Warm.

It was an interesting feeling, for one Hinata Hyuuga, to feel such warmth as the first thing she knew when she awoken. Yes, her bed was nice and comfortable everyday, as it was the finest material in Konoha she slept on, but never had she felt such enjoyment as to wake up to something like this. She definitely wasn't complaining as she buried her face further into the warmth, holding tightly as she drifted back into a light sleep. At least, that was the plan, until she felt the warmth shift in her grasp.

"Moving? What's…" Her mind awoke a little more, registering that, indeed, she was holding a living object. She let her hands relax against the object and it was rough, but pleasant to her touch. "It's skin…a person? Hanabi?" Would her sister really crawl into bed with her? Maybe when they were little, yes, but Hanabi was a gennin, her pride would never allow her to do such a thing and continue living. Hinata pondered this a bit longer, when her sense of smell decided to start working at that moment. The smell of Forest and Ramen hit her nose suddenly, and the events of the previous night hit her with full force. Before her emotions could follow through, her mind came to the end, and the most obvious conclusion. "I'm in bed with…"

Both parties opened there eyes at the same time, one snapping open, while the other groggily awoke. Azure blue met pale lavender, and time stopped. After five seconds, what seemed like eternity, Hinata shot from the bed with a high pitched scream, landing on her butt and rolling until her back hit the wall. Naruto sat up quickly and they locked eyes with each other once more, both trying to figure out the situation for themselves. Hinata shifted in her spot and flinched with a groan, and Naruto decided to throw the explanation out for later.

"Are you ok, Hinata?" He came over to her, checking her over with his eyes to see if anything was visibly hurt. She tried to nod, but then she stiffened and her hand went to her back, pain riding up it. "Come on..." He helped her up and onto the bed, and she allowed him with little resistance, considering the situation. Her guided her onto her stomach and lifted the back of her shirt. "Heh, you just gave yourself a bruise, it'll fade if we put some ice on it." Hinata nodded, and Naruto left to get an ice pack. While he was gone Hinata went through the previous night in her head. From running out of her house, in the rain, going to Naruto's house purely on instinct, she blushed as she thought of him holding her as she cried. That last part made her blush, to think she had had enough courage to not only touch, but to hold onto the man of her dreams, and he hugged her back. The whole reason for it, though, came back at her full force.

"I'm...alone..." She sniffled, about to cry once more, but footsteps stopped her as Naruto returned with some rubbing cream and an icepack. He gave her his signature fox grin and sat on the bed next to her back.

"Now this might sting a bit, but this cream should make that bruise look better." "I should know after I used it enough times." he thought somberly as some of the thoughts from last night came back in full force, his hoping for death from those he wished to protect. His mind went on auto-pilot, applying the rubbing medicine onto Hinata's bare back. Hinata made a few gasping noises from the cream, but her mind was once again on how she was now no longer Hinata Hyuuga, which incidentally kept both their minds off of Naruto's hand her bare back. Now she was simply another chunnin, who may as well be dead for all her family cares. She was no longer a daughter, a sister, of a cousin to anyone. She was nothing.

...she was no one.

Naruto's mind snapped back into focus when a sniffle made it's way to his ears. While he couldn't see her face, as her Hair was in the way, he noticed tear drops falling from Hinata's pale face. This reminded him of her situation as well, and he pushed his thoughts about himself to the back of his mind. Hinata needed a friend right now, Hinata needed him. Without a second thought, After Naruto slipped down her shirt to presentable levels, his arms went around her shoulders, in a comforting hug. This caught Hinata by surprise, as she stiffened from the not so sudden, but different, physical contact. It was then she heard him speak.

"Hinata-chan...it's ok, to let yourself feel." As his words sunk in, the dam broke. Tears streamed freely from her face as she turned around and pushed herself into Naruto's chest, crying quietly, but heavily. Through the cloth of his shirt, he could hear muffled words of apology and sadness, but he simply let her get it all out, stroking her hair absentmindedly. She continued for five whole minutes, until Naruto's ministrations finally had her calmed down to light sobbing. She felt partially exhausted, but she knew it was just from letting her emotions come out again. She felt useless, and ashamed, having put herself in the position Naruto saw her in now. She knew he was so kind and caring that he'd do anything to make her feel better, something that would make her heart soar usually, but right now she just felt bad. She should probably try to find a place on her own, but how would she? She'd just have to find a way, she supposed, and was going to tell Naruto that.

Before she could accomplish this, however, there was a poof of smoke which cause them both to look up, albeit, Hinata barely shifted her head to see from one eye. There, when the smoke clear, was Kakashi Hatake, standing all but five feet away, with his nose buried in his Orange book, so he didn't notice anything at first.

"Naruto, I'm here to get you, we have a mis-" He spoke as he moved the book away, only to notice the second person in Naruto's room, as well as the close proximity. He looked from Naruto, to Hinata, to their position, and summed himself up nicely "Did I come at a bad time?" Both parties blinked, then blushed, but Hinata simply hid her face further into Naruto's chest, which prompted the copy ninja to notice her tear-stained eyes. "Did somethign happen Hinata?" She didn't answer, but the look on her and Naruto's faces said something did, but they didn't feel like sharing. Kakashi wondered how he should handle this, but then remembered why he was here. "Oh, before I forget, we have a mission today Naruto, the Hokage wants us. It's B class, but it seems Sai was sent out on another mission yesterday so we'll have to find a third member before we meet her."

Naruto nodded, then thoguht about it for a minute. A high class mission would probably keep him out of the village a few days, the problem was, he couldn't very well leave Hinata here alone. While he had cups of ramen in his cabinet, and he was sure no one even knew she was here, it'd take a genius to hide a princess away from people who could look through walls. That's when the rest of Kakashi's words came into play.

"What if we take Hinata-chan with us? If anything, Her Byakugan would be awesome help for us." Naruto said with a foxy grin, boy wasn't he smart. He just killed two birds with one stone. Kakashi raised an eyebrow to this in wonder. Hinata, in her case, blinked widely against him, before remembering that she was being hugged by the Naruto Uzumaki, and promptly shifted away, doing her best not to looked panicked about it. She was surprised she didn't faint by now, but she knocked that one up to her being in such close quarters with him the past 12 hours.

"Will she be ok to go? She looks a bit distraught." Kakashi said slowly, as he still didn't know what was going on. He'd probably find out later today, but finding his student and the Hyuuga heiress in eachothers arms first thing in the morning, while at first perversely amusing, was then worrisome when the visible reason was noted. He was about to decline Naruto's suggestion when Hinata wiped her face and looked up to him, though dull, the reflection in her lavender eyes still held some steel, she was still a ninja after all. "I'm am fit for duty...Kakashi-sensei." She said with no stutter, and he eyed her once more before giving her his patented eye smile. "Alright, I'll report to Lady Tsunade with news of our teammate, you two be there in no less than 15 minutes got it?" receiving nods, Kakashi, hoping he's doing the right thing, shunshin'd away.

"Well," Naruto said lightly, before he gave her one of his gentler smiles, the ones that Hinata always fell right back in love with everytime, "Time to get ready."

It surprised Naruto more than not, that getting ready had a rare case of no problems. It was like Hinata and he had been living together for years. She was automatically first in the bathroom. Naruto went to see if he could cook anything but ramen, no such luck. Whilst he was in the kitchen she went into his room immediately with clothes, seemingly already aware of his being out of the room. He went into the bathroom with no prompt, and she walked into the kitchen dressed three minutes later, just in time to turn off the ramen. After letting it cool, she brought it to the table, just as Naruto came out, fully dressed except his headband, and they both sat down to eat. It was like best friends, family, maybe even a couple.

Naruto laughed at himself for that last one. No way Hinata would think that, she came to his house first, to be sure, but that was just because she thought of him as her best friend, which was amazing in of itself. She didn't think anything of him romantically, not at all...right?

'Ah, don't have time to think about it' He thought to himself as he focused. They were jumping rooftops now, as they had only a few minutes left to get to the Hokage's office. Hinata reminded him that they didn't want to make Lady Tsunade mad, and Naruto nodded with a shiver, already seeing himself being punched past the village gates. They picked up the pace and, by Naruto's suggestion, forewent the main entrance and leapt up to the balcony. Hinata had her doubts, but Naruto assured her he'd take the blame for this one. With a tap on the window, he had a second to lean back before a hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in with ease.

"Gaki! You're late!" Tsunade all but blew up on him. He put his hands up in pleading, but the only thing keeping her from hitting him right now was the urgency of what she needed them to do. She tossed the blonde Gaki to his teammate Sakura, who caught him and helped him up, albeit glaringly. Hinata came in with a more reserved look, and Tsunade eyed her for a moment, before noticing something: Her jacket was zipped down. This wasn't much to bother about, but then she noticed that Naruto's Jacket was open as well. Still, not much to think on, except that they came here at the same time. While this also, wouldn't make Tsunade think much about it, it was hot and they did live in the same direction, she'd have thrown it out if Kakashi hadn't mentioned to her that he found Naruto and Hinata at Naruto's apartment, whilst he hugged her crying form. She had much she wanted to say, but seeing as how Kakashi withheld from elaborating, as well as not telling Sakura period, she held her peace.

Alright, Team 7, We've recieved intelligence reports that a village at the edge of Hi no Kuni has seen Ninja skirting the boarder of their village. Supplies have gone missing, but this would only be C-rank until it was found that some of the villagers have gone missing as well. Your mission is to head to the village, discover the whereabouts of the ninja hide out, rescue any of the missing villagers if they're alive, and then capture the enemy ninja, if possible. You leave as soon as you're ready." They all nodded, but then something itched the back of Naruto's mind.

"Oi Baa-chan, not that I'm complainin' as this is a really cool mission, but why did you want us specifically. We're usually the all out brawl team, not the sneak in and out before we fight." Tsunade arched her eyebrow. While he was being a Gaki again, as ninja could be more versatile, he made a valid point: She would usually send Team 9 (Team Gai) out for this, even thoguh they were a combat team as well, their speed, and Neji's Byakugan, can get the job done efficiently. She did have a reason though, and after a mental debate, relented.

"It's because, of the reports from the village, out of the nameless faces of the ninja, one report held a discription of one's back." She paused. "Dark, spiky hair, a sword on his back, and a white and red fan symbol on the back of his shirt." Everyone's eyes widened at this, for that description fit perfectly with only one person.

"You mean..." Naruto began.

"Hai...it was Uchiha Sasuke."

AN: I know, I'm no where as good as Romez, but I do have a plan of action. They will be spending more time "in" Konoha, then out of it. This will just be sometime for Hinata to get use to Naruto more. Trust me, shy Hinata isn't going anywhere.