The Last Night

by Hinata FTW

A NaruHina Songfic series! Hinata's feeling really down a few weeks after Pain's assault; Naruto hasnt acknowledged her confession yet and her family is really getting to her. What will happen when she finally decides to go see Naruto, one last time?

2. Chapter 2: Awake and Alive

Chapter 2: Awake and Alive

A NaruHina Songfic

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Surprise! Did you all think that was a one shot? Haha so did I, but thanks to my awesome first reviewer Uzumakiluver, she convinced me to make this into a series! Yes, it's going to be a small songfic series. Yay. Also, thanks to my other reviewer's and those of you who put it on favourites or story alert or author alert and didn't review, it all still makes me feel really good! Now that I know how awesome it is to get reviews I'll definitely review on more stories I read. Sorry it took so ridiculously long to get this out, the last one was pure inspiration but I kinda had to force this one out, plus I had heaps of other stuff like… nah jokes I'm not gonna make up heaps of excuses, just barrage me in the reviews for taking so long. Oh yea, I'm loving the starting at the moment (I'm up to episode 195 I think? Or whichever the Neji Chroncles episode is) where all Naruto's buddies push him up out of the water. You can just see it on Hinata's face. 'Oh my god I'm touching Naruto's bum!' Blush. Faint. Drown. Naruto dives back into the water not for evil teme Sasuke but for her! Hahaha Hinata you're the… girl. You're awesome! Ok on with the story now I've had my little talk. Umm, yea it's still a songfic just takes ages to get into it, it's a lot long than The Last Night. Sorry if the fight scenes are a bit over the top but that's just how I get my kicks… Anyway, read on!

PS: I fixed up some spelling errors in The Last Night, if anyone really cares.

For the song normal writing is guy, italics is girl.

PPS: Oops forgot disclaimer: No I obviously still don't own Naruto or even Hinata no matter how much I want to, neither do I own any other characters - *Sadface.

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Hinata slowly opened her eyes, her dreams lingering in her half-sleep state.

"Mmmm, Naruto" she mumbled. Her vision slowly became clearer, un-blurring to reveal a face she knew every detail of. "Aah! Naruto!" she screamed in shock. She actually was in bed with him! Naruto groggily opened his eyes.

"Huh? Hinata?" he said sleepily. Last night slowly came back to the now flustered girl. So it wasn't a dream. A glorious smile plastered itself across her face.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." She said shyly, her red face dying down to a blush that highlighted her features.

Naruto let out a huge yawn. "Morning!" he greeted the enthusiastically, he too was now fully awake. He hopped out of bed, still clothed from the night before, and gave Hinata a huge smile. "Do you want the shower first?" the blonde asked, remembering his manners.

"Uhh, n,no, you go ahead" Hinata said with a smile as she sat up in the bed. Naruto grinned when he saw her bed-head; having slept on one side the entire night her hair was flattened in one patch while the rest was a tousled mass. "Awesome bed head!" he said cheekily as he leapt out of the room, a pillow hitting the wall in his wake.

Hinata, after seeing her failed throw with the pillow, slowly extricated herself from the sheets. She stood up and a sudden thought hit her.

'IjustsleptwithNaruto!' rushed through her head, the thought bringing her straight back down onto the bed as her legs gave out. "Wow" she breathed; she had come too close for comfort to fainting again. Just the thought of it had made her extremely woozy and red faced. She stood again and carefully made the bed, then stepped out to his living room. She sweat dropped at the state that greeted her.

'How did I not notice this last night!' she thought. The ice-cream they had been eating had turned a patch of carpet into a slimy, sticky mess, adding to the multitude of rubbish littering the room. The majority of this consisted of instant ramen cups. 'Typical' she thought with a slight giggle to herself. The room was in a shocking state. Hinata went into the kitchen, which was in an equally horrendous state from what looked like multiple attempts to make ramen.

'Typical!' She rummaged through the cupboards until she found a big black rubbish bag. Thus armed, she wielded the bag to war against the mess.

Ten minutes later she put her hands on her hips and smiled at the sparkling room, just like any ordinary girl. Naruto was still in the shower, so she took off the yellow rubber gloves she had procured and stepped out onto the balcony. The door was now glassless so she didn't even have to open it, and her feet weren't in any danger from cuts as she'd already swept up the glass into her rubbish bag.

She had been embarrassed when she woke up to find she was even still wearing her sandals, and so when he had gone to the shower she had quickly slipped them off, placing them neatly by the door beside his black ninja boots that had obviously just been thrown there.

She breathed in the fresh morning air and looked out into the street below. A wave of relief swept over her when she saw Hiashi wasn't still there, some ninja on night shift must have picked him up. She relaxed and sat down with her back to the wall, gazing out over the street below. This was familiar territory for her, and the constant sound of water running from the shower lulled her into a state where she was lost in her memories.

Hinata remembered days when she had snuck out of the Hyuuga compound to come to this very place, to come lose herself on Naruto's balcony with her memories of him. When he was on his three year training trip, she had missed him big time, so this was the closest she could get to remind her of her role model. Even since he got back, when he was on missions or training she would sometimes come here. She had gotten the best of her strange habit of stalking him, and instead came up to his balcony, to get away from the hassles of life. To just think about the boy she loved.

This had been her sanctuary. Now Naruto was her sanctuary. This had been her little secret place she could come to get away from her family, from the stress of life as a ninja, from everything. Now Naruto would be this for her. Now they were together, he was her living sanctuary.

Hinata absently scratched the seal on her forehead. Even in this place, her family had intruded. She looked at the broken door. Try as she might, she couldn't just forget them. She knew. They would come back for her.

Hearing the shower stop, she got up and walked back inside to see Naruto exit the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. She instantly turned red seeing his naked torso.

"Umm! Umm!" she blurted out. He finally noticed her standing red faced just inside the door to the balcony.

"Are you alright Hinata?" he asked, concerned something had happened outside. Being a guy, he didn't really care that she saw him in just a towel.

"Y, Yes!" Hinata stuttered. She covered her eyes behind her hands and rushed to the bathroom. Because of her now blind view, she smacked hard into the doorframe, having misjudged her trajectory. "Ouch" she said, rubbing her head, then quickly hopped through the door and slammed it behind her.

She pressed her back up to it, sighing in relief to be away from the naked object of her desires. The blush slowly left her face, and, opening eyes she went about washing up.

Naruto stared at the closed door. "Okaay" he said carefully. 'She must really want the shower' he concluded, smiling to himself. He loved Hinata's antics. She was so cute how her face fluctuated so frequently from white to pink to red whenever he saw her.

He turned to go to his bedroom, and got a hell of a shock witnessing a sparkling white room. "Awesome" he said out loud in awe. How had she done all this in such a short amount of time? She really was, just… awesome.

Entering his room he changed into a clean orange jacket and track pants. He then went into the kitchen, turning on a decrepit stove that looked like it hadn't been used in months. Rummaging through the pantry, he started producing various ingredients. He had a surprise for Hinata when she got out of the shower.

Hinata emerged from the shower reborn. She had not only washed off the dirt and blood from the last day's torture, but washed off some of her stress and worry about her family. She had completely relaxed in the shower, knowing she was safe with Naruto there to protect her. She let her worries flow off her with the water running down her long dark hair, flowing over the porcelain white contours of her body, taking away the stresses of life.

She left the bathroom with her hair freshly brushed, though to her embarrassment wearing the same dirty jacket she had yesterday. She obviously hadn't thought she would need another day's clothes when she had gone to see Naruto for what she thought was the last time. She smiled to herself despite of it. 'How things have changed.'

Stepping through the door she came upon a strange smell. It was a bit like breakfast ramen, but somehow, off. Curious, she peeped her head into the kitchen. When she saw Naruto standing vigilant over the stovetop in an apron, she couldn't help but giggle.

Stirring a pot full of noodles, his expression was deadly serious, even with the absurd apron. He was so cute! She pictured him in a chef's hat and giggled even harder. Naruto grinned when he saw his girlfriend in a good mood.

"Hey there, I thought you'd like some breakfast!" he greeted cheerfully. Hinata grinned back before another fit of giggles overpowered her. Naruto loved hearing that laugh. Her real laugh. The one that just bubbled out of her, full of pure happiness. It wasn't mean or abrasive or forced like many peoples laughs, it didn't make him feel bad like she was laughing at him. No. It was just the pure, unhindered sound of joy.

For the first time, he truly saw the 'sunny place' that was the unsuppressed Hinata Hyuuga. And he loved it. When she finally controlled her amusement at seeing him in an apron, Hinata managed a few coherent words.

"I'd like that" she said with a smile, so Naruto poured the noodles into two bowls, chucked various spices over them, and carried them out to the table in his living room. They both took a seat opposite each other and sat down.

Naruto gestured enthusiastically for Hinata to try the meal he made for her. Hinata smiled. Naruto had cooked for her! It didn't matter that it didn't smell very good, and looked incredibly dubious the way it was thrown together, but that was irrelevant. Just the thought was everything to her. Picking up her chopsticks, she initiated the meal with tradition ingrained on her since she was three.

"Itadakimasu" she said, broke her chopsticks, and carefully wrapped some noodles around them. Smiling nervously at his intense gaze, she popped the chopsticks full of noodles in her mouth.

"Mmhmm" she started in appreciation, but then as she chewed her face slowly turned blue, an odd shade for Hinata's usually red tones. She quickly swallowed to get the food away from her taste buds as quickly as possible. This however, led to prolonged choking when she rushed it and the noodles stuck in her throat.

She spluttered about in her seat like a fish out of water. Between hitting her chest with a fist and coughing fits, she forced out "I, Its g - cough - great Naru - cough - to - cough - kun."

She ran for the kitchen and put her mouth under the tap. Rapidly spinning the top she desperately gulped in water, clearing her airways to wash out the now in-famous noodles. Wiping the remnants of cleansing tap water from her mouth with her jacket sleeve, she re-entered the living room.

Hinata smiled sheepishly as she retook her seat. Naruto was eagerly gobbling down his own bowl. 'If he can eat it, so can I" she resolved herself. Naruto, noticing her return, quickly turned to her.

"Are you aright Hinata-chan?" he asked in sincere concern. The compliment was so unexpected she instantly stopped what she had begun to do, wrap up another chopstick full of noodles. She was lucky they were not already in her mouth, she would have been back under the tap in an instant.

"H,Hinata, ch, ch, cha,n?" she stuttered out in shock, her face fluctuating bright pink.

Naruto grinned. "Yea, you are my girlfriend, I'm definitely calling you that from now on, I gotta repay you all those 'Naruto-kun's' remember"

"G, g, girlfriend?" poor Hinata struggled to get it out with her soft voice. It all really sank in for her then. She was Naruto's girlfriend! The innocent girl turned red and promptly fainted in glee at the thoughts that infected her mind of what could happen as a result of their pairing. Naruto leapt up as he saw her start to topple and caught her just before she hit the ground.

Unfortunately, he knocked over his ramen in the process. He sweat dropped at Hinata's antics. "Ahh, Hinata, this is gonna be fun" he said in exasperation to the unconscious girl in his arms.

Thankfully, when Hinata woke up she was saved from eating more of the lethal ramen by a very guilty looking Naruto. His face said it all. 'I ate it'.

"W, we better get going" she said nervously. She was nervous because last night there had been so much blissful kissing, but this morning she hadn't even got a hug. Did he still feel the same way? Her anxiety was getting the best of her until she remembered not moments ago he had called her 'girlfriend'.

She blushed and twiddled her index fingers up by her face as she meekly followed him to the door, knowing of what she wanted but way to scared to ask for it. He already had his black ninja boots on so she bent over to put on her own shoes.

Picking up a black sandal she slipped her delicate looking foot through the ankle brace that connected to the rest of the piece with two small black straps. She wriggled her toes under the wide armored strap that protected the joints between her toes and foot. While her sandals were extremely cute, comfy and flexible, the main reason she had chosen them was for their extremely durable qualities and protection, they had been vital components in the success of some of her missions.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto glancing towards her strangely, then blushing lightly and averting his gaze to the floor, before being drawn back to her. She turned bright crimson when she realized what he was doing. She noticed she was in the perfect position for it. He was desperately trying not to check out her bent over bum, but failing miserably.

Quickly stepping into her other sandal she jumped up and turned to him with her hands clasped together in front of her, still a little pink in the face from embarrassment. She gasped in involuntary surprise when he stepped not inches away from her. His eyes were intense, all trace of lust from his previous view swept away.

"Hinata, no matter what happens today, remember I love you" he whispered. A feeling of dread crept over her as she started to think of the complications, of what everyone's reactions would be.

Such thoughts were shattered when Naruto's lips closed on hers. Her eyes drooped shut in bliss. All she could think of was how good it felt. It was indescribable. The only word for it was. Love. There was nothing better in the world than this, nothing else in the world. This was what she lived for.

They finally parted, a smile once again plastered across Hinata's features. Naruto grinned at her reaction, and gave her an extra quick peck on the lips. Her eyes sparkled with that enchanted look she had when he had first kissed her. Every time they kissed was like the thrill of the first time, yet it felt so familiar and comfortable it was like they had been doing it everyday for years.

He loved making her happy, it was better than any feeling he had experienced before in his young life. He especially loved the feel of her soft lips moving with his, and when she was bold enough to wrap her arms around him, rustling their jackets together to add to their unity.

The couple finally left the depths of each others eyes and walked together out the door. Naruto locked it behind them, then, confidently taking up Hinata's hand, they headed over to the Hokage's office to meet their respective teams and reveal there fate.

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Naruto was met by a punch in the face. An irate Sakura slowly retracted her fist, glaring into the Naruto shaped hole in the wall behind the door to the Hokage's office.

"Why the hell are you two hours late! You're worse than Kakashi-sensei!" she yelled at Naruto's prone form. "Huh. Hinata?"

She stopped her barrage suddenly, noticing the meek Hyuuga standing in shock in the hallway just outside the doorframe, having narrowly missed being taken out and squashed between Naruto and a wall. Not that she would have minded being squashed into Naruto; but she would probably have fainted. Plus, walls are pretty hard.

"H,Hi Sakura-san" she said quietly. She couldn't bring herself to add 'chan' instead of san after seeing her imbed the love of her life in 30 inches of specially fortified concrete Hokage tower wall.

Sakura huffed, but quieted down a bit after seeing Hinata. Grabbing Naruto by the ear she forcibly dragged him out of his hole, into an amused Hokage's office.

"N,Naruto-kun" Hinata whispered under her breath in concern. No-one heard her though, and she knew Naruto was used to this treatment; he had been Sakura's teammate for years. Not that she thought it was ok though. How he had ever liked her was beyond the capacities of her mind, even with her renowned kindness.

"Good, you're finally here." Tsunade said as Naruto and Sakura joined Sai and Kakashi while Hinata went over to her own teammates. She greeted her friends with a gentle "Hello."

She noticed the InoShikaCho trio was also there. The only sensei attendant was Kakashi, as Asuma had passed away a while ago and Kurenai was in hospital with her newborn baby.

Dispelling all curiosity, Tsunade explained why they were all here. "Sorry" she said sheepishly with a too sweet closed eye smile. "I did have a mission for you all, but unfortunately yesterday there was some trouble with a particular clan, so all today's missions are cancelled."

She looked pointedly at Naruto and Hinata, who didn't fail to notice this and cringed visibly under her glare. "Therefore, you're all dismissed. You have the day off. Go train or something."

Another closed eyed smile came before her face again transformed to deadly serious. She stared the two victims down. "Naruto, Hinata. Stay behind" she said menacingly.

Their teammates slowly filed out with confused and curious looks on their faces. Except Shino of course, who was as blank as ever. Hinata fearfully looked away from a sympathetic Kiba and turned back to the Hokage. Taking a deep breath, she was the calm before the storm.

Hands templed before her face, elbows resting on the wide mahogany desk, the Hokage stared them down in the silence. Finally she sighed. "What am I to do with you two?" she asked herself. "An ANBU picked up the leader of the most prominent clan in the village this morning. Hiashi Hyuuga was lying unconscious in the dirt of the street, right outside your house Naruto. This ANBU was obviously curious to this peculiar occurrence, and so performed some surveillance on the surrounding area. What he saw was quite shocking. You, Naruto, in bed, holding Hinata Hyuuga, a valued branch member of the Hyuuga clan."

She looked accusingly at said girl; who was now flushing various shades of red, indicating it was not all Naruto's fault, that Hinata was in deep water too.

"Uh, Umm." She couldn't come up with a feasible excuse for such an embarrassing experience on the spot like that. So, she just stuttered away in typical Hinata fashion under the stony gaze of the Hokage. It didn't last long; her savior in gleaming orange quickly came to the rescue.

"Shut it Grandma!" he shouted rudely. "She's my girlfriend now and we can do whatever we want. The Hyuuga don't own me, and they certainly don't own her! That idiot Hiashi guy was asking for it, he was hurting Hinata-chan for no reason other than his own sadistic wants! I don't stand for that kind of crap and I won't stand for yours, even if you are Hokage! I love Hinata! And I'll do anything for her!" Naruto finally finished his outburst, breathing raggedly in frustration and anger.

"Hinata, please leave and return to your team" Tsunade said, coldly dismissing the girl. Hinata didn't move, not wanting to leave Naruto's side. Especially after that heartfelt defense.

Tsunade's brow drew down in anger at the girl's hesitation. Hinata looked to Naruto in concern, but he just turned to her and gave her a confident grin. "Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'll be alright" he said sincerely.

She accepted the truth in his eyes, smiled, bowed stiffly but politely to the Hokage she now didn't like all that much, and left the room. However, as soon as the door closed she leant up against the wall and whispered "Byakugan".

Her kekkei genkai active, she could read Tsunade's lips through the wall. She couldn't see Naruto's mouth moving; he was facing the other way, but she knew him well enough to get the gist of what he was saying just by his body language. She closed her eyes, being able to see through her eyelids, and bowed her head. This way, her bangs drifted forward slightly and obscured the view of her eyes from the sides, hiding the bulging veins that were the telltale of her blood limit. Standing there, leaning casually against the wall, head down in what looked like the usual 'Hinata depression', she appeared to belong there, just another ninja waiting for her appointment.

Back in Tsunade's office, Naruto was thoroughly pissed off. "What the hell Granny Tsunade! Why are you giving us so much crap! Do you even know what they do to her! I won't let that happen again, no matter what. I give my word on that."

Outside, Hinata's heart soared. She knew Naruto's nindo intimately, it was her own, and so she knew she was safe with him now. If only she was that self assured, but the following conversation again made her doubt.

"I'm well aware of that" Tsunade said. "However, Hinata is used to suffering, it's made her the strong kunoichi she is today. She's coped with it ever since her Mother passed all those years ago. While I admit her abuse has got noticeably worse lately, she will get used to it, just like all the other branch members. She will become a stronger ninja thereof."

Naruto stood in mute disbelief. Fists clenched, head down, he was shaking in barely suppressed rage at such blasphemy. He couldn't believe the words coming out of his 'revered' Hokage's mouth.

"No" he whispered. "No, she won't go through that anymore. She won't suffer anymore!" he finished shouting, tears of frustration watering his eyes. He couldn't stand to think about Hinata having to endure the pain of what happened last night, everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Naruto" Tsunade said more gently. "It could make your dreams of becoming Hokage impossible." His head snapped up instantly.

"What are you saying" he growled.

"You can't steal Hinata without there being consequences. Having such an important clan as the Hyuuga directly oppose you would make it literally impossible for you to fulfill your dream." Tsunade explained. "Just think about that before you throw it all away for this girl."

Naruto stood stock still, unmoving. "Hokage" he whispered. "That is my dream" he echoed all his past bravado on his goal, but this time, his voice was filled with loathing. An inner struggle raged within him. He wouldn't leave Hinata, but how could he give up his own lifelong dream just like that?

Outside, unknown to the occupants of the room, Hinata chose that time to leave. She knew from watching too many sappy romance movies that she probably picked the worst moment to run off in tears; that everything would turn out good if she waited just a little longer, but she couldn't help it. Her heart was breaking.

She did run off in tears. She knew what he would choose. Hokage had always been his dream, even since he was just a little kid. She couldn't take that away from him, who was she to do that to him, the girl who had come sulking to him for consolidation only yesterday! She had put all her faith in him, and now was heartbroken. But it was her decision to let him go, she wanted him to be Hokage, she didn't want to get between him and his dream. She didn't want to be selfish.

Quickly brushing the tears away with her jacket sleeve, she exited the Hokage building. Increasing her pace, Hinata ran through the village to her team's regular training ground, to spend the rest of the day grinding away all thought in grueling exercise with Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru.

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Before Hinata reached her team she composed herself, and then walked calmly into the clearing like nothing had happened. Akamaru was the first to sniff her out and bounded over, jumping all over her.

"Hello there Akamaru-kun" she smiled half heartedly at the excited dog. "G,Good morning Kiba-kun, Shino-kun." She greeted the rest of her team.

"Hey Hinata!" Kiba said with the same enthusiasm his dog emitted, and she got a stoic nod from Shino, about as much affection as he would show. "So, what was that all about?" Kiba inquired about her meeting with the Hokage straight away, his usual boisterous self.

"Umm, n,nothing" she meekly dodged the question, but it didn't work on her teammates. First, they were sensory ninja and second, they had known her for years.

"C'mon Hinata, you don't have to lie to us, I know you hate it." Kiba said. Hinata sighed in defeat. How had she ever expected to fool her best friends with such a pathetic decoy?

"W, well, l,last night, me and N,Naruto-kun, we, well, we w,went to his apartment, and then F,Father came to bring me back, but Naruto-kun beat him up, th,then we, umm, well" she turned bright red at this part, looking anywhere but her teammates. She couldn't believe she was saying this!

"Umm, w,we, umm, well, we kind of, uh, s,slept together." She mumbled it so quietly she was sure they couldn't hear. Unfortunately, they did.

"WHAT!" Kiba shouted, and Shino actually showed some emotion - surprise.

"Hinata, I didn't think you were that kind of gi-" he started but was cut of by Kiba.

"What the hell Hinata! Since when have you guys even been going out! Are you even going out? Or did that idiot force himself on you! That Naruto, I'll kill him!"

Hinata quickly defended her love from their outbursts, red from what they thought. She waved her hands in front of herself as if trying to ward off attack. "No no no, w,we did nothing like that." She stayed a bright fluorescent pink at the mention of it. "W,we just hugged, that's all."

"Okaay…." Kiba said, extremely confused. "Ah, so what did Tsunade want you for anyway?"

"She, she said that Naruto couldn't steal me from the Hyuuga. She threatened him with never being able to become Hokage. She gave him a choice, me or his lifetime dream. I, I know what he'll choose." She looked at the ground dejectedly and despite her efforts let out a few light sobs that wouldn't be held in.

Shino chose that moment to speak up again and came and put a sturdy hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Hinata, Naruto cares a lot more about his precious people than his own dreams, I'm sure he'll chose you." He said, stoically comforting the girl. Hinata looked up at her even quieter teammate.

"R,really?" she said, the spark of hope lighting again. "B,but, how could I do that to him?" She would hate it to be the one to break him, to take his dreams from him.

"It's his choice Hinata, don't feel guilty about it" Shino consoled.

Meanwhile, Kiba was on a different train of thought. 'Hmm, they are her family. I know there not 100% caring but their still family. She's got to stay with them. But they did put that stupid seal on her. But I guess there was a reason. Arg!' he held his head, all that thinking way too confusing.

"Tsunade's probably right" he said finally, causing a glare from Shino and a teary gaze from Hinata. He continued despite the obvious admonitions. "I mean, they are your family, no matter how big assholes they are. And you do have the Byakugan that needs protecting." He started to realize the implications of what he had started saying. He continued on, his pace getting quicker. "They could take drastic measures to get it back! To get you back. If you don't want to go back to them peacefully Hinata, I'm worried what they'll do to you." He said the last words solemnly. "They, they could just decide it would be easier to kill you."

Silence hung in the clearing for several minutes, until Kiba broke the self made silence. Such was the problem with having two ridiculously quiet teammates, the loud, boisterous one -himself, had to break up awkward situations like this, even if he was the one who made it.

"Ok you think about it Hinata, but for now, lets do some training!" Akamaru accentuated him with a bark of agreement, and so Team 8 set to work, if a little more awkwardly than usual. Still, the intense training helped Hinata forget her fears for a few hours, and she was grateful her teammates were there with her, helping her through this ordeal.

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Naruto marched up to his own team, muttering angrily under his breath. "Stupid Granny Tsunade, stupid Hiashi, stupid elders" he cursed all the higher-ups in his village for their ridiculously strict rules of state.

"What was that about Naruto?" Kakashi immediately interrogated him, though it was subtle with his ever present nonchalant tone and nose stuck in his dirty book.

"None of your business" Naruto growled. Kakashi looked up in mild surprise. 'He really is angry.'

"Well, I know it had to have something to do with the stirring up of the Hyuuga's this morning when they found their leader was in hospital." Naruto balked. 'Crap! How did Kakashi find out?'

"Umm, yeah, it was about that" he admitted "But it's none of your business!" he shouted.

Kakashi saw that he wouldn't get through to the boy. Being an ex-ANBU, he still had connections and so had found out early that morning the occurrences of last night. Therefore fully aware of the gravity of the situation, he decided to leave it for now. He instructed his team to start training. With many a confused glance from Sakura and Sai, they began the day.

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After a hard day's training, Hinata didn't know what to do. Her teammates had already left with consoling pats on the shoulder, so she was now standing alone in their training ground, hesitant to make a move. She was turning her head back and forth between where she knew the Hyuuga estate was and where Naruto's house was.

It was almost like she could see them; of course she would have been able to if she had her blood limit activated, but at the moment it wasn't. Memories of each place were enough to picture them. She was torn between going back to the hell that was her ancestral home, probably at the sacrifice of her own life, or going to the heaven that was Naruto, at the sacrifice of his dream. Being an incredibly unselfish, self-sacrificing person, Hinata quickly made up her mind. She put Naruto's dreams before her own wellbeing, and resigned herself to her fate, turning to go back to the estate.

Just as she took her first step towards it, she gasped in surprise as two black sleeved arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind and a soft kiss was planted on her neck. Its sweet tingle lingered on her skin where he had parted her hair just above where her hitai ate was tied, to gain access to her creamy soft skin.

"N,Naruto-kun!" she stuttered in surprise at the sudden contact. She felt him grinning into her neck.

"Hey there Hina-chan" he whispered seductively. He pulled her against him and she turned her head to face him with wide eyes. Which widened even further when; seeing her gently quivering lips, he dived onto them with his own. Hinata closed her eyes in ecstasy. She gently kissed back, not willing to break the moment for what she knew she had to do. Finally they separated, all too soon for her, that was probably their last kiss.

Before he could distract her anymore, she resolved herself and forced it out. "N,Naruto-kun, w,we c,cant see each other a,anymore." She grinded out. It was the single hardest sentence she had ever said in her life, harder even than confessing her love to him. Because this was destroying him. She could see the pain in his eyes, and tears swelled up in hers as she saw what she had done to him.

This didn't leave her with that soaring feeling like when she had confessed, it left her feeling like the scum in the bottom of the swamp, not even worthy to be stepped on by Naruto's boot. Like the mud at the bottom of the swamp, she would forever be able to see the light at the top that was Naruto; forever reach for it, but never touch it.

"W,what?" Naruto now stuttered, his heart fragmented, the tiny little pieces of life piercing his insides like fire. He was shocked beyond words. He couldn't even formulate the typical 'You're breaking up with me?' sentence.

Hinata couldn't bring herself to say anymore, yet she couldn't bring herself to leave him like this either, not with all the pain she had just put on him. 'It's for you Naruto-kun' she thought. She hugged him as tightly as she could, never wanting to let him go. There, with her head buried in his jacket, hearing the rhythmic beat of his shattered heart, she confessed.

"I, I saw what Tsunade said" she murmured into his clothes. Leaving out the 'Lady' title was the closest she ever came to an insult to the Hokage she no longer respected. "I won't come between you and your dreams. Y,you have always wanted to become Hokage, that dream has made you the person you are today, the person I love. I won't be the person who destroys you, even if it's by trading my own life." Silence overwhelmed them. Slowly, fearfully, she looked into his eyes as she pulled away.

.

"I'm at war with the world

And they try to pull me into the dark

I struggle to find my faith

As I'm slipping from your arms."

.

Naruto slowly advanced on the fragile girl. She backed away with every step he made towards her. He opened his arms in a silent plea. "Hinata, please, just let me decide" he pleaded.

"No! I won't do it to you!" Hinata screamed and sprinted away.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed and chased after her. He couldn't let her go back; he didn't know what they would do to her if she reached the Hyuuga compound first. Unfortunately, he didn't catch up as quickly as he thought; Hinata was extremely nimble and fast.

Just in time, he got to her before she reached the gates of hell. He, of course, chasing her, had a lot more incentive, so adrenaline took over him, allowing him to reach her in time. He caught her in his arms and held her tight as she struggled feebly to break free.

Well, he thought it was feeble until she started using actual ninja techniques on him. Getting a hand free, she started molding her chakra. He felt little cuts appear on his arms as she expelled sharpened chakra from her free hand, she was using her ultimate defense technique to escape him. He gritted his teeth and held on; he knew the small lacerations he was getting were nothing. She could easily chop him limb from limb if she used the full strength of the justu, but still he held on. Even with her panicking so much, he trusted that she wouldn't kill him.

Even as Hinata started using the Protection of the Eight Trigrams she remembered who was holding her. She saw blood dripping off the various cuts in his arms, his sleeves torn to shreds and soaked in blood. "Oh my god Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry!" she said in a panicked voice as she twirled in his arms. She started to hyperventilate seeing what she had done to him. "Naruto I never wanted to hurt you!" she said without a pause between words, her breath now coming in constant tiny puffs.

He caught her with his eyes, locking her in until she calmed somewhat. "Hinata" he whispered. His voice worked miracles for the crazed girl, she was instantly calming down in his arms. "I never want to be the Hokage of a people that would allow you to suffer. I choose you."

He sealed his decision with a soft kiss, leaving her gasping, speechless, wanting more... "Naruto-kun" was all she could say. She wanted to say he should be Hokage more, to try to convince him otherwise, but she could see in the depths of his eyes that his mind was set. Nothing would change that now. To himself, he had given his word.

"C'mon, let's go back" Naruto said, taking her hand and leading her through the trees towards his home.

.

Along the way they picked up some fresh groceries for dinner when they passed through the market, and when they got home Hinata quickly volunteered to cook. She didn't mind cooking, and if it was for Naruto, she loved it. She still remembered when she had made cookies in the shape of his head.

'What were you thinking?' she giggled to herself as she prepped for cooking.

Naruto had not wanted to eat his own head at first, but when he had finally taken a bite he was blown away by the taste. She blushed to herself as she remembered what he said. "You'd make a great wife to someone one day!" he had shouted enthusiastically, reducing her to a blushing wreck.

She peeped into the lounge, seeing her now boyfriend sitting on the couch watching T.V. 'Wife huh?' she imagined. She lost herself in that future of possibilities as she went back to cooking their meal.

It was supposed to be a surprise, but it was pretty easy to guess. She was making him ramen.

"Wow! This is awesome!" Naruto couldn't believe the taste swimming around his mouth. This ramen rivaled Ichirakus! "How can you be so awesome at cooking too!" he mumbled between mouthful after mouthful of Hinata's secretly flavored homemade ramen.

"Well, umm, I" Hinata couldn't form coherent answers under his torrent of complements. She tried some herself, and couldn't stop "Mmmm, yummy!" from coming out. 'It is pretty good; I guess' she thought, though too modest to come out and say it was awesome to herself.

Cinnamon scrolls were for desert. These were a first for Naruto. They were Hinata's favorite treat, so to consummate their first normal night together she had baked them specially. She was glad Naruto liked them, but was a little ashamed that she ate six out of the batch of eight she cooked. She just couldn't help herself, she could resist them normally but if they were sitting on the table before her it took S-rank determination to resist.

After dinner, they quickly went to bed, weary from the days stress and training. Naruto reassured her over and over again that he was happy with his choice, it was obvious by her demeanor that she still felt guilty about it.

"Anyway, I can always find another way to become Hokage" he said. Hinata smiled at him, his reassurances were overwhelming her self doubt. "Ok Naruto-kun" she said kindly.

They had also bought a few extra clothes for her earlier as she dared not go back to the estate, so her pajamas were now an oversized white t-shirt that came almost to her knees, and to her immense embarrassment, just undies for the bottom half. It looked like she was wearing the t-shirt and nothing else!

This time Naruto closed the curtains just incase another ANBU got nosy about the new couple on the block, and they went to bed. "Good night Hinata-chan" Naruto said with a slight yawn.

Hinata blushed, she still wasn't used to that name. "Good night Naruto-kun" she said softly. "Love you" she added in a whisper, happy that she could finally bring herself to say it so freely. It just felt so right. Her heart soared when he said it back and proved it with a sweet goodnight kiss before they both drifted off into their respective dreams of each other.

.

"Jitensha! Jitensha!" the familiar repeated notes of 'bicycle' instantly snapped Hinata from her sleep. She shut off her alarm as fast as possible before Naruto could wake up. It had barely gotten out the second word before she shut it off. Hinata was so used to it the first note would wake her. Because of this, Naruto didn't even have a chance to register he had heard it, and so just kept slumbering away.

Hinata had wanted to get up early so he could wake up to a surprise. Since she presumed his normal wake up time, like all ninja, was seven, and it was five thirty, she reasoned she would have enough time for a shower before she set to work. However, before her shower she hand washed her jacket and track pants so she would finally have some clean clothes to wear that day, she couldn't go in a baggy t-shirt and undies, and would be way to embarrassed by the obvious hint of wearing Naruto's clothes. She hung her jacket over the windowsill so it would hopefully be dry by the time she was finished, and then hopped in the shower.

Closing her eyes while the steaming water ran over her porcelain white skin, she came to a decision. Thinking once again about her family, her duties as a ninja, her friends, and her love, as the water flowed over the curves of her body, she decided to put all she had into Naruto.

She would trust him completely to look after her, but she would also look after him and their relationship in turn. She would never give up; she would fight for it if she had to. She would stand her ground, no matter what anyone said.

Hinata left the bathroom resolved and determined, but ecstatic about the possibilities that were laid open before her. She grabbed her ninja gear, though still damp so a little uncomfortable she felt better wearing it again, instead of the sleepwear she had at the moment, which felt incredibly skimpy to her. Sadly, when she was toweling her hair dry and walking back into the bedroom to grab something, Naruto was already sitting up in bed, yawning like a cat. Still, she was happy as always to see him, so sat down next to him, hoping for a little something.

"G,Good morning Naruto-kun" she said shyly, blushing slightly at what she wanted.

"Morning Hinata-chan" he said enthusiastically and gave her a good morning kiss, just what she had been hoping for. Her eyes fluttered closed in rapture. It ended all too soon for her, as always; forever wouldn't be long enough when they were joined at the lips.

Naruto went and had a shower and Hinata rushed into the kitchen, making Naruto his surprise, a quick batch of breakfast ramen. She went about grabbing ingredients out of cupboards, until she realized there weren't any eggs! You can't have breakfast ramen without boiled eggs sliced on top!

'I must have used them all last night' she thought. Guiltily, she took a few coins from Gama-chan and left a note for her boyfriend, consoling herself that she would pay him back, even if the eggs were for his breakfast. She smiled and blushed slightly as she wrote the last part, then rushed out the door.

.

Naruto exited the shower to the smell of ramen cooking. He followed his nose into the kitchen where a half done pot of ramen was on a slow boil on the stove. 'Hinata must have left it there to go get something' he thought. It was confirmed when he saw the note on the bench.

Dear Naruto-kun

I have gone to get some eggs. Sorry I had to borrow some money!

Love from Hinata H.

XOXO

Naruto grinned. He could even see her cuteness in her handwriting and the way she wrote the note, and could imagine her blushing as she wrote the last part. Kiss Cuddle Kiss Cuddle.

'I'll have to take her up on that when she gets back' he thought mischievously, making the mental note. However, plans never go according to. He heard a loud explosion come from the market district, not to far from his house. He instantly got changed and leaped out the window onto his balcony, then jumped from there to the roof, using them as pathways was a lot more open than the street.

'Is the village under attack?' he panicked. 'That can't be happening again! Not so soon after Pain!'

.

Hinata had walked happily into the store, feeling on top of the world as she bought a tray of eggs. She was with Naruto-kun! She felt like nothing could bring her down now. The eggs were immediately forgotten as she stepped out of the store though. They fell from her shaking fingers, smashing on the pavement below.

Before her stood a group of five fellow Hyuuga branch members, all in battle stances and with menacing looks on their faces. "Hinata Hyuuga, we have been sent to bring you back to the compound." The one in the middle stated coldly, he was obviously the leader. "If you don't come willingly, and don't allow us to take you by force, we have authorization to use lethal force to bring you back in a body bag. What's your choice, you return for torture, or a burial?" he sneered out that last part.

Hinata was speechless. She thought she would be safe for at least another day, she had never expected this so soon! She was glad to see that Ko-kun, her personal caregiver when she was a main house member and someone that had become a dear friend to her, wasn't among the group. He must have wanted nothing to do with the execution of a fellow Hyuuga.

She could tell that these men wanted her to fight back, just for the excuse to be able to be the ones who killed the 'Hyuuga shame.' She resolved herself. Oh yes, she would fight back. But they would not take her down so easily.

"I won't go back" she whispered in defiance, looking the leader directly in the eye, something unheard of by the other Hyuuga in the clan for Hinata to do. It didn't break through the leaders idiotic over confidence though.

"So be it" he smirked, the others preparing to attack. Though she had resolved herself to do it, Hinata was still hesitant to fight back. These were her fellow clansmen, and while they had done nothing but hurt her, practically disowned her, she hated the idea of hurting them.

That was until the leader went one step to far in his taunts. "You and the demon boy will be punished for your disgraceful actions." He continued.

This instantly sparked Hinata's anger, lighting it up like a pyre. "What? D, Demon boy!" she knew exactly who he was talking about. Strength came flooding into her. "Naruto-kun is not a demon!" she screamed out in defiance, momentarily taking aback her enemy, they had never seen this side of the shy 'failure' before. "He's the Hero of the Hidden Leaf Village!" she finished by shouting out in her shrill voice the title that was on every ones lips.

They couldn't deny it, he was loved now, and she wouldn't stand for people still saying stuff like that about him.

The man smirked. "Heh. Not to us. You disgraced him. Because of you, now he's back to what he always was in our minds. A demon, a monster, a freak of nature!"

Even more rage boiled up in Hinata at this, an unfamiliar emotion to be directed at a branch member. She had always felt so sorry for them, that they were forced into slavery for the main house. Even now that she herself was one, she pitied them. She couldn't help it, they had never known the freedom outside of the curse seal. Not that she had been very free under her father's strict law, but it was a lot better than the entrapments of the curse mark.

Anger was a wholly unfamiliar emotion in her at all. Only in the most dire circumstances, usually only when Naruto was involved, did anger heat her up like this. Now his reputation was in danger, and that was almost as bad. She would defend him!

Hinata, with fluid grace, slipped into her gentle fist stance. Her right-hand palm face down by her hip, held slightly out and perpendicular, her left arm straight out front, tilted a little to the right in order to protect her whole body. Both palms bristled with hidden power. Her feet shifted also, coming together, her back foot up on the ball of her foot, her right foot pointing at the enemy.

"Naruto's a hero!" she repeated in her soft voice, rich with rage. "I won't let you say bad things about him! And I won't leave him either!" She stood in stoic defiance before the five shinobi, ready for their attack.

They charged as a single unit, but she leapt away, getting her back away from the store front so she always had a way to retreat. Quickly, she activated her kekkei genkai as they now surrounded her in the more open space.

'So many opponents' she thought bleakly, seeing each chakra system. They were no joke, she could see they were all powerful ninja. She remembered Naruto, standing alone in the crater that had once been her village, against three Pain bodies. They were all much stronger than these ninja. And Naruto had won! She knew she could never be as strong as Naruto, but that didn't change the fact that she could always try. 'But I won't give up, for Naruto's sake!'

They all charged her again at the same time, though this one they were coming in every direction. This time though, they seriously underestimated her.

"Heavenly Spin!" Hinata shouted, expelling huge amounts of chakra from her palms and spinning on the balls of her feet. This was the typical high level Hyuuga defensive technique to deflect multiple opponents, and they had fell right into it in their obnoxiousness. They went flying back, completely caught off guard. Hinata slowed her rotation, her long dark hair drifting slowly back into place against the aftermaths of chakra littering the air.

"Damn" the leader swore as they slowly recovered, glad the girl was not pursuing them while they were down. She would regret it. 'She's not as weak as we were lead to believe. I didn't think she would know that technique.'

Speaking up, he ordered his men. "Two at a time!" he shouted "The rest, be ready to take her out if you see any openings!" His men nodded and two men split away, charging the rogue. The other set of two backed them up with a barrage of kunai, and the leader watched, carefully analyzing her every move.

Hinata cheered inwardly. If they only attacked in two's it was a lot better odds. She couldn't perform a lot of heavenly spins, they exhausted massive amounts of chakra, and so by the enemy choosing to avoid her doing this, they were saving her endurance.

Before the two men reached her she performed her Protective Eight Trigrams, 64 Palms. She easily hit the multiple kunai and shuriken away before the men even reached her, at the same time making sure she avoided hitting the actual flesh and blood enemies approaching with her sharpened chakra threads. She had seen its effect on direct contact with people before, and had no wish to see that gruesome effectiveness on her own clan members.

As the kunai and shuriken dropped harmlessly to the ground, bent and split from her defensive attack, she jumped in to meet the charging duo before the others could pin her down with more projectiles. As long as she stayed in close combat with these two, even with the precision of the Byakugan they couldn't attack her without fear of hitting their allies.

However, her foes had no such admonitions. She saw a kunai thrown straight at her, only for one of the two up close jump in front of her to intercept her. Quick as a cat, she whipped a chakra thread around behind him, cutting the misthrown kunai out of the air before it punctured his head.

Unfortunately, this left her open for his attack, and she painfully took a chakra blow to the side. She staggered back a bit, then desperately ducked under another strike to her head. She immediately had to swivel around the other branch member's strike towards her heart, him missing by only inches so that she still felt the burn of his chakra as it swept past. They were going for kill shots.

She retaliated such cold regard for a human by ramming two fingers up into one members gut, pulsing chakra into his internals. He coughed up blood and dropped to the ground, but that strike made her left side partially open to his comrade. He took advantage of this and scored a glancing blow on her ducking shoulder blade before jumping away.

She had no time to recover, more kunai and another duo were already approaching. She gritted her teeth and focused her chakra into her fists, clenched by her sides. She had trained this technique extensively ever since its failure against Pain. Now, it was time to use it again.

Activating it, her eyebrow twitched involuntarily, as it did every time, she shouted "Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fist!"

The two lion heads erupted into life around her hands, chakra surging out and wavering around her. The branch members flinched visibly when they saw the deadly chakra pulsing around her fists. This was one of the most advanced techniques of the traditional Hyuuga, none of this generation had utilized it. It required a modified play on the typical Hyuuga battle form, needing intense chakra control, endurance, and flexibility. These Hinata excelled at, and so it was the perfect jutsu for her. The lion heads used both taijutsu and ninjustu to utterly destroy its opponents.

Still, being brave men on a mission, facing a death penalty if they came back a failure, they advanced. But, were way to slow. Hinata was no longer being hesitant or playing nice. If she wanted to survive this, she would have to be the one to act. Their split second moment of hesitation cost them many broken bones.

Hinata was between the approaching pair instantly, using each arm for each member of the duo. She punched them both in the gut simultaneously with the lion heads. They exploded on impact, tearing apart their enemies chakra system. The concussion sent them both at breakneck speed through the nearest buildings wall. They hit just as simultaneously as they were hit, coming to rest with an explosion of bricks and debris which thundered over the village. This was what Naruto had heard.

Hinata stood amongst the shower of bricks, and turned towards her two remaining enemies, one the captain and the other who had been in the original duo. His partner half sat, half lay on the ground, still occasionally coughing up blood, out of the fight.

The lion heads slowly rematerialized around Hinata's clenched fingers. "Leave here" she said, trying her best to sound menacing. She didn't realize how effective it was. "I don't want to hurt my clan anymore than I have to."

The leader grimaced. She had already taken out three of his men with only herself taking a tiny blow to her shoulder and a moderate hit to her side. And through his byakugan he could see it hadn't done a lot, there was a tiny bit of interference in the flow of chakra going to one of her lion heads, but she was purposely directing it through different paths than the few small points blocked off. She really did have excellent chakra control, he had to admit.

He was actually thinking of taking her advice, at least he could tell the elders someone had interfered or something else happened so they had to leave before they were caught, and maybe the elders would spare him. This girl, however, looked like she was giving them one last chance at redemption. After they blew that off, there was no going back.

He opened his mouth to agree, but caught sight a faint movement on the rooftop of the building behind her. Interestingly, it was exactly where the pinpoint of her blind spot was. He smirked when he saw who it was. She was finished.

The traditional white robes, the obviously arrogant bearing, even from this distance. No doubt about it. Hiashi Hyuuga; the leader of the Hyuuga clan, but more importantly at the moment, a main house member, and so capable of manipulating caged bird seals.

Hinata looked confused at his grin. 'What is he up to?' she thought.

Her answer bloomed in her forehead. The now familiar flower of agony and despair erupted from the seal. Pain jolted throughout her body, turning her private, final sanctuary, the only one that a person can truly fall back on, her own body and mind, into a sea of pain.

She fell to her knees; the lion heads snuffed out, holding her head in shaking hands. Blood already started to leak from her ears and nose. He was using the full capacity of the seal. She could feel it; he was going to kill her.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain, picturing her idol. 'I'll never give up'. His voice echoed through her head. "Naruto" she gasped in a whisper, her voice choked with tears. "I won't give up, even through this!"

Hinata struggled back against the pain, letting it wash through her body to take the focus off her head so she could begin to think slightly more clearly. Tears tainted with blood fell from her closed eyes as they too started bleeding from the pressure. Shakily, inch by inch, she started to push herself to her feet.

Both main and branch enemies eyes widened in surprise, and for the branch members, awe as well. They had never experienced such a degree of the pain threshold from the seal, never enough to make there eyes, nose and ears bleed. And she was actually resisting it! It defied logic.

'What willpower' the captain thought in undisguised awe.

Hiashi gritted his teeth. "Die!" he screamed insanely, channeling all his power into the seal,

Somehow, though she hadn't thought it possible, the pain got worse for Hinata. Her body spasmed, on the verge of collapse again.

"No!" she growled. Through sheer, unbridled willpower, she regained her feet in a titanic struggle. Standing there in the centre of the market square, alone and shaking uncontrollably in pain, she turned to face her father.

Standing above her, he looked a vengeful god come to strike down his wayward follower. To bring his retribution, on his own daughter. Only he didn't see her that way anymore, through his madness he only saw an item for his hatred to latch onto.

"Father" she whispered. It carried across the silence in the square. The crowds had edged back from the scene awhile ago, and now remained silent for the obviously monumental struggle going on before them, even though the physical aspects were invisible to their eye. However, the emotional war was clear to anyone and everyone. Life as a civilian in a ninja village sure was interesting.

Hinata struggled with the words under the weight of pain. "How could you do this?" her sincere plea cut through Hiashi's heart, straight through the madness, sharper than her eight trigrams technique would have.

But it was too late; the captain of the assassination squad was already moving towards Hinata's exposed back. Her byakugan had receded when the curse seal was activated, so she had no forewarning. He struck solidly with no resistance or inaccuracy, his blow true.

Chakra pulsed through her heart, rupturing the blood cells. A huge amount of this blood forced its way up and burst from between her soft pink lips, spraying forth as her back arched under the force of the blow. Visible to all, the chakra continued its way through her body, shooting out her chest. His blow had gone straight through her, more deadly than being impaled by any sword.

Hiashi closed his eyes in grief, the madness leaping back as he saw his daughter murdered before his very eyes. He turned slowly away as her face fell into the cold, uncaring dirt. All was silent in the square.

Hinata's wide eyes witnessed only the rough ground a few inches from her face. She could feel her life ebbing away. All she cared, though, was that she would die here, alone, uncared, un-mourned, and would never see Naruto again.

.

Naruto arrived just as the man struck an unresisting Hinata full in the back. He saw the chakra erupt from between her breasts, saw the blood flower out from her mouth, and saw her fall unmoving to the ground.

Then he was bowling through the crowd to get to her, as he had jumped off the roof at the entrance to the marketplace. It seemed he was swimming through an ocean of lead, his movements one second too slow. He felt he would never get there in time.

Vaguely, he noticed a swath of pink hair in the crowd from the corner of his eye. "Sakura! Get Tsunade!" he screamed his desperate plea. He finally broke through of the crowd of silent watchers, and sprinted to his love.

Hinata heard the rushing footsteps. As her vision flickered she saw black boots in her field of vision. Naruto's boots. Hope swelled in her broken chest as she was gently rolled over and found herself looking up into a sky of beautiful blue.

It wasn't the sky, it was Naruto's eyes, not inches from hers. They dripped tears into her own twitching lavender eyes.

"Hinata" she heard him whisper as she blacked out for an instant, only to regain some consciousness a second later. It was like blinking, only she was trying with every ounce of energy she had left to keep them open. It killed her over and over again, hearing the pain of that one word that came from his mouth. She didn't want to put him through that much pain.

"Na, N, Nar, Na" she couldn't say his name, she couldn't even get enough breath for more than one syllable. Hinata started panicking. This was the last time she would ever see him, and she couldn't even tell him how much she loved him. She didn't want to leave him, didn't want him to go through so much pain seeing her die.

She searched for comfort in the familiar lines of his face. She could feel death approaching now, creeping over her, slowly infecting her limbs, ready to claim her laboring heart. She could do nothing to resist it. She couldn't find her determination. All she wanted was one last, heart warming kiss. She had never longed for sex, for marriage, for children. She had wanted all those things, but she had only longed for one. Naruto's love. Love. She had finally found it, and now wanted just one last reminder, one last taste of that love.

Naruto saw the unspoken plea in her watery eyes. He remembered all the torture and degradation she had put up with all her life from her family. Her life had been full of sadness, and now, he wanted to bring at least some happiness to her before the end came. He leant down to her lips, her breath barely coming, and pressed his to hers.

Hinata's eyes sank closed as she felt his tender kiss. She felt every emotion racing through Naruto at that single moment. His hopes. His dreams. Were all for her. It was all revealed to her in the desperation of that kiss, Naruto wanted life with her. He would not have it any other way. She could feel how deeply he really felt for her, how much he really loved her. That he would die if she died.

That was what gave her back her determination. 'I will not die!' she screamed at herself, banishing the darkness creeping across her mind, ripping out those insinuating tendrils of death. He loved her, and would die for her. She could feel it, and now, she would live for him. She would not have him die for her.

Naruto saw the fierce determination return to his loves eyes. "Hold on Hinata. Tsunade's coming" he whispered, choking on his own words. "You can do it Hinata, don't give up, don't ever give up."

The twitch of her lips was all he needed to see she was trying to smile to him in reassurance, trying to tell him everything would be ok, that she wasn't about to go anywhere. He knew her that well, he could tell all this just from that infinitesimal twitch of her lips.

He felt that reassurance, and nodded to acknowledge her, but it couldn't outweigh his worry for her. No matter how strong you are, if your heart is bleeding internally there is only a matter of time you can cling to life. He kissed her again as they desperately hoped, waiting for the medic, the legendary sanin. He breathed life into her with his kisses, hoping against hope she would live. For him…

.

"It's getting harder to stay awake

And my strength is fading fast

You breathe into me at last."

.

Tsunade arrived just in time to keep Hinata's laboring heart beating. After hours healing from both Tsunade and Sakura, they had stabilized the Hyuuga girl enough so that she could be moved off the street and emitted to the hospital.

The other Hyuuga had picked up their comrades and skulked away when Naruto arrived, not wanting to trigger the demon boy's grief into wrath. He went with the now peacefully unconscious Hinata and stayed by her bedside all night. He was not about to let her go, he would stay there forever for her.

However, in the morning Naruto had an idea. Making sure Hinata wasn't about to wake up, and getting both Kiba and Shino to look after her, he rushed to the Hyuuga compound to pick up a few things.

With the help of Neji, who was the only Hyuuga he knew who was on her side, he snuck through the estate to her now tiny room. It had been considerably downgraded since she was caged.

She didn't have a lot, Hyuuga were not renowned for their luxuries, and slaves were even less. But he did have to smile when he saw the collection of photos on her dresser.

The first was of her as a little baby, being held lovingly in her passed Mother's hands. The next was Hinata at five, in a cute little lavender jacket, not too different from the one she wore now. She was holding the hand of a stern faced Hiashi. The next frame jumped forward to when Hinata was twelve. It showed an extremely happy, chibi like Hinata, eyes closed in glee, presumably when she received her Hitai Ate against all the expectations of her clan. The second to last photo was of her in her full ninja attire, standing defensively before the prone Naruto, when she had defended him from Pain. He had no idea how that photo was taken, but it seemed it was the final step in her life's story so far, her story to self confidence.

The last large photo was of the Konoha 12, all of Hinata's friends, with a small picture of Sasuke stuck in the side as well. She never left anyone out. There were also other numerous smaller photos of her with her friends; well, blushing trying to hide from the camera with her friends. Family photos were scattered here and there also.

Naruto, knowing she still loved them, took them all, but kept the first five aside, deciding about a special place in Hinata's hospital room to place them. He then collected the rest of her things, which had been taken and brought back to the compound when she was emitted to hospital.

He couldn't help but laugh in delight when, with a red face searching through her drawers for some clean underwear, he found multiple pictures of him.

'Ah Hinata, your so cute!' he thought to himself.

When he got back to her hospital room, the first thing he did was take out her Hitai Ate and placed it in her hand. It had been removed when she was emitted to the ward, along with most of her other things. She was now just in a hospital gown. He wrapped her fingers around it, and then wrapped his own around hers.

He thought he felt a slight twitch in her hand in response as she felt the familiar, cold metal that meant so much for a ninja. As he felt this tiny response; of her hand trying to grab onto it, his hopes soared. She was still there.

.

Hinata's eyes slowly opened. She was outside, under a deep blue sky. It was strange though; there were tan swaths to it and two strange black holes floating up there. And, it seemed only inches from her. She felt as if she could almost touch it. She reached up to do so, but found she couldn't move her arm.

"Where am I?" she wondered out loud, her soft voice rough from days of unconsciousness.

"Hinata!" Naruto's voice came excitedly. "You're in the hospital." His reply drifted to her from that strange blue sky, which lowered even further until it was almost touching her face. She panicked slightly, thinking it was going to crush her. But it stopped just before it reached her, and at that moment soft lips connected to hers.

'Naruto?' she thought.

He drew back from the short, tender welcome back kiss. "How you doing?" he said sincerely, a hint of mischievousness in his eyes.

Hinata gasped in surprise when the sky drew back to reveal Naruto's sparkling blue eyes, set in the confines of his handsome face. She slowly sat up, now becoming aware of her surroundings, getting her bearings. She was in a not so bleak looking hospital room, everywhere there were splashes of color.

She started remembering all the events that lead up to her being situated in a hospital. "H,How long have I been out?" she wondered.

"Two days" Naruto said nonchalantly, surprising her again that she had thought it out loud. The splashes of color in the room began resolving into photos. There were photos everywhere of her, her and her friends, her and, blush, Naruto-kun.

He had got every single photo from her room at home; which she hadn't seen for days, and had obviously sourced even more from her friends. She saw five particularly special, framed photos, on the wall by her bedside. Looking up at them, part of her life story, she got tears in her eyes at how thoughtful Naruto was.

He spoke now. "The Hyuuga, they've been trying for days to get in here, to 'see if you're alright' so they can take you 'home'. To the slave house. I wouldn't let them though, I know why they wanted you."

Hinata gasped in surprise, not at the Hyuuga wanting her, which was obvious, but at something else. "You, you were here the whole time? Two days?"

He grinned sheepishly. "Yea, mostly, except for when I went to get your stuff, that's when Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino looked after you, and they've been dropping in here constantly throughout the day's too."

"Thank you." She said, moved by his loving care and dedication.

"But" Naruto said, his voice sad. "There's something I need to ask you." He took a deep breath. "I, I want you to consider going back, to the Hyuuga."

Hinata was too shocked to speak. He wanted her to go back, to that pure pain and torture? To that hell?

Before tears could start falling, Naruto rushed through his explanation. "I don't want you risking your life anymore! They tried to kill you! I don't want you to die because of me! If you go back, they will hurt you, and it will kill me inside. But at least you will live! If you stay with me, they will keep trying to kill you! I can't stand putting you in that kind of danger. If they succeeded, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'd die, just to be with you in the afterlife. But that's not the point; I don't want you to die!"

"Naruto" Hinata stopped him with a single word, her resolve growing alongside her determination. "I won't go back. I am finally alive. Not just living, but alive. Everything seems sweeter when I'm with you." She giggled a little. "Its not just ramen, it's everything. Everything is better! At the Hyuuga estate, there was nothing but bleak pain. Here with you, this is heaven. This is everything I ever wanted. You are everything I ever wanted. And I'm staying with you, no matter what the Hyuuga try. This is my life! I won't let them destroy it for me!" she finished her speech shouting out her defiance.

Naruto was proud of her, her defiant declaration; without a single stutter, had changed his mind. He smiled warmly. "Don't worry, I wont let them hurt you anymore. We'll be together forever. We'll get around those Hyuuga bastards, and then, we'll live."

.

"I'm awake, I'm alive

Now I know what I believe inside

Now, it's my time

I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life."

.

Suddenly, the door bursts open and a Hyuuga elder appeared in the room. Naruto's growl instantly turned feral. "Get outta here!" he roared. "Leave, she's not going with you! LEAVE! Before I kill you!"

The man ignored him. "Hinata, come with me" he said calmly to the girl in the bed. "You know where you belong, with your one and only clan."

Naruto exploded again before Hinata had a chance to speak. "Why the hell would she want to go back there! To be executed! Tortured? What the hell! How can you be dumb enough to think she will ever come back!"

The elder merely smirked. "Kyuubi, who are you to decide what she wants. I am asking Hinata; you do not decide for her, you do not own her."

Naruto growled even more at the hypocritical speech of not owning her. "Bullshit, neither do you" he muttered under his breath, but otherwise kept silent. It was Hinata's decision. Little did he know the elder was crafting his chakra into her seal, subtly tracing pain throughout her mind, just reminding her what he could do.

But, to his surprise, the look of defiance never left her eyes. The hospital room filled with the rich softness of her voice, tones of pain, sadness, joy and determination laced through it.

"I'll never go back there" she raised her soft voice in defiance, even as he increased the pain. "This is my choice, and I won't back down! You can use the seal all you want to control me, but I won't give up. This is my life! I'll do what I want, I'll be with whoever I want, and you cannot stop me!" Naruto was again proud to hear his girlfriend wording such a strong conviction for her own life.

The elder growled this time and started increasing the pain threshold, being blissfully unaware of Hinata's capability to endure pain. She had dealt with so much emotional and physical pain all her life, she had a huge capacity for it.

He was also unaware of the foot coming towards his head, being lead by an irate Naruto. "There's your answer jerk, now get out!" he shouted as he booted the Hyuuga out the room via the still open door he had come in through. Naruto slammed it behind the tousled form of the elder and turned back to his girlfriend.

A grin stretched across his face. "I'm so proud of you Hinata-chan! Your nindo's just like mine"

.

"(Here) Right Here (Right Now) Right Now

Stand my ground and never back down

I know what I believe inside

I'm awake and I'm alive."

.

Hikotu, the Hyuuga elder sent to apprehend their runaway branch member, walked slowly down the corridor. He produced a radio from within the deep pockets of his robes and quickly contacted his clan leader.

"Hiashi-sama, even after all those threats she's not going to come back peacefully. We will just have to keep sending branch members to capture or kill her." He said coldly.

He heard a muffled growl on the other end of the line. The voice that came across was laced with madness; unknown to his clan Hiashi had sunk lower into insanity seeing his daughter murdered before his very eyes, just as he was coming back from the edge. It was irrelevant that she had actually survived, and he was now trying to kill her again. Just seeing her and thinking her dead had made the madness unhinge his mind again.

"Very well, you will follow up on these threats." Hiashi's cold voice came in response. "Go in there now and kill her."

Hikotu stiffened, making a slight choking sound. "B,but, Hiashi-sama, the Kyuubi's in there, that's a death wish!" he stuttered in fear, not so tuff now that he was being put directly in the line of fire.

"Think of it as a sacrifice for the good of the Hyuuga clan. You will be doing us a service for once, instead of just rambling away on my advisory council." Hiashi said, and with that emotionless condemnation, his voice turned even more chillingly cold. "Now do it" he hissed. "Or you will be cursed with far worse if you return here a failure."

Hikotu gulped, thinking about what he could be 'cursed' with. "Y,yes Hiashi-sama." He replied, then pocketed the radio. He slowly turned back and started walking down the corridor, back towards certain death.

.

The door opened suddenly and Naruto growled again, sick of the interruptions. He turned only to see an empty doorway and a blur go past him. He caught a glimpse of a palm glowing with chakra, heading directly towards the prone form of Hinata.

"Nooo!" she started to shout. Terror welled up within him as the palm full of deadly intent descended on his beloved. He couldn't move fast enough to stop it.

But Hinata could. Her hand whipped out from under the covers, grabbing the elder's wrist before he could stop her already fragile heart. Hikotu stared in shock at her Byakugan filled eyes, staring right into him. She sent a large jolt of chakra into his arm, numbing the entire appendage and shutting off most of the chakra points in the limb, rendering it useless.

Before Naruto could do anything too drastic, she reached up. Gently, she tapped the stunned elder's neck, sending a small lace of chakra into the nerve which effectively knocked him unconscious. He slumped across her, seconds before Naruto roughly yanked him off her and threw the already unconscious 'revered elder' into the wall. Well, that was before he realized he was already unconscious, and not leaning over Hinata trying to do something dirty.

"Naruto-kun, could you please get a doctor or something?" Hinata said quietly, strangely calm in the near death experience. She was getting all too used to them lately.

"What! Did he hit you?" Naruto asked in concern. "No, no, it's for him" Hinata reassured, pointing at the prone form stuck to the wall.

Naruto sighed. "Yea, I understand" and walked out of the room in search of a doctor. Despite what he had just said, he still struggled to believe Hinata's capacity for kindness.

.

Hinata slowly rose from her hospital bed, feeling a lot better after days of lying there resting. She gently picked up the unconscious elder and lay him down amidst the now unoccupied sheets. He had been misled by the teachings of the clan, and she would not judge him because of others.

She found some of her ninja clothes in the bedside drawers and changed into them, then left the hospital, Naruto falling in step beside her with a confused look on his face as she swept past him. "What are you thinking?" he asked suspiciously, knowing something was up with the normally shy, unsure girl.

"We're going home Naruto-kun" she said calmly, but continued in her head. 'But then I have something I have to do. I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but you can't come with me.' They stayed in silence until they reached Naruto's house, thankfully without anymore run-ins with Hyuuga. Once inside however, everything turned to hell for Naruto.

Hinata turned to him with an odd look on her face. "Naruto-kun, I'm going back" she said, stunning him into further shocked silence. She still stood in the doorway, but instead of looking at the ground in depression, all vulnerable like she normally would be; she was looking straight back into his eyes. Her expression was that of fierce determination, showing in her lavender eyes and every inch of her face.

"I need to change them" she whispered. "Will you trust that I'll come home?"

Naruto was lost in the determination of her eyes, he had never seen anything like it before. It was stronger even than when she had fought to defend him against Pain. He knew she was going to do something about the Hyuuga, but he also knew she wasn't going to tell him. It was a matter of trust, his final faith. The inner struggle raged within him until he finally summoned up the courage to utter a single syllable.

"Yes" he whispered. Hinata smiled gently.

She leant forward. "Thank you, Naruto-kun, for trusting me. And believing in me. I'm going to take this war to them." She whispered in his ear. She shifted her head, now nuzzled against his face, until their lips touched.

Naruto's eyes widened even further. This was the first time Hinata had ever actually initiated a kiss. She had indicated she had wanted one before, but never given one. It was another wonder altogether, feeling her press her lips now hard against him, his slow to react in shock.

Their kiss became passionate, both a goodbye and a promise to come back, of there to be more. Then. She was gone. Naruto stood staring at the empty doorway as the door swung softly closed. He continued to stare at the door, fists clenched and teeth gritted, resisting the urge to pursue her, to stop her, to bring her back to the safety of his arms. He stood there all afternoon as he waited for his love to return. He knew, this was something she needed to do alone, and he would not interfere, no matter how much it killed him inside knowing she was walking into the heart of danger.

.

"I'm at war with the world

'Cause I ain't never gonna sell my soul.

I've already made up my mind

No matter what I can't be bought or sold."

.

Lines of caged Hyuuga met her at the gates of her old prison, all in their shared clan fighting stance. Someone must have alerted the clan of her approach, but nothing would stop Hinata. This was too important.

"I'm back to see my Father" she said, stressing the last word, yet her tone was cold and emotionless, like the 'perfect Hyuuga.' A man that looked to be a captain grudgingly let her through, though not without an escort of ten men.

She was glad to see one of them was Ko, her ex-personal guardian and caregiver. He wasn't looking at her with the scorn for a traitor like the rest of the men, but a twinkle of sympathy was in his white eyes. She gave him a small smile, to show him everything was planned.

Even better, they came across Neji on the way, who stopped his training immediately when he saw who was in the centre of the group. He offered to help with the escort, and being an important and valued jonin of the clan, was accepted in good faith.

'Two allies' Hinata thought, considering her choices. 'At least it's better than nothing.' She reassured herself.

"Hiashi-sama, Hinata has returned" the captain announced when they arrived in the office of the clan head. However, this resulted in the whole procession, minus one, drop to their knees from the pain of the curse seal. Hiashi was not in a good mood.

Seeing one still upright, and that she was the object of his frustration, standing right within his own office in cold defiance, didn't help his anger. He increased the pain till it was breaking the threshold, but still she didn't even flinch. Through sheer will alone Hinata kept on her feet, as around her feet her fellow branch members screamed their lungs out.

"Hiashi-sama, please stop this, your hurting your loyal slaves." She said emotionlessly, hiding her pain and her guilt for bringing this upon Ko and Neji behind a mask of indifference.

Despite her will, her eyebrow did start twitching under the weight of pain, and one leg quivered as he somehow increased it. It seemed there was no limit to the suffering the curse seal could bring, but little did she know Hiashi was at his maximum.

The branch members, both enemy and ally to Hinata, were all unconscious by now, so no-one witnessed the titanic struggle between father and daughter go on in the small office room. Sweat beaded on Hiashi's bare forehead as he concentrated on his daughter's branded one, pouring chakra into the curse. But no matter how much he tried, she would not buckle. Nearly exploding in fury, he finally released the pain.

The relief on Hinata's face never showed, but inside she was screaming, now with joy. "Father, I've come to open your eyes to this world." She said with a slight smile, showing him she wanted to help.

His reply was menacing. "You will be executed for coming back here and saying such blasphemy!" he shouted She flinched, not from his words, but from the insanity in his voice, as plain as sunshine to her.

Hinata's quite voice filled the room in defiance. "Father, you don't get it."

A part deep within Hiashi stirred at the sound of the gentleness and love in her voice, so long the Hyuuga compound had been devoid of such a wealth of emotion. But this small voice was drowned out by his overbearing anger.

"Shut up! Why are you calling me Father! You have not earned that privilege! You are weak, a failure, and a shame on our clan! You are PATHETIC!" his madness shouted out the harsh words, coupled with his mass of anger.

Hinata took them all in, but her reply was just as gentle as earlier. She looked around her, at the unconscious branch members. "Father. How can you be so blind?" she whispered, almost to herself. It hit him hard, the pity in her voice. Suddenly, she looked up at him again, the fierceness in her eyes rooting him to the spot.

"I'm not weak!" she shouted. "And I'll prove it to you!" she issued her challenge, staring directly into his pale white eyes.

Emotions warred within Hiashi as he stared at his daughters face. The determined look there was foreign to him, but if he had bothered to actually get to know the real Hinata, he, like her friends, would have seen it often, and would be shivering with fear that she had directed it at him. Her friends had seen what she could do when that feeling came over her, they would have rather died than swapped places with the receiving end.

Hiashi gave her a stiff, forced nod, then exited the room, expecting her to follow. They swept through the estate and the summons went out to the entire household. Hinata was more than a little nervous throughout the short journey, but she quelled it under the fires of her conviction. She would help these people, her people, even if they didn't want it.

.

Finally, after what seemed a much longer walk for Hinata than it really was, they reached a small rectangle of packed dirt in the center of the compound. It doubled as an arena and training area; today it would be the former.

"You want to put a wager on this." Hiashi stated coldly. He thought he knew what she was up to. "You win, you stay with Naruto. Lose, you stay here." He said, knowing he had guessed her intentions perfectly.

The surprise was palpable when she answered in the negative. "No, this isn't for wagers Father. Whether I win or lose I will do what I want. But this, this is to finally prove something to you. This if for me and you alone, Father."

Hiashi's madness was still dominating his body, so all he muttered was an arrogant "Hmmph. Prepare yourself then."

He slipped into his gentle fist stance. Hinata glanced nervously at all the faces of the people of her clan gathered. She knew every one. She thought back to why she was here. For her father. For them. She shut her natural shyness away behind that wall of determination. Now was not the time.

Her eyebrows drew down in that set that meant she would never give up, even to the verge of death, even over the verge of death, and took up her own stance, a modified version of the gentle fist posture. Hers accommodated more for her assets. Her excellent chakra control, coupled with her flexibility made her stance differ a lot from the usual stoic Hyuuga stance.

The crowd went silent as an elder came forward. "Begin!" his rusty voice filled the silent arena, and he swiped his hand dramatically in the air.

Hiashi charged forward immediately. Hinata knew he was an extremely accomplished fighter; he wasn't the head of the most prodigious clan in the village for nothing, but she could see anger clouding his judgment, just through the way he was running so recklessly towards her. Chakra began to lightly glow around her palms, matching the deeper blue of Hiashi's.

As he reached her she sidestepped, keeping her hands close to her body and ready to block the expected counterstrike. It was as predicted. In his rage, Hiashi didn't think about his opponent anticipating his attacks.

He swept around ninety degrees from where he had finished his charge in her last standing position, jabbing straight for her heart with two fingers. Her hand jerked across her body in retaliation, knocking his strike into the gap between her elbow and side. She returned her own strike, aiming at his shoulder with an open palm.

He blocked this much the same as she had his strike, and a small puff of chakra whipped into the air from their collision. His other arm, now recovered, jabbed out like a snake trying to tag her abdomen. She swiveled around it, dodging without the need to block in order to keep her hands free. With both hands free, Hinata was at an advantage as Hiashi struggled to recover one hand while the other prepared to block.

Taking full advantage of this, Hinata struck his blocking arm away, sacrificing one of her free ones. Even as he tried to dodge out of the way, she struck his shoulder with full force. Her surge of chakra swept into his system, blocking off the surrounding points in a large enough radius to cut off the chakra supply to that arm.

She smiled at his look of pure shock and outrage. Was she finally getting to him? What really got to her was the crowd's reaction to her hit. A chorus of booing, hissing, degrading shouts ensued from the gathered Hyuuga, both main and branch family alike.

This was how her clan really felt? She had always thought it was just her Father and the elders who hated her, and were influencing the clan into hating her, but this revealed every ones true feelings. The truth of it was, the whole clan hated her.

As Hiashi recovered, she stood in shock, staring at the clan she loved, at what they had become. She took every insult to heart. These were not the people she remembered. These people were corrupt. Corrupted by the blasphemy of the elders, of her father, until they themselves were just as bad.

'In my entire clan, only two people want me around.' She thought in despair. Tears started to leak from her eyes, but she didn't bother wiping them away. 'Why am I even here?' her desperate, despairing thoughts echoed throughout her mindscape.

.

"When my faith is getting weak

And I feel like giving in

You breathe into me again."

.

'Naruto-kun.'

That thought echoed through her head as her clans degradation washed over her.

'Naruto-kun. He wouldn't give up, no matter what people thought of him.' She remembered how she had left him so suddenly, shutting the door on him before she even explained herself. How could she go back to him, a failure? No. Even though these people didn't want it, she would help them. She would open them up to the real world, not this cold, imaginary tomb that they had surrounded themselves with.

Hinata turned back to Hiashi, who was looking fully recovered again. She reactivated her Byakugan in preparation to fight. Her black streaked lavender eyes widened in disbelief as she viewed his chakra network. His chakra was flowing freely down both arms! It was like she had never even hit him.

He answered her unspoken question with a smug smile. "The leader of the Hyuuga clan has many secret techniques up his sleeve." He explained. "Although I admit it was quite a feat to hit me, it won't do you any good. You are still too WEAK!" and with that he charged in a repeat of the first 'round.'

This time, Hinata met him head on with a charge of her own. They collided with a titanic clash of chakra, sending both royalty and slave flying back the way they came. Light chakra burns swathed both Hyuuga. Hinata was instantly back on her feet, while the older fighter rose slowly, though steadily.

'If my normal strikes don't work against him, I will have to just go bigger!' she mentally shouted herself encouragement.

She brought her elbows hard against her sides, then raised her fists, knuckles down, perpendicular to her body. She leant forward slightly, concentrating chakra into her fisted hands. Her eyebrow twitched like it always did with this particular technique, and unknown to all but themselves, a few bandaged branch members flinched involuntarily at what they knew was to come.

This technique required immense chakra control, so Hinata couldn't help the telltale twitch that gave her away to anyone who had survived her attack before. Finally, just before Hiashi reached her again, the twin lion heads burst into life around her clenched fists.

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fist!" she intoned, and again met Hiashi's charge, this time behind the maw of a giant chakra lion head, ready to take a bite out of her Father's chakra and simultaneously blast him back the way he came.

Hiashi, realizing the danger of the technique from when he had seen it decimate the assassination squad of branch members, desperately changed the direction of his charge. It took him just past the outside of Hinata's attack. Still, he brushed the outer edge of a chakra head, and that gave him enough of a taste to know if it hit him directly he was finished.

He eyed her warily, certain she couldn't hold up that immense chakra for more than a few seconds. Yet as he watched, panting from his exertion, the lions showed no sign of wavering or flickering out. Feeding off her chakra, and having had a taste of his, they were actually growing bigger in anticipation.

"Father, if you don't give up, I'm not sure if I can restrain myself from severely hurting you." Hinata said, reigning in the anger that the technique had stirred up.

"Ha! You expect me to give up?" Hiashi smirked. "Against you!" he started to laugh softly. There was definitely something unhinged about it, and it was uncomfortably clear to every Hyuuga present.

Hinata was saddened at hearing it. 'So this is really what's become of him?' she thought. 'And all because of me…' was despairingly added. She coldly pushed the guilt away. 'No Hinata.' She told herself. 'I won't be responsible for his madness. But. I will bring him back!'

She could see he was on the edge of a yawning chasm, but by his actions, she saw he hadn't been completely swallowed up yet, he hadn't fallen into that pit. He had tried, every time he had tried to kill her he had leaped downwards, but every time he failed he would find himself back, teetering on the edge. Hinata's life was the only thing keeping complete madness away. And she would make sure it stayed that way.

.

"I'm awake, I'm alive

Now I know what I believe inside

Now, it's my time

I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life.'

.

Echoing Naruto's words from that first night, she shouted. "I will beat some sense into you, Father!"

With that she charged again. The Hyuuga leader desperately maneuvered away from her strikes. Even a slight graze from a chakra head brought on a wave of pain from chakra burns. It was all he could do to dodge, let alone attack, and he couldn't keep it up forever.

Plans started formulating in his unhinged mind, and using crafty underhand techniques he began molding chakra into her seal, even as he jumped out of the way of yet another lethal strike. He wasn't the Hyuuga head for nothing; he knew every trick in the book to utilize the caged bird seal.

Hinata stumbled under the sudden flare of pain that crashed through her head. For a second, the lion heads flickered, but she ruthlessly kept them active. She ignored the pain, focused completely on her objective, and pushed on.

However, it is rare to have a fair fight with someone from a clan that hates you, and that entire clan is attendant. Others had noticed her split second slip up, including the Hyuuga elders. Simultaneously, they clapped their hands together in their favorite seal.

Hinata buckled under the weight of pain as it folded over her another five times. She couldn't form coherent thoughts, only collapse to the ground, screaming in agony as a total of six main house members put all their chakra into her caged bird seal.

The Hyuuga looked on in amusement.

Who was this pipsqueak girl to challenge their way of life. Who was she to try to defeat their honored leader.

But not all thought this. There were signs of some change among the crowd. Many a branch member had a look of disgust on their face as they watched the brutality being forced upon the girl, who had just valiantly given her all in the fight. Seeing her courage to stand up to their clan, and now seeing her groveling in the dirt, it having taken six main house members to finally take her down, they began to look at it from a different viewpoint. Now, they were starting to question.

Two specific Hyuuga, who had just arrived on the scene, having recently recovered from an ordeal with the seal of their own and joined the audience, definitely opposed what was going on. Neji and Ko quickly saw the situation, saw the five Hyuuga elders crippling the poor girl. If this went on much longer, she would die. As it was she would be lucky to wake up in two weeks without permanent brain damage. She finally blacked out, leaving many a relieved looking Hyuuga as her disturbing bloodcurdling screams died down.

Before the elders could turn unconsciousness into death, the two allies leapt in front of them. In an act of pure courage and rebellion, they closed off the chakra to the older men's hands with a few quick jabs by each branch member.

The rage on their faces was palpable, but the allies stood there ground. Neji addressed the elders before they had a chance to begin their barrage. "Do you think our clan is so weak our own leader must have the help of five elders to defeat a branch member?" he accused. "I admit, she is a formidable opponent, but this was to be a fair fight, for her to prove herself to Hiashi-sama. Who are you to interrupt, against our own leaders orders!" he shouted.

One elder retaliated immediately. "She is so weak she couldn't even resist the seal!" he shouted back. Another chorused his agreement, and then smirked menacingly at Neji. "And I bet you can't either Neji. Shall we test it?"

The others snarled in agreement, and, using the special elder technique that Hiashi had utilized, they flooded their chakra pathways, effectively unblocking the tenketsu in their hands. Neji began to feel the all too familiar pain of the curse blossom in his forehead, and by the look on his face, Ko too felt the rotten flower of pain bloom in his own head.

But before it grew any worse, a cold voice interrupted. "They're right" Hiashi said, his tone brittle with anger. "It does not take six Hyuuga to defeat one. Leave them, they did the right thing, our clan is not that weak. It was you five that were shaming the clan."

The elders shrunk under his glare, then the one that had first spoken up turned to Neji. "I'll be seeing you two later." He whispered, and the five elders slunk off. The two branch members shivered involuntarily at the promise to come. Still, they quickly shook it off and hurried to the prone form of Hinata, lying fragile in the dust and dirt.

.

Hiashi felt strange, the pure agony of the screams of his daughter had once again struck those cords buried deep within his heart. Seeing her lying there, looking so fragile and vulnerable; face covered in blood from the effects of the seal, and dirt; from pushing her face into it as she groveled, this too began to play those cords.

"She'll need to be hospitalized immediately to avoid any brain damage, Hiashi-sama." Neji's neutral voice brought him back to reality.

"Yes, after that she will be out for at least two weeks." Hiashi said, surprising the two brave branch members with his empathetic statement. "Very well, take her then." He continued, his voice going back to its normal coldness.

Then, to every ones immense shock, a small sound escaped Hinata's lips.

"Eh" she grunted lightly as her eyelids moved slightly. They squeezed tight before flying wide open. Blinking a few times, Hinata looked up to see three extremely shocked faces standing directly above her. "Uh, wh, what happ-ened?" she stuttered out, rubbing her head. A throbbing aftermath of pain still clung there, and her voice was soft but husky from having screamed her throat raw.

She slowly, valiantly regained her feet with much shaking and spasming limbs involved. She found herself in the center of a trio of Hyuuga. Two corners were friendly, one, not so much. All three, however, were shocked beyond words. How tough was this girl?

She turned shakily to her father, slightly unstable on her legs. Her face was determined though, and she stared him defiantly in the eye.

"We have a fight to finish" she said.

He slowly nodded, the grudging respect for his branded daughter growing by her every action. They squared off at each other again, and this time, as they fought, the crowd was in attentive silence. After that last display, they too had found at least some respect for the girl, so no longer booed when she tagged their leader, nor laughed when she was hit in return.

Hinata was noticeably slower now, but she didn't let it bring her down. She still tried with all her effort to defeat her Father. Locked in close combat, Hinata threw a roundhouse kick to Hiashi's flank. He nimbly ducked under the kick, retaliating by sending his own to sweep her legs.

Hinata came up with a plan in that instant. Now that her body was severely injured, she was no longer anywhere near as fast as him. Therefore, she had to utilize her mind and every opportunity she got if she wanted to take him down. Now was such an opportunity.

Knowing he would expect the classic hop above; which would leave her mid air and open for attack, Hinata let his kick hit her. It whipped her around so she was parallel to the ground, but midair. Her eyes locked on her fathers surprised ones as he was coming out of his duck.

Motion seemed to stop as they sank into each others eyes, one full of madness, confusion, and anger, the other full of love, kindness, empathy, but above all, fire. Almost in slow motion Hinata's right arm swept down, planting on the ground. Using this as support, she thrust out her left palm towards her Father's chest, pushing off the ground with her other arm for extra leverage.

With the force of the giant bull one of Pain's paths had summoned, her chakra hit her Father's chest. She deliberately directed it around his vitals, but it still shredded the muscles around his heart and lungs.

The leader of the Hyuuga clan was left on the ground, coughing and spluttering up globs of blood in the aftermath of her strike, unable to move.

.

"(Here) Right Here (Right Now) Right Now

Stand my ground and never back down

I know what I believe inside

I'm awake and I'm alive."

.

Hinata stared down sympathetically at her father on the ground. Blood was splattered all down his robes, with the Hyuuga leader still feebly trying to retain a sense of dignity.

"You must reach this low in order to really see the world." Hinata said gently. "You brought me down to this place, but with the help of another, I woke up." She was thinking of how Naruto had saved her when she had all but given up. "I am here to help you up out of this ditch."

She smiled at him. "Without your help Father, in fact, with your direct, deliberate opposition, I still became stronger than you. Now will you listen? Now that all those lies about failures and weaklings have been proven insignificant, now will you give me a chance? Will you give yourself a chance?"

Hiashi looked at his daughter, standing imperiously above him, yet still radiating the gentle, kind aura of an angel. He grudgingly nodded his head. Hinata smiled slightly and knelt down in the dirt beside him.

"Father, you always labeled me weak, pathetic, a failure, because you never knew any better." She said kindly. "You were raised to be the arrogant man you are today. While my mum was around, she suppressed that side of you. But… but, when she passed, something tripped in you, didn't it, father?" she got a blank stare in return, as much as she had expected.

He wasn't yelling, just listening submissively. This was what she had hoped for. Hinata continued. "It killed the side Mum had tried so hard to create, the kind, loving Father I remember from my childhood. The Father who sang me to sleep at night. After she went, that side of you went with her. So there was nothing left to hold back the 'perfect Hyuuga' which had been instilled on you. The cold, arrogant, merciless Hiashi known today. I understand why you are like this, and it has in turn corrupted our entire clan. The Hyuuga are no longer known for their compassion, for their fierce desire to protect their comrades, or even for their fighting prowess. You know how the Hyuuga are seen these days. Cold. Emotionless. Arrogant. This is what you have become, and it is wrong."

She softly cradled his head in her hands as she looked down into his eyes. "I am here to bring you back, Dad."

That single syllable rang throughout the silence in the arena. Dad. It had significance to both of them. She hadn't called him that ever since her Mother had died and his old personality passed. That word alone, if not for all her actions that afternoon and her speech, rekindled something in Hiashi's heart, and brought him back from the razor edge of insanity.

"Hinata?" he whispered, his muscles burning, broken as they contracted around his lungs to force out the words. "I'm sorry."

.

"Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up in the dark."

.

The arena rang with silence, the multitudes of Hyuuga gathered to stunned to speak. Every man and woman there was reconsidering their values, following the lead of their clan head. One by one, every Hyuuga present, branch and main family alike, slave and honored elder, sank to their knees in a bow to the one girl left standing.

Through her sincere determination, she had showm them all what it was possible to be, against all the odds. They could be whoever they wanted, like this girl was.

Hinata looked around at all the bowed heads, and wished only one thing. She wished Naruto had seen her on this day. He would have been proud.

Hiashi finally came out of his all fours bow, and started struggling to his feet. Hinata was instantly beside him, helping the clan leader up out of the dirt. "Y,you need to get to a hospital" she said concernedly, hearing his labored breathing. She started to feel distressed at the condition she had put her own Dad in.

"I'm … fine." Hiashi grinded out, then, gritting his teeth, stood unaided. Forcing the pain back, he spoke clear and confident. He turned to his daughter as he began.

"Hinata Hyuuga, my precious eldest daughter, I have decided to retire my post as leader of the Hyuuga Clan. You, being my eldest daughter and the chosen heir, are now the leader of the Hyuuga Clan." He said imperiously, and then his face crinkled into a smile that had not been seen in years. "Welcome back" he grinned.

The arena erupted in applause, the previously stoic Hyuuga now leaping about, shouting and hooting, free from the shackles of what they had been forced to be. A beaming smile brightened Hinata's features.

"Thank you Dad!" she said excitedly with a soft hug, careful not to disrupt his injuries. "Now we really need to get you to the hospital" she admonished cheekily, feeling a bit confident from the happy situation.

With that, and the help of a grinning Neji and Ko, they carried Hiashi to Konoha's hospital, where the top medics would bring the former clan head back to as good as new.

.

"I can feel you in my sleep

In your arms I feel you breathe into me

Forever hold this heart that I will give to you

Forever I will live for you."

.

The door slowly swung inward, revealing a battered, bruised, but completely ecstatic Hinata.

Naruto was still rooted in place; he had been staring at the door for hours, contemplating his life with the angel that was Hinata. He spoke that name now as she stood in the doorway, lost in his watery gaze. His vision blurred, so he wrapped her in his arms, not wanting her to see his tears.

"I thought you were going to your death there." He admitted, his voice choked with happy tears.

Hinata nuzzled her head into the curve between his shoulder and neck, taking in his familiar scent. "I wouldn't die there." She said into his collarbone. "I won't die for them, for me. No. Because I'll live for you, Naruto-kun." She said gently.

A sincere smile stretched Naruto's mouth. Gently pushing her off his shoulder, he leant in, tenderly kissing her lips. She sank into it, moaning softly in pure bliss.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'll do the same for you" he whispered as they paused momentarily for breath, before joining lips again.

Repeating that fateful night a few days ago, they slowly went arm in arm to the bedroom. It was fairly dark by now, and they sank into the bed, pulling up the covers over them to keep warm. Naruto then commenced in paying her back all the kisses and cuddles she left in her note, until finally exhaustion overtook them and they fell asleep, lips still pressed together, sharing each others breath of life all throughout the night.

.

"I'm awake, I'm alive

Now I know what I believe inside

Now, it's my time

I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life."

.

"Oh, d,did I tell you I'm the leader of the Hyuuga clan now?" Hinata mentioned as they sat at Naruto's table, eating breakfast ramen and cinnamon buns again, respectively.

"Whaaaat!" Naruto almost choked on his half mouthful of ramen, instead opting to spit it back into the plate in surprise.

Hinata giggled at the look on his face, noodles still dangling halfway out his gawking mouth. Her timing had been perfect! 'Revenge!' she crowed inwardly in payback for him calling her 'Hinata-chan' just as she was swallowing the Naruto's infamous ramen, making her choke and run to the sink to be saved. "Well, the official ceremony is this afternoon, but Dad announced it to the clan yesterday." She said cheerily.

"Dad! That jerk? Again, Whaaaat!" Naruto couldn't form any more coherent response. "What did you do yesterday?" he finally managed.

Hinata smiled at his confusion, but quickly cleared it up, explaining how she had 'beat some sense' into her Dad. Naruto just stared at her in awe as she told her story. "You're awesome" was all he could come up with.

.

"(Here) Right Here (Right Now) Right Now

Stand my ground and never back down

I know what I believe inside

I'm awake and I'm alive."

.

Hinata stood blushing slightly on the wooden platform before her entire clan. She wore a light lavender kimono decorated with a few black camellia prints trailing up one side. Her hair was bound up by two wooden hair pins in the traditional style, and she had light face paint on, highlighted her blush and accentuating her lavender eyes.

She smiled and bowed as the clan erupted in cheering once again as she was officially announced. She even saw Hanabi cheering for her, who she had felt bad for as she thought she would be jealous of the whole thing. She actually seemed relieved to not have the issues of the clan thrust upon her at such a young age.

There were many hooting calls from the special guests at the back of the hall, namely all her friends - fellow students, senseis, Hokage and all.

But there was one particular blonde head she was really looking for, which she couldn't see until he was right on top of her. Hinata's pretty pale eyes widened in surprise as he appeared in front of her and met her lips with his, kissing her in front of the entire assembly. Her face put her makeup to shame, turning a deep crimson that made the makeup look like a blush on top of a blush.

But she didn't break away in embarrassment, or even faint. Instead, she kissed him back passionately, showing everyone her love for the bold blonde.

Hiashi watched on, happy that his daughter had finally found bliss. He remembered his own beloved with rueful regret, but the smile could not be wiped off his face as he watched the new clan head kissing the village knucklehead on centre stage.

'Love conquers all' he thought.

.

"Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up

Waking up, waking up."

.

Wow that was long huh? And no, I had no idea where that was going when I began. What a twist… At least with songfics I've got something to go on, the song. Well, hoped you liked. The next one will be the final, so this will be a small Songfic trilogy. And it will be a happy one! Sorry if I made you think Hinata actually died back there since I labeled it angst, but NO! I would never kill off Hinata! She's way too awesome! Anyway, to be truthful, the next chapter is still in a few notes, so I realize it's gonna take a while to write. Its school holidays now so I should be able to get it done faster, but I'm having to train heaps for this massive adventure race event thingy in three weeks. However, if I haven't got it out by then after then I will have all the time in the world so it will be flying out. Then once I've finished this one I'll start publishing my main story. I haven't finished its draft yet but it's getting so ridiculously long, with no end in sight, I think I'll just start uploading the first chapters while its still in progress. Oh, the line thingy's separating the stanzas? Didn't work even when I used the line thingy button, so I just used full stops again… Still looking for some help on this . Anyway, I've got some story suggestions to pass the time for you guys. I hope this is allowed, I haven't seen it on anyone else's stories, but oh well. The songfic Teardrops on my Guitar by xRosewithThornx is awesome, really sad but awesome, umm, another oneshot is Instrumental by Wandering Wonderer, it's AWESOME! And if you want an epic length NaruHina adventure romance, there's A Growing Affection by Xavon Wrentaile. It is the gears! Don't be put off by the first chapter, it did to me but I kept reading and it's seriously awesome. Plus its 150 chapters long and he's still updating frequently even after three years. My idol! Yea I realize I said all of these are awesome, but that's because they are! That's why I'm recommending them. Sorry I'm stuffing up the wordcount of the actual story with this super long author's note (muahahahaha I made it over 20,000 words with this), so I better stop. Umm, please tell me if recommending other fics is not allowed, I don't wanna be banned. Looking forward to your reviews, there awesome by the way!