Sometime in the middle of the night, I awoke to the sound of a terrifying struggle. I sat up and quickly looked around to see a group of large men all swarming around Shino and Kiba, overpowering them, as they struggled to hold them back. I gasped out loud and a few turned and looked at me.

We had just decided to go out camping on a familiar mountain for a few days, so none of us were prepared for such an attack. I, for one, only brought a single kunai.

"Run, Hinata!" Kiba yelled.

He didn't have to tell me twice. I immediately got to my feet and began to move away from the spot, and I took one look back that made me wish I hadn't. One of the men hit Shino over the head, and soon after Shino fell limp to the ground. I back stepped as they looked up at me, hit Kiba aside and started to come after me.

I turned and ran as fast as I could, but I could hear them gaining on me. I had never been fast, so I was hoping I could somehow lose them. The first thing I saw was a grove of trees so I hurried towards that, jumping over a large fallen tree.

I dodged underneath branches and wound around trees, trying my best to lose the men who were chasing me. Suddenly, as I reached a clearing, I found myself stopped by the lake that blocked my path. My mouth gaped open as I realized I was trapped, as the sound of branches snapping erupted eerily behind me, and slowly I turned to face the attackers.

There were eight of them, and the one in front was the ugliest and meanest looking of them all. They obviously hadn't bathed in a long time and their clothes were tattered and filthy. I started to back up into the water as they began to advance with excruciating patience. My clothes soaked up right away and dragged along, wrapping around my legs and, upon realizing the severity of the situation, I turned and ran. I didn't know where I would go in the water because I wasn't a very strong swimmer, but the water was hardly to my knees before I heard the men sloshing towards me.

I reached down and grabbed the kunai I had brought and whirled around to do my best at fending them off. I hadn't realized how close they had already gotten to me, and one grabbed my wrist and shook it, causing me to drop the knife in the water.

I screamed as loud as I could as he grabbed my other wrist and the others gathered around me, gawking and guffawing. I knew what was going to happen, and their laughter only made me angry, and also horrendously frightened.

"Hey,"

They all abruptly stopped and turned around, looking in the opposite direction. I couldn't see who it was, but it sounded like Kiba. The man let go of me, pushing me against one of his partners, and started trudging through the water, taunting and teasing Kiba.

"What's your plan, kid?" he laughed. "You gonna take on all of us at once?"

"All at once, one by one." Kiba said. "Either one. But you'll all be dead soon enough."

The man pulled out a dagger and gestured for Kiba to come at him. I closed my eyes and screamed, and then heard a loud thump. When I opened my eyes, the man was on the ground, and Kiba was pulling his bloodied kunai out of the fallen tyrant's chest. The remaining seven men looked at each other, disregarded me and then all advanced towards Kiba.

"Gatsuuga!"

Kiba danced through them, cutting and slicing. I dropped to my knees so I was waist deep in water and cried, covering my eyes in front of the bloodbath. They were screaming, and grunting, and threatening, but one by one they all fell, and when I finally had the courage to look, all the men were scattered across the ground and Kiba was standing among them. He was breathing deeply and hunched over slightly, and he turned his head to look at me with an expression on his face that I was unable to interoperate.

"Kiba..." I whispered.

He wiped his face with his sleeve, smearing a bit of blood across his cheek, and then faced me. He started to walk, limping. When he was only feet away, he dropped to his knees so we were finally eye level.

"Hinata," he said tenderly. "I'm sorry."

He cupped my face gently in his hand, and instantly the tears started pouring out of my eyes more than ever. He had just saved me from anyone's biggest fear.

I grabbed onto him and pulled him into a tight hug. At first, he kept his hands by his side, but eventually he reached out and wrapped his arms around me. I felt so comforted as he stroked my hair. I almost forgot where we were.

We stayed like that for a long time, sitting in the water just holding onto each other. Finally, he pulled away from me, and I touched his chin to hold it in place, and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you." I said.

He didn't answer. I could sense his face was getting closer to mine, like he wanted to kiss me. I wouldn't deny I wanted to kiss him, so I started to lean in when I suddenly heard someone else approaching, and no doubt Kiba heard it as well, because he jumped up and stood in front of me protectively.

But through the bushes stumbled Shino with blood on the side of his face.

He gave a heavy exasperated sigh. "It seems you two did all right." he said, observing the bodies on the ground.

"Shino," said Kiba. "What happened?"

"It's nothing." Shino said, touching his head lightly. "We just weren't on our guard well enough."

"Are you all right?" Kiba questioned.

"Yes." Shino shook his head. "Hinata?"

I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"I think…I want to go home…"