Chapter 3: Better Than Drugs

A NaruHina Songfic

…

Hey there! Time for my incredibly long author's note! Sorry I took so long, I really need to get myself sorted on time management for completing my stories. This seriously took ages! Oh well, its certainly taught me that for future stories that I should probably go for shorter, more frequent chapters instead of 20,000 word ones that take over a month to finish (I think?). I hope you enjoy this, its just a really long fluffy romantic ending. I tried to put a tiny bit of action in there as I find fight scenes really easy to write (strange because this is like the opposite of a lot of writers but I find fluff harder to write) but it's not much. Sorry this is getting long again but I have to put this in: my draft for this story was sitting on the computer desk and my Mum accidently knocked it off, and you see, in my draft some of it got a little more explicit than this story (it's a draft after all. THANK GOD I don't write lemons or else I would be dead) and my Mum just had to pick up the single worst page in the entire story. Freaking embarrassing… Haha it always happens like that, say if you're watching a movie and there's like a 5 second nudity scene or something like that someone is bound to walk in in those five seconds. Sorry if theres a few spelling or grammatical errors in here, I only went over it once as I kind of rushed the editing on this to get it out today.

Disclaimer (I'm going to do one of those really lame disclaimers where the characters talk so I can get my word count up to 20k. Sorry if you think they're not lame but that's just my opinion (obviously I didn't do the author's notes until after I've written up this thing because the word counts already high… am I confusing you?))()^$#$(():

(Hinata): "A,Ano, I'm to shame to say it"

(Naruto): "K all good I'll say it, the word counts up to 19,934 words now so it shouldn't take long."

(Hinata): "Hinata-FTW that's naughty trying to up your word count by typing up huge author's notes and making us talk outside of the story."

(Hinata-FTW): "Deal with it… Sorry you're awesome I didn't mean it."

(Naruto): *Cracking knuckles* "What did you say to my girlfriend?"

(Hinata-FTW): "Nothing the word counts over 20k now so yea, I don't own Naruto, bye!"

:D

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Kakashi knocked steadily on the door, his attention elsewhere as he read the last issue of Icha Icha Paradise. When he had heard of Jiraiya's death, he had nearly kicked the bucket himself, almost having a heart attack when he realized the series would never be finished. It was a long, torturous process, but he was slowly getting over it. However, the ordeal had affected his ninja life even more. Even on important missions he was now seen relishing the final masterpieces of Jiraiya's handiwork.

The door finally opened, snapping Kakashi out of his depression. It revealed a very tired looked Naruto, with an as always blushing Hinata peeping out from behind him. He grinned behind his mask as their disheveled figures, seeing the chance for some pervy teasing.

Even though the messy haired, orange pajama clad Hyuuga was now the head of the most prominent clan in Konoha, he had known her long before her appointment, when she was still the rejected failure, and so he was good friends with her, along with all the other Konoha 11.

"What were you two doing all night?" he said teasingly. At their blank, confused looks, he decided to elaborate. "Naruto" he accused. "Were you congratulating Hinata on her new appointment with some sort of, bodily gift?"

Both teens instantly turned red when they realized what he was getting at; Naruto's face for once matching Hinata's. "N,no, it wasn't like that!" Naruto managed to get out, while Hinata faired worse, barely squeaking out a coherent denial.

Kakashi chuckled. "Joking kids" he said cheerily. "Anyway, Lady Hinata Hyuuga, a message from the Hokage."

Hinata came out of her embarrassed realm and re-concentrated on Kakashi, who was acting as messenger. "She wanted to congratulate you on your appointment yesterday, and for working out your issues with your clan and personal wellbeing. As clan head, you will be expected to attend council meetings with the other heads and the Hokage to discuss important matters to the village. So, to welcome you onto this council she has given you a gift to the best of her ability. With the village's poor economic status at the moment, having all its resources put back into rebuilding, she didn't buy you anything; rather, she has effectively left you out of any duties for today. It's not much, but you get the whole day off. She'll take care of your missions, clan business, errands, duties, etcetera, and that extends to you too Naruto, being her boyfriend it wouldn't be much of a gift if she couldn't spend it with you. Also, Naruto, if you want, you can attend the meetings with Hinata, as you are technically the head of the Uzumaki clan as well. Anyway, you're both free today, so do whatever you two lovebirds want. Stay in here and do whatever it was you were doing… or go out, I dunno, I don't care. Just, enjoy, you two deserve it. Cya!"

With that lengthy message he left the two again red faced teens to their deviations, whipping out his book again as he left. However, a thought lingered in his mind. 'Did I just say lovebirds? What sort of ninja am I? This book really is affecting me…'

.

"I can't believe he thought we were doing that! We just woke up!" Naruto shouted in dismay. Hinata just got redder. "So, what do you wanna do today?" Naruto asked, glad to have a whole day alone with his girlfriend. Finally.

"W,well, this will be our first normal day together. I,I, um, love just being with you Naruto-kun, b, but if you want, we could g,go…out."

Naruto blinked, his smile turning sly. "Are you asking me out on a date Hinata-chan?"

She gasped. "N,N,no,no,n,no! It's not like that!" she squeaked. "I j,just thought we could spend some normal time together. But, a, um, d,date, would, would, maybe, probably, b,be just a,as good… W,well, better." She finished with a red face.

"A date it is!" Naruto proclaimed happily. "But for now, I just want some alone time with you."

Hinata blushed slightly, but then smiled. "Alone time sounds good." She said gently while her heart fluttered erratically. It was a pretty bold statement for the shy kunoichi.

Naruto grinned even more and hugged her. "This is why I love you Hinata-chan" he whispered in her ear.

"I love you too" she whispered back. The feeling to her was indescribable; that she could finally say it so freely to him, the words that had been trapped up inside her for so many years.

Naruto cherished the sound of her voice saying those three most meaningful words in the world, how they rolled so perfectly off her lips. He then dove on said lips in a deep kiss, leading her down to the couch where they could cuddle in comfort.

.

Feel your every heartbeat

Feel you on these empty nights

Calm the ache, stop the shakes

You clear my mind

You're my escape

From this messed up place

'Cause you let me forget

You numb my pain.

.

Hinata lay on the couch in Naruto's arms, completely at peace with her head on his chest, listening to the deep thump of his slow, rhythmic heartbeat. Naruto loved moments like these, feeling the seemingly fragile girl in his arms. Her soft breathing the only thing moving her supple body created an overwhelming sense of peace within him. He concluded that this was the perfect equalizer to his hyperactivity; if not for Hinata surely he would have been diagnosed with ADD or something in his excitement in becoming the 'Hero of the Hidden Leaf'. He took in the sweet scent of lavender and cinnamon that subtly lingered over her, his nose just touching the top of her head.

But, all good things eventually have to come to an end. Just as Hinata was working up the courage to snuggle in deeper into his embrace and say she could stay there all day, Naruto looked up at the clock. He flinched involuntarily. It was 9:00 already! They had been lying there, lost in each other, for two hours!

"You wanna go on that date now?" Naruto asked, loathe to be breaking the perfect moment. But they had to do something with there day off.

Hinata sighed inwardly. 'Oh well, the date will be lots of fun too' she reasoned to herself. She had always dreamed of going on a date with Naruto. "Of course Naruto-kun" she said cheerily.

She slowly raised herself from his chest that had become her pillow. "Where did you want to go, we haven't had breakfast yet…" Naruto asked.

Hinata took on a questioning look, then came to a conclusion. Why she even had to think about it, she wasn't sure. "Um, I guess it'll have to be Ichiraku's!" she said enthusiastically.

However, Naruto surprised her with his answer. "You know Hinata-chan; it doesn't have to be Ichiraku's. I want this day to be special; it's kinda like our first proper date. I wanna go where you really want to go."

Hinata smiled in pure joy. Naruto was willing to pass up ramen for her! That meant a lot more than it sounded. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, I like ramen as well, I do really want to go to Ichiraku's."

Naruto grinned. "You're so awesome Hinata-chan!" he shouted out his joy to the girl right next to him, however once again he couldn't come up with a more relevant complement than 'she was awesome'. She just couldn't get any better, yet she constantly did!

.

How can I tell you all that you are

What you do to me

.

10:00 AM found the happy young couple at Ichiraku's, each ordering their favorite dish. Miso Pork for Naruto and old man Teuchi's special diet ramen for Hinata. Then, Naruto was struck by a sudden idea. They had all day didn't they?

He smiled a sly, evil smile and slid his eyes over in Hinata's direction, who sat on the bench stool next to him. She instantly became confused and nervous, noticing his sudden look. He was definitely up to something.

"W,what is it Naruto-kun?" she said hesitantly, not sure if she wanted him to answer that. A random thought came to her racing brain trying to figure out what he was up to. After all, behind all her shyness and ninja training, she was just a girl on her first date after all.

"D,do I have something on my face?" she said in sudden panic, the horror of the chance hitting her conscience.

This had been completely unexpected to Naruto. 'Where did that come from?' he wondered.

She continued to babble on under his gaze. "Please tell me if I do, I'm a girl, I'm not supposed to have stuff on my face" she blurted out.

Naruto jumped at this, he wasn't about to pass up a chance like this. "Here, I'll get it" he said, leaning towards the panicky girl. His hand rose as if to pick something off while Hinata blushed in embarrassment, but he had much more devious plans. Quick as a cat, he leant forward to her stock still face nervously waiting for him to get it off, and licked her cheek.

Hinata's skin ever so slowly grew from white to fluoro pink as her brain began to register what he had just done. Ayame, standing behind the counter, blushed heavily seeing the bold affection, and said awkwardly with a closed eyed, slightly open mouthed, awkward smile "Uh, perhaps I should go out back, leave you two alone for a while."

This promptly led to Hinata finally gaining enough semblance of reality back to notice her company and what she had just implied. Combined with the lingering feeling of Naruto's tongue sliding over her cheek, she crumpled in her seat, falling to the side onto the other bench chairs in the row, which effectively acted like a bed for the now half sitting, half lying unconscious girl.

"Aw c'mon Ayame, look what you did!" Naruto said cheekily. Inwardly, he was berating himself. He should have known the results he would get from that, but it had just been too tempting. 'We're still a long way off, aye Hinata-chan.'

.

When Hinata woke up she found Naruto and Ayame chatting amiably about the aspects and qualities of different flavors of ramen, while waiting for her to regain consciousness.

"Ahh, you're awake Hinata-sama." Ayame greeted, being the first one to notice her fluttering eyes since she was facing the couple. Hinata sat up groggily, fisting her eyes to get the wooziness away.

"Err, Hinata-chan, sorry about that" Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"H,Hi Naruto-kun, Ayame-san, i,its alright. Um, A,Ayame-san, you don't have to call me that, before just Hinata was nice."

Ayame smiled. "Sure thing Hinata, you're a valued customer, but you're also a friend, it doesn't matter about your new position right?"

Hinata smiled, her eyes crinkling closed in joy. She understood! It was sad to have people who had been friends with for so long giving her the formal honorific; it was great that Ayame knew how she felt. "That's great Ayame-san!" she voiced her thoughts enthusiastically.

Ayame gave her a look. "But Hinata, you've got to cut out the formality with that 'san' as well."

Hinata looked down sheepishly. "Of course, A,Ayame-sa-" She quickly stopped herself from saying the every present honorific, forcing down her clan teachings for the moment.

"Anyway" the chef's helper said, finally getting down to business. "Here are your meals!"

She slid two steaming hot ramen bowls to each teen, their respect chosen meals. That sly look came back over Naruto's face as they dug in, which instantly put Hinata's mind off her food and onto worrying a lot more than earlier about what Naruto was up to.

"N,N,Naruto-kun, wh,wh,what i,is i,it?" She stuttered uncontrollably in nervousness.

"Weeeeell" Naruto drew it out. He really shouldn't enjoy teasing his girlfriend, but it was just so fun. And she was so cute how she reacted. "I was just thinking, we have all day right? And it's only eleven now, so this is like a brunch. We'll be able to eat twice as much. Sooo."

'Ok, now I'm just really confused…' Hinata thought in mock despair, still cooking under his secret plans as he drew it out even further.

"We're gonna have an eating contest!" He finally shouted out, momentarily deafening Ayame, who wasn't as used to his overly loud voice as Hinata was. Said Hinata gasped in surprise. That really was unexpected.

"A,an eating contest! Wh,what for?" she asked.

Naruto grinned maniacally, his whole plan finally coming to the surface. "Whoever wins gets an hour with the other person, and they have to do anything the other says."

He smirked when Hinata gradually became pinker and pinker at the hidden meanings. "A,Anything?" she stuttered out, everything that she could do to Naruto almost making her faint again.

He nodded enthusiastically. "It'll be really fun Hinata! When I win I'll take you for the best hour long date you could ever think of!"

'When you win?' Hinata thought. Naruto was seriously underestimating her. Had he forgotten she had won the annual 'Ninja Champion Eating Contest' this year. Well, not just win, but sweeping the floor with 46 bowls to 31. She had utterly destroyed them, winning by a landslide, seeming completely unfazed by the meal while everyone else was blue in the face about ready to puke their guts out. Including Naruto.

Surprising both of the other people in the shop, she slammed her hand down on the counter and looked him in the eye. "You're on!" she said fiercely, but it soon broke down to an ear to ear grin, then a small sheepish smile and accompanying blush, like usual.

Ayame called out for Teuchi who was out back, and they began preparing a mountain of ramen bowls, themselves grinning at the promise of a show and a mountain of money to rival the bowls they were stacking up.

A sudden thought came to Hinata, and she beamed that she could keep her word. "Oh, Naruto-kun, I can pay you back for that money I borrowed now! Umm, Ayame, Teuchi-san, could you please forward the bill to my clans coffers, since I'm the Hyuuga head now I'm sure they won't mind."

Teuchi grinned and nodded his head in acknowledgement, then went back to vigorously preparing the meal. Naruto too grinned at his now filthy rich girlfriend. This was going to be one hell of a day! That is, if they didn't ruin the rest of it by being sick on ramen.

'Heheh, maybe this wasn't the best idea at the start of the day.' He mused to himself sheepishly. 'But if we had it at dinner we'd be too sick for all the cuddling and kissing that comes at night! And that could even lead to more, depending on how today goes!' Devious, horny machinations began infecting his mind about the kinky things Hinata could do for him as a reward for taking her on the best date ever. That was until he caught where his mind was wandering. 'Dam you pervy sage! Why did I ever read that book of yours!' he cursed his past teacher, having had to read and help with the infamous book on their travels.

Another random thought came to him. 'Perhaps Hinata could get some tips from it? Gah! Stop thinking like this Naruto!' This inner war between good old innocently oblivious Naruto and pervy Jiraiya influenced Naruto raged within him until a steaming hot bowl of ramen was set before each competitor.

Well, the two of them. It wasn't the biggest eating comp around, but was probably the most competitive. Each of them had the same flavor that would change with each bowl, to mix it up a bit and make it even. Even so, this actually made Hinata at a disadvantage. Naruto liked all ramen. Full stop. However, Hinata gagged whenever she got one whiff of seafood ramen. She was definitely not looking forward to the crab and shrimp flavored ramen bowls, but she was still planning to wolf them down, if a little blue in the face. 'I will get that hour with Naruto-kun!' she resolved herself.

"Ok guys, you ready?" Teuchi said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Yes!" he got from the two eager teens. He was amazed by Hinata's change in demeanor from when he had last seen her, but this didn't show, he was to busy with all the potential profit of these two.

"Ok, three, two," the teens picked up and broke their chopsticks apart, hovering over their bowls. "One…" he drew it out. "Begin!" Teuchi exclaimed and Ayame couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her from seeing the too serious expressions on their faces as they dove into their ramen bowls, "Itadakimasu!" being shouted by both.

.

Naruto demolished his first one just ahead of Hinata. While he was more of a 'sprint' eater, she liked to go slow and steady, and last longer. But for this competition she needed a faster pace, and was struggling to keep up.

"Next!" Naruto cried out, already on his seventh bowl, while Hinata was only on her fifth, but it was obvious to all he was already slowing.

'I hope he's not like this in bed…' The unbidden thought coming to the modest girl made her temporarily choke on her mouthful of ramen before she finally forced it down. 'Where did that come from!' she shouted mentally to herself. Now that she was finally with him, these thoughts of where their relationship would hopefully eventually come to came to her mind a lot more frequently, randomly reducing her to a pink faced wreck.

She finally got her bowl down, and was now only one behind Naruto. However, they were still nowhere near finished. Hinata took until the 20th bowl to gain that one bowl on him, but then, no matter how much she forced down the noodlely goodness, she couldn't gain another on him. He had come a long way since the last eating competition, where she had slaughtered them all. He did get to practice every day…

The two teens were finally worn down on their 50th bowls, now taking it at a snails pace, eyeing each other over their bowls. Finally, Naruto set his finished bowl down. "Ehhh, I don't think I can eat anymore" he groaned, holding his bulging stomach.

Hinata crowed inwardly. 'One more bowl and I'll catch up!' she thought in excitement, but she was certainly struggling with that one bowl. Every time she looked at the noodles, she wanted to vomit, and every time she put them in her mouth, the feeling doubled. She forced it down.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even take a look at another bowl. "I,I guess it's a draw" she said.

Naruto looked sad. "Yea, I guess that means the deals off" he said dejectedly. Hinata looked up at him in surprise.

"No way!" she said. "It means we both get an hour with the other!" she said with a slightly devious smile.

Naruto grinned. "Awesome!" he said. "That's a deal!"

Hinata paid for the oversized meal to an ecstatic looking Ayame and Teuchi, signing the receipt with a small flourish to prove to her clan the bill was authentic. The happy, bloated couple then left the shop and stepped out into the street arm in arm, thought slightly unstable from the copious amounts of takeout they had just devoured.

Hinata snuggled her head up against Naruto's shoulder. She was no longer shy enough to avoid giving him any direct affection in the public street, but was still way too embarrassed to go around kissing him directly in front of other staring people. When she was up on stage and he did that, she had almost died. It had been both the best moment of her life, and the most embarrassing.

"S,so, did you want to go first?" Hinata asked politely.

Naruto turned to her with a smirk. "Huh? Like, I have you or you have me?" Hinata blushed and looked to the side shyly. "Umm, you have me" she said quietly, the blush quickly spreading to her whole face. But she trusted Naruto not to do something pervy, so that was why she was letting him.

Plans had been formulating in Naruto's head during the ramen contest, but for them to succeed, he needed some time. "Nah, its cool Hinata, you can have me first" he said with a grin, which quickly turned sly. "Just don't wear me out so much I can't have you next." Hinata turned bright red at this.

"I, uh, um, of, of course not, N,Naruto-kun" she stuttered out in embarrassment. "W,Why don't we go back to y,your apartment first?"

Naruto grinned and decided a tiny bit more teasing wouldn't be too out of hand. "Aaaah" he sighed knowingly. "You want me all to yourself, hey? In private?" He finished with a cheeky smile.

Even more blood rushed to her head, before she blurted out a "Naruto-kun!" and batted him lightly on the arm, admonishing his pervy thoughts. It was quite a feat for Hinata, and momentarily shocked Naruto into silence, but he soon smiled again and wrapped an arm around her waist and led the poor blushing girl up the road towards his apartment block.

.

When they got back to the apartment, Hinata grabbed her bag and ran into the bathroom, saying "I'll just change into something more appropriate Naruto-kun. You wont need much either" and with that she disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Naruto stood gawking in the centre of the lounge. 'Is she serious!' he thought. 'I was just teasing! Is it true? Is, is she really gonna do that to me!' He clamped a hand over his nose as he felt a tiny dribble of blood run. 'Nah, she wouldn't do that, Hinata's a lady. The head of the Hyuuga clan! Surely not!'

However, his internal arguments ceased when Hinata came out wearing nothing but a towel. Even as he gawked, it started to slip. "Holy crap Hinata!" he shouted and was launched across the room from the severity of his nose bleed. Hinata, who had been blushing profusely at having so much skin showing near her boyfriend, yelped as Naruto shot across the room and fainted from mass blood loss.

"Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun!" she shouted as she rushed over to him, the towel slipping the rest of the way from her body. She knelt beside him, shaking him gently until he regained consciousness, repeating his name softly over and over.

"Augh. Hinata-chan?" Naruto said groggily as he pried his eyes back open. A major headache set in to rival his now turbulent stomach. He looked up to see Hinata above him, gently shaking him. The towel was gone. Before he succumbed back to his nosebleed however, he noticed she wasn't nude, but in a lavender one piece swimsuit. "Ehhhh!" he shouted when he saw it. "You wanted to go swimming?"

Hinata nodded profusely, and then looked down as Naruto sat up. "Un,Unless you don't want to Naruto-kun. I don't care about the conditions of the deal, I just thought you might like to. B,But, I,if you don't want to…" She trailed off her stutter bug rambling.

Naruto cupped her cheek with a hand, the other encircling her neck to pull her down on top of him. She "Eep"ed when he pulled her into the tender, unexpected kiss, but quickly closed her eyes in ecstasy and sank into him.

They eventually pulled apart, Naruto struggling to focus his mind on his plan through the dreamy state he was induced into by the kiss. Hinata was in exactly the same state.

"I'd love to go swimming Hina-chan, but, maybe tomorrow? Today, can we just do something nice and relaxing?" he said with a smile.

Hinata pondered, her brow drawing down in a tiny frown. Swimming was extremely relaxing to her… But, if he didn't want to today, she had other things they could do. She paid no heed to his devious smile, truly believing he didn't want to swim, and so changed plans. She gave him a closed eyed smile to show she was fine with it.

"Ok, I'll go put my jacket and things back on while I think up something else" she said and got up off him, retreating back into the bathroom. Naruto slowly got up, still shaky from the blood loss. Still, he quickly created several shadow clones. Outlining his plan to them, they sprinted out his door to various places in the village for their new mission.

.

Hinata stared at the mirror with a red face as she squeezed out of the tight swimsuit. 'I can't believe I actually let Naruto-kun see me in this!' she thought, stepping out of it. She sighed in relief, being finally able to take full breaths again. It had been extremely tight around her chest, she hadn't been able to find anything that fully accommodated for her slim body but huge cleavage.

She stared at her body in the mirror, and watched in astonishment as she turned from fluoro pink to a deep, maroon red. 'No, go away delayed fainting syndrome!' she yelled inwardly, but couldn't keep the redness out of her cheeks as she looked at her body. 'I've grown so much' she thought hesitantly, looking down at her D-cup's and shapely hips. 'I hope Naruto-kun likes it.' This unbidden thought finished off her fragile consciousness, and she fell to the bathroom floor with a dull thud.

Naruto, hearing said thud, ran to the door of the bathroom, putting his hand on the knob. As he tensed to pull it open, thinking something had happened to his girlfriend, sense came back to him. He jerked his hand away as if the handle was on fire.

'Naruto you idiot! What if she's naked! She said she was going in there to take off that swimsuit!' he mentally berated himself. He didn't know how lucky he was. If he had opened that door and seen Hinata's naked form sprawled out on the floor, he would have been sent straight to critical condition in the hospital for a week due to mass blood loss.

Naruto instead went to his couch and forced himself to sit down and wait, knowing nothing could have happened to as strong a ninja as Hinata in his bathroom without him knowing. He tapped his fingers to some random beat of a repeated 'Bycycle' that he had heard the other day. Yea, from Hinata's alarm…

After around 10 minutes Hinata had recovered and stepped out fully attired in lavender and white jacket complemented with her regular dark blue track pants. She smiled nervously to Naruto. "I've thought of something else we can do" she said with a slight blush, the thoughts that had caused her to faint still lingering in her mind.

Naruto looked at her expectantly, waiting for her 'orders'. Hinata finally gushed it out, her excitement overpowering her shyness. She knew Naruto had to love this.

"We can go training!" she said ecstatically. Finally she could train with him, stand and fight side by side with him. Even if they would be imaginary enemies, it was one step closer to another of her dreams. Of walking beside Naruto, fighting beside him, with him, for him. Yesterday she had proven her strength to her father, so today; she would show it to Naruto. She would hold nothing back.

Naruto fisted the air with a loud "Ooh yea!"

Being the number one most hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja, he was always up for training. And who better to train with than his girlfriend? If he hadn't already thought up enough today, even more devious plans were already coming up in his mind, involving a lot of chasing, then hugging, then kissing, then removing certain items of clothes, then sticking- 'STOP Naruto!' he shouted to himself as his mind wandered slightly too far.

"Lets go!" he said out loud, banishing his small Hinata-like blush. And so the couple crossed the village hand in hand to training ground Ten, where there was a nice simple field that they could train together undisturbed.

.

Naruto quickly found himself regretting agreeing to train. He soon found Hinata whipping around him, her taijutsu style and nimble, fleeting movements completely outclassing his basic style that relied on all out power to be effective. Of course, since it was training, neither used chakra, so his usually over the top strength tactics didn't help him here. Even without her gentle fist strikes, Hinata's hits freaking hurt! It also didn't help that whenever she got an opening she would hit one of his nerves instead of the usual chakra points, which would numb the appendage and hurt like fifty times worse than her normal hits.

Hinata struck him again in the ribs and leapt back. "C'mon Naruto-kun, please hit me. I feel guilty being the only one hurting someone, you haven't touched me yet. You don't have to hold back, so please don't."

Her unintended taunt hit Naruto hard. He hadn't been holding back, at least not more than a normal training match called for. So, he taunted right back, as was his way.

"We have twenty minutes left, that's plenty enough time for me to have you begging me to stop!" He charged with a grin and Hinata smiled, stepping in to meet him. What she didn't expect was instead of Naruto striking for her, he cheated and sent a surge of chakra to his legs, boosting his speed to catch the girl off guard. And into a giant bear hug. Hinata's surprised squeak of "Eep!" was cut off when they hit the ground and he glomped her.

Her wide eyes stared up into the mischievous sparkle of his own as he smothered her shocked frozen mouth. That is until she got over said shock and started responding with equal enthusiasm. He rolled over from atop her to momentarily break for air, but she followed him, lips and tongues still intertwined, until she was the one on top.

This sent a completely new thrill up her spine, feeling like she was in control. Now her own lavender eyes twinkled mischievously as Naruto stared up at her, to shocked by her boldness to respond with his own mouth. Role reversal if there ever was one. Naruto sweat dropped in his mind at his backfired capture and kiss plan, but he was even more happier with the results.

'Yes! Go Hinata!' he mentally cheered as he began responding again and their tongues battled for dominance. 'She must be sooo horny to be acting this bold!' he thought, grinning into the kiss as he thought of that. Hinata. Horny.

His hands slowly rose from the ground to caress her back, going lower and lower as they lost themselves in the kiss. Pleasure ran through Hinata when she felt his hands on her, and she in turn put her own to his cheeks, pulling him deeper into the kiss.

That is until a dim part of her mind realized where they were. Lying in the soft grass, in the peaceful quite of… a popular training ground. Where at any moment a team of ninja, kids through to adult could walk in on them.

'Oh my gosh!' she thought. 'We're doing this here! Outside!' She promptly fainted from embarrassment on his chest, lips still locked to his.

Naruto didn't fail to notice her sudden lack of force on his mouth, and so disconnected from his suddenly unconscious girlfriend and moved his arms up to her waist, now just holding her lovingly with a wry smile on his face.

'This could be difficult Hinata' he thought, and then a semblance of reality came back to him as it just had his girlfriend. 'Oh crap! Really difficult! We're in the middle of a freaking training ground making out!'

Naruto quickly got up and picked up Hinata bridal style, carrying her over to a tree, and then sat back against it with her in his lap, so it didn't look so suspicious if another team came along. When she eventually woke up, she found her position perfectly acceptable, so snuggled in close, holding him in a sweet embrace for the rest of her allotted time. This was her heaven.

.

"You're better than drugs

Your love is like wine

Feel you comin' on so fast

Feel you comin' on to get me high.

You're better than drugs

Addicted for life

Feel you comin' on so fast

Feel you comin' on to get me high."

.

"Jitensha! Jitensha!" 'There's that song again!' Naruto thought as the static notes of Oreskaband buzzed from the alarm in Hinata's pocket. She quickly turned it off and craned her head back to look into Naruto's eyes in regret.

"Don't worry Hina-chan, your gonna have even more fun with my hour" he said with a gentle smile, then briefly captured her lips again, making her pining eyes close again in bliss. She was helpless to his kisses; they cut through her disagreements like a warm knife through butter.

He smirked when he broke. "By the way, I was lying earlier, I did want to swim, but it was my plan. Heheh, sorry about that, but now you gotta go all the way back to the apartment to get back into that sexy swimsuit."

Hinata blushed as Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. When she got over his compliment, she smiled at him in amusement. "Ok Naruto-kun" she said with a light giggle, so the two teens walked all the way back through the village to Naruto's apartment. As soon as Hinata had slunk back into the bathroom, Naruto ran to his bedroom, chucked on his green board shorts, and created a clone.

"You know what to do" he said quickly. The clone gave him a solid nod, so the real Naruto opened his bedroom window and vaulted out ninja style to go bring about the final machinations of his master plan, the clone closing the window behind him.

.

"Hey there, I'm just a clone" the Naruto clone said when Hinata exited the bathroom with her swimsuit under her jacket and track pants. He scratched his head sheepishly. "Umm, yea, the boss, well me, its pretty confusing, well the real me's got this plan for some sort of treasure hunt thing. Anyway, here's the first clue."

He gave a stunned Hinata a piece of paper then stunned her even further with a kiss before poofing away tantalizingly, frustrating her to no end, leaving her unsatisfied with the kiss cut short, and wanting more.

She carefully opened the slip of paper in anticipation, not fully knowing what to expect. 'I kind of like people like you' she read in her head, but the handwriting continued. 'How wrong I was, I freaking love people like you! No, actually just you Hinata! You know where to go for this one.'

Hinata grinned. She certainly did. She ran out Naruto's door with a huge spring in her step, sprinting over the rooftops of Konoha to the place Naruto had first really acknowledged her, team 8's training ground, and the three posts she was so familiar with.

.

Nostalgia hit her when she gazed upon said posts. The dried redness encrusted on the light padding was a testament to all the blood and tears she had shed here, but also of so many good memories with her team.

It was also the home of one of her most treasured memories. He hadn't exactly put it very well, but those words still came up in her dreams. 'I always used to think you were a shy, dark weirdo. But you know, I kind of like people like you.'

Hinata smiled when she saw a Naruto clone step out from behind one of the posts. "Hey there!" it started to greet before Hinata was on top of it, boldly taking it out with a kiss. She caught the fluttering paper as it fell from the smoke of the dispersed clone.

.

When the second clone's memories came back to him, Naruto almost fell off the cliff he was walking up. 'Dam I can't wait till she gets here! Lucky clones!'

After the pleasure of the kiss faded, Naruto again made his was up the vertical climb, eventually reaching the top of the mountain. There was something special that awaited him there, something that he wanted to share with Hinata. He had discovered it by pure fluke; who would have ever thought that such a thing was here of all place? He had found it due to a mission they had all been given when the Konoha 12 were still genin. They had had to lead their own teams of academy students to the top of this mountain. However, because of severe weather conditions, the teams were all called back. Even Naruto's team, halfway up the mountain, had been grudgingly forced back.

A week after, in clear skies, he had gone alone to prove a point to himself. He had climbed the mountain and found something magnificently unexpected on the flat top. Now however, being a jonin level ninja; even though he was still officially genin, he made the climb in a synch.

'Better make it harder for Hinata so she'll be more inclined when she makes it up' he thought deviously. Gathering his chakra, he bit his thumb, spread the blood over his digits, and planted his hand on the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" he called out. A massive cloud of chakra surrounded the large platform. It quickly cleared in the soft wind blowing across the mountaintop. Squatting on the edge of the precipice to the forest floor hundreds of meters below, Gamabunta glared back at him.

"That was awfully close brat! What have you called me all the way up here for, I don't see any enemies" he grouched.

Naruto looked sheepish, scratching his head in that way of his. "Uhh, hey there, I was wondering if you could help me out with something for my girlfriend" he said embarrassedly.

Gamabunta's anger at being called for something so trivial was outweighed by his shock. "My my Naruto-boy! You have a girlfriend now!"

Naruto grinned. "Yea! She's absolutely awesome! You were already out of the fight, but she was the one that saved me from Pain and cause me to win!"

"Ooh, that girl! Granny Toad told me all about her, she happened to be semi-conscious enough to hear everything she said and what happened to her" Gamabunta exclaimed.

"Yea!" Naruto repeated again. "She's so awesome! We're doing this deal thing at the moment where we get to do whatever we want with each other for an hour, so I got her on this cool scavenger hunt thing with my clones, and this is the last stop, but it was a bit too easy so I was wondering if you could spray toad oil over the cliff face there so she'd have a harder time climbing!" Naruto rambled.

Gamabunta looked at him strangely. "You sure?" he queried. "You don't wanna make it too hard for her, she could get hurt or angry with you."

Naruto cracked up at that. "Hinata! Mad!" he blurted out between guffaws. When he had controlled himself, he smirked at the toad boss. "And I'm not worried about her getting hurt, she's a freaking tank!"

Gamabunta gave a toady smile. From the info deduced from Granny Toad, then yes, it did sound like she was a 'freaking tank'. "Sure then Naruto, if it's for you to 'get some' with this girl I've heard so much about!" he teased and turned around to face the cliff, leaving a slightly blushing Naruto behind.

He opened his mouth a spewed a huge amount of toad oil over the rock until it soaked all the way down to the bottom. "Well, I'll be going then" he said gruffly and with a slight wave, poofed away.

"Cya, and thanks" Naruto said with his own wave, then grinned as he felt yet another of his clones taken out by Hinata's soft sweet lips. "I can't wait!" he said to himself, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

.

Hinata looked at the paper in her hand. The last one had been so easy, reading simply 'Sakura knows where this is ' The large cheesy grin scrawled on the end failed to go unnoticed by her sharp eyes, so she hadn't even bothered to go ask Sakura; she just went straight down to the small grove of sakura trees down by the river.

It was a majestic place that she had always wished she could spend time with Naruto there. In fact when she read the note she had cursed herself for not spending her hour with him here instead of that grotty old training ground. It was certainly more private than a training ground…

As she walked through the corridors of pink blossoms, she had seen Naruto standing under one of the trees. She was hoping it wasn't another clone; this place was so gorgeous she never wanted to leave. But when she ran over to him with a hug and kiss, he too had poofed away, leaving the note in his wake.

"Aww" she said out loud as she grabbed the fluttering piece of paper remaining. "Where five leafy shadows meet" she pondered the riddle out loud. "Leafy shadows? Does he mean the Hokages? Oh! The Hokage monument! I bet that's the last place, he always goes up there!' With that final thought she took off at full ninja speed to the monument on the cliff side; a blur racing through the village.

.

Hinata panted as she reached the top of the hill, but grinned when she saw Naruto standing atop the Fourth's head. She controlled her breathing and snuck up on the poor victim, who was staring out over the village. She pounced when she was still five meters away, hitting him with enough force to knock him over by wrapping her arms and legs around him. She sat up on his chest.

"Please be real" she whispered into his ear seductively and kissed him softly on the lips. When he didn't disperse instantly, her hopes soared, but when they broke he shook his head.

"Sorry, but I'm the last one" he said and kissed her this time. Hinata responded passionately, tonguing with him until he disappeared.

Which was a very strange experience, one moment having her tongue stuck down his throat and the next tasting air. It left her bug eyed atop the Fourth's head looking like she was poking her tongue out at the village below.

She picked up the paper after she recovered and flipped it over to see her final clue.

The treasure that was never found, when we genin had responsibility

Hinata stayed in her half sitting, half kneeling position, legs bent out to her sides like she was doing a kneeling splits, and put a finger to her chin, looking up into the vast blue sky in thought.

"What?" she finally said aloud to Minato's head. This one completely stumped her. Even though it wasn't written she could just see Naruto going "Hah! This ones way harder!"

She read it again. "When we genin had responsibility?" she wondered aloud. "Treasure that wasn't found? Again, what?"

She thought back to all her adventures that somehow involved Naruto when she was a genin. 'No, definitely not the Chunin exams. And I didn't have anything to do with the Sasuke retrieval squad when they didn't get that 'treasure'. I guess we found the Bikochu in the end, and helped that bounty hunter guy, so that won't be it. We protected those merchants and the princess, and went to that scary mansion. But none of those missions involved treasure. We did do that treasure hunt thingy with Kiba and Akamaru, but we found that! What could it be?'

She thought more and read it yet again. 'When we genin had responsibility? Wait, does he mean when we got to lead the academy students to Mt Takurame?' She gasped. "He does!" She shrieked out loud. 'Oh wow! I wonder what's up there; no one ever did get to the top!'

Then she was gone, boosting away from the village towards the now rapidly growing mountain in the distance. "C'mon, I gotta make it within the hour!" she shouted herself on as she raced through the peaceful forest, her self encouragement pushing her to new speeds.

"Sorry!" she called over and over again to all the animals she disturbed with the wind turbulence her passing body caused because of how fast she was running.

.

Finally she reached the bottom, having located the mountain with her Byakugan. 'Well, that was a lot easier than I remember' she thought, then looked up at the cliff face. It did look quiet daunting, but with her level of chakra control now it would be a piece of cake. Especially with the incentive of the real Naruto waiting at the top with some sort of treasury reward. She hoped it was a kiss, a real kiss. His clone's kisses were good, of course; it was Naruto-kun after all, but they just were in a separate league to his real kisses. They could never be that awesome.

She ran and jumped up onto the wall, sending just the right amount of chakra to her feet to make her stick. Only, she didn't. Her foot slipped right off! Desperately, she surged more chakra into her other foot that was just coming into contact. It layered cracks in the wall and tiny splinters of rock flew out. Her foot sank a few inches into the disintegrating piece of cliff, but she eventually stuck without the hindrance of whatever it was on the wall.

"Ow" Hinata said. She was bent over backwards, hanging half upside down from the wall with one foot. She looked down through her hair that fell in a halo around her face, only to find it piled up on the ground an inch from her nose. She blinked. That would have hurt!

'That was close, I'm glad I jumped that high' she thought, not relishing the embarrassment of falling on her face had she been any lower. 'Typical of you Naruto-kun to make it harder' she mused as she used her core muscles to pull herself upright, clinging to the wall more solidly with all four limbs once she was within reach.

A really slick, shiny oil-like substance coated every inch of the cliff face. "Eww" she said out loud when it got all over her hands and the front of her jacket, as she was pressed up close enough to the wall that her chest was scraping on it.

She sighed. 'Well, at least I know he's up there'she thought in compensation, looking at the brighter side of her predicament. She then commenced the painstakingly slow climb up the treacherous wall, carefully managing her chakra flow to all four points of contact every step of the way up, glad for her natural precision and immense training on chakra control.

.

Naruto looked down the cliff. 'Yus! She's finally here!'

He could see her climbing now, slow and careful due to the toad oil. He wasn't worried about her falling; she could easily twirl around onto her feet and reinforce her bones with chakra take the impact. She was a ninja after all. And a Chunin at that! Higher ranked than him!

He sat back and waited. The grin would not be pried off his face with a crowbar he was so excited. He couldn't wait to see, and feel, what she would do to him once she found the real one. Probably rape him on sight. Now that he wouldn't mind. 'Ugh, romance Naruto, not sex!' he mentally berated his inner pervert. He was having those dirty thoughts about Hinata way too much lately to be healthy.

.

Hinata finally reached the lip of the rock face and climbed over, now pretty much covered in toad oil. She looked at nothing but her own dirty self as she stood up.

"Eeeeewwwwwwwww" she whined. With a grimace she shook her slimy hands out to the sides of her body, splattering gooey oil over the rock. Her head whipped up when she heard a low chuckle. "Naruto-kun!" she gasped even as she was already leaping for him.

That was definitely the real one. It had to be!

Then she was on top of him. Naruto's musings were nearly correct, she was all over him. Finally, after much tongues wrestling for dominance and many 'oopies' when limbs roamed too far in their heated passion, Hinata blushed at their position and rolled off him.

Standing up with a now completely red face, she mumbled apologies for jumping him like that. "Uh, s,sorry" she said embarrassedly. "You did all that treasure hunt thing just to make me do that to you, didn't you?" she accused.

His grin was all the answer she needed. She kissed him again, this one with less urgency and passion, but more love. It was a sweet, gentle, relaxing kiss that she just sank into and made her heart feel like bursting.

When they finally broke again, Hinata finally began noticing her surroundings as her gaze eventually wandered from Naruto's face. She couldn't hold in the huge gasp that forced its way out of her when she witnessed the majesty sprawled before her.

"Oh Naruto-kun. Its, its, h,how, how did you... It, its so beautiful." She stumbled about her words in breathless awe.

Behind her boyfriend, rocky formations twisted in and out of each other in a myriad of shapes and patterns, creating soaring towers and massive caverns of rock. But what made it so beautiful were the thousands of colors in the rock. Lines of sediments that had been eroded away throughout the years showed many different washy colors in the rock, but throughout it all crystals gleamed, their own vibrant colors sparkling in the high noon sun.

And amidst all the formations were pools of bright blue water! Full of minerals to give it its amazing color, the glacial water sat in holes and pits formed by its erosion of the rock. What she soon found out was that it was also heated to the perfect temperature by the lava deep within the mountain, the hot steam seeping up in cracks in the ground to mingle with the water.

Naruto felt his heart swell as he watched Hinata's eyes sparkle in awe as they reflected the majesty before her, her mouth slightly open, forgotten by her mind having been taken away by the surroundings. It really was beautiful, he surmised.

Some of the pools even created a bright blue mirror for the rocks above, creating ever more patterns and mazes in the landscape. Hinata now knew why Naruto had told her to wear her swimsuit to the top of a mountain, and why he hadn't wanted to swim earlier. He had saved it for this, for her.

.

Hinata squealed as Naruto splashed her in the waist deep water. "Naruto, don't!" She… still squealed.

As soon as he stopped she got a mischievous glint in her eye. Just when he was least expecting it, she sent a huge splash right in his face. Hinata succumbed to the uncontrollable giggles that assaulted her from the priceless look on his face. Then, he was coming for her!

She squeaked in surprise and dived away, Naruto hot on her tail. He quickly caught her, leaping atop and dunking her into the warm embrace of the water. Hinata "Eep"ed as it surged over her head and she twisted back towards the surface only to see Naruto come underwater with her.

He gave her a tight lipped smile to keep the water out of his mouth, and kissed her. Her eyes widened at the unexpected thrill of the underwater kiss. They erupted back out of the water in each others arms, lips still locked, arms intertwined, hers crossed over his shoulders behind his head, his around her waist. They parted and he boosted her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, effectively sitting on him.

When they finally parted and untangled themselves, Naruto cheekily said "You're it!" and dove away.

"Oo you little…" Hinata mock growled and dived after him, just missing the swipe at his ankle.

.

Once their raucous activities of kiss tiggy died down, the couple sat back against a smooth rock wall in the corner of their pool and admired their surroundings coupled with the view from atop the mountain.

Hinata sat in Naruto's lap, the warm water lapping just above her chest. She just couldn't stop thinking how romantic this was. She never wanted to leave. Naruto truly was the best boyfriend in the world. This hour kicked her hour's butt!

"Naruto, thank you so much for this" she said quietly, not wanting to break the peaceful solitude of the moment. It was like they were the only two people in the world.

She could feel his grin behind her. "I knew you'd like it" he whispered into her ear.

Hinata jumped at the chance to tease. "Oh no Naruto-kun, you've got it all wrong. I don't like it at all" she said cheekily, feeling him flinch. But she couldn't leave him like that; she was too kind for her own good, which made her utterly hopeless at teasing. She turned to him with a grin of her own. "I don't like it, I love it!" she said ecstatically and kissed him.

She knew it was cliché and completely lame, but he had fallen for it! Because of how unexpected it was coming from Hinata, he had believed everything she said.

Now he was grinning into the kiss with her, and they broke giggling. "You naughty girl" he teased, making her turn red. 'He's the king of tease, I'm stuffed now' she thought in mock despair and sighed inwardly in exasperation. 'And it's so ridiculously easy to tease me… What did I just get myself in for!'

Hinata had no idea she was also a tease. In another sense of the word. When she had been taking off her jacket and pants to go for a swim, Naruto had been gawking as she revealed her tight lavender swimsuit. The only thought in his head had been 'YEA!' but she had been blushing too profusely to notice his admiration. When she finally stood back up with her pile of clothes bundled in her arms, Naruto had composed himself somewhat.

"I hope you like it" she said innocently, and Naruto almost had another nosebleed attack with the way her voice sounded so sexy. "Though I'm not very comfortable with it, it shows so much skin" she had continued. It tipped the scales and poor Naruto had finally succumbed to much twitching and clamping his hand over his nosebleed.

Now Naruto noticed his girlfriends downcast look, and thought it was real. He guessed exactly what she was thinking. "Don't worry Hina-chan, I wont tease you anymore if you don't want me to."

Hinata smiled. "Thank you Naruto-kun" she said and leaned back against him, resting her head on his chest as they sat in comfortable silence in the steamy water amidst the sparkling maze of pillars gazing over the sweeping view of the leafy forest and Konoha beneath them.

.

Hinata and Naruto eventually left the perfect spot with promises to return together someday. They still had a few hours of daylight left and had it planned out perfectly. They, well, Naruto, had allocated it for some well deserved smooching time in his apartment until they went back outside for dinner.

However, there is no such thing as a perfect day in the ninja world. Waiting for them outside the building housing Naruto's apartment was a very irate Hyuuga elder. He was the one who had been at the forefront of Hinata's abuse over the years, the one that had been so eager to punish Neji and Ko the other day. Naruto could feel the killer intent radiating off the elder in all directions as he paced around stormily, having not yet noticed the young couples presence.

Naruto quickly yanked Hinata back around the corner and put his arm up against the wall as a barrier to her. "Stay here Hinata, I'll deal with him, he's obviously here for you, and he doesn't want to talk. He wants to fight you, so stay back and I'll take him out, I don't want you to get hurt anymore."

Hinata took a deep breath. She wasn't about to let Naruto take all the hits for her, to get hurt for her. "No Naruto-kun" she said softly, yet her voice was firm. "I'm a ninja as well as your girlfriend, and now even the Hyuuga clan head. Kunoichi always get left in the background in battles, told to 'stay back' by you guys. Well, I will not do that. I will fight by your side Naruto-kun. We can easily take him together, elder or not, seal or no seal."

She stepped forward by his side, and Naruto, despite his admonitions, couldn't help but grin at her judgment that had just completely overpowered his argument.

"Your awesome Hinata-chan" he said softly, repeating his 'awesome' mantra that was now his all round compliment to her, trying to convey all his feelings in that one word every time he said it.

Hinata smiled, her eyes twinkling at her boyfriends trust and admiration, and together, they stepped out around the corner to face the elder.

.

"You!" the angry shout immediately reached them as the irate man saw them. "You don't deserve to be the clan head!" he blurted out, getting straight into it. "You are weak and pathetic, and a girl! We need a strong clan head, like me! Not some stupid little failure like you, who will lead our clan into ruin!"

He continued ranting from his spot as the couple calmly walked towards him, hands still clasped with each other, fingers intertwined. Hinata responded in a stern, lecturing voice; like she was talking to a child that didn't get everything he wanted. This was her subordinate now, so she had to show some authority, even if she didn't really feel it.

"Hekuma-san, I defeated the previous clan head in battle and he publically relinquished his title to me, declaring me the leader of our clan. Does that not prove my strength? Prove that I am capable of leading our clan?"

The addressed elder however refused to see reason. "That doesn't count for anything! He is your father; he was going easy on you! I'm here to show everyone that you haven't changed at all, you're still that pathetic little wallflower they know you for, and I'll prove that I am stronger and deserve to be the leader of our clan! I'll put everyone in their rightful place with the Caged Bird Seal so no-one will be able to question me! That is how a clan should be ruled, not with sympathy and sacrifice from the leader!"

Then he was charging at her, not giving her time to shove the idiocy of his viewpoint right under his nose with her words of reason. Naruto immediately stepped in front of her, but she whipped around him, slightly roughly pushing him aside.

"Sorry, but I'm the head of my clan now Naruto, I must take responsibility by making sure my subordinates know their place, with my own strength" she said firmly, rooting him in place as he watched her effortlessly knock aside the elders first strike, then pivot out of the way.

Hekuma's charge having suddenly met minimal resistance, the honored elder ended up pitching face first into the dirt. Several gathered onlookers cracked up at this, bending over in mirth as they watched the arrogant old man getting his ass handed to him by the girl. Naruto quickly went over and shushed them, then went back to observing the developing fight.

Hinata was attempting to talk to the man as she easily bent and swayed around his attacks, or simply knocked his blow aside. His rage filled strikes were predictable, so outmaneuvering them was a piece of cake for her superior flexibility. Because his rage was blocking out his reason, the normal 'cool' attitude the Hyuuga used to perform the gentle fist arts was ruined, and so his form suffered.

The elder finally realized Hinata wasn't striking back, just toying with him, allowing him to hurt himself by letting him fall over when he unbalanced himself. Even more enraged, he clasped his hands together in an all too familiar hand sign.

"Hah! You can't resist this!" he shouted in triumph.

Hinata flinched as the pain pushed into her head, but the elder was wrong, she could resist it, and she sprinted towards him. He had gone far enough; he wasn't listening to her so she had to end this now.

She stumbled once in her charge as he panicked and increased the threshold, but before she could even get there after recovering from her small mishap, Naruto was behind him with a kunai pushed roughly up against his throat.

"Play nice" he whispered into his ear, sarcasm soaking through his menacing voice. He then reversed the knife and whacked the hilt into the old mans temple. The now limp elder sagged in unconsciousness, but Naruto kept him upright in his grip.

"This man belongs in prison" he said in disgust as Hinata now calmly walked up to them, rubbing the blood from her nose that was induced by the seal, as if nothing ever happened.

Hinata nodded her head in agreement. "He should be the one with the Caged Bird seal, he needs controlling, but no-one should have to live under the seal, no matter how corrupt they are. We have to hand him over to the ANBU, I'm sure they'll be on the scene soon enough, with this crowd gathered" she said coolly, the new Hyuuga head surveying the crowd of civilians. The adrenaline still pumping through her veins momentarily dispelling her shyness that would have normally set in at being the centre of so many peoples attention.

As if on queue, two ANBU who had been in the immediate vicinity dropped from the rooftops, landing in a low crouch before the two clan heads. "Hyuuga-sama, Namikaze-sama, what happened here?" the one wearing a bird mask asked.

'Namikaze? That's right, the ninja population probably already knows my heritage by now if Tsunade announced to them that I would be acting as the Namikaze clan head and going to meetings with Hinata' Naruto thought as Hinata talked to the ANBU.

A short explanation later, the bird masked man nodded to his comrade who then took the prone body off Naruto. The two then gave perfunctory short bows and disappeared in streaks as they leapt off to complete their new mission.

"N,Naruto-kun, I need to go somewhere" Hinata said when the commotion had died down, her adrenaline banished with it, and replaced by her usual stutterbug.

"I know" Naruto said simply, and Hinata looked at him in shock. "But I'm coming with you this time Hinata. There's nothing you can do to stop me, short of tying me to my bed" he said with determination. 'Though I wouldn't mind if she did that tonight' he thought with a slight blush. Even as this ran through his head he was trying to banish his pervy side.

Hinata saw the determination in his eyes, and smiled. "K" she said simply, knowing he was the same as her, once he had set his mind; there was no point in arguing. "You're the best boyfriend ever" she added and hugged him, looking up into his twinkling blue eyes. He grinned and leaned down to meet her lips in a sweet kiss.

"Naaaaaaawwwwww" was heard around them and Hinata instantly turned red, realizing that quite a few people were still watching. She pulled back in surprise and embarassment, then hid her face in Naruto's shirt as her ears burned.

"Um, lets go Naruto-kun" she quickly mumbled into his chest, and they took to the roofs. Her red face died down to a light blush as they got away from the crowd, the cool wind caressing her hot cheeks.

Together, they headed towards the Hyuuga compound, and Hinata braced herself for what she knew she had to do.

.

"Feel you when I'm restless
Feel you when I cannot cope
You're my addiction, my prescription, my antidote
You kill the poison
Ease the suffering
Calm the rage when I'm afraid
To feel again"

.

Hiashi's eyebrow twitched as he read the piece of paper in his hand. It was a bill from Ichiraku Ramen, to the Hyuuga clan.

'5,000 Ryo on ramen!' He put the paper down and shook his head in exasperation. "I'm too old for this" he said in despair and walked out of the office, deciding to go back to bed.

After all, he wasn't clan leader anymore, so why did he have to sort that stuff out. She could talk to it about the treasury managers when she got back. She had been the one to buy it after all. 'Hmmph, maybe that will teach her to have some restraint with that boyfriend of hers' he thought with a smirk, knowing the ramen loving blonde would have had to had some part in such a large bill.

.

"Hinata-sama."

Branch and Main house members alike bowed in respect in the wake of their leader as Hinata marched determinedly through the halls of her clan's compound. She was searching for her father, the previous head, who had a lot more experience in these matters than her.

She eventually found him in his room, enjoying his retirement by simply lying in bed reading a book. Both teens' eyebrows twitched when they saw the orange cover of Icha Icha Paradise.

Hiashi looked surprised to see them suddenly in his room, then quickly realized what he was reading and hid it under the covers. "Uh, Hinata-sama, Naruto-san, what brings you here?" he said rapidly, sweating slightly under there disapproving glares.

"Dad" Hinata said, pointedly ignoring the fact that he had been just reading what she thought of as porn on paper. "We ran into elder Hekumo outside Naruto-kun's house. H,he didn't think I was fit to lead our clan and so challenged my authority. I'd like to call a meeting with the clan to determine who else has his point of view, a,and deal with it now before it can escalate even further. I,I'd rather not have a coup-de-ta the second day of my appointment."

Hiashi stared at his daughter in amazement, the authority emanating off her rivaling her embarrassment. He slowly rose from the bed. "Yes, that's great reasoning Hinata-sama, you are dealing with this excellently. I take it previous elder Hikuma was defeated since he is not here in your place demanding I be sealed, which I am grateful to you for. I will call the meeting immediately." He finished his speech and attempted to leave the room, but Hinata's soft voice quickly stopped him.

"D,Dad, I am still your daughter, not just the clan head, c,could you please just call me Hinata" she said sadly, she hated the new formalities that distanced her from everyone. It went straight to her heart coming from her own father. Neji and Ko having always said it was bad enough.

Hiashi smiled warmly. "Of course, my daughter, Hinata" he said cheerily and gave her a fatherly hug she hadn't felt in years, then exited the room.

Hinata was left shocked still, but with a warm fuzzy feeling enveloping her. Even if it was a fleeting moment, it had shown her dad was truly back to stay.

.

Hinata stood upon the dais she had yesterday, again before her entire clan; minus one unfortunate elder. But this time, she had Naruto up there with her. 'I'm not nervous at all' she thought sarcastically, gazing out over the sea of heads.

Hinata coughed nervously to try and gain some attention. Instantly, all heads turned to her like a single entity. She froze as she felt the pressure turn up a few notches. Well, burst over the scale really…

Naruto noticed her severe stage fright and squeezed her hand reassuringly. She took in his confidence, felt it flowing into her body, and went on that. Now was not the time for her nerves to show, she needed to be seen as a strong leader that ruled with an iron fist over any rebellions, and save her loving heart for her loyalists. Yes, it was going to be difficult, but she would prevail. This was for the clan.

She took a deep breath and began, appearing to be a brewing thunderhead before her clan. She went straight to the point.

"Do any of you question my leadership!" she thundered, the strength and volume of her own voice surprising herself as much as the clan. When stony silence hit her in return she forged ahead. "One former elder named Hekumo Hyuuga did. He challenged me and attacked me in the street to try to win the chair off me. Even though he used the seal, he did not prevail. He is now suffering for his actions, lying in an ANBU jail cell where he will most likely spend the majority of the remainder of his life. There will be no sympathy for traitors in this clan. Is that understood!"

A sea of solemnly nodding heads greeted her this time around. Hinata smiled lightly, dispelling her menacing façade. "Good" she said in her normal sweet tones. "To reward most of you, the loyal branch members, I have decided to remove the Caged Bird Seal from use, and have those of you who currently wear them dissolved."

This created an uproar between the few main house members left in the clan who still clung to the old ways, and the raucous cries of joy from the branch house. Hinata quickly silenced the arguments.

"I understand this is risking the secrets of the Byakugan, but we will no longer be a clan that makes up excuses to enslave our own members by jealously guarding our kekkei genkai. We will all be equals. To protect the Byakugan in the event of death, I have placed an enquiry with the Hokage to ask the seal masters of our village to research about a small tattoo to go on the temple that will quickly fade into the skin, so no one will have marks they need to cover up. In the event of death this seal will lock the Byakugan. This will clear up any feasible arguments anyone has, but it will not have any controlling purposes whatsoever. Everyone will get one, even me. There will be no arguments, my decision is final. If anyone wishes to reconsider their view of me as leader, please speak now."

She waited for a few moments, coldly looking over the heads. Inside, she was dying. "Branch members; please come to me tomorrow afternoon about removing your seal."

Now her voice turned really icy, worse than any Hyuuga had ever heard it. She turned a glare on the small clump of elders. "And if I hear about anything, even rumors, about you trying to get in some 'last minute' discipline, Hikumo's fate will seem kind to you."

Her voice magically reversed, lightening up again. "Also, Hanabi, could you please see me in an hour in my office? Thanks you everyone. That will be all, you may leave."

She sighed in relief as the attention turned off her and everyone made for the doors. Naruto turned to her in awe, his face radiating pride.

"What have you done with Hinata!" he accused in amazement. Hinata closed her eyes and sank into him, just thankful it was over. Naruto continued as he held her up. "That. Was. Awesome" he told her point blank as they finally stepped off the dais into the milling throng of leaving Hyuuga.

They quickly headed for a side door where Hiashi waited. Hinata finally spoke up again. "That was confidence I really didn't feel. Thank you for being there with me Naruto-kun" she said before they reached her dad.

He grinned. "Heh, no problem Hinata-chan, I just hope I'm never on the receiving end of that. Oh, by the way, why did you want Hanabi to meet you in an hour, did you want to stay here all that time?" he asked innocently.

Hinata sighed in resignation. "Yes, there is something else I need to get done right away." She slowly lifted a shaky finger to her forehead, where the seal lurked underneath her fringe. Understanding dawned on Naruto before she even spoke. "The, the head of the clan cannot be sealed, even if she can resist it; she is still open to manipulation. I need this off me as soon as possible, and now is as good a time as ever."

"What!" Naruto yelled. "But this is our day off; you don't have to undergo anything like that today!"

Hinata turned to him and stopped walking, giving a shaky sigh. "N,Naruto-kun, p,please go home. I,I don't want you to be there when they do this, I don't want you to see me like that. I,It would haunt you" she said in concern.

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No way. Hell no. No matter what's happening I'm not leaving your side" he said confidently.

"Naruto!" Hinata yelled in even more concern. "You don't understand what's going to happen. I'll be hurt. Bad. And I don't want you to see that."

He clamped his hand over her own, and looked into her eyes. "I'm not letting this go" he said firmly, gently shaking her hand.

"Naruto…" Hinata said softly, then hugged him and buried her sobbing face in his chest, breaking down into him. "Thank you"

.

The clan heads bone chilling scream reverberated through the compound, making both families shudder. It was déjà vu of when Hiashi had first used the seal on his daughter, but this time, it was for good. Hinata's seal was being dragged off her.

Hanabi glanced sympathetically to the old branch member maid who was cleaning the room that she was currently occupying, knowing the lady would have to go through what Hinata was to have her seal removed. And Hinata was an exceptionally tough kunoichi, as she had proven, and she had a ridiculously high pain threshold. So for it to make her scream like that…

As if to reinforce Hanabi's admiration for the strength of her big sister, no more screams followed that first one.

.

Hinata bit down on her bottom lip, not caring about the blood that gushed over her teeth from it, and held in the scream that was working its way out of her throat. She would not scare her clan anymore!

She held Naruto's hand in a death grip, her other clenched white knuckled and pressed hard into her thigh. Blood too leaked between her fingers from where her long nails dug into the flesh of her hand.

She was sitting in a simple wooden chair in the centre of a dark room; the Hyuuga sealing chambers. Naruto was holding her hands, and an unknown elder was working over her forehead. She had lowered all her defenses to him in order for him to do this, so she knew her life was in his hands. If he was malicious like Hikumo, he could kill her in an instant. But she needed to trust her clan, and she did that now. It didn't go unnoticed by the elder either, and so he tried all the harder to hasten the process so she would be out of this misery as soon as possible.

Hinata felt another scream building, so she squeezed her eyes shut against it, a low, long moan escaping her throat instead. She started rocking back and forth in the chair as the pain racked her body, but a hand quickly wrapped around her waist to keep her in place. Naruto's hand. The one that wasn't already stolen by her death grip.

She took his strength like she had his confidence earlier, and used it to persevere against the pain.

Drops of blood began leaking from her nose and ears, but even as this announced the peak of her ordeal, the pain began to slowly fade just as it had slowly built. It created small ebbs and flows in the agony throughout her body, the gaps in which she could piece her mind back together to find a semblance of reality.

Her breathing evened again until she was taking deep, calming breaths, and finally reopened her eyes. She found herself gazing into Naruto's own concerned blue ones.

He was smiling.

He had watched in silent awe as the seal slowly faded away, not leaving a single mark on her now again flawless forehead. It made the beauty of her face now almost painfully perfect to Naruto. In a good way of course.

The elder bowed and Hinata squeaked out a polite "Thank you", all she could manage in her weariness, but full of gratitude. He took his leave, walking out of the room to leave the relieved couple in peaceful solitude.

The fatigue of the aftermath of the ordeal hit Hinata and she sagged sideways in her chair, leaning into Naruto's comfortably warm body.

"That cannot be done to our whole clan" she whispered despairingly, still drinking in Naruto's familiar scent. "We'll have to work on it" she decided with a small smile, just wearily ecstatic that it was over for her.

But it was an order to give another day; right now all she wanted was to spend time with Naruto. She slowly reached up and touched her forehead under her fringe. Her smile lit up the darkness of the room like a beacon when she felt no seal engraved there.

She then practically leapt onto Naruto, wrapping her arms and legs around him with new found energy and kissed him passionately. Naruto grinned as she swarmed over his mouth, and then slowly broke. Lifting his chin up, he kissed her forehead lightly.

"I'm glad you're back to normal" he said with a soft smile and again met her lips, closing his eyes in bliss in sync with hers.

.

After their small make out session the couple left the room to find several uncomfortable looking Hyuuga outside. Hinata blushed, knowing why they were like that. She cleared her throat awkwardly to get a semblance of dignity back.

"Um, thank you for that elders, however we need to work on it so it can be more suitable for all branch members, the elderly to the children. Please look into it more. I want to see progress by the end of the week, I will tell the branch families tomorrow that they may have to wait a little longer."

The elders nodded and hurried back into the now unsealing room, talking among themselves with hands tucked into the opposite sleeves of their robes in typical old people fashion.

Now Hinata turned to a branch member who was also waiting, acting as a messenger for her. "Could you please inform Hanabi that I'll meet her in my office in five minutes?" she asked kindly.

"Yes Ma'am!" came the nervously shouted reply, and the young messenger dashed off down the hall.

.

Now they were alone again. Naruto put his arms on her shoulders and kissed her again, pushing her gently up against the wall, his arms on either side of her lightly pinning her to it. When he pulled back, she hesitantly did the same, though with a clear look she wanted more.

He chuckled lightly, but still asked the question that had been bugging him. "So why did you want to go see Hanabi?" he queried.

Hinata smiled. "Did you forget we're still on our day off? I thought we could have dinner together tonight, and I was going to ask Hanabi if she could help me pick out a dress."

She couldn't help but smirk at his look of surprise. "Oh yea! Crap! I'll go sort out dinner right now and get some clothes!" he shouted, then was already sprinting off down the corridor. "Meet me at my house in an hour!" he called over his shoulder and disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Hinata giggled lightly, and waited for it. It took all but a minute before she heard a loud shout, presumably from Naruto finding out that he was going the wrong way from a passing Hyuuga. He came running back by her, Hinata still waiting in the same position. She waved prettily with a smug smile as he rushed past, Naruto planting a chaste peck on her cheek as he did.

She then walked up the hallway he had gone down first; to her office where she would see her sister again, and finally get back her relaxing day with her boyfriend.

.

"How can I tell you just all that you are

What you do to me."

.

"Hey nee-san" Hanabi said nonchalantly as she came into the office. Hinata smiled at her little sister's foregoing of all formalities. She was glad to find nothing had changed between them despite her new rank.

They actually had a fairly good relationship despite their opposite upbringings, so it was pleasant in the rare occasions they actually got to spend time not training with each other. "Hi Hanabi-imouto" Hinata replied brightly.

Hanabi tilted her head inquisitively. "So what is it you wanted sis?" she asked, straight to the point as usual. She was a bit of an enigma like that.

"Um, I was wondering if you, well, wanted to help me pick out a dress for my dinner date tonight with Naruto-kun" she said embarrassedly. Her friend Ino never failed to mention what she thought was Hinata's blasphemous fashion style, covering up her assets like she did, so Hinata had decided to ask her little sister for advice. She didn't dare ask Ino, she would probably end up attending dinner in her underwear, but her sister was pretty young, so she hopefully wouldn't pick something that bad.

She tilted her head and gave a closed eyed smile to Hanabi's questioning look. "Apparently I have no fashion sense whatsoever" she admitted, absently thumbing the hem of her bulky lavender jacket.

Hanabi grinned. "Nee-san, your style suits you fine! You have plenty enough curves to make it sexy! But, if it's for Naruto-kun you're going out with tonight, I think we'll have to blow his mind!"

Hinata fretted about her little sister's smirk and the devious glint in her eye, but she was committed now, so she had to go through with it. Hanabi came around the desk and grabbed Hinata's twiddling hand. "C'mon sis!" she said enthusiastically and dragged the bigger girl out of the office.

.

"Troublesome" Skikamaru muttered when he opened his door to see Naruto's beaming face. "What?" he said when no answer was immediately forthcoming.

Suddenly he found himself being dragged out of his house and down the road towards the shopping district. Before the lazy shinobi could complain anymore, Naruto was chatting amiably.

"Shikamaru, you've gotta help me pick up a suit for tonight! Pleeeaaaasssseee, its with Hina-chan, we're gonna go to this really fancy restaurant then go dancing then hopefully go back to my apartment and-" he stopped himself when he realized he was about to go into slightly too much detail for his friend's comfort.

Shikamaru sighed. "If it's as fancy as you seem to think it is, you'll need more than a suit. A tux will do though" he said, and then smirked. "But if you're hoping to get laid later, it's going to be an expensive tux."

Naruto blushed slightly, then shook an angry fist on Shikamaru. "I'm not a perve like that Shikamaru! I just meant kissing and stuff!"

Several passers-by gave the duo strange looks at Naruto's loud outburst. Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets, but his smirk only broadened. "Sure" he said. His voice was the embodiment of sarcasm.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in frustration, but decided to drop it when he saw the store they had suddenly stopped at. "In there?" he asked his friend, who gave him a twitch of a nod, to lazy even to do the full head movement.

Naruto rushed inside while Shikamaru trudged in at a more regular pace, and couldn't help but chuckle when Naruto looked at the first tuxedo he found, saw the price tag, and almost had a heart attack.

Even more passers-by looked in from outside hearing his loud "WHAAAAAAT!" that reverberated over the village.

.

Hinata soon found herself in one of Konoha's fanciest dress shops. Across the road was a formal kimono shop, and she had started to head there when Hanabi had scolded her.

"Kimono's are for formal occasions Hinata, you need something more wild for tonight!" she'd admonished, and so they had ended up here. Hinata felt like she was the little sister being taught the art of fashion and seduction. Well, she pretty much was, in a kid's kind of way.

Hanabi's face lit up in awe as they entered the shop, with Hinata just looking more and more worried as she saw the ever more revealing dresses. She was then submitted to being yanked around the shop as Hanabi squealed in delight at every second dress and shoved it at her big sister to hold, before stealing Hinata's free hand again to drag her to the next stand of dresses.

They eventually wound up in front of the changing rooms, Hinata peeping out from a pile of dresses cradled in her arms. "Umm, Hanabi, don't you think this might be a little… over excessive" she asked awkwardly, her meek voice muffled by the dress that was currently stuffed in her face.

"Nonsense!" Hanabi said, batting her hand in the air. "You've gotta try them all if we wanna get you the best dress for tonight!"

Hinata sighed in exasperation. 'Will I even get there tonight?' she thought. Maybe she should have gone to Ino, this was turning out to be almost as bad as her private shopping trip with the blonde diva when they were still genin. She had been dragged around the mall literally all day until they wound up three hours late for the event they had been shopping for, though with huge additions to their wardrobes and huge losses to their respective clan's coffers.

Hinata now tried dress after dress, only to get a solid shake of the head from Hanabi. She finally slipped on a pretty looking lavender one. While it was way to revealing for her comfort line, she saw herself in the mirror and had to admit it looked good.

Rows of black lace marched up the front to where a tight cup held in half of her breasts, where it then stopped, making them feel like they were bulging out the top. Hinata face turned bright red when she saw this, but she reasoned… Naruto would like it. The lavender bodice-like top half was connected to a figure hugging thigh length skirt. It was very short.

She nervously opened the door to confront an extremely judging looking Hanabi. Hinata twiddled her fingers together up by her face in her regular nervous habit as Hanabi surveyed her like a sculpture in the art show.

Finally, her face lit up in joy. "I think I'm in love" she squealed. "It's a winner, you're getting this one! Naruto's gonna die when he see's you in this!"

Hanabi unceremoniously kicked the other pile of dresses away and again stood before Hinata, hands on hips with an approving smile and nodding her head. Hinata was still red. She absently tried to pull the breast cups up to cover more.

"Umm, I,Is there a slightly bigger size?" she asked meekly. Hanabi barked a laugh and snagged her sister fidgeting hand. "Don't worry about it nee-san, Naruto will just love it, trust me."

After the teller punched in the digits for the astronomical price of the dress, Hinata signed the bill to the Hyuuga estate. Outside the store, still wearing the dress, with her normal clothes in a plastic bag, Hinata wore a permanent blush as the sisters walked through the village towards Naruto's apartment block.

"Th,they're looking at me" Hinata whispered embarrassedly out of the corner of her mouth to her sister.

Who smirked. "Of course they are, they all want to see how beautiful the new Hyuuga head is!" she exclaimed.

Hinata saw various men turn their heads away quickly as her gaze wandered over them, before finally settling back on her little sister. "And how do you feel about that sis? Y'know, me being, well, the leader of the Hyuuga Clan instead of you."

Hanabi looked up at Hinata's concerned features, and smiled broadly. "I'm actually really happy to have all the stress and responsibility off my chest. I mean, I'm still way too young for that kind of stuff. It was all father wanted me for, I felt sad he didn't see me as his daughter, but as a future leader. Now, he actually smiles at me. Dad. Smiling!"

Hinata giggled alongside her sister at this part and agreed with an astonished "I know!"

Hanabi continued. "And I'm really happy for you sis! They finally saw how strong you really are now, instead of being blind behind their stereotype of you. You really showed it to them. I think you deserved it a lot more than me, Hiashi's pampered daughter. I'm glad you got it in the end. Now I'm free to do whatever I want!"

Hinata smiled at her little sisters heartfelt reassurance. "Thanks Hanabi" she said softly, and they spent the remainder of the short walk in comfortable silence.

.

"Here we are" Hinata announced as they came up to the block of apartments where Naruto lived. She handed her bag with her normal clothes to her sister. "Well, wish me luck" she said was a nervous chuckle. Hanabi hugged her.

"Good luck sis, even if you don't need it with that dress on!"she said cheekily then ran off down the street, leaving Hinata to her fate.

She slowly made her way up the now familiar route through the building to Naruto's door. Outside it, she again absently pulled her dress up by the cups, and then raised her fist and gently knocked on the door.

.

Naruto opened his door to reveal the most beautiful girl in the world on his doorstep; his girlfriend. Wearing a very revealing dress. He could clearly see the cleavage of her massive curves that he had only ever before felt pressed against him or seen completely covered up in not so revealing clothes. But in this dress, it was all up for show.

Of course, she had a fluoro pink face, but his gaze was helplessly roving up and down her body.

Instant nosebleed.

Naruto was ejected back into his room by the force of the weight of blood, mumbling incoherent nothings about Hinata on the way down.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelped in concern and rushed over to the poor guy. She knelt down beside him, not knowing what to do, her hands hovering uncertainly over him. She leant down further and decided on shaking him. Naruto finally gained some sense of normality due to her persistent shaking.

His vision coming sharp again, he glanced up at the face of his girlfriend and smiled. But he couldn't help also seeing the items below bouncing around from her light shaking. They were only inches from his face due to their positions. For once, it was Naruto who fainted.

.

"You're better than drugs

Your love is like wine

Feel you comin' on so fast

Feel you comin' on to get me high.

You're better than drugs

Addicted for life

Feel you comin' on so fast

Feel you comin' on to get me high."

.

Hinata only just noticed he was in a tux when she dragged his limp body over to the couch and laid him own on it. She blushed at how handsome he was. While blood trailed down his face from his nose, amazingly none had got on either of their outfits.

She hustled into the bathroom and got a hand towel from the drawer, soaked it in water, wrung it out to stop it dripping, then returned to her boyfriend's side to gently wipe the blood from his face.

She looked lovingly upon his unconscious features and folded the flannel carefully, then laid it over his bare forehead. She wondered how many times he had done this for her during her frequent fainting spells.

Finally, Naruto responded to Hinata's persistent fingers combing his hair back as she continued to drink in his familiar features. He groggily opened his eyes to see her sitting on the armrest of the couch above him.

He smiled at her, but groaned soon after as a massive headache set in due to blood loss. "Ugh. Water" he croaked. It was just like a hangover.

"K" Hinata said brightly and hopped up to fetch him the glass of water she had prepared that was sitting on the table, glad he was finally awake after twenty minutes of her sitting there gazing at him. Finally, their dinner date could get underway.

.

"Wow. T,this place is amazing" Hinata said in awe as she took in the entrance to the fanciest restaurant in Konoha. "Naruto-kun, h,how did you afford this?" she queried.

He had insisted on footing the entire bill, even though she was now filthy rich, he just wanted to do the gesture. And she thought it was a very sweet gesture indeed. One that she really appreciated, being treated like a normal girl instead of the clan head she now was. But Naruto had loved her before that, and she was glad he still loved her that way, not for being important and wealthy. With Naruto, she could just leave all that behind.

A waiter in a black and white tuxedo greeted them as they entered hand in hand, and led them to a seat. Hinata smiled to Naruto over the table as the waiter quickly went to fetch some water just in case they wanted some.

"That reminds me" she said. "You look very handsome in that tuxedo." She blushed a bit as she said it, but she was growing a lot more confident around him, so she was proud she had actually had the nerve to compliment him. It looked like he had put a lot of effort into his appearance for this date for her.

He grinned in response. "And you. You're absolutely stunning! Beautiful!" he said in return, the disbelief and amazement at her stunningly gorgeous look evident in his voice.

She blushed harder at his obvious adoration. "Th,thank you" she squeaked out, stumbling on her words as she always did when he complimented her. But this time, before he could continue his barrage she was saved by the waiter placing a jug of water on the table between them along with two matching crystal glasses.

He performed a small bow and asked politely "Now sir, ma'm, what could I get you?" A notepad had already materialized in his hand.

"Oh" they dumbly said together in unison. Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment while Hinata just blushed harder.

"Um, sorry, we haven't chosen yet, can we have a bit more time?" he said sheepishly.

The waiter again bowed. "Of course sir" he said. "Ma'm" he nodded to Hinata, then sort of sidled off to the side and away to another table. The couple picked up their previously neglected menus off the table and began reading over the contents in slightly awkward silence.

"Um, what are you going to get Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in an attempt to start up a conversation again, having just quickly decided to go with the soup of the day and a side salad.

Naruto had an intense look on his face as he scanned the list from top to bottom over and over again. "Wh,what it this?" he managed to get out in disbelief, then dropped the menu and looked at Hinata, aghast. "They don't have ramen!" he whined.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at his antics. "Of course not silly, ramen is a takeaway food, they won't have it at a restaurant like this." She waved her hand around, gesturing to the grandiose of their surroundings. Naruto groaned and put his head in arms on the table in depression.

"Naruto…" Hinata said in exasperation. She picked up her menu again and scanned over it quickly. Leaning over the table towards him, she shoved the menu in his face and pointed to a meal. "How about this one Naruto-kun? It had some flash noodles in it, and some pork, so it will be kind of like miso pork ramen."

Naruto looked up in hope, but instead of seeing the menu, he saw what was behind it. Hinata's prodigious bust squashed against the table she was leaning over, almost bursting out the top of her dress.

That instantly pushed him back into an upright sitting position in his seat with blood spilling from his nose , eyes swirly, muttering incomprehensible nothings about Hinata's curves.

Said Hinata sweat dropped, not knowing what was causing him to be like that. She thought it was the no ramen thing.

The waiter came over with an equally awkward look on his face as he took in Naruto. He didn't even bother to ask this time, he just turned to walk away, but Hinata quickly snagged his arm.

He turned around with a questioning look. "Um, we're ready to order now" she said quietly.

The notebook again popped into his hand. His speed at producing it was making Hinata start to think he was a ninja! "May I take your order then?" he said grandly.

Hinata smiled and turned back to her menu. "Yes, I'll have the Soup of the Day with a Caeser side salad, and Naruto-kun there will have the Pork Noodle dish thanks."

She turned back to see him scribbling furiously in his little book. "And to drink?" he asked, his pen paused, looking back up. Only it wasn't as far up as Hinata expected. He was looking somewhere just below her face. Her eyes narrowed and she blushed heavily when she realized just what he was staring at.

She quickly picked the menu back up so that it obstructed his view and she again read the list for drinks, this time with a red face. "Uh, I guess just some orange juice would be nice thanks" she said quietly.

The waiter again nodded and turned his head back to his book, much to Hinata's relief. He then plucked the menu out of her hand, making her "Eep" in surprise and giving himself another good look as he bent to get the other menu off the table in front of Naruto. Then, thankfully, he was gone.

Hinata looked down at herself as her face faded back to its normal porcelain cream color. She glanced at the slowly recuperating Naruto. Had she done that? When she realized that yes, she had, in this dress she had that effect on males, she had one thought; other than the waiter being a pervert. 'Hanabi, I'm going to kill you.'

.

When Naruto sat back up off the backrest he had been comaed onto for the past few minutes, Hinata leant an inch towards him, careful not to strain anything so she wouldn't send the poor guy back to oblivion.

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh, yea. Yea" he muttered, then poured himself a glass of water. He was now feeling positively woozy due to all the blood he had lost tonight. "Ugh, sorry about that" he said as he got back to normal.

"N,No, I'm sorry, that was my fault Naruto-kun. It seems this dress" she blushed heavily at saying this, though indicated the dress. "Is a bit r,revealing. I should be m,more careful how I move in it."

Naruto nodded his head solemnly. Not that he didn't love her in that super sexy dress, but it was dangerous to his health! He didn't really want to spend the rest of the night succumbing to nosebleeds every time he caught a glimpse of her cleavage in any provocative manner. Unintentional or not. He'd be out of it for the whole bloody date!

"So yea, I think I'll get that ramen thing you were saying" Naruto said, reaching for the now non-existent menu. When he realized this he looked to her questioningly.

She gave him a closed eyed smile. "I'm glad you wanted that one because the waiter came back so I ordered it for you."

"Oh" Naruto said, then grinned. "Thanks Hinata-chan!" he gushed.

She blushed. She still wasn't used to that name, especially the way he said it so freely.

"So, um, what do we talk about now?" he asked awkwardly. He had been about to start up a conversation by asking her what she did for a living but… ninja. Duh. "Oh! Oh, I got it!" he insisted before any words could even begin to formulate in her partially opened mouth. Which immediately clamped back shut.

He leant over the table, resting his elbows on it, taking a position like he was about to ask her some big secret. "So, how did you're Chunin Exam go? Tell me all about it, I wanna hear all about how the great Hinata Hyuuga kicked all their butts and made chunin!"

It was something he had been secretly envious of to all his old classmates, but none of them had even got round to telling him about their exams.

Hinata blushed, being put in the spotlight like that. "Oh, um, it wasn't really that very amazing" she said modestly, looking sideways at the table and brushing his question off. She really wasn't the kind of girl to brag about her skills or tell tales of her exploits.

"Nah! It would have been amazing Hinata! You would have kicked their asses!" Naruto shouted out obnoxiously. He couldn't comprehend Hinata's embarrassment in telling stories about herself as he did it all the time.

Hinata blushed more under his torrent of praise and brought her hands up from her lap so that her index fingers began tapping each other up by her face. Naruto for once recognized her cute nervous habit and leant back with a grin.

Just before he decided to praise her even more just to see that cute blush on her face again, she was saved by the waiter's miraculous timing with two meals being plunked down before them.

Naruto gawked, a very predictable reaction. "This is awesome Hinata! It looks just like fancy ramen!" he exclaimed over the dish of steaming noodles and pork before him.

Hinata smiled and looked down to her own dish of pumpkin soup, with the salad in a small side bowl. It also looked really appetizing, but Naruto seemed to have other ideas about her meal. He was now looking at it like it was some kind of mini Bijuu about to pounce up at her.

He pointed a shaky finger at the leafy green things in her salad. "H,How can you eat that poison?" he said with an over exaggerated 'horrified' look. At least, she thought he was over exaggerating it.

She giggled at his antics. "Naruto-kun, its just salad" she explained, brushing off his disbelief at how she could eat such a thing. It didn't faze him.

"Just salad! Are you kidding me! Its, its, s,salad!" Apparently, salad was blasphemy for the all-ramen eating Naruto.

Hinata giggled again at Naruto's set in stone food habits, looking around with a blush when she noticed many annoyed faces glaring back at them from various tables within the room.

"Naruto-kun, can you please keep it down" she whispered, but a mischievous smile was still on her face. "Tell you what" she said, a subtle hint in her voice. "If I kiss you, will you have a piece of salad? Just to give it a try?"

Naruto sat back with a thoughtful look on his face. Then, that look turned sly. "Why would I agree to that when I could kiss you anytime I want?" he said equally as mischievously as Hinata.

'Shoot' Hinata thought in mock annoyance, Naruto having called her bluff.

He then backed up his statement by all but leaping over the table to kiss her. She squealed in mock fright and blocked his pursuing lips by stuffing a finger full of salad in his mouth.

He stopped abruptly and his eyes widened in surprise. She slipped her fingers out of his mouth, leaving the salad there, and slowly moved his jaw up and down until he was chewing by himself. He swallowed with a grimace.

"Though your fingers tasted scrumptious, I've got to say that green thing has got to be the worst thing I've ever eaten" he said, his face scrunching up in distaste. Hinata giggled again.

That was when she noticed Naruto was crouched atop the table, a very pissed off looking waiter standing to the side of him. "Out!" was all he need to say for the young couple to turn tail and beeline it straight for the door, Naruto leaving a few notes in his wake, no where near enough to foot the bill, just a cheeky little tip for the waiter.

.

"Feel your every heartbeat
Feel you on these empty nights
You're the strength of my life."

.

"Huh! You two again? What's with you guys always showing up so late?" Ayame said as Naruto and Hinata trudged into the shop, Naruto sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Then she noticed their attire. "Wow! All dressed up too! What's the special occasion?"

Naruto then commenced to tell the ramen helper about their plans for a fancy dinner and about having been kicked out. "Narutoooo." She shook an angry fist at him, and he couldn't help but quail from the likeliness of Sakura.

Ayame turned and gave Hinata a bright smile, eyes still glinting with the promise of future pain for Naruto, and said "Even if that knucklehead ruined your meal, I'll make sure you get a good one here!"

She then started to bustle around the open kitchen, presumably getting all the ingredients together. "Miso Pork right?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Yes please!" the couple chorused, Hinata not caring about diet ramen on a day like today. She had had so much that morning; she didn't think one more bowl would do her much more damage. That brought a thought to her head, how could they even stomach the thought of ramen after the contest that morning. Well, a lot had happened that day.

When the two hot steaming bowls were set on the bench before them and Ayame went out back to leave them in peace, "Itadakimasu" could be heard with the breaking of chop sticks before the teens dug in.

In a pause in the meal, Hinata turned towards Naruto. "So, um, Naruto-kun, what did you get up to in that big training trip you left for? You came back very strong; you must have had some great adventures."

Naruto grinned and stopped slurping down his ramen, thinking of all the awesome stuff he did. "Yea, I-" he started, but then the most horrific thing he did came to mind.

The smile slipped from his grasp. 'I almost killed my own sensei' he thought, but put on a fake smile for Hinata. "Sorry Hina-chan, I just don't really feel like talking about it right now, it was a really hard time away from all my friends, and you."

Hinata blushed at the last part, but was not to be distracted as was his obvious intention. She had seen straight through his fake smile, seen his demeanor change for that split second. Still, she reasoned such serious matters as what it seemed were to be for another day.

She smiled. "That ok Naruto-kun, if you don't want to I won't press you."

He grinned. "You're the best Hinata-chan" he said and hugged her warmly, but they couldn't avoid slipping into a slightly uncomfortable silence for the remainder of the meal, the secret hanging between them like a curse.

When they were done, Ayame magically appeared at the desk. Had she been spying? "Hyuuga clan right?" Ayame said, beginning to write out a bill. Hinata started to agree but Naruto cut her off.

"Na, I got this one" he said and pulled out Gama-chan, handing her a few notes.

"That was very sweet Naruto-kun" Hinata said as they exited the shop. He grinned and scratched the back of his head in modesty. "No problem" he said and grabbed her hand, leading her down the street. "Now we've got one more stop for the night!"

.

Naruto grinned like an idiot as he led Hinata by the hand through some double doors into a large room. It was bright and had fancy written all over it. White marble and chandeliers glistened everywhere. A man in a tuxedo greeted them as they entered.

"You must be here for the dance" he said, indicating their dressed up attire.

"Yup!" Naruto nodded excitedly. "Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga here!"

The man scanned through his list on his clipboard, checking the couples names with a pen. "Please enter and enjoy the rest of your night Hyuuga-sama, Uzumaki-san."

They smiled and entered the room. If Naruto was miffed that he hadn't called him 'sama' he didn't show it, and Hinata was glad that the man had been one of the rare ones that night that hadn't gazed at her breasts. He had seen them, and then forced his gaze to stay locked on her face for the rest of their interaction. A good man doing his job well.

They noticed many couples were already dancing to the slow music filling the void. None of the pairs were familiar to them as they were mostly civilian, but that didn't matter. Soon, they were lost in each others eyes, swaying together with the slow romantic music.

Naruto obviously wasn't the best dancer, so Hinata had to take the lead, having been taught a lot of formal dancing by her clan in preparation for the political plays involved in her being a main house member.

Naruto gazed into her soft lavender eyes as she led him around the dance floor. He was trying his best not to stumble over her feet but wasn't doing very good with it, despite how much he wanted to be there, his mind was not.

Finally, she noticed that she wasn't helping him forget whatever was bugging him, and so surreptitiously led him over to a bench seat at the edge of the room.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" she said, holding his hand in both of hers as he looked down into his lap.

"Hinata" he said quietly. "What you asked earlier, about what I did on my trip, it reminded me of something. Hinata, w,what do you think of, you know, w,what I am?"

His eyes would not meet hers, even when she smiled and drew him into a hug. "I don't think about what you are, because you are not it, you are Naruto Uzumaki, savior of the Leaf Village" she said brightly, without a hint of doubt in her voice.

He drew back slightly, to keep her at arms length. So she didn't know how dangerous he really was, she had been out of it for most of the fight… "No, you don't understand. I,I mean, sometimes, it gets out of control. At any moment I could, I could maybe destroy this entire village. It was a miracle I didn't kill you when you were knocked out fighting Pain, and I almost released it again that night with your father. I'm dangerous to be around Hinata. W,what do you think, about that?" he mumbled, still looking down.

Hinata cupped his chin and slowly but forcefully brought his head up to look into the conviction in her eyes. "You are the savior of the Hidden Leaf Village" she said again determinedly. "You are the savior of Konoha. If it wasn't for you, we would have been destroyed by it years ago. I'm not worried at all about being around you Naruto, because I know you're strong enough to defeat it. And I'll be there for you always, so I can help you whenever you need me."

Naruto was locked into her eyes. She accepted the danger he was and still continued to love him. Love him. To be by his side, always. She wasn't just accepting him like everyone else, but was actually loving him. Despite everything he was, she was still utterly and hopelessly in love with him.

He broke into a helpless, ear splitting grin. She had to be the best girlfriend ever! He said this out loud now. "You're the best girlfriend ever!" he shouted and enveloped her in a huge bear hug, capturing her lips with his.

.

"You're better than drugs
Your love is like wine
Feel you comin' on so fast
Feel you comin' to get me high
You're better than drugs
Addicted for life
Feel you comin' on so fast
Feel you comin' on to get me high."

.

After people had stopped looking at them due to Naruto's outburst, they got up and returned to the dance floor. Now the slow dancing had a new quality to Naruto that he hadn't felt before. It felt so peaceful, so loving, so right, being there cradled in Hinata's arms, and her in his, slowly swaying to the soft music. And knowing that she loved everything about him. It was… perfect.

.

Hinata lay in Naruto's arms, on his old couch in his apartment. She was out of her dress and back into her good old comfortable, unrevealing clothes, that Hanabi must have brought round earlier when she realized Hinata might have need of them.

Her eyes were closed and a smile lingered on her face as her hair was slowly stroked by Naruto. She was sleeping peacefully in his arms as he lay back under her, lovingly watching her body move slowly to the even rise and falls of her breath.

Summoning a clone with a one handed seal, it went over and turned out the lights before dismissing itself.

'Today was a good day' Naruto thought to himself. "I love you, Hinata-chan" he whispered softly in her ear.

She subconsciously heard it, and mumbled an even softer "I love you too, Naruto-kun" in her sleep.

He smiled as his heart warmed even further, full to bursting with the love they had for each other.

He slowly closed his eyes, but Hinata's angelic face lingered in his mind, outlined by the soft caress of the moonlight coming through the window, until finally he too fell asleep.

Both ninja dreamt the night away about their day with each other and the promise hundreds more to come, spent in each others loving arms.

.

Wow. It's over. Finally. Sorry but I think I rushed the editing of the end there a bit, I just really wanted to get this out tonight. I had a really good part for that random little bit about the Kyuubi for Hinata accepting it if Naruto though she didn't know, but I realized I'd already shown in the other chapters that Hinata already knew. Well, I hope you enjoyed this. One day I may continue it with a sequel, but I doubt it. This is it for now. Well, I think it was quite an achievement, 3 songs, 3 chapters, almost 50,000 words. Hehe. I hope I addressed all the problems their relationship might have throughout this series so being optimistic their gonna live happily ever after. Yay! Well, I'm going to start typing out my main story now as well as continue to hand write the draft which is way further along, so hopefully I might be able to get the first chapter out within a month. However I'm going to take a tiny break from writing because right now my neck hurts like hell! Ok now I'm just rambling because I'm trying to get this chapter over 20,000 words. I was aiming for an overall of 50,000 but only got to like 47,000ish so but oh well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I am looking forward to your reviews, they're awesome! Hinata FTW out. (I can't believe I just wrote that…)