Ch. 28

Moriko sighed tiredly as she trudged back to the Sarutobi compound, Naisho having run off with his friends the moment they had been released from the Hokage's office.

As she neared the Sarutobi compound she frowned as she heard a great racket coming closer. Hizashi zipped around a corner before viciously defending himself from two of his clan's men who were both fighting him at once. He leaped back as a kunai was suddenly swung at him and the sash holding his kimono shirt closed fluttered to the ground in two.

"No!" Hizashi yelled as the remains of the sash were snatched up and the two offenders ran off. He crouched to give chase before freezing eyes wide as he spotted her blinking at him in surprise.

"Is everything alright Hizashi-san?" Moriko asked with uncertainty as the man flushed red before straightening. He was glistening with sweat, silky hair windswept, and his shirt hung open exposing the sculpted muscles of his chest and abdomen that were slightly flush with exertion. Moriko swiftly looked away, face burning when she realized she had been staring.

"My clan has decided to get me into top shape recently," he said dryly as Moriko snuck a look at him before looking away.

"You already look in top- I mean-" Moriko cut herself off with a cough. She nearly jumped when she felt a large warm hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Hizashi looking at her with concerned eyes.

"Are you still feeling after effects from…" he trailed off uncomfortably. He was so close, his aristocratic features flushed with exertion, his present musky scent sliding over her. Her eyes widened as her face burned when she realized he had interpreted her cough to be from the wounds he had previously given her. Highly embarrassed, she rapidly shook her head, cheeks burning.

"N-no! No, I'm fine! I heal very well with no lingering effects. Um, why are they trying to get you in top shape?" she questioned.

He gave her a sardonic smile.

"They are trying to find me a wife," he said dryly. Moriko bit her lip as she muttered under her breath, "Shouldn't be too difficult." When Hizashi looked at her having heard her, her face flushed an even brighter red.

"I mean, best of luck Hizashi-san! I'm sure you will find someone suited for you," she said as he gave a small pleased grin.

"HIZASHI! You left the gifts, you thoughtless boy!" yelled an old Oba as she came skidding around the corner, moving at the speed of a ninja in their prime. Seeing Hizashi with a blushing Moriko, the old Oba beamed, her temperament once more friendly. What she didn't see was a hurdle of Uchiha further down the street watching their group intently.

"Moriko-chan! Welcome back! How was your journey?" asked the old woman as she waddled forward, no longer sprinting around like a ninja in their prime. When the old woman shot Hizashi a reproving look and the man gained a fatalistic look. Moriko thought quickly about how to help the man.

"Oh! Rather eventful actually! Turns out the client was lying about the difficulty level of the mission because he didn't have the money to pay for higher due to the stranglehold a black market tycoon had on the country! One of the nukenin actually ended up switching sides after he realized his employer had no intention of paying him. The Hokage authorized me for a secondary mission while out there for me to team up with the nukenin and overthrow the tycoon, the pay being the loot!" she said cheerfully as the two Hyuga shot each other surprised looks.

"That must have been at least an A-rank mission dear. You did it by yourself?" asked the old Oba as Moriko flashed her a beaming smile and a thumbs-up that reminded them of Might Gai.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle!" she said with cheer, leaving the other two more intrigued than before.

"Can I ask who the nukenin was?" asked Hizashi cautiously. Moriko shrugged.

"Zabuza Momochi," she said causing the other two's eyes to widen.

"The Demon of the Mist?" Hizashi said incredulously as Moriko shrugged again before nodding.

"He is known for his brutality and bloodlust, I'm surprised you were able to work with him," Hizashi said gravely, slightly concerned for her. She gave an easy shrug.

"I didn't have issues. He was too busy flirting with me to try to kill me." she off-handedly before frowning in thought, "Or maybe he was trying to kill me... hmm, we did spar a lot." She trailed off, clearly thinking as the old Oba motioned for Hizashi to get on with it while Moriko was looking away. When Moriko turned back the old Oba was back to looking like a harmless old woman. The Uchiha down the street though had seen it all and were still reading their lips with the Sharingan.

"Oh? That was excellent work Moriko-chan. You two sparred you say? How many did he win?" said the old lady as Moriko grinned impishly, not missing how the old Oba assumed Moriko had been the one at a disadvantage. Sometimes it was hard to get people to take you seriously when ninja were naturally so secretive about their methods, so she decided to set them straight while playing dumb to the underhanded comment.

"He's really good! But I got more wins then he did!" she said with a wink.

She had outstripped the Demon of the Mist? Hizashi quickly revaluated her threat level from B rank to S rank and the old Oba was shooting him a speaking look as her skill level rose in their eyes. Moriko, seeing this one this time quickly piped up, hoping to spare Hizashi his clan's shenanigans for the day.

"Hyuga-sama, I was wondering if you had the time to assist me with something," she cut in quickly not seeing the old woman's pleased grin or one of the Uchiha who had been reading their lips with the Sharingan send someone to alert the Uchiha clan head. Itachi's infatuation with her was by now well-known throughout the Uchiha clan and having his future bride stolen out from under his nose wasn't something the clan wanted to deal with. Uchiha's were naturally broody, but a love-sick Uchiha was nauseating.

Hizashi nodded to her question in a dignified manner.

"I would be pleased to assist," he said regally, and she shot him a grateful smile.

"Oh, before you go, Hizashi-dono here, you forgot this in your rush to leave," said the old Oba as she handed the clan heads a storage scroll.

He took it though inside he was fuming. He wouldn't have run out of there if his clan hadn't heard Moriko was coming and all started to attack him at once. He was going to ask Jiraiya for another spar for putting ideas in his clan members' heads.

Get him hot, sweaty, windswept, and shirtless. She won't stand a chance, the sage had said to the horde of old Oba with a wink. To Hizashi's mortification, the old Obas had yanked his shirt open and declared he needed to get in better shape to make the poor Moriko helpless to his charms. His clan members had taken to attacking him when he least suspected and the old Oba's had him doing sit up and had started restricting his diet. The newfound freedom had made the clan go crazy. His clan members were acting up left and right. Sadly, Hizashi couldn't blame them.

Moriko gave the old Oba a respectful bow before turning to leave, Hizashi following, not seeing the Uchiha who were still watching them like a hawk.

…

Moriko peaked around a corner before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Ok, the coast is clear," she said before ushering him swiftly into the soon-to-be Uzumaki Compound. She put up a barrier that would allow people entrance but would tell them that they were there. Little did she know that there were already a couple of Uchiha on the roof inside. She gestured for Hizashi to sit on the veranda as she sat and began rummaging through her things looking for something.

He sat with interest, wrapping his shirt closed as he sat.

With annoyance, she overturned her pack to see her storage scrolls. Hizashi's eyes went wide as he took in the number of body storage scrolls before him as she began plucking out the few scrolls that weren't body scrolls and sorting them to the side.

"Are these from your mission?" he asked as she paused to realize what he was seeing. She nodded, smile a bit sheepish.

"Yeah. These were the ones I got. Momochi got the rest," she said before continuing her search for something. His eyes trailed over the scrolls quickly counting twenty-five.

"So, you defeated twenty-five rouge-nin?" he asked. Moriko chose not to say anything, and the man let his Byakugan engage. His eyes widened when he counted three body seals per scroll. Moriko froze seeing his eyes engaged before looking down clearly uncomfortable, her movements slower as she pulled other scrolls from the pile.

Hizashi seemed to blink out of his surprise before he took in the closed-off body language she was now exhibiting, lips pursed, eyes resigned as if waiting for him o say something disappointing. He hesitantly touched her hand for a moment making her meet his somber gaze.

"I'm glad to know that you are strong. I'll admit I was worried, after what had happened," he said referring to the fact that he had been able to wound her so badly in their fight. Moriko looked up eyes searching his for a moment as if discerning the truth of his words before the tension in her eased and she shot him a rueful smile.

"I keep my gravitational seals on in the village. They make me a lot slower," she said as he nodded, remembering the dressing down she had gotten from her teacher for not releasing them fully as she should have.

"So, you have them very high?" he asked, already knowing the answer but curious as she paused, shooting him a considering look.

"Would you like to see what they are like? I can put a gravitational seal on you and then show you how to use it," she offered as he considered her words. If it had been anyone else, he would have refused outright.

"Can you remove it after if I want?" he asked, and she nodded, knowing that this was a great show of trust on his part to let her put another seal on him.

"If you want, yes," she said easily, and he nodded hesitantly.

"Then I will try it," he said resolutely as she nodded, scooting closer. She let her finger trail down parting his shirt, too concentrated on her work to realize how sensual it was. Hizashi nearly shivered when her finger trailed down his chest to rest on his sternum before he felt the seal work its way over his whole body. He gasped as he felt it sink into his charka system, encompassing his entire being. He parted his shirt fully to reveal the condensed symbol of the seal, a yin-yang symbol despite feeling the presence of the seal everywhere. She sat back and returned to her work of going through the scrolls as he prodded it with interest.

"How do you operate it?" he asked as she sat up, slinging her hair out of her face, scroll in hand. She opened the scroll and began reading through the kanji looking for something.

"It's my old gravitational seal since Sensei is still teaching me to craft the new one and I'm more familiar with that version. You put your chakra into the seal to increase the resistance to your body and remove it to release the resistance. It doesn't have anything to do with gravity, but it does make you feel like you are wading through water at first. It creates resistance to all muscles in the body, including heart and lungs so be careful," she warned as she rolled up the scroll and began unrolling another.

Curious, Hizashi used his Byakugan to see how much chakra was in her gravitational seal before adding the same amount of chakra to his. He grunted as he struggled to breath, a bit flabbergasted at the amount of resistance he felt. He could feel his heart straining to beat, and he found to his panic he couldn't raise his hand fully to the seal to release it. She looked up at the strained noises, her eyes going wide as she spotted the panic on his face, as he struggled to raise his hand to his sternum.

"What are you doing?! It has to be gradual! You could kill yourself!" she yelled as she lunged for him in a panic, knocking him flat as she scrambled to remove the seal swiftly, not trusting him to keep it for having done something so reckless. Hizashi's head was spinning as she hovered over him uncertainly as he gasped for air.

"Why do you keep it so high?" he gasped out as his heart rate struggled to slow. She sighed shooting him a displeased look as she let her hand rest over his heart to feel it's rapid beating, hands glowing green. In wave she had gotten a lot more practice applying her healing knowledge for the practical but still wasn't confident to act as a medic unless she absolutely had to.

"Because when I bring the Uzumaki Clan back, the rest of the elemental nations are going to be coming for our blood, and one day I might have more than myself to protect. Sensei thinks I will need to fight off teams of Jonin and assassins. I have to become the best because if I falter, more than I will pay the price. The Hokage has been suppressing news of me to the best of his abilities to give me the time needed to grow strong enough.

"He's the one who has been heading this project, knowing what it could mean for the village to have the Uzumaki revived here, and it's almost time for that to happen. Years of hard work will be finally coming to fruition. But, when I finally do step into the light, I will make sure that the rest of the world is too scared to ever attack my family directly," she said firmly, eyes burning like teal fire, something ruthless and cold in them.

She's like Fire and Ice, Hizashi thought feeling a bit dazed by the vehemence with which the woman over him had said her words. After a moment she seemed to come back to herself, blinking out of her intense thoughts before she got off of him and helped him sit up. He shot her a look when he felt a seal be placed on his wrist. She blinked out of her distraction to shoot him a sheepish look.

"Sorry, I should have asked you first. It's a monitoring seal so I can keep an eye on your heart. You almost stopped it and might have potentially damaged it." she muttered distractedly as he sighed.

"I feel fine," he said as she shot him an unimpressed look.

"I will feel better knowing that I will know the instant something isn't alright with you. It's either that or we go to the hospital to get you checked," she said causing him to shoot her an annoyed look. She crossed her arms resolutely, clearly not budging. After a moment he sighed, relenting to her wishes.

"Very well," he murmured before flushing slightly in embarrassment for having fumbled something as dangerous as seals. He should have known better than to mess with one before fully understanding what he was doing.

He reached out, halting her hand as she reached for another scroll to check it.

"I was careless and let my curiosity get the better of me. I wanted to experience what you go through to understand you better. You are an intriguing woman, Moriko-san. The more I learn, the intrigue doesn't lessen but only grows. Please forgive me for blundering after your secrets so carelessly," he said quietly, and the young woman relaxed before shooting him a rueful smile.

"I will accept your apology on one condition," she said somberly and Hizashi straightened before nodding equally somber. She unsealed a long sash of the finest silk, its dark rich color reminding him of the night sky.

"Please close your shirt, it's distracting," she said with a flirty wink as she handed over the new sash. Hizashi couldn't help the startled laugh that broke from his lips before he accepted the fine material and used it to tie his shirt closed, cheeks dusted pink by the compliment. She reached forward to touch a seal that was on the end of the sash.

"This will allow you to change the color, so it doesn't clash with your outfit," she said with a teasing grin, and he nodded before adjusting the color to a complimentary gray purple to go with his light grey kimono shirt.

"Thank you for letting me borrow it," he said as she nodded and began to go through some of the scrolls she had set aside.

"There are a few more protective seals on it, to keep poison or harmful materials from you, etc," she said as he paused to regard the sash with renewed interest.

"I created it to be a form of payment. I was going to ask one of the Hyuga for a favor, but when I saw you being mobbed by your clan, I figured I could get you out of there and give you a good excuse as to why I kidnapped you," she said with a smile as she rose, a few scrolls in hand. He nodded before standing to follow.

"I'm intrigued, by both the sash and your request. What did you need help with?" he said as he followed after her.

"Can you look and tell me where the wood is too old or rotten, so I know what to replace? For your help you can keep the sash if you'd like," she said gesturing to the compound and Hizashi nodded, pleased that she would ask them for assistance. He could tell now why the Hokage had encouraged a bond between her and his clan. Instead of demanding favors for her help, she instead made a valuable form of payment and asked for the Clan's assistance, instead of demanding it. He could also see now why Jiraiya had been so harsh with his demands on her behalf. With the way his clan's elders coveted her greedily for the clan the Sage's actions had been swift and decisive for her best interests, and Hizashi's respect for both the Sage and the young woman rose.

He let his eyes engage and began scanning the compound for weakening in the wood. He walked to the closest spot and tapped a board that was rotting inside. Moriko touched the board, placing a seal that made it glow red and created a clone that got to work extracting the plank.

…

They made their way from room to room as Hizashi told her areas that were in decay. She had to mark the roof in a few places before they got to a section in the back of the compound, the entire extension of the building rotting. Moriko quirked an interested brow.

"Want to help me tear it down? You looked like you wanted to break something earlier," she said with a grin as Hizashi straightened, seeing it as a good opportunity to show off. He nodded, before moving to the center of the building, Moriko's expression growing slightly concerned.

"Kaiten," Hizashi called as he turned into a fiercely whirling ball of chakra, the extension being pulverized by the whirling chakra. He kept spinning until it was all gone before dusting himself off as the young woman grinned widely.

"Wow, that was amazing," she said as she took in the destroyed extension before grinning at him again, rosy lips parting to show white teeth. Hizashi could feel his cheeks dust pink as he nodded in thanks for the praise. He would need to find further ways to impress her.

She created clones to deal with the debris and he watched in interest as they created a barrier before a clone inside created another seal and set the whole mess on fire with an impressive fireball.

"What are they doing?" he asked as he watched the clones perform another seal that turned the fire inside blue. Moriko shrugged.

"There can be asbestos in old building materials, that's why I'm going to gut all the walls. Asbestos is naturally occurring and flame resistant, hence the need to burn it so hot," she said as he blinked in surprise before nodding slowly in understanding, thinking about the work they would need to do on their own compound.

"In that case, it might be best for my clan to do the same. Would you be willing to help my clan get rid of the debris and help us protect ourselves from exposure?" he asked gesturing to his new sash and the barrier that was turning the building materials to ash. Moriko nodded easily.

"Shouldn't be a problem," she said with a grin as he nodded in thanks. They were already forming a mutual give and take relationship with this one visit, and Hizashi felt himself becoming more at ease with her easy manner. He would need to think of a way to repay the favor she so easily bestowed.

…

They went through the rest of the compound and finished marking the wood that needed to go. The clones were carrying off the old wood to join the pyre in the back and Moriko moved into the large courtyard before unsealing a storage scroll. Hizashi's eyes went wide as he took in the large stacks of fresh thick logs.

"Can you tell me which logs are good and which have termites or rot?" she asked, causing the man to blink out of his surprise. He nodded before using his eyes to scan the logs. Her clones began sorting them into piles and Hizashi was interested to see that they were using seals to lighten the wood.

He got to work cutting off ends or sections of logs that had rot or termites as the teams of clones began stripping the bark off the good logs with wind ninjutsu. He paused his work to watch as clones set up her katana so that it was held sideways on a track. He watched with interest as the blade generated an elongated tip of wind chakra that the clones used to slice the wood into even planks, raising the log for the next cut after the first was done.

The finished logs were taken outback, and he used his eyes to watch as they were placed on top of a barrier with small barriers acting as bracers along the logs to allow them to dry and minimize warping. A small barrier was placed around the finished stack before he saw the moisture in the area get sucked out by a seal that was on a rock inside, another rock generating wind flow and another rock generating mild heat. He blinked, eyes disengaging from the Byakugan when he realized Moriko was in front of him looking a bit bewildered by what must have seemed to her, a blank stare into empty space. He blushed and looked away.

"Watching your clones work is fascinating. I didn't know you could do so much with seals," he said as a way of explanation causing the confusion to clear from her face. She smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, seals are pretty fascinating," she said before going to the unused side of the courtyard to unseal a large pile of rocks, clones already working to cut them to size. Hizashi shook his head with a grin before returning to his own work.

AN: evil laughter