Chapter 14

Hinata walked slowly behind Sasuke. What had happened? What was that?

She still felt lightheaded. She was walking with her head down, and she was right behind Juugo, which put her behind everyone else. Sasuke was at the front, and Karin and Suigetsu were walking side by side, behind Sasuke, arguing about something or other.

Sasuke's head was beginning to hurt from their level of noise, and Juugo was just walking with his eyes shut...

Hinata ran her hand through her bangs and held her head for a moment. She was wondering why Sasuke hadn't ordered them to run, instead of just walk.

Sasuke looked halfway back to look at Hinata, and then he turned around quickly, not wanting Karin and Suigetsu to notice his obvious concern for her state. Turns out she was the reason he was letting them walk and not run their asses off.

Naruto yelled louder and louder, commanding the nin-dogs to keep looking.

"COME ON! THIS IS THE EXTENT OF YOUR SNIFFING ABILITY???!!"

Pakku looked ahead to see his actual master standing atop a nearby tree.

"Naruto... calm down... this isn't helping..."

Naruto looked up revealing a trail of boogers down his nose, and traces of exaggerated tears running down his face. His eyes were huge and glossy and his lower lip stood out, trembling.

"B-but Sakura-chan's out there..." His hands beside him, fingers shaking badly.

"I'm sure she's fine..." Kakashi said calmly... What the hell did happen to Sakura? Kakashi wasn't showing it, but he was extremely worried on the inside. Itachi, Kisame, and other Akatsuki members were still out there. Sure, she had taken out one of them... but without Chiyo... Sakura would definitely have gotten killed within the first ten seconds.

"Ehh... she's probably dead..." Sai came out of nowhere and added to the conversation.

"SHUT UP, KISAMA!" Naruto yelled at him throwing him a kunai and then clenching his fists tight with anger...

Kakashi was about to tell them to be quiet when Kiba too joined the group. "Oi, I think Akamaru found her."

"WELL, LEAD THE WAY, BAKA!!" Naruto ordered waving a fist at him. Kiba frowned slightly and amounted Akamaru, whispering something into his ears. Akamaru barked once and sped off...

Everyone stood intrigued by the scene and then finally came to their senses and sped off as well...

"Is she alive??" Naruto asked nervously, giving Sai a deadly stare afterward. Sai merely smiled his usual fake smile and then faced forward again, jumping from branch to branch...

"I think so..." Kiba said seriously. He honestly wasn't sure, but either way, finding Sakura might lead to something else. Something a bit more important...

Shino was thinking the same thing, except, he already knew where and who Hinata was with... Most importantly he knew she was fine... "She's alive, but probably unconscious" he paused when everyone stared at him,except for Naruto who was still busy crying, and he added " I can sense her chakra from here."

Amazing... Kakashi thought... I barely picked up her chakra a few seconds ago... These kids really have improved... I guess Kurenai did her job...

"She's really close by now... according to Akamaru..." That and my nose...

Naruto sped up and ran past Kiba and Akamaru, entering a clearance... Naruto froze... the ground was completely cracked and about ten trees had been knocked down and over. His eyes began to well up and he began sniffling, wiping his nose with the front of his sleeve...

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" Naruto screamed and did a hand seal yelling "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu"

About twenty Narutos appeared, all of their eyes swollen and they all spread out and began looking along with Kiba, Shino, and the rest of them...

"She's over here!" Kiba yelled after clearly picking up her scent. He pointed to a tree about twenty feet off and beneath it lay a red spot. Sakura.

"Sakura-chan... " Naruto said and sped off, the rest of his copies disappearing. When he got there he grabbed her and began shaking violently... "Wake up!"

"Naruto... I said she was alive... just unconscious..." Shino said calmly and stood behind Naruto who held Sakura in his arms.

"EHH??!! YOU NEVER SAID THAT! BAKA!" Naruto turned around yelling at Shino, almost dropping Sakura.

Shino's eyebrow twitched as well as his eye. "Naruto, yes I did..." Shino said quietly, his fists tight inside his pockets.

"NO YOU-" Naruto was interrupted by Sakura's soft breathing. "SAKURA-CHAN!!"

Naruto squeezed Sakura tightly pushing his face into her shoulder, sniffling loudly.

"Ahh... Naru-" Sakura stopped when she felt the wetness on her shoulder. For once, she didn't push him off, or attack him violently for touching her... She shut her eyes instead, and hugged him back. She smiled softly and then said " It's fine, Naruto... I'm okay..." Naruto looked up, and Sakura's face twisted in disgust when she saw that part of the wetness on her shoulder was nothing other than his mucus. Her face turned blue and she put it down in anger, clenching her fist tight. "Naruto..." she growled at him.

As Naruto looked up, he was greeted by Sakura's fist, which connected tightly to his left cheek knocking him back a couple of inches. "Oww... Sakura-chan... Why'd you do that?"

He got up with a teary expression and spit out part of a tooth. "Look, you chipped it..." He said, his left cheek now swollen...

"That's what you get..." Sakura said, now sitting up with one fist still clenched tightly.

Naruto put his hands on his hips and said "Hmph... well you sure recover fast..."

"Anyway, who did this to you?? I'll kick their ass!" Naruto said, now more worried than hurt.

Sakura's face fell and she closed her eyes. "Nobody..."

"NOBODY?? WHADDAYA MEAN NOBODY?? THIS DIDN'T JUST HAPPEN!" Naruto screamed loudly at Sakura.

"WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO YELL AT ME, BAKA???" Sakura looked up screaming with a frown on her face. I definitely shouldn't tell Naruto... he'd hate her... and I know how she'd feel about that...

"Hmph... fine..."

Kiba stood there quietly giving Shino funny looks. He smelled Hinata... on Sakura... Did that mean... Kiba kept trying to get Shino's attention by clearing his throat loudly. Shino merely ignored him... He knew that Kiba had figured it out by now and he was really hoping he wouldn't ruin it.

"Anyway, the important thing is that you're fine, Sakura... " Yamato said giving everyone a reassuring smile. He was glad she hadn't said anything, but he was trying to change the conversation as soon as possible.

Naruto eyed him suspiciously and then asked "Do you even care who it was that beat her up?"

"I wouldn't worry about it..." Yamato continued... getting nervous.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT IT?? THEY ALMOST KILLED HER!!"

"AHHH... NARUTO, YOU IDIOT, IT WAS HINATA!" Sakura screamed frustrated with Naruto's yelling, and then lowered her head in shame when she realized what she had said.

Naruto stood there dumbfounded... Hinata... Why would she? "What's going on?" Naruto said in a quiet voice. He couldn't believe it. Hinata had practically killed Sakura-chan? Why? He had completely forgotten to recognize that Hinata was safe...

He was staring out into nothing, confused as hell.

Sakura looked down and began explaining. "She's with Sasuke..." She said ignoring everyone's glares... Naruto deserved to know...

Naruto's face rose and his face showed a furious expression. "WHAT???"

"She's trying to bring him back..." Kakashi said, not caring anymore... Sakura had already ruined it, anyway... and no matter how many explanations they could provide, Naruto would remain ignorant to them. All he knew was that Hinata had left... and had beaten Sakura... which meant she was helping Sasuke escape.

Naruto remained silent and thoughtful for the remainder of the day. The next day... when Sakura was fine again, they began moving... and Naruto still held that same serious expression. Hinata's gonna pay...

Hinata was trying harder and harder to catch up to everyone, who were all racing through the trees. Hinata had informed them that Naruto and the rest had began moving fast again. Last night had been the best sleep ever, for everyone except Hinata. She was becoming paranoid. She still didn't know what had happened to her earlier... She had been waiting for it to happen again at any moment. But, it hadn't up until now. Everyone knew there was something bothering her, but, typical Hinata would only smile and tell them not to worry about her.

Sasuke would glance back every now and then, making sure she was fine. She was the last one in the group, but she wasn't too far behind. "Hinata, check again" he said seriously.

"Mm. Byakugan" she said with her voice trembling. "I-I can't see them anymore..." she said between breaths.

Sasuke nodded and said "then we stop here..."

Everyone took a pause and tried to catch their breath before jumping down to the ground. Hinata fell to her knees and took long, deep breaths. Beads of sweat ran down her face, spilling onto the tree trunk. Her hands clutched her pants tightly and she was panting quietly. Sasuke, once everyone had dropped to the floor approached her and lowered himself to his knees to come to level with her.

"You okay?" Sasuke said trying to look at her face, which was completely lowered.

She didn't look up, but she nodded anyway. "I'm just tired... I'm sorry I'm so weak..."

Sasuke frowned. "Stop apologizing already... it's annoying..." he said rather harshly.

Hinata looked up and she was about to apologize once more, but she stopped herself in time and simply nodded her head.

Sasuke's expression softened and he rested one hand on one of her shoulders. "Let's go... we can rest down there..."

Hinata slowly shook her head. " I wanna rest here... please." She looked up at Sasuke blushing and then lowered her head again. Sasuke couldn't tell if she was just tired from all the running or if she really was blushing. Sasuke nodded and sat down completely. Hinata stayed where she was and stretched out her legs. Her muscles ached like crazy. After a few moments of just staring at her feet, she laid back, resting her head on the tree trunk. She stared up at the tiny glimpses of light blue that were noticeable through the trees. Sasuke sat across from her for a while and then decided that she wasn't gonna invite him to go over and rest with her. So he merely stood up and jumped down, looking for a spot to seclude himself from everyone else. Hinata didn't notice and merely closed her eyes.

Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo were taking naps already, all spaced far away from each other. Sasuke the same... except he wasn't napping. He was merely resting his eyes.

Hinata sat up slowly again, taking her cape off, and deciding to use it as a pillow... She really wanted to sleep comfortably, at least for a little while... She then laid back down on her side and brushed any stray strands of hair away from her face. She stared forward and then activated her Byakugan, just to make sure Naruto's team was still completely far away from them. When she didn't see anyone nearby, she shut her eyes again and put a hand beneath her face.

"Hinata..." Hinata's eyes fluttered open slowly and she sat up, now alarmed and looking around. Who was that?

"Sasuke...?" She knew it wasn't Sasuke, but she didn't want to guess anything else. She looked around one last time and was about to lay down once again, when a crow flew at her, landing on her leg. Hinata flinched and moved her arms up to guard herself. When she noticed it was a crow she slowly let her arms fall back and she stared at the crow with a weak smile. It's only a crow...

As she looked at the crow, she began to notice there was something strange about it. It's eyes...

Hinata's eyes widened and when she looked up, she saw none other than Itachi standing in front of her, staring down calmly at her. Hinata stared at Itachi, not bothering to close her eyes this time...

Hinata's face dropped and she slowly let out the words "It was you..." She realized that he had been the one that caused that little illusion just hours ago...

Itachi ignored her accusation and squatted down to her level. Hinata began feeling slightly scared, but she knew she couldn't do anything against him anyway. Calling Sasuke or anyone else would only get them killed. Hinata lowered her eyes to the right bottom corner and just sat there. "Wh-what do you want...?"

"I want you to remain calm about this..." Itachi said quietly. "and tell me what my little brother is up to..."

Hinata looked up at Itachi, who was looking at her intensely. Hinata remained quiet and shifted her gaze down to the floor again. "I-I can't tell you..."

Hinata looked up with fear and saw Itachi's face hadn't changed. He lowered his head and shut his eyes. "Heh, I don't even know why I'm asking this... I know he's trying to kill me..." Hinata's eyes widened and she looked at Itachi and saw a small glimpse of sadness in his eyes.

She was completely confused now. That was all Itachi wanted from her? To ask her what Sasuke was up to? A question, that he already knew the answer to? Why was he sad? Did he really care about Sasuke? What had he done to him to earn his hatred?

"I should probably just let him" he said, the sadness becoming noticeable in his tone.

Itachi looked up at a confused Hinata. She wasn't saying anything.

She was perplexed. Itachi, the one who had the worst reputation around Konoha, for being Akatsuki, looked sad. She felt sorry for him... He actually cares?

Itachi hated to admit it, but at this moment, just now, he needed reassurance... He hadn't had it in so long... and he hated to admit this as well, but Itachi still held some brotherly love towards Sasuke. This girl... does she ever say anything useful? "Well...?"

Hinata opened her lips and formed a question for Itachi "Wh-what did you do to him..?"

Itachi smiled. He couldn't believe it... Instead of telling him something useful, she just brought up exactly how he had completely fucked up Sasuke's life. "Ask him yourself..."

Itachi gave Hinata one last look before he disappeared. Hinata was speechless. Now she had to know what had happened. She would go up to Sasuke and demand that he tell her what happened. She honestly felt bad for Itachi. His sadness looked genuine. All of a sudden, she wanted to make Sasuke forget about his revenge... She knew better than anyone else... that revenge never solved anything... Neji had learned that the hard way, and now he would feel guilty every once in a while, when he thought about the harm he had caused Hinata...

Hinata had forgiven him, and she wanted Sasuke to do the same... First, however, she had to know what he had done...

Hinata couldn't sleep for the next couple of minutes, so she decided to stay awake and used the time she had to think of how to ask Sasuke... and make sure she sounded urgent enough for him to tell her this time. She sighed and thought to herself. This might take a while...

(A/N: yeah, this is the end of the chapter... sorry if I made Itachi completely out of character... I just really believe that he's not completely evil... and i really do believe that he still cares about Sasuke... Anyway, sorry my endings come out of nowhere... i usually base them on the length of the chapters... yeah sorry this one took a while to update, it's just that i was stuck trying to decide wether to give naruto and sakura a cute moment, or a funny one... so yeah, forgive me... (TT) anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and see you next chapter.)