Title; Stay

Summary; Naruto knows he may never be this close to Hinata again. He shuts his eyes tight and guiltily, selfishly wishes to himself. He wishes he'd stayed.

Their faces are so close that he can feel her breath against his throat. Her body is pressed up against his own as they lay on the single cot.

He has never been this close to anyone physically, emotionally.

And he knows he will never be this close to her again.

Three days had past since the war was won. You'd think now would be the time for victory parties and celebrations, but no. Instead, these past three days, Naruto had been stressed to the max. Sakura was in a coma, Sasuke was 'persumed dead', and Kakashi had vanished. He was loosing his team, his family. One more and he'd be mentally shattered.

As far as he was concerend, last night, the world outside their small tent did not exist. There was only him- His pain, and distress, he was nothing short of a walking disaster.

And then there was her- Hinata. Her soft eyes, full of conceren as she watched watched his unsettling behavior. She despratley wanted to help him in any way, to make him forget the pain.

He remebered this.

He was pacing around the tent, and she was standing still. And then her hands were on his, quietly asking him to calm down. A delicate hand rose up to his face and gently caressed his cheek. Leaning into her touch, he placed his large hand over hers, as he stared back at her. Trying to thank her for understanding, remembering how she too had suffered a loss just days ago...

And then she leaned in, closing the gap between them. He was hesitant at first when their lips met, but it didn't take long for him to pull her against his body. His lips fiercley crushing hers, as they fell back on his hard, uncomfortable, cot.

And now they are here.

"Uzumaki-sama!"

A chunin was outside of the tent flap, bearing cheerful news in the early dawn light.

He hadn't looked into her eyes all night. Not when he tore her dirty, gritty clothes off. Not when he tenderly kissed her long, grotesque scar where Pain had stabbed her not so long ago.

His gaze hadn't lifted to meet hers when his forehead was balanced against hers, her moans were stifled by his mouth, and he was inside her, her back arching upwards. Not when he'd exploded and Hinata's name ripped out through his lips over and over again into the quiet, deathly still night. Not when her own gasps filled his ears with broken syllables of his name.

"Uzumaki-sama! I have important news!"

Over and over again until they had fallen into an exhausted slumber. His nose buried in her luscious, indigo hair, her arms around his neck, face against his chest. Cerulean eyes never once meeting their lilac counterparts.

Until now.

Knock, knock, knock!

In her eyes, he imagines he can see the world stripped bare.

Her eyes hold his pain, his regrets. As if through the course of the night he had released all that was troubling him into her.

"Sakura-san is awake, Uzumaki-sama! She recoveverd conciousness only minutes ago! And sh-she's asking for you!"

Her gaze remains steady and unwavering. A slight smile in the way her eyes are crinckiling at the corners, and he wishes that, when they were in the moment, he had looked up into those eyes.

Knock, knock.

"Naruto-sama! Are you awake? Naruto-sama, you must-"

"I'll be right there." His voice cracks a little as he glances over his shoulder. "Just... go on, I'll be there soon!"

He thinks he can almost feel the chunin hesatating outside, before he hears an assenting, jumbled murmur and soft rustling as he quickly moves away.

Naruto looks back to Hinata, hesatating no more to look into her eyes. Her gaze meets his steadily as ever, and his hands leaves its postion on the pillow to reach up and stroke her hair.

And yet... there is a sudden veil between them that was not present only a few moments ago.

Naruto suddenly feels as if his throat is dry. He swallows, and in a voice that's hoarser than ever, manages to say, "Hinata..."

This is it.

He knows this is the moment that will decide the course his future is going to take. Her words are going to decide whether he leaves this tent to visit Sakura Haruno, the one person he loves, or not.

And somehow, Naruto doesn't know what he wants Hinata to say...He is unsure, still of wether he will be happier if she says he should go see Sakura, or if this place right here, by her side, is where his heart feels most content.

He has never felt more like a coward. All of last night he wouldn't look into her eyes.

And now he's begging her to decide for him.

Hinata's lips quirk upwards into a gentle smile. Naruto's heart almost skips a beat, and he is amazed. Last night erased any physical boundaries between the two, they blurred together as one, but yet a gesture so simple as a smile from her still sets his heart racing.

She reaches her own hand over to him to cup his face, much like the night before, and again he leans into her touch. Something inside of him starts falling into place, piecing things together as he realize what he wants, and he wants to say, Wait...

But she speaks.

"Go."

Blue meets lavender as Naruto feels his heart plummeting, shattering of the only moment they ever felt complete together.

But she still smiles. Her eyes are wide open, but for all they tell or show him, they might as well be closed.

"Go, Naruto-kun," she whispers again, softly brushing the hair on his tempele with her thumb.

And then her hand drops away.

Hesitantly, he pulls his own hand off her hair. She dosen't turn away, and, feeling numb, he slowly gets up from the cot. She watches him as he finds his clothes, mechanically dresses himself, and puts on his headband.

And leaves without sparing a second glance.

In the mild light outside, a few feet from the tent, Naruto leans against a tree and tries to breathe. Sometimes he hated how selfless she was. He shuts his eyes tight against the drappled light and fiercly, selfishly wishes.

He wishes he had looked into her eyes last night.

Wishes he hadn't looked to her for answers just now.

He wishes she'd said: Stay