Finally, I get some time off. Here 'ya go, kiddies.

Naruto felt the evening breeze rustle his hair, leaning back to feel the refreshing chill brush past his collar and down over his chest. He felt a distinct lack of movement, like the absence of some strange limb that no human had yet possessed, and he frowned at the revelation that he still hadn't begun growing any kind of hair on his torso or belly. He made a note to himself to keep that in mind the next time he felt like underestimating Sakura's feelings regarding her own personal lack of endowment.

"Nothing serious, I hope."

He jerked back into the present, turning to find Hinata staring at him with a small smile on her face, fingers lightly squeezing his in reassurement. He shook his head and made an embarrassed noise, a pert 'eeh' that sounded very... well... young. He had to restrain himself from kicking his own backside as the idea of him replacing his own suffixes with Konohamaru's 'Kore', which would likely drive the entire village insane (And didn't even cover what Konohamaru would prank him back for in return. The boy was getting vicious...).

"Just thinking. About Sakura, I'm kinda understanding where she's coming from with the whole chest thing." He patted his front with his free hand, "Seriously, we seem to put so much emphasis on the chest..." He stopped when Hinata sighed and nodded in agreement, "What, you think so?"

"What does a chest mean to you, Naruto?" She asked, "And can you think of any way to use that newfound knowledge towards your personal training?" Naruto blinked at the last, the girl who had entangled her fingers in his (He was trying desperately not to read too far into that, lest he find that he wanted to) sounded just like Iruka on his better days... had Iruka been his age, a girl, and quite possibly a little more open about his mischievious streak.

"A chest, huh?" Naruto paused for a while to contemplate the question. He decided to go with what he knew, "It contains the Heart, Lungs and Spleen -if you count the upper abdomen- which can be aimed for in order to cause near-instant death, near-certain incapacitation and fatal blood loss in that order... It's got a strong bone structure in front, with gaps that require an angle to-" Hinata shook her head and interjected with a "Metaphorically, please." before letting him reconsider the question again.

"It contains pirate loot. Or bad escape artists." He grinned, winking.

Hinata didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She settled for laughing until she cried, and once the hysterics wore off (Complete with arguments that yes she was perfectly fine and no she wasn't going to choke) she asked the question once more, clarifying it. "How does a chest become just a personal point to some people?"

"Um..." Naruto paused again. Hinata took that as a promising sign, he was actually willing to think about his problems and postulates, rather than charging headfirst into them with the reckless abandon she had first admired and then worried over whenever a new mission came up (Don'trunintoatrapanddieIneedtotellyouIloveyousoMUCH). With that in mind, she listened with half an ear to his next answer.

"It... reflects personal growth? Physically? And that it means that you're an adult and should be... what's the word? Heeded? Respe- no, Heeded. Yeah. Or maybe it's about sex... like guys with broad shoulders always get girls, although come to think about itGaihasshoulderslikeacowbutI'dbesurprisedifanyonegottohimandShikamaru'sprettythinbut-"

"Naruto-kun, did you ever take geometry?" Hinata once again interrupted, stemming the tide. Almost.

"-AndChouji'sprettypopularbutthat'snothingtodowithhisshoulders heh heh heh... Wait, Geometry?" He blinked, puzzled, "Is this about the hourglass thing again? Jiraiya told me about that but I'm still pretty broad around the waist, he says it's genetic." He smoothed the jacket against his tummy, outlining a noticable lack of a potbelly bump and a certain tautness that hinted at young, strong muscle. Hinata had to fight both her imagination (OhgodOhgodOoooohgod) and the blush that threatened to smash into her face like a tidal wave, succeeding only by remembering her previous task at hand. "Tangents, Naruto-kun. You go on them frequently. This can make you a difficult person -abet a fun one- to talk to, so keep that in mind."

"I'm fun to talk to, huh?" Naruto mused, rocking his head from side to side. "Uh..." He hesitated, still looking upwards at the starry sky, cheeks once more hinting at pink, "... Thanks. Most people say I'm annoying."

Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, he changed the subject, "So I guess I was right about the chest thing, huh? So that means that the chest is a sensitive subject for people... I always thought only the girls cared." He closed his eyes and frowned, nodding his head in a satirical wisdom, "Ino and Sakura certainly do, they keep hitting me when I say they're still the same as ever. I can see why you don't, though."

And there it was. Hinata knew it was there, always there, ever since she had discovered one of the humiliating secrets of puberty and her family's genes: Bigger was not necessarily better, especially not for a stealth and recon Kunoichi. But as she grew older, it became harder to hide, harder to stop herself from drawing attention from men on the street. Her eyes had given people the idea that the usual volley of catcalls and whistles would meet one very angry clan with issues about 'Modesty and lowlife trash that molest with their eyes', but there were other ways, and being a ninja, she knew them all too easily. Dips of the gaze, licked lips, calculating brows, hastily drawn breaths, tiny smirks, and one rather silly Melon vendor who remarked that she'd put him out of business.

And now it seemed that Naruto was assuming that she was proud of the fact that she was... well... more... slightly... heavier in... (She sighed, knowing that tiptoeing around the issue wouldn't help) large-breasted. There, I said it. She had to remind herself that Naruto likely didn't know how uncomfortable it was to have to bind herself whenever she had to infiltrate a complex in order to better climb walls (Standing on them would have drawn too much attention), or that she felt bulky and clumsy and awkward and not at all graceful like she'd been assured she was by kinder memebrs of her family. But it didn't help that he... somehow... had he noticed? Had he been looking?

Hinata's minor hope had been killed the moment a darker, cynical voice spoke up with Of course he noticed, even a blind man wouldn't miss them.

"Perhaps you need a lot more in the way of thinking before you speak, Naruto-kun." She spoke in a tiny voice, "Sometimes you can say very... very... stupid things." She wasn't crying and she would not cry, she willed herself not to cry. "Please don't make assumptions like that when you become Hokage." She ended on that note, breaking their hands -which had been swinging happily until that point- apart and making to walk the remaining hundred metres to the front gate of the Hyuuga properties, where she had been previously guiding her admired person.

"I-" Naruto wanted to speak out, but he was still shocked at how the happy girl had turned distant, almost cold in a matter of seconds, his hand still frozen in the act of gripping the void where another, softer hand had been. Before she walked out hearing distance in the steadily growing wind, he called out to her.

"I just meant you were confident! I just thought you didn't care what anybody else thought!"

She ceased walking, and stood still with her hands by her sides. Naruto took that as an invitation to catch up. He reached her side, unable to see her expression past the curtain of dark-blue hair that steeped her facein shadow. "I... I thought that you were strong because you didn't care about what anybody else thought... not Neji, not your father... if you hadn't told me how you felt, I would have gone on believing that. I would have kept thinking of you as a friend who was nice and weird and wouldn't judge me. And... now I don't know what I think. What do you think I... uh... thunk?"He tried a nervous laugh, which fell somewhere between 'Hungry Crow' and 'Hayate on a bad day'.

"I just figured that you didn't care about how you looked." He rephrased.

SMACK

It was hard to tell who was hurting the most, Naruto from the sudden chakra-coated slap to the already-numbing jaw, or Hinata for the instant lapse in control.

"I think that you believed that just because I have large breasts, it means I'm perfectly happy about how others perceive me." Hinata snapped, trying to curb her peaking anger as her eyes glared deathly white into his. "I think that you're a silly, silly person who really needs some tact put into his head!"

They were silent, the only sound was the slithering-soft wind that curled around them on its path to wherever. Fast breathing, fists clenching and unclenching, quick blinking to hide what should not have just happened. And then a smile.

"That's why I'm asking you to teach me, Hinata." Naruto chuckled, sad and somehow still feeling a ball of harmony curl inside him, "I don't know who else would bother to teach me. Sakura thinks I can't be changed, Tsunade thinks I don't need to be changed, and the others... believe me, Hinata-chan, when I say that you're the only person I trust to... to show me the right way, to save me with her words, her thoughts, her feelings, her smile. To save me, before I realize that I even needed saving."

With that, he reached for he hand again. She let him take it, let him tangle their fingers together in an awkward, lopsided bunch of extremeties that showed her that in his own inexperienced way, Naruto was trying to be gentle with her feelings. It was enough for her to cool her head, to nimbly dance her fingers through his hand until they were comfortably brought together again.

"Plus, it's an S-class mission. Top-notch pay, premium tea, Granny's Sake, you name it!" He chuckled, more in line with his usual self, and Hinata couldn't help but giggle as her own spirits rose. She leaned forward, causing him to gulp in sudden anticipation, only to have his shoulders slump in relief (Disappointment?) when she came to rest her head on his shoulder instead.

"How about Dinner?" He asked, again. She made a cute, non-commited sound before wrapping her other arm around his waist. "... I-Is that a yes?" He stammered, only getting another giggle and a shrug. Her breath felt small, ticklish and warm on his neck, and he could almost feel her lips moving against his skin, imagine the touch of red against him, the wetness of her mouth massaging his flesh...

"AaaaaaaahyougottaplaytheShamisenformeagain!" He blurted out, tugging her back a little abruptly as she blinked at him, hurt and a little confused. The sight of Naruto in a cold sweat (Not to mention the now-familiar pink tinge) gave her hope enough to play along. She gave his hand a swing, motioning him to follow her as they rounded the corner of the Hyuuga estate, finally heading back home.

"I'd be glad to, Naruto-kun." Hinata hummed as they walked, a tuneless little ditty Hanabi was fond of reciting whenever she found herself exhausted from training. "However, I just hope my next practice goes on with a little less interruption."

"Yeah, all that screaming and banging and sake involved would have definitely woken up the neighbours. Just as well that place was picked for seclusion, right? Maybe we'll have to bring a jutsu next time. Y'know, for protection?" Naruto shuddered as he recalled the killing intent that rolled out of the apartment.

"Kurenai-sensei told me that wasn't a problem. My real issue is learning to properly handle the instruments we got taught about in Kunoichi training. They'd made for larger hands than mine, you see."

"Hey, when I said small hands were cute, I meant... it..."

They weren't alone.

Naruto immediately withdrew a kunai, preparing to defend himself (And Hinata, should it come to that) against whatever was oozing such vast, dangerously refined killing intent. It rolled, almost sickening him, like Orochimaru's intense evil, save that it was less malicious and more absolutely brutal, although a tinge of pettyness played up here and there. He searched around with his eyes, they had reached the gates of the Hyuuga estate, the Tori high and foreboding, the man next to the right pillar suspicious in his white gown, the trees glowing silver in the moonlight-

-The man spoke. Naruto nearly wet himself at his deep, menacing tone.

"My Eldest daughter, who is of age and highly desired by many high-ranking noblemen, returns after midnight in the companion of a young man, dusty and exhausted and smelling of smoke and strong drink... She has apparently been playing a traditional courting instrument for him when they were 'interrupted' in a place 'picked for seclusion' by an activity that involved 'screaming and banging and sake', and then goes on to talk about the need for 'protection'. I'm not even going to bother asking about the hands or the instruments."

Hinata and Naruto made goldfish impersonations. Naruto was stunned senseless by the implications of what Hiashi (Indeed, it was the one and only stick-up-the-ass-master himself) believed he and his daughter had committed. Hinata was wondering if she could learn a Doton and bury herself to save everyone the trouble.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"H-hai!" Naruto squeaked, kicking himself. He forced himself not to run as Hiashi reached beside him to pick up an old, elaborate Wakizashi leaning against the Tori frame. "I have a very simple question for you."

"W-we didn't..."

"Would you like to be cremated..." He swung his sword into a ready stance, "Or buried at sea?"

Ten minutes later, the entire village was waking to the sounds of complicated destruction as Kaiten and Futonken-no-jutsu echoed off the walls of Konoha.

Special thanks to Perpetual, who showed me that my crap ain't s crappy... even if it gets jack-all reviews (Hint hint).