A/N: Bonus chapter for one more IND vs PAK win and King Kohli's century! (It was beautiful.)

CHAPTER 10

MORNING GLORY: affection

This time it was I who was culpable of avoiding their espoused. Since the night of that unfortunate encounter with… whoever in my husband's body was, I could barely look him in the eyes. All the progress I had made in the last five months of my marriage was lost, just like that.

Surprisingly, avoiding him was easier than I would have expected. As always, he was uncannily aware of my thoughts, and thus maintained some of the distance on his own. Not to say he did not try to talk to me, but he did not overstretch when I clearly wished to be away from him.

And considering there was absolutely no change in him after that night, rebuffing him made me feel guilty. He was just as sweet, respectful, and understanding as he ever was. It made it painful to not indulge him, but every time I looked at him, I was reminded of those horrible slitted eyes and I could not help but flinch in indelible fear.

But I knew I could not evade him forever. It had already been one week since that night – two days more than I had allowed him to escape me after he had kissed me.

I was honestly surprised he had held on for so long.

That, in no way, meant I was ready for that confrontation.

So, when after a week, he came to watch me train with Gai-sensei, I was at once unsurprised and full of dread.

"Mind if I spar with you, too, Hinata?" he asked from the walkway after we finished the day's training.

I did not look at him. In fact, I looked at the other direction and tried to make it look like it was not intentional. "I apologise, Your Majesty, but I am afraid I do not quite have the energy left to spar again."

I straightened and turned to face him, only to find him barely a step away. Instinctually, I flinched and he noticed. He noticed it every time, but I knew this time he would talk. I was not ready to talk.

"Something happened, but what, Hinata?" he asked in a low voice, conscious of the many soldiers nearby.

"It is nothing, Your Majesty. I am merely tired." I stepped away. "I think I should rest today."

"Stop, Hinata." That was the closest he had ever come to commanding me. I discovered that I did not like it when he did that.

But I stopped.

"You are afraid. Of me. Why?" he pleaded.

I said nothing, and he walked around me to stand in front of me. "Did I do something? Tell me so I can make it right. Please."

I took a deep breath and looked up at him, trying very hard (successfully) to not react at the sight of his face. "You did nothing wrong, Your Majesty. You are at no fault."

He stepped closer to me, distressed, and my breath caught. Then my breath quickened, from fear, but far less fear than I would have expected. He hesitated before raising his hands to hold my face in them.

"Don't be afraid of me, Hinata. Please. I will never hurt you, I swear. I will never hurt you in any way. Please don't be afraid me." His eyes were even more miserable than his voice.

And as I looked into his eyes, I saw more and more blue and less red. I realised the cure was not avoiding him, the cure was spending even more time with him – this Naruto, who was goofy and gentle and considerate and always quick to smile.

I discovered that I did not like seeing him miserable.

I held his wrist near my face and said in as sincere a voice as I could muster, "I am not afraid of you… Naruto." And it was the truth. This was not the man I was afraid of. I had never been afraid of him.

His eyes fell with emotion – relief, happiness, reverence. He let out a slow breath like he had been holding it in for a week.

"Thank you, Hinata. I promise, I will never hurt you." He leaned closer and pressed a long kiss on my head. And in that moment, there was not a shred of fear in me.

…

The New Year Festival: another week-long festival the Uzumakis celebrate because this was the week when their Gods would host huge parties to celebrate the new year. It lasted the whole last week of the year, ending on the New Year's Day.

I convinced my husband to take me to the festival the very first day. It was not tough at all – he wanted to take me there as much as I wanted to go. And as soon as the sun went down, we were out of the estate.

Upon entry, it was very similar to the previous festival – toys, food stalls, carnival rides, lots of people and shops and games. We shopped a lot, and we played a lot like last time.

The only difference was when someone in a stall of a game where we had to throw rings onto the bottles to win saw my husband and yanked his child away. "Disgusting monster. Why do they even let him come here," he muttered as he walked away, very disrespectfully.

I looked up to see Naruto's reaction, but he had turned away from me. A few seconds later, he straightened to call one of our guards and said something to him quietly. I was not sure if I should say anything, so I did not. I did not even understand what happened.

After losing five games in a row, I dragged him to the game where we had to throw coins into the glass tank. That one I won every time, and let my husband choose a very ugly frog from the prizes.

The New Year's Festival was about letting go of the bad things before the year ended and starting off the new year with fresh positivity. So, at midnight, and this time we stayed until midnight, the people all collected together near Makano River and lanterns were bought and prepared by every person present. Naruto bought five lanterns for us and taught me how to light them. I ruined two before getting the third one right.

Exactly at midnight, we let the lanterns go, and then so did everyone else. We floated irises into the river as a hope for a better next year. And then we went home, happier than ever.

…

Winter had fallen hard in the last three weeks, but it had hardly bothered me –winters of Uzumaki were nothing compared to the winters of Hyuga. And I, foolishly, became overconfident and neglected all the nagging I got from my husband and my lady's maid to wear more clothes, or anything else to protect myself from the cold.

Not to mention playing all the water games in the carnival while wearing merely a dress and a thin coat.

The morning after the carnival, I laid in bed, buried under multiple blankets, so feverish that I could not open my eyes for more than a few seconds.

"Hinata?" Naruto entered the room with a frown. "What happened?"

He must have been informed of my indisposition by someone, because he had been gone when I was woken up by Shizune half an hour ago. Now she sat beside me, looking at me to see if I wanted her to stay.

I closed my eyes and burrowed myself further under the blankets. Two people who could not stop telling me to wear a coat (over the one I had already been wearing), and who I ignored every time – I would prefer not to have to speak to them. Not that my throat was in any manner healthy enough to speak.

Obviously taking the hint, Shizune answered, "She has a fever from the cold, Your Majesty."

"Oh, Hinata, love. I told you to wear more clothes," he said in a regrettable voice. The back of a hand pressed at my forehead.

"It's just a fever, right? Nothing more?" he asked Shizune.

"It seems so."

There was a moment of silence. "That's good, at least. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Um, not right now. I can manage, Your Majesty," Shizune answered nervously.

"Is she asleep?"

"I think so," Shizune lied. She knew perfectly well that I was awake.

"Oh." His fingers lightly caressed my cheeks, and then he said, "Well, I will be back later."

…

When I woke up, my husband was sitting on the chair beside my bed. I squinted as I looked around the room. We were alone.

"Hinata?"

I looked at him. He was leaning toward me, concerned. "How are you? Do you feel any better?"

"Not really," I croaked through my dry throat.

"You should eat something. Do you want to drink some water?" He picked up a glass from a tray with a covered bowl placed on my bedside table along with a few papers that he must have been reading while I slept.

I scooted up to sit by the headboard of our bed, and shivered from the cold. Naruto frowned as he passed me the glass of warm water, standing up. "Wait a minute, don't move."

Not moving was very easy, since every muscle in my body ached anyway. He went into our closet and was back in moments, placing a shawl (the warmest one I had, which I had pointedly ignored in the last weeks) around my shoulders. I instantly felt better and clutched it tighter around myself. He adjusted the pillows behind me so I could lean more comfortably on the heavily carved iron of our bed.

He dragged his chair closer to the bed. "Are you hungry? There's some soup the cook prepared for you."

I nodded. He placed the tray on the bed between us. Scooping some soup in a spoon, he started to bring it to me. I turned away, mildly humiliated.

"I can–" I cleared my throat and tried to speak more clearly, "I can eat by myself."

He frowned, but lowered the spoon anyway. "As you wish." He placed the tray on my lap and waited for me to start.

I picked up the spoon and scooped some soup in it. My hand trembled slightly when I brought it up to my mouth, but the soup did not spill. It was practically tasteless compared to actual food cooked here. I never thought I would miss the spicy cuisine, but I missed it so much right then. At least this soup had the slightest sourness that made it edible.

"You know, if you were going to be sick of something," Naruto spoke as I slowly swallowed the bland soup, "one would have thought it would have been of the summer, not the winter. Even the monsoon, but no one could have thought you wouldn't handle the winters well."

I did not respond, embarrassment flooding my veins. He did tell me to keep warm and wear more layers every day.

He fell silent as I continued eating, feeling better with every spoonful of soup.

"May I have some water?" I asked halfway through the bowl.

"Yes, of course, here." He picked up a jug from the floor and poured water into my glass, passing it to me.

"How was your day, Your Majesty?" I asked after emptying the glass.

He sighed, "Busy, as usual. I wish I could just stay here with you, but they keep coming with some problem or other."

He picked up the papers on my bedside table and shook them, "Got these a few minutes ago. Looks like we need to build more schools in the kingdom."

"We really do need more schools here, Your Majesty. Only half the towns have a single school and none in the villages."

He nodded along. "I remember. You have talked about this before too, right?"

"Yes, two months ago."

He scratched at his hair. "This is becoming a big problem."

"Yes. What is stopping us from solving it?" I tried to keep my tone respectful, but it was hard because I was already not feeling good due to the fever.

He looked me straight in the eyes and intoned, "Budget."

Just as I opened my mouth to answer, he cut me short, "You haven't eaten any more soup in the last two minutes."

I scowled before swallowing another spoonful of soup. "We need to increase trade, then. To increase our budget."

"And how do you propose we do that?" he asked with raised eyebrows, looking expectant.

"I remember most of the Uzumaki people are farmers and artisans, right?" I asked, stirring the soup mindlessly.

He nodded. I continued, "So, why are we not trading agricultural product and handmade things with other kingdoms?"

"Because they do not want or need that." He answered swiftly and then looked at the tray, "And eat your soup."

I obediently swallowed another spoonful. "They asked for what they wanted five years ago, but now we do not have what we need. Maybe it is time to revise the terms of our treaties with other kingdoms. Our minerals and coal will not last forever, after all."

He pursed his lips, "So, then what? We stop trading minerals and coal? We are already exporting agricultural products anyway."

"No, we raise the cost. Our mines are depleting, so we raise the prices."

"Wouldn't it be too soon? It has barely been five years since the treaty."

"Five years in which you acquiesced to almost every demand they made." He considered it. "And we have so little tourism. We need more tourism."

"Because of the rebels. It's not safe for outsiders."

I shrugged, "Guarantee their safety. It is the kingdom's duty to safeguard its visitors."

He frowned and nodded, "True." He contemplated it in silence as I swallowed more of the bland soup and nodded again. "I will talk about these changes with the officials. Or maybe you can talk to them after you recover from your fever."

"Of course, Your Majesty. Hyuga Kingdom's majority of economy was based on tourism. I know quite a lot about it, and about education system too." I nodded at the papers on his lap.

"Yeah, sure. Now finish your soup, I did not come here to bother you with administrative duties."

I managed to swallow two more spoonful after a glass of water but that was it. I could not bear with more of that awful soup and passed the tray over to him.

"What is it, Hinata?" he asked, confused.

"I cannot eat more."

"But you need to finish it all." He tried to push the tray back to me. But I quickly shook my head and turned away, eyes closed. "No, please. It tastes awful, I cannot eat more."

I heard him sigh, and then, "Fine. Do you want to eat anything else?"

I shook my head again. "No, I feel quite full."

A sigh again. "Fine. Have some more water." He passed me a glass of water and collected everything on the tray to pass it to a servant outside our room.

When he came back, his hand touched my forehead and then my cheek. "You should sleep. Your temperature is still too high."

"I do not want to sleep."

He sat back on his chair beside the bed, "What do you want to do then?"

I shrugged, and we both fell silent. Then he said, "Want to play Fish?"

I laughed, remembering how I lost every game the only time we played it. "No! You cheat."

"I do not."

"You do." I tried to glare at him, but he was smiling so widely that I had to laugh.

A few minutes passed, and then I asked something that I had not even thought about in months: "Why was I not housed in the Queen's quarters?"

His eyebrows slowly rose, and he chuckled once, "What?"

I looked away, fidgeting with my fingers and cursing myself for asking that question. It did not matter what his reasons were for making me share his room. It was his call to make.

I shook my head, "Nothing, Your Majesty. I do not know why I asked that."

"No, no, its fine. I was not offended." He ran his fingers over his jaw, and said, "Do you want to stay there? Would you have liked that more?"

I shook my head more forcefully than I would have liked. "No, Your Majesty. I just wondered, when I first came here, why I was not sent to stay there in the first place."

"Well, I did not want to leave you alone, or make you feel like I would rather you kept your distance from me. I wanted there to be a bond, or at the very least an understanding, between us." He shrugged then, "And I felt that if you stayed away from me then you would always want to stay away. On your own."

I nodded, though I did not really understand. How much did it matter what I wanted? We all had our duties.

"How are Prince Sasuke and Princess Sakura? It has been months since we met them."

"Fine, I would think. I haven't talked to them either for some time." He scratched his jaw, "I was actually thinking that we should go to the Uchiha Kingdom soon. I already have some things to discuss with Itachi, and we can meet Sasuke and Sakura too."

I smiled widely, "That is a great idea, Your Majesty. When do we leave?"

"After the New Year Festival. But since you are ill, I think we should push it a few days back."

"No, no," I shook my head, "I am fine. I will be fine. There is no need to delay the visit. We have a few days till the New Year Festival ends."

"Yes." He considered it for a moment, "But the travel to Uchiha isn't the easiest. If you are well enough in a week, then we will leave on the New Year's Day."

I beamed but he cut me off before I could speak, "But only if you are well enough."

"Yes, of course, I understand, Your Majesty."

…

The fever broke two days later. I started feeling even colder after that. Naruto stayed with me as much as could, and slept beside me even though I told him not to, in case he caught the fever too. But he told me he never got sick.

I used to think I did not get cold either, but who was I to make him do something he did not want to do?

I took a hot bath – after three days, it was such a relief – and bundled myself in woollens to go out in the gardens. These past days staying in bed the whole day did not agree with me.

We walked for half an hour in the sun, then sat down at a table for lunch. The sun felt incredible. In Hyuga, we would have sun for barely an hour or three in winters.

"Do you think I should learn knitting, Shizune?" I asked. The sun felt hotter than pleasant over my bundled self, but I was not going to take my sweaters off no matter what after this last week. The fever had just been broken a few hours ago, and I would rather not repeat my mistakes.

"It is your choice, my lady. I can arrange for it if you want."

"Not right now. I just thought… sitting here in the sun, I just suddenly had an urge to knit a scarf. Or a sweater."

"A sweater? For who, my lady?"

I looked at Shizune to see a teasing smile gracing her lips and decided to humour her, "For His Majesty, who else? Why, do you want one too?"

Shizune laughed. "No, my lady. I mean, I would never refuse, but you do not have to bother yourself for me."

I closed my eyes and tilted my head up toward the sunlight. "It is no bother, Shizune."

We stayed silent for a while, just soaking up the warmth of the sun while it lasted.

A pair of hands covered my eyes suddenly and I startled. My hand flew up to hold the hand covering my eyes, even though I knew it would be my husband. Who else could it ever be?

"Your Majesty." I sat up a little straighter.

His hands fell to my shoulders and he pressed a kiss on my head. "Good afternoon, Hinata."

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty."

He took a seat on the chair beside me. "How are you now? You look better."

"I feel better, Your Majesty." I smiled at him.

"Are you hungry? It is almost past lunch time."

"Already?" I raised my eyebrows. I did not realise it was so late. "I suppose I should eat something."

"Yes, let's have lunch here outside. You wouldn't mind if I accompany you, right?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty."

He smiled and leaned over to kiss my temple before asking Shizune to bring our lunches. I would have blushed if I wasn't already so hot inside all my clothes. I could not imagine why he was suddenly being so affectionate and merry, but I certainly did not hate it.

"You seem very happy today, Your Majesty."

He smiled at me. "I am, Hinata."

"Any particular reason?"

"No, not really. I just feel very good today."

"I was thinking… Since I am better now, can we go to the New Year Festival again?"

He frowned, "Your fever just broke today, Hinata. You should rest a few more days."

"I am resting today. And there are just two more days of the festival left."

He looked undecided, and leaning toward a 'no', so I decided to push him a bit more. "Please, Your Majesty, I really wish to attend the festival again."

He sighed. "Fine, we will go on the final day. But first, you will rest the whole day tomorrow."

I beamed up at him, "Of course."

…

Two days later, I woke up early and was ready for the day before my husband had even finished bathing. We would go to the festival in the evening, but I was too excited to sleep any more. Spending my last two days resting also contributed to my excess energy today.

My husband came out of the bathroom wearing a robe and smiled at me before going into the closet. Without thinking too much about it, I followed.

He stood with his back to me, wearing his underwear before removing the robe. Then he put on his military pants. He was standing along the wall with his clothes so there was no reflection on the mirror of my dresser at the end of the aisle. I watched him get dressed, knowing that he was aware of my presence.

Without turning to acknowledge me, he quickly put on a shirt. I had too little time to take in the sight of his bare back before it was covered. He fastened the buttons swiftly before he turned around to smile at me. Now that he was covered, he continued in a more leisurely pace, tightening the cuffs, putting on a few knives, wearing his jacket.

I somehow felt like the hurry he showed in wearing his shirt and pants was not because of cold. But I did not ask.

"Your Majesty?"

He hummed as he slipped his jacket on and buttoned it up.

"The festival is hours away."

"Yes, it will start just before sunset."

I fidgeted with my fingers. "I do not want to stay inside today. Can we go somewhere until the evening?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. Anywhere you like."

He nodded and walked toward me. "Alright. Let's have breakfast first then I will take you somewhere."

He quickly kissed me on the cheek and left. And I followed as usual.

…

Somewhere turned out to be the ground where the laundry dried.

Only, he did not stop there. We greeted the servants and then my husband pulled me behind the building and lead me away from everyone. It looked somewhat deserted, as if no one really went this way.

But there was a worn trail wide enough for the both of us.

"Do you come here often, Your Majesty?" I asked, enjoying the feel of his hand holding mine.

"I used to. Haven't come here in at least a couple years now."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Never had enough time? Didn't feel like coming here? I don't know."

"What changed today?" I looked at him.

He smiled at me, "I remembered I never showed you this."

"Are you going to tell me what 'this' is, Your Majesty?"

"No. I am going to show you."

"When?"

He laughed and leaned closer to kiss my temple. "Have some patience, my empress."

I blushed and ducked my head. He just chuckled and continued forward.

With no noticeable change in our path, I looked up to find ourselves in the middle of a forest. It must have been almost an hour. The trail was still there, but narrower. And then just a few minutes later, we entered a forest glade.

It was just a small gap in the forest. The trail ended at its opening. Across it the forest continued, thicker than before. A small stream of water ran in front of us, dividing the forest into two. And on our right stood a massive wall, running as far along as I could see. And then I realised – it wasn't a wall. It was the rest of the forest on a plateau. Little trees and shrubs grew on the very steep slope, and many thin streams of water ran down it to join the bigger stream. They were so many that they gave an impression of a very thin and calm waterfall.

It was all green and white and gorgeous.

I looked at my husband with a large smile. "What is this? It is beautiful!"

"Just something I stumbled upon when I was a child. I was a wild child, if you didn't already know that."

"Were you? I would not have guessed." I giggled. Giggled! When was the last time I giggled?

I freed my hand from his hold to walk around the small space. The grass was lush and dense, reaching up to my shins, and the ground was damp, as was the air, even in the middle of winters.

I turned around when I reached the end of the clearing and grinned at my husband who had hardly moved from his spot. He was not five metres away.

"We will have to change our clothes once we go back," I called to him.

He gestured me to come to him, and I did. "You can go like this anywhere if you want to."

I laughed a short, breathless laugh, shaking my head. "No, I cannot."

He tilted his head a little. "And why is that?"

"I am the empress," I walked a couple steps in every direction, not going far from him. I could not seem to stop moving at this peaceful and cold and beautiful place. "I need to maintain a certain image in front of everyone. It reflects on me, and even more on you, since you chose me to be your wife and their empress. I should maintain that image even in front of you, but you make it so difficult. I cannot prance around wearing greened gowns."

"You can wear whatever you want, and act however you want. You will still be their empress." He walked away to sit on a small boulder near the plateau, as if he did not just say something completely at odds with what every royal family believed.

I followed to stand in front of him. "Would you wear whatever you want, act however you want in front of other people?"

"Yes," he shrugged.

"Oh, why don't you, then?"

"I do, but Kakashi-sensei doesn't like it. He gives me a hard time."

"Because he knows royalty needs to show their station and power. If you treat yourself like a peasant, why would the peasants treat you like their king?"

His eyebrows raised, and I realised how insolent I was being. "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. I did not mean to be disrespectful."

"I told you not to apologise, Hinata."

I opened my mouth to apologise again, then closed it and nodded my head. "So, if Kakashi wants you to present yourself in a certain manner, he must want me to do so too. Everything I do, or no do, reflects upon you, Your Majesty."

He reached his hand out to me, and I took it without thinking – until he yanked me closer and deposited me on the boulder beside him. I looked at him with wide eyes, the feel of his hand suddenly burning.

"Kakashi-sensei does not tell you how to present yourself, understood?"

I nodded dumbly. "Only… you do?"

"No, Hinata," he kissed my cheek. "No one tells you how to present yourself, or what to do, or what not to do."

"But –" my breath caught from his close proximity. I took a short, unsatisfying breath. Why do you never kiss me? "But you do tell me what to do, what not to do."

He leaned back, offended, "When did I ever do that?"

"You told me not to apologise."

He let out an exasperated chuckle. "Yes, you should never apologise to me. Let's make that an exception to the rule."

"But why? Why should I not apologise?"

"Because you never do anything wrong." He said it as easily as if he was telling me his name.

"I… disrespect you. Quite often."

"You don't, Hinata. Those are normal husband-wife conversations. There is nothing wrong in telling me what you think."

"My mother would disagree."

"You think so?"

"I know so. She always told me not to argue with my father, or my husband. Not to question them. Obey them."

"Well, I don't want you to do that. I would really prefer if you never do that. Just do what you actually want to, without thinking about me."

"But I always think about you."

His eyes flicked to me in surprise and a shy, slow smile took over his face. "You do?"

"Of course. You are my husband."

He did not respond. He just smiled bigger and kissed my temple.

…

When we returned to the estate, it was quite late, way past the early sunsets of winters. We did not have lunch – we both got hungry but did not want to leave, so we stayed. My husband – Naruto, it was becoming so hard to think of him as anything other than Naruto – had me drink water from the waterfall. It was delicious, different than any water I have ever drank, and freezing.

He also told me the story of that plateau: the gods were once having a friendly match of arm-wrestling, back when they were still good, and no one could beat Kurata, the God of Dark. Then Yamahito, the God of War and also the King of Gods, who usually did not participate in such fanciful hobbies, challenged him. It is said that the match lasted days and ended when Yamahito finally beat Kurata and slammed his arm down so mightily that the earth below their hands sank.

These people really had some folktales.

We came back with our path lit by fireflies every here and there. As soon as we arrived, my husband began dragging me off to dinner hall, not even allowing me to wash myself off.

"We should not, Your Majesty," I begged, trying to stop him from going further. We had already passed too many soldiers and servants. I could not, would not, dine in such a state.

"What's the problem, Hinata?"

"We are in no way presentable, Your Majesty! We cannot sit at dinner looking like… like scavengers!"

"We don't look like scavengers, Hinata. Everyone gets a little muddy now and then."

"No, Your Majesty." I snatched my hand away from his and stopped.

He turned to look at me, eyes slightly wide. I was keenly aware of the five guards lining the corridor in front of us, almost in hearing distance.

"What do you want to do, Hinata?" he asked lightly, as if he was not at all bothered by my behaviour. And after our talk during the day, I had really started to believe that he was not.

"I want to wash myself."

"Fine, let's go to our chambers then." He tilted his head in the direction of our chambers and extended his hand to tell me to go. Hesitantly, I did, and he followed.

…

When I stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in thick robes and cold, I stopped at the wide display of food placed on a small table in front of the settee. A fire roared in the fireplace, making my skin pebble from the difference in temperature.

"Your Majesty?" I called out, since my husband was nowhere in sight.

"I'm here," he answered from the closet.

I waited, and a few minutes later he came out wearing his usual ragged shirt and pants that he slept in.

"Are we not… going to the dining hall?" I asked.

"I thought we could have dinner here. Why change and go out there when we are going to come in back right after?"

But, the Festival?

"Alright. Let me just wear something –"

"No need. Come sit here," he patted the space beside him on the settee. "It's quite cold. Get a little warm first."

I reluctantly made my way to him, feeling bare even though the robe covered more of me than my nightclothes usually did. I instantly felt better as soon as I sat down – from the fire, and from my husband who I had discovered in the past weeks was always warm.

He served us both food and we began eating. I ate more than I usually did, and it made me a little embarrassed. My mother and some other members of our clan had always commented on how much I ate, but my husband never once said anything. I did not think he even noticed.

After dinner, he put the table away and sat down on the floor in front of me, his back to my legs, his head on my knees, his eyes closed. On their own, my hands went to his hair, so short they did not even cover my fingers.

"Am I blocking your fire?" he asked.

"Not at all." He was warm enough on his own.

My fingers ran idly all over his head until he took my hand and brought it to his lips. My fingers pressed against his lips for a long minute before he released them. "Don't get sick again, Hinata."

"I won't, Naruto."