NaruHina: Rescue

Chapter 3: Touch

The three kunoichi left the village and headed for home. Hinata was back to her usual quiet self as Ino and Sakura kept up a cheerful banter. It was hard to imagine that this was the same girl who'd threatened the invading thieves only an hour ago, prompting Sakura to note the difference.

"Hinata! What was that all about?! It's like night and day!"

Hinata grinned at her. "It's getting easier the more I do it. Neji used to give me advice all the time when we were training. In the beginning I used to hold back, trying not to hurt him, but he told me to think of fighting as a state of mind. He told me to fake it until I make it. It's a mask, an act I put on when I'm in fight mode. Neji was right, you know. It's become so automatic now that it comes on as soon as I activate my byakugan."

"Makes sense," Ino said. "I guess it's the threat of the damage you can inflict that is scarier."

Sakura suddenly gasped as she looked at Hinata's hands. "Hinata, let me take a look at those scratches. Ino, do you still have some bandages? I used mine all up."

"No, don't put bandages on my hands, Sakura!" Hinata said. "If you've got something to put on it, like an ointment, that will be better. If not, I'll just wait until we get home. I'll use the Hyuuga medicine we always have in stock."

"I've got that ointment here," Ino said, rummaging through her backpack. "I'm out of bandages, anyway. We used them all up at the village."

They stopped walking and sat while Sakura applied some medicine on Hiinata's wounds.

Hinata looked at the scratches on her hands and sighed. Thank goodness they were out of bandages. It would freak out Naruto to see her coming home wrapped in plaster. The scratches weren't bad, but she knew that Naruto was still going to fuss over her injuries when she got home. And he could fuss like an old biddy, she thought, grinning. His overprotectiveness was cute, but sometimes he forgot that she was shinobi, too.

Ino caught her grin and elbowed Sakura in the ribs. "We can guess who you're thinking about, Hinata..."

Still smiling, she showed them her hands. "Naruto's going to tear his hair out when he sees these scratches."

"Or jump off a cliff," Ino added.

Or smother me with kisses, was Hinata's happy thought.

Sakura laughed. "Oh, god, yes. You know how carried away he gets once he's locked onto something. And he's locked on to you pretty tight."

"I don't think Hinata minds," Ino said with a knowing look.

"Mmm," was all Hinata said.

She looked at her hands again, a smile lifting the corners of her lips, remembering.

"Can I hold your hand?" Naruto had asked on their first date, days after they'd arrived from their mission from the moon.

She was feminine enough to be flattered that he wanted to touch her. And she'd been so happy, she'd beamed at him. "Of course."

She held his hand throughout the night, his warm fingers gently reassuring.

"I want to kiss you," he said that same night when he'd taken her home. They were standing at the gates of the Hyuuga compound.

He'd stated it so simply the way only Naruto could. There was no artifice or guile. It was a simple wish straight from his heart.

She'd been shocked by his words, but she saw that Naruto was asking permission with his blue eyes. He, being a sensory type of warrior, had been very perceptive to the nuances of what she was feeling. Her anxiety and nervousness had conveyed itself to him. But she'd only been nervous because she had wanted to kiss him and didn't know how to ask him. Instead, he'd taken the lead and given them the opportunity to explore.