Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Note: Hello again loves! So here is another short for you to enjoy during the 'time between' chapters of The Mission. I'm working on it, I swear, but life has gotten hectic again. A PhD and littles take a lot of time and energy. This short is not connected with The Mission so if you haven't read that work, no worries. Enjoy and I'll be back soon! All my love ~ Luna
Naruto catches glimpses of her around the village as he works to help with the reconstruction. She's fully recovered from her injuries thanks to Sakura and keeps busy helping with the hospital and the school. She alternates volunteering to care for the wounded/recovering and teaching short classes in the temporary school. Naruto is busy, often with dozens/hundreds of clones running around at once, a constant draw on even his immense chakra supply. He's just a man after all, just another citizen and he's pushing himself.
—
Hinata sees this as clearly as she feels the need to reach out to him again. She holds herself back, not because she feels he wouldn't welcome her but because she does feel a bit awkward after her "deathbed" confession. It wasn't meant to receive an answer and she doesn't regret it, well she doesn't for the most part anyway. Okay, maybe a little, only because she would have liked it to happen differently. She hopes she would have eventually had enough courage to speak to him one day without the threat hanging over their heads. His silence after the battle hasn't exactly spurred her confidence but she knows, knows that he's not ignoring her. She could say something and he would spare her the time, even if it is to politely let her down. She smiles softly to herself as she puts supplies away in the makeshift storage cabinet near the medical buildings.
—
Naruto watches her as she leaves the single story plywood structure, carrying an empty box and moving quickly. Her long hair is pulled up in a ponytail that swings and brushes just below her shoulders. He's about to call out and drop down but one of his clones dispels and he's up and moving in the other direction before his mind consciously makes the decision. They need more help with one of the residential buildings. As he's moving another clone dispels from across town in the other direction with more requests for help. The exhaustion of the two clones hits him at the same time as their memories, but if he stumbles on his way it doesn't slow him down and the additional 10 clones he creates and sends in the opposite direction don't slow either.
He's tired, bone weary and he's steadfastly ignoring the mental and emotional toll the last few months have had on him. Even as he leaps, lands heavily and slips a bit on the roof across the now wider thoroughfare of the slowly rebuilding village he considers her. Remembers the look in her eyes and soft smile on her lips. The memory of her speaking the words replays constantly, even as he works himself to the bone trying to make up for not being there when everything went to hell. He knows he's not to blame, if he's learned anything in his relatively short life, it's that things just happen. Often chance takes the form of destiny, fate plays silly tricks and no one is actually at fault for how the world decides to turn. Still, he feels the guilt, the pressure to make amends. He saved those he could, changed the mindset of an enemy, received a confession.
It's the last thought that causes him to daydream more than is probably good for him. He's bracing a wall, several clones in a line with him, trying to offer support as the construction team works to secure the beams. Her hair was so dark, a shiny curtain in the sun, her blood too red. He shakes his head, another clone from another area dispels. This one was as preoccupied as Naruto is himself and it certainly doesn't help him focus. The clone was sent to let him know that area is clear. He can check that off the mental list he tries to keep straight in his mind until he can cross it off the physical one in his pocket. There's a groaning noise above him and then the wall tilts. 'Well hell' he has time to think before he's straining harder with the effort to hold. His shoulders are rock hard with the effort, and he feels a muscle tear. There's yelling all around him and he can see in his peripheral vision as others come racing in to help and instinctively he rejects it. They can't get hurt, so he takes the precious seconds to pull his hands from the wall, forms the seals and pulls on the remaining chakra his body doesn't really want to part with. There are more clones forming in the smoke, more hands on the wall, more support. People are blinking and coughing but the wall is secure. He can't say the same for himself.
—
Hinata didn't mean to lose herself in watching him. She was just passing by, but she felt him. His chakra is so distinct and it's everywhere these days, spilling through the streets and wrapping the village in a blanket of warmth and protection. He doesn't seem to realize it, doesn't seem to see the way everyone breathes easier. Naruto has earned his place as their hero, maybe even savior. Still, he's pushing himself too far, she can see the dark circles and the sallow cast under his bronze skin. She's sure he isn't sleeping, or only a bare minimum to keep himself from collapsing. This however, is inexcusable. She watches as he's nearly crushed by the wall. The real him, mixed in with the clones. And it doesn't take genius level intelligence to see the looks on the other villagers' faces as they register the same thing she does.
Naruto isn't sitting somewhere, storing chakra and sending clones out to do the work. He's working just as hard, and it's draining him. There are looks exchanged all around and then everyone is moving. The wall is secured in record time. A granny is pulling Naruto out of the mix as soon as it's safe to do so and pushing him down on a pile of wood, force feeding him water and ignoring his protests. Hinata is about to leave when she sees it, his eyes go blank for a split second and then his head turns. There's likely something happening somewhere across town, he's going to get up and move before he can recover. She doesn't think, just moves. Similar to the battle, all she wants is to help him.
She's coming from behind him, he's distracted and the granny in front of him is raising a ruckus as he tries to stand. Hinata reaches out and puts her hand on his shoulder, pressing down lightly, a butterfly's touch compared to what it would actually take to hold him. His head turns and she watches in real time as he registers who she is. His eyes widen and his lips part in surprise, then he falls back into his seat on the pile and stares at her. Hinata didn't think before she moved so she has no plan. The granny is still ranting and there's another woman coming from the stall four buildings down. She's got a bento wrapped in orange cloth. Hinata keeps her hand on his shoulder, even though she knows she should probably remove her hand. If it will hold him there, make him rest, she'll never let go.
—
Naruto isn't sure how he should respond, if he should say anything. He's staring, it's rude but he can't stop. It's the first time since the battle that Hinata has approached him. He can't remember the last time she touched him. The breath locks in his chest, and he's horrified to feel a burn start behind his eyes. There's a cup of water pressed into his hand and an orange bento sitting on his lap. His eyes move out of necessity, he needs to say thank you but there's no one there any more. He's staring blankly into space, wondering what just happened when he feels the light touch on his shoulder shift. He's reaching for her hand before he means too. Catching her fingers in a light hold and pressing them back to his shoulder. He can't look at her. He should be saying something but his throat is tight and his eyes are watering, there's no way he can speak. There's a quiet hum to his left, her hand is settling back on his shoulder, and then quietly "Eat Naruto-kun, you need to eat."
His hand falls from hers and he does as he's told. Slowly he places the cup next to him on the wood and then begins to unwrap the food. It's simple but it's the best food he's had in forever. In fact, he's not sure when he last ate instead of just taking one of Sakura's soldier pills. All at once he realizes he's starving. His stomach howls even as he's putting the food in his mouth. He does try to pace himself, but he's so eager to get food in his stomach he knows he's likely eating too fast.
"Slow down, easy." He hears from his left, and again he listens. His stomach is starting to cramp just slightly. Okay, yea, he needs to slow down. He takes a moment to sip his water, breathes out and then pulls in a full breath for the first time in he doesn't know how long. Her presence is a cool, calm, balm next to him. Her hand is still on his shoulder.
—
Hinata stays with him until he's finished with all the food and drinks all the water. Anytime she moves to pull her hand away, his comes up to catch hers. Hinata takes the silent cue and keeps her hand there. She's not sure why it's helping, how she's holding him there but if it works that's all she really needs to know. When he's finished and is setting aside the trappings of the meal she knows he's going to rise and go back to work. So she moves to stand in front of him, too close to be proper but it blocks his path for another minute. Her fingers slide along the fabric of his jacket as her hand spins on his shoulder. She feels him tense beneath her touch and guesses that she's overstayed her insertion in his business for now, even if it appeared welcome at the time. "Let me take these for you", she says quietly as she releases him and gathers the bento box and cup. "I think Ame-san wanted you to have the kerchief."
Naruto hasn't moved, but she can feel his eyes on her. So Hinata smiles a small smile to reassure him. He doesn't need to feel uncomfortable around her, there's no need to respond to something said in the heat of a life and death situation.
She turns to walk away, looking back at him over her shoulder as she speaks, "Be careful Naruto-kun, take care of yourself too." Then she turns and tries to refocus on the tasks she still needs to complete before heading home as the sun begins to dip below the trees. She doesn't hear a response from him and doesn't expect one.