A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own naruto. Read and enjoy.

Naruto watched closely the look on hinata's sleeping face. "She looks so peaceful" naruto thought to himself but frowned when he saw her sleeping face cringe in pain. He had just returned from an s-rank mission with both her and sakura on his team. Two females being on a team because tsunade had wanted both a visual tracker and a medic nin on his team to support the wildcard, which was him. And with neji and ino being away, hinata and sakura fitted the positions perfectly. Hinata cringing in pain again brought naruto to thinking about what caused her present condition.

Flashback…..

"Hinata! I thought I told you to stay back!" yelled naruto as he watched as hinata charge the last of the enemy ninja.

"I've seen that naruto kun is almost out of chakra" replied hinata "And I can't leave you to fight him alone" finished hinata as she engaged the enemy ninja.

"You stupid girl! Ninja arts: Paralyzing death technique!" yelled the enemy ninja as he landed his jutsu right on target.

"Hinata!" yelled naruto while moving to help her up as she was thrown clear away from where she was as a result of the impact of the jutsu.

"Arigatou naruto kun but I can still move" said hinata as she stood groggily to her feet.

"No that's impossible you shouldn't be able to stand up or move" cried the ninja as hinata smiled at him through her pain ridden face.

"I know. I learnt that from the greatest ninja that has ever lived" said hinata before looking back to flash naruto a quick smile and moving at one very fast pace to strike the still surprised ninja with her gentle fist straight to the chest causing him to fall dead before falling to the ground unconscious herself.

End flashback…..

"For a moment there, I thought she was referring to me as the greatest ninja to have ever lived" thought naruto to himself as tsunade entered the room.

"Naruto, you're still here?" asked tsunade.

"Yes" naruto answered before looking back at hinata and asking. "Is she going to be alright?"

"Well you both fought a medic nin who knows his jutsu very well. He delivered to her a blow which should have paralyzed her immediately and allowed the jutsu to kill her. I'm surprised from your report stating she still stood and killed the medic nin. Anyways, you should thank sakura because she slowed the effects down long enough for you three to get back here. In summary, she's out of the danger zone and should be released tomorrow if all goes well" answered tsunade before leaving naruto once again to his thoughts.

"Sakura?" he thought to himself and as he did, he realized that during the fight with the medic nin, he hadn't seen her at all but she had come to hinata's rescue when it had all ended. "I'll have to thank her later because right now, I just want to eat and go to bed" he said to himself before greeting hinata goodbye quietly and making his way to ichiraku hurriedly in a bid to catch them while they were still open as it was late and it was already close to their close time.

He arrived ichiraku in record time and smiled at himself knowing he had broken yet another of his personal records by making It to ichiraku in a minute. He entered and greeted the ramen lady who after most of his life being alone was like what he understood as an older sister to him. "Ayame neechan one miso ramen please." panted naruto as he took his seat.

"Coming right up" replied ayame as she cleared the last customer before going to serve naruto his favorite dish. She placed it in his front and giggled as he yelled itadakimasu before beginning to devour it like an animal. "He does have an animal inside him" she thought to herself and giggled at the way she was thinking about naruto. He was like her little brother now and she wanted to know how he was faring.

"How did your mission go?" the change in his facial expression and mood caused her to fear the worst and asked. "What happened? Are your teammates okay?"

"Hinata almost died trying to help me and I couldn't do anything" was naruto's sad response.

"But she's alright, isn't she?" ayame asked again.

"NO!" naruto yelled before continuing softly. "She's in the hospital right now and in pain all because of me" he finished.

Ayame saw the hurt in his eyes and proceeded to calm her younger brother. Stretching out a hand to rub his own she started "There there. Things happen for a reason and I believe hinata will have a reason for putting her life on the line to try and help you and I want you to respect that reason, naruto."

"But what kind of reason could it be?" naruto asked on the verge of tears.

Ayame getting an idea from this then replied "Why don't you take her someplace where you two can be alone and ask her" as she knew of the hyuuga heir's crush on naruto.

"You think she'll tell me?" asked naruto before realizing something and shooting his head back up to ask "What good will it do to me even if I know."

"If you know, maybe you'll be able to help her better next time and avoid minor casualties like this" ayame answered.

Naruto pondered a moment on this and decided she was right. "Tsank you ayame neechan. I'll ask her tomorrow" naruto yelled before slurping the rest of his ramen and paying for the meal. "I'll be on my way now. Greet the old man for me" naruto said while waving.

"Good luck with hinata tomorrow" ayame yelled as he took off.

"Arigatou" was his reply as he disappeared from her sight and she began closing up for the day. "Hope hinata has the courage to finally confess to him" thought ayame as she secretly hoped that would be the case.

The next day…

Hinata sat in the training fields and began wondering about her day. She had gotten out of the hospital pretty early that morning, gone to her house to rest yet again and come out much later to get her favorite snack. It was while she was getting her snack that shizune had walked up to her and told her that naruto had been searching for her all day. The news came as a shock to hinata who regained her composure and thanked the special jounin for the information before deciding to search for naruto. And now after a few hours of searching his favorite places she was here at the training fields.

"I wonder what naruto kun wanted to see me for" she thought to herself after deciding it was getting late and there was little probability of seeing naruto again. But just as she was about to leave, naruto landed in her front before rushing to hug her tightly.

"Hinata. It's so good to see you."

Blushing at the sudden show of affection to her, hinata slowly tried to return the hug but was left disappointed when naruto pulled away from her. "It's nice to see you too naruto kun" hinata replied the blush never leaving her cheeks. Naruto noticed this and realized what he had just done and began apologizing. "Gomen hinata."

Hinata noticed she made him think he embarrassed her and interrupted him saying "No it's o-okay naruto kun. I a-actually needed that."

This made naruto to blush and he wanted so much to get out of this that he asked "do you mind if I take you out hinata chan?" Now this surprised them both as they had no idea why the chan suffix followed her name but hinata was the first to regain her composure as she was the one that was asked the question "N-no naruto kun I d-don't mind."

"Hum sorry hinata. Is that a yes you can take me out or no you can't take me out?" naruto asked while scratching the back of his head in confusion.

Hinata giggled at this and answered "It's a yes you can take me out."

Naruto screamed "yes" like a little girl before grabbing her hand and running off with her. Hinata smiled at his enthusiastic nature before looking at their hands and blushing "Naruto kun" she whispered to herself before smiling and tightening her grip on his hand like she never wanted to let go. Naruto noticed this and felt relief overwhelm him. He had been expecting her to yell or smack him as he held her hand before thinking. What this feeling that was building up in him meant, he didn't want to know all he wanted was to feel her soft hands and he tightened his grip on her hand until they reached the top of the hokage monument.

"Naruto kun. It's beautiful" hinata said as she stared at the sunset with her hand still in naruto's own.

"Yes it is. I never miss it and I know that when I die, I'll still not miss it."

"And your time is not going to be now or anytime soon because I want you to be here with me always" hinata replied hastily trying not to picture a life without naruto. Realizing what she just said, hinata blushed and took her face away. A blushing naruto realizing that her last statement was going to make it a little awkward around them decided it was time for the main reason he brought her here.

"Why did you risk your life during the mission for me?" naruto asked.

Hinata clenched her fists and decided it was now or never. Without facing him, she started. "Ever since the a-academy days, I always watched naruto kun as he trained hard to become a better person even with everyone trying to bring him down, he still worked hard. And because of naruto kun I think I have been able to become a better person and I won't be scared to die for naruto kun because he is my model and I-I lo-love him" she finished still without facing him. She was waiting for a reply and was almost brought to tears when naruto removed his hand from hers. She quickly looked at him to see him shocked and thinking she had scared him away said "I truly love naruto kun with tears sliding down her face." Naruto brought her face up to look at him and he could see that her emotions where true and honest and he instinctively began bringing his face closer to hers.

Hinata was on her bed squealing to herself happily because earlier that night, naruto had kissed her. Not just kissed her, he passionately kissed her to the extent she could read his emotions through the kiss. He blushed after that and all the way home where he dropped her at the gate of her household and said "See you tomorrow hinata chan" before kissing her softly and retreating to his own home. She squealed again knowing she went on her first date with naruto unknowingly and was going on another tomorrow. She squealed happily into her pillow before throwing it away scared of sleeping that she would awake and it would have been only a pleasant dream.

Sleep caught up with her eventually and she said to no one in particular "Goodnight naruto kun" before sleeping off while smiling.

In his apartment, naruto had just exhausted his energy from yelling "YES SHE LOVES ME. SHE TOTALLY LOVES ME" and was about to sleep before saying to no one in particular "Goodnight hinata chan"

3 months later

Their second and subsequent dates had turned out to be the best in both their lives with naruto confessing his love for her every now and then and now, they were having another of those dates as a picnic and were currently trying to carve their names into a tree. But hinata was having trouble carve the 'a' in 'hina' so naruto decided to help out but when he placed his hand on hers, they both felt a different kind of spark. They giggled and began closing in slowly and started kissing with hinata sliding her hand under naruto's shirt and his sliding under hers each giving their partner consent, they made love together for the first time.

"I love you so much naruto kun"

"I love you too hinata chan" replied naruto. "I promise to never let anyone hurt you even when I die."

"Arigatou naruto kun" replied hinata as she snuggled more into his chest.

They proceeded to go watch a movie and when they were done, walked home. They were so smitten by themselves they didn't notice they were being watched. The enemy surprised them both by grabbing hinata and threatening to hurt her causing naruto to stand back. But he lost it when hinata tried to bring out a kunai and the enemy ninja slapped her because of it. He had just promised not to let anyone hurt her and he failed to keep it. He charged the ninja without thinking and they were both holding each other spinning themselves towards a pointed metal.

"NARUTO!" hinata yelled as she had just regained herself. Then the shrilling sound of metal piercing skin echoed through the streets and was then followed by running footsteps of the injured ninja followed closely by naruto's own. He stopped giving chase and returned to where hinata was and the sight that greeted him was heartbreaking.

Lying there on the floor was hinata tears on her face in a pool of blood but not her own blood. It was blood from his own body, DEAD BODY.

How this is possible he didn't know. He was right here wasn't he. He tried to call hinata but she wouldn't look at him and when he tried to touch her, he went straight through her.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he yelled.

To be continued…..

A/N: My laptop crashed so I lost the concluding chapters to my other stories. And it's really frustrating to think about writing them all over again. So, I just started with this one in hopes that it will get me back to my old writing ways and get me to write the chapters all over again. So what did you all think about this one. I got the inspiration from the movie ghost (forgotten its credentials, but I know Demi Moore was in it). Please review and let me know what you think. Arigatou.