A/N: Hey, felt like branching out for a moment. This idea popped into my head when I woke up too early on a Sunday morning.

Again, I was not very satisfied that after that amazing moment when Hinata confessed to Naruto that they never really spoke about it. It was never mentioned of! I mean, dude! She might as well have not said anything! So I've been pondering how I could write a story with these two… and this is the best I could come up with. (-.-) nah. It's more friendship than romance because nothing is in writing... you know what I mean.

It's just one of those stories you need to get out of your system before you can carry on, you know the ones. And it's my first short story. Plus these two are my Idiot-Couple cuz they are both pains in the neck.

Disclaimer. I was playing catch with (Takeshi Konomi (PoT)) when I tripped and fell into Kishimoto Masashi. A copy of Naruto Shippuuden fell from his hands. (A random affair!)

Love Sick

It no longer hurt, the pain from a week ago. He slowly lifted his arm, which rested lazily in the sling, flexed his fingers and squeezed them around his thumb. He had done the same with his toes. He stretched them out and relaxed.

It no longer caused him discomfort when he tried to sleep on his back with a drip bleeding something he'd tasted too many times through his veins. And he stopped wishing to go home to rest alone in his bed, what was left of it. The antiseptic smells and soft but echoed footsteps of the nurses and doctors reminded him that, although it got quiet, he was not by himself.

Though many people have left him, he was never alone.

Naruto lowered his eyes to his lap. Why did he suddenly feel as if he was going to lose another person? It brought a mild pain to the back of his eyes. The same pain that wanted to engulf him when he realised Jiraiya-sensei had past away without a friend to help him.

He clasped his hand around his head… strange… very strange that the thought of losing this person made him more unbalanced then any of those he lost before. His heart ached a little bit stronger. His blood ran a little bit colder. He healed a little bit slower.

Kakashi-sensei was asleep in the bed next to him. A closed curtain kept their already healed bodies hidden from each other. It was only closed because Haruno Sakura came in to shove a handful of medicines down his throat and then leave just as quick. Sickly, bitter taste. All different shapes and sizes, all hard to swallow, even with water. His stomach just settled after an hour of swallowing them. He sighed deeply and held his hand over his eye, sickened that he could not find the foundation of these feelings. He did not know what to do with them. He felt angry – or was it another feeling?

"Kakashi-sensei?" Was that his voice? Lifeless and sullen? He gulped, breathed it back, and called his teacher again. "Kakashi-sensei?"

There was no reply. Naruto tapped his hand down on the bed and leant back. This sucked. This really sucked. Not knowing made him angrier. His eyes moved with his thoughts. He got pass the pain, but could not get pass the anger. If he was not in the hospital - no. If Kakashi sensei was not in the next bed, he would have screamed out in frustration like he had done everyday when they took his teacher out for an operation. Forget it. He fell back on his bed, the thin white sheet flew around him and covered part of his face. With one eye, he stared at the ceiling.

"Why did she do that to me?"

Yeah… why did she cause him to surrender to the Kyuubi? He lifted the same hand slowly and dropped it on his heart. Thump - the thick sound of his muscles under his skin. Through his ribcages he could hear his heart beating, bleeding, closing tightly around this unknown feeling.

He remembered bits of the rage that tore at him, burnt his flesh and spilt his veins. But there was something before that… What did she say? What did Hinata say?

He threw his arms over his head and covered his eyes. The pain behind them. Stop hurting me. No one, nobody has ever said that too him. What was he supposed to do with it? What did it really mean?

He forced himself to sit up. His sight caught up with him. Naruto wanted to walk around but the drowsiness from the pills slowed him down, not allowing him the ability to kick his legs off the bed. What more could he do with his slow healing body but lay back down. He pulled the drip from his arm. A little blood came out; a red, thickness he'd seen too many times that it was as normal as water. He reached down and licked it. Sucked at his warm flesh until it closed.

There came a knock at the door and Naruto peered up from his arm. A hesitant silhouette behind the glass waited a while before opening the door to look around the frame. It was her. The one who had caused him anxious nights and days of confusion. She wore a pair of leggings with a warm purple tunic. She must not have had a mission today otherwise she would have worn her usual gear. The only thing she kept on was her headband, which she kept around her neck like a choker. Her hair, overflowing and perfect, needed little arrangement. To have it falling down her back and swinging with my movements was enough.

He caught her light lilac eyes before she caught his noon-blue eyes. He stared into them. Her faint words mixed into her iris. He couldn't look for long and lowered his arm, but grabbed his shirt before it hit the bed.

"N… Naruto-kun?" She stepped in and closed the door. What happened to her usual shyness? Before she came over to him she grabbed a chair and sat on his right side. Naruto could only look to his hand that was at his shirt.

Had Hinata known he'd be awake she would have brought someone with her. She held her shaken hands in her lap.

"Hinata, what are you doing here?"

"Erm… you see… I… I've been coming here since you were… admitted." She too couldn't look at him for too long. Her cheeks were already turning red."Naruto-kun, when do you think you'll be on your feet?" She mumbled. It took him a while to understand what she said. Not because she mumbled about because of a sweet smell that followed her into the room.

It distracted him for a moment. It wasn't honey sweet, or dango sweet. Just sweet. It almost calmed him and made him heal a little quicker, but every time he caught her eyes – ah, they changed colour. Were they lilac, or grey? No. They were clear. They were now a pastel yellow, reflecting the light off his hair.

"Hinata?"

She looked up to him quickly, lifting her hands near her neck. She bit the corner of her lips.

"Why did you try to save me that day?"

No! That's not what he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask her about the feelings within himself that he ask his teacher and he wanted to know what her words actually meant, anything but what he actually asked her.

"Huh?" She gasped.

What? She didn't understand? He rubbed his eyes again. He reached out and grabbed her arm. She stiffened on cue. He didn't think she'd tense up, but he needed to know. He needed an answer, a true and honest answer from her.

"I don't understand, Hinata!" He lowered his head. As red as her face was, his heart was racing. He didn't understand why he was getting hot and that annoyed him. And it wasn't the same infatuated feeling Sakura gave him. This was different.

Kakashi's eyes opened when he heard Naruto's voice.

"I'm… I'm not as smart as the others. Help me to understand, Hinata!"

"Naruto-kun…" Her voice ached with alarm. He was holding her. She never expected this. It took all her strength not to faint. She was tense, she wanted to escape but not before she done what she came to do. She dared herself to touch his arm but it was bare. The thought of touching his toned forearm… She couldn't do it! Lest she faint. "What's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong! What's wrong is the fact that he was holding onto her and not sure why he was staring to sweat. His mind was telling him to keep on with the questions. So why on earth was his body telling him to do something else! Not like him at all. But he couldn't move his arm in case she ran off leaving him baffled. But were could he start. There were so many thoughts racing through him. He didn't know where to begin. He loosened his grip. He didn't let go.

Hinata felt the change and brought her hands up again wanting to hold him. She felt a little light-headed and tried not to hold her breath.

"Naruto-kun… are you… thinking about what I said?"

"Yeah… yeah! That's it! I'm think about that!"

She nearly blanked out but shook her head three times and gave him a firm stare. She wanted to changed her mind and tell him that she didn't mean it 'like that', but that's not what came out. "Na… ruto-kun, I…" Hold it together, she told herself, wishing her sister was with her. "I meant what I said that day."

"Oooh. But what does it mean? I don't understand?"

"What?" Was he expecting her to explain everything again? The thought was too much, and to even say those words again!

"It took me a long time to understand what a father's love was like from Iruka-sensei, and maybe an uncle from Kakashi-sensei… and a grandfather from Jiraya-sensei. I guess Sasuke as a brother, Sakura-chan is like a sister... maybe not, seeing as I do like her more then that... But this feeling you've caused me is a lot stronger than all those put together. I don't understand where you fit in. A mother's love maybe… but that would be weird as we're the same age…" He went on in his usual manner.

Hinata puffed up as he went through all the names and the roles. When and why did she become his mother? She held her breath when he said Sakura's name, adding that he liked her to some degree. She could feel tears of embarrassment surface. Was it because she was a little more filled out then the rest of them? She hoped not. She didn't think Naruto thought like that. Again, she shook the idea out of her head, while at the same time trying not to faint.

"So, what kind of love is your love, Hinata?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes believing, finally believing that Naruto was an idiot.

She gritted her teeth together and agreed to it being a motherly love. Anything to save herself from further embarrassment.

"Hmm…" He let go of her and crossed his arms. "Doesn't quite have the same feeling as the father's love… Hmm, are you sure, Hinata?"

She shot up onto her feet, tears starting to surface. Naruto took no notice of her. So this is what a mother's love was like, really?

"Hmm, Hinata, I think you got it wrong."

"Naruto-kun, I have to go now." Despite saying that she still hadn't given him a 'get-well-kiss' on his forehead. It was an easy thing to do when he was asleep and had no clue that she had visited, but to do it when he was wide awake… No. She would do it otherwise her day couldn't go on knowing that he wasn't getting better. While Naruto thought about what so going on, on the inside, she mustered up enough courage to lean down quickly and give him a peak on his forehead. Just a quick one.

He looked up. He wanted to ask where she was going, eyes closed and not able to see what she was doing. She had already closed her eyes. So when her lips touched him, she didn't feel the usual hardness of his forehead, with the odd spiked hair touching her cheeks. Hinata felt something equally soft, warm and sensual. Their lips touched, her eyes shot open. She didn't move as soon as she would have liked. She saw something large and blue and realised they were is eyes. Naruto (who had felt this before) now understood just what her love was, but before he could confirm it with a hand gesture. Hinata smacked her hand down on his face. So forcefully that his head went into the pill and his arms flew up to the side of him. Now the tears were really pouring.

"Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry."

She fled from the room, slamming the door behind her, leaving Naruto with a headache, a nose bleed, a ringing in his ears, whiplash and a bleeding tongue. He dare not move, he didn't want to open his eyes either. When did she get so strong? Or was it that she hit one of his points.

"Kakashi-sensei?" He droned. "I don't feel so well."

Kakashi closed his book and rolled over. "Mada mada da ne."

A/N2: Ah, my idiot couple are not ready for that kind of love. Never mind.

I realised after doing my research that Naruto wasn't as beaten up as I had first thought. In fact every damn one of them were fine. EVERYONE. So I kinda had to make up a moment when Naruto was beaten up and broken. It really didn't mean to end like it did, but I somehow feel this ending is better. I wanted Naruto to be really angry with her, but it's not like him to be like that. Trying to keep 'em in character as such.

But all in all, thanks for reading.

(Yay Kakashi for the PoT quote!) (^-^)