A Growing Affection

Chapter 5: Mother of a Shinobi

With a pained groan, Naruto dropped on to one of the stools at Ichiraku Ramen. Hinata was more delicate, but just as tired as she too sat.

"Hey, old man, give me an extra-large miso ramen with extra pork," the teen waved at Teuchi as he shouted his order.

"Coming right up, Naruto," the cook nodded, "What can I get for you, miss Hinata?"

"Oh, just a small diet seafood bowl, please."

As they waited, he grabbed his shoulder and started to massage his sore muscles.

"Man, Grandma Tsunade sure is a slave driver," he grunted, "I wonder how Sakura puts up with her."

"She's not so bad," Hinata countered, "She's just trying to make sure we learn the techniques, and are strong enough to survive."

Naruto made an annoyed face, and opened his mouth to argue. But then he noticed the look of pain she was trying to hide. She was also holding her left arm strangely. He realized both the physical exertion and the draining of her chakra made the training much harder for the Kunoichi. He stood up and stepped so he was behind her left side. She almost jumped when he reached up and began gently kneading the muscles in her shoulder. Though she turned bright red, the hurting also eased from her eyes and her posture grew more relaxed. The Genin knew he was being too familiar, especially given the circumstances, but he was more concerned with helping her.

"You know, Hinata," he said softly, "if she is pushing too hard, you should let Tsunade know. She wouldn't want you to get hurt. Or if you can't tell her, you can talk to me."

Hinata's eyes grew misty, but she was spared having to respond as two bowls were plopped down in front of them.

"Is your arm better?" Naruto asked, continued to rub even though his mind had obviously shifted focus to the food.

"Yes, much. Thank you. Please, go ahead and eat." She lightly pulled away as she broke her chopsticks apart. Naruto sat back down and after mumbling a traditional thanks, dug in. For the next few minutes they sat in silence, simply enjoying the food and each other's presence. Then the blond teen spoke again.

"Hinata, I'm going to ask you a question. But it's kinda personal, so feel free to not answer, or even slap me again and tell I'm totally out of line."

The girl pushed away her now empty bowl, obviously apprehensive. But she nodded and said, "Alright, what is it?"

"Well, it's just that everyone knows about your dad. But I was wondering if you could tell me about your mom?"

"M...My mother?" Hinata repeated as if unsure what she heard.

"Yeah, what was she like? Was she a ninja?"

"My mother..." she paused, considering what to say, "No, she was not a ninja. She was a baker. In fact, the clan elders tried to prevent my father from marrying her. They said because she was not a ninja, she would weaken the bloodline." She flinched at that, showing the heartache of having been called the fulfillment of that prophecy, "Uncle Hizashi told Neji that my father refused to accept the decision, and went so far as to threaten to abandon the Hyuga Clan and reveal our secrets if they did not let him marry. He loved her more than anything else."

"Where is she now?" he pressed slightly as she trailed off, "Is she..."

"Yes. Neji told you that I was almost taken by a Cloud Ninja, and that my father killed the kidnapper. What he did not know, is that when the spy came to take me, my mother was present. She tried to fight him off, and he stabbed her. That was the real reason my father slaughtered that shinobi. Not because I was being kidnapped, but because the man had killed father's true love."