Light as a Feather

"Hinata- chan, hold on," The concerned plea from Naruto sounded all muffled and disoriented to the Hyuga heiress. As a matter of fact everything was sort of fuzzy and confusing. Such as, the odd pleas that seemed to come whenever Hinata felt even a little tired and wanted to just let go. Or the almost silent sniffling that came right after the cries.

But the oddest of all was the airy feeling that came whenever Hinata attempted to move, it hurt a little but mostly it was just annoying. She was trying to sleep and it seemed that everything was screaming to keep her awake. Plus she could feel the unevenness of whatever was carrying her. That always came in a rhythm, like footsteps.

Fatigue, or was it sleep? Once again washed over the Hyuga heiress, but of course the drowned voice sounded in her ear and woke her. She started to question what the big deal was, she couldn't remember anything bad that had happened but maybe it was just that she didn't want to remember?

"I'm so sorry, Hinata. I didn't mean for this to happen," Naruto's voice was so sad and concerned, why? What was wrong? What had he done to her? A small fragment of the day's events unraveled itself and suddenly Hinata could remember everything.

Flashback:

It was mid-afternoon before Naruto spotted a safe place to stop and rest. It was a nice forest clearing with a babbling brook and a shady area for the three of them to rest in. Kakashi walked into the woods to scout ahead for any signs of enemies. And Hinata timidly inched over to Naruto, who was attempting to doze off. There was a question that had been scratching at her mind since they had met up with Kabuto.

She choked down the stuttering and very quietly called, "Naruto?" The blonde boy sat up instantly and stared at Hinata with his big blue eyes. The Hyuga heiress felt her confidence fading as those beautiful eyes stared at her with interest, just waiting for her to continue. Reluctantly she did, "Wh- what d-d-did Kabuto- san m-mean when h-he s-said that he had a m- m- monster in him l-l-like y-you?"

Instantly Naruto paled at the mention of that conversation. He hadn't wanted people to know about that damned fox, but Kabuto had opened his big mouth. And now he was stuck with lying to Hinata or telling her the truth and hoping that she would accept him, he guiltily wished that she would faint now so that he wouldn't have to answer.

As the silence dragged on Hinata began to realize that what Kabuto had said hit a sore spot for Naruto, at the moment she felt like dropping dead for making Naruto feel so uncomfortable. The indigo haired girl bowed her head respectfully and backed away slowly while saying, "I'm sorry for causing such trouble for you Naruto- kun."

"Don't do that!" Naruto yelled suddenly, making Hinata jump slightly at the statement. "You're too passive Hinata- chan. You need to start, I don't know, looking out for yourself more, I guess." The Hyuga blushed at this, she had fallen for Naruto because of the way he was always trying to improve himself and others, and yet again he was lecturing her.

Almost by habit she bowed her head again, "I'm sorry, Naruto- kun." She turned to leave when something pulled on her jacket sleeve. Hinata turned to see what it was and came face to face with Naruto, their faces were just inches apart. She blushed a deep red at this.

Naruto diverted his gaze and let go, "Sorry," He said while rubbing the back of his neck. "Look what you asked before was a fair question. You didn't do anything wrong, it just took me by surprise is all." Naruto stared into Hinata's lavender eyes with an apologetic glance and went back to talking, "Seeing as how we're teammates for right now, I guess I should just tell you. Kabuto was speaking of a demon that was sealed within me on the day of my birth, its name is Kyuubi and he's right I do fight to keep it under control. Because if it gets out then it hurts anyone it chooses and I don't want to be responsible for injuring my precious people," The blonde stopped and turned his head to the side, he could see that Hinata was in shock.

And she was. Naruto was like Gaara, almost but not quite. Hinata shyly placed her hand on Naruto's cheek and made him look at her again. She spoke and again forced the stuttering out of her voice, "I'm not scared of you. As a m-m-matter of f-fact I ad-m-mire y-you." Now it was her turn to look away. "Y-you sh-shouldn't w-w-w-worry about h-hurting th-those you care about b-because e-even if y-you a-are a m-m-monster, y-you d-don't h-have the w-will t-to k-kill anyone."

The blonde boy blushed slightly at Hinata's statement. "Hinata- chan, I… Thank you," Naruto started, Hinata bowed and turned to leave when someone ran into the clearing. Immediately both Naruto and Hinata took fighting stances as the Akatsuki cloaked figure ran towards them both. The person wore an orange swirled mask that had a hole on the right side.

Naruto spoke up, "Who are you?" The person glanced at the two young Konoha ninja briefly and went back to running. "Who are you?" Naruto asked again, this time the person stopped and stared at the two.

"I'm Tobi, and you must be the Kyuubi kid that I've heard so much about." Tobi said tilting his head in Naruto's direction. The blonde nodded his head at the question, making Tobi almost smirk under his mask. Hinata looked from Tobi to Naruto and back again, not quite understanding why it was so awkward. The masked Akatsuki member continued, "Well, if you're here then that means you're looking for Uchiha, right?"

"Yeah, but why do you care?" Naruto shot back. Tobi laughed for a few moments before sobering himself.

"I hope you said goodbye last time you saw him because Deidara- senpai killed him," Tobi laughed again. Naruto clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as red chakra engulfed his body. Hinata backed away as the chakra started swirling about wildly, causing the air to gust around them. "Pretty color… is it supposed to be intimidating?" Tobi asked trying to get a rise out of the blonde.

Another flare of chakra blazed around the clearing and a loud roar rumbled from Naruto's throat. "DIE!" Naruto screamed as he bolted forward and attempted to beat Tobi into the ground. The Akatsuki member dodged and flipped over to the other side of the clearing, just behind Hinata.

The Hyuga heiress stood, dumbstruck, between Naruto and the object of his rage, Tobi. Even when she saw Naruto come barreling blindly at her she didn't move. The blonde didn't stop he was too wrapped up in his anger to control himself, in a matter of seconds Hinata's limp almost paralyzed body flew up into the air at the force of Naruto's charge and came tumbling back down. She was still limp but to top it of there was blood spreading across the front of her purple jacket and dribbling out of the side of her mouth.

For a few moments Naruto froze mid- leap in front of Tobi, waiting, hoping for the slim chance that Hinata would just wake up and shake it off. Hoping that she was just playing a joke. The red around Naruto dimmed and disappeared as the red on Hinata spread and became more vibrant. His understanding of the situation sunk in followed by the burning at the back of his eyes.

Naruto's head snapped from Hinata's face to Tobi's. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" He bellowed and rushed at the Akatsuki again.

"Tobi had nothing to do with this was all your doing, Kyuubi." With that Tobi disappeared in a poof of smoke. Naruto stopped running and became still, he couldn't bring himself to look back at Hinata. Tears streamed down his face as he forced himself to walk over to her body, although he kept his watery eyes off of her.

A foot from Hinata's body Naruto's knees gave out and he had to crawl towards the girl. By now he had gotten a good glance at the damage he had caused, the girl's jacket was soaked in blood and it was still spreading. Finally he had reached the Hyuga's body. Naruto pushed up into a crouch and did the first thing that came to mind he checked Hinata's pulse. His heart jumped into his throat as the soft and faint rhythm of the girl's heartbeat brushed across his fingertips.

Immediately Naruto scooped an unconscious Hinata into his arms and sped towards the village.

End of Flashback

Hinata snapped back from the memory and sank back into her numbness. A few warm and wet things dropped onto her face, they felt nice in the blackness. The rhythmic motion of the supposed footsteps stopped and Hinata suddenly felt scared the voice that had been keeping her awake wasn't there anymore. Was this the end? She wanted the numbness and tingling to stop so that she could get up and see what was going on beyond the black veil that seemed to be strangling her brain and blinding her eyes.

The fogginess continued and Hinata could feel her throat clenching and the same warm, wet things streaking down her cheeks. She was crying! It couldn't be the end if she were crying could it?

"Get Grandma Tsunade! Quickly!" The voice came again, it sounded choked and still Hinata could not fight off the blackness long enough to piece together who was speaking. But it didn't matter she and the bodiless voice were moving again and there were more distorted noises that Hinata didn't exactly enjoy because they drowned out the voice that had kept her awake. She waited for the other noises to stop, but they didn't and her voice, the voice, wasn't talking anymore.

Hinata's throat clenched more, the voice had been the one thing keeping the blackness from completely engulfing her and now it was gone. Just gone. The rhythm kept going though, which was nice. It assured her that the fogginess in her brain wasn't going to come back again like it had.

She felt herself being stretched out and the rhythm dying away. Hinata panicked again, the black veil came back and swallowed her mind whole. Now she was falling just falling, with no rhythm to assure that it wasn't over and no voice to keep her awake, what was left?

Her throat was tightened to the point where Hinata thought that the black had lifted and light had come in but that was only momentarily. She panicked all over again not knowing whether she was at the end or whether the voice had left her because she hadn't thanked it. Hinata's terror eased itself as a small flash of blue light passed through the fog and darkness and lifted it just enough for her to fall into a comfortable place of confusion, a dream, and not the endless black that had kept her from it.

Hinata's eyes fluttered open, the numbness had gone and pain had replaced it. She groaned in agony as it came in waves from her ribs and chest. She was half asleep yet she still managed to realize that someone was sitting next to the bed she was lying on.

The indigo haired girl slowly turned her head towards the person and saw orange, bright orange. She smiled slightly and noticed that Naruto was asleep, his head resting near her lap. Another wave of pain shot through her as she brought her arm up in an attempt to stroke Naruto's hair. The blonde slowly raised his head as a second groan came from Hinata's mouth.

Naruto's cerulean eyes burst open and he was staring directly into Hinata's awake and seemingly pained face. He grinned stupidly and forgetting that the girl before him was injured wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Hinata whimpered slightly at his touch but allowed him to continue with the embrace. He was relieved and she could tell.

"I told you that you could never really kill anyone," Hinata whispered into the boy's ear. Naruto broke the embrace and gave Hinata a small kiss on the cheek. The Hyuga heiress blushed furiously at this and almost cried out in shock when Naruto's lips connected with hers.

Hinata was on the verge of fainting when Naruto spoke up, "I'm glad that you are alright and that you seem to be feeling okay." The happiness that the blonde had just displayed seemed to have faded when he said this, almost like it hadn't happened. "I never realized how much I care for you, Hinata- chan, up until this event when you almost…" Naruto choked on his words.

"I un- understand, N- Naruto- kun," Hinata choked out before she fainted with a smile on her face. The boy that she had crushed on for so long had finally returned her affections. Hinata was numb again, but in a good way she felt light, almost like she was flying.

A/N: Review. I would love to know what people think of this.

Aurora of the Light