The Stalked - Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

** THE STALKED **

LAST TIME:

"Thank you, Naruto." She whispered as he gently laid her into the bed and taking a spot next to her. Quite a few times he had to remind himself to get rid of those perverted thoughts, because, well, he was in the same bed as the girl he was falling in love with, so the thoughts were lingering, but he quickly pushed them aside, still holding her tightly, against his chest as her breathing deepened and she quickly fell asleep.

Naruto grinned at his sleeping beauty, taking in her gorgeous vanilla and lavender scent. He wasn't very surprised, the smell suited her perfectly, and he loved it. Gently reaching his hand that wasn't wrapped around her waist, he stroked her hair, making her nuzzle into him appreciatively in her sleep, and him smile even more. He took a deep breath of her overwhelmingly calming scent, and slowly let her heartbeat lull him to sleep. He could really get used to sleeping like this. Even just being in close proximity to this girl kept him happy... content.

** THE STALKED **

** THE STALKED **

Hinata gently pried her eyes open. She didn't sleep in much, because she'd rather get up and bask in the early morning freshness, but for some reason, this morning she just wanted to keep snuggling into her warm pillow, enjoying the comfort he was giving her... wait, he? She nearly shot up into a sitting position on the bed but a warm hand on her waist held her down.

She just laid there for a few minutes, not even realising what was going on. Finally, she blinked, and looked over to where she was. The first thing she saw was the firm chiselled chest that she was using as her pillow, and she just stared at it for a moment. They were the most defined abs she had ever seen, even in male models, and firm yet smooth pecks... Wait, how would she know that they were smooth? That's when she realised she were absently tracing them with her finger.

Yeah, she hadn't realised what was going on yet, so she just waited for her memories to resurface as she traced the muscled chest in front of her, resting her head back on the shoulder she had woken up on.

Finally her memories came back when she heard a grunt of appreciation from the owner of the abdominal muscles, and looked up to see bright sparkling blue eyes softly watching her.

"Having fun?" He asked gently, a smile on his face.

Hinata blushed,  and glanced back down at his chest, then back up at Naruto. How did she not notice he wasn't wearing a shirt when she came into the lounge room the night before? She smiled, "Yes... Good morning," and since she couldn't reach his face, she leant down and kissed him on his chest.

Naruto grinned, he could get used to waking up like this.  "Breakfast?" He asked softly, so very different to his usual voice, but somehow, he knew he didn't have to be loud with this girl, that she'd listen to him anyway, that he always had her entire attention when he was talking to her.

She smiled, "In a minute. I like it here." she snuggled closer to Naruto, one of her legs intertwined with his.

He grinned, "I like it here too, but we have got to meet at the hospital for the DNA scan at 10 o'clock, and that's only an hour away."

Hinata sighed, "On my only day off in like forever, I still have to go to the hospital." She sat up, more easily this time, since his arm on her waist wasn't holding her down.

"Come on, I'll make you some breakfast. What do you want?" He asked as he too, sat up and took her hand to lead her to the kitchen.

"Do you have any cinnamon rolls?" Hinata asked, smiling up at him.

Naruto nodded, ruffling the girls hair a little, "Yeah, okay, cinnamon rolls it is..." he searched through his cupboard, until soon enough both of them were sitting there, eating breakfast comfortably in Naruto's kitchen.

"So, what are we doing today?" Hinata asked, taking a bite out of a cinnamon roll.

Naruto quickly took a seat next to her, "Not much for us, we're just heading over to the hospital, getting the DNA scan, it takes about three hours to do the nation-wide search, to find a matching DNA, but it should be easier since we know who your mother is. And Shikamaru will be heading over to Hiashi's house so he can take him to the station under suspicion of murder." Naruto explained.

"I'm kinda worried." Hinata sighed as the two went out into Naruto's police car.

Naruto turned to her as she placed herself in the passenger seat with concerned eyes, "What are you worried about?"

She sighed, "My father. Whoever he is. I mean, what was he like? Did he do anything bad? These guys have to be after him for a reason. What if he was some sort of criminal?"

Naruto put a reassuring hand on her arm, "Don't worry about it, Hina. It doesn't matter what your father was like. You aren't a criminal, and that's all that counts. He can't be any worse than Hiashi, anyway. Besides, if he was anything like his daughter I'm sure he was amazing."

Hinata's head jerked in Naruto's direction as he said that last sentence. His hand moved to her cheek affectionately and she held it there firmly, "Thank you." She whispered, bringing his hand to her lips and kissing it gently as Naruto started to drive away.

"No worries." Naruto smiled, taking the hand that she had just kissed to bring her own delicate hand over to his mouth to return the favour.

** THE STALKED **

Soon enough, Hinata and Naruto were seated in the reception at Konoha District Hospital where they were waiting for a DNA scan.

"Hinata!! What are you doing here today?" Ino's voice was loud and broke the comfortable silence that Naruto and Hinata were in.

Hinata forced a smile at the girl, "Just a DNA scan."

"Oh," Ino typed a bit on her computer, "Well, since it's you, and the police called for it. It must be important. I'll get Shino." She pulled out the phone. "Dr Aburame. You're wanted at the reception. Thank you."

And before they knew it, Shino was making his way down the stairs. A surprised look came across the doctors face when he saw Hinata and Naruto sitting there smiling at him. So he turned to Ino, "What is it I'm wanted for? I'm on my break."

Ino smiled, "A DNA scan for Hinata."

Shino nodded and turned to Hinata, "Am I allowed to ask what is happening with you lately? I'm worried."

Hinata smiled, "It's okay, Shino. I'm fine. Just some stuff going on."

"It makes me uneasy knowing that you are around policemen all the time," He glanced over to Naruto, "It must mean something bad it going on."

Naruto smiled at the guy, "We'll look after her. Be certain about that."

Shino nodded, "I don't doubt you. Now let's go and get the DNA scan." He lead the two down quite a few hallways until the entered an unoccupied white room.

"Just a blood sample is all that is needed." Shino mused to Hinata as he picked up a needle.

Hinata caught onto his questioning gaze, and after getting a slight nod from Naruto she turned to the guy, "We need to find out who my real father is. We don't know much about what's going on, but some people are after me."

Shino nodded, Getting the blood sample from Hinata as he spoke, "I heard about the break in. Is this how it started?"

Naruto nodded. "It turns out that there are some people are after her. And we are working on finding out what is going on."

"Any clues or suspects?" Shino asked, placing the blood sample into a test tube.

"Everything we know is confidential." Naruto answered professionally, and Shino nodded knowingly.

"I have to send this down to the DNA scanners. The results will be back within 3 hours. Do what you want until then, and I'll inform you with the results when I get them." Shino smiled at them.

"Thanks Shino. It means a lot to us." Hinata hugged the man.

"I'm happy to help."

Naruto shook Shino's hand, "Thank you, Dr Aburame."

"Please, call me Shino. You're close to Hinata, and she's like a sister to me. So that makes you my brother-in-law, and I think it would be best if we addressed each other as such, Naruto." Shino nodded as he left the room, leaving Naruto gaping at him.

Hinata laughed, "Shino's very perceptive. He's really good with body language and has sharp eyes. He must've noticed something about us."

Naruto nodded, "Well, alright then. He seems like a good guy though. But let's go for a drive and get some lunch while we wait for the results."

** THE STALKED **

Hinata and Naruto had just finished lunch and were on their way to Naruto's police car when Hinata's phone rang.

"Hello?" Hinata pulled the phone out to her ear and answered it smoothly.

"Hinata, I have the results." Shino's voice was heard from the other end of the line.

Hinata glanced over to Naruto who was listening intently, "And do you have a name?"

"Kakashi Hatake."

"Umm, thanks." Hinata said, feeling awkward. She thought that maybe, knowing who he was would make her feel any better, but it was just a name. She still didn't know anything about him,  and he was her father. She thought that maybe knowing his name would make her feel like it was all over. A weight being lifted off her shoulders and she could move on. But it just held more confusion.

Her thoughts were disrupted as Shino continued to speak, "I'm sure the police can get a file on the guy and find his death certificate, so that's all I can help you with for now." Shino stated, "But if you need anything else. I'll be happy to help you."

"Thank you Shino. I'll be sure to take you up on your offer if it's necessary." Hinata smiled at the phone in her hands, "Bye."

"Talk to you later."

And she hung up.

"Did he give you a name?" Naruto asked, turning to his girlfriend.

Hinata nodded, "Kakashi Hatake."

"Kakashi Hatake..." Naruto repeated, finding something familiar about it, "I've heard that name before." Naruto decided, thinking about it intensely, "Kakashi Hatake... THAT'S IT!!" he sat up abruptly, eye's wide in realisation, "Kakashi and my dad were really good friends. I can remember Dad telling me about him." Naruto turned to Hinata, the wide grin on his face, "Your dad was a good guy, Hinata." he patted her on the back gently.

Hinata smiled when Naruto said those last words, and turned around and gave Naruto a hug. One stray tear fell down her cheek as she buried her face into Naruto's neck, it was such a relief to hear that. She's been seriously stressing over who her father might have been, if he was a good guy, and it felt like a weight had been lifted just knowing the name of him.

Naruto rubbed her back gently, "Well, now we just need to know everything we can about this guy. Let's pick up Shikamaru, I know exactly where we need to go." Naruto lead Hinata to the car.

"Are we going to your parent's house?" Hinata asked.

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, Dad knows just about everything about this Kakashi guy," He winked as he got in the car with Hinata, and drove towards the station, to pick up Shikamaru.

** THE STALKED **

"Kakashi Hatake eh?" Shikamaru stated as he took a seat in the car, quite disappointed that he was stuck in the back seat by himself. I mean, just because Naruto's girlfriend was a major part of this investigation, doesn't mean she gets special privileges. Shikamaru sighed, but then again, if it was Temari and him, the roles switched, he'd be doing the same thing. And it's not like he hasn't made Naruto sit in the back seat before anyway... Well, Temari usually kicked him out of the front seat when they were all in the car together anyway.

Shikamaru was distracted from his thoughts when Naruto spoke from the front seat, "You heard of him?"

Shikamaru nodded, mostly to himself because the other two in the car couldn't see him, "Yeah, but not much though, apparently this guy was an archaeologist, and a really good one at that too. You wouldn't believe some of the things he found while searching old ruins."

Hinata then chose to speak up, "So that's what they might want? Some of the things Kakash- er, my dad had found?" She still found it awkward calling Kakashi her father, but somehow, it felt right, Hiashi had never been much of a father to her, so it just made sense. All of the pieces of the puzzle finally starting to fall together about her life... and it took her 21 years. She sighed.

"Yeah, well, that would be my guess, we'll just talk to Minato, he's gotta know some stuff, plus, he's the retired chief of police, so at least he knows what he's talking about, and he'll know what we're looking for specifically." Shikamaru summarised as the car finally pulled up at a large house, with a pleasant garden out the front, lush grass and trees, quite the house to look at.

"Here we are." Naruto grinned, taking the keys and stepping out of the car, "Come on guys, my parents will be happy to see us all." He grabbed Hinata's hand and walked up the small stone path towards the front door, sending a joyful knock echoing through the front door.

Hinata was a little nervous, about learning about her father and meeting Naruto's parents, I mean, she was his girlfriend, and what if they didn't like her, but after a reassuring squeeze by Naruto's hand, she let out a breath. They were Naruto's parents. So if they were anything like their son, they'd be good people.

The door quickly pried open, a woman who looked a lot younger than she was stepped out, vibrant red hair and sparkling blue eyes as she caught sight of her son, "Naruto!!" She quickly engulfed him in a hug, "Sweetie!! I haven't seen you in ages. Oh, Shikamaru, you're here too!! Come in!! Come in!! Who is this gorgeous young girl you've brought with you?" She smiled, eyes glinting in excitement.

Hinata blushed at the praise, while Shikamaru answered, "This is Hinata Hyuuga, she's a part of the case we're working on, and we need to speak with Mr Namikaze."

"Shikamaru, dear, you don't have to be so formal every time we talk. We're friends now!!" the red-headed woman shook hands with Hinata, "I'm Kushina Namikaze." She smiled, before turning around, "MINATO!!!" She yelled, "WE HAVE GUESTS!! SO GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OVER HERE!!!"

About half a second later a tall blonde haired man was standing next to his wife, a large grin on his face, and Hinata was shocked at how much he looked like Naruto. His hair was a little bit longer, and he didn't have the whisker marks on his face, but other than that, and the obvious age difference, they could've been twins.

"Ah, Naruto, good to see you boy." Minato's calm and cheerful voice echoed out through the room as he patted his son on the back, "What brings you here?"

"Well, today we're all business. So can we take a seat?" Naruto asked, smiling at his father.

"Sure, come on." Minato lead the group to the dining room, and took a seat on one side of the table, his wife taking a seat next to him. Opposite to them was where Shikamaru seated himself, and both Minato and Kushina raised their eyebrows when Naruto pulled a chair out for Hinata before taking a seat himself.

"Well, I know Shikamaru, but I don't believe we've met before," Minato held his hand out over the table, to shake Hinata's, "I'm Minato Namikaze."

"Hinata Hyuuga." Hinata shook his hand gently with a small blush on her cheeks.

"Hyuuga eh? You seem a lot different to all the Hyuuga's I know." He was curious, "Oh, but there was that one Hyuuga that I met that was quite like you, oh, she was lovely, too bad she passed, fell the stairs they said. But I didn't believe it for a second..."

Hinata looked up to Minato, eyes wide in wonder, "That was my mother. Hikari, if that's who you're talking about?" Hinata asked, and after a nod from Minato, she continued, "And you're absolutely right, she didn't die by falling down the stairs."

Kushina and Minato both looked at her confusingly, waiting for her to continue. But Hinata didn't say anything else, because she knew she couldn't help but burst out into tears when she forced those words out of her mouth. Sure, she'd get used to it in time, but for now, she just wasn't going to say it.

Naruto patted her back gently, before answering the unasked question by his parents, "Hikari was murdered by Hiashi..."

Minato didn't look surprised, but he wasn't happy that his fears were confirmed, Kushina, on the other hand, was dumbfounded, "Hiashi. That bastard. And he hasn't even gone to jail. What the hell is going on?!" She yelled.

"Actually, he's been taking into questioning today, we only found out about it yesterday." Shikamaru clarified, smiling at the elderly couple he learnt to know quite well over the years.

"Yesterday?" Minato questioned, "Is that the reason you all are here today?"

"Sort of." Naruto sighed, "Well, that's only half of it."

"Well then, what's going on?"

"... She's your girlfriend isn't she?" Kushina asked out of nowhere, looking at Hinata with a smile on her face, she was suspicious when they walked straight in the door, and she had to let it out public because, she was curious.

Hinata and Naruto both blushed simultaneously, "Yes," Naruto answered, "But that's not the reason we're here."

"Well, I approve!!" She clapped her hands together happily.

"Honey, you don't even know this woman..." Minato sighed at his wife, a small smile on his face at her antics.

"Well, I knew her mother. And she is a lot like her mother, I can just tell by all the blushing and the formality. She's kind-hearted just like her mother. And I approve." She said again, this time waiting for her husband to contradict her.

Minato sighed, "Okay, fine. I'm not worried about your choice of a girlfriend anyway," He turned to Naruto, "I have trust in your choices."

Naruto sighed, "But that's not why we're here." He repeated, gaining their attention again.

"Okay, Naruto, what's so important that you came all the way here... it's not like we know anything that could help you anyway." Minato looked over at his son, a little confused as to what he would want.

Naruto sighed, "We need to know everything you know about Kakashi Hatake."

That opened Minato's eyes up, they widened miraculously as he asked, "What happened?"

Naruto's eyes flickered to Hinata, who spoke up, "It all started about a week ago. Someone came to my work asking if my mother was indeed Hikari Hyuuga. That night, two men broke into my house, went through all my belongings and left me on the floor, making a quick exit after taking my mother's diary."

"Oh my," Kushina looked over to Hinata sympathetically, "Are you alright, dear? Did they hurt you?"

Hinata smiled at the concern Kushina was giving her, "It could've been worse." Naruto let out a small growl at what 'worse' she was referring to. "I had a dislocated elbow, a split lip and bruising on my face, elbow and stomach. Nothing fatal, so I'm fine." Hinata's words didn't seem to calm the married couple much.

"How does Kakashi fit into this?" Minato asked.

"We're getting to that. It's been quite a long investigation, we've had to put lots of unanswered pieces together to get to where we are." Shikamaru answered calmly, before turning to Hinata to continue.

"Okay, so I was found on my living room floor the next morning by Temari, my best friend and Shikamaru's girlfriend. She took me to the hospital and called Shikamaru to come with his partner to investigate what happened to me. I told them that the people who broke into my house took my mothers diary, and they asked if anyone had mentioned my mother. Soon we found out that Kabuto was the person who asked who my mother was earlier the day before my house was trashed, and the night after I realised my f-Hiashi had... k-killed my m-mum...." Hinata took in a shaky breath, letting Naruto and Shikamaru, who were on either side of her, pat her on the back and reassure her concernedly, as Shikamaru continued the story.

"So, she called Naruto at about midnight, and she told us about it, and also finding out that Hiashi was not Hinata's biological father in the process. We then decided that this whole case revolved around Hinata's mystery dad." Minato had his suspicions how Kakashi fit into the story now, but kept quiet, and waited until his suspicions were true or false. "So, Naruto took Hinata to the DNA scanners, while I took Hiashi to the station, which was today, and now we came here, after finding out that Hinata's father, was in fact, Kakashi Hatake. And Naruto could remember you telling him about said person, so we are here to find out all we can about him." Shikamaru summarised the rest of the story.

"So, we need to know everything you know about Kakashi Hatake."

** THE STALKED **