Hinata's POV:

"Will Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha please come to the office," Shizune's voice rang out through the speakers as Sakura and I sat in Biology.

It's been two days since Naruto's birthday and today's the day that Naruto's godfather, Jiraiya, is supposed to get back from his business trip. Him and Naruto have plans to hangout and celebrate tomorrow after school.

"Naruto I understand, but why are they calling Sasuke-kun too?" Sakura whispered from her seat next to mine.

"I'll t-text him and ask," I whispered back as I pulled out my phone and started texting my boyfriend.

Hey, what did you do this time? ;)

No idea, I'll tell you what happens after, see you at lunch <3

I smiled at his text and put my phone away before Anko-sensei caught me. I rested my chin on my hand and started day dreaming while watching the rain fall outside the window.

What could he have done?

After class, Sakura and I walked to the cafeteria and sat down at our group's table and waited for everyone else to show up.

"Hinata," said a voice behind me. I turned around to see Sasuke.

Something feels off.... Where's Naruto-kun?

"W-what is it Sasuke-kun?" I asked a little worried.

"You've met Jiraiya right?" he asked and I nodded, "He died in a car accident last night... Naruto's missing. I already looked in the weight room and on the roof but I can't find him."

Jiraiya's dead.... Oh god Naruto-kun...

"W-we have to find him, I'm going to st-start looking, tell everyone else when they g-get here," I said I ran off.

Please don't do anything stupid...

I was running through the halls and searching every empty room.

Not here either. Naruto-kun where are you?

I was about to close the door to the room I had just searched when something moving out the window caught my eye. I walked to the window and saw that it had a nice view of the field.... And on the field was someone repeatedly hitting and pushing the five-man sled.

Naruto-kun.

It was too far away and raining too hard to make out any details but I knew no one else would be out there right now. I sprinted to the gym and ran out through the gym doors into the rain and made beeline for the field.

I was already soaking wet as I ran through the gate and stopped when I got the sidelines. I looked across the field at my boyfriend. From where I was, I could see that he was also soaking wet and his face was contorted in anguish.

He stepped back from the middle pad on the sled and got into his stance before firing out and driving his shoulder into the pad. Each time he hit the pad, the whole front half of the sled would lift up and he'd drive it back several yards before letting it drop and then he'd do it all again.

This sled's supposed to be moved by five people.... Not one...

I stood there and tears silently fell from my eyes as I watched him suffering. I slowly walked onto the soaking wet field, which luckily was turf or else it would be a giant mud hole, until I was within earshot.

As I got closer I could hear his grunts of pain and his choking sobs. I cringed each time I heard the sound of his shoulder hit the pad.

Naruto-kun... please stop.

He hit the pad again but instead of returning to his stance and hitting it again, he stood up with his head hanging, breathing heavily, and turned his back to me.

I was about to say something when he threw his head back and let out the most terrible, painful, agonizing yell I've ever heard. When his wail ended, he fell to his knees and leaned back to sit against one of the pads of the sled. His arms rested loosely over his knees and his head hung between them. I could see his shoulders shake and I could tell he was crying.

"Naruto-kun," I said softly.

His head shot up and my heart broke when I saw his face. His face was dirty and red and his eyes were red and I could see the pain and anger and sadness in them. He looked at me, not blinking as the tears continued to fall from his eyes. He looked like he was going to say something but his lip just shook and he hung his head again.

I walked over and sat down next to him.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun," I said softly, not knowing what else to say.

I felt so helpless and weak... I wanted to do something to help him but there wasn't anything I could do except sit there.

"He was the only family I had left... he was the closest thing I ever had to a father and I only ever showed him the worst side of me," he side, not looking at me.

"Naruto-kun I –"

"All I ever wanted was for him to keep watching over me. I wanted him to see me graduate, see me go to college, see me start a family... I want to make him proud," he said and he started choking up when he got to the end.

The corner of my mouth, slightly curled up into a small grin.

"He was Naruto-kun... he was so proud of you. The way he talked about you and the way he looked at you... he loved you so, so much," told him.

He looked like he was starting to calm down but then a pained sob escaped his mouth.

"Naruto-kun what is it?" I asked.

"I never told him," he said through his tears.

"T-told him what?" I asked confused.

"I never told him how much he meant to me... I never told him that I loved him," he answered and my heart ached for him.

I rested my head against his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his waist. He moved his arms so he was holding me in his arms. We sat like that for a few moments while he calmed down.

"I love you," he said clear as day.

Wait, what did he just say!? Did he just say that!?

My eyes shot open and I pulled away just enough so I could look at him. His face was tear stained but he was smiling through his pain and his eyes had lost most of their sadness.

"W-what?" I unintelligibly asked.

"I missed the chance to tell the Pervy Sage what he meant to me... I'm not going to make that mistake again... I love you Hinata Hyuga," he said again.

He said it again!

I smiled as tears of happiness started falling from my eyes and I threw myself onto him.

"I love you too Naruto-kun," I said into his chest.

He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head so that I was looking at his face.

"What did you just say? I couldn't hear you," he said with a hopeful look on his face.

"I said," I smiled at him and pushed my lips against his, "I love you too Naruto-kun," I finished after our lips separated.

We just smiled at each other for a few moments.

"Dobe! Hinata!" Sasuke shouted from a few yards away, his voice pulling us back to reality. "Come on, let's go before we all get pneumonia," he added.

"Teme guess what, Hina loves me!" Naruto said happily and I blushed.

"Yeah, and water's wet, now come on, it's freezing out here," Sasuke answered sarcastically.

"W-what do you mean b-by that?" I asked him as Naruto and I stood up and we all ran to the school.

"I mean it isn't news since literally everybody already knows," Sasuke said once we got into gym. "It was obvious to everyone except dobe," he added.

"W-what th-that's n-not true!" I exclaimed, my face heating up with embarrassment.

"Hn," he responded with a smirk. Naruto and Sasuke went into the boys' locker room and I went to the girls' so that we could all dry off and change into some dry clothes.

When we were all dry, we walked into the cafeteria to enjoy the last ten minutes of lunch. When we sat down, Sasuke whispered something into Sakura's ear and her eyes sparkled with excitement. Sasuke looked at me and smirked.

Uh-oh.

"Hey Sai, -blank- loves Naruto, fill in the -blank-," Sakura said.

"Hinata obviously, although she might feel differently when she realizes how dickless he is," Sai answered with a closed eyed smile, completely oblivious to how much he just insulted Naruto.

"Told ya," Sasuke said to me while he held back Naruto who was trying to jump across the table to strangle Sai.

Was it really so obvious that even Sai could tell?

I blushed with embarrassment at how apparently noticeable my feelings were for Naruto. My embarrassment soon went away as I sat and watched my boyfriend be his normal, goofy self. I smiled as I replayed the moment he told me he loved me, over and over in my head. My smile grew as I thought about all the things I loved about him.

I was completely and blissfully distracted the rest of the day.

Naruto's POV:

I plopped down onto my couch and let out a deep sigh when I got home from school. I was only sitting down for a few seconds before Kurama came running from my room and jumped up on the couch and started licking my face.

"Hey how's my handsome boy? Did you miss me?" I asked the pup as I cupped his face in my hands and scratched behind his ears. I smiled as he barked once in response.

He jumped off the couch and ran back into my room. A few moments later he returned with a tennis ball in his mouth. He jumped up on the couch and dropped the ball in my lap.

"Sorry bud, but I'm just not in the mood to play right now ya know.... Maybe later," I told him. He just continued to stand there, wagging his tail and looking at me with those eyes.

I wonder if this is how Hina feels when I give her the puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, fine, but just for a little bit," I said giving in to his demands.

I picked up the ball and threw it down the hall. The floor was tile so he didn't have much traction which caused him to slide whenever he tried to stop. I smiled when I heard him slide into the wall. He came back with the ball in his mouth and I threw the ball again and again he slid into the wall.

Kurama finally got tired of running into the wall and decided to just curl up next to me on the couch.

"What was the point of buying that bed if you don't even use it?" I asked as I rubbed his side.

Hina and I were planning on spending Monday training him but we were surprised when there wasn't anything important we needed to teach. We were surprised to see he already knew "sit", "lay down", "roll over", "go out", etc. so we called Kiba and asked him about it. He told us that Kurama was part of a nine-pup litter, whose owner had spent the first few months training them. Unfortunately, the owner died and he didn't have any family so the pups were put up for adoption. Kurama was the last one to be adopted.

After a few minutes of watching TV, there was a knock on my door. I got up from the couch and walked to the door. When I opened it and saw who was there I almost had a heart attack.

"Good evening Naruto, may I come in?" Hiashi asked.

What is Hiashi doing here!?

"Um y-yeah, of course... please come in," I said stunned as I stepped aside to let the man in. "Is there anything I can get for you sir?" I asked after closing the door behind him and leading him to the dining table.

"No that's fine, I won't be long," he said as he took a seat.

"Is everything alright sir? Did something happen to Hinata?" I asked a little concerned.

"No Hinata is fine, in fact I've never seen her happier than she's been the last few weeks which I'm guessing I have you to thank for," he said and I couldn't help but smile at that.

"I'm glad to hear that she's alright.... Not to be rude sir, but if there's nothing wrong with Hinata, why are you here?" I asked confused.

"I heard about what happened to Jiraiya... I'm sorry for your loss," he said and his features softened just the slightest.

"Thank you sir... Wait how did you know him?" I asked.

"I met him a few times for business. He was a bit.... odd, but he was a good man. I understand he was the last family you had and I would like to offer my help," he said.

I couldn't help but smiled a bit at his description of the Pervy Sage, but I was still confused about what he could be doing here.

"Your help sir? What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm not sure if you know of Jiraiya's business or not, but he was the primary partner of a fairly substantial architecture firm, as well as several smaller construction companies. With him deceased that would mean that, more than likely, you will be asked to run the company. However, from what I've learned about you and the simple fact that you are still very young, I can assume that you want nothing to do with running a million dollar company. Am I right?" he explained.

"Yeah... I've thought about taking over from him when I was older but there's no way I could even begin to do that now," I told him.

I wasn't completely attached to the idea of taking over from the Pervy Sage, but I had no idea what I wanted to do after high school so it was still an option to consider if I never found anything else I'd rather do.

"I figured as much, which brings me to my first point. I would like to help you with this burden by taking the company from you, temporarily of course, should you ever decide that you would like to take the company back," Hiashi explained.

"You want me to sign the company over to you?" I asked to confirm what he had said.

"Yes. My company has done a fair amount of business with Jiraiya and it would be very profitable for me if my company were to absorb yours. I don't want you to think that I'm only thinking of profits and money... Jiraiya was a good man, but he didn't always get along with everyone... there are people who would like nothing more than to see your family's company be destroyed. I also by no means, plan to take it away from you permanently or make any changes without your approval. You aren't experienced and you're somewhat of a fool, but you have good instincts and a good heart. So what do you think?" Hiashi finished.

He's right, I have no idea how to run a company myself. And I do plan on being with Hinata, so if he were to own the company, it would be easier for me to stay connected to it. And I'd hate to see the company go to some stranger I've never met before...

"You promise to keep on everyone that currently works in the company?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered.

"And if I do decide to take over after college or whenever, you'll willingly give it back to me no questions asked?" I asked.

"Yes, provided we could remain as partners," he answered.

"Then yes, I would love for you to take control of the company," I said happily.

"Wonderful, I'll have my lawyers contact Jiraiya's lawyers and they can begin to write the papers after I leave here, you will of course be able to read over them yourself before signing them," he answered and he grinned slightly. "Now that that's out of the way, it's time for the second reason I came here," he added.

"The second reason, sir?" I asked confused. There was something in his eyes that I never expected to see... it was something like sadness.

"Yes. I too know what it is like to lose someone close to you... it's the hardest thing in the world to say goodbye to a loved one. For some, they can't be alone so they surround themselves with friends to deal with the loss and distract them from the pain. For others, being around others and seeing everyone else so happy and unaffected hurts more than solitary ever could. For me, I took comfort in being alone. It hurt but it wasn't anything compared to being surrounded by things that reminded me of her... I don't know how it will be for you, but I hope that you are not like me. You are alone in this apartment... less alone now than before since you have the dog, but still alone. I know that being alone isn't necessarily anything new to you, but I came here to tell you that it's not something you have to live with. So you are always welcome to stay in my home any time the silence feels to be too much," he explained and I sat there completely stunned at what I had just heard.

"Th-thank you sir... that's incredibly kind of you," I said still trying to wrap my mind around all of this.

"It's the least I can do after you taking such good care of Hinata. It's time for me to go, I'll tell Hinata about what we talked about here and I'll contact you when the papers are ready for you to sign," he said as he stood up. I stood up too and walked him to the door.

Before he left he extended his hand and I shook it.

"I make it a point not to let myself get emotional too often, so even though I am opening up my home to you, and your dog provided he stay in the guest house and you clean up after him, do not come to me to talk or for advice. That is what Hinata is for. Do we understand each other?" he asked as we shook hands.

"Yes sir... don't take this the wrong way but you are one of the last people I'd go to for emotional support," I answered with a smirk as we ended the hand shake.

"Good, let's keep it that way. I'll be going now, good bye Naruto," he said and walked out the door.

"Good bye sir," I said with a slight bow. He nodded once and walked away. When he got to his car, I closed the door behind him and walked to the couch.

"What the hell just happened?" I asked myself as I let my body finally relax a bit.

I went to bed that night feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Thank you Pervy Sage... for everything you've done for me.

-Chapter End-

This chapter is dedicated in loving memory of Carl Leo Strupeck, Dec. 30th, 1917 – Apr. 7th, 2016. A truly good man who touched so many lives.