Camped out far away from Konoha but still within Land of Fire, Team Kakashi and Temari were resting for the night. Naruto didn't want to, he'd rather keep going until physically incapable of taking another step and even then keep going. But Kakashi made it clear that approach was only going to cause more harm than good for Gaara. How would getting to the new Kazekage help him if to do so they'd become too exhausted to stay conscious let alone fight?
So the blonde Uzumaki had to settle for sitting down at the base of a tree and eat a sandwich Hinata made for him for the trip. He ate it slowly, as it reminded him of her and what they had shared. That was the only thing he had been thinking about other than helping his fellow jinchuuriki.
Actually, one other thing had been on his mind too. Minor by comparison, but still there. And the subject of that thought was right across from him separated only by a campfire. Sakura had been avoiding eye contact with him all night, and he wondered why. It had to either be due to what happened earlier with Hinata, or his confession to being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi along this trip. He was grateful she hadn't said anything negative to him, or looked at him with disgust, but he wanted some kind of sign from her now on what she thought of him. If nothing else he would hopefully be less confused on his feelings.
Naruto, being alone most his life, didn't really have a good understanding on love and how it worked. All he knew was what he heard from movies and manga and the occasional tidbit he overheard from others growing up, but actually understanding it was difficult for him. Which was why even after spending the night with Hinata, he still felt torn between her and Sakura. He didn't want to, as if wasn't fair to Hinata, but he couldn't just stop caring about Sakura. He found it strange though, that when he had been with Hinata he could not even remember Sakura's name, but now it was once again labeled in his mind.
"Something wrong Naruto?" Kakashi asked, having a good idea what was bothering his student but thinking getting him to voice it would make him feel better about it.
The blonde young man sighed. "Nothing you could help me with, Kakashi-sensei."
"We'll handle the job just fine Naruto. Relax a bit. Don't give yourself an ulcer worrying." Sakura commented. "I mean, look at Temari-san here. She's closer to Gaara than you are and she's holding her own."
Naruto slowly nodded. "Yeah I know. But I was actually thinking about... something else."
"Like what?" Kakashi, Sakura, and Temari asked together.
He sighed. "It's... between me and Sakura-chan."
The pinkette looked confused and bothered. "What? Why would there be anything between us? Especially now since you got your new sleazy girlfriend now." She emphasized the word sleazy more than anything.
Naruto looked bothered at the insult to Hinata, his right hand gripped into a fist, but he kept a calm voice. "Sakura-chan, just what am I to you?"
"You've got someone else now so why would you care?"
"Because you do care that I've got someone else now. Why? What do you see me as? If you care enough to be bothered then at least let me know why you're bothered." Naruto told her. "Is it because of the fox?"
Sakura felt all eyes on her now with eager curiosity to her answer. It made her a little uncomfortable to be put on the spot like this. "No, it's not the fox. But I thought you liked me, and then in one day you forget about me and go sleep with Hinata? Why wouldn't I be bothered?"
Naruto lightly frowned. "I didn't forget you." Although that was a bit of a lie. "In fact you were the one to tell me to be with Hinata-chan in the first place."
"I didn't say sleep with her!" Sakura screamed.
"I never said I did, did I?" Naruto asked, which was true… he never said he did.
Sakura frowned. "You didn't need to. The fact she was at your apartment this morning wearing next-to-nothing one time and even less later on proves it."
"And you care because...?" Temari asked. Sakura frowned at her, but the Suna kunoichi ignored it. "I mean, it's not like you're his girlfriend or anything right? So unless you wanted to be, I don't see why this should matter to you. If you're his friend you should be glad he found someone special, not resentful. Especially with the kyuubi making it difficult for him."
"Stay out of this. This isn't any of your business." Sakura snapped.
"But it is mine and I want to hear your answer to that question." Naruto added. "I gave Hinata-chan a chance like you suggested. Why are you so upset about me doing exactly what you told me to do? Even if we did sleep together, I'm not saying if we did or didn't though, but either way, I don't see why you're like this."
Sakura turned away. "Like a baka like you would understand."
Naruto groaned in frustration. "Fine, then say it in a way even a baka like me can understand."
"Sakura, just answer the damn question and get it over with." Kakashi told her.
The pinkette tried to resist but ultimately, and sadly, relented. "I'm just offended that after all those years of you trying to be with me, in one day Hinata goes up to you and I suddenly don't matter to you anymore."
"You do still matter to me Sakura-chan. We've been thru a lot together and I'm not going to forget that." Naruto told his teammate with a friendly but empty expression. "But every time I tried to be closer to you, you brushed me off. And then you told me to be with Hinata-chan, who apparently wants me to be closer to her. What did you think would happen?" He then made a light frown. "Could it be Hinata-chan was right and you really can't stand the idea of me liking some girl other than yourself?"
"No." Sakura said rather defensively.
'It sure sounds that way though.' Temari commented to herself.
"Then just what am I Sakura-chan? If I'm not boyfriend material to you like Sasuke was then what do you see me as? Tell me dammit!" Naruto added, getting impatient for her answer.
"You are important to me Naruto, it's just different with Sasuke-kun." Sakura gently told him in hopes he'd calm down.
It didn't look like it worked. "Obviously. After all, I never put a chidori thru someone's chest." The blonde said resentfully.
"I'm sure he had a good reason for tha-" Sakura said then quickly stopped herself, but it was too late.
Naruto, Kakashi, and Temari all gave the medic nin horrified looks at her statement. Then Naruto closed his eyes in anger, clenched his teeth and fists, and stood up, attempting to contain his rage. Temari and Kakashi turned to see him and feared his reaction, as did Sakura.
"Naruto I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Shut the fuck up Sakura." He forcefully told her. "I need some space before I do something I really don't want to do." There was a very dark tone in his voice, one that he had never spoken to her before. Then without waiting for permission, he simply darted away.
Teary-eyed, Sakura got up to go after him, but Kakashi and Temari stood up to block her. "Sakura, stay away from him for now. Give him a few minutes first at least." Kakashi told her.
Temari was less kindly in her statement. "You bitch. Even if you don't love the guy you shouldn't make it sound like you believed he deserved to die."
"I didn't mean it like that." Sakura tried to explain.
Temari just looked madder. "You just said you believe the jerk who tried to kill your teammate was justified in doing so. How the hell was he supposed to take that?"
"That's not what I meant. I just... can't believe Sasuke-kun would really try to murder Naruto in cold blood." Sakura claimed sadly, her tears having yet to recede.
"How else do you explain how Naruto got those wounds Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"I don't know but there must be a good explanation for it."
The cycloptic jounin sighed. "There is. The only problem is you don't want to believe it."
Naruto came to a stop on top a large rock and just sat there, with his legs curled up against his chest and his arms folded on top his knees. Once settled he finally let his tears fall, still feeling terrible but now he was calm enough to avoid the risk of creating a Kyuubi cloak.
"I can't believe it." He quietly said to himself. "Am I really that unimportant to her?" He heard some rustling in the bushes to his left and looked that way, expecting an enemy.
Instead, the newcomer was a very welcome sight. "Naruto-kun, I'm glad I caught up to you." Hinata, in her normal form happily said as she emerged from the shrubs and walked towards him. She paused when she saw his tears. "What's wrong Naruto-kun?"
He cried a bit more, this time slightly out of happiness. "Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?"
"I... needed to see you right away." She said as she slowly approached him. "Please tell me what's wrong. Can I help?"
He patted the stone at his side, telling her to sit next to him. Which she did, once she was seated, he hugged her and shed a few more tears. She hugged him back and rubbed his back in an effort to comfort him. "It was Sakura." He finally muttered.
"What did she do?" The Hyuuga heiress asked, with Naruto hugging her he did not see her eyes darken.
"I... I asked her what she thought of me. I wanted to know why after telling me to give you a chance she was mad we were getting along. She said I was important to her but not as important as Sasuke was and I mentioned he tried to kill me and... she..." He paused for a moment. "She said she was sure he had a good reason for it. Those were her exact words."
Hinata's hold on him weakened from the shock she just felt. "What?"
"It's true. I nearly died trying to make her happy and that meant nothing to her. I'm such an idiot."
"No, you're not." Hinata told him as she moved his face so they would look at each other. "You're a caring man who just tried to make the wrong person happy."
He sniffled and smiled at her. "You're too good for me Hinata-chan." Then he looked sad. "There's... something I should tell you about myself. I just hope you'll still be my friend at least."
The pale-eyed girl looked confused. "You say that like there's a chance I won't."
"There is. You see, the Yondaime Hokage didn't kill the Kyuubi all those years ago. He sealed it inside me, making me a jinchuuriki." He stated simply to get it over with, avoiding eye contact with the girl in his arms as he awaited her response.
There were a lot of responses he expected from her. Fear, hostility, rejection, disgust, and a small part of him prayed for acceptance and continued love, however unlikely that was. The response he got was the absolute last one he would ever, ever expect.
Laughter, the sound of a girl softly laughing.
Naruto looked right at the Hyuuga heiress when he heard the unexpected sound. He saw she was smiling warmly and lightly chuckling, as if he just made a small joke. Her eyes showed as much warmth as her smile did and she leaned forward and kissed him with all the love she could muster. Naruto was a bit too shocked to return it right away, but he did.
When they parted Hinata stopped chuckling but her expression remained the same. "Why were you laughing?" Naruto asked. "Don't you get it? I've got a dangerous demon inside me that almost every adult in our village believes can control me or already does."
"So?" Hinata plainly asked, much to the young man's surprise. "It's not like it can, right?"
He sighed. "In a way. When I'm... really mad at someone I sometimes use the fox's chakra to make myself stronger. But I get a bit... reckless at those times. And if I use it too much then... I black out and the fox may take control then. At least that's what Ero-sannin told me."
"But all other times you're you right? So there's no real problem here." Hinata told him.
Naruto shed a tear. "Hinata-chan, not to sound ungrateful or anything, but... how can this be so easy for you to accept?"
The pale-eyed girl gently rubbed his cheek with her hand. "Because... I'm similar Naruto-kun."
"What do you mean Hinata-chan?"
"Naruto-kun, I've got a demon inside me too." She told him.
The Uzumaki boy's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Really? But how? I was told Konoha had no other jinchuuriki."
"No one but you knows this. Not even my family or Hokage-sama knows this Naruto-kun." She told him.
"But how can no one know?"
"Because I've only been a jinchuuriki for a few days actually."
Naruto arched an eyebrow. "A few days?"
Hinata nodded. "It happened the day before I saw you back in Konoha Naruto-kun. I was out on a mission and had to take shelter in a cave for the night. Inside the cave I saw a trapped demon, who begged me to help her. She made me an offer and I accepted, becoming a volunteer jinchuuriki in the process."
Naruto couldn't believe it. After all the harsh treatment over the years he couldn't imagine someone actually volunteering to be a demon host. Especially someone with a life of luxury like Hinata. "What kind of deal did you make?"
"I would carry the demon inside me for a time until it could be strong enough to go home on it's own, and in return she would... help me get your attention and be a stronger kunoichi. One you and everyone else could be proud of."
"The only way everyone else will be proud of you is if they don't know. Believe me, I speak from experience." Naruto replied.
Hinata tightened her hug a bit. "We'll deal with that when the time comes. And thanks for telling me Naruto-kun. I'm glad you trust me enough to let me know." Her smile faltered a bit. "Does Haruno-san know? Is that why she said what she did?"
Naruto looked down. "I told her earlier today so she'd know why this mission mattered to me so much. Gaara's a jinchuuriki too; he holds the ichibi. He's one of the few people that truly understand me and I can't bare to lose him to our mutual enemies." He then regained eye contact with his new lover. "You should know there's this group of very strong missing nin who are trying to collect all the bijuu and kill their hosts. You're in danger now."
Hinata shook her head. "Not quite. I don't hold a bijuu. My demon is called a succubus."
"What's that?"
Before Hinata could answer, Sakura walked out of the bushes. She did not appear to be accompanied. "Naruto, I'm so sorry I said-" She paused when she felt a huge amount of killing intent just burst from Hinata like a bomb. The last time Sakura felt anything like this was when she stood up to Gaara during the Oto/Suna invasion.
"You've got a lot of nerve Haruno." Hinata said, dangerously low as she broke away from Naruto and stood up. She glared at the pinkette as if she was trying to turn the girl to stone that way. "Do you honestly think a mere apology would put you back in his good graces?"
"This is between my teammate and I, Hinata, not you." Sakura fearfully defended.
Hinata placed her hands on her hips. "I'm making it my business. My boyfriend nearly killed himself years ago trying to make you happy, and all you can say is that the son of a bitch that tried to kill him was in the right?"
Naruto got up and took her left hand in his own. "Calm down Hinata-chan. It's not worth it."
She then balled up her right hand in a fist and held it in front of her chest, as if restraining herself from hitting the young woman in front of her. At the same time she clenched her eyes shut and cried a bit, confusing Sakura and Naruto. "Haruno-san, do you have any idea how much I used to envy you?"
"You... envied me?" Sakura asked.
"Of course. Naruto-kun gave you everything I ever hoped he would give me. Do you have any idea what I would have given up to trade places with you or receive even half as much affection from him as you did? He treated you like you were the only girl in the world, like you were a goddess in the flesh, and how did you repay him?" She paused to open her teary reddened eyes and scowl at the medic nin. "Did you ever even appreciate his affections? Be glad that at least someone thought you were worth loving? Even if it wasn't the 'great-and-terrific' Uchiha doing it? Did you? Even if you didn't, would it really have been so hard to just calmly tell him he wasn't your type and point him in my direction sooner?"
Naruto faced his old crush. "She's got a point Sakura. You yourself told me Hinata-chan's liked me for years. If you really knew that and wanted me to leave you alone then why didn't you tell me?"
Hinata scoffed and kept looking at Sakura, her fist lowered at the same time. "I'll tell you why. Because she's a self-absorbed bitch that liked your flattery but didn't want to return it or lose it. She got some sort of sick thrill out of having you pursue her Naruto-kun and rejecting you over and over again. She wants you to keep chasing her but never catch her because it makes her feel special and powerful."
"That's not true!" Sakura countered.
"Really? Because the evidence says otherwise Haruno." The Hyuuga heiress commented. "The strange thing is I'm actually kind of glad you acted that way. Because if you had given Naruto-kun a chance, my life would be empty." She faced her boyfriend and gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry if that sounds selfish Naruto-kun, but I can't help it."
"It's alright Hinata-chan. At least you'd cry at my funeral, unlike some others." He replied, making Sakura wince at the implied insult.
"Do you two really think I'm that heartless?" Sakura asked in a mixture of shock and offense. Little by little her desire to make amends with her teammate had been chipped away by Hinata's insults, replaced by a desire to reassert her own virtue.
Naruto gave her a flat look, making her heart ache. "Do you really think my life is disposable and that Sasuke can do no wrong even if he tried?"
"No I don't. I just don't believe that Sasuke-kun really tried to kill you. It had to have been an accident or something."
Hinata punched her fist into her open hand, showing she really wanted to hit someone just then. Naruto clenched his own fists but did nothing else. "An accident?" He sounded horribly offended by the mere notion. "Sakura, you've seen the chidori and how it's used. HOW THE HELL COULD THAT GET THRU MY CHEST BY ACCIDENT?" He stepped forward, making Sakura take a step back. "SASUKE WANTED ME DEAD! IT WAS NO ACCIDENT, IT WAS NO MISTAKE, HE WANTED ME DEAD!"
"But he's our friend." Sakura meekly claimed, knowing her stand was futile but not wanting to surrender it just yet.
Naruto groaned but it sounded more like a growl. "He was our friend Sakura."
That made Sakura mad, and less interested in getting back on Naruto's good side. "Oh so now I guess you're not going to bother keeping your promise to me? First you ditch me for this big-breasted bimbo then you break your promise to me?"
"How can I 'ditch' you when you never wanted me in the first place? I'm starting to think Hinata-chan's right about you. And I still intend to bring Sasuke back, but now I'm not doing it to make you happy. Give me one good reason why I should now!" Naruto responded irritably.
"Because if you do then Team 7 will be together again like before and things can go back to normal." Sakura blurted out.
Hinata stepped forward. "Do you actually believe that? The man is a traitor who abandoned his village and endangered several of our friends in doing so and has allied himself with a murdering, sadistic, highly-likely-but-not-proven pedophile! Even if he is brought back to Konoha, he will be punished by law and your team will never be reformed like it originally was. And even if it was, there is no way in hell that you all can pretend his horrible deeds never happened." Hinata then snorted and crossed her arms. "Maybe you can, with your 'The Uchiha is bigger than Kami and twice as important' attitude you have, but no one else will."
Sakura was silenced and Naruto closed his eyes. 'The sad thing is for a while I too hoped our team would be reformed again once the teme returned and it would be like old times again. But hearing Hinata-chan say it like that only makes it sound so... foolish. I guess I need to face facts that our old Team 7 is as good as dead.'
Sakura then frowned strongly at the Hyuuga heiress and stepped forward. "You're only saying that because you like Naruto as much as I like Sasuke-kun."
Hinata surprised both of the two ninja around her by shaking her head negatively. "No I don't. I like him more and much more sincerely. I see the real Naruto-kun, whereas you only see what you expect to see in Sasuke. I love him because I can see good and bad in him, not just one or the other like you do with most people."
Sakura then felt her rage reach a new point and then, speaking out in nothing but pain and hurt, she shouted. "AT LEAST SASUKE-KUN WAS SMART AND A GREAT NINJA! HE WASN'T SOME PATHETIC WEAKLING WHO GRADUATED LAST OF THE CLASS AND ON PURE LUCK!" Her words drove the dagger deep into Naruto's heart.
Suddenly there was a wave of killer intent. Naruto and Sakura both saw that emitting from Hinata was an aura of chakra that illuminated in the darkness. Hinata's eyes became purple slits that were locked onto Sakura, making the pink-haired ninja feel as if she was frozen in place. The Hyuuga heiress then lunged herself forward, moving faster than the other two could see, and soon Hinata's clawed hand wrapped around Sakura's throat and squeezed it tightly.
'Claws?' Sakura and Naruto thought fearfully. They both briefly saw her seemingly with claws back in Konoha, but they thought it was a trick, not real.
When Hinata opened her mouth to speak, Sakura saw fangs.
"Listen to me very carefully you little Uchiha-loving whore." Hinata's voice was cold and dark, as if it was someone else's voice was talking thru her. "If you ever, ever say something derogatory about my Naruto-kun again, or treat him like he was put on this Earth simply to satisfy your whims, I will tear your limbs off one at a time. And then when you are lying on the ground choking on your own blood in utter agony, I will kill you. In a way that even Morino Ibiki would say is going too far." Hinata tightened her grip around the pinkette's neck, her claws breaking into the skin and drawing small drops of blood. "Or maybe I should just ripe your throat out now-"
"HINATA-CHAN, STOP IT!"
The sound of Naruto's voice brought Hinata out of rage and back into reality. She looked over at her boyfriend and saw a look of fear in his crystal blue eyes. He was afraid of… her? That is not what she wanted.
Hinata turned her attention back to Sakura and then placed her free hand over the frightened girl's face, and then transferred a great deal of chakra into her hand. "You are to forget all of this, you are to go back to your little campsite, you never saw me, and you are to act like everything is just peachy, alright?"
Sakura did not speak but she nodded dumbly, so Hinata then dropped her to ground. The medic simply sat there in a sort of daze for a moment, and then Sakura stood up, turned around, and began walking the direction she came from.
When they were alone once again, Hinata reverted to her normal form, her eyes became pure white again and her claws vanished. Fortunately her wings and tail didn't come out so that wasn't a problem here.
"Hinata-chan, what demon is inside you again?" Naruto asked.
"The creature inside of me is a succubus named Lilith. She is a demoness of sex and lust. I made a deal with her; I give her a body and she helped me be with you."
Naruto seemed a little slow in the processing but after a moment he seemed to grasp everything. "Wait, hold on, what do you mean when you say a demoness of sex?"
"Sex to Lilith is energy, much like ramen to you. When she and I joined it became energy to me too. Which is why I came to you, I-" However she did not get to finish.
"Wait a minute. Was everything we did then… just a charge up for you and this Lilith?"
Hinata's eyes widened. "What? No Naruto-kun that was not it at all. Well maybe it was just a bit for her, but-"
Naruto didn't let her finish this time either, looking rather mad but avoiding eye contact with her. "So am I nothing more than a battery for you? You drain me and then go on to the next thing with a dick? So who's next? Kiba, Shino, maybe Shikamaru?"
Those words stung Hinata, and even worse as they came from her Naruto's mouth. This was not how she wanted things to go. "Naruto-kun, it is not like that at all. It's just I-"
"You just said, not thirty seconds ago you came here to have sex with me to get energy."
She did not respond immediately, realizing she had in fact said that. "I know, and that is partially true. But-"
Naruto turned and began walking away, not back towards the camp but in the other direction.
Lilith who had been remaining silent for the entire time suddenly started talking. However she sounded a bit weak. "Stop him, stop him, we came this far, stop him."
Hinata ran forward and grabbed his arm. "Naruto-kun, please there is something you need to know."
However the blonde would not listen. He simply pulled free of Hinata's grasp and did not turn while he talked. "Hinata… I just really want to be alone to think right now." His tone was serious and slightly cold.
Hinata stood in place and watched Naruto walk away into the darkness, not even activating her byakugan to watch him go.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? WE NEED HIM NOW!" Lilith screamed at her host.
Hinata simply stood there, her eyes brimmed with tears. "Naruto-kun does not want to see me right now, so we are going to stay here."
"NO, NO, NO! WE USED UP SO MUCH ENERGY TO GET HERE, WE NEED SEX NOW!"
"He is angry. We will go to him when he is ready to talk."
Lilith let out a yell inside Hinata's head, almost giving her a headache. "He is not angry, his ego has just been bruised a bit. Just charm him a bit and bring him back over. After what we do to him he will not even remember his own name let alone that he was mad. He cannot resist you for long. No man who's been with a succubus can."
"I am not doing that to him. I will never make Naruto-kun do something that he does not want to do." Hinata said firmly.
"Alright listen to me, you need to get him back here. This is not a request. We don't have much energy left right now, and unless we get some form of stimulation, we are going to start going through withdrawl or worse."
"What could be worse?" The Hyuuga asked.
"We could die. Slowly and painfully."