A/N: 'thank you' to all my reviewers. Now, on to chapter 7.

Disclaimer: I am not a mangaka neither do I own any animé related legal documents. Nuff said.

MU BYONNA

Chapter 7

even in realization.

Uchiha Sasuke was a man filled with power, dark and raw. He was easily ranked amongst the most elite ninja and had a flawless record when he came to completing tasks. His record however, was about to be declared null and void since he was failing to achieve the simple mission of falling asleep that night. The dark-haired man grunted and rolled over on his back hoping to gain more comfort; it did not help. He had changed positions several times for God knew how long but he still wasn't close to achieving even a small session of slumber; it was incredibly frustrating. It wasn't the lights streaming through his window that were keeping him awake; no, he liked those – though he would never admit it of-course. He had specifically chosen that apartment because of those lights that kept the darkness in his room at bay during the night and so reduced on his nightmares.

Yes, he had nightmares; it would have been strange for him not to considering what he had been through and what he had done. They came less often though – now that the guilt and anger for his actions and clan's death had been reduced – but when they did come, he would be glad for the lights. They gave little relief when he woke up sweating and panting, but he would take all the relief he could get…it was better than waking up in a cold, dark room anyway.

Sasuke wasn't much of a sleeper but any fool would know that everyone –ninja as well – needed at least a few hours of sleep each day if they wanted to perform efficiently and he was all about efficiency. It wasn't that he was not tired – he had had a vigorous work-out session in the afternoon so he was pretty much worn out – it was just that he couldn't relax. He sat up in his bed, pulled the dark beddings aside and stood up to go to the kitchen; maybe a glass of water would serve to soothe him. Ignoring the small voice at the back of his head, he mentally went through the day – for the hundredth time – as he tried to figure out what was wrong.

Why had he pushed himself so hard during the afternoon training session…oh yes, he had been angry though enraged was more like it. It hadn't been the cold anger he had grown used to; no, this had been white hot and had had him so surprised that he wasn't thinking straight and had to hurry to a training ground lest he took it out on an innocent bystander. Why had he been so angry? Well…that was an inane question and did not deserve an answer.

Gulping down the water, he tried to rid his head of the memories but they were annoyingly persistent.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"Hn," he replied as he walked over to the ramen stand. Why had the dobe insisted they meet here?

"Your vocabulary is still as wide as ever I see," the blond said with a wide grin.

Sasuke fought the urge to slug him and instead bit out irritably: "shut up dobe. What do you want anyway?"

"Oh, I just thought we'd meet here for lunch, you know as Team Seven. For old times' sake since we get so busy, we rarely meet these days."

"Hn," Sasuke said again and wondered how the other ninja could be so openly needy; it was embarrassing.

"At least that's what I wanted, but Sakura-chan bowed out, said she was meeting someone over lunch tomorrow so she had to prepare," Naruto said, oblivious to Sasuke's disinterested stare.

"Whatever," he said, hoping the other man would shut up.

"Yeah, I was happy for her. She has finally agreed to go out with someone and I hear he is an awesome doctor. Can you believe how many offers she turned down after…"

Sasuke had stopped paying attention. He wasn't sure why but he felt rather annoyed by the news. Yes, Sakura had always had admirers and on his return, he had noticed they had increased which was to be expected since she had augmented her prowess as a ninja considerably. He'd thought all this was to his advantage since he figured she would bug him less when she realized there were other men out there, so…so why did he feel bothered by the news then?

"Hey, Sasuke-teme, are you still listening?"

Sasuke blinked when he noticed Naruto's hand was waving in front of his face and he slapped it away none too gently.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"For a moment there you looked…never mind," Naruto said without looking away from him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as the whiskered ninja continued staring hard at him and then his eyes softened with something akin to understanding shining in them before he turned away.

"You know, few people will ever understand who you really are and what you went through. It's not too late to ask her out," the blond said in a voice that was low so that only Sasuke would hear.

"What are you talking about dobe?" He was acting petulant, he knew, but anyone would when their idiotic teammate started talking in parables that for some strange reason made sense.

"I am saying that you don't know how lucky you are. For someone to believe in you even when you rejected them several times and your idiotic ego pushed you into darkness is beyond infatuation you know. You claim you have to restore your clan but are you going to do that with one of these airheaded fan-girls who have you up on a pedestal or with someone who truly loves you. You're starting to lose Sakura and if you let her slip away, then you're a blind idiotic bastard, sharingan or no." Naruto said staring daggers at him.

Sasuke tried to huff in indignation at the memory but ended up sighing. As much as he hated to admit it, the dobe's words were starting to make sense to him. He'd tried to ignore them, but earlier that day when he happened to be passing by one of Konoha's many alleys, he'd seen a sight that stopped him short and had Naruto's words ringing in his head over and over again. There Sakura was, pressed against a wall by some man whose head was close to hers, a bit too close. When he saw the man's fingers caress her arm and she just stood there, not struggling, he decided he'd seen enough. After-all, he didn't want to intrude on their private moment. He'd walked off casually, or so he'd thought, but when he remembered the strange and slightly frightened looks people had given him, he realized that maybe his anger had shown just a little.

Running his hands through his dark locks in frustration, the last Uchiha wondered what he'd do. All throughout his vigorous work-out session, he'd had to keep himself from marching back to the alleyway and growling out "she's mine" before knocking that stupid pretty-boy unconscious. What, he suddenly wasn't good enough for Sakura anymore and she had to go out with some pathetic looking doctor of all people? He was not a psychiatrist but couldn't stop wishing he was; there were a lot of emotions he was experiencing that he didn't understand. Perhaps Naruto had been right, but what was he expected to do about the situation anyway…the last time he had acted on his emotions, he'd ended up almost becoming a psychopath's body vessel.

XXXXXX

The room was so dark that a hand waving right in-front of someone's eyes could not be seen and Naruto was extremely glad for this. He was having a hard time going to sleep already, he didn't need light to make it even harder for him to rest. Of-course, his sudden insomnia might have had something to do with the fact that he was currently pressed against the soft and petite form a woman whom he'd realized just a few moments ago was remarkable. His position, albeit unorthodox, could be legitimately explained; but this didn't stop him from having a slight blush on his cheeks as he lay in the intimate position with the Hyuuga heiress. The thoughts of what had happened earlier ran through his head, serving the purpose of draining whatever drowsiness he felt.

Naruto had yelled Hinata's name more times than he could count as he raced towards her as fast as he could. She had been down on the ground, arms twisted behind her, trying to apply pressure on the deep knife wound but blood had kept flowing out, oozing past her fingers till they were as crimson as the life liquid. Both the remaining ninja and the guards had been racing toward her but she had been oblivious to this, her face twisted in a grimace of pain. Naruto, knowing he would not be able to reach her in time, had yelled her name yet again in consternation and that's when her head had snapped up – as if she had actually heard him. Still clutching at her wound, she had straightened her back and stood up shakily, gentle fist at the ready. Even with her face pale from the loss of blood, face twisted in pain and only one hand to fight with, the shy jounin had managed to take down 3 ninja before her stance slipped and she collapsed again, slipping from consciousness.

By this time, Naruto had arrived at the scene, dispatching the remaining men, ninja or not – he had not been thinking straight at the moment. Of-course the kind nobleman had later understood why half his guards were unconscious and had promptly sent for a doctor. The blond ninja, being wracked with guilt, had quickly tried to take care of Hinata's injuries, using what little skill he had picked from Sakura.

Carrying her from a disturbingly wide pool of her own blood, Naruto had gently placed her, face-down, on a clean blanket provided to him by one of the loyal guards and had bandaged up her wound as best as he could. Fortunately or unfortunately – he wasn't sure which – the blood outflow had thinned considerably and he had been able to stop the bleeding pretty easily, but this meant that she had lost too much blood. The rate at which her blood had been flowing out earlier had been indicative of major damage and it seemed the volume in her body had reduced considerably. Needless to say, that had not been good news. He had struggled between staying on the mission to protect the client and moving on ahead with Hinata so he could properly provide her with therapy. The considerate aristocrat had insisted he go on ahead and after a few moments of consideration, Naruto had put the Hyuuga on his back and moved ahead – directions still fresh in his mind – leaving behind several clones.

On reaching the nobleman's manor, he had rushed to the main entrance and waved a rapidly penned letter from the client in front of the guard's faces, demanding a room and several medically relevant supplies. Later, after laying Hinata down on a bed, he had removed the hastily bound bandages, cleaned the wound thoroughly and applied fresh dressings. Noticing her skin was cold to the touch; he had suddenly remembered the fact that she had lost a lot of blood and tried to recall the remedy for shock. He had known he had to replace the blood quickly else her tissues would get seriously damaged, but what was he supposed to do? There had been no way to make a blood transfusion at the time and he had had to work fast.

Then it had hit him. He had remembered a gum Sakura had given him once, to chew just incase he lost too much blood. Suddenly rummaging through his pack, he had found the Dextran carbohydrate and he had gone ahead to mash it up and try to dissolve it in a cup of water. It was meant to be chewed but Hinata had been unconscious and so he had done the next best thing: forcing it down her throat in small drops while running his fingers along her neck to activate the swallowing reflex. It had been a tedious job, but with several tries and numerous spills later, he had managed to get most of it down her throat. The remaining problem had been the unhealthily low temperature she had…which kept getting lower as he had later noticed.

At that point, there had been a knock at the door and the nobleman had walked in, asking if Naruto needed anything else other than dinner, beddings, and a fire in the hearth, since the room had been freezing. The blond ninja had agreed to dinner, but insisted that no fire should be made; explaining to the confused client that a sudden source of strong heat was not good for the hypothermia Hinata had but several warm beddings and perhaps a large shirt and a pair of shorts would do. The man had looked at him strangely but nevertheless ordered the servants to bring what had been requested to the room. Blushing slightly – and stammering several times – the whiskered blond had asked one of the female servants who had brought the clothes to quickly change the kunoichi into them while making sure she was kept as warm as possible and he had stepped out to rapidly gulp his supper down.

On going back into the room, he had quickly stripped to his boxers and slipped in bed beside the Hyuuga, wrapping himself gingerly around her icy body, mindful of her injury and trying to give her as much body-heat as he possibly could. He had stayed there in that position, hoping he would fall asleep soon so that he could wake up early – before she did – and possibly pretend the whole embarrassing scenario had never happened.

Three hours later, he was still wide awake and painfully aware of her breasts pressed against him, her hair tickling his cheeks and her splendid scent wafting into his nostrils. Even with the Pervy-sage's disagreeable influence, he had never been this close to any female; so his discomfort mixed with unsettling curiosity could be understood. Honestly, in his mind, he had never thought about Hinata-chan as a female…come to think of it, he had never really thought much about her. But there they both were; she, undeniably female and he in a position that many men would have wished to be in undoubtedly and he did not like the direction his thoughts were taking.

Suddenly having an urge to feel her hair, he slowly reached out and passed his fingers through it before lifting it up to his nose to smell, not exactly sure what it was he was doing. It was incredibly soft and silky and her skin was amazingly velvety as well with…wait! Naruto was appalled at his thoughts and was sure Jiraya was clapping his hands in glee wherever he was in the afterlife. Not knowing what to do next, he found his thoughts drifting again to the woman beneath him and wondered how he had never before noticed her strength and determination. Her fight earlier had been impressive and her resolve to fight even while grievously injured had impressed him…seriously, how had he not seen this before? If nothing else, she truly deserved her jounin rank. He shifted in discomfort and froze when he felt her stir beneath him.

Naruto stayed still for about a minute or so and was about to exhale in relief when Hinata moved again and let out a low moan. This was good news; she was finally waking up and that meant he could…oh no. If she woke up and found him in…

The Kyuubi vessel did not get to finish this thought as he felt her stiffen under him and suddenly found himself flying through the air and making painful contact with the floor. His chest hurt like hell from where her two palms – probably chakra infused – had connected with force enough to throw him off the bed…the girl was good. He quickly scrambled to his feet knowing that she would probably try to stand and strike him while using her byakugan to see in the dark. Her body could not handle that kind of stress and so, he held up his hands and stood in a casual stance.

"It's ok Hinata-chan, it's only me," he said rather frantically, almost yelling.

There was silence for a few seconds and he wondered whether she believed him…but she should be able to read his chakra signature and know it was truly him…shouldn't she?

"N-Naruto-kun?" a soft voice whispered in the darkness and he exhaled in relief.

"Yeah, yeah! Wait, let me turn on the lights…there!" he said. "Wow Hinata-chan, you have a lot of hidden strength…"

He trailed off when he saw her stare at him and turn bright scarlet; maybe she had a fever or something. Frowning, he quickly walked over to her, leaned over the bed and touched his forehead to hers…she was a little warm but nothing too serious…wait! Naruto was startled when he saw her slump and got really worried when he realized she had fainted.

"Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed, not quite sure what to do at the moment. He was not a medical ninja; besides, her warmth meant her body had gained the heat it needed to keep her from freezing and that was a good thing. Checking to make sure her breathing was stable and there was nothing wrong, the blond moved to put on his clothes; it was freezing after-all and him being half-naked in front of a lady was probably not appropriate.

Finishing this task rather quickly, he moved back to the bed and sat down beside the Hyuuga heiress' body. She looked so…so peaceful, like she had never felt pain before. This was obviously not true but as he looked down on her still form, he couldn't help but wish it was. The memory of what she had just endured invaded his thoughts and he clenched his teeth in frustration at the realization that he had not been able to protect her. She was one of his precious friends for goodness' sake…so…so then, why did he constantly overlook her?

It was a sobering thought and he suddenly felt shamed by it; he would try harder, she had better believe it. He looked down at the peaceful woman next to him and for the third time that evening, another quality of hers suddenly sprung out at him, leaving him completely stunned. She was beautiful; not pretty or cute but absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful! From the ink-blue locks sprayed out on the pillow beneath her head to the dainty cheeks that always seemed to have a splash of pink on them, then past her delicate little nose and finally to her soft looking pale-pink lips, she was stunning. How in the world had he missed this, heck, how had anyone missed this? He had never really looked at a woman that way; sure Sakura-chan was pretty, but his teenage crush on her had long since faded and this…this was a completely different situation. The blond knucklehead felt his stomach clench strangely and suddenly had the overpowering urge to touch her smooth skin.

Raising his hand slowly, he traced a reverent line down a cheek – as if touching something sacred – and gazed into the lavender depths of her eyes, suddenly unable to look away. He frowned slightly when he saw her face turn red again and vaguely wondered at that as he…wait!

Oh crap, she was awake!

Naruto literally jumped away from the bed, a blush forming across his cheeks and he spluttered as he struggled to find something to say.

"H-Hinata-chan, you're a-awake." Yup, he was definitely a smooth fellow.

She struggled to sit up and Naruto rushed to her side, waving his hands and grateful for a distraction.

"Don't do that. You need to rest, don't you remember what happened?"

She looked puzzled for a moment, then a light of understanding shone in her eyes and they widened slightly…they were so expressive and…wait, he was staring again.

"N-Naruto-kun, what h-happened to my clothes?"

The blond snapped out of his semi-trance and wondered what she had just said; oh yeah, her clothes.

"They were soaked with blood, so they had to be removed and new ones given to you. Of-course it wasn't me who did it, I mean that would be inappropriate, so I asked the servants to help me. Not the male servants though because that would have just been stupid, it was the female ones and they did it really fast 'cause one came for me even before I had finished dinner and I had to hurry up so that you didn't get colder, otherwise hypothermia would have set in…" he was babbling, he knew but he couldn't stop himself.

Hinata on the other hand, didn't seem to mind and she continued to listen to him, her face slowly returning to a normal color and a small smile forming at her lips. When he asked if she was hungry, she shook her head indicating no and after several refusals at his insistence, a comfortable air settled around them. This, of-course, was until he mentioned the means by which he had had to keep her warm, at which point she turned a shade of red Naruto was sure had never been seen on a human being before. He had gotten used to this at that point but this time she was breathing really fast and looked to be on the verge of panic. She was hyperventilating…oh no, she would faint again if that kept up; he had to calm her down soon.

"Hey Hinata-chan, calm down; nothing bad happened…I mean I didn't do anything to you, not that I wanted to but…"

Oh boy, it seemed to be getting worse. Maybe a change in subject might help? Naruto took a deep breath and hoped it would work; even with all that energy and stamina, he had his limit and had just about reached it. Sleep was most certainly a welcome idea and he wanted it, bad.

"You know, you rock Hinata-chan! The way you took down those ninja was awesome; you've really grown strong! That was amazing, you've changed a lot," he practically yelled, hoping she'd hear him over her rapid breathing. That last remark had been based on her physical appearance but…well…she didn't need to know that.

Hinata-chan stared at him for a moment as her breathing slowed, face color returning to normal yet again – he hoped it would stay that way – though her eyes were widened, as if in shock and her cheeks remained red. She then raised her hands and began to play with her index fingers. It was Naruto's turn to be surprised; he hadn't seen her do that in years, what was going on?

"Y-you really think I changed, Naruto-kun?" she asked, hesitance lining her voice.

Hoping with all his heart that she hadn't caught onto the direction his private thoughts had been going in earlier, the blond rubbed the back of his head and replied with a grin.

"Of-course Hinata-chan, you're a great ninja."

She smiled then and Naruto felt his breath catch in his throat; what the hell was wrong with him? It had to be the weariness…it just had to be.

"Thank-you N-Naruto-kun."

She just kept staring down at her fingers which had seemed to develop a sudden affinity to the sheets as they were clutching them tightly. Naruto judged the situation safe enough for him to leave so, he quickly explained to her that he would be in the opposite room sleeping and that she should call if she needed anything. He hastily ran out of the room before he slipped and told her how cute she looked just then and flopped down on the bed that had been prepared for him with a heavy sigh. What the heck was wrong with him?

Fortunately enough, sleep came easily this time, but he found himself dreaming of midnight-blue hair and soft eyes with lavender hues smiling at him, accompanied with calming girlish giggles. They were pleasant dreams and he smiled in his sleep as the night wore on.

XXXXXX

Ino stared in disbelief at what Tenten had just said. She had decided on visiting her in the afternoon to see if she was doing alright, and a curiosity as to what had happened between her and Neji had absolutely nothing to do with it.

"Why did you do that?" she asked the brunette, trying not to be judgmental and take sides.

"I don't know, I was frustrated and felt like I couldn't breathe. I just took it out on him I guess, I don't know," Tenten replied, having the good grace to look mortified.

The blond chuunin couldn't believe what she was hearing. They were seated in Tenten's living room, sharing ice-cream that Ino had brought over in an attempt to make the weapons' mistress feel better, if only a little.

"That was a stupid thing to do Tenten." It was not very nice or tactical and would probably make the woman feel worse, but what she had done was truly…idiotic.

"I know, I know. But it felt justified somehow at the moment," the older jounin replied, feeling the whole situation was rather surreal. Wasn't she supposed to be the one disapproving of Ino's romantic choices; the girl had a notorious reputation. However, she was also glad to be able to share her consternations with another girl. The story had just come out and along with it, the fact that her and Neji had been dating secretly for sometime…Ino hadn't looked all that surprised at the news which was strange. Perhaps…

"Alright, tell me what part of this is justified. Your boyfriend is patient and understanding about your posttraumatic stress disorder, he willingly puts up with your mood-swings and sudden revulsion to his touch because of what you had gone through. But when he refuses to kiss you because he thinks you're not ready for it, you tell him you don't need him anymore and break-up with him. Tell me if anything there sounds justified to you," Ino said, practically jabbing the ice-cream in frustration.

Tenten winced, she had not told the other kunoichi everything and had instead glazed over the cause for their last fight, completely keeeping mum about the rape. But even with the limited information, the Yamanaka heiress had made it seem like she had behaved like a spoilt child, which was probably true, but that didn't make it any easier to accept.

"He was just trying to watch out for you," the younger kunoichi stated.

"I know," the weapons' mistress said miserably. "But what am I supposed to do, the damage is already done."

Ino stared at her like she had just said kunoichi fashion was utterly useless. "Are you crazy, there's plenty you can do, starting by apologizing to him…speaking of which, I have to apologize to him as well."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked, suddenly curious.

"I…well…I sorta went and told him that he should come and check on you since he was really close to you."

"That's not so bad, why do you have to apologize?" the brunette asked.

"Well, I might have gone overboard and told him he was a clueless emotionless freak somewhere along the way," Ino replied, looking sheepish. "Sorry."

Tenten stared at the girl for a moment and burst out laughing. She could not imagine what Neji must have thought when he had heard that and when she tried to, she just ended up laughing harder. The laughter was inappropriate and highly peculiar, but it felt good to just lie back on the couch and just giggle for absolutely no viable reason. It had been long since she had done that.

"It's ok Ino. Don't worry about it," she managed to gasp out before bursting into another fit of giggles, this time with the blond kunoichi joining in.

When the laughing was done and the ice-cream finished, both women lay down on different couches, silent as they pondered on various things.

"Thanks Ino, for the ice-cream, and for being a good friend."

"Hey, any of the girls would do the same for you and you for them, so don't mention it," the chuunin replied.

"Yeah, Hinata tried yesterday but I was an ass and she left quickly. I was such a stupid, braying, long-eared ass," Tenten said, her voice low with shame and frustration.

"Yeah, you were an ass, to both of them and you have to fix it. You don't have to push away anyone who tries to care for you, it's simply selfish you know. Don't worry about it though, things will work out, you'll be surprised how much your friends will be willing to contend with. They'll understand."

Tenten was truly glad for Ino's company which had helped brighten up her day since she didn't have any missions lined up and training with Neji was…well, it was out of the equation, but hopefully not for long. Even when the blond chuunin had left, the weapons' mistress still felt that small ray of hope she had provided and hoped it would not fade soon, for she still needed it desperately.

Truth be told, as much as she wanted to forget her feelings, she just couldn't. Though she was working really hard to not let the guilt for what she had done to Neji overpower her – having Ino rub it in her face just how selfish she'd been had taken its toll. The jounin felt truly horrible and decided to search him out first thing in the morning the next day. Hopefully, he would be willing to listen to her.

XXXXXX

Haijime Makoto sat in his dim, rundown home calculating his next move and going over his plan one more time. He was the best strategist in Kumo, but nothing on or around him spoke of this fact and that was because of the incompetent idiots he had been forced to work with once. The men he had allied himself with this time were not any better, but he was sure his plan was flawless.

The idiots from the Leaf could not possibly mess up this time and if they did…well, he was getting physically involved this time and either way, the target would end up dead and he would get what he wanted. A slow smile of pleasure formed on his face as he thought of what to do to the girl this time to ensure she could not be returned. Ah, yes indeed; good days were coming ahead.

XXXXXX

A/N: that's that. Now, there are those several hidden readers who do not review. I appeal to you once more that I need you to review and tell me what you think, maybe the story will improve that way. Irit16, (lol), yes, I am happy and glad you think this story is worth finishing; don't forget to review and Dalichan510, your reviews make me happy. Don't worry, I understand your English just fine so don't let that stop you from telling me what you think. Otherwise, hugs and smiles to all who reviewed. You who is reading this, click that button at the bottom and type out whatever you think of this story, but leave me some love as well. (^_^)