Sorry I haven't been able to upload! I know you've all been waiting.

School and work, supper busy and I've been some type of serious stressed and I'm guessing a tad depressed.

I've had a good break from everything though and hope to upload again soon and get back on track to my three chapter rule.

Please read and review,

Sorry this one is rather boring.

DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Ch. 10

To Make Him Smile

Once Hinata was safely away, I set quickly to work. First, I made sure she would stay blissfully asleep by giving her a small dose of morphine, letting her tense body finally have some rest. Her fever was high, dangerously high, her wounds, though I could scarcely check them, seemed to be inflamed and irritated, swelling from harsh treatment. Ino wiped some of the sweat from Hinata's brow moving the hair clinging to her face out of the way.

"How is she?" Naruto asked dully.

I cast a worried look at him and briefly met Ino's eyes. We were worried about him, slumped into the side of the van. It seemed that rescuing the shy girl had done nothing to abate his fears; instead, it seemed to way heavier on his slouching shoulders. His blue eyes gazed solemnly at her.

"Bump." Shikamaru warned us as we headed over the pot holes and bumps in the rode.

Ino and I quickly held down on Hinata's shoulder, scooting in closer to keep her steady as the van bounced.

"She's fine Naruto." I assured him. "She'll be alright."

More importantly…I wanted to ask him, will you?

Naruto had become close to me, extremely. He was like a brother, he was family, he knew my deepest secrets and I knew his, for the most part. I had seen faces no one had seen before. His true sadness and true happiness. Right now I wanted to get him to smile again. A smile that saved me so many times, I wanted to save him.

I'm sure everyone else felt just as strongly. He had helped so many and probably without even realizing it. That was just how Naruto worked; he wasn't made for the darker part of the life we had been sucked into almost unknowingly. He rolled with the punches though and gave each of us an opportunity to leave. We chose not to. The big goof would stay in the world we entered, he saw too much pain to leave it be and tend to itself. We wanted to make sure his smile stayed; to save the boy who healed us should he ever need it.

"Naruto!" Lee whispered rather loudly, climbing into the crowded back and squeezing close to the blond.

"Hinata is most youthful, I am sure with your more youthfulness and my strong powers youth, we can revive her back to strength!" He encouraged him, arms held out in determined fists.

The sullen boy managed a small smile of thanks. "I know. I'm sorry for worrying you guys. It's just…"

Blue eyes gazed at the girls prone from, taking in her still body and fevered face.

"I feel like I should do more." He shrugged helplessly, the little smile slipping back into a harsh frown.

"This is why you have us!" I scolded him.

"Yeah, wouldn't trust him in the kitchen, wouldn't trust him washing clothes, and I definitely don't trust him trying to do our job! Right billboard-brow?" Ino chuckled to lighten the mood.

Imagining Naruto trying to be a doctor elicited a small round of laughter, brightening the mood his smile slapped back onto his face and I felt somewhat proud to be able to heal a person he cared so strongly for.

It wasn't that he cared any different about us, he loved us all. Something about Hinata though made him act different, stronger even. While it was obvious that Hinata had a little instant crush on the boy, Naruto wasn't all that easy considering his own confusion. I'm sure though he had a little crush of his own towards the girl.

Looking back down at Hinata, I was determined to help save her and keep her safe. If only to keep Naruto's smile.

###

We spared a room for Hinata, clean and empty, but ultimately safe. After having pushed everyone out of the room, Ino and I were able to officially get to work. Her wounds though inflamed and hot red would heal fast now with the proper care. Her fever worried me more.

She would need a constant watch because should her fever rise any more, there was a possibility that we would not be able to save her. Choji brought us in a number of ice packs and we placed one on her chest, another behind her neck, one on her stomach and two under her legs in an effort to cool the heated blood. After placing a cool pack on her forehead, there was nothing more that we could do other than wait.

I leaned back in a chair, physically and emotionally exhausted and watching the girl sleep. Ino had all but passed out in her chair and I decided to let her sleep a little.

"Sakura?" A voice whispered from behind the door, startling me for a second until I recognized the husky and slightly depressed voice.

"You can come in Naruto, just keep quiet."

The door creaked open and he shuffled in with his head down and blond hair hanging limply before his saddened blue eyes. He sat down cross-legged beside me on the floor and stared intently at Hinata.

"She okay?"

"So far."

He gazed at me, eyes searching for honesty. I sighed. "Her fever is high Naruto, but I believe it's going down with care. It'll be another week before she's back up to her normal self, but she'll be fine once the fever is gone."

He sighed in relief and fell flat on his back to the ground and his arms spread out beside him.

"Thank kami, Sakura, you're amazing." He grinned at me from the floor and he kept talking to me in a quiet whisper.

"Sakura, I want to protect her. Do you get it? I don't. Why? Why do I have to protect her so badly? Want to so much." He lifted his hands up above his head and gazed intently at his palms as if they held the answers.

I giggled. "Naruto, maybe you like her."

His hands fell down and he looked at me as if I were stating something obvious to him. "Of course I do! I like all of you!" Naruto's voice cracked as he tried to keep his tone to a loud whisper.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned back in the chair to get more comfortable. "No, Naruto. I think you might, you know, like life her."

Naruto could only gaze at me before he started to laugh. Instantly he held a hand to his lips to stifle his chuckles. "No way!"

"Idiot." I mumbled.

"Besides, she's like a princess or something, why would she like me even if I liked her?"

Poor boy, he didn't know his own heart. Naruto was a lonely orphan though, I had to remind myself that. Even though his heart was filled with love, he didn't know how to tell the difference between friends, family and attraction.

"Princess always fall for the poor boy." I joked.

He stuck out his tongue. "Seriously, that's not funny Sakura!"

"Just sayin'." I sent his a helpless shrug.

"Man, you know, I guess it…" He yawned, "Wouldn't be… so… bad…" I watched amusedly as Naruto's blue eyes shut into a deep sleep finally relaxing his worries now that Hinata was in safe hands.

"Good night Naruto." I whispered.

"Mmnnaa..ni't."

XXXX

Hope y'all liked even though its boring.

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