Hello everybody! I hope you're proud of me for getting this chapter up so soon after the last one. I had actually just meant this to be part of chapter three, but I was so excited to have something to post that I rushed it. I would like to thank those of you who have reviewed/favorite/read my story. Thank you all so very, very much! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last! Also reviews are very much appreciated because they encourage me to type faster.

Chapter Four

After Naruto abandons Gaara for his rendezvous, Gaara remains high upon the roof top of Naruto's apartment, watching the sun make the final trek in its journey toward the horizon as the sky's fiery sunset darkens into pitch black night, contemplating a certain Hyuga girl who would be his wife in less than a week.

Hinata Hyuga…I remember you…All those years ago, at the chunnin exams, when you fought the other Hyuga. He almost killed you. You were so much weaker than he was…but you never gave up…I remember you. That courage …it's almost…almost…admirable in a ninja so frail as you were. Are you still so frail?

What could almost be called a smile begins to tug at the corners of the stoic ninja's lips. Not quite, but almost.

A sudden blur of motion down upon the now nearly empty city street directly below Gaara wakens him from his reverie. Even at the great distance, Gaara can tell that the blur is none other than the object of his daydream, Hinata Hyuga herself.

How curious…

Gaara effortlessly surrounds himself with mystic swirls of demon sand and begins to follow his fiancé in the same direction Naruto had headed only minutes before.

…

"N-neji…a-are you here?" Hinata calls as she enters the training ground. She doesn't see anyone, but it is a moonless and Hinata can't see two feet in front of her face, much less anyone who may be lurking around the edges of the training ground. Besides, in the ninja world, relying on sight alone to judge the living contents of an area won't get you very far.

Hinata activates her byakugan eyes to search for the chakra signature of her cousin…or perhaps that of Naruto…

Hinata can't see anyone in the immediate clearing of the training ground, but does recognize a large amount of chakra in an area hidden by dense foliage not too far away. Is it Neji…Naruto?

Hinata moves stealthily toward the chakra, pushing aside low branches and thorny twigs as she makes her way into the forest, getting closer and closer to the source of the chakra. The closer Hinata gets, the more she begins to recognize the chakra…It isn't Neji…It's…

"N-n-naruto…" Hinata says this in such a soft whisper that it never reaches Naruto's ears.

The blonde boy sits on a tree fallen and tipped on its side, staring down at his figeting hands…as if he is waiting for someone.

Could he be waiting for me…It sounds crazy, but maybe he is. It could be the work of destiny. Maybe I am meant to tell him tonight. Maybe it is fate and he will love me too…

Hinata's heart beats erratically as she searches for the words to tell Naruto that her heart has been yearning for his for most of her short life…that she loves him…she needs him…

So caught up in her own frantic thoughts, Hinata doesn't notice the other ninja leap gracefully in front of Naruto on his log.

"Hello, Naruto. Sorry to keep you waiting. I half expected you to have left by now. Lady Tsunade kept me late working on…"

The words are a shock to Hinata's ears and her head shoots up as a response.

Sakura...? What is she doing here…?

"Haha, Sakura, you know I'd wait for you forever..."

"Or at least come searching for me when your short attention span and patience wore out. Haha."

The conversation between the two ninja doesn't seem to be the type that Hinata normally sees them exchange. It isn't argumentative or chiding, as it usually is, but more playful…almost tender.

By this time, Sakura has seated herself next to Naruto on the log, almost in his orange clad lap. They gaze into each other's eyes and begin mumbling soft this and that's that Hinata straining ears couldn't pick up. All of a sudden, to Hinata's horror, Naruto leans forward, cupping Sakura's cheek in one of his hands, and kisses her passionately on the lips. A kiss which Sakura readily returns.

Hinata's byakugan allow her to witness this in grotesque detail.

A small gasp of pain escapes Hinata's lonely lips as her hands fly to her chest to cover her heart as if to block it from the torture of the scene only a few feet from where Hinata hides. It is too late though, the damage has already been done. At that one kiss Hinata's heart has been torn to shreds, savagely mangled by a surprise attack made all the worse by the false hope which had preceded it.

Hinata feels herself begin to wobble as her consciousness begins to fade, as her mind closes itself off to avoid this pain, so much greater than any of the physical abuses her body has been put through as a ninja over the years.

With a last fleeting thought Hinata blacks out entirely.

Now I am ready to die.

…

Gaara follows curiously as Hinata enters the training ground. He crouches precariously, but with the agility of a feline, high upon the branch of one of the numerous trees that surround the ground.

Does she perhaps train in the dark…? If she is still so weak, it could be to hide her from the ridicule of her peers.

He watches as she begins searching, for what, he does not know, before she switches to the more effective strategy of her byakugan eyes. He then follows her, leaping from branch to branch, never missing a step or making a sound, after she has locked on to whatever she had searched for, and like a blood hound, begins on a direct, motivated path to the object of her desire.

Gaara smirks to himself as his little chase has just become interesting. Gaara realizes that Hinata is on a direct course for the friend he had spoken to mere hours ago. Even more interesting, Hinata never comes into contact with Naruto, b ut seems to deliberately hide from his view only a few feet away.

Gaara carefully exams Hinata's facial expressions, trying to interpret the situation. He notices her eyes widen slowly, as if something crucial had just occurred to her, and a deep pink blush spreads across her smooth porcelain cheeks as she stares at Naruto with a faraway gaze.

Gaara takes notice of loud, careless steps racing through the trees in the direction of Hinata and Naruto. Sakura jumps down infront of Naurto.

Gaara continues to focus on Hinata's reactions. He watches the emotions breeze across Hinata's face with each development of the interaction of the other two ninjas. Shock, confusion, and then, an emotion Gaara has seen many, many times on his victims, pain.

Gaara's smirk fades with Hinata's darkening emotions. For the first time in a very, very long time, the look of pain on someone else's face is not causing him pleasure…in fact, quite the opposite. Gaara doesn't recognize this emotion, all he knows is that all he wants is to see the sweet blush Hinata wore moments ago returned to her face.

He watches as Hinata begins to show the tell-tale signs of a faint and his muscles spring into action. Just as Hinata is about to lose consciousness and fall hard onto the mossy forest floor, Gaara is behind her with waiting arms to catch her.

I have caused people to faint before...but I have never been the one to catch them as they fall...Hinata Hyuga...you are very...different...