The rows of boxes in their warehouse took up more room than Hinata had thought they would. Or maybe they felt so large and looming because neither woman knew what to do with them.

"We could outsource them to other boutiques?" Hinata offered.

Ino was right, these kinds of jackets were a hot commodity for the fall. Even though it was still summer, it took time to order, ship, sort, takes promo photos for and all those things to be ready for the beginning of fall sale.

"Yeah," Ino hummed, clearly nonplus about the idea.

They were already doing all of those things for their site as well. Ino was getting ready a photo shoot design to go up on their website. Hinata was doing her things on the web end, writing everything for their drop date.

"We could donate them to a woman's shelter." Hinata offered. "There's a couple in the city. Then we could use that as a tax write off, as well."

Ino cocked her head to the side, wrinkling her nose again.

Not what they had originally hoped for, but Hinata was determined not to let the coat fiasco be a complete bust. She had sacrificed too much personally to let it go to waste. No matter what they did, they would be getting something from these coats.

"Let's see how many buyers we have with the coats as their raw original. Then we'll see how many we can sell after your alteration. Our projected sales come first of course, and then after the sell date we can see what's left over to donate." Ino nodded.

A perfect game plan.

Hinata nodded, smiling. Good, at least it wasn't a complete failure.

"I have an idea for the coat photo shoot too." Ino started talking, walking over to her desk station.

Hinata had spent all morning, hunched over her sewing machine at her own desk. She was using this time as a stretch break, so she wasn't ready to go back and sit down just yet. She followed Ino instead, eager as ever to hear her ideas for the boutique.

"I had Sai draw it up real quick for me so you could see the vision before shutting me down." Ino explained, flipping through a notebook.

Hinata frowned. Was it going to be bad? Why else would she say no?

Ino opened it up, setting down on the table and turned to Hinata, pushing it into her grasp.

It was a beautiful drawing, having "drawn it up real quick". It was the likeness of three different woman, with different body shapes, sporting the coats. She could tell immediately why Ino thought she would say no. One of the woman, the shorter, curvier one, was drawn with jet black hair with a creative blueish purple high light and pale eyes.

"You want me to be in the shoot?" She couldn't stifle the squeak.

Wearing their outfits to functions was one thing. Being up on the site for anyone in the world to see was a whole different thing.

"I'm not very photogenic."

Ino scoffed. "Shut up. You're adorable. And I think it would be really cool to have us up there sometimes. It's our baby. We need to be its proud mothers."

"I don't know Ino," Hinata frowned, looking closer at the picture.

Ino's long blonde hair and blue eyes were an obvious give away as well. But the last woman, a little shorter than Ino and stick thin with florescent pink hair and shiny emerald green eyes. Hinata knew who that was supposed to be. The beautiful, strawberry blonde, intelligent doctor that was her new boyfriend's ex-wife.

"Sakura said she would do it?" Hinata asked.

"Don't sound so shocked, Hina." Ino pressed. "She used to be your friend, you know. Of course, she'd say yes to helping out."

Yes, she was her friend. But not when Naruto was her boyfriend.

"Okay."

"Okay, you'll do it?" Ino leaned up straighter in her chair, her smile dazzling.

Oops. She hadn't meant it in that way. She had meant it more as a, 'yeah, okay, you're right, Sakura is nice and not scary.' She wasn't sure if she felt comfortable taking pictures still. But, as far as photo shoots went, wearing a jacket wasn't the most out there. She'd be all the way covered up.

She had put a lot of thought into is as well. Sai even drew it all up. All she had to do was show up and take photos. How could she not say yes.

"Yeah," She smiled, turning back to go to her desk so Ino wouldn't read into any of her remaining reluctant feelings.

"Awesome. Let's add the jackets to the list of alterations and I'll see when we all have a free couple hours."

Usually they just had to coordinate Ino and Sai's schedule with a babysitter or playdate for Inojin. Sai was their photographer, out of the necessity of low cost, but he was also really amazing.

"Just let me know." Hinata nodded. She had the most flexible schedule out of all of them, besides when she had Shinachiku. He was easy to run errands with though as long as he had his DS.

She turned back to her sewing machine, switching it back on and grabbing the piece that she had left off at.

"Are you worried about hanging out with Sakura because of Naruto?"

Hinata started, turning back to face Ino. Well, duh.

"Look, she already knows. The worst has passed. If she hasn't freaked out already then you guys are probably good."

"Probably?"

"Don't stress." She pressed. "Sakura hasn't said anything bad about you to me. I thought she might flip her lid when she very first found out, but she's good. You should be too."

"Okay." She nodded, turning back to her sewing.

Knowing that Sakura wasn't bitching about her to Ino was actually a weight off her shoulders. Sakura had gotten pretty defensive about her with Shinachiku when they had gotten ice cream after his presentation, but she hadn't run into a problem with her after that. Maybe she really had been tired after work like she said. People have bad days. She wouldn't want to be held against her own.

She could forgive and forget. Let bygones be bygones and all that.

"What are you doing tonight?" Ino asked.

"I'm going over to Naruto's."

"Again? You're over there all the time." She teased.

She kind of was. But she didn't mind. She loved hanging spending time with him, even just hanging out at his house.

"He's making me dinner." Just saying it made the apples of her cheeks harden in a little smile she hid, moving closer to the machine to insert the new thread.

"Okay, well if you're sick tomorrow, I'll know why." She laughed.

Hinata didn't dispute her but she didn't agree either. Naruto wasn't that bad of a cook. There was a couple of things he actually cooked pretty well. Hinata sometimes made dinner before he got home when she was watching Shinachiku, but he never expected her to do it, and did it himself as the first thing when he got home when she didn't

Naruto was home that day, so he had watched Shinachiku himself. People didn't work at the capitol building every single day. There were certain sessions and meetings but a lot of Naruto's work was also done outside of the building. Most of it was meeting with other foreign ambassadors and delegates. He traveled out of town a lot too on day trips or even one or two nights, depending on all the things he needed to do.

Today was a rare day that he wasn't doing anything except hanging out with Shinachiku. But, he also wanted to spend it with her.

So, to his house is where she went after she was done with enough work for the day. He had offered to pick her up but she declined, not wanting him and Shina to sit through afternoon rush hour when she could easily get on the bus and make her way over.

She could hear Shinachiku's yell through the door when she knocked. "Dad!"

Both boys greeted her. "Hinata!" Shina beamed, launching into her for a hug.

"Careful, bud." Naruto scolded, watching her sway backwards against the weight.

"It's fine." Hinata promised, relishing his little hug.

"Come on, come on, come on," He grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her into the house.

"Don't yank on her." Naruto frowned. "Here, let me take your stuff." He held his arms out for her purse and papers.

"I want to show her my carrots."

Even though school was over, and the next science fair project would probably be the end of next school year, Shinachiku had started his own project, purely for his enjoyment. He wanted to know which kinds of carrots regrew the best, so he and Hinata went to the store in person, instead of using the app, and selected every variety of carrot that they could find. She even took him out to the farmers market and grabbed some there. Organic or regular, they bought all of them, and just like his previous project, placed them in the clear cups full of water to really see which ones regrew fastest.

He was also doing a side project of which ones tasted the best, but he had a separate notebook and graph chart for that.

"She sees your carrots every time she comes." Naruto frowned, watching them leave him at the bottom of the stairs.

Hinata didn't mind. It was like a little ritual they did, checking on the carrots and writing down the new growth in his notebook.

"Cup six is still growing the fastest." Shina pointed out.

She nodded. It had been the fastest grower from the start. "The other ones are coming along though."

He nodded, smiling up at her brightly.

"Dad made spaghetti." Shina announced on his decent back down into the living room.

Naruto was still standing at the bottom of the stairs to greet them. "Lasagna, actually." He corrected, smiling at her when she reached the landing.

He slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a side hug, kissing her forehead. They didn't really do PDA in front of Shina, but he had already run into the kitchen without them. He let his arm slip before they rejoined him in there

Hinata was surprised to see that there was actually quite a bit of food on the counters. There was the aforementioned lasagna, but there was also a salad, cut up carrots of course were at every meal, garlic bread and what looked like a little tiny cake, shoved to the side.

"Wow," Hinata blinked, completely genuine in her amazement. "You did so much." She meant it as a compliment. "You didn't have to. It's not a special occasion."

It was supposed to be just a little teasing, but instead he grabbed her hand, his blue eyes sharper than she was expecting. The apology started on her lips before he cut her off.

"Well, I was kind of hoping that we could make it more of a special occasion."

Hinata started into his eyes, not sure what he meant.

"I want to tell Shina."

Oh. That.

They hadn't told Shinachiku that she was now technically his dad's girlfriend. Mostly because nothing had really changed in Shinachiku's life that would warrant them informing him. That was obviously changing.

She could feel the nerves start in her stomach, but she nodded. "Okay, if you think we should." He was the father, after all.

"It's serious enough that he should probably now about it." Naruto smiled. "Don't you think?"

His smile paired with his wording sent little butterflies, chasing away the nerves. She nodded, smiling back at him.

Shinachiku liked her enough that he probably wouldn't react badly to hearing the news. He as always happy to see her and they had fun when they were hanging out. Maybe she really did have nothing to worry about.

They had dinner first, and Hinata was actually shocked about how good it was. "You made this?" She double checked.

He nodded, looking pleased with himself. "You like it?"

"It's really good." She promised.

It was so good in fact, that she wasn't even sure that she would have room for that cake he had also got. Naruto didn't mention it during dinner. They ate together instead in happy, easy conversation. And luckily for her, he didn't suggest eating cake right after dinner either. Instead, he let Shina pick a movie for them.

Shinachiku wanted to sit in the middle, which was fine with her. She didn't need to be connected to Naruto at all times, even if she enjoyed it when she could. The movie wasn't too bad, most of the kid's movies she's watched with her weren't actually that bad. They were much more tailored to a wider audience than the movies she remembered as a kid.

Before the credits even started, Shinachiku was already bouncing off of his seat. "Can we have cake now?"

"Why don't you go get your pajamas on, and then we can have some cake."

Shinachiku nodded, running back up the stairs. "Don't eat it without me!"

Hinata smiled, he really was adorable. Naruto turned off the TV and they made their way back into the kitchen. Hinata felt nervous, like little flitty butterflies in her veins. Naruto looked composed and completely unaffected.

If he didn't seem nervous, then she didn't need to be either.

He cut the cake, plating them with silverware and she helped him carry them to the table. Shinachiku came sliding in on his socks, almost crashing into the table.

"I love cake!" He smiled. Taking a massive bite and shoving it into his mouth.

"We don't get it very often do we?" Naruto laughed.

Shinachiku shoot his head. "Hinata brings me treats sometimes, though."

Naruto glanced over at her, and she blushed a little shrugging her shoulders. He was a good kid. A couple of treats couldn't hurt.

"Hinata's really great, huh?" Naruto smirked.

She looked down at her cake, trying to squeeze her lips out of the smile.

Shinachiku nodded, still more preoccupied about his cake than anything else.

"Hey, Shina," Naruto prompted him, getting more of his attention. "We have something that we want to talk to you about, okay?"

Shina looked up at his dad with those large, curious green eyes. He looked between Naruto and Hinata, noticing now that they were just staring at him. "What? Am I in trouble?"

"No." Hinata promised quickly

Naruto laughs a little instead. "Why? Did you do something?"

"No!" Shinachiku frowned.

"Alright, alright." Naruto conceded. "No, you aren't in trouble. But I want to tell you something about me and Hinata."

"Okay?" He shrugged, taking another bite of cake.

Naruto looked at Hinata but she didn't have anything else to add. She thought it was best if he did most of the talking since he was the dad. She nodded quietly, trying to encourage him on.

"Hinata and I are together."

She didn't realize that she was waiting for something until nothing happened.

"Yeah?" Shina shrugged.

"Like, Hinata is my girlfriend." Naruto corrected. "She's not just you babysitter anymore, we're in a relationship."

Shinachiku stared at them again, blankly, taking another bite of cake. "I thought you already were."

Hinata blanched, looking to Naruto, mortified. Had she done something in front of Shinachiku without realizing it?

"What do you mean, buddy?" Naruto looked a lot less horrified and a lot more amused by the whole thing.

Shinachiku shrugged his little shoulders, still not looking bothered at all. "You guys hang out a lot. And she has clothes in your room."

Hinata could feel the heat of her cheeks and she knew that her face was as red as it was hot as she simmered in her mortification.

"You're very perceptive. Nothing gets passed you." Naruto smiled. "Are you okay with that?"

"With what?" Shina sniffed.

"With Hinata being my girlfriend."

"Oh, yeah. That's fine. I like Hinata."

Naruto smiled looking over at Hinata again. Well, that was easier than she though.

"Can I play my game?" Shina asked, finishing up his cake.

"Nope, sorry bud. You got to go brush your teeth. It's late."

Shina sighed, but put his plate in the sink and dutifully headed to bed. "Night, Hinata." He hugged her really quickly before running to the stairs.

"Good night." She smiled.

Naruto sighed, grabbing her plate for her and taking them to the sink. "Wow, I bet that was easier than you thought, huh?"

She laughed a little, nodding, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Yeah." She looked over at the clock on the stove and sighed. It was getting late. Shinachiku was heading to bed and she needed to go home.

"Why don't you just spend the night." Naruto offered, clearly sensing her train of thought.

"Are you sure?" She'd never spent the night when Shinachiku was there.

"Yeah, Shina already knows. I'm sure he wouldn't care."

Knowing was a lot different than experiencing it though. Would he say something when he woke up and she was still there?

"We should go to the gym in the morning." Naruto continued.

"Um, okay. I can check which classes they have."

"Uh, you can if you want." Naruto cut in. "But I wanted to show you something."

"Show me something?"

Naruto had already given her an impromptu tour of the gym once. She didn't worry about it, though. They went to be bed and got ready in the morning all together. They rode over to the gym in Naruto's car, though they probably could've walked if they wanted to. It was much closer to his house than her apartment.

Shinachiku went to a youth basketball class and Naruto took Hinata down to the workout room that he frequented.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Hinata asked, looking around a little.

"Well," Naruto rubbed his hands together.

Hinata like him like that. In his gym gear. Sleeveless t-shirt and shorts. His skin was tan and toned, muscles nice and round, looking like some Herculean demi-god of pure sexy. She blushed a little, blinking away the thought.

"I wanted to show you some moves."

"Like, boxing?" She knew Naruto and Sasuke and his friends liked boxing, but that didn't really seem like something that would be up her alley at all.

"More like, self-defense kind of moves."

Hinata paused, trying not to frown. Self-defense? Why would he want to teach her that?

"Ya know? Cause you don't always let me pick you up at the warehouse. And, no offense, that place is kind of sketchy at night. And your apartment isn't, like terrible, but you walk around there really early and late too. It wouldn't hurt just to be a little prepared, just in case something happened."

Was that really it? Or what it because she had admitted that her ex-husband "pushed" her into a glass table once and Naruto had very sweetly and tactfully called out, neigh, insinuated, that perhaps it was not in fact, just once.

"So, whattaya say?" Naruto poked her tummy.

She crossed her arms over her midsection. She was wearing an old Lululemon jacket that Hanabi had gifted her because it was "worn out", but the only thing separating the skintight jacket's pristine condition from brand-new was a price tag. Trying to gift each other clothes was now a fun, sisterly pastime of theirs.

When she went to yoga, in a room full of other women, with her sister by her side, she felt comfortable in tank tops or a sports bra.

But down there, in this all male territory, she was wearing full running tights and her nice jacket, zipped all the way under her chin, the collar up to hide anything her pony tail could be exposing.

She looked around the room, at the other people there. Sure, they were working out and mostly minding their own business, but there was the select few, glancing over at them.

"We're going to do that right here?" She asked quietly, her fingers twisting together, her arms coming up in front of her.

"Uhh," Naruto turned to look around, ruffling the back of his hair, free from the weekday gel. "Do you want to go somewhere else?" He asks.

Anywhere else? Home? Not doing this right now. Or ever. "Yes please."

Naruto shrugs so easily, so unbothered, so carefree. "Yeah no problem. There are tons of empty rooms they use for classes down here. Let's go check if one's unlocked or something."

She can be fine. She can calm down. She knows she can. It's just Naruto. He's not scary. He isn't going to hurt her. In fact, he's being so incredibly sweet that she can't even believe it. And the way he suggested in, so nonchalantly. Thoughtful, because he knows now. Knows the truth. Instead of being completely disgusted with how utterly pathetic she acted, he was trying to help her make sure it never happened again.

Her throat tightened down so hard and so white hot it felt like an Indian burn on the inside. The tears threatening to prick at the edges weren't from esophagus pain. She followed on behind him, trying to give her a chance to compose herself.

"Do you think Shina's going to make any baskets or is he just sitting on the sidelines?" Naruto asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

She tried to clear her throat a little before answering. "Did you take his DS?"

"Course." He laughed.

She smiled. If not, he'd most certainly be sitting on the sidelines, trying to beat the next level in his game. "He'll probably try for a little while."

"He'll probably quit if he gets scored on too many times." Naruto laughed, giggling the handle on the closest classroom door. "Sweet, this one's open."

The thumping in her chest returned like a vengeance as she watched him flick on the light, illuminating the dark classroom.

"Hey, perfect. They have those pad things. I have afraid having you throw me on the ground was going to hurt too bad." He laughed, pointing over to some folded up floor mats.

She let a little, hollow laugh out, just to try and pretend that she was acting normal now and not having a full and complete internal meltdown at that complete second.

"What, you don't think you can? Hinata, I am a master teacher." Naruto continued on, grabbing out a mat and flopping it on the ground, kicking it with one foot to center it in front of him. "Just kidding. There's a couple stuff from basic training that I think would work for you, a little. The rest I found online. So, I might not be the best at this, but I figured you'd be more comfortable with me than with someone else."

Would she be more comfortable with him? Or was she so uncomfortable precisely because it was him? She'd never get the chance to know because there's no way she's ever force herself into this. The only thing keeping her going along with it was because she didn't want to hurt his feeling by refusing. Or seem like a psycho, for like freaking out and sobbing and running straight out of the gym.

"Yeah," She went with instead.

Naruto gave her a very quick, and intensive run down of basic self-defense. The seven weakest points on a man. How to turn someone's arm when they grabbed you by the wrist. To break away from when someone grabbed you from behind.

It actually… wasn't… terrible. Naruto of course, was so funny and sweet and joking, which lifted her energy, but he was still very serious and kept her form sharp and made sure she understood everything correctly before moving on. She thought it would be weird or awkward, but it wasn't at all. It was almost fun, just messing around with him.

Until-

"Okay, this ones called 'Rape Escape'."

Hinata recoiled.

"Sorry! I didn't get to name it!" Naruto laughed, grabbing her arm lightly to bring her back to him. "But honestly, if someone's actually grabbing you, it's probably for some awful or nefarious purpose."

She nodded. She knew that of course.

"If someone just wants to rob you, and this might be bad advice on my part, but I say just give them whatever they're asking for." His voice turned back serious. "I'd a million times rather buy you a new phone or purse or watch or whatever the hell it is, than to see you actually get hurt."

She nodded again. That made sense. If someone just wanted to take something from her, they probably wouldn't hurt her until after she just let them have it.

"And, no offense, okay, promise not to get mad at me." Naruto paused.

"Okay?" She never got mad at him.

"You are very small. And slight. Even with all the other stuff I taught you, they might not be as affective coming from you than someone bigger."

"Okay." She nodded.

"Not that you can't of course! People teach this stuff because it can really work. I'm just saying, we should be realistic about how small you are."

She wasn't that small. She had even gained some weight seeing Naruto, because he didn't just eat just vegetables all day long. Plus, since they began dating, she felt a lot more relaxed in her day to day, and her super strict regime of clean eating, working and cleaning had kind of been brushed to the side for a lot more balanced lifestyle of spending time with Naruto, Shinachiku and her sister and working. Keeping everything sterile clean and her diet green didn't feel as important when she was actually relationships to cultivate in her life.

But she knew what Naruto meant.

In the very few times that Hinata had actually tried to get away from Toneri, it was completely futile. He was bigger, stronger and meaner and nothing she tried had very got him off her or put her in a safer position. Sure, she hadn't learned any of the things that Naruto had just quickly gone over, but even still, he was right. There was nothing in her that could match Toneri's sheer rage and fury. She was not offended by Naruto's assessment.

"Ready?" He beamed, gesturing for her to lay down on the mat.

She nodded, brushing some bangs from her eyes that had lost their volume from her sweating and were now sticking to her forehead. She'd probably need to trim them soon. The mat was kind of cold but she was wearing clothing from her ankles to her wrists, so it wasn't terrible. She moved her ponytail from under her, so her hair wouldn't pull.

He kneeled down, grabbing her legs and sliding her back to him until the back of her thighs hit his knees. Naruto smirked down a her a little, causing her face to burn painfully as she looked pointedly away from him.

"What?" He laughed. "We have sex like this all the time."

Was that not the point? She turned her glare back onto him, moving her hands to shove him back. His caught her hands and pinned them down onto the mat.

"Okay the next move is here. And then they go for the choke."

His hands move to grab her neck, but her hand grabbed his writs.

"Wait-" She gasped, gasping for breath.

Naruto pulled back a little. "I'm not going to choke you for real."

Sensible. Of course he wouldn't. That would be crazy. But she can't let go.

"Are you okay?"

God, she's acting crazy and she doesn't know how to tell him why. 'He choked me.' It sounds so stupid, so dumb. She can't say it. But she can't let go of him either.

"You haven't taught me how to get out of it yet." She says instead, trying to sound calm.

"Oh yeah," He leaned back again, taking his hands with him. "Alright, so you're going to scoot you lower body one way. Left or right, doesn't matter."

Her legs are basically wrapped around his hips and she doesn't know how there's enough room between them to scoot anywhere. She puts one of her hands on his legs to push back but Naruto stops her.

"You're not going to have more room than this."

"How am I supposed to get out." She pouted.

"Come one, I know you have good core strength." He grabbed her hips, and scooted them to the side.

"You know, if someone comes in here and see the Konoha Ambassador trying to have sex with someone at the gym, it's going to make your inevitable Hokage run kind of embarrassing." She tried to make a joke, trying to pretend she didn't just freak out when he tried to grab her neck.

"Oh, my inevitable Hokage run, hm?" He smirked. "So, from here, you take this leg, and place in on my hip. And then the other one. Then you push off and then like kick me in the chest and face a bunch."

"I don't want kick you." Hinata frowned.

"Excuse me ma'am, I'm a scary rapist. You need to kick me in the face."

"Okay, now if someone heard that do you think-"

"Shut up," Naruto laughed. "Come one. Just try it once. You don't have to actually kick me in the face, I'll move back for you."

Naruto helped her through the motions again, guiding her legs again for her. "Okay just like that. But you have to do it quick. You only have six seconds from when someone starts choking you."

"Just six?" She frowned. Was that all it was. Six seconds. It seems like a long of crying and shaking and unable to sleep for months from just six seconds. Could that much damage really be done in such a short amount of time?

"Six until you lose consciousness. It takes longer to kill you." Naruto nodded. "But don't worry. Nobody is going to try to kill you. Probably."

Hinata nodded, but she knew better.

After doing it enough times that Naruto seemed satisfied that she understood the movements. He sat back on the mat and helped her back into a sitting position. "Well, that's basically all I got." He smiled rubbing his nose. "I think Shina's done in a couple minutes too. Want to get lunch?"

Neither of them had actually worked hard enough to sweat, so they could just go grab their bags and leave.

"Naruto," Hinata played with the edges of her sleeves.

"Hm?" Naruto glanced over. "What?"

"Why did you do all this for me?"

He paused, grabbing her hand. "Cause, I love you. And I don't want anyone to be able to hurt you."

That of course seemed reasonable. If you love someone, you don't want to see them get hurt. She wouldn't want Naruto to be hurt, or her sister or her friends. That was just common sense.

Why then, did she feel like she was about to cry? Why did that mean so much to hear?

He leaned over and kissed the side of her head, squeezing her hand. "I love you."

She nodded, trying to choke back all the feelings rushing to her. "I love you too."