CCNote: WOW! I was not expecting so many people to be excited about this story but I'm totally digging it. I'm especially happy that an update makes so many people happy!

Two points of clarification:

1) Hinata is NOT sealed. When Hanabi says "How could you let yourself get sealed?" she's being incredulous and angry that Hinata would ever put herself in that situation in the first place. Remember in Becoming Hanabi thought it especially stupid for Hinata to suffer in silence for a traitor. The fact that Hinata would offer herself up like that without any sense of self-preservation made her reasonably angry.

2) THIS IS NOT my last long-form story. That one won't be out until this one is finished.

In other news now that school is out I'm heading to Thailand tomorrow for a much-needed vacation. If you wanna see some fun Snaps just PM me. Ignore all glaring mistakes, I wanted to get this out before I left. ANYWAY! Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a REVIEW!

Being Aware

Naruto grinned broadly as he adjusted his backpack and tried not to walk too fast. He didn't want to look too eager in front of his companions. It was difficult to hold in his excitement though. He'd only been away for a couple of weeks but it already felt like an eternity. He couldn't wait to get back and bother Sasuke who was probably going stir crazy without him around. Plus Hinata had likely made something delicious for lunch and it would be a far cry from the chewy jerky and dried vegetables he'd had to subsist on with his comrades.

"I can almost taste the curry!" Lee said excitedly as he bounded on ahead. "Sweet sweet curry!"

"That's what he wants to eat first?" Kiba snorted. "He's going to be shitting for days."

"Gross!" Naruto laughed and punched Kiba lightly on his shoulder.

"What it's true! So whats the first thing you're going to do?"

Naruto placed his hands behind his head and stared up at the orange and pink sky as they walked. What was he going to do first? Sure he could visit Sasuke and Hinata but there was something else that had occupied most of his thoughts during the mission. Well, not something but someone.

"You're smiling." Kiba probed. Naruto turned his face away so that the brunette couldn't point out any more of his features. "C'mon spill! What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on!"

"Your face says otherwise."

"My face is my face."

"It's not like you to be secretive Naruto. I'm hurt."

Naruto frowned and tried to pick up his pace but Kiba was having none of his avoidance.

"Is it about a girl! I bet it's about a girl!"

The blonde chocked on his own spit trying to protest his companion's surprisingly accurate accusations.

"Ha! I fucking knew it! You're going to see a girl!"

"Girl?" Lee said, doubling back to fall into step with the other two. "What's this about a girl."

"There's no girl-"

"Naruto here's going to visit a girl." Kiba said clapping the blonde on the back. Lee stared at him wide-eyed, his mouth slightly agape.

"You have a girlfriend?"

Naruto shook Kiba's arm off of him and brushed away imaginary dirt. Kiba was correct. He was excited to see a girl, more specifically Sakura. She wasn't his girlfriend though. She'd made her feelings about Sasuke exponentially clear even if he was going to be married soon. She'd been handling the situation a lot better when he'd left her for his most recent mission but feelings like that didn't just disappear. He knew that from personal experience.

"She's not my girlfriend." He grumbled but his denial only made Kiba's mischievous grin widen.

"So I was right you are going to see a girl."

"This is amazing Naruto-kun! The warm summer air, the fireworks, if this girl isn't your girlfriend yet she will be after the festival!" Lee lamented.

"Festival?" Naruto said, pausing in the middle of the road.

"Don't tell me you forgot?" Kiba laughed.

"The Harvest Festival starts tonight! This is a time when all of the elements of youth will collide to provide the most potent experience of life. You can't just forget about something like this!"

"Sorry?"

Kiba rolled his eyes and adjusted his pack so he could pick up his pace.

"C'mon Lee you can tell lover boy here all your tips on the way back."

"Yosh! Okay so first you need to buy flowers!"

….

Naruto gulped as he stood in front of the nurse's station in the hospital lobby. He tried to ignore the stares that he got. He'd been stared at for various reasons for as long as he could remember but he hadn't felt this anxious in a long time. Clutching the bouquet of white daisies that he'd purchased at Lee's -and subsequently Ino's- insistence, he nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He should have never listened to Lee about asking his 'girl' at the festival.

Sakura was not his girl. She was a girl. She was his friend. She was not his girlfriend. For her to be his girlfriend they would have to do couples stuff like go on dates. Anytime he'd asked Sakura out on a date before she'd either dismiss it as a joke or was too hung up on Sasuke to give him the time of day. This time could be more of the same.

"Naruto?" a familiar voice called out, snapping him from his worrisome thoughts "What are you doing here?"

Sakura approached him cautiously, green eyes darting between the bouquet that he held and the audience of nurses and patients. Naruto coughed awkwardly into his free hand and tried to remember all of the things that Lee and Ino had instructed him to say but it all ended up a tangled mess on his tongue that refused to move.

"Naruto?"

"Um yeah, I just got back and I thought I'd stop by!" The blonde awkwardly blurted out. Sakura raised a skeptical eyebrow and pointed at the bouquet he held.

"With flowers?"

Suddenly the bouquet felt like he was trying too hard. By the suspicious look on her face it was clear that she didn't want them. Thinking fast, Naruto looked for a way to dispose of them. Coming up empty, he hid the flowers behind his back and chuckled awkwardly.

"If you don't need anything, I have to get back to work-"

"No! I mean wait!" he said quickly and Sakura stopped her retreat. "There's a festival tonight."

"Yea. What about it?"

"Are you going?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders before pushing an errant lock of pink hair behind her ear.

"I wasn't planning on it. Are you going?"

"Yes. It's going to be fun, at least that's what I hear but I don't know for sure. There hasn't been a festival for a long time. Like forever. I would be good to go to. Ya know to try all the food. I hear there are going to be dishes for every village and-"

"Naruto." Sakura snapped, interrupting him mid-rant. The blonde took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" He asked.

"Like a date?"

"No- I mean yes."

Sakura's eyes widened at his request and suddenly both parties became highly aware of the fact that they were not alone. At the nurses' station, medics and trainees alike pretended to busy but there were way too many of them at the desk to be of any sort of help. Naruto watched as his former teammate glared at them which only made them pretend to look busier.

"But like as friends, if you want." Naruto said, blocking their audience from Sakura's view with his own body.

"As…friends?"

Naruto nodded and held his breath as he waited for her inevitable rejection. However, the outcome he expected never came. Instead, a small smile appeared on Sakura's face and she gave him a curt nod.

"Tonight is the first night in a while that I don't have to work the night shift." She said and Naruto raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Sooo?"

Sakura smirked at him before reaching behind his back to grab the bouquet out of his hands. She then continued walking down the hall in the opposite direction, pointedly ignoring how her coworkers stared at her slack-jawed.

"Sakura-chan is that a yes?" Naruto called out after her but she only waved at him and rounded the corner. "I'm going to take that as a yes!"

….

He shouldn't be this nervous. He hadn't been nervous in any of his previous matches. Scared shitless at times but definitely not nervous. Naruto gulped and rubbed his sweaty palms on the front of his hakama, luckily the black material would hide the moisture but would be a bitch to clean. The shop attendants had reminded him to be careful not to get any liquids on it. From syrup to sweat he was supposed to be extra careful not to dirty the silk or there would be hell to pay.

"Too late for that." The Uzumaki grumbled under his breath as he wiped his hands again.

Blue eyes scanned the crowd of people that merrily walked down the wide main street of the village. The crashing of cymbals. The banging of drums. The excited voices of people from Konoha and abroad. They all melded together into one noisy symphony that made it difficult to hear one's own thought- not that he minded of course. It all provided a welcome distraction from the waiting game. Plus it was rather fun to see all of the new faces marvel at the different booths and attractions that the Harvest Festival had to offer. Bright red lanterns, currently unlit, were strung up along the street. When night fell over the street it was sure to be a remarkable sight.

While Naruto knew that he would be a far superior Hokage, he had to hand it to Kakashi. The place looked great. Over the past six months, the rebuilding effort had been underway at a full force. People that had fled because of the war were returning with families in tow and new faces were cropping up every day. Soon this would no longer be the Konoha of his childhood but one of the future. It was a future that he couldn't help but feel giddy to see.

"Naruto!" a voice shouted at him.

Naruto blinked, breaking from his thoughts and turned to see the very thing that had made him so nervous. Sakura stood before him, green eyes curiously staring at him expectantly with an odd quirk of her lips. Lips that, unless he was imagining it, were pinker than they normally were. In fact, Sakura's entire face was different. It was still her face of course but there was something different about it, something softer and more…feminine? Pink locks were pulled back away from her face in a small bun and ornamented with a small, cherry blossom shaped hair clips. She wore a soft pink yukata with a bright yellow obi and although the look was simple, she took his breath away.

"Naruto?" she said, waving a hand in front of his face. "Your face is turning red. Are you alright right?"

The man swallowed and tried to think of something to say that didn't sound dumb. Sakura's hand stopped waving in front of his face as she stretched a bit further and pressed her hand against his forehead. She then placed her other hand against her own temple for reference and frowned.

"You don't seem to be running a fever…" she said pensively as she drew back her hand. "Did you eat anything weird before you got back to the village? You shouldn't be at a festival if you feel sick-"

"I'm not sick!" he blurted out.

If Sakura thought he was sick, which he wasn't, she would back out of their 'not a date-date' and that was the last thing he wanted. She didn't look too convinced by his outburst either. Scratching the back of his head, he swallowed what little of his pride he had left and looked away from her.

"Youlookreallypretty." He mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Youlookreallypretty."

"Naruto we should go back-"

"I said you look really pretty!"

He hadn't meant to shout. By the look on her face, Sakura hadn't expected him to either but she didn't look upset with him. On the contrary, it was her turn to now glow a vibrant shade of red.

"Hey look it's Naruto!"

"Guys look!"

Both Leaf shinobi broke out of their own little world of self-contained embarrassment to see a small hoard of boys running their way. The children clamored around him excitedly in a way that only a festival and copious amounts of sugar could provide.

"Look at this I caught a fish!" one of the boys said, his brown curls sticking out in all directions. He jerked his thumb in the direction of another scruffy looking blonde standing next to him. "Shin said it was impossible but I did it! Look at it."

"Don't shake the bag Kei." Shin admonished.

"I'm not shaking the bag!"

"Yes, you are!"

"You're gonna kill it you idiot!"

"Nuh un!"

"Yes hun!"

Naruto shook his head at their antics and crouched down to get a better look at the fish that the boy had won. The bright orange goldfish looked petrified in its plastic baggy that was indeed being shaken by its new owner.

"Hey Kei can I get a closer look?" he asked and the curly haired brunette blinked, momentarily ceasing his argument with Shin.

"Yea sure!" Kei said and held the bag out to him. "Pretty cool right?"

Naruto took the bag with both hands and cocked his head to the side.

"It's alright I guess but it looks pretty cramped in this bag ya know."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you can't really see how cool it is all stuffed in a bag."

"I told you he'd think it was dumb." Shin grumbled and Kei's face fell. Naruto shook his head at the boys and returned the goldfish to its now despondent owner.

"It's not dumb. It pretty cool but it can't swim in a bag. You can only see how cool it is if you can see it swim."

"There's a river not far from here!" one of the boys that had crowded near Shin and Kei shouted. "If we get there before sunset we can watch it swim!"

"That sounds like a great idea." Naruto encouraged, happy that the fish wouldn't die as soon a death as it would have.

Kei's face instantly lit up again at the prospect of watching his fish swim in an actual river. Even Shin seemed curious about seeing such a thing although he did his best to look uninterested. Naruto stood up to his full height and placed his hands on his hips.

"Wanna come to watch it?" Kei asked, brown eyes staring up at the Uzumaki expectantly. Shin elbowed him in the side and snorted.

"He's with his girlfriend you dummy. He doesn't wanna watch a fish."

For the first time since the horde of boys had arrived, Naruto finally looked to his side where Sakura was standing. He opened his mouth to deny Shin's claims but the other boys were already elbowing each other and whispering furiously. With mischievous, gossip spreading grins on their faces they all backed away to go forward with their plan of setting the goldfish free.

"Bye Naruto! See you at school!"

"Have fun with your girlfriend!"

The blonde blanched at the boldness of the boys. He was going to have to turn into a tyrant like Anko if he was ever going to get any semblance of respect out of them. Beside him, Sakura laughed and waved back to the boys.

"Don't do that you'll just egg them on." Naruto grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

By Monday the entire academy would believe that he finally had a girlfriend. When Friday rolled around he would likely have a wife and two kids.

"You're pretty good with kids." She said. Naruto stared at her with wide eyes, genuinely surprised to hear a compliment from her.

"Really?"

"Yea. It's probably because you're just an oversized kid yourself!"

"Hey!"

He wasn't a kid. He'd seen more than most people had at his age and he liked to think he'd at least grown a little bit. Sakura felt no remorse for bruising his pride though. That smile she had never left her face as stepped up to him and grabbed his hand. As soon as her fingers intertwined with his own, all slights were forgiven and replaced by a warmth that radiated in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's go find something to eat, I'm hungry." She said.

At the mere mention of food a switch went off in the Uzumaki's brain and he tightened his grip on her hand to pull her along. If it was food Sakura wanted on this not a date-date then it was food she was going to get!

….

Perhaps it was the headiness of the air that caused it, thick with the scent of ash and fried foods.

Perhaps it was because this was the first night she'd had off in over a month.

Everything she ate tasted better than normal and things she usually didn't find funny all of a sudden were. When he let go of her hand, even for a second just to grab something, she noticed the loss sharply. His touch was gone for long though before his hands sought hers out once more. Even now as they watched the grand finale of the fireworks, their fingers still intertwined. Sakura smiled when she felt him squeeze her hand and cheer when a particularly vibrant set of explosives went off.

'He really is just a big kid.' Sakura thought as he turned his head to flash her a smile.

His entire face was lit up by the reds and yellows that exploded in the night sky. Her eyes studied the way shadows danced across his skin and the lopsidedness of his grin. The baby fat that used to stubbornly stick to his cheeks had long ago disappeared, giving way to a more masculine jawline. Had he always been this handsome? Blue eyes stared back into her own. Just as curious. Just as anxious. It felt like an eternity had passed between them as the fireworks continued to go off in the night sky, the cheers of the crowd drowned out by the thrumming of her own heart. Slowly but surely his face came closer to her own. A hand heavily calloused by countless battles cupped the back of her head to gently bring her closer and she stood on her toes for leverage.

Perhaps it was because they'd spent a good chunk of their money on games, coming up empty handed but walking away happier than before.

Perhaps it was because for the first time in her young life she actually felt her age.

Naruto had kissed her once before when things were less complicated than they were now. At that time his lips had been hesitant then when they met hers. She had been nervous as well. Confused and also guilty. Those negative feelings had tainted the kiss although she still thought about it from time to time when she allowed her mind to wander. This time when their lips met she allowed the warmth that he provided to freely overtake her senses entirely.

She relished the way his lips moved over her own and the way it made her fingertips tingle. She let go of his hand to wrap her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss and adding a new layer of insistence. Naruto smiled against her lips and happily obliged, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her flush against his front.

Perhaps it was because she missed the peace that he provided.

Perhaps it was because out of everyone in her life he'd never left her side.

Perhaps…it was just because she wanted to.

…..

Sakura groaned as light poured into the small window of the bedroom and tried to bury her face in her pillow to ignore it. Usually, she closed the curtains so that she didn't have this problem. There was also another issue to contend with. Her pillow was not as soft as it usually was, in fact, it was downright hard…and breathing.

'Breathing?' Sakura thought, alarm bells ringing off in her head as her eyes immediately popped open.

What greeted her was a sight that was not unfamiliar. She knew Naruto's apartment better than her own room in her parents' house at this point. Since she'd started crashing here on a regular basis the small space was a lot cleaner. Empty ramen cups and water bottles no longer found a home on random perches. Scrolls were placed in an orderly fashion on a desk she was sure Naruto had never sat at and clothing tended to make it into the closet or the laundry.

Except…this time their clothing from the night before was strewn on the floor. Pink and orange silk pooled haphazardly together, instantly reminding her of the events that had transpired last night. The awkward touches. The heavy breathing. The kisses so warm that it felt as if her skin were on fire. Sakura blushed at the memory. It was well worth the dull ache of discomfort between her legs. She bit her bottom lip and began to sit up. This, whatever this was, complicated things.

"Mmmm." Naruto groaned when she moved away.

Tired blue eyes peeked at her, a rather mischievous grin gracing his lips. She didn't quite get what he was smiling about until she followed where his eyes were trained and immediately pulled the sheets over her bare chest.

"Pervert." She hissed and Naruto chuckled.

"Morning."

Sakura bit her bottom lip and turned away from his still probing gaze. It didn't matter whether she covered up or not at this point. He'd already seen more of her than she'd ever shown to anyone else…parts she'd expected to show only one person.

"You're upset." Naruto said but Sakura shook her head.

She wasn't upset. Last night had been…she couldn't quite put into words how she felt about last but she wasn't upset. Maybe confused and anxious but certainly not upset. She just needed time to think and she couldn't do that sitting naked in bed with the man that made her so confused in the first place.

Gingerly she slid out from under the sheets that covered her and off the bed, wincing slightly when her feet touched the floor. She stepped over their tangled kimonos and took the liberty of pilfering a shirt from Naruto's dresser. She could feel his eyes watching her as she moved about the room but she pointedly didn't return his gaze.

"You are upset." He said once she pulled a black t-shirt over her head. She then grabbed a pair of his old sweat pants and put them on as well. The bed squeaked as he sat upright with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed. " If you regret last night-"

"I don't regret it!" Sakura snapped.

She didn't regret it. There were far worse men that she could have slept with last night. Those men, however, didn't come with the baggage that was between herself and Naruto. She could have easily slipped out of their beds and they would have thought nothing of it. They wouldn't have held her through the night or whispered affections in her ears. She didn't regret what happened but maybe…maybe he did.

"Do you?" she asked and Naruto looked at her curiously.

"Do I what?"

"Regret last night!"

"No why would you think that?"

"Because you asked me!"

"Well, you're acting like you do."

"I don't!"

"Well, I don't either!"

"Why are you yelling?"

"Because you're yelling!"

"I'm yelling because you're yelling!"

Sakura paused to catch her breath and Naruto did the same. This was ridiculous. Why were they even yelling at each other? Naruto's thoughts seemed to run along a different track that her own were because his lips upturned into a mischievous smirk.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked cautiously as he stood up from the bed. When the sheet fell from his waist she immediately turned around to keep herself from looking.

"So you liked it?"

"Oh my god Naruto put some pants on!"

Before the nude man in question could protest her request, she marched out of the room. She just needed space to think and she couldn't do that with him naked!

Knock Knock Knock

The frantic pounding on the door kept the kunoichi from her goal of trying to get a moment of peace. Sakura paused for a second in the middle of the living room and eyed the door curiously. Who in the world could want Naruto so early in the morning? He didn't get many visitors at normal hours.

Knock Knock Knock

"Open up! Please!"

Sakura nearly jumped at the sound of the muffled voice on the other side of the door. She wasn't sure who it could be but whoever they were they sounded desperate. Pushing all thoughts of Naruto and his pantless situation aside, she crossed the small living room and opened the door. Once open, she was surprised to find a rather disheveled looking Hanabi on the other side with her fist raised to knock again.

"Hanabi?"

"Is she here?" the teen asked breathlessly, pushing past Sakura to get into the house. "Please tell me she came here."

"Who came here?" Sakura asked, an unnecessary feeling of jealousy burgeoning in her chest.

As far as she knew no other women would have a reason to come to Naruto's apartment. She was here enough that the neighbors were already gossiping, she would have surely heard if another woman had been paying Naruto visits. Plus he'd been on a mission for the last three weeks so there couldn't have been anyone coming here to look for him. Sakura shook her head at her own distracting thoughts and turned her attention back to Hanabi who had now activated her Byakugan to scan the apartment.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura hissed, immediately reminded of the fact that Hyuugas could see through walls and there was likely a still naked Uzumaki in the bedroom. Hanabi deactivated her eyes and cursed under her breath.

"Dammit, she's not here."

"Again, who's not here?"

Hanabi ran a frustrated hand through her dark brown hair, the aura around her was much too heavy for a girl her age.

"My sister." She said finally. "Did you see her at all last night or maybe even this morning?"

"Hinata?" Sakura said pensively before shaking her head.

She hadn't seen Hinata at the festival at all. Now that she thought about it she'd expected to see Hinata and Sasuke at the festival but they didn't make an appearance. The two tended to keep to the Uchiha District anyway so it wasn't all that odd that they didn't attend the event but by the hopeless way Hanabi looked at her she could tell that something was wrong. The girl looked like she might faint on her feet if the wind was too strong.

Sakura placed a ginger hand on the girl's shoulder and led her over to Naruto's lumpy green couch. It wasn't the most comfortable piece of furniture but it would have to do for right now. She then directed Hanabi to sit which she did reluctantly just as Naruto exited the bedroom.

"I put on pants- oh hey Hanabi!" Naruto said, throwing Sakura confused looks in between eyeing their new visitor. "What brings you here?"

Hanabi immediately sprang up from the couch as soon as she heard Naruto's voice and raced over to him.

"Please, you have to help me before they label her a missing-nin!"

"Whoa, what?" Naruto asked incredulously and Sakura walked over to the pair with a more level approach.

"Hanabi please tell us what is going on?"

Hanabi turned back to her with red-rimmed eyes that she rubbed with the heel of her hand.

"Hinata-nee-chan…she…she's gone."

….

"Do you think you can handle him?" Kakashi asked the masked man that stood by his side.

"In the likely event that he's decided he's had enough, no."

Kakashi smirked and turned to look out of his office window at the bustling village below. The stalls from the night before were being torn down, the merriment and memories that they'd wrought going with them. The entire atmosphere of the village was lighter after the festival. It was a testament to the peace that they'd fought so hard for that no incidents had occurred. No one was hurt. No plots, no backstabbings.

It was just a simple festival but it heralded so much more. It signaled that things had the potential to change for the better. It seemed impossible in his youth that there could be much more to life than killing or being killed. When he was within the ranks of the Anbu it was a constant fact of life. Kill or be killed. Those were the only options. However, his mind had changed a lot since his youth and just like his perspective the village had changed as well. Everything and everyone had the capacity to change. Even people as stubborn as the last Uchiha.

"Were you able to persuade the others?" Kakashi asked and his companion nodded.

"Persuasion was not necessary. The word of a Hokage is final."

"Unwavering as always, regardless of who is in power."

The Hokage scratched his chin over his mask and watched as two distinctive figures darted through the aftermath of the festival towards the tower. Orange and pink sprinted like two bats out of hell, clearly determined and probably pissed. Kakashi closed his eyes and prepared himself for an ensuing headache. Beside him, the masked figure chuckled and turned away from the window.

"I'll take my leave now before those two get here." He said.

Kakashi nodded and looked away from his oncoming destruction. If Naruto and Sakura caught wind of Yamato's presence it wouldn't take long for them to put together the pieces. However, no matter how loud the two would inevitably get, handling them would be far easier than dealing with Hinata. It had only been a few hours since she'd requested to leave with eyes puffy and red from crying. The fact that he was unable to tell her what had become of her now ex-fiance did nothing to help her utterly crushed aura.

If anything, it only made her worse.

Glancing up from the village below, he turned his eyes to the sky and noted absently that the Hyuuga and Akimichi should be a considerable distance from the village by now. Hopefully when she returned it would be with a clearer head and a heart that was slightly less broken.

"Hey, you can't go in there!"

"Out of my way!"

The door to his office slammed open on its hinges and two irate shinobi stormed into his office.

"Kakashi-sensei! What the hell is going on?!"

….

"I'm so glad that you're coming with me Hinata-san! Now I have someone to keep me company! Have you ever been to Cloud territory?"

Hinata shook her head at her exuberant companion who looked at her like she'd sprouted a third eye. Pumping his fist in the air he pressed forward on their steady trek away from Konoha.

"I'm going to show you all the best dango shops along the way. Also curry. My mouth is watering just thinking about it."

As it had all day, his ramblings faded to the back of her mind and more pressing matters rose to the forefront. Matters that she'd rather not think about but was forced to anyway. It wasn't that Choji wasn't a good companion. In many ways, he reminded her of Naruto and Kiba. Loyal, loud, trustworthy. He was an excellent shinobi and an even better friend but right now she just wanted to be alone. Well, not alone…just not with him.

"You also gotta try the cake. Ooooooh man! There's a really great cake shop right on the border. It's absolutely amazing!"

Hinata sighed and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. It was the only way to keep from crying. If she were still in the compound she was positive that she'd be reduced to little more than a puddle of tears. She'd have to return of course…her honor depended on it. Her clan depended on her returning. Hanabi depended on her returning. Yet…she didn't want to go back.

"Oh and don't get me started about the barbeque! There is nothing like Cloud barbeque! You're going to love it!"

Leaving didn't make her feel any better but the prospect of staying was worse. The reality of having to marry someone else was unthinkable. As strange as the entire situation had started, she'd actually started to look forward to marrying Sasuke.

'Sasuke.' She thought, her throat tightening uncomfortably as she did so.

Kakashi hadn't told her anything about his situation. Whether he was alive or dead. A free man or rotting in a Konoha cell. He'd said absolutely nothing except to say that he'd been informed by her father of the nullification of their marriage contract. Hinata sniffed as her eyes began to burn with the increasingly familiar sensation of tears. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her right hand and gently stroked her unnamed pup in its sling while it slept.

"Hinata-san," Choji said curiously, pausing his walk to stare at her. "Are you okay?'

The woman in question forced a smile on her face and nodded.

"Of course."

To be continued….Being Yourself