The worst has happened to the Leaf Village. Hope seems to have been lost after Pain used his power to get rid of the village. Until the one that would save us all came home; Naruto is that hero. Everything was put on him. Saving our village and seeing him fight for his village, fight for what he believed in, was my worst possible fear.

The one I loved for so many years was going to die right in front of me, but I could not let that happen. I could not let him die after all this time I had waited for him, to be with him. If I had to risk my life to save him, then I would. I stood in front of the man that had destroyed my home and told my love the words I had so longed dreamed of telling him, but they had never come out.

"I'm doing this because I love you," I told him before I attacked Pain. Just as I thought, I was not a match for him, but I felt that within my heart it was the right thing to do. If I were to die today, at least it would be for him, and I told him for I felt for the first time. It is a shame that I never got to see or hear his voice again. Good bye, Naruto...

The battle was long over by the time I started to stir from my sleep and the pain I felt in my head was still there. Different parts of my body were bandaged up with medical tape all around. There was still so much going on round me. I could hear it from the outside, but where was I exactly?

Turns out only a few had survived the blast from Pain and people are still doing what they could to help the ones that were hurt and maybe the ones that were still alive somewhere in the village. Every ninja was doing their best to do what they could.

Opening my eyes I saw nothing but white for a second so I blinked trying to get my vision back. Pain shot to my stomach when I tried to sit up as I held it. Now I knew what the cover was that was over my head. It was the cover of the tent I was in and I wasn't the only one. Nurses were a going about working on the few villagers that had survived and were lying on beds." Hinata you're awake..." A nurse came from the bed next to me and when I looked at her I didn't speak, just stared at her trying to think.

"What's going on?...""You were hurt really badly Hinata, you should rest....Naruto saved what was left of the village and-""Naruto?...what happened to Naruto, please tell me..""He's fine, he's just fine..." She relaxed at the woman's words, believing her. He was alive and ok...thank goodness. "Do you want to see him?" See Naruto?...would he really want to see her."We were trying to keep him out so that you could rest" So he did really wanted to see her.

Thinking about it she thought. "Naruto wanted to see me" and that shyness couldn't stop her from smiling and blushing. Even after a few years she still blushed when she see or think about him. She got a little nervous thinking about it, if she saw him what would she say to him? Flash backs of what she did and said before she pass out come to mind and her blush darkened. The nurse smiled at her moving her hands on her hips." I'll get him now." Now, but she wasn't ready! " But- " She said it so low that the nurse didn't hear her when she walked away outside the tent. She was all ready hurt badly and a heart attack wouldn't do her any good.

When the nurse left she looked at the others that were in the room and some of them she has seen in the village ever now and then but not that often. She then began to wonder if her friends and family were ok, there are so many questions she wanted to ask and needed to be answered for her sake.

"Hinata" Called a voice from the entrance. Her heart raced hearing her name but it was nothing to have a heart attack over when it was just her cousin Neji. "I'm fine Neji I'm fine""What were you thinking you could have been killed!" She couldn't tell her cousin why, its too embarrassing. Neji reminded her of her father, very protective, very skilled and smart.

"I had to Neji or he was going to kill him..." She would do it again if she had to. Neji still didn't like what she did, no matter the reason. "Hinata, that doesn't mean you have to risk your life like that, even if it was for Naruto""What about me?" Came a voice coming inside the tent and there he was, the hero himself. Now she had a real reason to blush. Walking to the bedside Naruto had no injury on his body what so ever, it didn't looked like as if he just came from a grand fight for his friends, village and his life. Naruto smiled down at her and looked over her body before looking into her eyes with a different emotion in them. She had seen that look before. It was worry and sadness. "How are you feeling?""Not...so bad, I been through worse" She couldn't tell if she was blushing but was trying to clam herself down by smiling. "Clam down its only Naruto" she said to herself in her head.

Nothing was said after that and so much was going through the both of their minds but not a single word was said to each other. Naruto was having a hard time coming up with what to tell Hinata and one couldn't expect a person like Naruto to know what to say to a girl when the only girl he really liked and talked to was Sakura. Neji looked at the both of them and with his gift to read body language he could tell that those two weren't going to say anything to each other anytime soon. "Naruto, do you want to talk to Hinata or not?" Neji grew to trust Naruto and the feelings his cousin had for him was clear threw his eyes. Looking at Naruto he was blushing lightly and was looking away." S-sure...." A smirk came onto Neji face seeing Naruto act this way. "I shall go then"

Naruto watched Neji walked away from Hinata's bedside and then back at Hinata. "What should I say?...." He thought to himself, getting a chair and rolled it over to Hinata's bedside and sat down. "How have you been Hinata, before pain came" He was trying to come up with something to say and normally people ask that when you start a conversation. "I've been good Naruto, how about you?""I had to train my butt of, but I've gotten stronger as you could see""Did you beat… Pain?" "Yes I did….Somehow I did but I'll tell you all about it when you're better." Wow he was...amazing as always, Hinata looked at him in awe. Whenever he fought in a battle it amazed her and loved him even more.

"Hinata? Is it true what you said....back there?" The question was eventually going to come out in the open, but she didn't know why for just a second he wouldn't ask her. Was this it? The moment that she would get to tell Naruto what she truly felt. Swallowing, she looked up into his eyes and looked down. She couldn't look at him.

He waited for her to answer and he might look normal from the outside but on the inside his heart was pounding and so was Hinata's "Yes" was her answer to his question. For a simple answer it was so hard to say it out loud. What she was so scared of for years was that he wouldn't care for her as much as she cared for him. She could name a few times she tried to tell Naruto but got scared for that same reason, and the main reason was her friend and enemy was Sakura.

No one would ever know her of feelings of envy towards Sakura. She's smart, strong and not to forget, beautiful. For years she thought how could he ever like her compared to her, and they were on the same team, her chances were lost. Now times have changed and she was having her chance, but when you are put into the situation what do you do.

"Hinata I never knew you felt that way about me" Naruto said out of the blue. He was so quiet she thought he wasn't going to say anything to her. "All this time you felt this way about me...and I had no idea" Naruto was thinking about the times that his friends would give him clues as to how she felt and remembering all of her reactions towards him. "Stupid, stupid, stupid...why didn't I see it before!" He thought to himself as he hit his forehead twice.

Hinata was confused as to why he was hitting himself and wonder what he was thinking about. Maybe he was trying to think of a way to tell her that he didn't like her but in a nicer way. It happened before. Not to her but to her friends when they had boyfriends. "Naruto, you don't have to think so much about it. If you don't like me j-just tell me""Huh? No, I didn't say I didn't like you, I just wish I knew that you liked me before" What was he saying. "I always thought you were a weird girl and that's what I liked about you, plus your nice and different from other girls I meant" He smiled at her with a light blush on his face. The look on Hinata's face changed. What?!