Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Cliche Guide to a Classic Romance ❯ Saving The Girl Part 7- He's Not A Prince ( Chapter 19 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: IdleFlame 
Another Chapter, Yay!. . .?
Sorry don't know how long it's been since I posted the last chapter. . .
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.24.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
Another Chapter, Yay!. . .?
Sorry don't know how long it's been since I posted the last chapter. . .
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.24.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
Takara wasn’t exaggerating when she had said the tunnels weren’t far from collapsing. Small tiny pebbles and dust constantly fell from the ceiling and once in a while bigger rock fell from the walls. It had startle them all the first couple of times, thinking it was an enemy coming from behind or a trap that had been set off, but they had all quickly gotten used to it.
“N-Neji?. . . Shino?“ the group looked at the blond who spoke. His voice sounded hoarse, dry, and slurred from the lack of sleep. He looked between the two men taking a few seconds before it registered that he was being carried. No, it didn’t injure a mans pride at all when he passed out and had to be physically transported home. “Put me down, I can walk.”
Neji ignored the boys request and only glared down at him when he started struggling. “Naruto, don’t start getting in one of your hero modes, you can’t even stand properly. I doubt you could walk far on your own.”
“But Hinata and the scroll and-”
“I have the scroll. Sakura and Kiba have most likely found Hinata by now, they should be waiting right outside.” Neji said cutting him off. Naruto was a great friend and a good ninja when he set his mind on something, but he never seemed to be able to stop himself from getting loud at the most inappropriate times.
“and if their not?”
“Then I will leave you with Neji and Akamaru and I will go find them.“ Shino replied before Neji could, already planning ahead and giving out orders.
Naruto moved his head and looked up at the ceiling, growling when a few pebbles landed on his head and dust got in his eye’s. “Where are we? I don’t remember caves with falling debris!” He yelled wiping his eye’s trying to get the dirt out of them.
“Takara says that this way leads straight up to ground level and drops the chances of encounters, However the place could cave in at any time so I would suggest keeping your voice down. “ the Hyuuga said, maneuvering to the right to avoid a even more falling rocks.
“. . .Who‘s. . .Takara?” the blonde asked slowly, carefully. He felt a small timid tap on his shoulder and looked over seeing a small girl wave at him. He wondered where she came from. He waved back at the girl feeling a sharp pain in his whole arm. He clenched his teeth again. He saw the girl give him a concerned look and he gave her a sheepish smile.
He was trying to hide the pain in his voice but Neji could feel the muscles tensing from pain, however he couldn’t find anything that could have been causing the pain. He had no extreme injuries. There was the one from before, when he had ran off, but that must have healed already. So what could have been bothering him now. This was a simple case of exhaustion, he had seen Lee work him self to the point that he would pass out on the training field and wake up in hospitals because some passerby found him there two day prior. Sure there was a bit of pain from worn out muscles and fatigue. But Naruto was grinding his teeth in agony and sweating with the effort not to let his pain show.
And he was doing a horrible job.
“How long have you been in pain?”
The question was direct and caught Naruto off guard. “H-huh? I. . .I’m not. I’m fine. . .” and again he was back to defending himself “Now put me down so I can walk!”
“Really You think you can walk? Fine!” Neji stopped and set Naruto up on his feet.
Immediately Naruto felt severe pain in his legs, side, and small pains starting in his arms. His head was getting fuzzy and he grabbed on to the wall. “See. . .I’m fine.” He stated and started walking ahead, holding onto the wall.
Takara looked over at Neji, pulling his sleeve to get his attention. “If he uses the wall for support he’ll eventually grab onto some loose rock a-”
The sound of gravel shifting and someone falling. The young girl sighed, walking over to Akamaru to wait for the other to talk some sense into Naruto. She watched them argue, choosing to block out the actual words. She observed them for a while, Naruto mostly, he was in pain that was obvious, but the boy didn’t want help. Whether it was because he had a lot of pride or was worried about Hinata and didn’t want to be held back, she didn’t know.
Hinata. . .
She was worried about him. The reason she was able to brake down that door was because of him. The need to see for herself that he was okay, to see that he was alive, the need to know instead of hope and anyone that knew him would bet anything that Naruto was going through the same thing right now.
It was one of the few things the two had in common. Determination and strong will, the amazing ways they fed off of their own inner conflicts and their troubles of their friends. The way the wanted to improve themselves, even in the toughest situations like the one they were facing now, where they were both in so much pain and facing death and the only thing they were truly worried about was the other.
They both had big hearts.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It wasn’t long before Sakura, Kiba and Hinata reached home. The woman only followed them to a certain point then suddenly turned around and went back. The first thing they had done when they had gotten back was taken Hinata to the hospital. She was still there being worked on.
Tsunade sat at her desk, her own desk this time. A large stack of neglected papers to her left, a couple of signed ones to her right and a nice fancy looking pen thrown onto the desk carelessly with all the other things that had to do with work . There was a ink stain on the desk, that hadn’t been properly cleaned and the faint smell of alcohol lingered in the air, not that the empty bottle by the garbage bin wasn‘t all the evidence anyone needed that last night wasn‘t spent catching up on work.. “Ok so does anyone want to explain what happened to Hinata, where the others are and why the mission isn’t complete yet?”
Sakura stepped up first. “We’re not sure about the whole story with Hinata, we found her in the forest in that condition, there was a woman there trying to kill her. Tsunade there was something about that woman . . .She. . .” the pink haired girl stopped there, she wasn’t sure how to describe the woman in a professional manner. “well she was crazy. She talked about killing us slowly and her fighting abilities are. . .I don’t think I could take her, Kiba and I both had a problem with her, we couldn’t even keep her down more then a few seconds. I used up all my chakra in the last punch and that only stunned her for a minute. It should have taken someone’s head off. “ she added remembering the way the woman’s head turned when she delivered the blow.
Tsunade gave the girl a stern look. “You used all you chakra in one attack?”
“I had to. I knew it was risky but normal attacks weren’t working and with Hinata’s condition I didn’t want to waste anymore time. I had thrown a few good hits before hand along with Kiba, attack that should have broken bones or at least gave us openings for stronger attacks but nothing seem to effect her. She didn’t seem to run out of any chakra herself either. ”
The Hokage’s hand passed the neglected fancier pen and picked up on of the man common looking ones from the jar on the table. “Do you know if she took anything?”
Kiba looked up from his spot at the window and moved to sit on it’s ledge. “You mean Soldier Pills? We didn‘t see her take any and Hinata hadn‘t mention anything. Besides, can a pill be made so strong that it can stop bones from snapping?“ he inquired, turning his gaze from the blonde woman at the desk back to the busy streets of the village.
“I don’t remember anything like that coming from a soldier pill. It might be a jutsu or a clan trait. . .” She mutter, trying to think of what could have been going on. Going through every piece of medical and non medical information she knew trying to figure out where the woman’s strength and vitality were coming from. If this woman was really surviving such strong attacks then, surely, it could pose a problem if it wasn’t taken care of immediately.
She had couple extra ninja that would be more suited for this sort of job. Things had quieted down in the village.
Looking down at her paper she reread over the single paragraph she had written. Her reply to a letter from another village, discussing negotiation of something she could barley remember at the moment.
But it would be very irritating to summon them and go through the whole situation. Not to mention they had just gotten back from there high ranked missions. Didn’t they deserve a brake? And surely the leader of the allying village would understand if the Hokage had some urgent business to take care of. . .
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
They had made it out of the tunnel and the building all together, and were now following Akamaru who was following the scent of the other half of the team. Things would have been going a lot faster but Naruto still refused to be carried, however he had accepted the support from Neji.
“I thought the kid said that. . . Hinata was back At the cave’s . . .” Naruto mumbled annoyed looking behind them where the caves were. What was that dog doing? He wanted to get Hinata before going back, he refused to go back without her.
“Perhaps they had an emergency and went ahead.“ Neji suggested thinking about what could have happened that would have interfered with their original plan. Most likely found the girl in a bad stated and rushed her home.
Shino gave a small nod of agreement. “Something probably came up. Akamaru‘s leading us straight back to the village. We should probably follow after them as quickly as possible.”
“What About-!”
“Naruto, None of us would have left Hinata behind. You should know that by now.“ The Hyuuga boy stated, but the blonds slightly doubtful stare was a bit offending. “Would you have left Sakura behind?”
“No!”
The reply was instant, and had obviously offended the blond. Good they were all even. Neji smirked and remained silent.
Naruto was about to yell again, but stopped. He really didn’t think he had the strength to keep up with an argument, he had to focus on getting back to the village without collapsing. In a way he felt like that tunnel that they just cam from slowly crumbling, until noting was left.
Besides his mind while processing information slowly, had registered where the other was going with the conversation. He supposed it was that he viewed Sakura the same way that Kiba and Shino viewed Hinata. The three had been practically glued together since the were place on the same team as genin. Through all their victories and failures, and all their inner struggles. they had been their for each other. They had made there own small family. And Neji was family by blood, so it was almost a given that he would go after Hinata, no matter what he actually said he was going to do.
So then their was no doubt that Hiashi was doing the same, trying to find Hinata while looking for the scroll. Or rather looking for the scroll while his main focus rested on his daughter.
Naruto could have kicked himself for not thinking about it earlier. “So then Kiba and Sakura should have Hinata with them, and you have the scroll. . . The missions complete?”
“The missions not complete until The scroll is handed to the Hokage.”
Naruto, despite his state, gave the bug user a sour look. Leave it to Shino to shoot his down his happy mood. The uptight jerk. "Right. . .Wait what about Hiashi? He's still Back in that place!" Naruto shouted, attempting to turn around and go back only to be stopped by Neji who just gave a firm pull, causing the blonde to loose his footing and have to be caught by the Hyuuga.
Neji made an irritated noise that sounded something between a sigh and growl. "We can't do anything about that Naruto. None of us can stop him from doing what he wants. You need to be assisted back to the village and would only be a burden if you went back to help."
Naruto glared threateningly at the older boy out of the corner of his eye, promising a very painful trip home if he didn’t take it back.
Feeling the glare the older boy, gave the blond a halfhearted glare of his own before looking away. Admitting to himself that he might have went a little to far with that last comment. "Naruto your strong, But none of us have the authority to stop him and right now you-"
"Alright already I get it, I get it!" he yelled cutting him off. He heard it enough. They wanted him to get home so they could get him to a hospital. Apparently there was something wrong with him that he didn't know about.
Yes his body was killing him, he was in pain, his side felt like it was on fire and every time he took a step it felt like there were thousands of needles being stabbed into his side and legs. His vision was slowly getting worse, his reaction were slow, and he was tired.
But he chose to ignore it because he had more important things to worry about, He had a mission, an obligation to his village, as future Hokage. . .Then a promise he made to Hinata that they’d get that scroll back. . .
then Hinata had been taken, and he had and it had been all his fault, because he decided not to pay attention to his surroundings and focus on one guy. And he had to go after her because he had an obligation to her as a. . .a what?
No. It wasn't an obligation, there was nothing that told him that he had to go after her, he could have gone back with the others and told Tsunade. It wasn't like he took an oath like they did when they became ninja, He wasn't obligated to do anything for her. He wanted to go after her, to make sure she was safe.
He never got that worried about Sakura before, when they got separated or when she got caught by the enemy. But when Hinata got taken, it felt a lot worse. Was it because he thought Sakura was stronger and could defend herself more, or was there something else that his mind didn't bring to the surface yet. . .
And what was he to her? The obviously weren’t just friends. It was obvious that Hinata wanted something more then that. For years it had been obvious too everyone. Everyone except him. But they weren’t exactly an official couple either. . .were they?
Why was this so confusing? why couldn't he just rewind time back to that day when they had that mission Sand and ignore Sakura's threat, never ask Hinata out, and just taken the beating from her when they got home, because, Great Hokage's of the past knew she wouldn't pass up the chance to beat him into a early grave.
He was still wondering how he had lived through all the past beatings from her.
But, Even if he didn't ask Hinata out. . .would he be feeling any differently towards her now? She was still the same, timid, shy, cute, strong, determined, sweet girl she had always been. So perhaps Sakura had just quickened things a little and it would have only been a matter of time before he started feeling this way. . .started feeling. . .
Naruto felt on of his legs give out and fell, slamming face first into the dirt. Even if his mind was getting cloudy, when he placed his hands on the ground to push himself back up he noticed that the ground was starting to dry up. How long had it been since he ran off to save her?
The blonde could have laughed. He didn’t save anyone, he was the one being saved. He had woken up being carried like some woman who had fainted in an old fashioned movie. He was supposed to go after Hinata, take out some enemy ninja, and bring her back to the village in one piece. Like the prince from a story book. He was not supposed to faint, fall over and get dizzy from exhaustion and dizziness.
‘Well as long as she’s out of there and safe that‘s all I care about.’ He thought brushing himself off.
“A-are you okay?”
Looking over he saw the girl standing a couple feet away from him, looking concerned. He stood up, nodding “yeah I’m fine. I just tripped over something.” he said, laughing.
The laughter faded when he saw the disbelieving looks on everyone’s faces. He didn’t know why he kept trying to fool them. They knew that even though he was walking and laughing off things like this as clumsiness that he was really in pain and all he wanted to do was pass out again. Sighing he stood there in defeat.
“Keep moving.” Shino order after a few seconds of silence, and walked ahead with Akamaru, Takara close behind.
Neji once again supporting Naruto who decided to not cause any more problems and maybe after all this was over him and Hinata could talk about. . .well everything.
Because for something so simple, he was very confused.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Tsunade stood there at the gates, two anbu waiting patiently behind her. “Right, Sakura, remember to stay here, I need you to help out at the hospital. I’ll make sure to bring the brat and the others back here.”
Sakura nodded looking behind her at the two nameless people behind her, worriedly. “are you sure that those two are going to be enough? I mean the woman and tracking down the other shouldn’t you take a specialist or something?”
The blond woman smirked. “Trust me these two are all I need? I’ll take care off that woman, and get your friends back. Do you think I would have agreed to be Hokage if I couldn’t do something a simple as this?”
“Right. . .”
No more words where said as Sakura handed over the map and watched the older woman disappear from sight. She turned the other way and head back to the hospital.
=-=-=-=-
Hinata had woken up a little bit ago and had moved, with much difficulty, to sit in a chair by the window. One of her bandaged hands laying in her lap, the other trying to grab her cup from the small table one of the nurse had been kind enough to move next to her. She could reach the cup just fine, it was just a matter of getting her fingers to bend and keep enough strength in them to hold the cup. The combination of the raw skin and stiff bandages wasn’t allowing her to complete her task.
A hand reached out from behind her and held the cup in front of her. She looked up, seeing sakura standing there smiling. “Lady Tsunade went out to finish the mission herself and asked me to Help Shizune here.”
“I thought. . . Y-you were going back to. . .”
Sakura shook her head. “ I want to but if she’s out there, there’s no way for us to sneak back out. She’d catch us. . . Besides She‘ll bring everyone back.”
Hinata hesitantly nodded. Sakura an Kiba wouldn’t have been able to get past there Hokage without being caught and they could have gotten into a lot of trouble for not listening to her.
From what Kiba and Sakura had said, Naruto was already going to be in a lot of trouble.
Because of her. . . If she hadn’t gotten kidnapped he wouldn’t have came after her. Maybe she needed to train harder. If anything happen to him because of her, she didn’t think she could get over the guilt.
Maybe this was why Ninja weren’t supposed to show emotion on the battle field, why they weren’t usually paired up on missions. Their feelings overtook their sense of duty. Hinata should have been worried about taking out her opponent which claimed to know where the scroll was, instead, she saw that Naruto was in trouble and forgot all about the scroll. In the end she got kidnapped and cause even more problems for the mission because of it.
“Hinata. . .“ Sakura started seeing the look on the girls face. She sat the cup back on the table and sat on the ledge of the window, facing the other girl. “You know, Naruto, he. . .he would have done the same thing. If it had been you in his position, he wouldn‘t have hesitated jumping in front of the attack like that either.”
The Hyuuga glance at the pink haired girl before looking back at her hands. “ I know. It’s just. . . It’s just that Naruto’s going t-to be in a lot trouble, because of me, and I-I don’t know what I’ll do if he. . .”
“He might get into trouble, but I don’t think it’ll be anything too extreme and He’ll be fine. I bet the first thing he does when he get’s back is come and see you. ” Sakura said smiling watching the shy girl‘s cheeks take on a light pink. She giggled to herself amused. “He’ll just be happy your home and safe.”
The comment just made the girl’s blush even dark, and she tilt her head down in an attempt to hide it.
The girls sat there for a little while and talked, about the mission, Sakura telling Hinata as much as she knew. There was a short appearance from Kiba who dropped off a card and flowers from his family and after a short conversation and a few choice phrases shot back and forth between him and Sakura, promised to be back in the morning, whether the domineering harpy was there or not.
Then it wasn’t long before Sakura saw Hinata starting to doze off in her chair and her medic nature started kicking. She helped Hinata back to bed, taking care not to hurt any of her injuries and to not squeeze her hands as she guided her back to the bed. “Alright I’ll come by in the morning and check in on you, and I’ll be working here all night, so will Shizune so don’t hesitate to ask for one of us if you need any thing.” Sakura said as she went through the usual hospital routine of fixing the pillows and covering the patient up.
Hinata nodded but didn’t give any response, too close to sleep to really talk. She heard the footsteps of the other girl walk away and the door opening, the loud sounds of wheels and voices coming from the halls were heard for a few seconds before the door closed with a quiet click.
For a moment the girl opened her eyes, looking out the window. Hopefully when she woke tomorrow Naruto would be back, maybe sitting in that chair by the window, smiling and waiting for her to wake up.
“N-Neji?. . . Shino?“ the group looked at the blond who spoke. His voice sounded hoarse, dry, and slurred from the lack of sleep. He looked between the two men taking a few seconds before it registered that he was being carried. No, it didn’t injure a mans pride at all when he passed out and had to be physically transported home. “Put me down, I can walk.”
Neji ignored the boys request and only glared down at him when he started struggling. “Naruto, don’t start getting in one of your hero modes, you can’t even stand properly. I doubt you could walk far on your own.”
“But Hinata and the scroll and-”
“I have the scroll. Sakura and Kiba have most likely found Hinata by now, they should be waiting right outside.” Neji said cutting him off. Naruto was a great friend and a good ninja when he set his mind on something, but he never seemed to be able to stop himself from getting loud at the most inappropriate times.
“and if their not?”
“Then I will leave you with Neji and Akamaru and I will go find them.“ Shino replied before Neji could, already planning ahead and giving out orders.
Naruto moved his head and looked up at the ceiling, growling when a few pebbles landed on his head and dust got in his eye’s. “Where are we? I don’t remember caves with falling debris!” He yelled wiping his eye’s trying to get the dirt out of them.
“Takara says that this way leads straight up to ground level and drops the chances of encounters, However the place could cave in at any time so I would suggest keeping your voice down. “ the Hyuuga said, maneuvering to the right to avoid a even more falling rocks.
“. . .Who‘s. . .Takara?” the blonde asked slowly, carefully. He felt a small timid tap on his shoulder and looked over seeing a small girl wave at him. He wondered where she came from. He waved back at the girl feeling a sharp pain in his whole arm. He clenched his teeth again. He saw the girl give him a concerned look and he gave her a sheepish smile.
He was trying to hide the pain in his voice but Neji could feel the muscles tensing from pain, however he couldn’t find anything that could have been causing the pain. He had no extreme injuries. There was the one from before, when he had ran off, but that must have healed already. So what could have been bothering him now. This was a simple case of exhaustion, he had seen Lee work him self to the point that he would pass out on the training field and wake up in hospitals because some passerby found him there two day prior. Sure there was a bit of pain from worn out muscles and fatigue. But Naruto was grinding his teeth in agony and sweating with the effort not to let his pain show.
And he was doing a horrible job.
“How long have you been in pain?”
The question was direct and caught Naruto off guard. “H-huh? I. . .I’m not. I’m fine. . .” and again he was back to defending himself “Now put me down so I can walk!”
“Really You think you can walk? Fine!” Neji stopped and set Naruto up on his feet.
Immediately Naruto felt severe pain in his legs, side, and small pains starting in his arms. His head was getting fuzzy and he grabbed on to the wall. “See. . .I’m fine.” He stated and started walking ahead, holding onto the wall.
Takara looked over at Neji, pulling his sleeve to get his attention. “If he uses the wall for support he’ll eventually grab onto some loose rock a-”
The sound of gravel shifting and someone falling. The young girl sighed, walking over to Akamaru to wait for the other to talk some sense into Naruto. She watched them argue, choosing to block out the actual words. She observed them for a while, Naruto mostly, he was in pain that was obvious, but the boy didn’t want help. Whether it was because he had a lot of pride or was worried about Hinata and didn’t want to be held back, she didn’t know.
Hinata. . .
She was worried about him. The reason she was able to brake down that door was because of him. The need to see for herself that he was okay, to see that he was alive, the need to know instead of hope and anyone that knew him would bet anything that Naruto was going through the same thing right now.
It was one of the few things the two had in common. Determination and strong will, the amazing ways they fed off of their own inner conflicts and their troubles of their friends. The way the wanted to improve themselves, even in the toughest situations like the one they were facing now, where they were both in so much pain and facing death and the only thing they were truly worried about was the other.
They both had big hearts.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It wasn’t long before Sakura, Kiba and Hinata reached home. The woman only followed them to a certain point then suddenly turned around and went back. The first thing they had done when they had gotten back was taken Hinata to the hospital. She was still there being worked on.
Tsunade sat at her desk, her own desk this time. A large stack of neglected papers to her left, a couple of signed ones to her right and a nice fancy looking pen thrown onto the desk carelessly with all the other things that had to do with work . There was a ink stain on the desk, that hadn’t been properly cleaned and the faint smell of alcohol lingered in the air, not that the empty bottle by the garbage bin wasn‘t all the evidence anyone needed that last night wasn‘t spent catching up on work.. “Ok so does anyone want to explain what happened to Hinata, where the others are and why the mission isn’t complete yet?”
Sakura stepped up first. “We’re not sure about the whole story with Hinata, we found her in the forest in that condition, there was a woman there trying to kill her. Tsunade there was something about that woman . . .She. . .” the pink haired girl stopped there, she wasn’t sure how to describe the woman in a professional manner. “well she was crazy. She talked about killing us slowly and her fighting abilities are. . .I don’t think I could take her, Kiba and I both had a problem with her, we couldn’t even keep her down more then a few seconds. I used up all my chakra in the last punch and that only stunned her for a minute. It should have taken someone’s head off. “ she added remembering the way the woman’s head turned when she delivered the blow.
Tsunade gave the girl a stern look. “You used all you chakra in one attack?”
“I had to. I knew it was risky but normal attacks weren’t working and with Hinata’s condition I didn’t want to waste anymore time. I had thrown a few good hits before hand along with Kiba, attack that should have broken bones or at least gave us openings for stronger attacks but nothing seem to effect her. She didn’t seem to run out of any chakra herself either. ”
The Hokage’s hand passed the neglected fancier pen and picked up on of the man common looking ones from the jar on the table. “Do you know if she took anything?”
Kiba looked up from his spot at the window and moved to sit on it’s ledge. “You mean Soldier Pills? We didn‘t see her take any and Hinata hadn‘t mention anything. Besides, can a pill be made so strong that it can stop bones from snapping?“ he inquired, turning his gaze from the blonde woman at the desk back to the busy streets of the village.
“I don’t remember anything like that coming from a soldier pill. It might be a jutsu or a clan trait. . .” She mutter, trying to think of what could have been going on. Going through every piece of medical and non medical information she knew trying to figure out where the woman’s strength and vitality were coming from. If this woman was really surviving such strong attacks then, surely, it could pose a problem if it wasn’t taken care of immediately.
She had couple extra ninja that would be more suited for this sort of job. Things had quieted down in the village.
Looking down at her paper she reread over the single paragraph she had written. Her reply to a letter from another village, discussing negotiation of something she could barley remember at the moment.
But it would be very irritating to summon them and go through the whole situation. Not to mention they had just gotten back from there high ranked missions. Didn’t they deserve a brake? And surely the leader of the allying village would understand if the Hokage had some urgent business to take care of. . .
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
They had made it out of the tunnel and the building all together, and were now following Akamaru who was following the scent of the other half of the team. Things would have been going a lot faster but Naruto still refused to be carried, however he had accepted the support from Neji.
“I thought the kid said that. . . Hinata was back At the cave’s . . .” Naruto mumbled annoyed looking behind them where the caves were. What was that dog doing? He wanted to get Hinata before going back, he refused to go back without her.
“Perhaps they had an emergency and went ahead.“ Neji suggested thinking about what could have happened that would have interfered with their original plan. Most likely found the girl in a bad stated and rushed her home.
Shino gave a small nod of agreement. “Something probably came up. Akamaru‘s leading us straight back to the village. We should probably follow after them as quickly as possible.”
“What About-!”
“Naruto, None of us would have left Hinata behind. You should know that by now.“ The Hyuuga boy stated, but the blonds slightly doubtful stare was a bit offending. “Would you have left Sakura behind?”
“No!”
The reply was instant, and had obviously offended the blond. Good they were all even. Neji smirked and remained silent.
Naruto was about to yell again, but stopped. He really didn’t think he had the strength to keep up with an argument, he had to focus on getting back to the village without collapsing. In a way he felt like that tunnel that they just cam from slowly crumbling, until noting was left.
Besides his mind while processing information slowly, had registered where the other was going with the conversation. He supposed it was that he viewed Sakura the same way that Kiba and Shino viewed Hinata. The three had been practically glued together since the were place on the same team as genin. Through all their victories and failures, and all their inner struggles. they had been their for each other. They had made there own small family. And Neji was family by blood, so it was almost a given that he would go after Hinata, no matter what he actually said he was going to do.
So then their was no doubt that Hiashi was doing the same, trying to find Hinata while looking for the scroll. Or rather looking for the scroll while his main focus rested on his daughter.
Naruto could have kicked himself for not thinking about it earlier. “So then Kiba and Sakura should have Hinata with them, and you have the scroll. . . The missions complete?”
“The missions not complete until The scroll is handed to the Hokage.”
Naruto, despite his state, gave the bug user a sour look. Leave it to Shino to shoot his down his happy mood. The uptight jerk. "Right. . .Wait what about Hiashi? He's still Back in that place!" Naruto shouted, attempting to turn around and go back only to be stopped by Neji who just gave a firm pull, causing the blonde to loose his footing and have to be caught by the Hyuuga.
Neji made an irritated noise that sounded something between a sigh and growl. "We can't do anything about that Naruto. None of us can stop him from doing what he wants. You need to be assisted back to the village and would only be a burden if you went back to help."
Naruto glared threateningly at the older boy out of the corner of his eye, promising a very painful trip home if he didn’t take it back.
Feeling the glare the older boy, gave the blond a halfhearted glare of his own before looking away. Admitting to himself that he might have went a little to far with that last comment. "Naruto your strong, But none of us have the authority to stop him and right now you-"
"Alright already I get it, I get it!" he yelled cutting him off. He heard it enough. They wanted him to get home so they could get him to a hospital. Apparently there was something wrong with him that he didn't know about.
Yes his body was killing him, he was in pain, his side felt like it was on fire and every time he took a step it felt like there were thousands of needles being stabbed into his side and legs. His vision was slowly getting worse, his reaction were slow, and he was tired.
But he chose to ignore it because he had more important things to worry about, He had a mission, an obligation to his village, as future Hokage. . .Then a promise he made to Hinata that they’d get that scroll back. . .
then Hinata had been taken, and he had and it had been all his fault, because he decided not to pay attention to his surroundings and focus on one guy. And he had to go after her because he had an obligation to her as a. . .a what?
No. It wasn't an obligation, there was nothing that told him that he had to go after her, he could have gone back with the others and told Tsunade. It wasn't like he took an oath like they did when they became ninja, He wasn't obligated to do anything for her. He wanted to go after her, to make sure she was safe.
He never got that worried about Sakura before, when they got separated or when she got caught by the enemy. But when Hinata got taken, it felt a lot worse. Was it because he thought Sakura was stronger and could defend herself more, or was there something else that his mind didn't bring to the surface yet. . .
And what was he to her? The obviously weren’t just friends. It was obvious that Hinata wanted something more then that. For years it had been obvious too everyone. Everyone except him. But they weren’t exactly an official couple either. . .were they?
Why was this so confusing? why couldn't he just rewind time back to that day when they had that mission Sand and ignore Sakura's threat, never ask Hinata out, and just taken the beating from her when they got home, because, Great Hokage's of the past knew she wouldn't pass up the chance to beat him into a early grave.
He was still wondering how he had lived through all the past beatings from her.
But, Even if he didn't ask Hinata out. . .would he be feeling any differently towards her now? She was still the same, timid, shy, cute, strong, determined, sweet girl she had always been. So perhaps Sakura had just quickened things a little and it would have only been a matter of time before he started feeling this way. . .started feeling. . .
Naruto felt on of his legs give out and fell, slamming face first into the dirt. Even if his mind was getting cloudy, when he placed his hands on the ground to push himself back up he noticed that the ground was starting to dry up. How long had it been since he ran off to save her?
The blonde could have laughed. He didn’t save anyone, he was the one being saved. He had woken up being carried like some woman who had fainted in an old fashioned movie. He was supposed to go after Hinata, take out some enemy ninja, and bring her back to the village in one piece. Like the prince from a story book. He was not supposed to faint, fall over and get dizzy from exhaustion and dizziness.
‘Well as long as she’s out of there and safe that‘s all I care about.’ He thought brushing himself off.
“A-are you okay?”
Looking over he saw the girl standing a couple feet away from him, looking concerned. He stood up, nodding “yeah I’m fine. I just tripped over something.” he said, laughing.
The laughter faded when he saw the disbelieving looks on everyone’s faces. He didn’t know why he kept trying to fool them. They knew that even though he was walking and laughing off things like this as clumsiness that he was really in pain and all he wanted to do was pass out again. Sighing he stood there in defeat.
“Keep moving.” Shino order after a few seconds of silence, and walked ahead with Akamaru, Takara close behind.
Neji once again supporting Naruto who decided to not cause any more problems and maybe after all this was over him and Hinata could talk about. . .well everything.
Because for something so simple, he was very confused.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Tsunade stood there at the gates, two anbu waiting patiently behind her. “Right, Sakura, remember to stay here, I need you to help out at the hospital. I’ll make sure to bring the brat and the others back here.”
Sakura nodded looking behind her at the two nameless people behind her, worriedly. “are you sure that those two are going to be enough? I mean the woman and tracking down the other shouldn’t you take a specialist or something?”
The blond woman smirked. “Trust me these two are all I need? I’ll take care off that woman, and get your friends back. Do you think I would have agreed to be Hokage if I couldn’t do something a simple as this?”
“Right. . .”
No more words where said as Sakura handed over the map and watched the older woman disappear from sight. She turned the other way and head back to the hospital.
=-=-=-=-
Hinata had woken up a little bit ago and had moved, with much difficulty, to sit in a chair by the window. One of her bandaged hands laying in her lap, the other trying to grab her cup from the small table one of the nurse had been kind enough to move next to her. She could reach the cup just fine, it was just a matter of getting her fingers to bend and keep enough strength in them to hold the cup. The combination of the raw skin and stiff bandages wasn’t allowing her to complete her task.
A hand reached out from behind her and held the cup in front of her. She looked up, seeing sakura standing there smiling. “Lady Tsunade went out to finish the mission herself and asked me to Help Shizune here.”
“I thought. . . Y-you were going back to. . .”
Sakura shook her head. “ I want to but if she’s out there, there’s no way for us to sneak back out. She’d catch us. . . Besides She‘ll bring everyone back.”
Hinata hesitantly nodded. Sakura an Kiba wouldn’t have been able to get past there Hokage without being caught and they could have gotten into a lot of trouble for not listening to her.
From what Kiba and Sakura had said, Naruto was already going to be in a lot of trouble.
Because of her. . . If she hadn’t gotten kidnapped he wouldn’t have came after her. Maybe she needed to train harder. If anything happen to him because of her, she didn’t think she could get over the guilt.
Maybe this was why Ninja weren’t supposed to show emotion on the battle field, why they weren’t usually paired up on missions. Their feelings overtook their sense of duty. Hinata should have been worried about taking out her opponent which claimed to know where the scroll was, instead, she saw that Naruto was in trouble and forgot all about the scroll. In the end she got kidnapped and cause even more problems for the mission because of it.
“Hinata. . .“ Sakura started seeing the look on the girls face. She sat the cup back on the table and sat on the ledge of the window, facing the other girl. “You know, Naruto, he. . .he would have done the same thing. If it had been you in his position, he wouldn‘t have hesitated jumping in front of the attack like that either.”
The Hyuuga glance at the pink haired girl before looking back at her hands. “ I know. It’s just. . . It’s just that Naruto’s going t-to be in a lot trouble, because of me, and I-I don’t know what I’ll do if he. . .”
“He might get into trouble, but I don’t think it’ll be anything too extreme and He’ll be fine. I bet the first thing he does when he get’s back is come and see you. ” Sakura said smiling watching the shy girl‘s cheeks take on a light pink. She giggled to herself amused. “He’ll just be happy your home and safe.”
The comment just made the girl’s blush even dark, and she tilt her head down in an attempt to hide it.
The girls sat there for a little while and talked, about the mission, Sakura telling Hinata as much as she knew. There was a short appearance from Kiba who dropped off a card and flowers from his family and after a short conversation and a few choice phrases shot back and forth between him and Sakura, promised to be back in the morning, whether the domineering harpy was there or not.
Then it wasn’t long before Sakura saw Hinata starting to doze off in her chair and her medic nature started kicking. She helped Hinata back to bed, taking care not to hurt any of her injuries and to not squeeze her hands as she guided her back to the bed. “Alright I’ll come by in the morning and check in on you, and I’ll be working here all night, so will Shizune so don’t hesitate to ask for one of us if you need any thing.” Sakura said as she went through the usual hospital routine of fixing the pillows and covering the patient up.
Hinata nodded but didn’t give any response, too close to sleep to really talk. She heard the footsteps of the other girl walk away and the door opening, the loud sounds of wheels and voices coming from the halls were heard for a few seconds before the door closed with a quiet click.
For a moment the girl opened her eyes, looking out the window. Hopefully when she woke tomorrow Naruto would be back, maybe sitting in that chair by the window, smiling and waiting for her to wake up.