I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto Masashi does.
Naruto watched as Pain nonchalantly put out his left hand and a wave of concussive force was blasted at Shima, sending her flying into the side of the huge crater.
"Noisy frog."
Anger coursed through him, and he looked back at the man, trying with all his might to struggle against the chakra receivers embedded in his body. He barely moved a fraction, but the foreign chakra seemed to react to his attempts to escape, and gave him small painful shocks. Shima's last words were lost in the rush.
"Bastard!"
Pain turned slowly to him, his arm still outstretched.
The moment seemed to last forever, those eerie eyes piercing into him, the perfect concentric circles dizzying. The bright orange hair was a contrast to the darkness of Pain's clothing, a contrast to his very nature.
To Naruto, orange had always been a symbol of his defiance against society, against giving in to the hateful remarks and the constant hatred. Before this fight had begun, orange had been important to him. He had worn it to show that he would not give in, that he would never bow down to his fate. He would fight it to his last breath. Orange showed that he would not be ignored, that he would not hide from anything or anyone. That no matter what obstacles life threw at him, whether it be emotional drama, impossible fights or soap - he would triumph. Orange uplifted his spirits, showed him that things would always get better, get brighter. If Naruto admitted it, orange had gotten him though his childhood.
Before this fight, orange had been hope.
Now, as he stared at the colour atop Pain's head, he had never felt more sick.
It was childish and stupid, but in his heart, it felt like orange had betrayed him. The colour that had always been there when others came and went, when people let him down, when he really felt like he was the muck at the bottom of the pile - the luminous colour had pulled him out of his funk and inspired him to suck it up; because no one was going to help him. The only thing he could rely on was a colour and himself - who cared if it was weird to invest this much emotion in a colour anyway? It was nonsense, but he couldn't help it.
Now, he was faced with the undeniable fact that orange no longer represented his hopes and dreams. It no longer carried the burden of his many feelings.
... What was he supposed to rely on now? His beloved sensei was dead, so were probably most of his friends, the village still hated his guts, he had no parents, and the only other thing that had been there the whole time, that damned fox in his stomach, was the instigator of all of his hardship.
Everyone's life has a perennial truth, one that haunts them from the minute they're born until the second of their death. Jiraiya-sensei's had been his faith in humanity - the man had called it his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He had believed that anyone person can change their nature, if only they have the motivation to do so.
At that moment as Pain opened his mouth to speak, Naruto was sure he knew that his truth was.
"It's time for us to go now."
He clenched his teeth and almost shook in anger, at the Akatsuki leader, at the man who had torn apart his carefully composed barriers. Naruto wasn't sure what he resented more. What the man had done to the village, or what he had caused the blond to do.
Pain had forced Naruto to face himself.
The pupils expanded within the Rinnegan, and reluctantly in what he was sure was his last seconds, Naruto murmured the words quietly to himself.
"I have nothing."
Naruto felt Pain's chakra as it began to fluctuate, and took as deep a breath as he could.
This was it.
Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps echoed in the crater. Naruto's eyes widened.
'Who..?'
A figure leapt into the air behind Pain, and the breath Naruto had been holding rushed out in astonishment. Was that...?
"Ha!" She came back down to the ground, and her fist collided with the ground where Pain had been standing. Said man had jumped back from the impact.
When the smoke cleared, Naruto looked up at the woman who was standing at his side, her gaze fixed determinedly on her opponent. His mind ran over the current events frantically, and he inhaled sharply at her next words.
"I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto-kun!" Her voice was loud and clear, the words showing her resolution to stick to them.
Pain's dull reply was almost drowned out in Naruto's worry. She would be slaughtered!
"Reinforcements, hm?"
"Hinata, why'd you come here? Get away quickly! You're no match for-"
"I know." Her voice was softer, and he knew she was talking only to him. "I'm just being... selfish..."
Naruto tried once again to move, and he hissed at the answering shocks. She had to get out of here now!
"What are you talking about? Don't put yourself in danger like this!"
"I'm here because I want to be." The blond who was trapped on the ground kept trying to struggle, doing his best to ignore the steadily worsening shocks. She couldn't stay here! She was Hinata, she couldn't be hurt!
'Wait, what?'
She began to speak against, and this time her voice was louder, reaching Pain. From his limited perspective, he could see her fists tighten.
"This time... I'm going to save you, Naruto-kun! I used to always cry and give up before even trying something... I made the wrong choices so many times! But you... you showed me the right way - because of your determination, I took the correct path! I was always chasing you... I wanted to catch up with you, to walk beside you all the time! I wanted to stay at your side!"
Naruto jaw was trembling in some foreign emotion as he continued to look up at the woman who was defending him, her words reaching some unknown depths within himself. Did she... really mean them...?
He heard her take a deep breath as she kept her stare fixed firmly on Pain.
"You changed me, Naruto-kun. Your smile saved me from myself." She began to shout, and her knuckles began to turn white. "That is why I am not afraid to die... if it means I can protect you!"
Time seemed to freeze, and he watched as her head turned slowly towards him, and he was met with a facial expression he had never before seen on her face.
"Hinata..."
"Because... I love you!"
His heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't remember to blink. She was smiling the widest smile he had ever seen, her lilac eyes burning with a fiery protectiveness that could consume all those who gazed upon it. He looked at her pleadingly, as if petitioning a goddess whom held his life in her gentle hands.
'Get out of here, Hinata... please...'
Her smile gained a sorrowful twist, and she shook her head minutely, before jerking back around to face Pain, and sliding back into a Gentle Fist stance. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, and she pursed her lips.
Naruto watched helplessly as a chakra conductor rod found its way into Pain's hands, and Hinata's Byakugan activated to its greatest potential. He couldn't let this happen, he couldn't! She had just... confessed that she loved him, he could not let her die now! No, he had to protect Hinata from Pain, even at the cost of his own life. Because she had pledged herself to him, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if-
'NO! I have to get free now! But these damned chakra rods! Gah! Hinata!'
"Hinata please, get out of here! I'll be fine! Just go!" His brow furrowed and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead when she ignored him completely.
He heard her grind her teeth together, before spinning on the spot and snapping the chakra rod that was buried in his left side with a powerful kick. He gasped in shock laced with a jolt of pain, and before he could react further or she could destroy another, she was blasted away from him. He heard her tumble across the dirt, and the few shrieks that escaped.
Naruto groaned in a combination of an increase in the intensity of the shocks, growing frustration, and the effort to remain silent. He couldn't give Pain any more reason to harm her.
Once again, he heard her running towards him, and once again she was forced away by a gravity burst. This time her cries were underlined with more pain, and as she flew over his head, he shouted out in alarm.
"Hinata!"
She landed roughly, her body rolling uncontrolled away from him, before she skidded to a stop lying on her side. Pain walked slowly to stand in front of him, and through the man's legs, he could see her push herself up, a thin stream of blood running down her face.
He was so close to screaming in resentment; as no matter what he did, he couldn't move a fraction. He neededto help her! She needed to be saved, he couldn't let her die like this! Because Pain would kill her, and he would take Naruto anyway - Hinata wasn't allowed to die so pointlessly.
She just had to stay alive! Because she meantsomething. Hyuuga Hinata meant something - and he demanded the time to figure out exactly what.
He would be damned if Pain took that time away from him.
Hinata stood up tall, and focussed all her energy into her fists. Naruto had to blink a few times as blue chakra seeped out of them and licked up her arms like flames - and two lion heads with glowing eyes formed around her hands. Energy seemed to beat in the air around her.
He hadn't known she had gotten so strong. If she hadn't been in a crater in comparison with Pain and himself, he would have called her powerful.
"Gentle Step - Twin Lion Fists!"
She ran at Pain, attacking him viciously. The blond pinned to the ground kept his eyes fixed on the one-sided dance, Hinata swiping at Pain as the Akatsuki leader dodged every single one of her attacks. Naruto felt the hope in his chest fall slightly, there was no hope of Hinata winning this battle, and he couldn't help her.
She landed a hit directly to Pain's face. Naruto's mouth fell open, and he caught her eyes as she spun. She looked as surprised as he felt, but she didn't hesitate as her opponent was dazed. She sprang towards him, and cleaved out another chakra rod that had been sticking from his left calf. He winced at the sharp pain, and felt the air swirl around them as she pulled back her blazing fist to deliver another blow.
Something caught his eye.
"NO-"
She screamed as she was thrown high into the air, her technique vanishing and blood running from her forehead and her nose. She reached the peak of her ascent, and Naruto's heart burned in terror as she plunged back down to earth, her entire body lax.
"HINATA!"
Her impact brought up a cloud of dust, and when it cleared, he could see her lying motionless with her back to him. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't be!
Then, he saw her move. The relief nearly killed him. Until he saw what she was doing.
She was pushing herself up, despite her shaking body, before she collapsed to the ground again. She tried once more to get up, and this time succeeded. Naruto could do nothing but look on with helplessly as she fought against her injuries, limping towards and clutching her side.
How could she keep going? How did she still have the strength?
She suddenly tripped and landed hard on her face. Naruto strained against his restraints, before giving up again. The urge to run to her was unbelievable.
He could see her exhaustion as she once again forced herself up.
'She would go this far... forme...'
He almost cried out as she fell to the ground again, her limbs shaking uncontrollably, a second trickle of blood forging a path along her jawline. He couldn't believe it as she hauled her weary body up again. God, she couldn't go any more. She had to stop.
"Stop."
He turned his head away and closed his eyes in bitterness. She kept coming, and she kept getting hurt. Everyone got hurt because of him. It was his fault.
"Don't come, Hinata."
She was a few feet away from him when she fell, and this time, he knew she wouldn't get back up. However, he shouldn't have doubted her stubbornness that in those moments, rivalled his own. She began to use her arms, pulling herself along the ground.
He could feel the water welling up in his eyes as he just couldn't look anymore, God damn it! He put his face to the ground.
Each of her gasps and sounds of pain stabbed him individually, and if a god had given him an opportunity to save her, he would have done anything. He would have sold his soul in those few seconds to make her lose consciousness - because if she wasn't awake, she wasn't a threat. He yearned for her to just stop, if he could, he would hold her down himself. Anything for her to stop coming towards him.
'Please.'
He started when he felt small cold fingertips brush his trapped hands, and watched as she held on tightly to the chakra rod, using it to heave herself to her knees.
He vaguely heard Pain begin to speak in the background, but he didn't comprehend the words as the woman who had just told him she loved him peered at him through her long hair. Her eyes were pained and her focus seemed off. She probably had a severe concussion, and the evidence of her injuries only made Naruto's self loathing grow.
"Hinata... stop. Please, stop."
"Why fight me?!" Pain's words caused Naruto to glance towards the man, before he felt him send a wave of chakra through the conductors, and Hinata's breaths began to rasp. They had reached their target.
"Why would someone as weak as you fight me... knowing that you'll die?" The elder man seemed so genuinely curious, it was repulsive. Naruto couldn't take it any more. He pushed his face to the ground, and ignored the small droplets of salt water that ran down his nose.
Naruto didn't think he knew what love was.
It was a feeling that had eluded him through all of his childhood and its distinct lack of a presence had followed him into his adult life. He didn't know familial love, having had no parents to shower it upon him. The closest he had ever had was Sarutobi-jiji, and that was only the occasional love of a grandfather.
He had a brotherly bond with Konohamaru, but it was still relatively new. He couldn't trust the boy to support him, because he wouldn't inflict his problems on the genin who hadn't experienced much of life yet. He had thought he had a brother in Sasuke, until he had been violently betrayed.
No matter how close he was to Kakashi-sensei, it never felt quite right, like the older man was hiding something. He had tried, of course, but nothing had come of it. The blond now understood that was the price of being a shinobi - the trust of a family would never come easily.
When it came to romantic love, Naruto as a child had thought he understood. He had thought the feelings he had towards Sakura was love, and for years, that was what he had stood by. Naruto loved Sakura. It was a given thing. He forgave her rudeness and overlooked her faults, until she, who he thought he loved, was nothing like her true self. It hadn't been real love. He had realised this not long after the beginning of his training trip with Jiraiya-sensei - and so while he would always carry fond feelings for the pink haired girl, he moved on. As his teenage years had passed, he had trained, had crushes, and learned the 'art of women' from his sensei. But there had never been a time when he had seriously contemplated love, and what it entailed.
When the Akatsuki had began obsessively hunting him, he hadn't ever thought he would experience it. But it hadn't been much of a loss, because he didn't know what he was missing. You can't desperately want something unless you've had a taste of it.
But now... Naruto didn't think he was in love, but he knew, if he never got to have somethingwith Hinata, that he would regret it for the rest of his life. All of that potential for something more, wasted.
He could feel the chakra rod move slightly as she tried with all her strength to pull it out.
"I stand... by what I say..." Naruto looked back up at her, his pupils twitching and his cheeks wet. Weren't they...
"Because... that's my... nindo..."
Those were his own words, spoken so long ago. Had she loved him for so long?
She seemed to float upwards slowly, like an angel, her eyes closing under the momentum. The wind roared past his ears, and he couldn't hear a thing as she vanished out of his sight.
The next thing he knew, she crashed to the ground in front of Pain's feet, the stones and dirt underfoot crumbling in the impact.
His jaw locked as a beam of light reflected off the metal rod in Pain's hand, and his warped mind couldn't make the connection between what was happening and actually processing it.
There was a loud squelch, and all was silent.
Naruto couldn't stop. He couldn't stop looking at her still form. It was like she had become gravity itself, and his eyes hadn't a hope of resisting. He just...
Pain had just... killed Hinata.
Hinata was dead.
How had this happened - no, how could he have let this happen?
He had let that monster lay a hand on her, and now she lay lifeless at his feet, like some kind of sick trophy.
"It was just like this, when my parents were killed right before my eyes by Konoha shinobi. Out of love..."
Blood crawled slowly through the small cluster of rocks at Hinata's back, pooling and glistening under the sunlight.
"Sacrifice is born. Hate is born, and we are able to know pain."
Naruto's lip trembled, and his eyes burned when the impassive Rinnegan user looked right at him. Something indescribably hot rose from deep in his abdomen, eating away at him from the inside out like the relentless hunger of acid. His teeth almost cracked under the pressure, and he could feel himself shaking.
"Do you hate me now?"
Something snapped, and a storm surge of utter fury exploded out of the pores in his skin. Ribbons of crimson swallowed his very being, and the last thing he saw was the corpse of the woman who had loved him and died for him.
He wailed, then the rage engulfed him, and nothing remained.
Naruto stood tall on the top of the boulders, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened.
He had almost gone nine tails. He had almost unleashed the fox. He had met his father. His father was the Fourth Hokage. He had learned that Pain was not the true leader of the Akatsuki. There was a greater mastermind behind the scenes. His seal had been restored. He had his father's faith. His shadow clone had just dispelled, sending him the last of the sage chakra.
Hinata was dead. His eyes closed in grief, before he was yanked back to reality again by the crashing of the rocks around him and the squeamish sensation of a slug sliding out of his collar.
Katsuyu's gasping breaths were heard, and he looked at her curiously.
"I thought I was going to die!" The slug flopped over his shoulder, before something caught his attention. He looked to the left, and could see grey smoke billowing into the sky.
"What? That's where the village is. What happened?"
"You did it, Naruto-kun, when you gave over to the Kyuubi."
Naruto's breath stuck in his throat, and an image of Hinata lying dead on the ground flashed into his mind. He had essentially killed her, and now he had done the same to his other precious people? He... was a murderer...
"I-I destroyed Hinata and the people of the village?"
He gripped his jacket tightly, trying to exert some stress on the durable fabric, without success. He really was a monster. He had... dear God...
Then, something scattered across his awareness, like the skittish footsteps of a squirrel. Reaching out instinctively with the sage chakra, he locked onto something incredibly welcome. Naruto could not remember a time when he had ever felt so relieved. She was- Hinata was-
"She's alive! I can sense Hinata's chakra!" Happiness rushed through him, and he bowed his head.
"I was worried, but no casualties resulted from your attacks. It was pure luck."
The blond shinobi sagged slightly, his posture relaxing as he absorbed what Katsuyu was saying.
"Thank God. What a relief."
Before he knew it, tears were pouring down his cheeks. The comfort the statement brought was beyond describing. He hadn't harmed anyone. He hadn't killed anyone. Hinata was alive.
In that moment, everything was glorious.
He wiped away the water, sniffed loudly, and strengthened his stance. Pain was standing not too far away from him, his Akatsuki cloak half ripped off. He couldn't help the sudden flood of hatred that embraced his heart.
"It's time to settle this." Pain's voice contained just as much emotion as it always had. If Naruto didn't know any better, he would think the man hadn't been affected at all.
Idly, he sensed when his friends reached Hinata, and the flare of healing chakra in that area. She would be alright. And Pain would never harm her again.
He began to leap nimbly down to the ground.
'Yes, it is.'
"Are you going?"
"Yes."
"Then let's call for reinforcements!"
"... No..."
/
"Do you hate me? Now that you see me before you... you want your revenge, don't you?"
"If you kill Nagato and get your revenge, it won't change anything! It'll only make you feel better!"
/
"I can't forgive you! Even now I want to kill you so badly I can't stop trembling!"
/
"Ero-Sennin told me that a day would come when everyone would be able to truly understand each other."
/
"... Now I understand what he meant. It's not that easy."
/
"I will break the curse. If there's such a thing as peace, I will find it. I won't give up!"
/
"I... will believe in you... Uzumaki Naruto."
/
"Samsara of Heavenly Life."
/
"This time... I hope for you that these will be flowers of hope that will never die."
"Good job."
He let out a small 'oof' as his chin hit Kakashi's shoulder, and his sensei's gloved hands lifted him onto his back. His muscles felt cramped and sore, and Naruto doubted he had ever felt so exhausted. His mind ached along with his body, the knowledge and the suffering he had both gone through and learned about was confusing and very nearly overwhelming.
Pain, no, Nagato wasn't the man he had thought he was, neither was the blue haired woman, Konan. Things weren't so clear cut, evil Akatsuki members - the fight hadn't been as black and white as it had been at the beginning. Nagato had decided to put his faith into Naruto, as had Konan, choosing to resurrect those who had died at his hands. Nagato hadn't been evil, just misguided and troubled. He had been doing exactly what Naruto was; trying to create a peaceful world, he had just been going the wrong way about it.
Something his father had said to him came to mind. Peace was going to be a hard thing to obtain as long as shinobi existed. In fact, it would never truly exist as long as there were people trained to fight and kill. However, that didn't mean he was going to give up. If he couldn't make true peace, he would get as close as he could. Naruto supposed that was all anyone was trying to achieve. Maybe not perfection, but as good as. He would do it for his friends, for the friends who had become his family, and for his village - and no one, not even that masked freak, was going to stop him.
He'd like to see them try.
"Kakashi-sensei..."
"Just hold on." Naruto didn't think he had ever been so happy to hear the deliberate impassive droll of his sensei.
The piggy back seemed to last forever, but Naruto wasn't in a rush. He was happy just to be in the presence of someone who came to get him - someone who cared. He couldn't understand why he had believed that crap Pain had been spouting, that no one was there, that he was alone. Because he wasn't - he had all of the people around him. They would always be there if he needed them; he could rely on them.
He had family.
The only downside was that it took Hinata almost dying for him to see that.
Hinata. He wondered if she was completely healed yet, but decided, with a slight wince, that Sakura would never have let one of their year mates wait with injuries any longer that absolutely necessary. The pink haired woman was a force of nature, and it would take someone strapping her down with a chakra seal and leather bands to stop her. That was good.
Naruto had conflicting feelings when he thought about Hinata. There was something indescribably sweet that thrummed in his chest, a pleasant warmth that he was tentative to touch or to even acknowledge. There was some thanks towards her too, because she had given him the courage to continue; someone cared, when he thought no one did. Ignoring his transformation into the Kyuubi, he had been given the strength not to give up, and he would be forever grateful.
However, there was also something decidedly less positive directed towards the Hyuuga princess.
He was... angry at her - no, furious. She had risked her life for something so stupidly pointless. She hadn't the slightest chance of even severely injuring Nagato's last Pain, and yet she had dived into the fray anyway. Naruto didn't really understand, but he knew enough that while she might try to justify it, he couldn't accept it. She had almost been murdered for him, almost thrown her life away so needlessly. She was his friend, she shouldn't sacrifice herself.
Suddenly, there was a tsunami of loud roaring coming from the edge of the forest, and Naruto looked up, surprised. It was... cheering.
Kakashi left the forest with Naruto on his back, and said blond couldn't believe it. It was... the whole village! Everyone was there, and cheering!
"Welcome back!"
"Thank you!"
"We believed in you, Naruto-san!"
"Welcome home!"
"We knew you could do it!"
Naruto was speechless as Kakashi allowed him to slip off of his back. He landed with a mute grunt, rubbing the back of his head in wonder. They were... cheering for him. The villagers, the shinobi, the children. All of them were smiling and waving and shouting and laughing with the brightest grins on their faces, as if there had never been the possibility of his failure.
"They've all be waiting for your return." He glanced at Kakashi, before Katsuyu crawled out of his collar again, and he had to suppress a shudder.
"I told them everything that happened."
Children started to run towards him, and he took a step back at the strangeness of it all. Then he was accosted by the brats.
"What was the enemy like?"
"Did you beat him easily?"
"Are you hurt?"
Naruto squirmed, his mind couldn't take much more of this. They were actually acknowledginghim. He had finally gotten what he had always dreamed of.
"H-hey, don't push!"
A flash of pink gained his attention, and he didn't see the children skitter back until it was too late.
"Idiot! You're too reckless!" A hard punch clouted him over the head, and he lost his breath at the impact. Until two arms wrapped around his shoulders, and his teammate pulled him into a tight hug.
He was sure the expression on his face was priceless, but Naruto didn't think Sakura had ever come this close to him before.
"Thank you." It was whispered in his ear, but he heard it all the same. A wide grin broke out on his face, and he looked around at the circle of all of his friends that had gathered around them.
Lee, Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Shino and... Hinata.
He stared right at her, ignoring the way her cheeks flushed and she brushed away a stray tear under her eyes. He needed to talk to her. Not right now, but soon.
They had a lot to talk about.
He tried not to laugh as Sakura poked his stomach and let go of him, leaving him to the scarce mercy of the villagers, but he couldn't help it.
It was the oddest feeling, but he finally felt free.
Naruto hesitated outside of the tent where Shino had told him Hinata was resting. He was still reeling from the impressive welcome he had received from the villagers, and in all honesty, was still on a bit of a high from his fight. He knew that the crash would come soon, but he had a feeling that he'd be in bed for days after it, and this conversation needed to happen before that.
Naruto knocked as best as one can on canvas, equalling to loud taps on the taut material, and he was soon ushered in by the polite voice of the Hyuuga heiress.
He ducked into the tent, bracing himself for any sort of reaction – including fainting, he remembered she used to be rather prone to that – but was instead met with her back as she sorted up her small cot that lay at the far end of the makeshift room.
"Forgive me, I'm almost done-"
Hinata turned around to greet her guest, knowing that showing your back to one was the high of poor etiquette, but gasped when she recognised exactly who it was that had come to see her.
"Naruto-kun. W-what are you doing here?"
Hinata licked her lips nervously. She liked to think she hadn't squeaked her greeting, but that would be a lie, and she turned what was about to be a shocked collapse into a graceful sit down on her cot.
Naruto chose to take a silent seat on the other cot – probably her sister's if he was right – and rubbed the back of his head in thought. He knew exactly how he felt, and what needed to be said, but he had absolutely no idea how to go about it.
He leant forward onto his knees, resting his elbows carelessly on them, while looking at her. It was a rather intense position, making it seem like all of his attention was on her (which it was). Naruto was oblivious to the slightly uncomfortable attention it put on Hinata, but she certainly wasn't.
Time to just go with the first thing that came to mind. It was a technique that usually worked.
"You just stuttered. You didn't do that in front of Pain."
Hinata's face turned red, and Naruto silently cursed himself. Was that really the best he could do?
He had just singlehandedly convinced a madman to resurrect everyone he murdered by committing suicide and repent every evil deed he had done – all just by saying what he actually thought, off the top of his head, and when he really needed to say something meaningful and sensitive, he went and said that?
'Way to go, moron.'
"Uh, sorry, I didn't exactly mean to say-"
"It was b-because I wasn't nervous."
Naruto stopped speaking and looked at her, as she took a deep breath, glanced away and then began to speak.
"I d-didn't stutter because I wasn't scared. W-well, I was of Pain. He was p-powerful, and he was going to k-kill me. But I wasn't scared of…"
Naruto waited for her to continue, but his impatience got the better of him.
"Of what?"
"You."
Naruto stared at her, an astonished look on his face that held a hint of pain, before Hinata finally understood how that could come across.
"N-no! That's n-not what I meant at all!"
Hinata was genuine with her remorse, but Naruto was already looking down at his clenched fist, an unreadable look on his face – and so he couldn't see the regret in her eyes.
'She was… scared of me. Is that why she was always so nervous? Back when we were younger, she would always turn red and faint. Was that out of fear? All of this time, I've been scaring her. I've read this entire situation wrong. What she said back there must have been out of confusion. She's stuttering… she's scared of me now. Nothing's changed… I'm still just a monster in their eyes…'
Naruto broke out of his inner despair when he felt the cot dip next to him, and looking up he was caught in Hinata's tear-filled, determined eyes. His own widened when she confidently grabbed the fisted hand in her own and forcibly smoothed it out – underneath it all her fingers were trembling, but Naruto was too surprised to notice such little things.
She kept staring into his eyes, and held his hand tightly, gathering the words she wanted to say. She ignored the part of her that was in shock at what was happening.
'I'm… sitting next to Naruto-kun. I'm holding his hand!'
"Naruto-kun…" She swallowed. No turning back.
"I m-meant what I said back there. W-when I stopped Pain from t-taking you. You… inspire me… to be greater. T-to do better things. To be a better shinobi. When I knew you were being threatened… I couldn't just l-leave you!"
Her face took on a defiant edge, and Naruto was in awe. Hinata was blossoming before him, and he didn't think she even noticed. Why hadn't he noticed her before?
She was so strong.
"You… you've done so much for me Naruto-kun. All of it without you even k-knowing! I would never be where I am without you e-encouraging me to be better! That's why… that's why I stood up to Pain. To prove to you that you had m-made me a better person, and to… prove it to myself."
She halted for a moment, unable to process that she had just said all of that to Naruto, and he was so close, and she didn't know what to do…
She had to finish though. If she was going to say this much, she would say it all. It wasn't fair on either of them if she didn't.
"When I said you s-scared me… I didn't mean it in the way you think I did."
He looked down again, but she deliberately cleared her throat, and he looked back up.
Perhaps he was a masochist, but he needed to hear the end of her speech. He had to understand, even if it hurt him in the long run.
A voice deep inside was telling him he was an idiot.
"When I said you scared me… you make me nervous, Naruto-kun. That's w-why I s-stutter. And when I t-turn red and f-faint, that's the reason t-too. But you make me nervous because of what I s-said when we were facing P-Pain."
A small part of him thrilled when she said "we were facing Pain" and he knew it shouldn't because facing enemies together was dangerous when he was so much stronger than her – but it did. The thought of their backs against each other's, trusting the other fully to defend them from threats, relying on her completely to keep him alive and she doing the same… it left him with a warm feeling in the middle of his chest. He realised she was one of the few he really could trust to have his back; and the fact this trust was reciprocated made the feeling all that much stronger.
Should they ever face foes together, Naruto knew the bond of blood would only grow.
The larger part of him was still in a sort of coma over the words she spoke. Was she speaking about… those words? The ones that still lingered like smoke in his chest, and tingled when he thought about them?
He gulped quietly, and stared back at her. He was sure his face was going as red as hers, and he wasn't sure what to do.
Was this how she felt all this time? Like she was overheating?
('Because of me.' A small voice in his head crooned delightedly, and although he smothered it as soon as he could, he couldn't help but agree)
Hinata saw his face turn crimson, and she was sure hers went redder to match. Oh, any doubts that she might have that he forgot were gone – it was entirely obvious he knew exactly what she was referring to!
She wouldn't faint! She refused to, not after coming this far!
"Um… Hinata?" His voice was quiet, but he got it out loud enough for her to hear.
"Y-yes, N-Naruto-kun?"
Oh, let her hold it together!
"Did… did you really mean it?" He was muted, disbelieving.
"Yes!"
It burst out of her before she could hold it back. Her unoccupied hand clamped over her mouth but it was far too late, and the look in his eyes she could only describe as wonder.
"How… how could you love someone like me?"
Hinata hated the mildly disgusted tone on the last word, and she couldn't stop herself from uncovering her mouth and cupping his cheek.
When had she become so bold? When had her body decided that consciousness was a preferred state? She didn't know, and she didn't care.
Naruto should never look so lost and confused, and she needed to fix it.
"B-because…"
She stopped. How could she bring it all into words? She didn't think it was truly possible. Her feelings for Uzumaki Naruto existed in a dimension all to themselves, and she didn't think she had the power to put them into language. That limited them; it seemed to diminish some of their meaning, and she could never bear to do that.
"You saved me from myself. I c-can't really put the rest into words, but it's t-true. I was just a scared little girl, but you gave me the c-courage to be a shinobi. To be me."
The look on his face was beyond all description, but she could see gratitude in the tears welling, tenderness in the slant of his eyes, awe in the colour on his whiskered cheeks, and affection in the corner of his smile.
When he leant forward and gently pressed his mouth to hers, she didn't faint.
Neither did she passionately jump onto his lap and make out until they fell unconscious.
It remained entirely chaste – and boring, Sakura was to exclaim later when Hinata finally told the story of their first kiss the night before her wedding – and Naruto never did anything but move his lips lightly in rhythm with hers.
The hand on his cheeks still shook with the intensity, and his hand on her other one was clammy, and in all honesty it felt nothing like she had expected.
It was not overwhelming. She did not feel it to the depths of her toes. Neither was she overcome with a rush of love that made her love him deeper.
It was just his lips on hers, hers lips on his, eyes shut and both moving to a silent tune that neither one of them could hear.
But then it finally registered that it was Naruto.
They were both sitting on Hanabi's bed, holding hands while she held his cheek, kissing.
Her heart fluttered, and all in an instant, she understood.
Her smile and the giggle that followed broke the kiss, but she didn't care. They still remained close, and she could feel his answering grin on her lips – they probably looked like two fools, sitting with their eyes closed and smiling like the world had just begun.
She didn't care.
He moved closer again, and pecked two more kisses on her lips, with giggles escaping her the entire time. He chuckled at her delighted laughter, before his grin dropped and he swept her up in a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder.
She returned the favour and slowly opened her eyes.
He smelled like sweat and dirt, and probably some ramen if her nose was correct. His golden strands ('sunshine' her mind breathed with reverence) tickled the side of her face, and she was pretty sure there was blood smeared on the skin she was currently resting her chin on.
He wasn't perfect in the way her younger self believed.
Not in the way people believe perfect to be.
But in every other way, every way that mattered, he was.
She was distracted from her revere by warm words whispered into her ear.
"I know you love me, Hinata-chan. And I know you deserve far better than I'll ever be."
She tried to pull back in protest, but he didn't let her go.
"But if you would let me… I'd like to try. Will… will you let me try? To be good enough for you?"
She knew what he was asking, and a small bubble of courage swelled. She acted on it before her mind could catch up.
"A-Are you asking me out on a date, Naruto-kun?" She muttered teasingly.
Her entire body shook when he laughed, and when he stopped, she still felt like she was flying. He was like a sun, and she was a mere plant, soaking up his rays for sustenance. She knew even a lifetime of living off of his light would never be enough for her.
But it would do.
He pulled back and she conceded reluctantly – then when he stared into her eyes she felt the whole world shift with his confident next words.
"I think that'll do to start with."
Gah, I finally finished this! You have no idea how long this has been sitting rotting on my hard drive - at least a year. Finally, inspiration hit like two hours ago, and here you are!
This is what should happened. But canon!Naruto's a moron, so I did some fixing. I love this part of the anime/manga - I had to do my own twist on it. Hopefully you all like it :)