I knew I should have taken precaution. Even though I was warned. And yet, in the end I kept going… Now all I see is blurry… My body doesn't respond to any movements… I'm dying… And all I feel… Is pain… Nothing but pain… And the smell of my own blood… My head hits the ground and I feel warm hands grabbing my arms. I open my eyes, forcing my eyesight to see two big sapphire eyes, then everything got black…
I fluttered my eyes open as I regain consciousness. All I remembered was that Konoha was at war, and I was in it. And like always I got hit or wounded and I guess I ended up at the hospital. I can't believe how clumsy I am. I thought. But where Am I? My question was soon answered by the white walls I saw. I was at the hospital. Who brought me here? I turned my head to my left and I couldn't believe who was sitting next to me.
Naruto was sleeping at the couch. He looked so peaceful there and relaxed. I bet he hadn't slept well in these weeks since there are so many incidents passing by and now I'm injured… I mentally kicked myself for being so weak. But I wanted to know how I ended up in this state. I don't remember anything and I want to know why Naruto is here. Why couldn't I remember anything? Right now my body was weak and my head was hurting like crazy. Naruto's suddenly moving made me shut my eyes close so that he wouldn't see I was awake.
"Hinata, you awake?" he said still sleepy. I felt his eyes on me this time which made me a little uncomfortable and nervous. I prayed that he wouldn't notice I was conscious but thank God he didn't.
"Thought you were…" I felt one of his hands touch my left cheek. "I wish I was there to protect you. But I guess they like hurting the people I love…" he continued.
Love? I thought. Was I special to him?
He caressed my right cheek this time. I felt him pass his thumb at my bottom lip. Then I felt his breath on my lips. I felt him brush his lips with mine slowly, I couldn't feel it well but by one single touch of his it was enough to make me blush. The kiss was sweet and gentle.
" I feel like I'm taking advantage of you when you're like this right now… I know, I'm an idiot. But I actually feel happy to know my answer for you… I'm sorry for not being there to protect you, but I promise that someday I will make it up to you… If you still accept me but I doubt it; for me being so stupid to not notice you until now…"
At that moment I knew that this time Naruto was being serious. As if protecting someone he loves so much… He only acted this way when Sasuke left, but now… I've seen how much Naruto has matured.
I wanted to get up and hug him, and tell him that I still loved him and everything was alright, that no matter what will happen I still loved him. But due to my state I couldn't force myself, I didn't have enough energy and my chakra was low, so I lost consciousness again.
I opened my eyes slowly once again and this time I felt better than before. My head didn't felt so heavy and I didn't felt dizzy.
"Finally decided to wake up?" I heard a familiar girl's voice.
"S-Sakura?" I said as I started to sit up carefully.
"Wait don't try to stand up so soon, you might get dizzy."She said as she helped me, even though I didn't need it.
"It's okay, I'm used to it. You know how clumsy I am." I smiled at my own stupidity.
"Oh come on, no you're not. You know how smart you are so stop being negative." She said as she grinned at me, which made me feel a little better. "How do you feel now? You're head still hurts?"
"A-A little but it'll go away, hopefully."
"Then I guess you will be able to leave the hospital soon. I healed you're wounds and thank God they weren't so messed up, then it would've been a problem."
"Yeah, thank you for helping me anyways."
"No problem. I'll always help you." She smiled cheerfully.
"Sakura, how did I end up here?" I knew that I got hit but I didn't remember.
She looked at me for three seconds and then she responded me.
"We were all at the war. We were winning, you were fighting hard. You were showing everybody you're true strength and we were all impressed and proud of you. Especially Naruto…" Suddenly instead of my usual pale face a little of red covered my cheeks.
"W-What?" I asked still blushing.
"Yeah I got surprised too. To tell you the truth I was little jealous…" I froze. Sakura was jealous of me. Me the plainest girl in the village. That was hard to believe.
"W-Wait, you were j-jealous of me?" When I said the last word I pointed at myself.
"A little, but I guess I was just being stupid." She said still smiling.
"But why? You know I'm not good at anything… All I do is bring even more trouble." I looked at the floor. I didn't know how to respond to something like, but only ask.
"You defeated some strong enemies. And you were dragging others attention, and when Naruto arrived; you were the first person he noticed. I guess that's what made me envy you."
I looked at her. I was surprised, someone as strong and pretty as her was jealous of me. Of all people it was me.
She mentioned him… I had to ask her, this may be my only chance.
"Sakura…H-How do you feel about Naruto?" Asking her that kind of question made me uncomfortable.
"I ask myself that question every day, and I won't lie to you but I do feel attracted to him, but I guess he doesn't like me that way anymore… He found someone new…" She smiled warmly at me.
My throat got dry; I really didn't know what to say so I kept quiet. I just kept thinking.
"Hinata when I say he found someone new I mean you…"
"..." I waited a little longer until I spoke. "I-I saw him sleeping next to me the o-other day."
"Yeah he didn't want to leave you at any moment. You were unconscious for a week. But at the same time you were trying to say some things. Naruto was worried so he stayed here. Even though he wasn't allowed to sleep here he sneaked in by the window. I saw him but I didn't say anything." She looked at me and smiled. "I guess he wanted to be the first person you see when you wake up."
"W-well i-it worked." I blushed. " W-Where is he r-right now?"
"I send him to go eat something. He's been taking care of you so much that he forgot about how much he loves ramen." She said giggling. "He should be here in like fifteen minutes I guess."
"Where is everyone? Are they alright?" I asked since I thought I heard Neji's voice while I was unconscious.
"There fine. Neji got minor injuries but he's fine now. And you're teammates are fine as well." Then she grinned again. "It's funny though, when they came here to visit you Naruto always glared at Kiba and each start to glare at each other almost like a fight."
I chuckled a little. It would be funny seeing those two fighting in such a childish way.
"Although, what was scary was the way you're cousin Neji would glare at Naruto every time he came to visit you." She said shivering. "Since Neji wanted to stay here to take care of you but Naruto didn't seemed to want to get out. But don't worry Neji said he'll keep an eye on him."
I had to admit, seeing Neji glaring was pretty scary. Since these last few years he's been overprotective with me. But that made me very happy, Neji has always been a brother to me and I care for him very much. I saw Sakura stand up and made her way to the door.
"As much as I would like to stay here and chat; but I can't. Tsunade wants me to attend other patients, so I guess I'll see you later then."
"O-Of course. I-I'll see you later." I felt happy, she had told me the truth and somehow I felt like someone had taken a weight off me. She smiled and pulled the door open to see that Naruto was standing there with one cup on each of his hands.
"Why two of them? Didn't you eat already like I told you?" Sakura said as she raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Oh um… I actually brought two cups of ramen for me and Hinata if she woke up… Which she did." He smiled at me and I looked away quickly to hide my red covered cheeks.
"Oh so you forgot about me." Sakura said.
"What! You didn't say anything!"
"I'm kidding, I'm not hungry." She grinned. "Well I have to go, I'm sure you two will enjoy yourselves." She looked at me and then gave me a wink. My eyes widened when I notice I was going to be alone with Naruto.
Just the two of us. ALONE. I blushed madly.
"Hey, you feel well?" He said tenderly as he made his way to sit beside me.
"Y-yeah m-much b-better. Sakura did h-help me out a-a lot."
"I'm glad. I brought ramen just in case you got hungry."
"T-thank you, but I-I guess I-I'm not hungry now."
"O-Oh, I'll just put it here then." He put the ramen at the mini table that was beside me and he sat back at the chair.
"Y-You're not going to eat?"
"No, I'm not hungry either. I just bought ramen thinking that you wanted to eat something." He said still looking at me and smiling.
"O-oh…" I said.
There was silence for a moment. I didn't know what to say, I was so nervous and him staring at me didn't help at all.
So I thought about the other day, what he said had left me surprised. But I wanted to know if it was true. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I breathed in and when I was about to mention the first word he interrupted me.
"H-Hinata… Listen I… Uh… I got something to tell you…"
Is he stuttering? I thought. I looked at him and he was blushing too.
"U-Umm… I-I also got t-to tell you something too…"
"Please go you can go first…" I think he had a fever or something because he's blush was no match for mine.
"Umm… I-I kind of h-heard you the other day… W-was it t-true? D-Did you r-really mean it?"
Curse my stuttering! I mentally kicked myself for always stuttering.
"Y-You heard me the other day?"
"I-I t-think I d-did…"
I looked away quickly. What was I thinking? Asking him if what he said was true, if he really mean it. What if he didn't want me to hear him? Maybe he regretted what he said. Or maybe it was all just my imagination and a dream. A dream I wanted it to be true. He hasn't said anything so that must mean he thinks I'm just an embarrassment.
Stupid! Why you had to tell him directly instead of asking him if he said anything? I thought. Now he probably thinks I'm just making it up…
It was awkward; I could only hear my beating heart and the wind moving the curtains of the room.
"Why?" He said almost in a whispering. I didn't looked at him, I kept looking away.
"W-" He didn't let me finish.
"Why is every time I think of you or I'm with you my heart starts beating so fast…"
I looked at him surprised. That's when he's eyes focused on mine. He was serious right now. His blush had gotten away. And I didn't know what to say.
"eh?" That's all I managed to say.
"Hinata… Just by thinking of you makes me nervous… And after seeing you there in bed so fragile… Makes me want to protect you even more…. You have no idea of how you make me feel..."
He started to move closer to me, but he didn't dare take his eyes off me. I looked at the floor blushing. I couldn't believe what he was saying.
"Look at me."
I felt him caress my right cheek and move my face to look at him. His eyes were on my lips and my face was red.
"I'm sorry for never noticing you until now… I waited until war ended so that I could talk to you. So that I could see how you where. And to tell you how much I love you…"
That's when he pressed his lips with mine.
I couldn't hold it anymore so I kissed him back. He grabbed me by my waist and pressed himself against me. He had one hand caressing my cheek and the other at my waist. I had both of hand around his blond hair, and he started to press me to him. He continued the kiss until I needed to breath but it seemed he didn't wanted to stop.
Until I broke the kiss, finally inhaling some air.
We were breathing hard but he still kept holding me. He kissed me one more time to hug me and put his head in between my neck.
"I'm sorry… I'm so, so, sorry… I couldn't even protect you when Pain almost killed you…"
"There is no reason for you to apologize." I finally said something this time.
"Yes there is. I didn't even noticed you all those years when you where by my side. When I thought I was alone."
"But you where never alone. I was there and always will be by your side when you need me the most."
I felt him kiss my neck and then he looked at me. I smiled at him before kissing him again.
I enjoyed this moment a lot. Finally after what have been years we were finally together and I couldn't be even happier than I was right now. He kept kissing me until he pushed me down the bed. He kissed my chin and then my neck. He looked up to me smiling and smiled back at him. Until I kissed him back.
That's when someone opened the door. He quickly broke the kiss and looked at the person who was standing there.
It was Sai.
"Sai, didn't anyone told you to knock the door?"
"Seems like I am interrupting something…" He said emotionless, but then he smiled. "But it's good to see two people expressing their love by body and I wouldn't mind watching how you guys make babies."
As soon as he said that my face got even redder and Naruto moved fast enough to punch Sai in the head.
"Pervert! It's not what it looks like! Anyway, why the hell are you here anyway?"
"Sakura told me to come here and tell Hinata that she was coming here to check on her again. Just to check if she was still awake but it seems you got her busy."
Naruto kicked him hard this time.
"At least it was me who came in. It would've been worst if it was Sakura or Lady Tsunade." He said still smiling.
"True…" Naruto said. "But still, there is no need for you to say that. We weren't doing anything bad." He crossed his arms.
"If you say so." Sai said. Naruto glared at him and kicked him out of the room.
It's not like we were about to do something… I shook that off my head and then my stomach made a noise.
"Where you hungry all this time?" Naruto said with a smirk on his face.
"A-A little… I-I was just too nervous to eat…" I blushed from embarrassment. He chuckled a little and passed me the ramen cup and some chopsticks.
"Good because I'm starving."
I smiled at him and then I started eating. We were quiet but we enjoyed each other's company.
The rest of the day we spent it there at the hospital talking about some of our missions. He told me about his good times with team 7, when Sasuke wasn't what he was now.
Even though Naruto had finally gotten Sasuke back, he still was pretty caught up in revenge and was in the Hokage's custody. So nobody didn't know what was going to happen to Sasuke. We just needed to wait.
The other day I could finally leave the hospital since I was healed and felt a lot better. Naruto took me on a date. There I had a good time. We walked around the village. Visit his favorite restaurant. And we even kissed a little.
I kept thinking, it wasn't so bad to get wounded, end up at the hospital and then have Naruto visiting me every day and telling me that he also likes me.
I guess being usually wounded can sometimes bring good things to you.
End
