Disclaimer Time

I in no way, shape or form own Naruto or any of its characters and am certainly not making any money off of them through this fanfic

Disclaimer Time Over

w00t

Now on to the fic and how to read it

Generally everything will be straight forward but ever so often I may insert a thought process in italics, kinda like the do in the show all the time…also more often than not I'll leave spaces in speech with a…in between them for sorta a pause for the character to think or just to break up what they're saying…well I guess that that's about it for the rules for how to read it so on to the FIC

With Eyes Wide Shut

Sasuke and Naruto's fight was quite some time ago. After Naruto's fight with Mizuki, in which he was trying to find a lead on Sasuke's whereabouts and was injured while protecting Iruka-sensei, he has finally gotten to the point that he's well enough to be released from the hospital. On his day of release, bearing a bouquet of roses from Ino's family's shop, Hinata has finally found the nerve to visit Naruto again, partially thanks to the encouragement of Shino and Kiba and their promise to go with her and not sneak out. On the way to the hospital, and to meeting Shino and Kiba, Hinata could not help but use the time to think about all that she wished she could say to Naruto-kun.

Naruto-kun, I've always loved you and…and all I've ever wanted to do is…

Before she could finish her thought Hinata ran right into Kiba and Akamaru without even looking while Shino just looked on, probably with a smirk but you wouldn't know it, needless to say this startled the already nervous nin and brought her back to the real world.

"Hello Hinata," Shino said in his usual monotone voice, "are you about ready to go see Naruto…"

"Or are you going to daydream like Shikamaru all day?" Kiba pronounced as he abruptly plopped himself onto her shoulder.

With a small blush Hinata managed to get out a yes while her thoughts intertwined with Naruto and the intentions of her visit. To tell him that she loved him and for him to acknowledge that he felt the same as she did was all she could think of, it even helped in tuning out Kiba's bragging about the new technique he and Akamaru had learned in their spare time from his parents.

After a few more minutes of walking the three genins and Akamaru had finally made it to the hospital and for Hinata it was her biggest door of opportunity. Upon entering the hospital they checked in at the desk and were given Naruto's room number. Hinata grew more and more tense the closer they crept to his room. Her nerves had finally kicked in like they did when they went to visit Naruto when he had first been admitted after his battle with Sasuke. She didn't remember much about the visit because she had fainted during it. According to what Kiba and Shino had told her she was sitting next to Naruto's bed waiting for him to wake up from resting and recovering from the battle, she probably could have waited all day and night and it wouldn't have made much of a difference because Naruto didn't wake up for about a week after that fight, and during his sleep he rolled over and faced where she was sitting and his hand managed to fall from its resting place into hers. Upon doing so he grasped it and wouldn't let go regardless of how hard Kiba and Shino struggled to loosen his grip because they knew what was about to happen. Amidst the intertwined ecstasy and panic Hinata was experiencing she lost her head, fainted and woke up in a hospital bed in another room.

This time is going to be different…I just know it will…I'll handle myself better this time…I've got to do this or it may never get done

These things repeated over in her head in the vain attempt to calm her nerves

On heading down their final hallway they ran into Tsunade-sama and Shizune-sama who had come to visit Naruto as well. Tsunade-sama was notorious for being lazy and only wanting to lie around and drink sake all day, but on a warm, peaceful and sunny day like today could you really blame her for wanting to be out of the office?

"Hinata, Shino, Kiba," Tsunade said as she greeted them, "so you have come to visit Naruto too."

After a brief conversation with the two of them they joined the trio and continued on to Naruto's room.

They finally came to Naruto's room, his was at the room at the very end of the hall which was almost like home by now because of how often he resided there. Hinata reached for the door handle when Kiba said in a teasing manner, "Make sure you don't faint when you see Naruto this time Hinata."

With a huff Hinata opened the door, eyes wide shut……

Rasengan2theface: Well that's the end of the first chapter and I hope you liked it…I don't know how many chapters long this will be, hopefully a lot, but I hope to have you here all along the way. This is the first fic I've ever written and I know I'm taking a lot from Episode 148 but I promise that after the first two or three chapters the story will be different and I'll add a little of my own flair along the way, I just needed a good starting place and I figured why not here, I've watched the episode so many times that I've about memorized it by heart. Well I hope to see lots of reviews next time I'm back and if anyone would like to offer to be a beta-reader I'd love to have you...well…until next time thanx again and later daze.

Rasengan2theface