Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Protector	By : djserani Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1759 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
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- 22
For the next week and a half they spent most of their day with her father, going over the ins and outs of clan business. There were the financial aspects of the clan. That in itself had her eyes crossing, but Neji had a real aptitude for it and she was happy to give most of it to him. He kept her up on it so she wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of the council, but for the most part, he handled it.
There were also the political duties and that’s where Hinata excelled. She was extremely diplomatic and knew when to show strength and when to show deference. Neji could do some of that, too, but he had to work much harder to temper his anger. She’d been taught from the time she was a young girl how to properly present herself, how to speak, everything that would be needed for a woman of her station.
There were mediations, council meetings, planning and even household tasks that required decisions. It was incredible to Hinata and she wondered again how her father had managed it. One day, she finally asked him.
“Well, to be honest, I didn’t. That’s part of how things got the way they did. I let the council make more decisions than they ever should have. The elders should only ever been there to advise, as you so wisely pointed out on the day I handed leadership to you. Yet, I allowed them more power because I was overwhelmed. Back when your mother was still alive, she worked with me much like Neji works with you. She was able to take the things that I was not good at.
“Clan leadership is really about having a strong couple at its head. For too many years, it hasn’t had that, and I hope that you and Neji can change that now.”
Hinata was stunned by her father’s frank speech. She never thought of him as having let anything out of his control, yet here he was openly discussing it with her. She sat for a moment, letting it all sink in. Some things started to make a lot more sense to her. So much of his behavior undoubtedly had to do with the pressures he was under.
“Oh, Otousan, I am so sorry. I should have been stronger for you, even then.” She looked at her father, tears just at the edge, but she wouldn’t let them fall.
“None of that. I made my decisions. I have made mistakes and in many ways I have paid for them. And now, I can try to rectify them. I have put you into the position you should have been trained for. I have many regrets, but that is not one of them. I believe you are the strongest person here for this position. And it is in the most important places.” He sighed.
* * *
They took a day to enjoy Ino’s wedding and watched as the pair pledged their lives and love to each other. She cried – that seemed to happen a lot more often lately. But Neji kept tissues handy for her. She avoided the sake and stuck, again, with juice. But they danced and enjoyed the company of friends.
She tapped Ino on the shoulder. “Could I possibly steal your husband for a minute?”
Ino sniffed. “I don’t know. He might decide you’re prettier than me and then where would I be?”
Hinata giggled. “Not likely. He might as well have heart-shaped irises.” She laughed again when Chouji scowled at her, but there was no heat behind it.
Ino laughed and hugged Hinata quickly. “Just give him back when you’re done. I think I can share him for a bit.”
Chouji’s face was comical. “HEY!” He called after her, but she just raised one hand in a wave as Neji took her off to dance.
Hinata stepped into Chouji’s arms and smiled at him. “I’m very happy for you and Ino. You both deserve happiness.”
“Thank you. I also wanted to thank you for making sure she came back safe from that mission. I was worried sick the whole time.” He frowned. “She saw something there that really disturbed her. She can’t seem to talk about it, but I know it bothered her a lot.”
Hinata cleared her throat and glanced over at Ino and Neji. “We…” she swallowed around the lump in her throat. “We found one of Orochimaru’s labs that, we think, Kabuto has since taken over and used for himself. One of the rooms had…” she had to take a breath. “It had a fetus in it and it was Ino that found it.”
They’d stopped dancing. Chouji’s face was a mask of shock that dissolved into anger. “That bastard.”
Hinata nodded and nudged him a bit so they started swaying again to the music. “Yes, yes he is. The Hokage has her feelers out, looking for information on him. She wants to catch him badly. We all do.” She looked again at Neji. “I just hope that…someone else gets called up to find them. I don’t know what I’d do if Neji had to go.”
“I know what you mean. Ino will be staying in the village until the baby is born, but I’ve asked myself to not be called up unless they have absolutely no one else. It’s tough, though. There are, now, six of us out of commission.”
Hinata looked up at him sharply. “Six?”
“Yes. Shika and Temari are expecting, too. They didn’t tell anyone for a while – she’s over three months along. He flat refuses to leave the village.” Chouji looked over at Ino again. “I just hope that Kabuto doesn’t cause too much trouble when they try to capture him. I know that Tsunade-sama isn’t going to be happy if he has to be killed. Rumor has it she has her own plans for him.”
Hinata nodded. “Yeah.” She shook herself. “This is not the day for this kind of talk. You should be happy! Ino is your wife and you’re going to have a baby!”
Chouji grinned. “Yes! I am a very lucky man.”
Hinata started to get tired well before the party was over. She was loathe to leave, but when she started to fall asleep at the table, Neji picked her up. “Don’t wanna leave.” She mumbled.
He chuckled and she felt the vibrations. “I’m sorry, but it seems that your body has decided for you. You’ve done a lot recently. It’s time to get some rest.”
Hinata sighed. She wiggled until Neji put her down and she went to congratulate the couple once more. She hugged them and kissed Chouji on the cheeks, then hugged as many of their friends as they could find. Before long, Neji had picked her up and started for home.
“I can walk. I’m pregnant, not glass and not broken.”
“I know that. I enjoy this. Besides, I won’t be able to carry you forever.” He hugged her a bit tighter to him and she gave up for the moment and just cuddled into his arms. She never felt herself get tucked into bed.
* * *
It was time to start her research. Neji, for the moment, didn’t know her plans. She wanted first to try to find the answers that she could before she asked for his help. She wanted to surprise him, if she could.
She started by collecting the books and scrolls from her father’s study that she could and settling with her juice into the bedroom. She spread the scrolls out first on the table and pulled her notebook out to take notes. She carefully read over as many of them as she could, but by the time the first couple of hours passed, she found herself already a bit frustrated.
None of the scrolls in the library here had anything useful. She re-rolled them and went over to the books. One of the ladies in the house brought her some lunch – more rice, and she’d discovered that chicken stayed down. She ate while she read, still not getting anywhere. The books were useless.
She returned with them to the study and pulled a few more out, this time sitting right on the floor to begin reading. Nothing. More books, and still nothing. She found history of the clan, but these were the same books that she’d read before. She found descriptions of the various gentle fist techniques, rules, even recipes . None of these would help.
She looked up as the door opened, but couldn’t see anything around the desk. Just as she was getting up, Neji came around the desk. “Hinata?”
She flushed, caught. “Hi, Neji.”
“What on earth are you doing in here?” He stared at the pile of books around her. As her frustration grew, she’d pulled the books off and tossed them on the floor instead of returning them to the shelves.
“I was looking for something.” She said, inadequately.
“I gathered that. What?” His puzzled face was almost funny if she wasn’t so nervous.
“Um…” she couldn’t lie to him. He was a human lie detector to begin with and she was afraid of messing things up when they were so good together. She sighed. “I’m trying to do some research. But it’s obvious that there’s nothing here in the library that will help me.” She bent to start picking up the books and replacing them on the shelves.
Neji came over and helped her. “What are you researching?”
She took a deep breath. “I want to remove the seals.”
He stood up so quick, The Great Graceful Neji almost lost his balance. “What??!” His voice cracked on the word.
“I want to find a way to remove the seals. It’s not enough that there will be no new branding. If we’re truly going to dissolve the lines, we need to remove the seals. It started with me wanting to remove yours. There should never be any thoughts about you being bound to me, except by choice. No one will ever be able to say that you do not choose to be where you are.” She sighed. “The problem is that I have no idea where to begin. Much of our information was lost when Konoha was destroyed.”
Neji stared at a point off of her left shoulder, the books in his hand temporarily forgotten. “There was talk of an archive of sorts. I’m not sure exactly where, but I know it’s up in the Stone Mountain somewhere. I think your father would know where it is.”
And he was right. Armed with a map of the passageways through the mountain, they took flashlights and extra people and went in search of the archival chamber the next morning. There was a lot of climbing involved. Hinata got tired fairly quickly and that succeeded only in annoying her. She was going to have to go see Sakura as soon as possible.
It took them longer than she thought it would, but by midday, they’d found it. It was dusty and dirty, but the scrolls and books looked very promising. They loaded up bags and boxes. When she went to pick one up, Neji took it from her and added it to his own stack. “I can take them!” she was indignant.
“I’m sure you could, but let’s not take a chance with our child? Please?” She sucked in a breath and nodded.
The return trip took much less time as they already knew where they were going. The boxes and bags were left in the sitting area of their bedroom. They would be putting shelves in the next day to hold it all.
Exhausted again, Hinata fell on the bed to sleep for a while.
She awakened some time later, smelling her dinner. Her stomach growled and she ate quickly. Neji smiled at her as he watched her eat and she forced herself to set the bowl down and slow down.
She spent the evening pouring over scrolls and making notes. These were the pages with more of the information she needed. She was able to sort through quite a few before she started to get drowsy again. She murmured a weak protest, but didn’t put up a real fight as Neji undressed her and put her to bed.
* * *
Neji sat with Hinata outside of Sakura’s office at the hospital. She’d picked up her habit of fidgeting again, so he took her hand and held it firmly in his while they waited. A few minutes later, Sakura opened the door and Ino stepped out.
“Thanks, billboard-brow. I’ll see you later.” Ino smiled and waved at Hinata before she headed down the hall.
“Come on in, Hinata. What can I do for you?” Sakura waved them into her office before sitting behind her desk. It was messy, covered in papers and medical instruments of some sort. Hinata tried not to contemplate them.
“As you know, I’m expecting. The best I can figure out is that I’m about 3 weeks along, maybe a bit more, but not by much. I…” she blushed, “I was a virgin until then.”
Sakura sent a knowing look Neji’s way and he had the grace to blush. “Okay, so what’s the problem?”
“Well, I have had terrible morning sickness that doesn’t seem to stop after the morning is over. And I’m tired. It’s making me crazy. Is there anything you can do?” She looked hopefully at Sakura.
“Some of this is easy.” She pulled a pad of paper out and scribbled down some notes, before handing it to Hinata. “That should help with the nausea. Just put it in some warm water and sip it in the morning and it should help. As for the tiredness, you should find some time to continue exercising and training a bit each day. No gentle fist – there’s too much chance you’d hit something connected to the baby. But you can definitely exercise, practice your weapon throwing, things like that. And if you can start eating more, that will help to.” She looked her over with a sharp eye. “You’ve lost weight. Gain it back.”
Hinata gave her a puzzled look. “I know the baby will take what it needs, but would it cause all that?”
“And then some. Do as I say, and check in with me if you need anything further. If not, we’ll set up monthly check ups for a while.” She smiled. “Let me take a look at you, too. I can help you pinpoint the baby’s age.”
She knelt in front of Hinata and placed her palms on her abdomen. A bright green light shone and Sakura’s face screwed up in concentration. “Let’s see…there it is…no gender yet…it looks like…three weeks. It’s not exact, but I’m thinking it’s about 23 days or so. “
Hinata and Neji looked at each other. It could very well have been their first time together. It was a heady thought. “Okay, get some rest, take the tea and exercise. That’s the best thing you can do right now.”
“Thank you.” Hinata smiled and hugged her before heading for home.
Neji made sure she stopped to pick up the ingredients for the tea that she didn’t already have at home and even made sure she drank some right away. She started to feel better right away and could even handle more food at lunchtime.
She took the afternoon to get out to the training grounds to stretch and exercise. She spent a few hours tossing kunai and shuriken and doing her best to simply work her muscles as much as she could. She started to feel even better on the walk home with Neji – who had, of course, insisted on accompanying her.
She ate even better at dinner, which they again shared in their room. She even managed to get through a few more scrolls before she had enough and started to fall asleep.
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