Honeysuckle Tea

[Ok, so Hinata and Naruto have been sent to do the ninja equivalent to leaf raking in the far off Tea Country where they have been charged with collecting valuable herbs. This section includes the trip there and the return home. Hope ya like it. ^ ^]

The day quickly turned to dusk, casting long shadows across the ground as they left the forest in which Konoha was hidden. Hinata and Naruto held their hands over their eyes against the blaring setting sun and gusty summer winds. Just below the rays of crimson and gold, they could see the eastern shore of The Fire Country on the horizon, the sound of distant waves crashing on the beach was carried faintly on the wind. Time seemed to stand still as the pair of them took it all in. The tranquility was broken suddenly by a horrific growling. “Ohhhh, my stomach...,” Naruto groaned as he keeled over.
“Naruto-kun!” Hinata cried out as she knelt beside him. “What’s wrong? Are... Are you all right?”
“Geh... I can’t go on anymore, Hinata, I’m starving...,” Naruto’s words were followed by another long and rather painful sounding stomach growl which caused him to curl into a fetal position. Hinata couldn’t help but giggle and sat down next to him, setting her backpack in front of her.
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I brought this...,” Hinata said gently, placing a brightly colored parcel down in front of her. She slowly undid the knot on the cloth wrapped around the red lacquered bento box. Inside was a selection of o-nigiri, tempura, and pickled vegetables. “Naruto-kun, here... I-I made this food yesterday, so I’m afraid it’s not very fresh...,” Hinata said apologetically as she handed Naruto a rice cake.
“Ha! I don’t know the meaning of the word! Thanks a ton, Hinata!” Naruto grinned as he proceeded to inhale his food. True, the rice had gone a little stale and the tempura soggy, but to Naruto, food was food, and Hinata was definitely the best cook he had ever met. Hinata helped herself to a much smaller portion. She enjoyed watching Naruto eat her cooking like a pig, it instilled some much needed confidence, something she still struggled with from time to time. It was one of the many things about Naruto that enthralled her and captured her heart. They way he inspired not only her but other people on every conceivable level. After eating their way through the food she brought, Naruto got to his feet, looking out across the tall grass. The sun had already set below the horizon and was casting a dim lavender glow across the sky. The breeze was much cooler now and smelled of salt and seaweed, fresh and crisp.
“Ahhh, the sea always makes me feel refreshed...,” Naruto said blissfully, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose. “All right, let’s go Hinata! It’ll be dark by the time we reach the Tea Country, so we should be careful...”
Hinata followed closely behind Naruto as they walked towards the docks. The man there was about to close port when they rushed into his office requesting a ferry across the water.
“Look, old man! We need to get across tonight!” Naruto snarled at the rather muscular man before them.
“Hey, listen up you little punk! I’ve got a wife and kid at home waitin’ on me, I’m tired, and hungry so forget it!” As he was about to leave, Naruto reached into his pocket, taking out Gama-chan, his beloved frog wallet.
“I’ll pay you twenty ryo to take us, that’s twice what it would cost us to cross, and enough for you to have a drink somewhere,” Naruto place the money in man’s hands who pocketed it. “Now hurry up! The faster you take us there the faster you get to go home and the faster we get to start our mission, dattebayo!” Hinata let Naruto handle it on his own and followed behind him as the man led them onto a small, rather dirty little tug boat.
“N-Naruto?” Hinata asked timidly as they stood at the bow. Naruto stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle, and resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Hm?”
“I was just thinking... Why did Hokage-sama send us on this mission together?” Hinata snuggled up against Naruto, staring out over the water at the slowly approaching shore.
“.... Hm, can’t say for sure. Maybe there wasn’t anyone else left to do it,” Naruto didn’t think much of Tsunade’s decision to send them together, but it was a fair question. A mission is a mission, no matter how small, and sending lovers or spouses together wasn't usually sensible...
“Hmm.... Maybe,” Hinata whispered, closing her eyes and leaning against Naruto. It was a strange feeling that welled up within him. The warmth of his affections for the girl he held had all of the sudden, grown noticeably stronger. It was the type of feeling he got when the Kyubi inside of him lent him its chakra, except there was no fear, no anger, no pain... Hinata felt his arms draw her body even closer, pressing firmly against her stomach. Caught slightly by surprise, she inhaled deeply and let out a trembling sigh, feeling the ground fall from under feet and her face grow warm. Naruto found it strange how moments like these seemed to suck the sense of time right out of the air. By the time he had come back to his senses, the boat had docked again.
“Hey, kid! This is your stop, Cha no Kuni,” the irritable dock master said. Naruto looked up and let go of Hinata. By now it was night, the stars twinkled overhead against the inky sky, the air was cold and permeated his jacket.
“Now let’s see if we can find a cheap hotel to sleep in,” Naruto said as he and Hinata walked through the city gates. The Tea Country only had a small city which was surrounded by thick grassy hills dotted with patches of deciduous forests and rich soil which gave way to a vast array of valuable plants and herbs. The air here was so much thinner and far colder than back in Konoha, and Hinata inhaled deeply, her mouth watering slightly at the sent of sea water and cooking food from the various stands they passed. It didn't seem to take very long before Naruto found the perfect place.
"Cha no Kuni Ryokan"
"Irasshaimase!" The receptionist behind the desk said cheerfully. It wasn't fancy, or even attractive in the slightest way. The interior was quite plain with bare wooden walls and plain white shoji doors. It was however, very clean and exuded a positive atmosphere that made them feel comfortable.
"Excuse me, sir, miss...? Would you like a room here?" the receptionist asked them with the same warm smile as before. Naruto shook his head a bit and walked up to the counter.
"Yeah, one room, two beds please," Naruto reached into his jacket pocket for his wallet. The woman behind the counter looked curiously at the Leaf Village hitai-ate around Naruto's head and Hinata's neck.
"Oh, you're ninja then? Let's see... That insignia...," she flipped through a book, putting on a pair of reading glasses. "You're ninja from Hi no Kuni, the Hidden Leaf Village. I see, well in that case, your room is free on the first day."
"Really?! That's great!"
"Arigato gozaimasu!"
"Not a problem, we give discounts to allied shinobi. Follow me this way please," she took a key off the wall behind her and took them up a flight of stairs. The woman took Naruto and Hinata up to the very top on the fifth floor and into the first room at the top of the landing.
"Here you are," the receptionist showed them inside the room. To the immediate right was a door leading to a small bathroom, to the left a closet, and before them was a lofty looking place. It was nothing more than a stretch of tatami mat with two single person beds on the floor, with a single lantern on a plain wooden table in the middle of the room.
"Oh man... A bed never looked so good right now. I'm tired as a dog, dattebayo," Naruto walked over to the bed closest to the window, setting his backpack down next to him. Hinata locked the door and slipped out of her sandals before walking over to her bed, sitting down upon it cross legged. Maybe it was something about the place but it made her feel light, butterflies began fluttering in her stomach, she and Naruto, they were alone together with no one around... Something she had particularly avoided and was quickly remembering why. Hinata felt the blood rise in her face, which was further intensified when Naruto nonchalantly began undressing in front of her before getting into his sleeping attire. She followed suit, standing a moment to remove her jacket and the chain mesh shirt she wore under it and taking a plain white yukata -much like her father's- from her backpack.
"Get some rest, Hinata, we start early tomorrow. Sleep well, dattebayo," Naruto yawned, turning off the lamp and almost instantly falling straight to sleep.
But unlike Naruto, Hinata was wide awake, slowly being overcome with an emotion she normally did her best to ignore, but it was becoming apparent that she wouldn't be able to shrug it off so easily this time. "Naruto-kun...?" She whispered, no response. "Naruto-kun?" she asked in speaking volume. Naruto didn't move a muscle and answered with a soft snore. He was having what Kakashi often called one of his, "Out like a Light moments." Certain he was fast asleep, and with the butterflies in her stomach becoming something more like a flock of birds, she began seeking to relieve the feeling welled up inside of her. She felt the color rise in her face as she ran a trembling hand over her body. Hinata had neglected to tell Naruto the truth, about why she had been so worked up about Tsunade's teasing, too shy and embarrassed to admit it. For the past few nights, she found herself alone in her room at the Hyuga manor, grappling with the urge to touch herself, wishing he was there but doing her best to resist the feelings she was having now. It had nothing really to do about natural instinct, but more to do with finally being together with Naruto, something in her had changed, and she found it harder to contain as time went on. She wanted him, she needed him... Hinata, with one hand felt for the pile of towels in the corner laid out for them, taking one upon finding them and placing it directly under herself. She took the waist band of her under garments, gently sliding them down her legs. A shiver ran through her when her bare skin touched the towel under her, tentatively moving her hand down her body. She paused, still attempting to fight herself until the tip of her fingers brushed the outside of her womanhood. Unable to bear it any more, she carefully slid two fingers deep inside her body, biting back the compulsion to give voice to her feelings of relief and pleasure. She paused a moment, catching her breath from the initial deep exhale before pushing her fingers in and out of herself. The feeling brought back brief memories from a night back when she was fourteen.
She had just finished bathing and caught sight of herself in the mirror, noticing how her body had changed with the development of breasts and a small patch of dark hair between her legs. Mostly out of curiosity she had started exploring herself, examining every part of her body, discovering how some things felt better than others. She closed her eyes and spread her legs wider, rocking her hips back and forth slightly to the motions of her hand. Hinata continued to force back the moans wanting to escape her, a task of increasing difficulty as she hooked her fingers, pressing up on the upper wall inside her. Tiny beads of sweat started forming on her skin as blood rushed back and forth throughout her body, feeding oxygen to where it was needed most. Just as it had gotten to the point where she wondered if she'd be able to stand it any longer, her muscles tightened, the intense rushing feeling coursing through her raised her hips up off the ground, and forced a long shuddering gasp from her open mouth. After a few moments her body relaxed, falling back down on the towel. She just laid there a moment, slowly catching her breath and taking a corner of the towel to clean herself off.
"....Hinata?" Naruto mumbled.
"Naruto-kun!" she yelped, pulling the covers up to her neck as Naruto sat up in bed, looking at her through the darkness.
"Everything all right...? Can't sleep?" Naruto got closer to her, reaching out for her. On the verge of panic that he might see, she thought up a lie that was only slightly less embarrassing than what had really happened.
"Iie, Naruto-kun! I-I-I just had too much to...to drink before bed, I think....," the rapid flow of blood to her face was so violent and sudden it made her dizzy.
"Too much to... Ohhh... Heheh, don't worry about it, Hinata-chan, it happens sometimes I guess, dattebayo. Eh, while you wash and change clothes, do you want me to call for clean sheets, or something...?" Naruto asked with his usual good humored nature.
"N-no...! It's not much, I'll j-just change...," Hinata said breathlessly, particularly glad he had fallen for it. She didn't even want to think about what would've happened, had Kiba or Shino been in the room... Hinata made sure her yukata was securely closed before getting up, taking her backpack and towel with her into the bathroom. Naruto pulled her covers back to check if the sheets needed to be switched out but saw nothing outwardly wrong with them. He ran a hand over it, finding a small damp spot, figuring it was nothing to worry about he laid back down, finding it harder to get back to sleep now that he was awake. Hinata had been acting strangely for a while, and he wondered what could possibly be the matter... The door opened and out she came, shuffling her feet as she approached her bed, avoiding Naruto's eyes.
"Oi, Hinata-chan... Come here," Naruto said softly. Hinata looked over at him with a wide eyed expression, but Naruto only smiled in a reassuring manner, pulling his covers back and patting the spot next to him.
"N-Naruto...?"
"Heheh, hey I said don't worry about it... You can sleep with me, erm...Next to me, dattebayo," His gentle grin eased the tension she felt and slowly made her way over to him, making sure her obi was on tightly before laying down. Naruto smiled down at her and wrapped his arms around her snugly.
An emotion entirely different from the previous one but no less intense, began to take hold of her... She turned over to face him and wrapped her arms around him as well, snuggling as close as she possibly could. Naruto's gentle breathing near her ear was the last thing she remembered that night...

(Five days later)
"Sheesh, what a week... I've seen enough of trees to last me a life time, dattebayo...," Naruto and Hinata were weighed down with pounds of dried flowers, herbs, and stems in bundles on their backs. From there it was straight the Hokage's office. Hinata waved to Izumo and Kotetsu as they passed their post near the gate. Despite having a good night's rest, Naruto for one was tired of walking and without a word, bounded onto the top of a tall three floored building. He looked down from the roof to Hinata. "Come on, Hinata!"
"W-wait... Uh... Coming, Naruto-kun!" She hesitated a moment, but soon joined him up atop the building. It was normally agreed deplorable manners for ninja to travel through the village via roof tops, as the noise could disturb or distract their inhabitants. Then again, Naruto was never much for basic etiquette... A few people looked out of their windows up at the roofs as Naruto and Hinata bounced from building to building. The Hokage's Mansion grew rapidly closer until finally they hopped into Tsunade's office through an open window. Naruto looked around only to find Tsunade face down on her desk.
"Ts-Tsunade O-baachan...?" Naruto walked a bit close, putting his bundle down. Upon further inspection, he saw a river of saliva running from under her face and dripping lightly on the carpet at his feet, further more she was snoring like a saw against a log, the powerful smell of Sake and something else was coming from her.
"Tsunade O-baachan!!!" Naruto roared with indignation, slamming his fist on the desk. Tsunade woke with a start, holding her head a bit, much like the way Shikamaru used to do back in the Academy when he was caught sleeping in class. She seemed to be trying to focus her eyes on Naruto and Hinata, looking a little green and yawning wide. Both Naruto and Hinata were nearly knocked flat by her breath that smelled so strongly of alcohol they could've lit it on fire.
"Hokage-sama!" Hinata cried, gagging and holding her nose.
"Oh man, what'd you do to yourself!?" Naruto waved his hand back and forth in front of him, attempting to wave the smell away. Tsunade took a few capsules and swallowed them, washing it all down with water and seemed to come around a little, though she was still pasty and groggy.
"Naruto, Hinata, quiet down, you're making my head pound...," she looked at the wall clock indicating it was 7:54 am. "Gomen... I went out to drink with Jiraiya and got a bit carried away; I don't even remember how I got back here. (Clears throat) So, you've brought everything I asked for then?"
"Yeah, it wasn't too hard once we put Tonton on it. But we sure did a bunch of running around looking for this stuff, dattebayo," Naruto said.
Tsunade took Hinata and Naruto's bundles, laying them out on her desk and checking each individual stem, root, and flower. "Very good! Shikaku-san has all he needs and more. Now that just leaves the matter of your payment. Let's see, you two were gone for...five days," Tsunade went around to her desk and pulled out two envelopes. "Seven thousand five hundred ryo for each of you, for work well done, dismissed."
"Arigato, Hokage-sama!" Hinata beamed as she was handed her envelope. For a D rank mission, this was a large sum of money, Hinata herself was having trouble containing her excitement while Naruto began squeezing the life out of Tsunade.
"Hai hai, just let go of me, Naruto! I'm gonna be sick!" Tsunade growled, prying the excitable lad off of her.

"Heheee... Gama-chan's never been so fat! I think I'm going to have to open a bank account or something now, dattebayo!" Naruto beamed as he and Hinata walked down the road which was steadily thickening with early morning shoppers.
"You mean you don't have one yet?" Hinata asked him, hanging onto his arm as they walked.
"I would've already done it, but a lot of my money would go to feeding myself. Plus I didn't exactly find paying some stuffy old man a thousand ryo to hold onto my money very appealing," Naruto was currently having trouble stuffing the baseball sized frog-wallet into his jacket pocket. "But right now I could go for some relaxing, hopefully the others did enough of the dirty work to let us off the hook for a while."
"Well, why not come home with me?" Hinata asked him, a rather bold statement for her, this made him flinch, solidifying his notion about how she's been acting rather different.
"Oh, I don't know...," Naruto said slowly. "Old man Hyuga doesn't seem too crazy about the fact I'm dating you, waltzing into his home like that might make him kinda mad." Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Main Branch and patriarch of Konoha's oldest and most noble household, was never very warm towards Naruto. Though he appeared to accept and condone their relationship with quiet grace, he often gave Naruto a feeling like he was being watched by some sort of predatory bird, waiting to sink it's talons into him at the first sign of guilt.
"Oh... Right... G-gomen, I know my father doesn't make you very comfortable," Hinata said lowering her eyes. While Hiashi never objected to Naruto being around the manor, it was always very tense even when he wasn't nearby. Neither of them would even dare to touch hands beyond the gate, let alone embrace or kiss each other, lest they risk angering one of Konoha's most powerful Jonin.
"That's okay, I'm sure he makes everybody feel that way," Naruto said with a nervous grin, Hinata only shook her head and smiled.
"Well, I'm gonna head home and unwind, Hinata-chan. You should go home too and let him know you're back," Naruto said stretching his arms and yawning.
"Yes, Naruto-kun. I-I'll stop by your apartment with some lunch later... If that's okay."
Naruto chuckled merrily and placed a playful kiss on her lips.
"Yeah, that'd be great! I'll catch you later then, Hinata."
Hinata uttered a love-sick sigh and turned to go back home. Happy though she was to be back in Konoha, a part of her wanted to be out there alone with Naruto, despite that highly mortifying experience of the first night. Her musing was interrupted when she nearly collided with the giant wooden gates of the Hyuga residence. Not bothering to push the heavy doors apart she leapt over the wall and stood before her father's sprawling mansion. It was still fairly early, but as reliable as clockwork, she found Hiashi drinking his morning tea as he always did.
"Good morning, oto-sama... I'm home," Hinata breathed softly, bowing politely before her father. Hiashi only moved his eyes in her direction, his stoic and stern demeanor unwavering, even after not seeing his eldest daughter for a week.
"Morning, musume, welcome back," he brought the cup of tea to his lips and took a sip. "Come, have a seat," Hiashi said to Hinata, indicating the spot on his left. "How did the mission go? Did you get everything Tsunade-sama asked for?"
Hinata took a seat next to Hiashi, nodding fervently as though hoping to see a rare glimpse of pride in his expression.
"Hai, oto-sama! Everything went well, the mission was a complete success," Hiashi's sharply lined face softened and smiled gently into his cup.
"Good," he said softly.
"How have you been?" Hinata asked, trying to keep conversation light.
"Been having stomach problems... Hanabi's cooking isn't as well-prepared as yours is... It's not exactly easy on this old man's digestive system," Hiashi said with as much dignity has he could summon. Hinata managed not to giggle and stood up.
"Gomen... I'll m-make sure to make your favorite tonight. B-b-but... I promised Naruto-kun I'd bring him lunch this afternoon," she said shyly, knowing her father didn't much like talking about the boy.
"Hmph... How is Naruto-san? I trust he treated you with respect this past week," Hiashi replied rather stiffly, it was one of his bigger fears that his daughter would come home one day with more than luggage.
"Yes sir!"
"... Very well. But be back in time to make dinner, I hardly see you anymore these days," Hinata looked at her father in a rather confused manner. Never in her life had he expressed a desire to have her around for company... Taking this as a good sign she bowed again and went off to unpack...

[End of Chapter 2. I hope I cut these in short enough sections for everybody. If any one has any suggestions or something they would've liked to have seen, let me know and I'll consider adding another small scene to the story. Enjoy the rest of the fic. Peace]