Here it is! My first plotted Naruto story! Title may change, because I'm not sure I like it. However, you will be pleased to know, this story is done! I have written it completely, which means that it WILL be finished. There are ten chapters, and I will post one a week, maybe more if it gets an absolutely incredible response.

This story takes place in the same basic universe that I have been creating in my one-shot series 'Sparks', but a few years down the road.

Happy Reading!

XXX

Chapter 1:

The first thing he was aware of was a wonderful, warm, smell teasing his nose. It had a slight spice to it and drew him from the clutching grasp of sleep.

Cinnamon.

As the spicy-sweet aroma pulled him further from slumber his other senses began to wake up. His eyelids glowed red and he squeezed them shut against the bright sunlight he knew waited for him. A soft warmth ran the length of his body from his chin to his ankles. His arm was wrapped around whatever it was pressed against him and something soft tickled his neck and jawline as he shifted his arm to pull the smooth soft thing closer to him. As he shifted, so did the thing and something nudged between his ankles and pressed against the bottom of his calf.

The movement dragged him farther from sleep and he squinted against the bright light streaming through the window. His eyes sluggishly adjusted to the golden light and he looked down into his arms as whatever it was he was holding shifted again. His nose was buried in what he could only assume was a mass of shiny black hair, tousled and hiding the face pressed against his bare chest.

His mind immediately snapped to attention and only years of shinobi training kept him from scrambling gracelessly from the bed in shock and surprise. His eyes darted around the room trying to gather information. He spotted a garish lamp sitting on a short bedside table on…his partner's… the other side of the bed. Beyond that the stretch of sky he could see through the window hinted at a beautiful day. Clothes lay scattered about the room, on the floor, the chair in the corner, and the chest of drawers against the wall opposite the foot of the bed and he became abruptly aware that the only thing he was wearing was a bed sheet and this strange woman.

His situation was becoming increasingly bleak and he decided he had best make a hasty exit and figure out where the hell he was. With agonizing care, he slowly extracted his arm from under the woman's head and slipped his foot out from under her own. His back was to her and his feet had just hit the carpet when he heard a murmur behind him. His body locked up and he couldn't move.

"Naruto?" he heard as gentle fingers pressed into the small of his back.

Like he had been electrocuted the man leaped off the bed and spun to face his bed-mate. What he saw and what his brain told him was in the realm of possibility were not agreeing. With his abrupt exit from the bed the woman had startled from her relaxed position against the pillows. Her back was straight up, dark tousled hair reaching distractingy to her waist and a hand rested on the bed, where he had just been, to support her.

Bright white Byakugan eyes watched him worriedly, but all that registered in his mind was that she was topless and making no attempt to cover herself.

Again, his brain snapped to attention like a rubber band and he immediately turned on his heel to preserve some of her decency. At the same time, he couldn't help but look back at her, if only to confirm it actually was her. At least, that's what he told himself.

"Hinata?!" His voice sounded an octave or two higher than it should have as he peeked through his fingers before spinning around again and slapping a hand over his eyes.

"Naruto… are you all right?" Her soft voice drifted to him, practically begging him to turn to look at her again. He nearly did before the image of what was behind his back swam before his eyes and he bit his cheek. The hand over his eyes slid up his face and into his hair where he grabbed the blond locks and pulled hard. He was facing the door of what he could only assume was a hotel room and just to the left of it he saw a bathroom sink through another door. He bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, ignoring the woman calling his name behind him.

His hands grasped the edges of the sink and he exhaled a harsh breath. His knees felt a little shaky and he crouched, pressing the cool linoleum against his forehead and continued to regulate his breathing. After a moment he felt better and rose to his full height to stare at himself in the mirror.

The first thing he noticed was the net of marks on his chest. His brow knit together as he examined them closer. Running down his chest were lines and lines, in groups of four like he had scratched too hard but not broken the skin. A group of lines disappeared over his shoulder and he twisted his spine to try to see his back. He found the same pattern of four lines crisscrossing all over his back. He couldn't get a good view but he could tell there were more there than on his chest.

Naruto had not spent three years with one of the biggest perverts in the Fire Country without picking up some basic (and not so basic) knowledge. He had apparently spent an incredibly passionate night with that woman just outside the door.

He wracked his brain, over and over, searching everywhere, but came up with nothing. He couldn't remember anything! How, in Kami's name, had he, Naruto Uzumaki, ended up in some hotel room with Hinata Hyuga?

His hands were gripping the sink again, so tightly his knuckles were white. He looked up from the drain to search his face in the mirror, desperate for something! Blue, blue eyes stared back at him through shaggy blond bangs. Again, his brows knitted together. Something was… off. He couldn't exactly put his finger on it at first and his eyes roved over his face trying to identify what was wrong.

Slowly, almost doubtfully, he began taking notes of observations. His hair was long. Not excessively long, but longer than he usually wore it. It wasn't quite as long as his father had worn his blond mop, but it was coming close. His jaw was just slightly more defined. His nose, slightly more prominent. And although when he relaxed his face they disappeared, the laugh lines around his eyes seemed just a bit deeper.

Although it was absolutely absurd, his brain kept pushing him to the same conclusion. He looked older.

Completely unbidden, the image of Hinata swam before his eyes. He flinched, recoiling at the idea of looking at one of his childhood friends in such a manner, and then his brain began looking at details again. There was no doubt it was Hinata. It was impossible to mistake those big, white eyes, and that long dark mane. But again, his brain began picking things apart, suggesting the impossible.

He was imagining things. Again he caught his reflection in the mirror, and he couldn't deny that he looked different. But he smothered the idea that Hinata was different. He would go out there, he would look her in the face and she would be the same old Hinata. She would look like an eighteen year old girl, not older. Nodding firmly to himself he wrapped his hand around the doorknob before he remembered she was on the other side of that door, stark naked. He faltered for a moment and then shook his head, steely determination returning.

He cracked the door and peeked out. Hinata sat on the far side of the bed, her back to him but digging through a small bag. Once again steeling himself he called to her.

"H-Hinata?" She looked up at him over her shoulder and nearly turned around but he shied away from the door and told her not to move. He could see her eyebrows draw together under her bangs but she obeyed. "Can you… put something on?" he asked, cursing himself for sounding so uncertain. "And, bring me a pair of pants?" he added bashfully.

"O… Okay." She tilted her head, looking confused but nodded. Naruto shied behind the door again as she rose to her feet and waited. After a moment she appeared at the door and held out a pair of dark Jonin pants to him. She had covered herself with a shirt that was obviously not hers because the sleeves were rolled halfway up her forearms and the hem managed to cover half of her thighs. It was obviously broader than her small frame and hung off her shoulders and around her hips like a cloak. He snatched the pants through the small crack in the door, muttering a quick thanks and slipped them on, trying to ignore the fact that her shirt was obviously his, before gingerly stepping out of the bathroom.

Hinata looked up at him worriedly and reached for his hand, backing up into the room. He couldn't think of a tactful way to avoid her so he followed. He ignored the voice in his head cataloging her slightly more mature (and drop-dead gorgeous) features: elegant forearms, pretty, full lips, sophisticated cheekbones. Heaving another slightly painful breath he decided to just jump right in.

"Hinata, where are we?" Again, Hinata's head tilted to the side a little and her worried expression was joined by one of confusion.

"We're at the Tiger's Eye Inn. We're only about four hours walk from Konoha." Her voice was soft and calming but she couldn't keep the worry out of it entirely. "Naruto, what's going on?"

How was he supposed to answer that question? How was he supposed to tell her that he had no idea how he had gotten here or what had happened before he had fallen asleep last night? He took a step back from her and rubbed his palms over his face, trying to think. She raised a hand to him, not quite sure how to help and in true fashion, Naruto's infamous lack of concentration zeroed in on a new detail. The bright warm light filtering in through the window winked off of the modest diamond and pearl ring on her left hand.

Naruto swore violently, turning away and startling Hinata.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded frantically spinning around to face her again. "What were we thinking? You're married," he keened, more to himself than to her. "Why would I…? I… I can't…" He was beginning to panic. The Hyuga Clan would not take kindly to his affair with their princess, and he didn't even want to think about whoever her husband was!

Unexpectedly, his attention was arrested again. Hinata had strode toward him and firmly grasped his face in both of her hands, forcing him to look at her.

"Naruto, what is going on?" she asked him desperately.

He found himself falling into her beautiful deep eyes and didn't know what to do with his hands. They fluttered in the air, trying to decide if they should land on her hips or her shoulders or just hang limply at his sides.

Hinata's fingertips briefly pressed into the edges of his face to call his attention back before she asked again, "Naruto. What is wrong? Talk to me!"

"I don't know!" He answered honestly and earnestly. "I have no idea where I am. I don't know how I got here, or why you're here, or why we were in bed together, or what the hell is going on!"

Her hands dropped from his face and a slightly hurt expression swam in her eyes.

"That's not funny," she told him, taking a step back. He looked at her helplessly, shaking his head.

"I didn't mean for it to be," he promised, not entirely sure if he should step away from her again or wrap her in his arms and hug her. She looked like she had just been told her puppy had died.

She didn't say anything for a long time. She just stared at him uncertainly, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Naruto had no idea what to do so he waited. Finally she spoke.

"Do you know who I am?" The question was so unexpected it threw him for a moment. But the fact that he was confident in his answer helped calm him.

"Of course! You're Hinata Hyuga," he answered, a grin taking over his mouth. It faded when she continued to stare at him and dropped all together when she slowly shook her head.

"Naruto…" she began gently, again that concern washing over her face. "I've been Hinata Uzumaki for the last four years. I only use my maiden name when I deal with Clan matters."

It was his turn to not say anything for a long time. What could he say in answer to that? Slowly, he began to shake his head and for the first time he noticed a smooth platinum band around his ring finger, twinkling up at him merrily. He was only eighteen! That wasn't possible. And he told her.

"Hinata, four years ago, we were fourteen years old. I wasn't even in the village four years ago." His stomach sank into his toes when she started shaking her head again.

"We were nineteen four years ago. Naruto, I know you remember this! We spent the last week celebrating our anniversary. You planned the whole thing!" She looked desperate and confused and very, very hurt.

He helplessly shook his head again. "I don't remember any of that. I'm sorry." And he was. Watching the helplessness and confusion and fear play across her face twisted his gut violently. Her eyes pinched shut and she covered her face with both hands for a moment. Her shoulders lifted as she heaved in a big sigh and slowly released it before dropping her hands and looking back at him.

"Naruto, I need to talk to Kurama right now."

Hinata's face was completely serious, and Naruto faltered for a moment. He hated to deny Hinata anything, especially right now when they had no idea what was going on but this…

"Hinata… He's changed, a lot, but he's still not very social-" Naruto began before Hinata cut him off.

"I've met him before." That was the last thing Naruto expected to hear. He gaped at her, completely flabbergasted, but Hinata ignored his shock. "Naruto, this is important! If he remembers anything maybe he can figure out what happened to you."

Naruto grimaced, trying to think of an excuse. He and Kurama were comrades now, friends even, but that didn't mean he was comfortable relinquishing control in front of Hinata. Kurama was not always inclined to be civil, even with Naruto. Hinata's resolute expression never wavered and Naruto accepted his fate.

"All right, I'll see if he'll talk, but I'm not making any promises." Hinata nodded and waited, staring at him intently. Taking a deep breath, Naruto retreated into his mind.

Before him, a huge mass of coppery fur shifted slightly before going still. Naruto frowned and called Kurama's name but got no response. He tried again with little success.

"Hey! Furball!" Naruto yelled, trying to elicit any sort of reaction.

A deep growl answered him and one rusty red eye squinted open to glare at him. It closed again and Kurama buried his nose in one of his tails. "Go away, Naruto. I'm in the middle of a very well deserved nap."

"Well deserved?" Naruto squawked. "What the hell have you done to deserve a nap recently?"

Kurama growled at him again. "You're the one that told me to give you and your mate some privacy."

Naruto felt his ears burn as a blush flared in his cheeks at Kurama's implication. A moment later he realized the absurdity of being embarrassed in front of the demon sealed in his gut, and his temper flickered a bit. "Look, could you just not be an ass for a few minutes? I need your help. Do you remember Hinata? Do you remember she's… my wife?"

Kurama's eye cracked open again, but he made no other move. Naruto sighed wearily and said, "Look, I woke up about a half hour ago next to a woman who claims to be my wife, and I don't remember ever having a relationship with her." Kurama raised his head and looked squarely at Naruto, his interest piqued. "Hinata wants to talk with you. She thinks you might be able to figure something out. Will you talk to her?"

A sense of pleasure practically oozed off of Kurama at the prospect of a conversation with Hinata, setting Naruto on edge.

"I would like nothing better than to chat with your mate," Kurama drawled, a lazy grin exhibiting his impressive fangs. Again, alarms rang in Naruto's better sense of judgment and he eyed the Fox suspiciously.

Kurama rolled his eyes, balancing his chin on one paw. "Relax, I'm not going to damage her," he assured. "Much." When a Rasengan flickered to life in Naruto's hand, Kurama straightened up, his arms crossing at the wrists. "You are on edge, Kit. What's gotten you so out of sorts?" A seriousness had taken over Kurama now as he stared down at his host. "You've trusted me around her before and I've never hurt her. What's happened to you?"

Naruto glared at Kurama for a moment longer before letting the Rasengan fizzle out. "I told you," he snarled, "I don't know what the hell is going on. Will you behave?"

"Impeccably," Kurama answered, acerbically, but seriously.

XXX

It was always a bit of a shock when red eyes stared out at her from where blue usually was. Kurama shifted, passing his weight from foot to foot and his head tilted to the side a bit as he looked Hinata up and down, taking in every detail. It should have been unnerving, being assessed by a demon, especially when she was wearing nothing but Naruto's shirt, but Hinata felt no malevolence from the creature residing in her husband.

Kurama did this every time he talked to her. He checked her over, making sure she was physically healthy and that she was, if not happy, at least not upset. For reasons he had never revealed, Kurama liked Hinata, and he held a protectiveness and possessiveness for her that rivaled Naruto's own. Hinata guessed it had something to do with viewing her as a part of his 'pack' as Naruto had once described it.

Kurama stalked toward her, a predatory smile that didn't really have any malice in it resting on his lips, showing an impressive set of incisors. When he was so close Hinata had to lean back to meet his eyes he stopped but still leaned in to her, his nose gently nuzzling into her ear. "It's been awhile, Mate," he murmured in a low purr.

Again, where anyone else would have felt threatened Hinata was unconcerned. Kurama was a demon, but he was a fox demon, and he had more than one aspect of the vulpine creature woven into his personality. His advance on her and his complete lack of personal boundaries was not meant to be sexual or threatening. He, like Naruto, was simply an incredibly physical creature and he was greeting Hinata in a normal fashion. He called her 'Mate' simply because she was his host's mate, and aside from him, she was the closest Kurama had ever come to humans.

After a moment Kurama pulled his face from hers, but did not step back. They had been standing chest to chest when he had leant in to her and only a small sliver of space stood between them now. He stared down at her seriously and searched her face for a moment more before speaking.

"Naruto said you wished to speak to me?" He raised an eyebrow cockily, still teasing her a bit.

Hinata ignored his teasing and nodded her head. "Do you have any idea what is going on? Do you know what could have caused him to lose his memory?"

Kurama was shaking his head before her questions were fully out. "I wasn't even aware anything had happened. He asked me to give you two some privacy for your anniversary and I've been napping the whole time. What is going on?"

Hinata's shoulders slumped and she dropped her head to rest against his collarbone partly to hide the blush that flared in her cheeks at his casual mention of their sex life and partly because she was quickly losing hope. The Fox may have been in control at the moment, but it was still her husband's body and she drew comfort from the small contact. After a moment Hinata steeled herself and look up again into those rust-colored eyes.

"He woke up this morning and was acting strange but I didn't think anything of it at first. Then he started asking questions like where we were and why and what we were doing together." Kurama's eyes narrowed as he listened to her patiently. "I think he thought we were having an affair-"

"He truly doesn't remember you?" Kurama's voice was low and harsh, a growl rumbling under his words. "The boy has forgotten his own mate?!"

Hinata nearly stumbled away from him, shocked in the face of his anger. It felt like a physical heat wave rolling off of him and his eyes unfocused, staring at something she couldn't see as his mind worked furiously. Kurama turned away from her sharply, beginning to pace back and forth.

"And your cub, what about him? Has Naruto forgotten him as well?" Kurama asked snappishly, looking to Hinata, his face twisted in an expression she couldn't quite name.

"If he doesn't even remember our marriage, I doubt he remembers our son," Hinata reasoned softly.

Kurama's pacing stopped but instead of the anxious, energetic moving he now stood unnaturally still, not a single hair moving, as he glared at a wall. For nearly three minutes, he did not move, just stared at the wall as he turned things over in his head, and Hinata began to get nervous. She had never seen Kurama this agitated before.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kurama slowly turned to face her, a deep frown on his face. "Something is very wrong," he said lowly, his dark eyes meeting Hinata's. Rather than pointing out the obviousness of that statement Hinata chose to hold her peace and wait. "Some ties in this world run too deeply to simply be forgotten. The fact that Naruto has forgotten you, and your cub, cannot just be a coincidence. Something happened to make him forget."

Hinata could feel the shock on her face. Something had made all of this happen? Something had purposely happened to destroy her entire life?

Kurama continued working things over. "You and your son are more important to Naruto than anything. He has dreamed of a family since he understood what one was, and you were the one to finally give it to him. The bond that ties you to him cannot be explained with your words, or in any mortal language. It is a bond on such a level that even my kind would recognize it and honor it. I told you once that you were always meant to be with him. You and he are linked by something far greater than your flimsy marriage contracts or words or any other human recognition, and the fact that that has been erased from his mind is not just happenstance." Hinata's eyes refocused when she felt hands on her shoulders and she looked up to meet Kurama's eyes. He gently forced her to sit on the bed before she collapsed and knelt in front of her.

"If that's true," she whispered, "that we were made for each other, then how has he forgotten me?" Miserable white eyes met intense red.

"I have a feeling he hasn't entirely. The mind remembers some things and leaves the body to remember others. You are such an integral part of Naruto that in order to erase you entirely the memory of his body would have to be destroyed as well as the mind." Kurama's intense eyes seemed to try to convey comfort without really knowing how. He grimaced and then spoke again. "I'll see what I can do. I'll look around on the inside and see if I can find anything. It will take time and I can't promise I'll find anything, but I will try. Don't give up on him now, Hinata." It was one of the handful of times Kurama had called her by her name and Hinata instantly felt a sense of calm wash over her. "He needs you now more than ever."

Without another word, Kurama's eyes slid shut and opened to reveal bright azure. Naruto's eyes roamed her figure just as Kurama had, checking that she was all right before he asked, "What happened? Did he know anything?" Hinata gave him an odd look and Naruto explained. "The bastard blocked me. He wouldn't let me hear what you were talking about."

"He didn't have any answers. He'll look around and see if anything has changed on the inside, but he said he'll need time. We need to get back to the village," she told him certainly. "I don't know what has happened to you, but we need to get you to Tsunade."

He wasn't about to object to that. Hinata flew around the room collecting personal effects and tossing them into the two bags against the wall and within ten minutes they were on the road speeding toward Konoha.

XXX

So there you have it! How do you feel? Are you curious? Are you pissed? Are you apathetic? You should tell me!

Please be so kind and review. I will try to get back to you with any questions you have and explain anything that may have confused you, beyond the obvious.

Happy Reading! - Tenneyshoes