Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 19

-Hinata's POV-

Even though we were right next to one another, our dreams still connected, so Naruto and I spent most of the night catching one another up on what'd happened to us while we were apart. I was distraught, to say the least, to hear of all the terrible things he and my friends had to go through for two entire months. My coma took up half of that time, so I was only awake and struggling for a single month.

He also informed me Madara hadn't even been caught by the police, at least by the time they lost contact with the outside world at the asylum. The small glimmer of hope I held onto that Hanabi was safe and out of the awful man's clutches was fading quickly. Despite the fact he'd taken over my entire life, I didn't know much about his upbringing or childhood, so I couldn't even begin to come up with theories on where he might've run away to hide out.

After spending such a long time talking, a bit of my lingering nervousness around him faded, and I felt much closer to how we'd been before everything hit the fan during The Program. We disconnected at some point, but similar to how one typically forgets most of their dreams upon waking up, I couldn't recall how long my mind had been absent from him by the time I woke up.

The first thing I could think to myself upon waking was that I was warm. It wasn't an overbearing heat but one that encouraged me not to move so as not to ruin the comfort. The second was that strong arms, obviously, Naruto's, were wrapped around my lower waist. My feet were warm in between his legs, making me blush immediately.

We were lying on our sides, facing one another.

The thing that I noticed last that did a better job of flustering me was that his face was pressed against my stomach as he held me tight against him. My fingers were gently wrapped in his hair on one hand, and the other held the back of his neck.

Inwardly, I shook my head in shame that I was more natural at this type of thing while I was unconscious rather than awake. My eyes fluttered open, and I blinked a few times to adjust. It was bright outside. We'd obviously slept much later than intended, but as I bashfully looked down to see Naruto's relaxed face as he pressed his cheek against my ribcage, I couldn't bring myself to wake him.

When he was crying yesterday, the expression on his face broke my heart. The blonde has always been a cheerful and sometimes goofy person that automatically lifted the spirits of whoever was in his vicinity, but yesterday he seemed worn down. The boy was exhausted.

Since he wasn't aware of my selfishness, I hesitated momentarily before bravely moving my fingers in his hair. A small smile tugged at my lips that I didn't bother holding back. Slowly, I let them travel down to his shoulder, feeling the tense muscles there before running my hand down his back as far as my arm could reach.

Being able to physically verify that this wasn't a dream and he really was there in front of me gave me the reassurance I needed. I gently brought my hand back up to wrap into his hair again, holding him with a lovely warm feeling fluttering about my stomach. A soft emotion crossed my mind, and my eyes widened when I realized it'd come from him. He was undoubtedly awake for at least a few seconds since he'd reacted to something I'd done.

Rather than panic and shy away like my instincts told me, I timidly returned to what I was doing and ran my fingers through his hair. After a few calm minutes of zoning out, he took a deep breath, and I felt his arms tighten slightly around my torso as he stretched.

My hands moved back slightly as he came up a little, and I wrapped my arms around his head to hold it against my chest with a warm face. He paused for a moment before one of his arms moved up, so his hand rested in the middle of my back, and he settled further into my bashful embrace. The two of us lay like that for a long time, breathing smoothly and just basking in the moment of peace while we had the chance.