Hinata and I stayed like that for a few moments. I felt at ease and safe in her arms and a feeling of relief washed over me. I no longer felt worry or fear or even aggression. I simply felt… happy. Whatever was causing this feeling, I couldn't be sure. It was probably a number of things; however, it could have easily just been a single thing. Perhaps the feeling of victory? Maybe the chance of a fresh start? Possibly the suffering that was prevented?

My mind boggled those things as meaningful possibilities, but they didn't seem to be completely responsible for the feeling I had. I wasn't completely familiar to it. I got a slight nervous excitement that seemed almost like… butterflies. I couldn't recall the sensation ever happening to me before but I knew now what the cause was.

I started thinking back to that day in Konoha when Pein attacked. The village layed waste to ruin and death. Everyone was either searching for loved ones, helping the wounded, or trying to fight off the intruders. I was fighting the "Yahiko" Pein when I was pinned by those infernal chakra rods. Such a strange and unclean feeling entered my own chakra as I watched my enemy ready to administer the death blow. I remembered the shock I felt when he suddenly darted away to avoid an attack. I remembered Hinata and her bravery. And… I remembered what she said to me. What she confessed to me.

I was brought back to the present when I heard another familiar voice enter the tent. I knew the tone to be Sakura and I also knew what she was about to unleash on me. As Hinata and I broke our hug, Sakura stormed over to my cot. I knew what she was going to say. It would be the same as always. "How can you be such a reckless idiot?" and "You could have died out there!" Then she would finish with another display of brute strength even though I was already injured. And that's exactly what followed her reaching my side.

After she was done with another of her rants she was about to punch my head. But I guess that I got sick of it since I caught her fist this time in my hand. She looked at me in confusion and then asked the stupidest question I ever heard. "What wrong with you?" I snapped at that. I shoved her hand aside, jumped up from my cot, and stood in front of Sakura with appearant anger on my face.

"What's wrong with ME?! What's wrong with YOU?! I was perfectly fine before you decided to rush in just to deliver another fist to my head! I'm so sick of you beating me for no reason. And you what else, Sakura? I'm sick of you!"

I stood there just glaring at Sakura. The shock on Sakura and Hinatas faces were very obvious. Sakura seemed like she wanted to say something but didn't know exactly what. Instead of her backfiring like I expected her to do but she just turned around and left. After she was out of the tent I realized that Hinata was still in shock and that my torso was sore. I gently pressed on the right side of my ribcage and winced. Yippy, broken ribs. I sat down again and tried to breath without causing strain to my bones.

Hinata looked me over with confusion then decided to help heal me. When I tried to hold my side after sudden feelings of setting and discomfort she would simply slap away my hand and continue. She said nothing and neither did I. I didn't speak because I'd started thinking again back to that day. I assumed she hadn't spoken simply because she didn't know what to say after my little outburst. After a few minutes of silence a messenger quickly came in with a note for Hinata.

I didn't see what it said but it seemed to be short since she almost immediately stood up and grabbed her vest. She walked around to the other side of the cot and helped me stand so as to not misplace my ribs. I was the first to speak. "Where're we going, Hinata?"

She said, "You're being moved to your tent now. They've finished setting it up." That was all the explanation I needed to hear. We slowly walked our way outside of the medical tent and made our way to mine. We passed many open tents and pavilions and many ninja that looked bored.

I was relieved when we finally made it down the long path to my tent. As soon as we got inside I somehow stepped wrong, shimmied my torso, and popped a few unhealed junctions in my ribcage. I grunted from the discomforting pain and clutched my side as I fell on one knee. Hinata instantly knew what happened.

"Where does it hurt, Naruto-kun?"

I put my hand over the area. She activated her byakugan and studied the area. Then in one swift motion she moved away my hand and quickly poked a few seemingly random points on the area. The pain instantly went away. I also felt a little numb and sluggish and had difficulty standing by myself. Hinata helped me up and took me to my bedroll. She layed me down then covered me with the blanket. My head was swimming with groggyness.

"What did you do?" My speech came out very slurred and relaxed. She simply smiled and said, "I just tweaked a few pressure points, but only the ones that control physical feeling. You're not going to feel that much for the next several hours." I tried to nod my head but it looked more like a jerk. She understood what I was trying to do though. She just continued to smile at me. I felt like sleeping again but I tried to fight it. Hinata told me to rest after seeing my eyelids struggle to stay open. A few more minutes of me trying to delay sleep and utter silence in the tent led me to ask a question.

"Did you really mean what you said?"

She looked at me with confusion.

"Ano, what did I say?"

I only just now realized just how long ago the Konoha battle was and I felt a twinge of guilt for not bringing it up for so long. I blushed a bit as I began again.

"You know… what you said back in Konoha. When you saved me from Pein. Did you really mean it?"

My lids got heavy again and began to close. I let them close and allowed sleep to take me. I heard one last thing before I completely passed out.

"…Yes, Naruto-kun."