Emerald eyes filled with tears as she lifted her head to her teammate. "I'm sorry. I'm...so...sorry." Her voice became quieter and she suddenly could seem to meet the ocean blue eyes of the boy.
"What?" Naruto's solemn face suddenly twitched into a smile as he heard Sakura's shame-filled sobs and Shino's gasp, both Kiba and Akamaru's whimper. "What did you say? Ne, Sakura-chan why are you apologizing...?" His grip on the shoulders of the other, motionless kunoichi in his arms tightened.
"Naruto..." Sakura murmured as she watched the blond alternatively laugh and cry over her friend's body.
Shino bowed his head solemnly, ducking his head further into his hooded cloak so no one would see the tears streaming down his face.
Kiba let out a sob the same time Naruto did, startling them both.
Naruto's vision became blurry as he gazed down at the girl in his arms. She had been fighting so hard...with all of her heart just fifteen minutes ago. And now...
Now she was a pale, porcelain skinned, long, raven haired doll, lying limp beside him.
Hinata? She's not... "She can't be, right?" Naruto asked no one in particular. "I mean, it's Hinata! Hi–na–ta! She doesn't give up no matter what!" The ninja started laughing again until Kiba punched him.
"Baka!" He screamed through his tears. "She's dead! Hinata's dead!"
Naruto's face changed completely as it sunk in. Dead...Hinata...is...
Gone.
"He's in shock, Kiba," Sakura said softly, hoping dearly that the Kyuubi wouldn't use this to take advantage of his young host.
Gone.
No more shy little "Naruto-kun"s or missions together.
No more of her pink face if he smiled at her too much.
Shino cleared his throat. "We should bring her back to the Village immediately."
No one moved.
Sakura and Kiba both had their heads hung low. Akamaru wasn't making a noise about his breathing, which was unusual for him.
No more of her laughter. Or those fierce, wild eyes she gets when she's fighting for her nindo.
"I would give anything..." Naruto started as real tears began to fall from his cerulean eyes. He shuddered and held her up closer to him, hugging her body with all his might. "I would give anything just to see her smile again."
Naruto could feel Kiba's fist coming towards him, but he made no move to dodge it.
Thankfully, Shino still had his head enough to hold the canine-like ninja back. This of course, did not stop the words from his mouth.
"You idiot! She loved you. She LOVED you!"
The blond heap twitched slightly and Kiba glowered at him. He wrenched free of his teammate. "Let go, Shino. I'm not going to touch him. He doesn't even deserve a good whack in the face." He stood over Naruto and the dark haired nin that he was rocking in his arms. "Hinata loved you. With all of her heart."
"Why are you telling me this now?" The other ninja asked weakly.
Sakura wiped her tears away and took a shaky breath before crawling over to Hinata again. She had to try. One more time for Hinata's sake. For Naruto's.
"We thought you might figure it out," Kiba was saying, each word dripped with disgust. "But you're too big of a blockhead."
The Inuzuka waited for his bait to take effect. He waited for an angry reply or an attempt of a fist in the face. When nothing came but silence, he realized his words had been unnecessary.
Or had backfired.
Sakura removed her head from Hinata chest, annoyance the one emotion clearly evident on her face. "Shut up, Kiba, before I pop you one!"
He looked at the ground, anywhere but his fallen friend.
Sakura's pink hair brushed up against the Hyuuga's lavendar sweatshirt as she desperately searched for something...anything.
Hinata, please. I know you can do this. Do this for you. Do this for your people. Do it for your teammates, your friends.
Do it for Naruto.
Bmp..
Bmp.
B-bmp.
Sakura gasped and sprang up. "Naruto, let go of her!"
"No."
"Naruto! Serious–!"
"No."
"She's breathing, you moron! Ya wanna crush her?"
The blond's eyes became saucers as he laid Hinata down for the medic nin.
Kiba and Shino both watched, not daring to even breathe. Akamaru half wagged his tail in hope.
Sakura's chakra-infused hands rested on Hinata chest and to Naruto it seemed as if it was in slow motion as the still kunoichi took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
Naruto made a half-cry, half-wail noise as he crushed her into a hug. He started kissing her all over.
Her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, her eyes, her mouth. He didn't even care that all of the observants (Kiba, Sakura, and Shino) would probably beat him to a bloody pulp.
"Hinata...I'm so sorry, I left you..."
The Hyuuga heir had no idea how she had gone from unconscious to being practically kissed to death by her true love but wasn't complaining.
"Naruto-kun! What...happened?"
The blond pulled away long enough to see the tears flowing from his face. The total, blissfully happy and relieved look in his expression.
Was Naruto-kun crying? For me? Did I worry him that much?
"Naruto-kun," she said, trying to sound cheerful as she put a hand up to his face. "I'm alright!" She smiled at him sweetly.
Her smile...
Naruto grinned and kissed her full on the mouth, opting to make it as long as possible.
Epilogue:
Sakura: -- Did she just forget I saved her life?
Shino: watches his friends kissing Well...this is awkward. O///O
Kiba: I'll kill him! gets ready to beat living hell out of Naruto
'Just To See You Smile' is a song sung by Tim McGraw. Really cute actually even though I hate country. XD Almost made me cry...
I know! Depressing! But I wanted to try something a wee bit different and I made it happy anyways. :3 Review, ne, onegai? I have to say I kind of like my little Epilogue. snicker