Sorry I couldn't get this out last night. n_n Was way too tired! And I had to redo it because I didn't like where I was going with it the first time. Ah, well! It's the epilogue chapter to this crazy little tale! Last night, I received nearly 2000 views and over 400 individual viewers. That's just absolutely mind-blowingly insane to me, and I know I might have said this before, but I'm amazed at all the support I've gotten for this story! It feels like every five minutes, my email is dinging me telling me I got another review or another favorite or follow. xD Thank you guys so much from the bottom of my heart, and enjoy this mushy little epilogue!

A whole night later, and Hinata is taking yet another shower, trying her damnedest to get the dye out of her hair. Her own fault for deciding on white to seem more spirit-like and mysterious. It certainly worked, but at an annoying minor expense. As frustrated as she is with the constant rinsing, she treats her hair as gently as she can, lightly scrubbing, checking, and scrubbing again. Ten minutes later, her hair looks about as clean as it's going to get, even though she's sure that more streaks are going to fade back in, or she didn't part her hair well enough and missed some.

She opens the door of her steamy washroom and lets the air vent in, grabbing a towel as she waits and gingerly wrapping it around herself. A chill wafts over her as she finally steps out back into her bedroom, glancing at the nightclothes she'd laid out for herself on her bed before turning toward her full-body mirror and peering at herself.

She can't look at herself the same. After the other night, she's felt different about herself. In a very good, but very strange way, not including the splitting eye soreness that resulted from her extended use of the Byakugan to see through that porcelain mask. She felt so liberated while she was disguised… So different, a stranger to herself. She could be whatever she wanted to be without fear of criticism because of who she really was, and what she wanted to be that night could not have gone any better.

Everything she wanted to do, she did, with a frightening natural skill she didn't even know she had. She loved being someone else, and after a nice, long read of some old books of questionable publication, she felt ready enough, and it paid off so well. She was still sore, and her body ached, missing him… She rubs her thighs together as she looks herself up and down in the mirror, reaching up a hand to lightly touch at the mark on her neck. The mark his fang left, that was still tender to touch and would probably not fade for another few days.

She almost misses him, but blinks as she notice his presence in her open window reflected in her mirror. He was perched casually on her sill with her mask strung casually around his neck. Hinata turns around and meets Naruto eye to eye, gazing straight at him, where this same time last year, her head would have exploded if Naruto had stumbled upon her dripping wet in only a towel hiding her modesty.

She waits for him to speak.

"Hey, Hinata," he says, rubbing the back of his head. "You busy?"

She shakes her head. "I just got done showering… I was going to head to bed soon, and you really shouldn't be trespassing on the Main House Compound, Naruto. I don't want you getting in trouble."

He chuckles, hopping from her sill and into her room, landing quietly. "You're worried about me being bold and going places where I don't belong?" he answers back with a smirk.

Hinata blushes, unsure how she should take that. She stares at her mask for a moment as it hangs loosely around his neck like a charm, and looks back into his eyes.

"Did… Did you come to return my mask? You can keep that, Naruto, it's-"

"Nah. Well, something like that, I guess. I wanted to talk to you about the other night."

"N-Naruto, I…"

She trails off, genuinely lost on what she could possibly say about last night. There were no words. She expressed herself in as clear and powerful a way as she wanted. Then she realizes that he said that he wanted to talk to her, and goes silent to listen.

"I was kind of an idiot, you know… not noticing you sooner. And you, ah… You really got me. It felt like we kind of changed places, you know? You were the brave one, relentlessly pursuing your goal, I started out feeling strange and unsure, sort of… passive… before you inspired me with your words. It made me really think about how much stronger you've gotten. In some ways, you've gotten a lot stronger than me."

He grins toothily and rubs the back of his head, while Hinata continues to listen, wide-eyed and blushing as usual.

"Naruto, that me that you saw the other night was just fake…" she mutters. "I made her up. I pretended to be someone I'm not b-because I was tired of not being that close to you. I'm really not that bold or seductive. I could never have done all that stuff without that mask and that dye."

Naruto tilts his head and frowns. "Don't you dare go back to beating yourself up now, Hinata." He steps closer to her and places his hands firmly on her bare, wet shoulders. "I'm not going to let you, okay? I can't, now."

His touch nearly makes her melt, but she stays steady despite herself, listening further as he continues.

"Hinata… I want to be what you really want me to be now. The other night freaked me out all day yesterday because I was wondering how I could have possibly missed you and how you felt for so long. Hell, I think you told me you loved me, at some point. Not being good with girls is not good enough anymore."

He doesn't need to say it, and Hinata doesn't need to hear it. Without waiting for him to continue, she closes her eyes and leans in, sealing her soft lips gently against his for a very long few moments before pulling away. A slow smiles spreads across Hinata's face as Naruto opens his mouth to speak again, but she quickly shuts him up by pinching his lips together.

"Shhh. I love you, too, Naruto. And we can talk more later. Now… please don't… be too loud?"

He smiles and nods, and they pull away from each other, Naruto going to close the window and Hinata going to make sure her bedroom door is securely locked. They turn back toward each other, and Hinata's towel drops away as she walks slowly toward him again.

Naruto barely has time to unzip his jacket before she's pressed against him, and his hands begin to roam along the soft, pale flesh he caressed the other night, giving her a gentle squeeze on the hips as she steps back to lead him toward the bed. Hinata sweeps her nightclothes off toward one edge of the bed before returning to Naruto's arms.

She slips his jacket from his shoulders for him, but he won't let her help him remove any more, and instead guides her into a seat on her bed. Her curious gaze becomes wide and embarrassed as Naruto sinks down to his knees and slowly spreads her legs apart.

"Only fair," he mutters up to her with a smirk before his face vanishes between her thighs and she gasps up at the ceiling and closes her eyes, letting the first of many long, soft moans ease, straight from her heart.

It's going to be a long night.

And that's that! Thanks for reading and put me on Author Alert if you want to stay tuned for more from me. I'm going to be starting another Naruto fic in a few days, probably. It's based on one of my favorite mangas (which just so happens to be an ecchi... don't judge me! xP). I'll say something about the manga in case you guys are curious about it when I finally put the story up. I have no idea what it's going to be called yet, which is all the more reason to put me on Author Alert! n_n

I will say this, though. The next fic I'm planning is going to pit Naru/Hina versus Naru/Saku in a weird little naval battle. I'm sure you all can tell which I prefer, but I definitely won't let that stand in the way of my writing, nor will it automatically decide which ship will win the day. Now I just have to hope that I'm a good enough writer to pull this off. xD Stay tuned for more and thanks again for reading, all of you!

~M.H.C~

May all your

Hearts beat with

Calamity!

Till next time!