Chapter 2: Preparation

He was used to being the one to suggest where they went on their dates. This was the first time she had made a request for a specific location and he was surprised she would choose his apartment. They would be alone and isolated in a way they had never been before.

Of course, she had been to his place a handful of times, but that had been to drop off his lunch before she left for a mission or to meet up so they could head to Ichiraku considering it was around the corner from him.

Usually, when a girl asked to come to his apartment, they were rarely interested in seeing anything but his bedroom. Somehow, he didn't think that was what she intended though.

"If….if it would be too much trouble we could go somewhere else…." she said, her expression becoming worried at his continued silence.

"Of course, it wouldn't be any trouble." he assured her with a grin, "I was just kind of surprised you wanted to have a date at my place."

Her eyes skated away, then back at him again.

"Well…I'm twenty years old now, a fully legal adult…father is no longer in a position to dictate my life." she smiled, "I can stay out as long as I want and…visit with Naruto-Kun wherever I want."

That had been a source of contention, though not one he had verbalized. The Hyuuga observed and imposed strict laws for their Clan, especially regarding the females.

Female members were not given full adult legality until the age of twenty. It was a concession the First Hokage granted to entice the Byakugan leaders to join in the founding of Konoha.

Naruto thought it was a really stupid and outdated rule. Before her birthday back in December, the blonde ninja had been more than a little annoyed at the restrictions placed on her by the old Hyuuga clan head.

One, in particular, had really needled him.

Hinata had a curfew and couldn't be at his apartment after dark.

"I…enjoy going out with you, Naruto-kun but I've wanted to have a date with just us…alone…" she was tapping her pointer fingers together, "without all the….noise around us. I-I would have invited you over to my house for dinner but there are so many people at the Hyuuga compound that it would be kind of…awkward….and father…"

The last thing he wanted to do was have a romantic dinner with several pairs of Byakugans watching him through the walls.

He shuddered at the thought.

He reached for her hand with his bandaged wrapped appendage, interlacing her fingers with his.

"I'd love to have dinner with you at my place, Hinata."

And he meant it. Spending time with her was never a dull affair. He loved when it was just the two of them.

"Though we might need to go shopping."

She nodded, giving him a soft look, excitement shining in her luminous eyes. The two started walking, headed for the supermarket closest to his house. Halfway there, a thought occurred to him.

His apartment was absolutely filthy!

Sweat beaded his forehead. The last couple of weeks he had had back-to-back missions leaving little time for home maintenance.

His clothes were strewn around every room, dirty dishes piled high, his tub had a dark ring around it and his hardwood floors hadn't seen the tail end of a broom or mop in longer than two weeks.

It took some maneuvering and quite a few people gave him strange looks but he managed to duck into another ale while Hinata studied various packages of food and summon a gaggle of clones to clean his apartment.

The small army of copies dashed out of the food store, tearing through the streets to get home. For an entire hour, he managed to draw out the shopping trip, distracting Hinata the best he could to give his look-a likes as much time as possible.

Multiple images of a near spotless apartment reached his mind as they climbed the stairs to his one bedroom home, loosening the grip of nerves in his gut.

The last thing he wanted was for her to walk into a pigsty and ruin the mood.

Girls were particularly sensitive to matters of cleanliness.

Hands full of shopping bags, he turned to his girlfriend with a goofy smile.

"Can you get my key, baby? My hands are full."

She nodded, her cheeks pink as she reached into his pocket, feeling around for his apartment key. Once inside, the two put away the groceries.

While Hinata began cooking, Naruto took the time to get a shower and change out of his mission gear. The simple B rank escort contract had involved minimal effort.

Bandits and a couple of rogues in he'd left healing in a jail cell had been the only noteworthy conflicts. Pretty standard for a single jonin to handle, and even he knew he was a bit of overkill for that mission.

Now that he had reached the rank of jonin and had been for over a year, he found himself in high demand among clients.

The power he'd exhibited during the war had become somewhat legendary, and anyone with enough coin to hire a jonin of his reputation clamored to employ him for even the simplest tasks.

It was flattering, embarrassing, and sometimes really annoying.

So many people were requesting him for not only C rank missions but some ranked even lower, paying a ridiculous amount of money for his services when someone less qualified would have sufficed.

It had gotten to the point that he had complained to Kakashi-sensei about receiving the D rank mission just because the client could afford him.

It was humiliating doing things he'd thought he left behind in his genin days. The masked Hokage had agreed that someone of Naruto's skill and expertise was better served on missions ranked B or above unless he was heading a team.

So far, Kakashi had held true to his word and turned down any solo requests for Naruto that were not of substance.

The last C rank task Naruto had seen was a few weeks ago, when he'd been acting squad leader overseeing two chunin and a single genin on an infiltration quest.

The restrictions had mollified him.

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