I do not own Naruto.

Hinata had been safe for the past week and decided it should be ok for her to return to work. She pulled on her work clothes and looked over at the still sleeping Tobirama. She pulled on her biking gear and grabbed her backpack with her work shoes and supplies in it. She slipped out of the room soundlessly as not to wake the sleeping man. She sighed and made her way down the hallway and into Hashirama's living room.

"Oh hey, going back to work?" he asked, and she nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I still have a mortgage to pay, you know." She sighed, and he nodded. "I understand that completely. Is Tobirama not going with you this time?" he asked, and she shook her head with a soft smile. "No, he just fell asleep, so I wasn't going to wake him up. He's been adamant about going everywhere with me when Madara or you can't. He deserves some rest." she said and Hashirama gave her an unsure look.

"Do you need me to follow you to work, just to be safe?" he asked, and she shook her head once more. That was right before the rumbling of engines coming up the street was heard. "You're all set then I see." he mused, and she just repressed a small laugh as she took off out the front door. She backed her bike out of the garage and pulled her helmet on her head. She looked over at the two bikes that had pulled up and they nodded to her as she rolled the rest of the way out of the driveway.

She took off down the street and in a matter of seconds the much faster bikes caught up with her. She knew they could take off and leave her in the dust at any given second, but she also knew they wouldn't do that to her given the situation. She looked over and nodded to the burly man to her left, who nodded back. No doubt the man had an all too familiar sharp toothed grin on his lips, such was the nature of the shark man.

She looked over to the man on her right with the swirling orange and black helmet and she nodded to him as well, which he returned. She knew he preferred to keep his helmet on and that was fine with her. She had been the one to take care of him after his crash after all, so she knew what he looked like. Half of his face was scarred, as well as that same half of his body. He had been damn near crushed under the car that had hit him, but he recovered wondrously.

She had seriously been doubting if the man was ever going to recover, but she was surprised when he had and continued riding like nothing had happened. She was proud of him for his persistence honestly. She looked back ahead of her and leaned to turn to the right down a nearby street. She resisted the urge to close her eyes and enjoy the rush she felt, because she was driving and not a passenger.

The wind whipping at her leather gear made her resist the urge to grin, the speed steadily going up on her speedometer made her heart race. This was an adrenaline rush like no other. Her eyes drifted up and she caught sight of flickering lights of all colors. Her lips parted slightly, and her heart fluttered in excitement. There was a fair getting set up and she wanted to go. She loved the fair, she always had.

She looked over at the guys on each side of her and they were relaxed on their bikes. She leaned forward and gunned it a bit and burst out into laughter when the two of them rushed to catch up with her. Obito waggled a finger at her and said something, but she couldn't hear because they hadn't connected to each other's comms. She knew he was probably scolding her, and that was ok, she should have known better than to try and ditch them, her safety was on the line after all.

She took one last look at the fair before she made her way to the street that led to the hospital. She didn't want to go to work, but she needed to. She sighed and pulled up into the ER parking lot. She shifted gears and put it in neutral. She kicked down her kickstand and turned off the bike. She hopped off and pulled her helmet off. The two men did the same and she smiled at them. "You need to be more careful." Obito said and she nodded.

"You saved my life, so we owe you, and we seem to enjoy your presence. So, you should think about that before trying to take off." he mused, and she rolled her eyes. She understood that she had taken care of him, but saving his life was not what she had done. She was going to let them think she had done all the work because they would sit and argue with her for hours on this. "I will be more careful I promise." she said, and they nodded.

They walked her in, and she expected them to leave when she had gotten in safely, but they were standing outside the doors of the ER entrance with baseball bats in hand. She sighed and walked back out to them. "You know you can't sit out here all night and watch for him to come in, we don't even know what he looks like." She sighed and they looked down at the bats in their hands and then back at her. "We know, but it doesn't hurt to have extra security, since yours is obviously lacking." Kisame said and she frowned but decided not to fight with them.

She made her way in and waved at the security guard at the door, who was weary of the two that were standing outside. "Friends of yours?" he asked, and she nodded. "Yeah, they didn't want me coming back to work yet because of what happened the other night, but I need to." she said with a sigh, and he nodded, but still kept his eye on them. "Hopefully they don't cause trouble." he said, and she nodded. She could understand his worry.

"Yeah... I really hope not." she sighed once more and made her way back into the back of the ER. She scanned her badge at the door and when it opened, she noticed that everyone was staring at her as she made her way down the hall. It was so silent she could hear her own footsteps louder than she thought they would be. She offered some of them a wave and they backed away a bit. Her shoulders slumped and she made her way into the locker room.

She couldn't understand why she was getting the cold shoulder all of a sudden. Everyone was normally happy to see her, but tonight they were giving her the cold shoulder. Her heart sank and she reached to grab the zipper to her jacket. She slowly unzipped it and pondered why everyone could be treating her this way. She smoothed out her scrubs and placed her riding gear inside her locker and locked it.

When she closed the locker, there was a picture of her taped to the door. How hadn't she noticed it before she opened it? Perhaps she had been too focused on the reactions of everyone to notice. She frowned as she snatched the picture off her locker and ripped it up. It had been of her at the restaurant the other night. She locked her locker and made her way out of the locker room. She fiddled with her fingers as she made her way to the charge nurse desk, where instead of Tsunade, Shizune sat.

"Oh... Hinata... I didn't think you would be coming back so soon." she said and Hinata frowned. "We pulled you from the schedule, so I know this is your normal day to come into work, but we don't have anywhere to put you." Shizune said and Hinata furrowed her brows. "Why was I pulled off the schedule?" she asked and Shizune frowned as well. She reached into the drawer under the charge nurses' station and pulled out a stack of pictures and set them in front of her on the counter.

"We also didn't want to risk anyone else... I'm so sorry..." Shizune said and Hinata felt the tears prick her eyes. She tried her best to blink them away as she flipped through the pictures. There were some of her in nothing but her undergarments and there was one where she was in the shower. Her lips trembled and she bit her lower lip to stop the trembling. The tears streaked over her cheeks as she continued to look through the haunting pictures of her in her most vulnerable state.

"Hinata... I'm afraid that if you can't get this handled, we may have to let you go. We can't risk everyone else's safety for one person... I'm so sorry." Shizune said and Hinata reached with both hands and grabbed the badge in both of her shaky hands. "H-he can't take everything from me..." she whispered and met Shizune's eyes. Shizune looked saddened to have to say that to her, but her eyes also said she had meant it.

The tears began flooding over her cheeks and she reached up and gently unclasped her ID badge and pulled it from her scrubs. She set it in front of Shizune on the counter and stepped back away from her. The tears didn't stop even as she made her way back to the locker room and pulled on her biking gear once more. She pulled her helmet on before she left the locker room to hide the tears that continued to streak down her face.

She was devastated. There was nothing she could do about the situation, but if they were going to fire her for something out of her control, she was going to take the bitter route and leave before they could make her go. She bumped into someone and turned to face him, but it was the white-haired man from the other day. The one that had been staring at her for hours. He was dressed in scrubs and had a doctor's coat on.

A chill rolled down her spine and she offered an apologetic wave and rushed out the doors to the Er. She flipped up her visor and smoothed her gear. "What happened?" Obito asked and she shook her head. "I just want to ride tonight." she said, and he nodded. "Wanna ride with me or do you wanna ride yours?" he asked, and she contemplated it for a second, only to make her way over to her bike.

"I want to ride." she said, and he nodded. "Then how about you ride the Busa." he said, and her eyes went wide. "I will ride yours." he said, and she tore her gaze from him, only to look over to the Hayabusa sitting nearby. It was painted black and orange to match his helmet. "Are you sure?" she asked, and he nodded. "You look like you could use a fast ride tonight." he said, and she nodded. She threw her leg over his bike and started it. She was just tall enough to ride it thankfully. He hopped on her bike and revved the engine.

She reached and revved his bike as well, a thrilling whistle coming from the beast beneath her. "Kisame, keep up with her." Obito commanded and the dark blue haired man nodded and hopped on his own bike. They had strapped the baseball bats to the sides of their bikes securely, she didn't know why she hadn't noticed this before. Kisame pulled out in front of her, and she noticed for the first time that his plates said he 'Will run.' She knew he would, she had seen it on the news.

She assumed all their plates said it. She closed her eyes and rolled the bike forwards a little bit, only to take off down the hill from the hospital. She slowed down to make her turn, only to give it everything it had for this gear. Hit the clutch, drop a gear, rinse and repeat until she was going as fast as the bike would go down the empty streets of Konoha. Kisame was right beside her and was motioning for her to slow down, but she didn't want to.

She wanted to continue feeling the sheer freedom this gave her. The wind whipping her braids and flattening her leather gear to her skin. She leaned forward and weaved between the few cars that were on the road tonight. There was something mystifying about the speed at which she was going. She leaned and started to slow down to go up the ramp to the bypass that her and Tobirama had rode those first two nights.

She looked over her shoulder and confirmed that no one was coming. She took off down the road and squashed all her saddened feelings, she had no room for them right now. She was free of all of that in this moment. Her heart lurched in her chest as she saw a cop car up ahead. She started to slow down so she didn't pass him going Mach Jesus, but a Dark blue Hayabusa shot past her and past the cop. Kisame had sacrificed himself for her. Regret seeped into her being, but she noticed she was being lit up from behind.

Chills rolled over her skin, and she made a move to pull over, but three more Hayabusa's shot past her, one waving for her to follow the moment the cop got out of his car. She knew she would regret this if she were caught, but she wasn't on her bike and she knew she was going to go to jail if she were caught. In a split second, she made her mind up. She hit the throttle so hard that her front tire jumped up off the ground and slammed back down.

She was gone in the blink of an eye. She didn't even have to look back to see that the cop was rushing back to his car to chase. She weaved away from the first cop car she had seen and gave the Busa everything it had to catch up to the others, who were waiting up ahead for her at a slower pace. She whizzed past them, and they gunned it to catch up to her. She looked back and saw that all the blue lights were far off in the distance.

Pain was giving her hands signs that she had learned while taking care of them. She threw a few hand signs back and he nodded. He waved a finger in a circle, and she nodded. She slowed her bike down and leaned to the left as far as she could without dropping the massive bike. They all leaned and weaved to the left, doing a semi-circle and going in the opposite direction. They shot past the cops once more and made their way back to the ramp to get off the bypass.

She leaned in, tucked her knees right up into the engine, and kept her head down as they all weaved in between cars that were on their way home or to work. Their form was impeccable. They led her to Hashirama's house and Obito swapped bikes with her the moment she got there. "Did you have fun you little delinquent?" he asked, and she nodded. Her heart was thudding in her chest, and she was on a different kind of high.

All tears dried up and all sad thoughts were lost in the back of her mind. She rolled her bike up into Hashirama's garage and turned to thank them for helping her get away from the police, but they were all grinning or smirking at her. "Welcome to our life, little monster. Get you an upgrade and feel free to ride with us sometime." Pain said and she nodded. He ruffled her hair and made his way back to his bike. Konan was giving her a soft smile.

She knew what she had done was dangerous, but she also knew it was the most exciting thing she had ever done. She had known that riding a bike was a drug, but to actually get out there and do things that should kill you but don't... it was invigorating. She placed a hand over her racing heart as they pulled away from Hashirama's. Hashirama rushed out into the garage and the look on his face was one of pure shock.

"Hinata... what the hell..." he asked in a hushed whisper, and she gave him a confused look. He gently grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside where he pointed to the tv. The news was playing the footage of her pulling to an almost stop on the Busa. "You rode a Hayabusa tonight? I thought you were going to work..." he said, and she frowned. Her shoulders slumped and she felt those dreadful feelings hit her all over again.

"Yeah, I rode the turbo Busa. But I did go to work. I promise." she said, and he offered her a seat on the couch. "Tell me what happened." he said, and she felt like she was being lectured by her father. It wasn't like he hadn't run from the cops before though. Because he had hidden in her garage to get away from them. "I went to work and was told that if I couldn't get the stalker situation cleared up, they were going to fire me... so I quit." she said, and he frowned. The sadness in his eyes was palpable.

She sighed and went through it in more detail, even pulling the pictures from her bag to show him that he had been putting them all over the hospital to humiliate her. She told him everything Shizune had said and that she had handed her the badge, saying she quit. He frowned and buried his face in his hands, worried about what she was going to do about a job no doubt. "I'll sell my house if my dad can't help me until I find a job again." She said and he frowned as he removed his hands from his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but someone else cut him off.

"I'll pay your mortgage until we can figure this out and find you a new job." Her eyes snapped over to the man standing propped against the doorway, his white hair disheveled from his sleep and his eyes were red and half lidded, perhaps from not sleeping well. "You don't have to do that." she whispered, and he shrugged off the door frame. "No, I don't, but I don't want you to lose your home because of some asshole either. And besides... I'm going to be there with you to keep you safe, no matter what." he said, and she offered a soft smile.

She didn't want him to have to do this for her, but she knew he was right. She couldn't let the stalker take her home from her like he was trying to take everything else from her. "Ok... do you want to move your things in?" she asked, and a smirk crossed his lips. He made his way over to her and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. "I guess we are moving in together then." he said, and she blushed lightly. Sure, she had basically let him stay with her from time to time, but now she was going to have a man living in her house with her full time until she could figure things out.

It had been like a sleepover in her mind while she had been staying with him and Hashirama, but this was different. She didn't mind it though because this meant they could get to know each other on a higher level now. She peered over her shoulder at him and thought about it for a bit. She still didn't know him as well as she would like to. There were so many things she wanted to know about him, the little things he hides from everyone else. She wanted to know all of it.

He was just watching her silently as she watched him. "So, I heard you took a Turbo Busa for a spin." he said, and her eyes widened, but his smirk never once left his lips. "I ran from the cops." she said softly, and he laughed a deep laugh that resonated from well into his chest. "I bet you felt like such a rebel." he mused, and she shook her head. "I was terrified quite honestly." she whispered, and he reached over and ruffled her hair.

"You'll get used to it." he said and Hashirama sent him a dirty look to which he only chuckled. "You're turning my sweet little friend into a monster." Hashirama grumbled, and she smiled at him. "There was a monster hidden in me the whole time, he just knew how to free it." she mused softly and Hashirama slumped and put his forehead to the tabletop. She figured he missed the younger shyer version of herself that she had broken free from, but she never wanted to go back to that person.

That person was the one who got bullied and made fun of because of her stutter. She never wanted to be that weaker version of herself again, she couldn't afford to be that person anymore. "Do you want to go lay back down?" She asked after a moment and Tobirama nodded. His reddened eyes and exhausted demeanor were rubbing off on her and she could feel herself getting tired once more.

She slipped out of her chair and offered him a hand. He took her hand in his gently and followed her to the room. She released his hand and reached for the zipper to her leather gear, but he batted her hand to the side and did it himself. The fingers of his right hand trailed over her cheek before he reached down and began unzipping her jacket, slipping it off her shoulders and setting it on the edge of the bed.

She shimmied out of her leather pants and set them on the edge of the bed as well, where he worked on hanging them up. She slipped her scrub top off and he tossed it into the dirty clothes and the scrub pants soon followed. She stood before him in nothing, but her undergarments and he watched her for a moment before he reached into the closet and grabbed some of her pajamas. She stripped herself of her bra and he gently slipped her head into the hole in her shirt.

He just continued to watch her while she was in the small skimpy nightgown, not a word was uttered for a few minutes as he just reached to place his hands on her hips and run them up her sides and back down ever so gently. She kept her eyes locked on his as he scanned over her form, the emotions running through his eyes were unreadable, but his eyes were soft. She knew she would normally feel scrutinized under his gaze, but right now, she felt confident, as if she knew he would only look at her this way.

She reached up and touched his cheeks with both hands and his eyes snapped to hers. "Sorry." he sighed, and she smiled softly as she ran her fingers over his face tattoos. Her heart swam with so many emotions that this man elicited without even trying. She knew she loved him, but it was differed from how she had loved anyone before him. This was stronger and built on the premise of mutual trust derived from the first ride.

That meant that they both had entrusted their lives to one another on that first ride. It was a bond that she didn't have with anyone else. Sure, some people would think it is a dumb thing to bond over, but at any given moment on a bike there's more of a chance you won't make it home than there is when you drive a car. So essentially it was her putting her life in the hands of a stranger she had never met before.

He had done the same allowing her to get on the bike, it was always a chance that your passenger wouldn't be aware of how much their passenger knew about riding and they could cause them to crash. It wasn't as high of a chance as it was crashing as a driver, but the chance was still there. She snapped out of her thoughts and dropped her hands from his cheeks and grabbed his hands gently.

She held his hands for a moment before she released them and headed towards the bed. She slipped beneath the covers and watched him as he pulled his shirt from over his head, tossing it to the hamper with her work clothes. She held up the covers and he slipped under them. He rolled to face the wall away from her and she scooted closer to him and slipped her arms around him, laying her palms flat against his warm skin.

She snuggled her face into his bare back and sighed deeply into his skin as she slipped her eyes shut. After laying like this in silence for about five minutes, he rolled in her embrace to face her. "Backpack..." he called softly, then sighed. "I... guess I can't call you that anymore, because you have your own bike now..." he mumbled, his deep voice washing over her, the sadness in his tone made her sad as well.

"Why did you tell me you love me?" he asked after a moment of silence. She leaned back away from him and looked into his curious red eyes. She could tell he was truly curious about her response, so she had to think about it. "I don't care how long it takes, because as long as I'm with you I have a smile on my face... so, if you aren't ready to say it back, you don't have to, yet. But I said it because I meant it... I don't know when it happened, but I know it did and I'm so grateful for you." she said and he just watched her for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him once more.

Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and she allowed sleep to come for her. She was safe in his arms.

:-:-:-:-:

He woke up early the next morning and couldn't shake the feeling that today was going to be one of those days he didn't want to leave her behind. He knew he had to, but he didn't want to. That was the problem. He looked down at the woman in his embrace and he sighed. He ran his fingers through her hair and brushed his thumb over her cheek gently. He never wanted to leave her again.

He got ready for work and slipped out of the room. He made his way out into the garage and to his bike. He slipped his leg over his bike and started backwards down the driveway. He briefly looked up to see his brother standing in the bay window watching him as he left. He repressed a sigh and continued down the driveway and into the street. He knew his brother was worried about Hinata, but he couldn't stay home with her and miss work again.

He was going to be paying her house payment after all. He slipped his eyes shut and slapped down his visor before he opened them once more and took off down the street. He broke off into town and his gaze was drawn in by vibrant lights in the early morning. He figured he could make a stop before he went to work. He broke away from the street and pulled up to the sign on the edge of the parking zone.

He grabbed one of the fliers and pursed his lips. He took one more glance at the vast expanse of lights before him and he sighed. "Fine." he sighed to himself, only to pull out his phone and begin dialing a number. When the person on the other end picked up, he opened his mouth to speak, but the person cut him off. "You don't have to come into work, I understand the situation, your brothers have already informed me of the stalker situation, and I am fully aware. Feel free to use your racked up vacation time to cover it, you never take vacations anyways." his boss mused, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"So how long do I have of vacation time?" he asked and crossed his arms over the engine of his bike. "You have... let me see here... enough to pay you a month's wages. You also have short term and long-term disability too, but don't go crashing your bike again because I would rather you not use those yet." his boss chuckled, and he no longer resisted the urge to roll his eyes at this. "I'll take the month. Perhaps I can get this settled before that's up." he said, and his boss sighed.

"Don't go getting yourself into trouble, you hear me?" he asked and Tobirama nodded to himself. "Yeah sure." he sighed. It wasn't like he was going to kill the man, but it was damn sure going to be close to it when he got a hold of the man. He looked around before he hung up the phone. There was no one around and he knew there wasn't going to be anyone for a few hours. He slapped his visor back down once more and made his way to the nearby 24-hour store.

He grabbed a few things he could carry on his bike and made his way back out. He tossed his leg over his bike and clutched the items to himself as he rolled backwards to turn around. He looked behind himself to see a car speed through the parking lot and narrowly missed him. It took everything in him not to chase the fool down and give him a piece of his mind. He kept his mind on the goal though, he needed to get back to her.

He pulled up to the exit to the parking lot and looked both ways before pulling out of the lot. He pulled up to the red light, when he noticed the same car was sitting next to him at the light. They rolled down their window and were yelling at him, but he couldn't hear them over his music. He held up one finger and turned off his music, this seemed to set the man off more and he refrained from rolling his eyes.

He flipped his visor up and looked over to the man who was still yelling at him about how he was an asshole on a bike and that he thought he owned the roads. He quirked a brow at this man's rant and let him finish. When the man finally silenced his yelling and decided to take a breath to calm his reddened face, he leaned a bit closer to him. "Buddy, I don't think I own shit. I just wanna get home safe. Am I an asshole? Yeah. But... You can't go yelling at every biker you see because you're too much of a pussy to get a bike." he said and the moment the light turned green he flipped the man off and took off.

He hated the anti-biker people with a passion that went almost unrivalled. There were still other people he hated more in life. He looked in his mirror to see the man was coming up on him and fast. He sighed and clutched the items closer to him as he leaned forward and tucked his knees closer to his engine. He kicked it down two gears and took off faster than the man could catch up. He didn't want to have to steal a side view mirror this early in the morning.

When he was sure he had lost the man, he turned off on the outer streets leading to Hashirama's house. He didn't want the man following him home after all. He pulled up in the driveway and kicked down his kickstand. He leaned his bike over and a cool chill breezed over his neck as he removed his helmet. Riding season was almost over, and he was saddened by this. He never wanted to stop riding his bike but there was always more of a risk doing so in the middle of the fall and winter months.

He grabbed the items and made his way up to the front door, where Hashirama was waiting on the couch once more. He looked around and there was no sign of her, which was a relief to him. He made his way into the guest bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed beside her, running his fingers over her cheek gently. Her eyes fluttered open, and he offered her a small smile. "Weren't you going to work today?" she asked softly, her voice heavy with sleep.

"Yeah, I was going to, but my boss knows about your situation and wanted me to take the time off I've been saving all year, so I did." he said, and she frowned at him as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "You don't have to do that for me." she said, and he shrugged. "If I didn't then we couldn't go here." he said and offered her the flier. Her eyes lit up and she looked at him once more, that was when he offered her the flowers and the snacks he had struggled to bring home. A little container of cinnamon buns.

"How did you know?" she asked as she snagged the cinnamon buns from him. "You have very caring friends." he said, and she smiled as she took a bike off one of them. "I want to take you to the fair and then out to eat at my favorite restaurant tonight." he said, and she nodded. He was relieved with her being so happy this early in the morning because he sure wasn't. He wanted to sleep a bit more before they got up and decided to start the day.

He stripped out of his work clothes and all of his gear and tossed it to the side. He climbed back in bed and rolled onto his side and cuddled her while she snacked. Soon enough she curled up into his side and drifted off once more. They both woke up a few hours later and immediately she was getting ready to go. He sighed and made his rounds on the room, getting his clothing and gear picked up from his half assed attempt at undressing during the early hours of the morning.

After he had gotten everything picked up, he made his way to get into the shower with her. There was no fooling around because she was in a rush to get ready, which amused him to no end. She was so excited about going to the fair she couldn't think of anything else right now he supposed. It wasn't like he was interested in fooling around right now anyways; he was still exhausted. He slipped his eyes shut and ducked his head under the water, allowing it to cascade over him. He jolted lightly when she reached up and put shampoo in his hair and began gently scrubbing his scalp with her fingertips.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." she said softly, and he chuckled lightly. "You're fine." he said and leaned closer to her so she could continue washing his hair. The feeling of her gentle fingertips on his scalp made him want to sigh in relief. Mei had never treated him so kindly... he furrowed his brows. He shouldn't compare her to Mei anymore. Mei was out of his life hopefully forever. Hinata was a completely different person and he wanted nothing more than to protect her and make her happy.

He closed his eyes once more and allowed her to rinse his hair out. She stepped away from him when she was finished, and she turned her back to him. He lathered his hands in her shampoo and began running his hands through her hair, doing the same for her. Her long silky locks were soft on his fingers, and he wondered how she kept her hair so soft. When they were done they both reached for their towels and wrapped up.

He dried his hair first then wrapped the towel around his waist. He looked over to her and saw that she was rifling through the closet, setting clothes on the bed for not only herself but him as well. He grabbed the black jeans she had set out for him and the boxers that were set atop them. He pulled them on and grabbed the deep blue t-shirt she handed him. He watched her as she pulled her clothes on and he couldn't resist the sigh that escaped him.

She gave him an odd look but said nothing. He would do anything for the angel that graced his presence all the time anymore... there was no doubt about that.