Standing at the center of their room, Naruto thought his heart was going to literally explode out of his chest. It was beating so hard. He had to say that a beautiful creature was sensually walking towards him, gradually getting rid of her clothes for him to let his blue eyes wander on her curvy body.

"Hinata", he hoarsely pleaded.

She'd forbidden him to more and for the impatient man he was, she was taking too long to come to him. When their skins finally, finally brushed against each other, he quivered with pleasure from head to toe. Her hard nipples for him caressed his torso when she tiptoed to kiss, bite then lick his ear.

Breathe stuck, blood throbbing in his member, his eyes begged his girlfriend's hand to free him from his prison of fabric. But, instead of answering his call, her fingers found his short, golden locks, forcing him to tilt his head.

Once his tanned neck exposed to her full lips, Hinata let them slide along his jugular. "Tell me, Naruto-kun. Were you a good boy while I was away?" She whispered each word in between each kiss.

"Yes", came out his answer with difficulty, feeling his whole body shaken up.

"You then deserve a reward..." She pushed him towards the bed, ready to take him to seventh heaven.

But instead of landing on the comfortable mattress, Naruto heavily fell on the rocky ground, bum before everything else. The shock was so unexpected that he saw Hinata disappear to let room for Rock Lee who kept throwing his fists in the air.

Blinking, Naruto completely got out of his memories and came back to reality which was a lot less pleasant: he was on Konoha's training ground, getting his ass kicked by his friend instead of having a great time with his girlfriend.

"C'me on, Naruto-kun. Don't tell me you're already tired." The former member of team Gai exclaimed.

After the loss of his arm, Naruto failed to do a lot of things until Hinata, who had watched over him a lot more, came to propose her help. They started by seeing each other once a week, but his progress wasn't as effective as before. So, he asked her to each other every day, to which she agreed with a smile. It's like that that after months of hanging out together and friendly duels, Naruto's good spirits were fired up and he succeeded at making things hard for the Hyuga, forcing her to activate her Byakugan. A few days after, she accompanied him to the hospital to get his right prosthetic arm. However, Naruto insisted a lot to keep training with her after that.

Thanks to Hinata, he improved a lot in Taijustu and was now the only one to have the necessary technique and stamina to go up against the inexhaustible Lee.

Except that, Naruto was elsewhere and exhausted today.

"My turn" Sai said while standing up.

Happy to have a new opponent, Lee adopted his on guard position. Leaving room for his friends, Naruto stood up and ran a hand on his sweaty face while the other rubbed his bum to remove the dust and the pain due to his fall. He dragged his feet toward Tenten and Sakura, resting under a tree after they had thrown a few kunais.

Noticing the two women stopped talking and looked at him with knowing eyes, he preferred to isolate himself from the rumors. Letting himself fall on the ground, arms and legs stretched out, he closed his eyes, enjoying the gusts of wind caressing his face and tangling his hair.

He then thought about Hinata. How badly he missed her. Last time he had her for himself was long ago.

She came back injured from a mission and after a few days at the hospital, she came back home. She came back to him. She wasn't allowed to get out of bed, but Naruto took good care of her. However, a few days after, it was his turn to go on a mission. Kiba, Shino and Hanabi had promised to him to keep an eye on her and he trusted them.

Despite that, once he was back, he'd found their house completely quiet and empty. He then ran to have some explanations from Hanabi: because of a diplomatic mission with her clan, Hinata had to replace her absent father and her sister who was still too young for that kind of business. Naruto didn't learn more about those meetings that had started one week before he came back. It'd been three days now since he got back and he had seen Hinata's beautiful pearly eyes just one morning, right before she was leaving, tiredness deeply carved on her face. Unfortunately, this only time was not enough and he was still suffering for the lack of his girlfriend's presence.

"You don't look well, Naruto." She had witnessed the beating he took from their mutual friend and now she was teasing him?

"I haven't slept well in the past few days. My nights must be as short as Hinata's." He folded his arms behind his head, acting casually.

Surprised by his confession, Tenten and Sakura looked at each other,worried for their friend, but before they could add something, he stood up. Everyone was aware of what was happening at the Hyuga's, the most important clan of Konoha. And because he was the heiress' boyfriend, a lot of people would speak about it to Naruto even though he was ready fed up with the whole situation.

"Well, I'm off. Catch you later." He gave them a lazy wave before leaving the training ground, his hand in his pocket.

***

On the way back home, he met Konohamaru and his team, being back from a mission and ready to tell him how he wrapped this mission without a single scratch. Naruto succeeded at calming him down right in time, reminding him it was forbidden to give his report to another person other than the Hokage himself. Seeing him being insistent, Moegi hit Konohamaru while saying to stop bothering their senpai.

He then met Iruka-sensei who asked him if he was available for another lesson at the Academie with the new students, eager to become shinobis. Naruto had no reason to refuse.

"I have a lot of free time those days." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Is everything ok with Hinata?" His former sensei asked shyly, not really knowing if he could talk about that.

"Um... Yes? I actually don't really know." Naruto vaguely answered before smiling. "I'll ask her tonight.

The fake look on the blonde face didn't make Iruka feel better. He tried to gently dig a little bit more, but he was stopped by Naruto, pretending to have something urgent to do.

He then turned on his heels and arrived before his house's wooden gate. He opened the front door, "I'm home!" he screamed.

But only silence answered him. Once again, Hinata wasn't home and loneliness hit him straight in his heart when he slammed the door behind him. Suppressing his disappointment, he removed his shoes, leaving them in a state of disorder, and went to the bathroom.

He took a quick shower and went to their bedroom, but he was so deep into his thoughts that he didn't see the boxes on his way. He tripped.

Almost stunned by objects that fell on his head, he looked at the boxes with wide eyes. Among them, there were his boxes, but also Hinata's, her name written on them.

Because he had to leave for his mission, they didn't have time to finish tidying up their new house. So, when he left, they had promised each other to do it together, but it'd been several weeks since they last saw each other for more than two hours in the same room.

Pushing the mess he caused, one item in one of his boxes caught Naruto's attention. It was his old, green goggles and below it, he found his old, orange jacket. Once sitting on the bed, he placed them in his lap, letting the silence of his contemplation crush him.

And as to isolating him a bit more, memories of childhood crashed back in his head. A time where he had no family and a lot of friends to bother with his problems, a bit like right now. Whether I'm twelve or more, I'm still alone. Being an adult sucks.

It's at this moment he saw the red piece of scarf that Hinata made for him under his pillow. He took it in his hand, his thumb caressing the stitches.

"Hinata..."

He missed her tender presence so much - especially when the night wrapped Konoha with its dark coat, turning everything silent - that he slept with the scarf she gave him to ease the pain in his heart.

That's the difference between back then and now.

Putting his two belongings back in place, Naruto had made up his mind: go to Ichiraku, ordering some take away food, then go and get Hinata.

No way he was staying at home alone. If the one owning his heart couldn't come to him, then he'll go to her.

***

Hinata jumped onto her chair. Once again she fell asleep and Kô - behind her - shook her shoulder to wake her up.

She glanced around her to be sure that no one noticed her lack of professionalism, then straightened as well as she could on her still too hard chair for her bum and back. They had been sitting since the beginning of the afternoon and she couldn't focus anymore.

Seeing the darkness of the night behind the window, she realised she lost track of time. Ready to run back home and to Naruto, she put her palms on the table, but Hyuga Hoheta stood up instead of Hinata.

"I have enough." He said. "I'm hungry."

Everyone then turned to look at her. Understanding she had to stay with them since they hadn't eaten yet, Hinata held back a heavy sigh. Hoketo wasn't the only one tired, she too wanted to take a break. It'd been more than a week now since they were talking about weddings to her. But as a kunoichi and the clan leader's substitute, she had to grin and bear it. What reputation her father would have if she started screaming to make her headache disappear?

"In that case, dinner can be served."