Chapter Nine - Do You Love Me?

Hinata breathed heavily and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. "I trained harder than I thought..."

Naruto left the house and began to look for Hinata, he had no idea where to look since her father was no help. He started by looking around town asking random people on the street if they had seen her, no one had. Naruto was not very good at scouting, but he knew someone who was. He ran to Kiba's house and knocked on his door and waited impatiently as he rocked from his heels to his toes and twiddleing his thumbs.

Kiba groaned as he got himself up from lying on the floor bored as Akamaru barked at the door. "Who is it?" He called, patting himself down and getting up from the floor, giving Akamaru a light tap on the back to silence him.

"It's me, Naruto, open the door I need your help, hurry up," Naruto said really fast but still understandable. "We have to go find Hinata before anyone else in her family does, I'll explain the rest on the way," he said slowing down his speech and waiting for a response from Kiba.

Kiba opened the door hurriedly as Akamaru scratched at it. "What do you mean?" He slapped his forehead. "Did you mess something up, Naruto!" He held up his finger to signal one second and came back with a small pack and carrying his jacket. "Where is she? What happened when you went to her house?" He stepped out of the house and shut the door, ready to leave.

"Okay I have no idea at all where she is, what happened was ..." Naruto explained to Kiba everything that happened, from knocking on the door to Hinata's house to knocking on Kiba's door. "Now that you're up to speed on the situation, I would like for you and Akamaru to help me find her so I can tell her everything before her clan finds her and tells her lies or forbids her from seeing me or anything along those lines. I have no idea how far they are willing to go to keep me out of her life," he said and waited for Kiba to absorb everything he had just said.

Kiba nodded and Akamaru barked in agreement. "We'll help you find her, but where should we begin? Did her father say anything about where she might have been headed to?" He headed down a road, beckoning for Naruto to follow as Akamaru sniffed around to catch Hinata's scent.

"Oh yeah he told me exactly where she was, drew me a map and everything, he was really helpful, but I got lost, so I came to you," Naruto said sarcastically as he followed the two. "Sorry, I did not mean to snap like that at you, I'm just on edge from Hinata's father, he really pushed a few of my buttons a little while ago." He apolgized in a sincere tone.

Kiba blinked at his sudden change of attitude, but shook it off pretty quickly. "Nevermind, did you think about what he said? It sounded like he wasn't trying to hurt or offend you in any way..." He paused. "Do you know how he found out?"

"Well I guess I'm not mad at him, it's really the clan I don't like and their ideals. And come to think of it, no I don't know who told him, do you think Hinata told him because she does not want to be with me, and that's why he was mad at me at first then told me it was for my own good?" he asked then stopped dead in his tracks at the thought of that. "I just don't know anything anymore Kiba, I really don't," he said and continued to follow Kiba and Akamaru.

Kiba put a hand to his chin, pondering, following Akamaru as he followed a picked-up scent. "I don't think Hinata would do that...it seems too sneaky for her..." He looked over at Naruto. "Maybe Neji told...? I mean, he knew, didn't he?" He continued to think of other possibilities, trying to think of everyone who knew about it.

"Well he was pretty convincing, he said he would let us bring it to him and he did not want to stand in the way of our happiness and...Wow I am stupid. It was a lie, how could I have not figured that out sooner! He wanted to catch me off guard, and he did, he never stopped holding that grudge, that sneaky little-" Naruto ranted, not caring much about making complete sentences as he walked, then mumbled bad things about Neji under his breath.

Kiba tried to block out some of the bad things he was muttering, but some he couldn't help but laugh to. "Did you notice Neji when you were speaking with Hinata's dad?" He motioned to Naruto as Akamaru barked and led them into the forests leading away from the village.

Hinata was travelling further away from the village, her hunger and fear replaced with an anger that she tried to contain and wear off. She didn't usually anger so easily, so she was surprised that she couldn't hold it in better. "I should just keep going...keep going until I hit the next village..." Unfortunately in her rage she didn't notice that she was beginning to lose herself in the forest and forgot to chart and remember where she was coming from and what direction she was heading in.

"No, I didn't the only person I saw was Hinata's father. I don't think anyone else was there, why is Hinata in the forest?" he asked, changing the subject as they entered the forest. "Do you think she is training?" he asked but he highly doubted it, but he could think of no other reason as to why she would be out there by herself, or maybe she wasn't he thought for a second, but then dismissed it, he was getting too paranoid because of all the recent events.
Kiba knelt to the ground and put his own nose near the ground, then around the trees, rubbing a hand against the bark. "She's travelled through here. Strange, though, for she's moving in a sort of zigzag, no real pattern. She'll get herself lost that way..."

Hinata gently knocked her head against one of the trees as she cooled down from her anger and realized what she had done. "I am totally lost..."

"Well I don't think that she would get lost, she is smarter than that. She is probably just practicing her Byakugan's range or something like that," Naruto said, completely sure of himself. "Well, let's stay on her trail, if we speed up we can catch up with her," he said then waited for Kiba and Akamaru to continue to track her seeing as him running ahead would do nothing but get him lost.

Kiba nodded and rapidly leaped into one of the trees, travelling at a quick rate through the treetops, sniffing out her scent and trying to find it. Much to his dismay he heard a thunderclap above and cursed. "It's getting ready to rain. It'll wash away her scent if we don't find her." He picked up his pace and hoped that Naruto could keep up. Akamaru remained perched in his coatfront.

Naruto kept pace with Kiba, he could not afford to fall behind, he wanted to talk to Hinata, he had so many things to say, but did not yet have the words. Not only did he have things to say he had things to ask like why she was out there and what she wanted to do about her clan, and the thought of Hinata telling her father still fluttered through his mind and he could not get rid of it, the more he tried to the more it bothered him.

Kiba's thoughts travelled similar to Naruto's, like why was Hinata out here alone and how had her father come to know exactly what had happened? He was almost 100 sure it was Neji, but there was no solid proof. He pushed everything in his mind aside, just trying to find Hinata before the rain washed the scent away. "Keep your eyes peeled for her."

"Okay I will," he said and began to look around as the moved. After a moment he decided that he would call for her "HINATA IT'S NARUTO CAN YOU HEAR ME!" he yelled the loudest he could in hopes that she was close enough to hear him. He was also wondering if Kiba was keeping track of where they were going, because he was not, so if they did not find her they would both be lost in the forest, but Naruto had faith that Kiba was smart enough to remember.

Kiba practically fell out of the tree he was in as he heard Naruto's scream. He quickly slammed his hands to his ears and Akamaru wimpered, cowering in the jacket to cover his own. "STOP YELLING!" Kiba shouted back at Naruto, rubbing his ears as if they hurt.

Hinata abruptly stopped her literal head-banging when she heard a familiar call. "Naruto-kun!" she called back, her voice small in comparison to his, but strong enough for Kiba's keen hearing to pick up.

"Hinata!" Kiba took off in the direction of Hinata's call until he noticed a small figure coming closer and closer, recognizing it as Hinata.

Naruto ran ahead of Kiba towards Hinata, not bothering to apologize at the moment, and when he made it to her, he just hugged her lightly and kept her close to him. "You have no idea how much I needed to see you," he whispered and hoped that the fluttering thought in his head was not true and she would not push him away. "So much has happened to me since we last saw each other...again," he said and kissed her on the cheek.

She thought for a moment of what could have happened and then gasped as she hastily pulled away from his grasp, but not in an unfriendly manner, mainly out of fear. "Y-you talked to my father!" She felt the first of many raindrops hit her as the clouds burst and the heavens began their tears. Kiba followed behind Naruto and watched the two, feeling somewhat awkward.

Naruto now became worried, she pulled away, was nervous and asked if he talked to her father, all of which supported his theroy that she told him to break the two up. Naruto took a step away, "Yes I did, he said a lot of things, like that I should stay away from you, for my own good, and that no one in the clan would accept me," he said, a sadness forming in his eyes.

She turned away from him, shielding the tears forming in her eyes from his sight. "He's right...about both of those things...they never will...and...for your own good it would be best..." She was tearing herself up inside saying this, but she knew that it would be dangerous for their relationship to continue, and she owed it to him to warn him of it, possibly advise him against it, even though her heart screamed at her to rethink what she was saying.

Kiba averted his eyes from the two, knowing that this was probably more of a private thing, and he shouldn't get involved, but he couldn't leave because he was the only one who remembered the way back.

"Do you love me? I want the truth, if you say no, I'll be out of your life forever, if you say yes then I will stay with you no matter what, even if that means I have to go against your entire clan. I have already stood up to your father, I told him everything, and I think he respected me because of it, but told me the clan would never allow it, and all that was going through my mind was that if you were by my side supporting this relationship as strongly as I do, we could make the clan accept me. So I ask you again do you love me?"

"I..." Her heart pounded yes, and she knew with her body, mind, and soul that every part of her loved him. 'I love him more than anything...even my happiness. Love is built and fed with sacrifices, some tougher than others. I want him to be safe...even if it means...' Her whole body shook as she moved her head back and forth, tears spilling from her eyes. "Naruto-kun...I'm sorry..." She spun around to face him, her cheeks damp and her eyes running with her tears mixed with the pouring rain, "...I don't..." She said the last part barely above a whisper, and not able to bear it any longer took off running as fast as she could away from them, further into the woods, not once looking back.

"Hinata!" Kiba called, then hastily turned to Naruto, eyes wide in shock. "She doesn't mean it, I know she doesn't!

"Follow her Kiba, get her back to town, I know the way back," he lied, he had no idea how to get back, but he just wanted to be alone, he had blanked-out what Kiba had said, and the fact that she was crying. He took it how she said it, a no He sat down on the branch he was sitting on. 'Why did all this happen, why am I destined to be unhappy, why can't something go right for me just once in my life!' He thought to himself. 'Maybe there is something to that fate thing Neji was always talking about, maybe this was supposed to happen, maybe I'm supposed to be with Sakura,' Naruto just sat there though, his face emotionless, not making a movement, like a statue, just trying to catch up with the present, which left him in the dust as soon as Hinata ran away.

Kiba stood there for a moment and then nodded, jumping out of the tree to pursue Hinata.