Hinata And Naruto: After The Kiss

Chapter 8

They both slept surprisingly well that night.  Naruto had gone home packed up his things, showered, and then fallen into bed. He had planned on being at the gate bright and early. That didn't happen. Getting up at dawn and making it to the gate was not as easy as he thought it would be. Naruto ran up to the gate with a mouth still full of ramen and an empty container in hand. Hinata was chewing the last few bites of her cinnamon roll as he walked up. They both grinned when they saw each other and almost started to laugh at the fact they where both still finishing breakfast.

Naruto swallowed the ramen and spoke, "You ready to go?" She nodded as she finished eating her cinnamon roll. Naruto walked to the gate guard house and got a map. He walked back over to Hinata and opened up the map. He stared at the map but couldn't recognize anything on the map. Hinata started to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Naruto said a bit defensively. "Naruto-kun," Hinata fought off a building laugh, "The map is upside down." Naruto started to burn a deep scarlet. "Oops." He flipped the map and now he could read it. "Let's see. We need to be here by noon tomorrow," he pointed to a spot on the map. "So that means we need to be..." He trailed off. Hinata giggled softly and pointed. "We n-need to be about three-fourths of the way by n-nightfall. So right about here." She pointed to another spot on the map. She pursed her lips.

"What?" Naruto asked. "Oh its nothing. Its just that we've been there before." Hinata shuffled her foot in the dirt. "We have?" "Yes it was when we where kids." Hinata was still looking at the ground. "Cool. When was that?" "It was when we were looking for that t-tracking bug." "Oh." Naruto paused and seemed to think. He blushed, looked at Hinata, and blushed some more. Hinata wondered what was going through his head.

Shaking the thoughts from his head Naruto smiled at Hinata and rolled up the map. He put the map in his pack and they headed out the gate. They stopped and decided that they should run for about and hour, walk for thirty minutes, then run again. At this pace they should reach the spot Hinata pointed to on the map before dark. Hinata set the pace by taking the lead and doing a scan with her byakugan every ten minutes.

With the peace that had been in the land of fire and all the other lands since the war, Naruto was happy to be doing something. Even if it was a simple B-rank escort. He had been training a lot but training isn't the same as an actual mission. And having Hinata on this mission as well was a bonus. Suddenly Hinata stopped. She came to a stop on a branch and Naruto landed next to her.

"No immediate threat," she whispered. "Just a travel convoy of five with one disguised ninja guard. About 2000 feet out" Naruto marvelled at how accurately she could see with her byakugan. This forest was dense and they were far away as it was.

They slowly made their way around the traveling group. Not wanting a confrontation they both grinned and let out a sigh once they had left the traveling group behind. They kept going but still managed to keep a light attitude even as the day wore on. They stopped for lunch in a small clearing. Naruto pulled out a cup of instant ramen while Hinata pulled out a full bento. Naruto had started to drool when he first got a smell of the food she had packed. His mouth turned into a waterfall when he saw that she had packed.

A large amount of rice, some delicious smelling chicken, a section of vegetables that looked like they had a bit of pepper on them. He flicked his gaze back to the little fire he had started for warmth and to boil the water for his instant ramen. Knowing fully he would be committing sacrilege against the ramen god. Naruto really wished he had some food other than ramen to eat.

Hinata was well aware how much Naruto wanted some of her food. But should she just offer him some? They only packed actual food for this meal. After this it would be mission rations until they got to the town where they were to meet the caravan. They would grab simple foods from some store and then turn right back around with the caravan and head to their destination.

Naruto's water had started to boil on the fire he built. It was actually quite amazing how he built the fire. He found some branches and twigs with dry grass hidden in a small, shallow cave. He had made a tiny rasengan and had added a red chakra to the rasengan. The rasengan had set the blades of grass and twigs on fire instantly. He had loaded more sticks on until he had a small but very warm fire.

Hinata was grateful for the warmth. The snow that surrounded the area he had cleared out was starting to melt. There wasn't much snow. Just enough to make running in the treetops a bit dangerous. She glanced up and caught Naruto staring at her. She blushed and looked back down at her food. She heard movement and looked up to see Naruto stand up and move to walk over next to her.

"Are you cold?" She shook her head. "The fire you built is p-plenty warm." A smile spread across his face. "That's good." He kept smiling as he ate his ramen. She smiled and started to come up with a little plan. She got a chopstick full of rice, chicken, and vegetables and held it out. Naruto looked at her curiously but when she nodded his whole face lit up and he took the bite of food. She smiled and blushed. Where had this idea even come from? She pulled her chopsticks back and ate another bite of her food.

Suddenly there was a big bite of ramen being held out to her on Naruto's chopsticks. She hardly thought about it as she opened her mouth and took the bite. She pulled the bite off the chopsticks and chewed. The ramen's flavoring was beef. Not bad. They both silently sat and ate the rest of their own food. They both finished up around the same time. Naruto doused the fire with snow and they set out on their way again. They just kept running with short breaks until it was close to sunset.

They finally broke through into the clearing. After Hinata did a sweep with her byuakugan, they set up the large tent. For the purpose of easy transport they had only brought one large tent instead of two small tents. Naruto carrier the poles for the tents while Hinata carried the tarps. They each had their own bed roll and the tent was large enough that it was perfectly okay for them to share the tent. Or, at least that was what Hinata was trying to rationalize with herself.

Naruto had started another fire and was currently helping her get the tent set up. They hadn't talked much so far on the trip but she didn't mind. It wasn't an awkward silence. Just a silence of they didn't need to fill the silence. They could just be in each others company.

The sun finally set fully and Hinata watched at the bright colors that graced the sky. She looked over at Naruto and her jaw almost hit the ground. The sun was shining through his hair. It glowed and sparkled. She really wanted to touch it again. She bit her lip. She probably shouldn't. She sighed and just stood next to Naruto. This had been a good day.