NaruHina: Clandestine

Chapter Two: The Grouch

She woke first because she sensed the passengers around her getting ready to depart. She could hear them shuffling to gather their belongings, their bags from the racks, the coats hanging on the hooks, the garbage that needed to be disposed of.

Remembering his jibe on her femininity, Hinata, still on top of him, elbowed him as hard as she could and smiled when he grunted with surprise.

"Oof!"

And then she belatedly realized that was not a pretend-girlfriend move.

She met his angry eyes, fluttered her eyelashes at him, and said in a voice dripping with honey, "I'm sooo sorry, darling. It was an accident."

He glared at her but quickly turned it into a grimace that passed for a smile when he saw some of the passengers looking at them.

She was still on his lap and was trying to push down the skirt of her dress that had ridden up to show a whole lot of skin. He eyed it and saw that the kunai was skillfully hidden. He would not forget again.

She gracefully scooted off his lap and tugged at the hem of her skirt.

"It's okay, dear," he murmured just as insincerely when he stood up.

He held his hand out to her. She stared at it for a long moment, glanced briefly at his face, and finally took it as they both walked towards the doors.

Considering she was an efficient killing machine, her fingers were surprisingly smooth and graceful, Naruto mused as he held her tiny hand in his.

He stepped down from the train, and without asking her, placed his hands on her waist to lift her down onto the platform.

Her mouth tightened briefly, but she said, "Thank you."

He grinned at her. "Just being respectful."

She nodded regally.

Hinata looked around to find the porters with their bags and saw them disembarking with their luggage. She was about to step forward to grab them, but he stopped her with a hand to her arm.

He shook his head. "No."

And to her mortification, he slowly and deliberately raised his arm high up in the air, drawing everyone's attention. Looking arrogant and imperious, he snapped his fingers twice and without saying anything, pointed to the ground on his right side while his arm was still up.

She saw the panicked faces of the attendants as they responded to his unspoken demand, quickly scrambling to bring their bags to where Naruto had pointed.

It was as if he was putting on a clinic on how to be the perfect douchebag.

She flushed with embarrassment, wanting to sink into the platform when she sensed the disapproval from some of the people standing on the platform. She could hear the censorious titters behind hands raised to mouths.

What a jackass, she thought she heard.

"Relax," he murmured. "It's all an act. I need to be more of a bastard than my usual self because it'll help later on when I do negotiations with Mei. She needs to think I'm arrogant and won't be flexible."

Hinata held her opinion. That may be true, but she didn't want to be associated with a jackass—much less pretend to be their lover. Besides, she had trouble believing that he needed to pretend to be more of a prick.

God, the things she had to do for her job.

She was just going to have to kill Shikamaru when she got home. Or at the very least, demand a raise.