Why hello there! This chapter isn't very long...but at least I got another chapter in xD and I'm happy with it. :) Hope you enjoy!

Sunlight peaked in through the white blinds, washing over the fabric of the white blanket that was neatly tucked around her legs and thighs. The white walls of the room reflected the brightness of the sun and practically emanated light. Though the neckline of her white gown lay at the base of her collar bone, she felt like it was suffocating her. She picked her hand up, her fingers touching her neck. Something tugged at her wrist. The clear tube of an IV was connected to her skin; as her eyes followed the line of the tube to the small bag it was hanging from, she saw the shiny metal that held it. She noticed the other 'not white' objects scattered about the room.

A brown chair was placed near the opposite corner wall. A picture frame hung on the wall with an image of a landscape pressed behind the glass. A potted plant sat in the sunlight of the windowsill. Something about the plant sparked her memory, but she couldn't place it clearly in her mind.

She felt stiff, blinking to sharpen her hazy vision, and stretched her legs, curling her toes. The rest of her body felt like lead, plus she didn't like the feeling of the IV stuck in her arm. The silence of the entire room was making her head hurt. She wanted to sit up. Twisting her hips so that she rolled onto her side, she stared at the white wall and the white paneling of the open doorway. A doorway that led to a hallway with similar white wallpaper and white floor tiles. Hospital. Yes, that was it. She just had to consciously remind herself of some things. She was in a hospital. She had been in one before. A couple of times. She wondered why she had been here before. Then she wondered why she was in here now.

She tried to consciously recollect what was going on. Before she turned over, she saw the plant and chair. Before she looked for more color in the room, she noticed the IV. Before her neckline of her gown choked her, she had opened her eyes. Before the sunlight woke her, she had been asleep. And before that...she had fainted. Before-

"-ttebayo."

Hinata started, her eyes wide. In an instant, she tore the IV out of her wrist, tossing it's dripping end to the side and pulled her covers off of her in tremendous haste. The white floor tiles were ice cold on her bare feet and she was vaguely aware that her white gown was the only

garment she had tied around her.

It's him. Her legs were shaky but something inside her heart lit on fire. She ran out the doorway with the white paneling. She ran down the long white hallway. She ran to him.

"But Sakura-chaannn..." She skidded to a stop in the middle of the hall. At the end of the hallway, there was another doorway. A doorway with a white panel around it. A voice came from within the room that the doorway lead to.

"Naruto! Stop, you can't do that!"

Naruto. Hinata took a step, bouncing once on her knees to keep herself standing. Whatever was in that IV prevented her from feeling woozy. "Na-" That was from her, her voice was quiet and sore. Naruto.

"Naruto! Come back!"

Naruto. He was in the doorway, the sunlight behind him. He seemed like he was glowing gold. He had bandages all over, around his wrist, around his upper arm, around his stomach, around his head where his headband would usually be. He had patches and cuts and bruises, but he still smiled when he saw her. He smiled so brightly, tears sprung to her eyes.

"Hey there, Hinata-chan."

There was a pause. Hinata's breath caught in her throat. A shiver ran up from her toes to her shoulders.

"N-Naruto-kun."

She ran straight to him. When he hit his chest, he grunted and lost his footing, not expecting the weight of her impact. They sat on the cold floor, in their thin gowns, in each other's arms. She had her arms wrapped around his neck like a vice and he gave a good laugh. She kissed his cheek, but nothing more, and kept on hugging him. He hugged her back with one arm around her. He pressed his face into the crook of her shoulder, squeezing her tighter as he breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Kami she was truly safe now. Thank heaven he was safe. Thank heaven.

After a long moment, they broke apart and Naruto said, "Hinata, you said..."

"Naruto-kun. I said Naruto-kun," She smiled and looked at him, placing a hand on his cheek. She smoothed her finger along his whisker lines as she sat in his lap. Her eyebrows furrowed as she focused her eyes on his cheeks. He searched her eyes as he leaned back on one arm. He noticed a clip on the top of her head and reached to take it out. Her dark hair billowed down around her, falling past her shoulders. It must have been put up while they were doing tests.

He smiled genuinely when she locked gazes with him again. "I... you can't leave."

"Ne?" He breathed. She took his arm that lay around her waist and placed her small hand in his. He looked down at their hands and then back up at her, not entirely sure what to think.

"Y-you can't leave me..." Hinata paused, playing with his bangs between her fingers."I feel better when you're around. I..."

Naruto turned his head, his eyes downcast, knowing that wasn't true at all. His blonde hair was tugged from her grasp.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't be standing. You're still..." Sakura came from the room with some bandages in her hands. She saw Hinata and Naruto sprawled on the ground and felt instantly uncomfortable. Then she gave a sigh, turning on her nurse mode. "Hinata, Naruto, we've got to get both of you lovebirds into your respective rooms. Neither of you have recovered yet. When Tsunade-sensei has given you the okay to walk around, then you can do whatever you want. Come on." Sakura held Hinata by her upper arms and pulled her to her uneasy feet. "I'll be right back for you, Naruto." She led Hinata slowly down the long hallway back to her room; along the way Hinata kept turning around to look back at Naruto with a puzzled look. She seemed to not see anything clearly besides Naruto.

Naruto leaned back on his arms, his legs half-bent in front of him. He let out a sigh, not really knowing what he was going to do now. Sasuke was subdued, he was lying unconscious in a cozy bed somewhere in the hospital, and who knew what was going to happen with him once he woke up. But with Sakura and Tsunade on nurse duty, he wasn't going anywhere until he recovered either. Hopefully they could keep him contained then.

He had said he would leave Konoha once again, but he didn't really have any place to go. His home was here. Hinata was here. He didn't want to go anywhere else.

But if it was best for Hinata...then he'd have to leave. He realized it wasn't really about him or his wants anymore. It wasn't that he was a monster, regardless of the existing Kyuubi within him, he was a monster anyway for treating Hinata so carelessly. While he had once thought that to be the case, it was evident that Hinata never showed any fear of him, well besides when he had confessed to her. But again that wasn't about him. It was about her confusion. Her pain. Her desperation. Her heartache.

She had called him Naruto-kun though. She hadn't called him that for two years. He missed it. He missed it a lot. She must recall some of her old feelings for him, though, if she were to call him Naruto-kun so familiarly. He hoped at least. 'Thank Kami,' he thought. 'Thank Kami the Hinata who loved me might still be in there.'

And then she hugged him and told him not to go. How could he deny her? Though she might even know that she wasn't thinking clearly, something inside her wanted him to stay. It was another part of her that couldn't handle him. He desperately wanted the good part to outweigh the bad part. For her to say that, maybe he had done something good for her. His heart swelled at the thought.

Naruto hung his chin to his chest. A pair of sandaled feet suddenly stood next to his hand. He hadn't even heard her coming. "See, you get up so quick and now you've exhausted yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." She lifted him up, he tried helping her, but he found he was in fact, exhausted and could barely stand on his own. He winced when his wounds made him a little dizzy.

"Seriously. I can't believe you ripped the IV right out of your arm..."

"Yeah, yeah..."

So I am stuck as to what to do next...which is why I ended it here. What will befall Hinata and Naruto in the next chapter? No one knows... (yet) heheh.

Thank you soooo much to my reviewers who have been with me through this story the whole way. I'm so grateful you've stayed with me so long 3 And to my reviewers who come and go, thank you! And to the people who just read and enjoy but don't have time to review, thank you! Thank you so much!

Anywayyy (on that note, haha) Please review! And if you have any suggestions, please let me know xDI'm really enjoying this exploration of Hinata's psyche. I don't think this can just end as easily and simply as I had originally planned it to play out. But I like that haha. Because this situation can't be simple. xD