Chapter 4
"What are you going to do now?" Naruto tiredly shuffled up behind Sasuke, where he stood looking out of the castle window at the first rays of sunlight signaling the oncoming dawn.
The fight had ended hours ago, with most of the soldiers so shocked by the bloody demise of their prince that the Merry Men, plus Hinata's accomplices, had been able to completely subdue them shortly thereafter. Those who had not been slayed in the fight were locked in the castle dungeons. The fire had quickly been doused, and Naruto was helped down from the parapet with little more than a sprained ankle. By now, Jiraiya should already be back at Sherwood Forest. Proudly spreading the news of their victory and rounding up the rest of the Merry Men to join them in Nottingham, where the restoration of the Uchiha Clan and the village could finally begin.
Sasuke inhaled, slow and deep. Not looking away from the pinking sky. "Sleep well. For the first time in many, many years."
Naruto huffed a tired laugh. Reaching up to rub the back of his head and banging his fingers on the forgotten crown he still wore. "Oh, here," he said, pulling it off and holding it out. "This is yours to care for now, I guess."
Sasuke glanced down at the priceless ornament, something shifting in his eyes. "Keep it," he said, brushing past Naruto's outstretched arm and walking with purpose towards some destination or another. "You deserve it. And it was never mine to begin with."
Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion, but Sasuke could be pretty dramatic sometimes, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and yawned. God he was tired. He'd give anything for a nice…
"Naruto?" Her voice was quiet and uncertain. He whipped around, not having heard her approach.
"H-Hinata…"
The two stared at one another, the silence stretching out awkwardly. She poked her fingertips together and chewed her bottom lip. He swallowed hard and twirled the crown in his hands.
"You must be exhausted," she said timidly, "You fought so hard. You were amazing."
He stepped closer, plunking the crown back on his head and wiping his sweaty hands on his pants. "Nah, I couldn't have done it without you, Hinata. You saved my life out there with that last move."
She blushed prettily, and he took a deep breath. "Would you…um, where are you…I mean, can I ask if—if—" the words left his brain, muddled with emotions and tired beyond belief. He rubbed a hand over his face, cursing himself. It seemed all of his bravery had disappeared with his adrenaline.
Her eyes studied him, shaky fingers tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She opened her mouth and shut it. Then pressed her lips together before trying again.
"Sleep with me?" As soon as the words left her she gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. Naruto blinked, his hands falling to his sides.
"What did you just—"
"I-I-I mean, I know where you can sleep!" she corrected desperately. Twisting her fingers together until her knuckles popped. "Tonight. Er, this morning? Uh…for now. I have a place set aside where you can get some sl-sleep."
Without waiting for a response she pressed her hands to her heated cheeks and practically ran away. Startled, and mind still spinning from attempting to decipher what she might be trying to say, Naruto jerked back to attention and half limped-half jogged after her.
Minutes later she was pushing her way through a door, swinging it open wide and hiding behind it as she shyly gestured for him to come inside. "Here. You can stay here and sleep. No one will disturb you."
Naruto had to duck slightly through the low doorway, but there was nothing small about the huge room. Spinning around, he took in the expensive furniture, the canopied bed, and the softest looking pile of pillows he had ever seen. He felt more dirty and uncivilized than ever in the midst of this extravagant space.
"Damn, this is so nice." Awe filled his tone. But a second later he frowned and turned back to Hinata. "Is this your room?"
"Oh, well, yes. But it's fine. I'm n-not tired right now," she giggled nervously and started to head back out the door. But before she could make it through his hand reached over her shoulder and shut it in her face.
"Good," Naruto said in a low voice that hovered just above her head. "Neither am I."
Hinata gulped, he was so close he could hear it. He knew she was shy, but he hated running away from uncomfortable situations without resolving them. And he really hated that they had grown so distant that there was any discomfort between them at all.
"Can we talk? At least for a little bit?"
She slowly turned around, pressing herself into the wooden door as if wishing it would absorb her. But to her credit she didn't fight him. "Of c-course we can t-talk."
Naruto sighed, noticing a cobweb in her hair that danced with his exhalation. His fingers felt clumsy and callous as he threaded them into her silky strands and tried to pull the delicate web free. She froze at his touch, but her face burned redder with every stroke.
"You've been through a lot since I saw you last," he started, keeping his eyes focused on his little task. "I never doubted you when you said you could do this. Infiltrating the nobility, tricking Prince Orochimaru, plotting this whole thing and pulling it off. We never could have succeeded without you." He let his fingers comb down the length of her long hair, feeling the air between them shudder as she reacted. But she said nothing, so he licked his lips and continued to ramble.
"You're made for this life, Hinata. You're good at it. You're smart, beautiful, regal. You deserve all of this and more." His eyes swept around the room, taking in the ornate surroundings. The colorful tapestries on the walls. The imported rugs to keep out the chill. The fresh flowers perfectly arranged in fine china vases.
A stark contrast to his own abode. A semi-permanent tent with a cot and a rickety wooden desk. A packed earth floor and a single lantern by which to write the love letters he'd never been able to send, due to the risk. Letters to a woman that he now wondered if he was worthy to stand beside.
He stepped away from her, regret filling his heart until it wanted to crack and shatter. But the longer he stayed here the more obvious it became. She could do so much better than him. He wanted everything for her. He could never live with himself knowing she had to give up all of this for his pathetic, ill-bred ass.
"Naruto what are you saying?" Her voice was high and thin. Stepping forward she tugged on his arm, her brows pinching together as she searched his face for a hint of his meaning. "None of these things matter to me. It's just you that I care about."
He smiled sadly down at her, the loyalty of her words soothing the growing ache of knowing he would have to let her go. "You mean the world to me, Hinata, and I wish that I could give you exactly that. But I can't. I'm a Nobody. Nothing but an outlaw with an overblown reputation, unfit for the presence of the noble Maid Marian."
Lifting his hand she pressed his palm onto her cheek, her eyes starting to water even as she scowled. "I was a Nobody when we met, too. But you never left my side. You didn't care where I had come from or what I had been before we met. It's the same for me." Her gaze bounced back and forth between his blue eyes, begging him to cave in, tempting him to be greedy and take her back instead of setting her free.
Naruto groaned, his thumb sliding across the soft curve of her pouting lips without his permission. "Hinata, don't make this harder than it already is for me. I know you're just being kind, but you can't mistake your pity for me as an obligation to stay. I…" his voice cracked and his throat started to tighten, "I see now, how it should be. What you've been giving up for my sake. I won't ask you to do that anymore. I won't be selfish. I love you too much to bind you to a peasant, when you should be lauded as a queen."
Tears rolled from her eyes and pooled around his fingers. She shook her head, nuzzling into the palm of his hand and tightening her grip around his wrist to keep it there. "You're wrong Naruto, I don't belong anywhere but with you."
"Hinata, I–"
A loud knock on the door interrupted the heavy moment, and Hinata gasped at the voice of Ino on the other side declaring her intention to enter.
"You have to hide! Now!" she hissed at Naruto, wiping her face on her sleeve and smoothing down her hair. "If she sees you in here she'll freak out!"
Naruto paled as the latch started to rattle, frantically looking around for a place to disappear. He'd seen what that woman could do to a man, and he did not want to be neutered today. At the last second he bolted across the room and slid under the massive bed, knocking the crown off his head. It clattered and rolled on the floor, but just as the door swung open he was able to grab it and yank it under the bed with him.
"Ino! Ten Ten? Wh-what is all this?" Hinata choked out as the women rushed into the room.
Naruto clutched the crown to his chest and tried to control his breathing as he listened to the hurried footsteps of Hinata's Ladies-in-Waiting race around the room. At the sound of a heavy clunk, he lifted his head, able to see the bottom of what looked like a large tub being set in the middle of the room.
"Don't be stupid!" Ten Ten cried, her feet walking back to the door and holding it open. "Today's the day you've been talking about for, like, ever! Robin Hood is finally here, and we are going to get you all dolled up."
Several more pairs of feet appeared through the door and the sound of sloshing water pouring into the tub reached Naruto's ears. He perked up, suddenly more interested than scared.
"N-Now?!" Hinata squeaked. But Ino was apparently assaulting her already.
"Hell yes 'now'! Can't have you making love to the man of your dreams covered in other people's blood. Stop fighting me, turn around." Rustling fabric and ribbons pooled on the floor and Naruto's vision started to blur.
Did he hear Ino right? Hinata thought he was the man of her dreams? Did they say 'make love'?!
"What are you waiting for?" Ten Ten laughed, shooing the last servant out now that the bath was apparently full. She shut the door and turned back, her voice teasing. "Night after night, for months we've had to listen to you complain about how much you missed living in the vast outdoors and hated castle life." Her voice pitched upwards in mimicry. "'The clothes are so stifling, the manners are so stiff, the people are so fake, the atmosphere is so suffocating.'" She huffed and the sound of something being sprinkled into the water could be heard. "And don't get me started on the endless pining!"
"I do not pine," Hinata mumbled sulkily. But her defensiveness was dismissed by Ino's snort.
"Please, did you see yourself everytime a letter arrived? The giggling. The blushing. The staring longingly out the window looking for a messenger bird…very 'damsel-in-distress' of you."
Now Naruto was crawling forward on his belly like a worm, trying to get as close to the edge of the bed as he could without being seen. This was all news to him. Very, very, good news.
"Don't forget the 'secret' diary she kept about him," Ten Ten laughed as a loud splash announced Hinata's unwilling submersion into the tub. "No scribe would ever dare to copy a word of that smutty stuff."
Naruto's eyes widened, and the telltale pressure of a nosebleed started to build within his head. Between the mental images of Hinata naked in a bath just a few feet away, and the idea that she had been writing dirty things about them…
She gasped in horror. "You read my diary–blrpblrpblrp!?" she was cut off as a bucket was apparently poured over her head. Judging by her grunts and gurgles, the two women were now attacking her with soap.
"Then you should've hid it in a better spot than under the mattress. But never mind that," Ino scolded, trying to drown her and change the subject at the same time. "The point is, the man you love more than anyone in the world is somewhere in this castle at this very moment, and we don't intend to let you endure another night without living out your fantasy–erm, dreams. You've worked so hard and endured so much, you deserve it."
Naruto was hyperventilating. Was it true? It had to be true. These women had no idea of the doubts he harbored, yet they were shooting them down one by one with perfect aim. Hinata hadn't just missed him, she'd yearned for him! For the life they had shared out in the endless forest, sleeping under the open sky, next to the cheery campfire. She didn't want riches and finery, she really did want just simple, old...him.
"Ow!" she yelped. They must have moved on to her hair, as Ten Ten was now grumbling about needing a different comb. "Why are you doing this?" Hinata whimpered, no doubt mortified at knowing Naruto was listening to every last word.
"Because," Ino declared, standing up and heading towards the door with Ten Ten not far behind, "it's true love!" With that the pair instructed Hinata to remain still and relax while they went in search of clean linens for the bed and 'that hunky outlaw'. In that order.
As soon as the door latched shut Naruto was scrambling out from under the bed. Hinata screamed and sank up to her nose in the soapy water when his blond head emerged from hiding. A mischievous gleam in his eyes, he hurried over to the door and locked it.
Hinata's eyes bulged. His grin was vulpine.
"Is it true?" he asked, walking back towards the bed. "Everything they said?"
Hinata didn't move a muscle, steam curling around her face. But she closely followed his movements as he limped over to the far side of her bed.
"Are you gonna fess up, or do I have to find out for myself?" He bent over, running his hands under the overstuffed featherbed. Hinata started to lurch out of the tub but remembered her nakedness and froze, chest barely hidden.
Naruto chuckled darkly, "I'll take that as a 'yes'." A second later his fingers brushed something solid and his whole face lit up. "Well, well, what do we have here?"
Pulling out a small black journal he dangled it in the air between the tips of two fingers, waggling his eyebrows at the beet red woman trapped in her own bath. Hinata looked ready to faint, the water sloshed as she twisted in her prison, pressing her chest against the side of the wooden tub as she reached out with dripping arms in his direction.
"Give that to me!" she hissed, fingers gesturing frantically. "Naruto, I swear to god if you open that diary I will–"
"Will what?" he smirked, flipping through the pages with glee. Stopping on a particular passage he cleared his throat and read, "I want to drag my tongue up and down his neck, tracing the muscles across his chest while stroking his chiseled abs with my fingertips. Scoring his solid back with my fingernails until I've marked him with my desire."
He looked at her over the top of the book, fake dismay painted across his features. "Hinata, you naughty little vixen."
"Please stop," she whined, desperation propelling her further out of the water. A smidge further and Naruto would totally have the view of a lifetime.
He licked his finger and turned a few more pages, searching for something really spicy. It didn't take long. Primly taking a seat on the edge of her bed, he pitched his voice upwards to mimic a young female and dramatically read the next paragraph with delighted zeal.
"'Don't stop,' she begged him between heavy pants, her desire nearly choking the words in her throat as he bathed her aching breasts with saliva. 'Don't you dare stop, I can't live without your love, without your passion, without your thick, delicious cock–'"
Hinata screamed, launching out of the tub so fast Naruto saw nothing but a blur of midnight hair and pale creamy skin. He jumped away as she dove across the massive bed, her hand grabbing nothing but the empty sheets where he had sat. Landing on his backside on the floor as the overturned tub soaked the rugs, Naruto laughed so hard he didn't care about the spilled bathwater soaking the seat of his pants.
He held the damning diary high above his head as she glared at him where she lay on the tall bed. He swallowed hard, being just a few feet away and barely below eye level with that steely silver gaze was enough to unnerve a lesser man.
Naruto dared to glance at the soft mounds of her bosom, pressed into the heavy blankets and looking more inviting than the fluffiest feather pillows. She saw him look, and in that moment he gratefully bore witness to the way her blush went all the way down her chest. The sight made his own cock start to harden, more than it already had been ever since the first bucket of bathwater had been poured.
Splayed out on the floor in increasingly wet pants, the obvious sight of his arousal was impossible to ignore. It managed to momentarily distract Hinata from her deadly embarrassment. Her eyes widened, and when she looked at his face again, the heat of anger had given way to a different kind of burning.
Knowing he was either going to seal the deal or make a huge mistake, Naruto shakily lowered his arm, took a deep breath, and opened the diary again. This time, the huskiness in his voice was no act.
"He drank her in like a man dying of thirst, the taste of her kisses a gift of salvation he was somehow deemed worthy to receive. The desert of his soul had never known such glory, such richness.
He basked in the abundance her body had to offer.
Sated his mortal hunger by devouring her divine love.
He was an empty urn. Simple and ugly.
Long forgotten in a world of priceless chalices and delicate vases.
Useless.
Until she blessed him with her attention. Picked him up out of the darkness and polished his rough edges. Washed away his filth until he gleamed under her care.
His value was the result of her love. He was nothing before she found him. And when she filled him with herself, he overflowed with a joy so powerful he completely forgot everything except the bounty of her perfection."
Silence hung heavily in the room, only the dripping of water marking the passage of time. Hinata sat up, hugging a blanket to her wet body and gaping at him. "I…I didn't write that," she whispered.
Naruto gently set the book down, well away from the water. Sitting up and taking a deep breath, he looked her directly in the eyes. "I did. I wrote a lot actually. It helped. With the loneliness."
She stared at him with wide eyes as though seeing him for the first time. Their gazes locked and the uncanny synchrony that had been missing for so long snapped into place. He could see her whole body tense, practically hear her heart pounding.
Not daring or wanting to look away, Naruto knelt as close as he could to the edge of the bed. Tilting his head upwards like an acolyte appealing in prayer, letting her see all the fervor and vulnerability in his heart. "Hinata, if…if you really want an idiot like me–"
He didn't finish before she had tackled him, immediately tangling them together in the soaked sheet. Naruto caught her and crushed her against himself, his mind going fuzzy as the lushness of her curves pressed into his body. She was kissing his face, his mouth, his neck. Clawing at the laces of his shirt. Every inch of skin her nimble fingers revealed was peppered by her lips.
"I want you," she panted between kisses, "just you, Naruto. I've always, ever, only, wanted you."
Naruto grunted and flipped them over, pinning her between his knees as he reared up and ripped off his shirt. "I love you so much Princess," he murmured, diving back down to taste her skin, licking the drops of water that trailed down between her breasts. The torture of their forced chastity finally falling apart was making them each frenzied with need.
She pushed the blanket down, exposing her tight pink nipples and sighing harshly when he sucked them hard. "Th-That's not my name," she whimpered.
"It is to me," he growled, the words rumbling across her flesh. Goosebumps rippled over her torso, and she keened beautifully while digging her fingers into his hair.
"And princesses shouldn't be fucked on the cold floor," he stated, suddenly scooping her up and carrying her over to the bed. The soaked blanket was forgotten, but neither cared. They were wrapped around each other as though they'd never let go. Feathers erupted into the air as they collapsed onto the mattress, floating delicately around them while they roughly writhed together.
Hinata's hands were dancing closer and closer to the laces of his pants. Naruto's brow furrowed at the nearly painful strain of his erection against the confines of his clothes. Just when she had finally found the strings and started to free him, the door rattled again.
"Hinata!" Ino's annoyed voice was muffled through the wooden barrier. "What's going on? Let us in."
"She's busy!" Naruto snarled, and Hinata smothered his mouth with two hands. Pressing him into the mattress she turned with a look of horror towards the locked door.
BANG, BANG, BANG! "Who the fuck is that?" Ten Ten demanded angrily. "Hinata are you okay?"
"I-I-I'm f-fine!" she squeaked out, in a wholly unconvincing way. She tried to glare down at Naruto, but her insides turned to putty when she saw that he had now completely freed his hardened length and was stroking it salaciously. Her eyes snapped up, meeting his bold blue gaze. Her fingertips turned white where they pressed into his mouth, keeping him from saying the accusing words that she could plainly read in his expression. 'I dare you to stop.'
"You don't sound fine, I'm going to get Tsunade," Ino threatened.
"No, no! I'm good, I swear!" Hinata licked her lips as his strokes grew firmer, precum beading up out of the swollen tip. He hummed against her hands, licking her palms. Hinata's arms trembled and her excuses started to trail away. "I'm really, really, good…"
It took barely a push for Naruto to regain the upper hand. He loomed over her, kicking his pants off while staring hungrily at her flushed face and chest. "She'll be even better if you leave her to me," he called out shamelessly to the women locked on the other side of the door.
Out in the hallway Ino looked incredulously at Ten Ten. "Is that Robin Hood's voice?!"
"How am I supposed to know, Tsunade is the only one who has seen him face to face," Ten Ten retorted. "I still think we should–"
"Oh god, Naruto!" Hinata couldn't stifle her cries as Naruto pushed her knees open and pressed his mouth against her center. Tongue kneading her folds and sucking her clit with unhinged desire. His fingers gripped her thighs so tightly she was certain he would leave bruises, and secretly hoped they'd last for days.
Nothing but encouraged by the volume of her reaction, he released one leg and thrust a long finger deep into her core, making her fist the mattress as she cried out again. "Yes, Naruto, YES PLEEEEASE!"
"Damn," Ten Ten straightened, fanning her face. "Even if it isn't him, maybe we should just let her finish before we interrupt."
Ino had her ear pressed against the door. "Yeah, I guess if she's enjoying it that much…"
"Faster, Naruto! Oh god you feel so good, don't stop, don't stop…"
A shadow loomed over the two Ladies-in-Waiting and they snapped to attention at the approach of a furious looking Tsunade, hands planted on her hips and a scowl painted across her face. "Do you two have no decency? Hinata's finally reunited with her man and you're gonna eavesdrop like a pair of perverts? Get out of here! Shoo!"
The lovers in the room were unaware of the three women running down the hall. They were hopelessly lost in the pleasures of the flesh as they continued to drive each other higher and higher. Hinata chanted Naruto's name as she came on his mouth and fingers, and he was finally able to sate his hunger as he drank her up. He sat back, admiring the mess he had made of his Princess. But he didn't get to enjoy the view for long.
"You're not done," Hinata commanded in a tone of authority that made his balls tighten. She reached up and grabbed the back of his neck, roughly pulling him down and kissing him until her cheeks were coated in her own slick. "You are going to fuck me all day, Peasant," she crooned in his ear, the barest hint of teasing lacing her tone.
He shivered at her salacious threat, already lining up his cock with her entrance, eager to obey. "Your wish is my command, Princess," he answered, then speared her to the hilt in a single stroke.
For the rest of the day, all those who had not already collapsed in exhaustion avoided Maid Marian's wing of the castle. As Lee put it, there was a lot of "merriment" going on up there. And no one dared interrupt.