Chapter 10

Hinata stumbled to her knees and began coughing. They had been running like crazy for about two hours straight and even the guys were tired. Instead of taking it calmly, like they should have, they ran like maniacs.

"We coulda left faster if you hadn't stopped to get the rest of the tents Suigetsu!"

"SHADDAP! I WASN'T GONNA SLEEP COMFORTABLY WITH JUUGO, HINATA, SASUKE, AND YOU!"

Sasuke looked at Hinata wide-eyed. She actually warned me. She's really trying to help me here? Why, Hinata?

Sasuke felt horrible for making Hinata feel like a traitor several times before, but now, all he saw was someone he could trust, someone who he could definitely count on. He squatted down and offered his hand to her.

Hinata looked up at him and smiled for a moment. Then she took his hand and he helped her up. He was speechless. All he could do was stare at her face, while she struggled to catch her breath. She looked confused, but was smiling nonetheless.

He's still holding my hand... Do I tell him to let go?... ... Do I want him to? Hinata felt extremely perplexed. She had no idea how much she wanted to help Sasuke until she actually had to. She had spotted Naruto along with Kiba and Shino and she had actually shaken Sasuke madly, and to escape from her Naruto-kun.

"E-eto... Sasuke, I'm going to check and see if we're safe."

He nodded and then realized he hadn't released her hand. He turned away and his face flushed. What's wrong with me? ... This girl...

"Byakugan" Hinata muttered and sighed.

"I can't see Shino, Naruto, or Kiba anymore. Everyone else was behind them so, I think we're s-safe..." she stuttered once she realized that she hadn't stuttered for at least five minutes.

"Good. We can rest here then. I'd say we need it." Sasuke said and jumped off the tree he had stood on. Hinata and the rest following right after. When they had all reached the ground, they all, at the same time, sank into the floor.

"Damn that feels good on the feet..." Karin said, also struggling with her breath.

"No kidding." Suigetsu said, his jaw completely opened, him too, trying to suck in as much air as possible.

Juugo just sat there, with his face fixed in a serene expression. He didn't seem worried at all.

Sasuke had also sunk into the ground and he looked up, breathing heavily, to see Hinata holding her chest and panting for air. She practically killed herself to help me out...

Sasuke was confused. He had assured himself that Hinata, on the first chance given, were to see anyone approaching, she would keep it to herself and run for it. But she hadn't. She had awoken him. She had actually ran away from her friends for the sake of him. Someone she hardly knew.

He looked at her now as the shy girl struggled to regain her composure. She looked as if she was suffocating. She was just so fragile, so small. But there was just something about her that ... attracted him. He had never felt this way about a girl before. He never thought he would. He had grown to convince himself that he would be the last Uchiha. He would battle Itachi to the death and make sure he died sooner than Sasuke. And he was fine with that... until now. Now he felt he wanted to live after he had his revenge. Maybe he still saw Hinata as a friend only, but just knowing her made him want to find out for sure.

"You okay?" he said with a concerned look on his face.

Hinata looked up at Sasuke with a small smile on her face and nodded. She was perspiring minimally now, and she closed her eyes and leaned back taking one last breath through her mouth and then closing it.

Sasuke got on his feet and walked towards her. He looked down at her and couldn't help but smile when she looked up and blushed away.

"You sure?" he asked and let himself fall into sitting position next to her. He slowly turned to her and when she had turned to look at him, he mouthed the words Thank you...

Hinata sweetly smiled and shook her head slowly.

Then from one second to the next, her calm eyes widened and the words Sakura-chan were barely audible.

Sasuke looked at her and then looked to where Hinata was staring wide-eyed.

"Hinata..." Sakura stood there with one fist pressed roughly against her other open hand.

"S-Sakura-ch-chan... I.." Hinata stuttered. She didn't ever want to face Sakura. Despite how much Naruto seemed to like her, Hinata could never think ill of her.

"SHUT UP HINATA! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I'M TAKING SASUKE BACK TO KONOHA EVEN IF I HAVE TO KICK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!" Sakura yelled and ran towards Hinata with one fist behind her gaining speed as she quickly approached.

Sasuke reacted immediately and grabbed Hinata violently by the jacket. He then pulled with all he had, and once he had accomplished a firm grip on Hinata's trembling body he jumped out of the way. Sakura's fist crashed into the tree trunk that had stood behind Hinata and Sasuke, and it collapsed, threatening to fall upon the rest of Team Hebi.

"SASUKE! WE GOTTA GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! NONE OF US ARE IN ANY CONDITION TO FIGHT, WE JUST RAN OUR ASSES OFF LIKE CRAZY!"

Sasuke merely looked their way and looked back at Hinata who was now on all fours staring at Sakura's immense strength with fear. She then faced Sasuke and mumbled between breaths "Sasuke... she'll go g-get everyone else if she's not stopped ri--"

Sasuke quickly pulled Hinata towards him and once again evaded Sakura's devastating blow. He was amazed at how much strength she had gained. Sasuke looked at Hinata and considered what she had just said. His eyes widened and he stared dumbfounded as yet another tree stumbled to the ground.

"S-Sasuke, I-I will take h-her... p-please just go... I'll s-stop her for now at least."

Sasuke looked at Hinata and his face became angry. "You haven't even been able to evade any of her attacks! What the hell makes you think you can hold her off??"

"I-I can... i-if I must... p-please... j-just trust me this one time..." Hinata's eyes pleaded as she looked up at Sasuke who's face was still locked in an expression of worry.

I do trust you... I just don't want you to get hurt dammit! You damn idiot... He couldn't speak his mind, but he nodded nonetheless.

She simply smiled up at him and said thank you. Then she quickly jumped away, for the first time evading one of Sakura's attacks on her own. Sasuke merely jumped back and looked at her one last time before he met up with the rest of Hebi. He looked back again to where the battle would take place and froze. He wasn't, couldn't just leave her there. If anything happened to her, he would jump in and save her. Screw Itachi... for now. He couldn't let her know, however so he kept his distance and hid well.

"Hinata... why are you doing this? Don't you know how important this is to Naruto??!"

"S-Sakura-chan, I-I'm sorry... I-I need to help Sasuke..."

"Hinata, you just made the biggest mistake of your life. I swear, I'll defeat you and take you and Sasuke back to Konoha!"

Sakura tightened her gloves on her fists and again charged at Hinata summoning her chakra on her fist. Hinata quickly jumped up to a tree branch, and jumped to her right once more to evade two shurikens Sakura had just thrown at her. Sakura looked up at Hinata and scoffed when she saw none of them had hit. She then advanced toward the tree and punched it yelling "SHANNARO!"

The tree slowly began to give way beneath Hinata's feet and she quickly jumped off, landing right behind Sakura.

I need to do something... I can't just keep evading... I'll get beaten for sure.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked through it at Sakura's chakra circulation. When she saw the glowing currents of chakra coming at her, she noticed that most of it seemed to go to the fist. Hinata ran back towards another tree that was about three meters away and waited there for about two seconds and ducked down out of Sakura's way, still eyeing how the chakra burst out in all directions, cracking the tree and then causing it to fall forward. Sakura jumped to the left and Hinata ran to the right in order to escape the falling tree. Sakura looked over at Hinata and threw her an angry glare then jumped up while reaching into her pocket and taking about three kunais and hurling them at Hinata. Hinata merely moved her body slightly and easily avoided all three of them. Then she looked down to find one with an explosion tag carefully wrapped around one of the handles, making it almost invisible. Hinata quickly swiped it off the ground and threw it at Sakura. About three fourths of the way there, it exploded, the impact barely hitting Sakura who had moved back in order to avoid the explosion.

So when she punches, it's all just chakra bursting out, making the impact seem more than ten times stronger. Hinata reasoned and then retreated back and away from Sakura.

So far, all she's done is punch and throw things... Hinata jumped atop another tree. Can I really bring myself to hurt Sakura-chan...?

Hinata's thoughts were disturbed as the tree she stood upon began to give way beneath her feet. As she tried to jump off she realized her jacket was being pinned by a kunai. When did she...? As the tree stumbled down, Hinata struggled to pull the kunai out of the tree bark. Hinata could do nothing as the tree stumbled forward with her underneath.

It's going to crush me... Hinata thought, but as the tree reached the bottom, Hinata's jacket tore, and seconds after she hit the ground, she jumped out of the way. The tree barely missed her small frame, however some of the branches had landed on her bottom part of her thigh as she tried to run from the impact.

Sakura began to approach her, as Hinata was pulling her left leg out from the bottom of the heavy branch. Hinata again activated her Byakugan and saw how chakra was beginning to accumulate in Sakura's left fist as she pulled it back and prepared herself to attack Hinata with it. Hinata muttered the words Shugohake Rokujyuu Yonshou, and quickly formed a barrier created from extremely fine currents of chakra to protect her from Sakura's punch.

When Sakura's hand landed on the barrier, it began to sink painfully into her fist, causing her knuckles and fingers to bleed in the shape of the barrier. Her gloves were completely shredded, and if Sakura didn't move her fist back and away from Hinata's barrier, it would completely disable her arm. Sakura whelped in pain and as she retreated back, Hinata sent the barrier forward, delivering Sakura's body with many sharp needles slashing through her.

Shit... I didn't know Hinata had it in her... I don't have that much chakra left either... so I can't afford to heal for every little thing... She had wasted most of her chakra using a technique that hid her presence completely, even from the Byakugan. She wasn't an idiot, she knew Hinata had Byakugan, and she knew she had to do something about it.

Hinata finally finished pulling her leg out from beneath the tree and then jumped back and away from Sakura who was holding her wrist in a tight grip. Hinata looked at Sakura's hand, and immediately felt horrible for it. It was bleeding heavily and blood seemed to cover most of the front part of her hand. But, that was what she had to do. There was no turning back now.

"Hinata, what do you think Naruto would say, if he knew you were helping Sasuke escape him? And fighting me to do so...?" Sakura asked Hinata still holding her wrist in pain.

"S-Sakura-ch-chan... I.. need to help S-Sasuke-san... I-I'm sorry..." Hinata said in a high, barely audible voice.

"Is that so? Fine, then have it your way" Sakura said and began running forward towards Hinata, this time holding her right hand back to gain momentum. Hinata could visibly see the chakra mounting like crazy into Sakura's fist...

I need to stop the chakra from circulating into her arm... Which means I need to get closer, and sneak up behind her... But how...?

As Sakura brought her fist forward, Hinata began to retreat back again and pulled out two kunais throwing them in her direction, Sakura noticed and redirected her punch to the sides of the kunais knocking them both completely off course. Then she jumped up and began following Hinata up a tree.

If I could get her to punch into the wood hard enough to get her arm stuck, I should be able to disable her chakra flow with ease... Hinata thought and continued moving up. When she was close to the top and Sakura had caught up, she quickly began heading back down the tree. The thicker the bark, the deeper her fist can penetrate, the longer I have to disable her arm.

When Hinata had almost reached the bottom of the tree, she stopped and waited for Sakura to come punching. I need to make it look as if I'm stuck and can't move... If not she'll notice what I'm trying to do...

When she jumped down once more, she noticed that the next branch was hollow and all she had to do, was land heavily on it and it would make it seem as if her foot was stuck. It was perfect. Hinata waited a bit longer until Sakura was about three feet away from her and jumped down once more, sending all her strength into her left foot, which easily broke into the hollow branch. She then looked up at Sakura who was bringing her fist forward violently, and then ducked down, which caused Sakura's arm to be shoved deeply into the bark of the tree. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw red spots all over her arm. Hinata had hit her chakra points, and now her arm was completely useless. Hinata pulled her foot out of the branch easily and stood behind Sakura. Sakura merely turned her body over, her right hand still shoved into the tree, and brought forward her left fist, crashing it into Hinata's left collar bone and shoulder.

The damage was huge. Hinata's frail body flew back and crashed into another tree as a high pitched scream of pain escaped her throat. Imprinted on her cape was Sakura's bloody fist, and her shoulder felt as if it had been completely removed from her body. Her collar bone was definitely broken. I should've known she would use the other fist... I'm sorry Sasuke, Naruto-kun...

Hinata's eyes began to water from the extreme amount of pain that ran throughout her entire left side of her upper body. When she tried to lift herself, she realized that her ribs were also in extreme pain.

Sasuke stood not too far away wide-eyed. She actually put up a fight... He was about to walk into the scene to take Hinata away, but instead he stopped when Hinata got up into a shaky stance and held her left shoulder. She then directed herself to where Sakura still stood stuck. I can't just quit now, I've come too far... Hinata activated her soft fist and shoved her palm into Sakura's lower part of the rib cage. This knocked out nearly all of Sakura's chakra flow, not to mention her air, and she stood there, wide eyed. Her body collapsed and she was hanging from the arm that was still penetrated into the tree. Sakura weakly looked up at Hinata, who had begun to walk away. I can't face anyone in Konoha anymore... I don't know what to do...

Sasuke looked at Hinata as she began to walk away from Sakura's wounded body. Hinata actually hurt Sakura for me...

"Hinata, I know how you feel about Naruto... in fact, everyone knows how you feel about Naruto."

Hinata weakly turned around and blushed. She looked down. Everyone knew?Was she really that obvious?

Sasuke could hear perfectly everything Sakura was saying and he was confused. Everyone knows how she feels towards Naruto? What the hell's Sakura talking about now...?

"We all know you love Naruto... so why are you making it so hard for him to be happy?"

Hinata's face grew even redder, and Sasuke just continued listening, wide-eyed and dumbfounded. But, Suigetsu said...

"S-Sakura-chan..." Hinata stuttered and looked down at her feet.

So she was that obvious. Might as well just tell her. Besides, if Naruto knows maybe he would really notice her now.

"Wh-what I'm t-trying to do is..."

Sasuke was listening intently at this point. He was finally going to hear Hinata's true intentions.

"I-I want to help Sasuke-kun... k-kill his brother Itachi, so- so Naruto-kun can be safe from Itachi-s-san... I'm j-just trying to help Naruto-kun..." Hinata said. She didn't feel so much confidence saying it anymore. After all, it sounded as if she was just using Sasuke to help Naruto out.

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked down, forming a small smile..."You really do love Naruto, ne, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata's face reddened again, but this time she couldn't answer... She didn't really know if she really loved Naruto like she used to anymore...

Sasuke stood hidden among some bushes nearby and his jaw clenched. His eyes showed a blinking Sharingan activated and his eyebrows were locked tensely downward. I see... Sasuke merely looked down in defeat and tightened his fist. His heart felt a heavy burden fall upon it, and it definitely wasn't a welcoming feeling.

"Hinata-chan, I'm so sorry, if I would've known... " Tears began to swell beneath Sakura's eyes. A soft sob escaped her lips as she looked up again at Hinata's shattered body. She had broken most of her left side. But, she wouldn't allow Hinata to leave like that. She would heal her even if it drained her life out... She slowly moved her bloody hand up and motioned for Hinata to get closer.

Hinata obeyed and slowly made her way over. Sakura placed her palm on Hinata's left shoulder. Hinata flinched as the weight of her hand pushed her shoulder down a bit. Then Sakura began her work. The flows of a heavenly green glowing chakra began to move into Hinata's left side, delievering her with a painful sting that faded in a matter of seconds. When Hinata felt completely healed, Sakura's hand fell down and once again, her entire body was hanging off her right arm. Hinata made her way closer to Sakura's body and, as gently as possible, she pulled Sakura's arm out, which had begun to get scratched due to the weight that was inflicted upon it. She was unconscious. Hinata slowly set Sakura's body down to a comfortable position. She didn't want to just leave her there, but she knew she had no choice. What she did however was apply a bit of her ointment heavily on Sakura's wounds, hoping that Kiba could sniff it from where he was at, and take her back to safety. Hinata got up and slowly turned around forming a couple of hand seals. Time to catch up to Sasuke-san...Hinata thought. Only seconds after did she spot the familiar figure of Sasuke, standing about ten feet away from where the battle had taken place. Hinata's eyes widened as she realized that he probably heard everything she had said.

Sasuke merely stood there with an angry expression on his face looking harshly at her, Sharingan activated.

A/N: Sorry… I suck at fighting scenes… I thought it was alright…but… hehehe… that's the best I can do as far as battles… so yeah hope you enjoyed it though. And thanks for all the awesome reviews guys! They're really appreciated.