I should be pushing this out soon, but I figured I'd write a preface to this and just mention something's I saw in reviews as I continue writing this.

To Suave Jiraiya, I understand exactly what you are saying, initially as I read the story, I too thought that having Hinata out of the Shinobi life would really put a damper on her character as a whole. But as I started writing and continuing the plot on my own, I discovered that writing a non-shinobi Hinata is a lot of fun, and can be handled however the plot demands. Don't worry too much, you'll see later on what I have planned and I think you may enjoy it. : )

On with the story!

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Hiashi stood just outside of the small garden he had made to continuously bring food into the house, slowly going over Gentle Fist katas. He would do this, sometimes, not only to keep himself well rounded but to think. He would do them slowly, diligently, and with precise action. Whether it be night or day, he could come out and do the thinking that needed to be done. Most time, it was merely about what he would do to help Hinata with dinner, sometimes about how he would spend his time the next day.

But for the first time in ages, Hiashi was worried. Not merely with the arrival of a ninja, not only because this ninja was form Konoha, not just because his daughter seemed so at easy with this ninja even if she stuttered like a fool. The arrival of a ninja could give warning to Kumo, and while Hiashi was certain he could hold off a few ninja for a short amount of time, long battles would be his downfall. And younger ninja from Kumo were certainly going to be harsh adversaries. Hinata had no combat training, he was certain she couldn't even throw a punch, and he was quite fine with that. He didn't want his shy flower of a daughter to have to cover her hands in the blood of people who may need to be killed, he didn't want her to deal with the pain of death, he didn't want her to have to take a life.

As he slipped into a defensive stance and began some simple palm thrusts and steps, he though himself a fool. Sooner or later she would have to deal with death. Eventually, his time would be done, and she would have to lay her father down to rest for an eternity. Then she would be alone in this land. Maybe, just maybe, he could get her out of here before his death. Maybe he could send her away to somewhere else, anywhere else, to keep her safe. Not Konoha. No, Konoha would destroy his daughter, the family they were a part of would take her and brand her and break her precious heart into a thousand pieces and that was just as bad as her becoming a ninja. For a broken daughter was a tragedy, no matter how the pieces split.

He heard her gentle footsteps coming around the garden, trying to find him. He moved to a relaxed stand and dusted the small amounts of dirt off his clothes as she rounded the corner.

"F-father, the food is ready now if you are hungry." She stepped towards him and took his arm, leading him back towards the house. He allowed himself to be led, with a small smile on his face. Walking with her like this reminded him of walking with his late wife. The would go between the flowers of the Hyuga gardens, whispering sweet nothing to each other and telling small jokes. She would stifle her laughs behind her hand as he openly smiled at her.

She had been beautiful.

And his daughter was just as beautiful.

Hiashi kept his small smile on as he walked next to her slowly.

"Hinata, child, how was your day? I apologize for not being able to speak with you more in depth about it. Those… clones of Naruto-san's are quite rambunctious. "

Hinata's cheeks seemed to darken from what Hiashi could see out of the corner of his eyes, and he had to keep in a laugh. His daughter, despite her age, was still quite naïve in all her mind, and it appeared that she felt the same about the clones. He would have to have words with the Uzumaki boy to make sure his clones were acting appropriately around his daughter.

"E-everything went fine, N-naruto-san was very h-helpful even though h-he didn't qu-quite understand e-everything I was t-telling him about the f-flowers. But he s-seemed to really l-like them." Her steps were slow and deliberate, and she looked down at her feet as if her shoes were the most interesting thing in the world. Hiashi nodded understandingly, knowing she couldn't really see his movements as she looked down.

He watched as the rear door came into view, lights in the kitchen flickering gently as he approached. Hinata raised her head, the lights illuminating the slight blush on her cheeks.

"O-oh, I hope he likes t-the food, he seems t-to have a thing for r-r-ramen…" Hiashi only raised an eyebrow at her words. Ramen? What on earth had given her the idea to make ramen of all things?

The Clones. It had to have been, she had never shown any interest in ramen before. He didn't even know she knew how to make ramen.

Pff, ramen.

Though he'd have to settle for it. If his daughter cooked it, it was bound to be delicious.

They stepped up to the door, Hinata letting her father enter first. Hiashi bent over slightly and removed his shoes as he stepped into the house. He placed them by the door and entered, watching as Hinata did the same thing. He stepped forward over the landing and into the kitchen, only to be met by the strangest sight.

The Uzumaki boy was sitting at his table, not so strange in itself, but he sat there with his chopsticks near his face chewing. And his expression…

It was like he tasted something downright amazing, which Hinata's cooking always was. His eyes were closed in bliss and a goofy smile adorned his face as he chewed slowly. The chopsticks bobbed as he chewed, as if he were conducting a symphony. The bowl sat half filled in front of him as he ate, completely unaware of the company now in the room with him.

Hiashi cleared his throat loudly just as Hinata entered the kitchen. Behind him, she jumped, something he couldn't see as he looked at Naruto. He still had the remnants of his euphoria still on his face and he jumped and spun around to face them. He looked confused as he looked at Hiashi, then froze as he looked between him and his bowl of ramen.

"What?" He stated mouth still partially full of ramen. Hinata made a small smile as Hiashi's eyebrows rose on his forehead. His eyes narrowed slightly and he stepped forward, walking past Naruto to one of the two untouched bowls on the other side of the island. He made no move to sit down as he began to eat slowly.

His daughter was really a very good cook.

Hinata followed her father's lead, taking her bowl, but moving to one of the unoccupied seats on the side of the island that Naruto sat on. She too began eating slowly as Naruto watched her sit down.

He finished chewing and swallowed what was in his mouth before speaking up again.

"Sorry about earlier, Hinata-chan, I just really, really like ramen. It's, like, only the best food in the whole wide world!" He exaggerated everything he said with wild hand movements, his arms flinging up as he finished his sentence. Hinata blushed again as he once more dug into his food.

"I-it's all right, N-naruto-san. I just g-got a little f-flustered is all."

Again Hiashi looked at Naruto. He finished the bit of fish he was chewing on and placed his chopsticks down with a small clack.

"Apologize for earlier?" He began softly. "My, my, Uzumaki-san, what did you do to my daughter?"

Naruto gulped down the noodles in his mouth, mentally wincing as is scalded its way down his throat.

"O-oh, father, it's f-fine, r-really he d-d-didn't –"

"Naw, you see," Naruto started in over Hinata's quiet voice. "I came in and went over to see what she was cooking and when I saw it was ramen I kind of just yelled really loud and it scared her and she fainted, so I was just saying sorry because I didn't quite get the chance to before. Y'know, she was kinda unconscious." He finished, looking at Hiashi then turning to look at Hinata. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks had a pretty blush on them as she looked between Naruto and her father. He looked back at Hiashi, and watched as he nodded his head once and picked his chopsticks back up.

"My daughter is slightly easy to scare, so please refrain from yelling around her. If she fell and got hurt because of fainting I would not be very pleased."

Naruto stared at him openly as he ate before shaking himself out of shock and looking back down at his bowl. He was nearly done, some fish and vegetables floating in the broth with a few noodles. He finished up the bigger pieces that he could grab before picking the bowl up and slurping down the broth and smaller items.

Hiashi looked up for a small moment as he heard the noise of the broth being consumed. He didn't look at Naruto; no he merely stared ahead before going back to eating his own food

Hinata, for the most part, was a bit mortified. She didn't know if her father was simply neutral towards Naruto or if he was trying to scare him. Maybe he was trying to be humorous? Her father could be funny at times, but he was typically just a simple man, he didn't do much joking around.

He couldn't possibly be joking with Naruto.

So maybe he was worried, but that didn't make sense, Naruto was such a nice person. He didn't look like he would harm a fly! He was just bubbly, and gentle, and so kind, and very funny, and –

"Hey Hinata-chan, you're face is all red again!" She looked up at Naruto very quickly before ducking her head down and playing with her noodles. "Heya, you ok?

Hinata nodded her head and lifted up some vegetables to her lips. She chewed on them for a little bit before swallowing. Naruto just looked at her bowed head before shrugging his shoulders and looking back at Hiashi.

"So, uh, what do you guys do here, y'know, other than eat? Because you can't do that all day. You both do…stuff…right?" Hiashi looked up at Naruto for a bit before placing his chopsticks down and looking at his relatively empty bowl. He picked up the bowl and brought it around towards the back door. He looked back at Naruto and motioned for him to follow. Naruto looked at him, confused, before picking up his own bowl and walking behind him. Hiashi slipped his shoes back on, and Naruto realized the folly of leaving his by the front door. Instead of speaking up and walking back to get them, he just walked outside. He was a ninja, he wasn't afraid of dirt. He'd been sleeping outside for the majority of his 'trip'.

He watched as Hiashi moved to a set of small barrels off the side of the house, by some posts with line around the top. Hiashi stooped by the barrel furthest from the posts and placed the bowl in it. He pulled the sleeves of his robe up and brought a small rag out. He dipped the rag into the water and pulled the bowl up, washing it with steady circular motions against the porcelain. Naruto watched him dumbly, still holding his own bowl. Hiashi looked up at him with a small smile playing about his lips.

"Are you going to stand there all night, Uzumaki-san, or are you going to wash the dish you used?" Naruto blinked a few times before muttering another unintelligent 'oh' before crouching down by the bucket. He slipped his bowl into the water and began washing it without the help of the rag. Hiashi finished with his own and handed Naruto the rag he had been using. Naruto took it and found that, despite what he had initially thought, there was soap on it. It was fine, the bubbles were small and soft, and he rubbed it against the porcelain of his own bowl. He rinsed it off and stood, leaving the rag on the side of the barrel. He walked over the Hiashi, who had used a second rag to dry his bowl and took the offered piece of fabric to dry his own.

"Place it on the line to dry a little for Hinata." Hiashi said before turning and walking back towards the house. Naruto did as he was instructed and followed him. He watched as Hiashi placed his bowl, upside down, on a small mat just outside the door and walked towards his small garden. Naruto watched him for a little bit before he stepped into the first stair to go into the house.

"If you wouldn't mind, Uzumaki-san," Hiashi started, causing Naruto to stop and turn towards him. He stood still, his back still facing Naruto, his hands clasped behind his back, "please walk with me for a little bit, I believe there are things we need to…discuss."

Naruto shrugged and placed his bowl in the same fashion next to Hiashi's before moving back down the step and walking next to him. "One question, Uzumaki."

"Yeah?"

"Where are your shoes?"

Naruto looked down at his unclad feet and wiggled his toes.

"Well, I wasn't expecting coming outside and I came in through the front door…. So they're out front."

Hiashi sighed a little bit and nodded. "Very well, but before you enter the house again –"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm gunna wash my feet off, I already planned on it."

"Very well."

Naruto walked next to Hiashi as he strolled through some of the taller plants and bushes towards the garden. Sparing short glances his way, he surveyed the man next to him. Naruto by no means ever considered himself tall, he was the shortest boy in his class during the academy. After he had gone training with Jiraiya, he grew a lot. Probably because Jiraiya wouldn't let him eat ramen all the time. Damn old man made him eat fruit and vegetables and grains and all that healthy stuff that people need.

But next to Hiashi he figured he looked pretty tall. He overshadowed the man by maybe 5 inches, looking fairly steadily at the top of his head. In the constant shadow of night, Naruto couldn't see much more than his profile and ridiculously straight hair and he wasn't sure he wanted to get to in depth with this man's looks.

They did indeed have things to talk about.

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I thought that this would be a good place to end chapter 8 part 2 only because if I continued on it would probably be a bit too much for one (part 2) chapter.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and such, they make me smile! : )

Peace!

UPDATE: Chapters four through eight part two have been reviewed and I believe I've fixed some of the spelling errors that people have been mentioning. If not, please let me know, that way I can get to the bottom of my horrid typing! Yay!

Also, some people have been saying they are confused by the direction of the story, or that I haven't given enough detail. If you could just be a little clearer I would love to know where things get confusing. The only thing I want is for you people to have a good story to read, because good stories make people happy.

And I love it when people are happy. : )