First off, I'm sorry this took so long.

the good news though, after two years of unemployment and having to move back into my parents home, I have finally got a new job, a new house and I'm writing again ^_^

Enjoy!

Freeing the Fox

Everyone's eyes were on the little fox, asleep in the middle of the seal. Inochi took out a brush, dipped it in ink and carefully drew a number of symbols on the fox's fur. It was a painstaking process as the fox's fur was still sticking up in random places and was dirty in others. Another one of the Yamanaka's drew similar markings on Hinata's forehead. Naruto chewed on his lip as he watched, he glanced along the line of spectators each had concern on their faces.

"Alright," Inochi said as he drew the brush away from the fox. He grasped the end in a wad of tissue to catch any excess ink. He glanced over at the bed, the others had completed the symbols on Hinata's body. "Lets get started." Inochi handed the brush to Ino behind him then he took up his position in the circle of mind manipulators. The Yamanaka's around the table all carried out the same seal then slammed their chakra charged hands onto the edges of the scroll. The black characters on the scroll wavered slightly and were still. For a moment nothing moved. Naruto was about to voice his concern when he noticed the ink on the page was moving. The symbols shuddered as if being blown by a persistent wind. Suddenly they started slithering towards the little fox. Instead of disappearing under the fox as expected, the characters slid up and over the foxes fur, as if drawn to the symbols that had been drawn on the little body. The ink seemed to merge into one large, black, constantly moving mess on the creature. One by one the symbols broke away from the fox's head and returned to its place on the scroll and affixed themselves firmly back on the parchment. The process seemed to take an age. Naruto and the others had been shooed back against the door while the Yanamaka's worked. They held their breath as the sealing continued. More and more of the symbols separated themselves from the fox and merged back to the paper, including the characters that Inochi had drawn on to the fur. Finally all the ink had returned to the scroll.

"Switch" Inochi stated. Ino darted under her fathers arms and picked up the limp fox and lifted it out of the way. Inochi and three others gently lifted the scroll while two others lifted Hinata's head and threw the pillow out of the way. Ino cradled the fox in her arms, she backed into the corner out of the way as the scroll was carefully lifted from the table. With slow precise steps the scroll was moved toward the bed. At this moment, everything that made Hinata herself was contained in this fragile piece of parchment. Hinata's upper body was lifted up, the scroll was placed on the bed and Hinata was laid gently back down with her head in the centre of the seal, where the fox had been moments ago.

"Now comes the hard part." Inochi nodded at the other three Yamanaka's, again they ran through the complex handsigns and surged their chakra into the scroll.

Nothing happened. The characters didn't even waver like last time.

"Shit." Inochi snapped. Ino chanced a glance at the group against the wall they all looked horrified as they caught on that something was wrong.

"One more time" Inochi ordered, again they ran through the handsigns and channelled their chakra into the scroll. Again, nothing happened. Kurenai fell to her knees as her legs gave out, Shino and Kiba rushed to the side of their sensei, Hana and Tsunade bowed their heads and Naruto scowled and clenched his fist. He glared at the characters on the scroll as if they were at fault.

Inochi scoured the seal, what was going on? The seal worked. Why was it not unsealing? His eyes scanned the scroll, everything had gone back to its place. He glanced at the fox in Ino's arms. Even the characters he'd drawn onto it had left the creature and affixed themselves to the centre of the seal that was now under the teens head. He cast his gaze over the girls face. Her expression was blank. Her pale face was broken only by the large black symbol on her forehead.

"We're activating the wrong part!" Inochi shouted, suddenly everyone's attention was on him. "When we drew out her mind we changed the nature of the seal. The core of the seal is not on the scroll anymore."

"Hinata's the new core!?" Ino exclaimed.

"She'd better be..." Inochi muttered to himself, no one else heard him. Louder he said, "One more time."

Everyone in the room tensed as they once again they ran through the handsigns. This time they leant forward and channelled their chakra into the symbol on Hinata forehead. As soon as they touched it the character it turned blue and wavered. The Yamanaka's drew away as it pulsed, the ink on the scroll seemed to squirm and slowly started to drift towards Hinata, they converged on her head where the character was pulsing. Again the ink swirled dizzyingly before detaching itself and returning to the page. Once there the marks seemed to melt into an inky blob before the ink dried. At last the blue symbol on Hinata's forehead faded back to black and started to run.

"It's done." Inochi annouced.

"Hinata will be okay now?" Naruto demanded.

"We don't know." shrugged another of the Yamanaka's.

"You don't know!?" Kurenai exclaimed as Kiba and Shino helped her back to her feet. She glared at Inochi for an explanation.

"This was a delicate procedure based on speculation from a scroll from four generations ago. There is no certainty that it would work. The only thing we were sure of that it was not a good idea to leave her in the fox." he cast his hand over the creature still in Ino's arms.

"What happens now?" Shino asked.

"We wait until one of them wakes up." Tsunade answered, she had stepped forward to check on the teen, she wiped the running ink from her head before it clotted in the girls hair. "hmm, heart rates up a little but nothing out of the ordinary..." she muttered to herself.

"Ino, bring the fox here." Hana beckoned the blond over to her. Ino stepped around the bed towards Kiba's sister. Hana reached into the carrier box and rearranged Naruto's t-shirt so it padded the bottom of the cage, then took the limp fox and placed it carefully into the box. She closed the cage door and locked it, "Just in case" she explained. "We don't know what the fox's real behaviour is."

The Yamanaka's left the room with the exception of Inochi and Ino.

"How long do you think it will take?" Naruto asked, he hadn't left his place next to the door. Inochi shrugged, he felt strangely drained after the transfer. They waited, each giving the teenager glances from the corner of their eyes. Most of them had sat down on one of the two chairs in the room or on the floor itself. Hana excused herself as she couldn't leave the pet clinic in the hands of her assistant for too long. Roughly an hour after the sealing movement from the carrier cage caught their attention. The groggy fox tried to get to its feet, its head drooped and her eyes were half closed.

Naruto crouched down in front of the cage to glance in, the others leant over his shoulder. The fox looked up at them and for a moment it looked at Naruto.

"Hinata?" he chanced, the fox panicked, it tried to scramble away from the people watching, it only succeeded in pushing Naruto's t-shirt to the front of the cage. The fox growled lowly, but it was shivering. When Hinata was growling at them it was more savage and she actively attacked them, this time the fox puffed up its fur and tried to get away from them.

"I don't think that's Hinata..." Kiba muttered.

"You think?" Ino retorted.

"Perhaps we should cover the case" Shino intoned, he reached forward and pulled the towel down over the carrier to block out the fox's view of them. The fox's growling died down, every now and then there would be a little tinkle of the bell as the fox moved.

"Safe to say the fox is back to normal then..." Kiba said breaking the silence.

"Looks like it, so that's something at least?" Ino asked her father hopefully.

"It could mean one of two things. One, the seal working in extracting Hinata's mind, or two, … her mind faded." Inochi answered.

"The seal worked on Hinata after you used it on the fox so she should be okay." Ino prompted after seeing the worry on everyone's faces. Inochi didn't get a chance to answer as a moan from the bed got everyone's attention. Hinata's hand reached up and cupped her eyes shielding them from the light shining to the window.

Tsunade called for quiet as everyone piled Hinata with questions about her welfare.

"Out!" she ordered, this was met with protests from all sides."OUT!" Tsunade barked, the arguments died down and they reluctantly left the room with backward glances at the bed. Once the door was closed Tsunade turned her attention to the girl.

"Can you hear me?" she asked gently. The girl lifted her hand slightly and looked at the hokage. Her one visible pale eye looked dazed and after a moment she said,

"Woof" Tsunade smirked.

"I think Naruto's sense of humour rubbed off on you a little bit. How are you feeling?"

"The light's too bright..." Hinata said covering her eyes again. Tsunade drew the curtain blocking the light from the window, throwing the bed into a shadow.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you..." Hinata started to sit up,

"Easy..." Tsunade stepped forward and propped the bed up for the girl. "Your body hasn't been active in a while. What's the last thing you remember?" The older woman grasped Hinata's wrist to check her pulse.

"Last thing... um..." Hinata screwed up her face in confusion as she tried to think. Her eyes drifted around the room, she looked dizzy as her head swayed from side to side. "I'm not sure, my head is...its all fuzzy." she cupped her head in one hand. She tried to remember what had happened but all she could think of was Naruto and his grin. She started to blush as she thought about it.

"You alright? Tsunade caught her attention,

"I'm alright, I … I'm just a little confused." She confessed,

"And tired too. Perhaps it would be better to let you rest today." Tsunade nodded to herself deciding for her. "Yes, I want you to rest tonight." Tsunade turned and picked up the carrier box. There was a scrabble and a bell chime from the box.

"What's that?" Hinata asked looking at the box in confusion.

"This is the little fox you were trapped in. Want to see?" Hinata wasn't really sure she wanted to. Tsunade put the carrier back on the table and rolled it over closer to the bed. She slowly lifted the towel to avoid startling the fox. Hinata ducked her head to get a better view the little fox was curled up at the back of the box. Its ears were perked high and its beady eyes peered over its bushy tail. Hinata had to admit the fox was really cute.

"She's calmed down a little bit. Anyway get some rest." Tsunade put the towel back over the cage and hoisted it up and left. Hinata could hear the buzz of conversation outside the door. It died down after Tsunade raised her voice.

Hinata lay back on the slightly raised bed, she felt so tired and her mind was a blur she wasn't entirely sure what had happened over the last few weeks. She found herself feeling around her bed at one point looking for her tail, it took a long time for her to realise that she shouldn't have one since she was human again. She blushed as she remembered cuddling into Naruto's neck at night. Smiling, she remembered how he talked to her when he didn't know it was her and wondered if he would open up to her like that again. Hinata sighed as she lay back on the slightly raised bed. Everything would probably go back to normal after this, she wouldn't be able to talk to him without blushing or fainting and Naruto would end up looking past her again. It was fun while it lasted, but nothing would have changed in the long run. Hinata tried to get out of the bed but her body protested too much. Her head was still spinning. Tsunade was right, she needed rest. She lay down and quickly fell back to sleep.

Naruto returned to his apartment after Tsunade told the group to leave Hinata alone for the night. He hadn't wanted to, but Tsunade was insistent that although she was fine, Hinata needed her rest.

He pushed the door open and walked into his small kitchen, he looked around the empty room and felt a small prang of loneliness. He had liked having someone to come home to, be it his little pet fox Vixen or Hinata in a foxes body. Now, his flat just seemed too quiet. After eating a quick dinner Naruto sat in his usual spot at the window, he couldn't see the hospital from here so he stared blankly at the Kage tower. Naruto absently turned the pet brush over in his hand as he thought.

Hinata woke from a restless sleep. Her muscles ached in protest from having lain still for so long. The room was dark save for a pool of moonlight cast upon the floor. Hinata slowly pushed herself up to look around the room. Empty. She should have expected as much, it was the middle of the night and this was a one bed room Tsunade moved her to

so that the 'dangerous infection' cover would work. She spent some time rotating her joints and neck to get feeling back into them.

Satisfied with the fading tingling sensation she drew the blankets off her legs and tentatively lowered her feet to the ground. Keeping hold of the bed for support Hinata made her shuffling way to the window to look out over the village. The village was bathed in faint blue moonlight, the windows where dark except for the odd one were someone was up late. Hinata noted that she could not see as well in the dark as the fox could. It felt strange to be so high off the ground again. Not just on the third story but from the tiled floor itself. Hinata looked at her hand snd gave it an experimental flex. Thumbs, she'd missed those. Glancing back out the

window she wondered if it was possible to see Naruto's apartment from here. She scanned the skyline for the twinkle of a light in the vague area of the apartment block, but Naruto would be sitting in the dark if he was awake at this time so it was pointless. Hinata turned back to the bed and crawled back under the covers. The bed seemed so small now that she took up the whole space instead of half the pillow.

The next morning Hinata was given a full exam by one of the doctors, checking blood pressure, reflexes, vision, hearing, chakra circulation even lung capacity. By mid afternoon she was finally given the go ahead to leave the hospital. Outside she was greeted by a very enthusiastic Akamaru, the puppy bounded around her legs and reared up, pawing at her thigh for attention. Hinata chuckled and picked him up, feeling a pang of guilt at the bandages on the dog's neck. Kiba was not far behind the pup and sauntered up with a grin on his face.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked, falling into step beside her. "Strange… but it might be because I haven't eaten in a long time." She chuckled "I had some soup in the hospital this morning but I want proper food" she tilted her head back to avoid Akamaru's licking as she spoke. Kiba agreed, and after setting the puppy down, they headed off to one of the nearby cafes.

"So you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?" Kiba asked through a mouth full sausage. "Nothing…" Hinata mumbled and poked her last dango ball around the plate with the stick. Her stomach churned uncomfortably, she wasn't sure if it was due to the heavy food or the embarrassing actions she'd carried out as Vixen that Kiba just told her about. It was probably better for her friends to separate her actions as the fox from her, especially the attack on Akamaru. She glanced guiltily at the puppy, he was sitting with his eyes just about peering over the table, watching her dango ball carefully. Hinata reached over and stroked the little dog, Kiba had informed her about the fox bite when he saw her looking at the bandages.

"Sorry about that…" she muttered and handed the dango ball to the pup. "Forgive me?" Akamaru devoured the tasty snack, yipped happily and licked at Hinata's face. She smiled and stroked the dog. Kiba swallowed his mouth full and spoke, "We still don't know what to do with the fox though." He speared another sausage.

"You still have her?" Hinata looked up. Kiba nodded and chewed quickly to answer.

"Yeah sis has her at the vet clinic. I was there this morning getting Akamaru checked. It looks so scared though, at least it's not as feral as we thought." He paused to drink, "Sis reckons it only went like that because it was going out of its mind with you in there. All paniky and stuff. It hasn't tried to bite anyone else, doesn't even growl just sits and whimpers if anyone comes near it."

"What are the options?" Hinata asked, she wasn't really sure why she cared about the fox's fate, it just seemed fair to ensure the poor thing was safe. Kiba shrugged,

"Maybe release it back into the wild… Perhaps Naruto would want to take it again…But the fox may not like that…" He added after a moments pause.

"It would probably be better for it to go back to the forest." Hinata said. The pair where silent for a moment, then Hinata stretched and stood.

"I should go and say thank you to Inochi" Kiba nodded an okay as she finished off the last of this meal, Hinata left enough money to cover her part of the check and headed out.

Hinata ran into Ino just outside the Yamanaka Household, the blonde looked to be coming back from training. She beamed widely when she saw Hinata and bounded forward to hug her.

"It's so good to see you up and about again!" Ino declared letting go of Hinata. "Sorry about the whole 'trapping your consciousness in the body of a fax' thing…" she added. Hinata smiled and assured Ino that it was okay. They went inside and Hinata gave her thanks to Inochi and the other members of the family that had helped. She stayed for a short time, while the Yamanaka's discussed the seal they had used to help her. She waited the proper length of time to be polite then excused herself and left. By now it was nearly evening and Hinata was tired, her body was still protesting after its prolonged stillness. On the way home she encountered someone she had hoped to avoid until the next day. Naruto was walking up the street shopping bag in hand and a glum expression on his face.

"Oh Hinata" He forced a smile. "Shino told me you were about."

"Hi Naruto" she blushed and glanced away. "Kiba told me that you took care of me when I was in the fox…" she mumbled, trying not to look him in the eyes.

"You don't remember? Oh yeah… Shino said you wouldn't… so you can't remember anything about staying at my place?" She shook her head and something along the lines of relief flickered across the boy's face, followed by something that looked like disappointment. Something twisted in Hinata's gut,

"Just because I can't remember doesn't mean that I'm not grateful for your help, Thank you Naruto" She bowed stiffly, her face was burning red.

"It's okay…" Naruto replied, they stood in awkward silence, Naruto with nothing to say and Hinata still avoiding his eyes. Somewhere behind Hinata the clock tower tolled out the top of the hour. "Oh, I should get going, I'll talk to you tomorrow Hinata" Naruto waved goodbye, fake smile plastered on his face again.

"Goodnight Naruto…" Hinata mumbled as the boy walked past her.

Hinata slid the door to her room closed behind her. She had managed to get home with nothing more than a snide remark from her father, she could handle that. She flopped on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. The orange glow of the setting sun crept along the roof until it faded and her room was left in twilight's semi-darkness. She couldn't help but think about Naruto's reaction when she told him she didn't remember. The look of shear disappointment on his face made the bottom of her stomach seem to fall out. Except for parts of the last few days Hinata remembered everything about her time as the fox. Bounding around with Akamaru at the training grounds, feeling left out under the table of the diner, the open and honest conversations with Naruto. He had bared his heart to his little pet only to find it was one of his friends and even then she had claimed not to remember. Hinata groaned and buried her face into her pillow. Naurto opening up to her was all she had wanted since she first met the boy, but when he finally did she denied it. She sighed and rolled over onto her front and tried to get some sleep, but every time she was about to drift off, his sad face entered her mind.

The next morning Hinata waited outside the vet clinic for Kiba's sister to arrive. Hana was surprised to see the Huyga girl but smiled in greeting anyway. "What brings you here Hinata?" She asked while unlocking the clinic door. Hinata followed her inside.

"I was hoping you'd let me see the fox" she explained while Hana rose the blinds in the front windows.

"I suppose I can arrange that. Do me a favour and put this out front" Hana waved her hand at the clinics dog shaped sign then disappeared into the back room. Hinata dragged the heavy wooden dog outside then followed Hana into the back room. The older girl was measuring out food portions into a number of bowls and mixing medication into a few of them.

"Vixen is over there, far from the dogs, poor thing doesn't know what's going on" she nodded her head in the direction of the smaller cages to the back of the room. Hinata went over while Hana started handing out food to the smaller animals in the cages. Hinata peered along the cages looking for the creature, passing over a few dozing cats and a shaky toy-yorkie pup she found her. She crouched down to get a better look. The little fox was sitting in the very back of the cage, its tail wrapped tightly around its body. Her deep eyes stared at Hinata over the thick fuzz of the tail.

"Shuffle over" Hana appeared behind Hinata, reached over to open the door and slid a bowl of food into the cage. The fox waited for the door to close again before raising its head and sniffing at the air Uncurling itself, the fox took a step closer and licked experimentally at the dish. Finding it satisfactory she settled in to eat the lot.

"Right," Hana dusted off her hands, "I have to go feed the bigger dogs in the kennels, I'll be back in a bit"

"Alright…" Hinata waited for her to go then turned back to the fox, slowly she reached her hand up in front of the cage door. Vixen paused mid-bite to watch her. Hinata opened the cage door, ready to grab if the fox made a run for it. The fox slowly resumed eating but kept her eyes on Hinata. Slowly Hinata offered her hand for the fox to sniff. At first she was ignored while the fox ate, then Vixen paused and sniffed at her hand. Happy enough the fox returned to eating up the last few bites and licking the bowl. The fox seemed much happier with a full belly and sat near the entrance of the cage. Hinata took her chance and drew her hand down the foxes back. At first the fox flinched away and whined, but Hinata tried again, this time just scratching behind the ears. The fox's ears flattened, Hinata was about to draw away but the fox leant into her fingers, seemingly enjoying the scratch. Hinata was petting the fox when Hana returned.

"Huh…now I wasn't expecting that." As she spoke the fox jumped and retreated to the back of the cage. "oops" Hana crouched down next to a frowning Hinata.

"You scared her…" the teen mumbled.

"Sorry about that," Hana tried to reach in to pet the fox but it ducked under her hand and scrabbled to the other side of the cage.

"Oh" Hana pulled her arm back out of the cage. "Let me try again." Hinata said more than asked. Hana shuffled over, out of Hinata's way. Again Hinata offered her hand for the fox to smell before attempting to pet her. Vixen sniffed Hinata's hand then gave it a lick, the fox lay down and let Hinata stroke its back. She got the impression that the little creature recognised her somehow.

"And I thought my family was good with animals." Hana chuckled and clapped Hinata on the back. Hinata offered a weak smile and closed the cage door before standing up. "So does this mean you'll want to take her as a pet?"

"No… my father would never allow it" Hinata replied sadly, "But I know someone who would."

Naruto scowled and tried again to remove the inky paw print on his table. Since it was his day off from training he decided he had better clean up the flat. Bed sheets had been changed, dishes washed, and laundry sorted, but this stain was not going with out a fight. He wiped away the soap bubbles to find the wood gleaming, but the paw print still smack dab in the middle of the table. Frustrated, Naruto threw down the scrubbing brush and flopped on the bed. His arm knocked into a box and it fell to the ground with a thud and spilling its contents all over the floor. Groaning he sat up to survey the mess. The pet bowls lay upside down on top of the grooming brush and some assorted toys were scattered across the floor. He slid to the ground, set the box the right way up and started putting the items back

inside. He smiled to himself as he picked up the little blue ball. He remembered rolling this around for his fox to chase, and then later how Hinata amused herself by batting it around the room. He chuckled then threw it and the rest of the toys in the box. His smile faded as he picked up the pet brush. There was still some fur caught in the bristles. He told the fox so many things as he brushed her fur, his hopes, his worries, a lot of things he would never tell anyone else,

she just sat there, listening and sitting contently on his lap. Then he found out about Hinata. He'd felt so embarrassed about the things he'd said at first but as Hinata stayed with him longer she seemed to really enjoy his company and would actively listen to him and give him reassuring nuzzles or pats with her little paws. That was over now though, Hinata couldn't remember any of that and Naruto would never be able to speak to anyone as openly again. Naruto grunted, disgusted with himself. He threw the brush back into the box and shoved it under the bed. He wouldn't let this get to him. He stood up and again tackled the stain on the table.

Just when he was close to putting his fist through the paw print there was a knock at his door. He opened the door to a slightly pink cheeked Hinata, who was staring intently at the floor.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?" He asked sounding surprised. Hinata was silent for a moment then took a deep breath.

"I wanted to thank you properly for what you did for me…and…you looked so lonely yesterday so I … erm.." she hesitated as Naruto frowned at the word 'lonely'. She couldn't find her words again so she ducked down to pick something up that was beside the door. Naruto peered out the door and saw a large cardboard box. He backed up into the flat and let her walk inside with the package. Hinata looked around the room it seemed so much smaller now. She set the box on top of the ink stained table and waited for Naruto to join her. He came around the table studying the box with curious eyes.

"What's inside?" he asked, Hinata gave him a shy smile and lifted the box away revealing a pet carrier with a fuzzy fox nose poking out of the door.

"Vixen!" Naruto grinned and knelt down to look into the box. The fox withdrew slightly but sniffed at the offered fingers. She gave Naruto's fingers a lick and returned to looking around through the bars.

"I thought she'd be all… I dunno… snarly and bity."

"Hana thinks that was just because I was in there too, she was scared. She's really a sweetheart" Hinata answered and opened the cage door. The fox took a few steps out and peered around the room. After a moment she hopped off the table and started sniffing around the room.

"Ha ha, I think she recognises her own scent in the room" Naruto laughed and watched the excited fox scurry around. He hurried to the bed, pulled out the box with the pet supplies, filled a bowl with water and another with dog food then set them on the ground. Then he rolled a few of the toys around the floor. Vixen lapped at the water for a moment then started batting around the blue ball. Naruto beaming widely as the fox scurried around.

"I remember everything." Hinata suddenly blurted out.

"What?" looked up at her, she was staring intently at the pet carrier and her face was turning steadily red. "What do you mean…'everything'?"

Hinata was silent for a moment, she seemed to be steeling herself. Taking a deep breath at last she started,

"I remember everything from the time I woke up in the forest until the morning I was put back in my body." She said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asked.

"Because … it's kind of embarrassing… some of the things I did as the fox" she waved her hand at Vixen who was currently rolling around on the floor with a toy mouse.

"Oh… Then why tell me?"

"It only seems fair. You told me all those things," It was his turn to blush, "and I wanted you to know that I was listening. That and … if you need to someone to talk to again…I can …" she paused to shallow dryly, "I can maybe listen again…"

"Why would you do that…?" Naruto asked, misreading her hesitation for reluctance. Hinata fidgeted with the door of the cage, refusing to meet Naruto's gaze.

"You've always been kind to me and believed in me when I needed it." Naruto suddenly thought of the Chunin Exams. "And I want you know that I will be there if you need me too…" She trailed off, by now her face was bright red.

They stood in silence for some time, the only sound was little claws scrabbling around the floor. Vixen was chasing the ball again. She ran full pelt after it and swiped but missed, she over balanced and bumped into the coat rack. Naruto's heavy orange jumper fell off the hook and landed on her. Vixen yelped and thrashed about trying to get out from under the coat but couldn't manage it. Naruto knelt down and lifted the edge of the coat. Vixen lay underneath with a 'I meant-to-do-that' look on her face. Naruto picked up the fox and gave her a cuddle. Vixen licked his chin and seemed content to rest in his arms for the moment. Hinata watched the fox's bright eyes look around the room.

"I'd like that" He finally said. Hinata glanced up at his close-eyed grin. She cracked a smile and Vixen yapped happy.

Hinata felt a wave of relief and thought to herself, perhaps everything would be just fine after all.

End

Was it worth the wait? Sorry again...