Kei-Kei Yuki: I'm back with a new chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it~!
Beta: Ana-DaughterofHades
I Love You
"H-Hinata?! What are you doing here? Run away! He'll kill you!" Desperately screamed Naruko, bound to the ground, unable to do anything. The blonde was helpless as she watched her long-time best friend once more fly backward through the air.
Despite her injuries and blood dripping down her face, Hinata endured it all as she braced her trembling hand on her knee, pain shooting down her legs and arms. The Hyuuga heiress got back up on her feet, legs shaking, and stood protectively in front of her Naruko. She ignored the branch family member's urgent voice and Naruko's warning, both telling her to leave, that it was best if she ran away.
But she couldn't do that! She couldn't find it within herself to do such a cowardly thing as she took one look at her friend. No. The girl who she had come to love with her entire heart. The sun to her sky. The hope to her dreams. A life that was once bleak and unbearable changed the day when a girl who went by the name Uzumaki Naruko stormed into her life and brought forth a world of color and hope. Just as Sasuke meant the world to Naruko, Naruko's existence meant everything to Hinata.
So how could she stand on the sidelines and do nothing while the one she loved was bound helplessly to the ground? Such a sight, Hinata couldn't help but shed a tear as the will to free her beloved sun from such a cruel entrapment grew strong. Shakily standing on her feet, Hinata took a deep breath and again ran towards Naruko, trying to free her, but before she could reach an inch closer, a strong force of wind blew her away once again.
Pain flared throughout her entire body, but nevertheless, no matter how many times she would get blown away, Hinata refused to stay down, just like Naruko. Who, despite every challenge life threw at her, would always face each task with her head held high with iron-clad determination. It was one of the many traits Hinata, and many others, adored about the loveable blonde. Recalling a memory of when they were both younger and would meet secretly in the woods to train with each other, Naruko once said to her,
"No matter what happens, Hinata! I'll always come to your rescue, seeing as we're friends, and that's what friends do~!" grinned Naruko as Hinata's entire face blushed up a storm and butterflies filled her stomach.
Back in the present, Hinata smiled fondly at that memory. "You said that no matter what, you'll protect me." She vividly remembered the warmth that bloomed in her chest when she heard such words come from the one person she adored. The very same girl who acknowledged and gave her strength when others saw her as a disgrace and weak.
"Naru-chan, you always said that you'd protect me, but what about you? If the situation were in reverse, you would have fought tooth and nail to rescue me. Yet you tell me to run when faced with danger. That's unfair, Naru-chan, because just like you, I can not stand to watch the one I love endure such pain and torment." A beautiful glimmer of determination shined through those pearly white orbs.
"So even if my body breaks down! Even if I can no longer stand! Even if I die here today...! I will protect you, Uzumaki Naruko, because I love you! You are my most precious person. So please, just this once, let me be the one to protect you!" proudly declared Hinata, ignoring the shocked faces of the many who witnessed her brave confession, yet none could compare to Naruko. Despite her denseness in the romance department, Naruko knew Hinata's expression of love went beyond that of mere friendship.
With one last graceful smile on her face, as if Hinata knew this would be her final stance, the Hyuuga Heiress took off. She was only able to break one more of the chakra receivers that bound Naruko to the ground before a heavy pressure of air hit her directly. Blue eyes morphed into horror as they watched in slow motion Hinata's body gracefully soaring back through the air before hitting the ground with a hard thud.
"H-Hina-chan? Get up! Please move! N-No...! This can't be happening...! N-no...n-no... Hina-c-chan..." Naruko's breath hitched, voice cracking as blue eyes teared up, glued on the still form of Hinata's unmoving body.
Recalling the heart-wrenching, beautiful smile the Hyuuga heiress wore on her face before dashing to her rescue was a picture that could not vanish from Naruko's head. The darkness that surrounded the light of her soul broke through the barrier and consumed her whole. Naruko didn't want to believe her eyes. "This can't be happening... Hinata is not dead... She can't be, right?" skeptically whispered Naruko.
All the girls back in the academy would poke fun and call her mean names, saying how she was always getting in their precious Sasuke-kun's way. They glared and excluded her, but only Hinata's kind and caring soul had the guts not to judge her and made Naruko feel warm and accepted. "No!No! No!No!" Naruko kept repeatedly hitting her forehead against the ground, not wanting to believe what her eyes witnessed—wanting that image erased from her head.
"N-Naruko..." Sakura murmured fearfully at the crazy state her sister-figure and comrade were going through, knowing how much the Hyuuga heiress meant to the blonde.
"I'm gonna kill you..." Seething red eyes shot towards Pain; drool leaked from Naruko's canine mouth. Red chakra seeped through her skin as her flesh began to tear. "I'M... GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!" she roared. It was at that moment that hope turned into despair.
Omake:
A scream ripped itself out of the brunette chunin, stabbed yet again, but this time it was in her shoulder. Iruka already had two other wounds in both her thighs, body battered. Blood dripped from her wounds as the short one-sided battle left her brown hair in disarray and down instead of in its usual high ponytail. Watching as Pain summoned a chakra receiver in his hand, ready to stab it through the chunin's heart, Iruka knew this was the end for her.
She was out tricks, weapons, and chakra, plus the fact that her opponent completely outmatched her. When the assault first started, Iruka was helping with aid, getting people to safety, when Pain had confronted her, demanding the whereabouts of Naruko. She glared at him and said coldly, "Like hell if I ever tell you!" With the ferociousness of a mother bear, Iruka attacked, not before moving the fallen chunin who she had come to aid somewhere away from the battle. Iruka was aware that she had no backup nearby nor anyone she could call on.
Aware of just how strong her opponent was, but for Naruko, she'd face against kami and King Yama himself. Naruko meant the world to Iruka! That knucklehead sunshine blonde who always proclaimed her dream of becoming Hokage one day in the future was her family. "N... N-Naruko..." Iruka fondly muttered the name of the one she held dear to her heart. Due to too much blood loss, the chunin teacher began to feel weak and darkness began to cloud her vision.
Right before she fell unconscious, she saw a streak of silver and a warm hand catching her. Only one person came to mind, though she was completely unaware when he said to her, "You did good, Dolphin-chan. Now let me take over from here."
End of I Love You