…"
"Will you ever go back?"
"Not likely," he said giving a derisive snort, "I wasn't on good terms with a lot of people before this. Now, if I go back, it'll start a riot."
"I don't understand, you are merely a gennin like myself. What could you have done that could be so bad?"
"It's not so much what I've done, as it is what I am and what I represent that's the problem."
At a complete loss as to how to answer that Hinata decided the best course of action was to keep silent and hope Naruto would explain. For quite some time they stayed like that.
'Awe hell, she'll find out when she gets back anyway,' Naruto decided, "Do you remember the story of the Kyuubi attack 13 years ago?"
"Yes," spoke Hinata wondering what he was getting at, "For reasons unknown the Kyuubi no Youko attacked the village, killing hundreds until Yondaime-sama killed it using one of the villages' forbidden techniques."
"Almost right, Iruka-sensei's exact wording was that the Yondaime defeated Kyuubi," he paused for a moment, not noticing Hinata's surprise that at the fact that he had actually payed attention to a lecture. "Do you know what demons are Hinata-chan?" he asked, his eyes on the fire.
"Um..." now that she stopped to think about it she really didn't know.
Noticing this Naruto spoke, "Demons are sentient masses of chakra... tell me Hinata, how do you kill energy?"
"You...can't," her eye's growing wide with realization as she started peicing things together.
"Right, you can't, a Biju can only be sealed away," he spoke lifting his shirt to reveal the intricate seal on his belly.
EDITED: 6/5/11
End Notes
Ok chp 6 done that was a nice distraction now back to NOTNT. Next time on Who's the Hostage? Chp 7: Duck and Cover, keep your head down or you are gonna get nailed as Tsunabe finds out Naruto's gone and why he left. Beware the wrath of the Hokage.
Cliff Notes
1. "like" because love is more developed then what she has shown.
2. If you leave the guts to close to camp it will attract animals