I do not own Naruto or any of its characters...though I definitely would like to...

Uzumaki's Angel

Inspired off a fan art selection

Naruto grasped his injured arm as he stared at the ground, his eyes cold and hard at Orochimaru's dead and mangled form. He looked to the side and smiled slightly, seeing Sasuke and Sakura unconscious nearby, tangled in each other's arms. They too were heavily injured and he knew that they all needed medical attention within the next few hours or…

Naruto summoned what little strength the barely conscious demon inside him had left. Kyuubi snorted and grunted in fatigue, "Must we actually carry them back? That snake summoner took a lot more out of us than I first imagined…" Naruto nodded and ran over to his fallen comrades. Hefting one over each shoulder, he dashed into the woods, the sound of the wind whistling behind him…

By the time he arrived at the hospital in Konoha, the rest of his academy allies had arrived, hearing news of Orochimaru's defeat from Jiraiya. Naruto burst through the doors and gently placed Sakura and Sasuke on stretchers that had already been brought out. He looked up and saw his friends, all staring at him in mingled awe and horror. He followed their gazes to his arm, which he now found was bleeding heavily from the strain of carrying his teammates. Hinata Hyuuga walked forward and knelt down beside him, cringing when her touch cause him to flinch with pain. "It's nothing really…just a…flesh…wound…"

Naruto's vision swan in his head and he fell to the floor, and before the darkness overtook him, he could barely see Hinata kneeling over him, yelling out his name, "Naruto-kun! Hold on Naruto-kun! Hold on…please don't go…"

Hinata paced about the waiting room in a nervous frenzy. When Naruto had been taken in to the ER, he was announced in critical condition and getting worse. A doctor finally emerged and she was the first to confront him, "W-what's going on? I-is he going to be…"

The doctor said, "It's…complicated. His wound is rather deep; he seems to have been cut by a very sharp blade. And samples of his blood show that there must have been some foreign poison on the blade, we're trying to isolate it and remove it from his system…but things aren't looking good. We're doing all we can…"

Hinata felt as if somebody had dunked her in ice. He couldn't die, he just couldn't…Naruto was strong, no trick of Orochimaru would be enough to destroy him…

Unfortunately the doctors thought otherwise. Hinata snapped back to reality when she heard a ruckus coming from the nearby room…the room Naruto was in. Without thinking, she rushed inside and pushed back the doctors and medical ninja, tears flowing freely upon seeing Naruto still before her. A doctor made to remove her, "Miss Hyuuga-sama! This patient is still in operation, you have to…" He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Kakashi Hatake turned him around and said, "Just give her a minute. I think this might prove helpful…to both of them."

Hinata cried into Naruto's chest, already bandaged heavily and still not moving. "Naruto-kun…you can't go…don't leave me here, please! Naruto-kun…I…I love you…"

Inside Naruto's mind, the Kyuubi listened to the sobbing girl in shock. He looked upon his injured host, on the brink of death, and for the first time…he felt pain. Not physical, but emotional, heart-wrenching sadness. "This girl…she doesn't care that the boy has me inside him…what kind of marvelous creature can accept that in a person? This isn't right…Naruto, you can't do this to her. You're going to pull out of this, right now…"

The still heart monitor on Naruto's bedside suddenly awoke again. The endless buzzing finally became a beep…then two…and steadily, they increased until his heart once again beat at a stable rate. A medical ninja placed a finger to his throat, "My god…he has a pulse! He's coming back!" The seal on Naruto's stomach began to glow brightly. From it sprang a flow of fire red chakra, forming the shape of a head…with yellow eyes and sharp teeth. It gave off a growl that seemed to shake the walls, and it disappeared, leaving behind a puddle of some sickly green substance on the floor…the poison.

"I don't know what just happened, but Naruto just isolated and expelled the poison in his systems…while he was unconscious." The doctors murmured in awe as they left with Kakashi to get more supplies, and Hinata's hand moved to Naruto's face, to stroke his cheek gently. His hand suddenly whipped up and grabbed hers as she delicately touched his rough skin. He gave a gasping breath and his eyes shot wide open. "N-Naruto-kun! Y-you're alive!"

Naruto relaxed once again as his eyes found Hinata's. "Hinata-chan…what're you…what're you doing here?" Hinata made to respond, but Naruto's grip weakened. He sighed and stammered, "Kyuubi drained his energy…and mine…to save me…so tired…need…sleep…Hinata…I…I lo-…"

Naruto passed out of consciousness once again, just as a doctor returned with more bandages. "Miss Hyuuga-sama, I assure you he will be alright. He just needs to rest, now if you could wait outside as I change his bandages, you'll be allowed to see him again tomorrow morning." Hinata stammered, "But I…I want to stay, I need to protect him….p-please don't make me go." The doctor sighed and made to take Hinata's arm, but was once again interrupted as Hokage Tsunade entered the room. "That will not be necessary Hiroshi. Hinata-sama is more than welcome to stay by Naruto-sama's bedside, it is, after all, her new mission."

Hinata and the doctor looked equally confused. "I will take care of his bandages, Hiroshi, you'll find my assistant outside with some papers for you to sign, if you'll do that. I must speak with Hinata-sama." The doctor bowed and left, not uttering another word.

"T-Tsunade-sama…why am I…" Tsunade smiled and said, "Hinata, I know how you feel about our little friend here. I am hereby assigning you this new mission. I want you to see that our hero recovers completely and to not leave his side until he is the old, bratty little ball of energy that we know him as." Hinata smiled and said, "A-arigato, Tsunade-sama…I accept." Tsunade and Hinata went on to tend to Naruto's wounds as he slept silently, a peaceful expression on his face.

A dull pain throbbed in Naruto's head for a moment. He groaned in his sleep and could hear a voice talking softly…it sounded so warm…so inviting…he suddenly felt calm and at ease as his consciousness slowly began to return. "Uhhh….where…where am I?"

"You're in the hospital at Konoha. You got here last night."

"Sakura…Sasuke…where are they?"

"They're all okay. They've been treated for their wounds and are recovering now."

"Who…who are you?"

"It…i-it's me…Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes slowly creaked open in response to the stutter, the one he had heard so many times before. His crystal blue eyes opened and stared directly into the pale lavender eyes of the angel bent above him.

"Hina…Hinata-chan? Is…that you?" Hinata grasped his hand and said, "Yes, it's me Naruto-kun." Naruto finally got a good look at her and fought to keep a blush from entering his face. She was extremely close to him, and dressed…differently. Hinata was normally very shy, but the lavender tank top and flowing, thin pj pants she wore were anything but. She noticed his gaze and blushed slightly. "Ne…Neji-sama woke me up when he brought news of your victory, I had no time to change, so I came as I w-was."

Naruto nodded and forced his eyes off of Hinata's body and back to her face. She seemed to have grown into quite the woman…Naruto felt slightly warmer and coughed nervously. "I'm j-just so glad you're alright…" She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, gaining a slight gasp of pain from Naruto. "Sorry…guess that part is still sore. Speaking of, everything is sore…"

Hinata pulled back slightly and got a very mysterious look in her eyes. Naruto felt very puzzled, he had never seen Hinata looking at him like this before. "W-well Naruto-kun…is there anything that doesn't hurt?" he was impressed at how she was keeping her stuttering down to a minimum. "Well…my limbs hurt, my chest and back hurt…I think the only thing that doesn't hurt is my chin, but that'll do me ­sooo much good." Naruto chuckled at himself, in truth, his chin probably was the only thing that wasn't sore.

Hinata smiled slightly and leaned in closer. Her eyes fluttered closed and she gently pressed her soft, trembling lips against Naruto's chin. As soon as he felt her lips connect with his skin, he flushed an impressive shade of red, and his mouth opened slightly in shock.

Hinata kept on softly kissing his chin, and he couldn't help but think, "Curse it all, I must be dreaming again! Darn you Jiraiya, you seem to be rubbing off on me…wait a second…this…isn't a dream!"

Naruto's shifted his eyes and he flushed even more. Hinata's slim, curvy body was pressed against his, and yet surprisingly he didn't feel it in his sore chest or muscles. In fact…he found the new pressure from her body as something exhilarating, something he had never felt before.

He got the idea she was playing on and stammered, "I-I t-think my forehead is actually pretty good too, it doesn't seem to hurt that much..." Hinata smiled warmly and her lips pressed against his forehead, laying a line of soft kisses across his bangs. "And my ear, it seems healed…" Hinata gently tugged at his earlobe with a kiss or two. Naruto felt his temperature shoot up, and was suddenly very aware of the subtle details of Hinata's body. She smelled of a fresh forest…pine and roses seemed to mix in her entrancing scent. He seemed to notice every single line and curve along her body, not having much choice as all those curves were currently pressed up against him. She had definitely matured while he was away with Jiraiya…in more than one way, he anxiously noted.

She pulled back and Naruto could've sworn that she purred. She softly asked, "Anywhere else, Naruto-kun?"

He looked hesitant for a second, but slowly pointed a finger to his lips, his eyes locked with hers and not moving for anything. Hinata moved in slowly, finding it hard to breathe as well. Their eyes stayed locked as their lips brushed together softly. Naruto's arms arose and one took Hinata by the waist, pulling her tighter against his body, deepening the kiss gradually. His other gently played with her hair, he smiled hearing her moan softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and complied with his motions, turning the soft kiss much more passionate as time worn on.

They eventually broke apart for need of air, though neither one seemed to move very quickly. Naruto's eyes opened once again and he felt overwhelmed. Hinata, little shy Hinata…soft, delicate, gorgeous Hinata was still on top of him, gazing at him with such love in her eyes. "Hinata-chan…is there something you want to tell me?"

Hinata blushed and said, with only a slight stutter, "Naruto-kun…I l-love you." Naruto felt his heart begin to race and his spirit begin to soar. "Hinata…I love you too."

Hinata's eyes grew wide, and tears of joy began to fall from her eyes as she leaned in for another kiss. They would've kept going had a cough not sounded from the door.

They instantly sat up where they were and found Tsunade, looking mildly impressed and rather pleased with herself. "I'm sorry, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" They both blushed furiously and both looked at each other with a frightened glance. "Tsunade-sama…we d-didn't hear you come in." Tsunade chuckled and said, "Yeah, I wonder why? Naruto, I have to admit it is good to see you awake again. You had us worried last night." Naruto brought back his trademark grin and said, "Yeah, it'll take a lot more than a set of poison snake fangs to keep this jonin down."

Tsunade smiled and said, "And that is exactly why I am stepping down as Hokage tomorrow." Hinata and Naruto both looked at her with incredulous stares. "I suppose I should explain. Naruto, when you saved us from Orochimaru last night, you proved that you are capable of protecting this village with your bare hands, should you need to. You have grown into a model young man over the past few years, and I feel safe leaving Konoha in your care. It isn't official till tomorrow, but Naruto Uzumaki, please rise."

Naruto got to his feet with Hinata still supporting him by his left arm. "I hereby place the title of Rokudaime Hokage to you. Please accept in all honor and humility, as your predecessors have done before you."

Naruto bowed and said, "I humbly accept your offer, Tsunade-sama." She smiled and turned to leave, saying, "Oh, I'll be sure to tell the others to give you two some privacy for a bit. Nice work, Hinata."

They both blushed as Tsunade closed the door. Naruto looked down to his chest and felt…healed. He ripped off his bandages and found his scars completely gone. Hinata blushed, seeing his finely toned chest minus the battle damage.

Naruto looked at Hinata and smiled slyly. "Well, she did say we would get privacy. I intend to use it." Hinata looked at him wild eyed, but soon smiled and giggled as Naruto flipped out from under his sheets and onto her, effectively pinning her under him, just as she had done to him five minutes ago. "N-Naruto kun! I thought y-you were…"

Hinata forgot quite happily what she was going to say as Naruto pulled their bodies together and pressed his lips against her neck in a searing kiss. Eventually his lips worked up to hers and they kissed each other senseless the rest of the day…at least, until Neji, Ten-Ten, Lee, and Kiba walked in on them three hours later. '