A Bright Future {Naruto x Reader}

Chapter 33

(Y/N)'s POV:

After that fantastic night and the day off Kakashi reluctantly allowed us to have, things were great. At least to a certain extent... Naruto and I still have our shared Date Nights, and we now sometimes bump into each other while working, so things should be going great.

However... it seems like the more we spend time together..., the more distant Naruto is getting? I have to be imagining it because there should be no reason whatsoever for Naruto to feel the need to distance himself.

Thankfully, sometimes he somehow acts normally at home or during Date Nights or any other dates we get the time to go on. But, those are a rarety now. I've asked him a million times if something is bothering him? Or if something happened at work? I even asked if Kenji had said something to him again, but he insisted nothing was wrong and that he's been acting normal.

I am so tempted to tie him up on a chair and interrogate him until he cracks!

"Let's calm down now..." Sakura tells me as I take another sip from my drink. The girls and I are all sitting in Itachi's living room. They invited me to go out with them, but I had promised Itachi that I would help organize the scrolls he was writing. When Ino found out, she practically invited everyone over. 

Everyone knows by now that Ino is somehow Itachi's fan, and if she can help it, she always tries to have a talk with him. From a simple discussion of which flower is best for his home to deep and profound conversations about improving her Jutsu. 

"M-Maybe work is stressing him out?" Hinata comments, "Kiba went through something like that. He later told me that he didn't want to w-worry me about it." she explains, and they all agree that sometimes men do that. "I know, but Naruto and I are different when it comes to those things. He's never hidden how stressful he's felt... What could he be hiding!" I slump my head on the table and groan.

"Did you try confronting him?" Itachi asks from the next room where he's preparing a little snack for us. "What do you mean? I've asked him what's wrong, but he won't admit that things are weird between us." I tell him as he walks in and sits beside me. "I mean, did you tell him that you know he's hiding something and that you're starting to worry?" he explains. Sakura agrees that the straightforward way works best with Naruto.

"Itachi has a point." Ino comments. "Just walk up to him and tell him that you know and watch how he will spill everything." she smirks. "I don't want to trick him or make him feel like I doubt him." I sigh. 

"I can ask Neji for you. He's been working with Naruto for a good while now, so maybe he knows." Tenten says, and I raise my eyebrows at her. "Wait, they have? I-I didn't even know that..." they all go silent for a moment. "I've seen them walking around the village a lot lately." Tenten says, and Ino nods. "That's right! They always seem to be deep in conversation, even I felt like I couldn't interrupt them." she remembers. 

"He keeps telling me that he's always with Kakashi..." I tell them, and Itachi puts his hand on my shoulder. "We're talking about Naruto here. He's not the best at keeping secrets, and he's especially bad at doing something morally wrong." he tries to reassure me. "Just give him time, whatever he's doing all this for, I'm sure he will tell you eventually." 

"I-Itachi is right. Naruto loves you very much. Maybe he's planning a surprise for you." Hinata tries another way. I didn't think of that, a surprise for me. My birthday isn't anytime soon, and neither is his, but he wouldn't surprise me for his birthday. Our anniversary had already passed, and we went on a trip to another land for a couple of days. What could the surprise be for?

"Stop thinking about it." Sakura nudges me and turns to Hinata, "Any drama you want to share with us, Hinata? Boy drama?" she asks as she wiggles her eyebrows. Hinata goes red and tries to say that things are going smoothly with her and Kiba, but the girls don't believe her.