NaruHina: Duty

Chapter 16: Wooing and Woah-ing

A few days later, there was a soft knock at the door. Naruto opened it and without any invitation, Itachi walked in, surveying everything inside.

"So this is your bachelor pad?" He took a look around the room then grinned. "Not bad."

"You could have come for a visit earlier. I gave all of you guys a key to the place," Naruto said.

Itachi shrugged then handed him a bag. "Mother made you food when she heard I was coming over."

Naruto gasped when he smelled it. "She made buri-daikon!"

He turned to Itachi and asked, "Have you eaten?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I just got back from my mission, too."

"It feels heavy, so she made enough for both of us, then."

They walked to his kitchen table and the two of them settled in to eat Mikoto's food. Both were quiet, Naruto with his thoughts still swirling in his head about Hinata and how to go about wooing her.

Itachi, meanwhile, was just concerned.

When the dishes were finally put away, Naruto looked at Itachi and said, "There's a reason why you came over."

Itachi smiled. "Father said you have girl problems."

Naruto snorted. "Problems. I wish it were as simple as that."

"Tell me then."

So Naruto told him everything, including the conversation he'd had last night with Neji.

Itachi sat back, holding himself still in his chair and nodded. "Neji's right."

Naruto's face was grim. "Yeah, I've been telling myself that she's worth it."

His older brother softly said, "She's a professional killer, Naruto. You don't know what it's like."

Naruto felt his heart drop. When put that way, the difference between him and her became more amplified.

Itachi's gaze was sharp on his face. "No kills on your record, not even an accidental one. Don't think we haven't noticed. Yes, you have injured people on your missions, but that's about it."

Naruto winced. "I guess I can't hide that from you guys, right?"

"The fact that you actively chose to do intelligence work was also a giveaway," Itachi deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, I don't like hurting people."

Itachi nodded. "But she has. Are you okay with that?"

"It's in the past, right?" Naruto asked. He could hear the uncertainty in his own voice.

"Past, present, and future," Itachi said in a hard tone. "Can you live with that?"

Naruto felt a guilty spurt of apprehension. But the memory of Hinata's luminous smile, the puzzled glance she flashed him when he teased her brushed the feeling away.

"I think I can."

Itachi looked into Naruto's eyes for a long moment. Then he shook his head and gave a little snort of amusement. Naruto wasn't sure, but he thought he heard him mumble to himself, "Dumbass."

But Itachi stood up, walked to the refrigerator, grabbed a glass of his expensive apple juice then brought it back to the table. Naruto frowned momentarily. Itachi sure was making himself at home in his apartment.

Itachi took a sip of juice then laid his arms on the table, hands wrapped around the cup. He looked at his younger brother and said, "Naruto, it's never easy taking a life. What she needs is time and some healing. Neji knows this, from what I can tell from your conversation with him. But it seems like she's keeping everything inside her and won't let herself talk to other people."