Hinata And Naruto: After The Kiss

Chapter 9

They had sat around the fire quietly chatting and talking. He asked what she did in her free time and was surprised when she said cooking, cleaning, and reading. He knew that she was good at cooking but to like cleaning? Weird. But if she liked to clean, awesome. Naruto hated to clean. He would only clean up if he knew that important guests would be coming over. Which was never. 

"Hey Hinata?" "Yes Naruto-kun?" "You just did it again." "D-did what?" Hinata was nervous now. "You used -kun after my name again. You really don't have to." Hinata was completely embarrassed now. "S-sorry." Now Naruto looked embarrassed. "No! Don't apologize! You didn't do anything wrong! It's just that you are the only one that still calls me that." Hinata nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay Naruto." He smiled. They sat there in silence till Naruto started up the questions again.

That talked about the silliest missions they did as kids, for Hinata it was one mission where they had to go find a flower. Not just any flower though, this flower's pollen acted as a numbing agent. They had found the flower easy enough but the trouble came when it started to rain on the way back.

Hinata had been carrying the pot with the flower when it happened. At first they had thought nothing of it. They hadn't noticed that when water drops hit the flower a little Puff of gas would rise up. It didn't take long before Hinata was feeling a tickle in her nose and started to feel weird. Suddenly she giggled. Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru all looked at her. She giggled again. This time Kiba asked, "What's so funny?" She tried to say she didn't know but she just laughed again!

The boys looked concerned now. She tried to stop but she couldn't. She laughed again and again. Finally Kiba stole the plant away from her and Shino tried to help her. It took her five minutes to stop laughing. When she had stopped Shino had some of his bugs check the area for what could have made Hinata laugh like that.

When the bugs came back, Shino said that the cause was the flower. Kiba walked over and to a sniff of the plant. Almost immediately he started to laugh. "Some sort of laughing gas must be coming from the flower." Shino covered his mouth and nose and walked towards Kiba and the flower. He took a light weight tarp out of his pack and he covered the plant. It took a few minutes but they eventually got Kiba calmed down. They fashioned a little tent for the plant with only a few giggles. They then waited for the rain to stop.

It took almost an hour but the rain stopped and then they made their way back to the village. She smiled as she finished the story. She asked Naruto what the silliest mission he had done as a kid was? He looked her straight in the face and said, "Trying to capture that runaway cat." He was serious for about fifteen seconds until he burst out laughing and so did she.

They slowly slipped into an easy silence. Hinata leaned against his shoulder. She was getting sleepier every second. She should go back to the tent. But.... Naruto's.... So warm.... And she was asleep.

Naruto just sat there. Hinata had been asleep for about ten minutes now. What should he do!? Should he just sit here? Or should he risk waking her up and telling her to go to the tent? Or should he try to carry her to the tent without waking her? She shifted a bit and Naruto froze.

"Just pick her up and carry her to the tent." Naruto jumped slightly when Kurama suddenly spoke up. "Just take her to the tent. I can do that." Naruto sighed and tried to figure out how to do the daunting task.

Kurama had been watching as the boy interacted with Hinata. When the two were together he just tried to ignore it when the two became romantic. He had already fought through this with his previous hosts but this was just weird. He felt like, in the human terms, a third wheel. He was going to need to find some way to just ignore everything. But in the mean time he would just do his best to ignore it and stay silent unless Naruto needed help or to fight.

Naruto had a plan figured out. He slowly turned and shifted till Hinata was leaning against his chest. He then slowly shifted her again until she was leaning against his arm. He then slipped his other arm under her knees. Here went everything. He stood up as quickly and smoothly as he could.

She didn't react. Naruto let out the breath he'd been holding. He slowly walked towards the tent carrying Hinata. Thankfully the tent was unzipped so he didn't have to unzip it with her in his arms. He stepped into the tent and set Hinata down as gently as possible. He placed her on her bedroll. He pulled a blanket over top of her then left the tent.

He banked the fire with a few more logs and then cleaned up the small mess they had made. A few wrappers got tossed into the fire and the uneaten rations got packed back up into their bags. He finally stood up and stretched. He walked over to the tent and entered. The sight of Hinata sleeping froze him in place. She looked absolutely beautiful as she slept. Her face was completely calm and relaxed.

He smiled lay down on his own bed roll at the other side of the tent. The tent was large enough that he barely had to duck when he stood up. The tents basic dimensions were 8 ft by 6 ft according to the supply guy. He had gotten the tent at the last moment when he realized that Hinata probably didn't want to sleep in the snow. Now he was glad for the added warmth it provided.

He slowly zipped the doorway partly. He closed it enough to block out the cold but left it open a bit so he could see out. He lay down and stared at the top of the tent. Hinata's breathing was soft and even. He listened and soon found himself drifting off. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.