Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters. Any OC's belong to me.


"Hey… I think she's waking up. You, go get Sakura. Don't ask questions just go!" Naruto's voice filtered into the blackness in which Hinata was floating in, coating her with a temporary warmth and coaxing her further into consciousness. "Hinata? Hinata come back to us, to me." Naruto's words were almost like a dream and she curled further into the warmth of his voice. But consciousness won out in the end and she slowly cracked open her eyes and squinted against the light that was filtering in before closing them again.

"Shit sorry, bedside lamp was on—hold on." Something clicked and she tried opening her eyes again, once they were open fully her eyes scanned the room. It was a moderately sized room filled with machines that were beeping away, a dresser sat against the wall underneath a window that was firmly closed. Her eyes finally found the yellow haired hokage sitting in the chair by her bed, looking at her with a concerned expression.

Hinata began to shiver as the warmth of unconsciousness faded and reality sunk in, her entire body ached and she could feel a deep chill beginning from the top of her head all the way down to her toes.

"Hey... welcome back." Naruto said with a small grin. Hinata found herself smiling weakly back at him, her hand felt warm and when she glanced down she realized their hands were intertwined and resting on the bed. Flashes of the last time that she saw Naruto flashed through her mind and his words from that night reverberated through her head and she let go of his hand and slid her hand under the blanket.

"May I have some water?" she rasped and Naruto looked as if he was about to say something more but got up and hurried over to the dresser where a pitcher of water and cups lay and busied himself with getting her water. Hinata watched his broad back as he shuffled around with plastic cups and turned back around carrying a cup with a straw in it triumphantly, shreds of a straw wrapper lay on the dresser causing Hinata to smile inwardly.

Naruto brought the water to her and helped her sit up in order to drink, the water soothed her throat quickly but she drank for a moment longer than needed she wanted to keep the intimacy of the moment locked away in her heart. But soon enough her body's groaning won out and she lay back against the pillows exhausted, she felt feverish and shaky but no longer crackly.

Hinata looked back over at Naruto, he was being quieter than she had ever seen him and he was watching her with an unreadable expression. She offered him a reassuring smile making him jump out of his thoughts.

"Hinata…" he slid his hand through hers again sending shivers up her arm "I—" but before he could say anything else the door to the hospital room burst open and Sakura and Sasuke flew through the doorway.

Hinata gently pulled her hand from Naruto's as Sakura hurried over to the bed. "Hinata you're awake I'm so glad." The girl said with a little sniffle and Hinata patted her hand, Sasuke on the other hand was looking at Naruto who looked a little miffed. "Crap I'm a mess." Sakura said as she ran an arm over her damp eyes and moved on to check Hinata's vitals.

They lapsed into silence as Sakura looked at the readouts and Hinata's temperature and wrote it all down on a chart. "You've got a pretty bad fever, but that's to be expected. You remember what happened right?"

"Some." Hinata replied "I remember waking up to tell you not to heal me. And I know that my chakra is poisoned."

Everyone looked a little unsettled by the fact that she knew what was wrong with her, Hinata silently told herself to keep quiet about Kushina's visit. She wasn't sure if that was a figment of her imagination or Naruto's mother truly contacting her 'Take care of my son.' The woman's words echoed in her heart and she fought back tears. "At times it was almost as if I was outside of my body looking down at you all." She covered for herself quickly.

Naruto was looking at her funny and Hinata looked anywhere but at him, he had always been acutely aware of when she was lying—something that she had found over the last couple of years.

Luckily enough Sakura didn't dwell on it and shrugged "We'll find a cure. I know we will." She stated stubbornly "But for now we should try to get that fever under control, I'll have an IV fluid bag set up and we'll give you some fever herbs and…" Hinata zoned out at the pink haired ninja rattled off a list of medicines, she trusted Sakura completely so she didn't need to hear all of the treatments that she would be given.

She didn't even know where to start to figure this entire situation out, she didn't know the first thing about chakra poisoning but Kushina had seemed so sure that she would be healed some way some how. But all Hinata felt was… sick.

She sat up quickly and grabbed the nearest bucket-like object that she could find (the clear water cup) and threw up into it.


Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto all jumped into action as she threw up the water that she had just drunk. Sakura held back her hair and Sasuke was frantically searching for something bigger that she could throw up in (mostly because he couldn't stand the sight of vomit) and handed it to Sakura. Naruto immediately took the cup of vomit and was about to throw it away when Sakura shot him a look and growled "Throw that out and you die. I need that." He meekly set the cup down and hurried back over to the bed to pull a shaking Hinata into his arms.

Ever since she had woken up his heart had hurt seeing her pale and weak and now gasping for air as she dry heaved in his arms.

After Hinata had calmed down Naruto helped her lay back down and she soon drifted off into a fitful sleep again with a sheen of sweat covering her face and neck. Sakura made a silent gesture for them to follow her out of the room and Naruto reluctantly followed her, kicking himself the whole way. He couldn't believe he had almost begun to talk about what had happened before Hinata left the village, this wasn't the time to be bringing up their relationship drama especially when she was sick like this.

"Why is she so sick now? Why wasn't it showing when she was asleep before?" Sasuke asked as they stood in the hall.

"I think it's because the poison was gestating and as soon as she regained consciousness it sort of kicked into overdrive. Her body is shutting down because all of her chakra is being seeped out of her body at an alarming rate. Her stomach isn't going to be able to hold anything so she's going to be living on fluids." Sakura looked unhappy about this "Which means we have maybe two weeks if her body doesn't shut down completely before then."

"You have to help her." Naruto said firmly.

"I'm doing my best Naruto but this isn't easy." Sakura glared at him.

"You're the best medical ninja in Konoha and possibly the world and you can't heal her? You're not trying hard enough!" Naruto growled and took a small step forward but was cut off by Sasuke stepping in between the two before their tempers snapped.

"You both need to calm down. You're of no use if you're angry."

Sakura and Naruto glared at each other for a moment before sighing, "Did Granny's journals give you any new information?"

Sakura nodded, "Not much. But I do know that the land of Waves had something like this happen thirty-five years ago from a clan of shinobi that were specialized assassins. We should probably send a message… but that will take too long." She frowned.

"I'll go." Sasuke said, "It'll be faster and I can give information quicker—you've got to stay here and look after Hinata." Naruto opened his mouth to volunteer to go with him but Sasuke cut him off "You need to stay here too idiot. She needs you most right now even if you did screw everything up before she left."

"But the land of Waves is two countries away. It would take you at least a week to get there and to get the information? I don't know how long Hinata is going to last…" Sakura nibbled her lower lip.

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance." A monotone voice came from behind them and they all turned to see Gaara and his siblings standing at the end of the hall. Temari held a bouquet of sand lilies no doubt for Hinata and Kankuro was carrying a basket of fruit.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I mean that my sand can make it there in three days tops. And if I am there with Uchiha-san then the information will flow fast than if it were him by himself."

Naruto was moved by the Kazekage's generous offer "You would do that? For some ninja from another village?"

Gaara's expression shifted "I would. She put herself in harms way to help my village. I will do everything in my power to make sure that she lives."

Naruto grinned "Thanks buddy. Sasuke are you fine with going with Gaara?" the Uchiha nodded and Gaara turned.

"Besides," the red haired man said over his shoulder "I wouldn't let her miss the chance to see you grovel for her forgiveness." A ghost of a smile passed over the man's face and he turned and walked away.

Naruto looked a little dumbfounded "Does everyone know what happened?"

"Pretty much." Temari said with a smirk.

"Ino was very forthcoming with information." Kankuro shrugged.

"Great, just fantastic." Naruto moaned.

"It'll be okay." Sakura said brightly as she whacked him on the back "You'll grow out of being an idiot one day."

"Fat chance." Muttered Sasuke.


-Author's Note-

This chapter was all over the place emotions wise, but it served it's purpose. I wonder what will be found in the land of waves, will they find the answer to this poisoning? What is the price of the cure? Will they be willing to pay the price? And then they still have Yori to worry about too... and is Naruto ever going to tell Hinata how he truly feels?

Anyways.

Please Read & Review!

-LittleMoonLover-