Sorry for not updating for a while, I'm overworked and like _ Business studies exam next friday... Took a mock and I got a B... I'm so ashamed of myself ._. I'm like, hanging my head in shame roflmao. But enough of that xD

This'll be the last angsty chapter for a while, at least until the next big big thing we've planned out happens. After this chapter, the KibaHina fans will be happy to find out it will be fluffy, with hints of NaruHina in it, (don't worry you Naruhina fans xD The NaruHina happy stuff is coming soon)

Hope you enjoy the chapter! Read and review please!

Disclaimer : We don't own Naruto.


Rain shimmered down, striking and pelting him, each like a miniature bullet to his heart. As if his own tears weren't enough for the world, the sky decided to mourn with him. And it poured down, forcefully pounding at the earth desperately trying to communicate something.

Soon the earth too would be dampened by the sky's sorrow, moistened by its tears.

Naruto, bravely trying to fight the last of his tears away, got up.

Somehow, he found himself in front of Sakura's grave, the granite slab standing in front of him polished, with fresh flowers placed in front of it. Leaning down to it, he slumped against the side of it, not even trying to read the lettering with his cloudy eyes.

He could almost hear Sakura teasing him 'Naruto, why are you crying like a little girl? Come on, be a man!'

Her voice was still sounded so real, the memory was still so vivid, so convincing that it sometimes felt as if she were there right by his side.

Then he would have to face the bitter truth over and over again; he had no one there by his side – just painful memories that he was cursed to carry.

He traced Sakura's name one last time on the gravestone, and only in a mere second reliving so many memories – then started walking away from the graveyard filled with stones as grey as the sky was now.

Deciding that he couldn't bear to spend an evening completely alone he started to head in a different direction than to his home. Being alone gave him to think, to reflect on things that, at the moment, he wanted to ignore.

Long ago the first place he would consider going to cheer him up would be Ichiraku. Nowadays he hardly frequented that place. There were way too many memories, memories that only haunted him with ghosts of what happiness they had had.

So he trudged away through the rain, desperately trying to keep his mind away from Hinata, until he arrived at Kakashi's apartment.

Tiredly, he knocked on the door. He and Kakashi, survivors of a team that had the potential to have been prodigious, if not for mistake after mistake and a God that was obviously not on their side.

"Naruto?" the door opened and out came his worn out, weary grey haired sensei.


Hinata instantly knew she wasn't in her own bed. There was a potent scent of flowers and an even stronger scent of perfume.

That meant Ino.

Slowly sitting up she tried to recall how she ended up on Ino's bed.

As all the emotions rushed back, so overwhelming in their intensity, she gasped. Everything was happening so fast, it felt bizarre, unreal.

Almost a dream that Kiba said he loved her, almost a dream that Naruto reacted so violently. Why he had reacted so violently mystified her.

Vaguely she wondered what she was meant to do. Was she supposed to be happy at Kiba's heartfelt confession? It seemed somewhat right in her confused mind. It made no sense for him to love her, made no sense that just maybe she loved him too but it seemed okay. Inuzuka Hinata, that didn't sound so bad. Really they would make a good couple. And it was only logical – she couldn't imagine a person who she trusted more than she trusted Kiba. Love was built on trust wasn't it?

Part of her screamed at herself, how could she even think such things? Didn't she love Naruto? Did she hold no loyalty, could she just let go so easily?

But who was there to be loyal to? 'My heart.' What was there to let go of? 'My world.'

Did she deserve Kiba? Surely Kiba deserved much much better than her.

Somewhere inside her she knew that she wanted to punish herself, forbid herself happiness because she had made Naruto upset.

Maybe she didn't deserve Kiba, maybe she wasn't worth his attentions but could she hurt him so much by rejecting him? She recalled the moment of hesitation before his heartfelt confession… it must have taken a lot out of him just to say those three words.

He had been her team mate, a wall to lean on, and a person who would always cheer her up and motivate her for so many years that she couldn't remember a time without him. He was like her sun, someone who would always light up her day and she would take it for granted. She had never thought about a life without him, the concept has just seemed unimaginable, but now when she pondered on it, a life without Kiba… well it wouldn't be a life at all.

She couldn't hurt Kiba. Maybe if it was someone else affirming their love for her she would politely refuse and say she wasn't interested. But she couldn't do that to Kiba. She couldn't find it in her to break his heart.

Just then Ino and Tenten walked in.

"Hinata, you're awake! Are you okay!" the two friends ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"C-can't breathe," the bewildered woman squeaked out. They loosened their tight grip on her.

"So what was the scene at the park all about?" Ino questioned.

Tenten nudged the blonde sharply. "Be a little more sensitive!" she hissed. She then turned to face Hinata. "You know you can tell us anything." It was a soft reassurance that, no matter what happened; they would always be there for the pearly eyed woman.

Hinata looked at her hands first, squirming uncomfortably under her friends' concerned gazes. She hesitated for a moment before carefully narrating everything from the beginning.


"Train me." Naruto stated firmly, no regret or lingering pain being shown in his voice at all, only pure-hearted determination.

"What?" Kakashi asked dumbstruck. Blinking rapidly at his blonde student, he instantly tried to figure out what had happened to make the blonde so determined, but he came up with nothing and sighed.

"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked lamely, his metallic gray hair drooping slightly as he tilted his head to the side.

"I told you. I want you to train me." Naruto repeated, his chest raised high and his posture filled with pride.

"Yes but… Why? You're already strong enough, and didn't you say you want to spend time with Hinata or something?" Kakashi said sleepily, before noticing the quick flash of pain that displayed upon Naruto's face, even if it were only for a split second.

"Well… About that… Seems she's already taken…" Naruto said as cheerfully and casually as he could, but he fooled no one with his deflated self and tired eyes. Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi put two and two together, and had a pretty good idea what had happened.

Sighing once more, Kakashi rubbed his head tiredly. Closing his eyes drowsily to think carefully before he made a move, he didn't want to make a move that he may regret later on in life. Opening them again suddenly, he had made his decision.

He stared at Naruto sharply, gathering all of Naruto's attention.

"Wow." Is all Ino said.

"Yeah, wow." Tenten agreed.

"…I can't believe it either… What should I do?" Hinata asked, sighing as she looked down at her hands. She would usually fiddle with her hands when she was troubled, but this time she felt she had no energy to.

"Well, if I were you, I'd stick with Kiba." Ino said. Hinata just looked up at her blonde friend, and looked at her puzzled.

"H-huh come?" She stuttered, thinking about herself being with Kiba made her blush a deep red - which of course did not go unnoticed by her two friends.

"Well, I would choose Kiba too if I were you Hinata…" Tenten agreed, nodding along with Ino as she pondered it over.

"Eh? You too Tenten?"

"Yeah. I think it's 'cause he's more polite and less violent. Sure he may be more arrogant and a total dog freak, but the way Naruto acted was way out of order… Right Ino?"

"Huh? Oh, I would have chosen Kiba cause he's more of my type, and I cannot STAND Naruto."

"Th-that's mean Ino," Hinata stammered, partly because she had never liked people saying things like that and partly because defending Naruto was only natural to her. "What should I say to Kiba-kun then?"

Ino smacked her forehead. "Isn't this one kinda obvious, Hina?"

"Huh?" In Hinata's mind it didn't seem obvious at all. She'd never really had much experience in these kinds of things.

Sighing a little, Ino began to explain to her. "Well you just go to him and say something like 'I'm willing to give it a try if you are' or something,"

"Give what a try?" the perplexed woman asked.

"Give dating a try of course!" Ino exclaimed. Really, sometimes Hinata could be so clueless!

"Okay" Hinata replied still a little unsure.


As it turned out (maybe luckily in Hinata's case) she didn't have to approach Kiba. Kiba purposefully sought her out.

"Hinata, wait!" he called out from behind her breathlessly as she was leaving training grounds.

"K-Kiba-kun," she turned round, quickly glanced up at his face, and then looked down again as he caught up with her. After all that had transpired she found it difficult to look him in the eyes and see the burning intensity of his passion. A blush adorned her cheeks.

"You know about what I said before yeah…" he tried to keep his voice from shaking and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"K-Kiba-kun?" There was more of a question in her voice, she was almost disbelieving. He really meant it? It wasn't a dream? For some reason her heart sped up. Was this what it was like actually being in love? She felt so giddy and excited, anticipatory. A part of her was terrified to the bone, the other part felt like she had been set on fire.

Kiba misinterpreted the question in her tone as a sign that she didn't remember and felt a little disheartened. He turned to walk away. "No it's nothing, just forget I mentioned it."

Alarmed she stuttered out "W-wait, K-Kiba-kun!"

"Huh?" Kiba stopped and turned around.

"I-I r-remember! I-I j-just wasn't sure if it was actually real," She struggled with finding the right words.

"Really?" Kiba's eyes lit up.

Hinata nodded, blushing.

He practically ran to her and took her soft, delicate hands into his larger ones. "Hinata, it is completely real. I love you with all my heart and more, I'd die for you, really. I would do whatever you wanted me to and I'd die a happy man if you could do me the honour of only holding my hand."

He spoke so earnestly, with so much certainty, so much passion in his eyes that she could feel her heart melting. How could she have even thought about refusing him? She felt treasured, like a princess in a fairytale. "K-Kiba-kun"

"It's okay if you don't feel the same way," he interjected. "I understand."

"N-no Kiba-kun, I-I think I feel the l-like the way you do m-maybe," It was so hard to articulate her feelings into words when she wasn't even sure of them in her mind. Even now, it still seemed to be a distant dream and any moment she would wake up.

Relaxing slightly, Kiba's face broke out in a grin of pure unadulterated joy. 'Wow' he thought. 'She might just love me.' Even the smallest return of his feelings was like a dream come true for him. "So, do you wanna go out with me?"

Hinata shuffled her feet a little, hesitating. She was sure her face was cherry red, and it was. Trying to open her mouth, she found her voice had left her, and instead embarrassedly nodded, looking down at the floor as she did.

In raptures Kiba pulled her into a tight embrace and she couldn't help but notice how warm he was. "I'm so happy…," he chuckled happily with pulsing breaths, his face buried into her neck and completely hiding the overjoyed beam on his face, "I love you so much! Thank you…"

Really the woman didn't see why he was thanking her when she was the one blessed to have him. Reluctantly, he drew back from the embrace and gave her a small smile which she returned with one of her one.

"Lunch tomorrow?" he asked.

"Okay," her voice was barely above a whisper but even a fool would be able to detect the happiness in it.

He smiled a little again before placing a small chaste kiss on her cheek at which she blushed profusely.


Oceanic blue eyes watched the scene unfold, saddened. His resolution was now firmer than it had been before. It would be better for him to leave the village, just let them be because he wouldn't be able to stand seeing the two so happy together every single day.

He needed training anyway. He had been contemplating asking Kakashi a long time before this new development but now… Training seemed a necessity. What else could he do anyway? And it wasn't like anyone would notice his absence that much.

Training was always his way of dealing with things; it gave his life some form of direction and made him feel like he was doing something.

Quietly walking away, the new couple hadn't even observed his presence, his sentiments of self pity and jealousy gradually began to fade.

In their place came a fresh burst of resolve. His strides slowly grew stronger and more purposeful as he walked to the gates of Konoha.

There waited Kakashi,

"You've thought about this haven't you?" the man spoke seriously.

"Yes! This time I'll become strong enough to protect everyone precious to me!" Naruto's voice strained a little on 'precious' remembering how he had failed the last time.

Looking into those azure eyes that after a long time were once again shining with determination and hope rather than tears, Kakashi couldn't find it in himself to refuse.

"Well come on then,"

After hearing those words Naruto gave a goofy grin, for the first time since Sakura's death.

"Kakashi-sensei when we return I'll be stronger than you! Believe it!" the blonde exclaimed ecstatically.

Kakashi smiled a little. Finally Naruto was beginning to return to his old self, beginning to recover from all the tragedies. Well he guessed that one had nothing left to lose eventually they would have to rise up again.

Naruto looked back upon the village one last time and then the pair of teacher and student began walking.


I hope you liked this chapter ! And so does Rida (InsertEpicPenNameHere) xD Please read and review if you can, as other people know who also write stories, it's kind of nice to get some feedback (good and bad) from people, proving that people actually do read our work.

Like I said at the before note at the top, this story will now become slightly happier, much less angst and such.

See ya next time!

Oh and, if you like NaruHina, InsertEpicPenNameHere is a great NaruHina and SasuSaku writer, whilst I'm a mainly ItaSaku writer XD Gogo read if you're interested.