im totally aware this chapter is probably weird and kinda slow burn? but, none the less, the fun stuff has started, haha. also taking into consideration the reviews people have posted so if you asked for something, you will get it. sooo anyways reviews are nice and i hope everyone enjoys (:
Chapter 15:
Kakashis POV:
Where am I? Why did I feel so weird.. I couldn't figure anything out and everything was dark. I tried to adjust my eyes but nothing was coming into view except for a small flickering light.. maybe I should walk towards it?
I followed my instinct but kept my senses up just in case it was a trap of some sort.. then it clicked. The leaf village. I saved Choji and Itachis life and then nothing. Am I dead? My brain was going one-hundred miles an hour.
"Kakashi.." a very familiar Male voice spoke out from where the light was. I raised my eyebrow in confusion and picked up my pace toward the light. The closer I got, I could see more. The light was a fire and there was a log with a man sitting on it. I focused my sight some more and I stopped in my tracks. Dad?
"Father?" I spoke barely above a whisper.
"My son" he said, looking at me with a smile. I wanted to cry happy tears but a slight part of me was still mad at him for leaving me all those years ago.
"Where am I?" I asked him, sitting on the log near him and the fire.
"I'm not really sure but I've been here a long time because I can't move on to find peace" he said honestly, so I am dead?
"Why cant you move on?" I was slightly curious now and to be honest, what else was I going to do?
"Because I need your forgiveness.. I know you're angry with me" he said softly and it struck a nerve of some sort.
"You left me alone when I was just a kid" I bit back sharply.
"The entire village was against me and my state of mind wasn't the best" he said to me.
"You left your child behind and I had no family left. Everyone around me died and I grew cold, very quickly" I said to him so he knew.
"I'll never find the right words to say to you but you just know from the bottom of my heart that I'm sorry. I've watched you grow into this man that I could never be" he said and I raised my eyebrow.. he's been watching me?
"I know that for a while now you've been teaching students and dealing with heartbreak. I know you're drinking and doing s-rank missions hoping it would kill you" he spoke again and I continued to sit in silence.
"You were just fighting against an enemy who unfortunately pushed you to use all your chakra and you killed yourself. You fought so hard to protect your friends and village and I'm so proud of you" he told me, looking me in the eyes. He's proud of me? Even when he was alive I never heard him say that.
"You're proud of me?" I asked clinging onto what he just said.
"Yes, I am. You have a giant heart and the fight of a lion. You might not be able to do everything you wanted and forgive those whom you're mad at but from what I've seen, you were so loved.. were you really ever alone?" He asked me and it made me think. He was right.. I might not of had family and blood didn't make family. I had people around me my entire life.
"I just regret holding grudges, if there were a way to go back in time" I said honestly.
"You're human and mistakes happen" he told me. Who knew that when I died I would at least get reassurance from talking with my Dad.
"I forgive you" I told him, changing the subject completely. If I'm going to stop holding grudges then I should start with the biggest one I had. I guess I would just have to wait until everyone else arrived here when it was their time.
"You mean it?" He asked me, sounding surprised.
"Truly" I spoke and wrote just sat in silence for a long time.
"So.. how does this work? How do we move on?" I asked him.
"I'm not sure. I've been here for so long" he told me and sadness kicked in. He would of been sitting here longer if I didn't die.
As we sat in silence, noises started to come from the darkness and we looked around. A small portal opened and we looked at it. Choji was carrying Hinata and placed her next to my dead body.
He had moved the rocks around and pulled my body out to place me down. Why was he moving me? Why isn't he getting Hinata to a medic?
"I'm going to find you a medic" he said, taking off. She looked battered and torn but she pushed herself to get closer to me and I just kept looking at her. I wish I could talk to you again, I wouldn't be so angry. I felt sadness take over completely.
"Is this what it was like to be on this side? Sadness and anger for not being there?" I asked my Dad.
"Unfortunately, yes" he said quietly. I continued to watch her, she finally grabbed my hand and then closed her eyes. I wish Choji would hurry, she didn't need to be here right now. She needed to be saved.
"I know you can't hear me but I need you to know I'm so sorry for everything and I wish this wasn't how it ended," she said and I knew she blacked out.
"I can hear you, I will always hear you" I said and wiped a tear from my eye. The portal hadn't moved, it was weird to look at.
"I'm so confused on why I can see current events if I'm here" I said out loud.
"I have no answer for you, just cherish it because you don't know when you'll be able to see all this again" my dad answered me, he must of been threw this so many times.
"Hyuga" a large blue man said, that must be Kisame, Itachi's old partner. I watched everyone continue doing what they needed to do.
"She's drained, she got thrown really hard" Itachi said, kneeling down next to her. Please pick her up and remove her from the battle field.
"Is this that Kakashi fellow?" Kisame asked, looking at my body. I felt slightly uncomfortable but was curious as to why he knew me.
"Yes, why?" Itachi asked sadly and bent down, he looked like he was getting ready to pick Hinata up.
"Little Hyuga and I had many conversations about you two and he fits the description of how she talked about him" she talked about me? The more I listened and watched the more my heart broke. I wanted to be there with everyone but I knew saving my friends was more important than anything..
"Why do you keep calling her Hyuga, her name is Hinata" Itachi asked bluntly and finally picked her up.
"I know she hates it and I do it to annoy her" Kisame said, shrugging his shoulders. I smiled a bit knowing she at least had someone on the outside with her and wasn't alone the entire time.
"Can you pick him up? They need to be moved to safety" Itachi asked Kisame, he nodded his head and picked up my body. The portal started to close and I knew there wasn't anything I could do to stop it so I just focused back on the fire and closed my eyes.
I sat up quickly, a green aura was surrounding my body. What was happened?"
"I guess it's not your time just yet, Kakashi" My dad spoke, I looked at him. I was going back? How?
"I'll see you again one day" my Dads voice faded as I was sucked back into the real world.
A felt a small crash and I sat up abruptly, gasping for air. I held my hands to my chest and looked around. My head was in mass pain from overuse of my chakra and my entire body hurt. The leaf village. Everything was destroyed but I wasn't in darkness anymore. What happened?.
"Kakashi, breathe, relax. Everything its fine" a female said, I looked to my left, Shizune. Did she somehow bring me back?
"How long was I.. uh.. Dead for?" I asked her, probably sounding crazy.
"Around three hours" she said softly, placing her hand on my back, probably trying to heal me more.
"Please, heal someone else who needs it" I told her
"Everyone needs it, it's okay," she said as I looked around at all the injured comrades near me.
"I'll be fine, but what happened?" I asked her.
"Naruto left the village chasing Pein and his comrade, I'm not sure what happened but all the lives that were lost today had been returned but we only have one issue," she told me and I turned to look at her.
"Naruto still hasn't returned, we fear something happened to him," she told me looking sad and adrenaline took over and I forced myself to get up. My legs felt shaky but I had to find my student.
"You need to relax" Shizune said, trying to get me sit down again.
"I've been granted a second chance at living, I'm going to get him" I told her, taking off and not giving her a chance to speak again. I rushed to what was left of the village gates. He couldn't of been to far.
"This is probably a bad idea" I said out loud as I summoned Pakkun, my body screamed in pain from using whatever little chakra I had but he appeared.
"We thought you were dead" he said looking at me surprised.
"I was but now I'm not. I need help finding Naruto" I told him and he looked passed me at the destruction of the leaf. He didn't bother saying anything.
"This way" he said and guided me the way I needed to go.
"There's no reason for me to guide you the entire way. Stay straight and you'll find him" Pakkun told me, I nodded and he vanished. I kept a brisk pace on the ground and I finally saw in front of me, an orange blur.
He was tumbling and walking slowly, he was probably near exhaustion so I moved a little faster and caught him before he fell. He fell onto my back and I picked him up so we could head back to the village.
"Kakashi Sensei" he said weakly and placed his face deeper into my shoulder, I smiled. He saved everyone. Good job, Naruto
We made our way back to the village and everyone who wasn't injured or knocked out was standing around. Everyone was waiting for him.
"They're waiting for you" I told him and he slid off of me. I knew from that short period on my back he had built up some energy. He always bounced back quickly.
I watched everyone start cheering for him and surrounded him. I took the opportunity to sneak away and go back toward the injured. I wanted to help somehow, even though I wasn't a healer.
I didn't have to run anymore, I could finally walk, I didn't have to look over my shoulder at the moment and it felt good.
"Kakashi" someone said and I saw Sasuke had called for me. I waited for him to catch up with me before I started moving again.
"I for once am glad to see you," he told me and continued to walk.
"You'll always have a way with your words" I said to him and chuckled a little bit.
"I was told you died and I'm glad that isn't the case.." he said and I smiled knowing he was coming to terms that it was okay to show feelings.
"Me too" I told him and finally made our way to the medical area, if that's what you'd call it. It was a bunch of tents and people spread out everywhere.
"The other reason I came to find you was because Itachi is looking for you" Sasuke told me while I continued looking for Shizune.
"Thank you for delivering the message. I'll find him when I'm done, I want to help around here" I told him and he nodded.
"Are you okay? Do you need someone with you?" Sasuke asked, genuinely concerned.
"If you would like to stay around me, you're welcome to. I'm not sure how to answer your question. I'm tired and running off of adrenaline" I spoke truthfully. Sasuke remained quiet and became my shadow for the time being. I was grateful knowing I had these people around me and then I thought of the conversation I had with my Dad. He was right.. I was never really alone and I smiled. I continued moving around and I finally found Shizune, she was taking a drink of water.
"Shizune" I said out loud and she looked.
"I see you've finally returned," she said to me.
"We want to help with whatever we can help with" I told her and then looked at Sasuke. He looked taken back that I signed him up for this but what else was there to do right now?
"There's not much to help with, you two arent medical ninjas" she said honestly.
"Nothing at all?" Sasuke asked, I was surprised he even spoke.
"The only thing you could do is check in with Shikaku, he's in charge of rebuilding the village. It's only been a few hours so a plan is probably still being divised" she told us, picking up her clipboard full of papers.
"Would Tsunade have a better idea of what we can do?" Sasuke asked her and her face fell to concern and sadness.
"Lady Tsunade won't be awake for a while. She used up all her chakra when she sent out Katsuyu to protect everyone. She's hurting right now" Shizune informed us. She almost killed herself to save the village and yet she wants me to take over for her.. I don't have any massive abilities to protect everyone if something like this were to happen again.
"I'm sorry gentlemen but I have to go and keep that to yourself. We can't risk word spreading to the villagers and mass panic arise" she said squeezing by us and walked inside the first tent that was closest to us. I sighed, I just wanted to be useful.
"I guess talking to Shikaku is better than nothing" I said looking up at the sky before beginning to move again.
Sasuke and I didn't talk anymore, just kept moving along past all the tents and before we fully got out of the medical area, I saw Itachi and Kisame.
"It's good to see you back" Itachi said blandly and I knew it bothered him that he saw my dead body but I wasn't going to comment on it. All of us have seen to many dead loved ones and it wasn't fair.
"I'm glad to be back, thank you for carrying my body to safety, Kisame" I said to him, looking him in the eyes.
"How'd you know I carried you?" he asked me, looking all sorts of confused.
"I watched you and Itachi carry Hinata and I to safety. It's hard to explain but, just.. Thank you" I repeated myself.
"Well since you're here, I guess I'll explain what's going on" Itachi said, crossing his arms over his chest. Both Sasuke and I peaked our ears to let him know we were listening.
"I already spoke to Shikaku, starting tomorrow, the four of us are assigned to help start clearing out the wreckage where the academy is.. or was. The three of us are going to be a little out of realm using earth jutsu to move things but because of our learning abilities with our eyes, Shikaku put us together" Itachi spoke, sighing a little bit. It's like he read my mind.
"Go figure, we just got done rebuilding our district only to start all over again with the village itself" Sasuke spoke, sighing. I almost laughed, they'll never get a break.
"The only thing to do for today is to rest, we need to restore as much chakra tonight as possible. We're all tired and hurting" Itachi said again and I nodded my head in agreement. We all stood still for a bit, not speaking and Itachi and I made eye contact.
"As for Hinata, she's going to be out of commission for a while. She broke her arm and fractured an area of her spine. So we're going to be around a very grumpy person. You and I both know she doesn't do well with sitting still" he told me, the good thing about having intelligent friends, they basically knew what you were thinking.
"You're right.. Where is she?" I asked him and he pointed to last tent in the medical area.
"I'll be coming back later when it's time for sleep. The only mission I have now is to find what we have for food, water and blankets" Itachi told me and I gave him a thumbs up and we all parted ways. I walked toward her tent. I was half hoping she was sleeping but also hoping she was awake. I haven't seen her in person yet since she left and I was nervous.
I reached the front of her tent and took a deep breath, I heard her when I was dead. She was sorry so why was I freaking out? Maybe deep down I was still upset with her but I hoped once we talked about everything, some light would come to this.
I moved the flap to the tent and stepped inside. She was out cold, on the ground between a floor mat and a blanket. It was sad to look at, knowing our shinobi had to lay like this and not in a proper hospital bed. A little anger went threw me but at least the threat was gone and we could rebuild. Hopefully the restoration of the village went by quickly.
I looked around the tent to see a small basket with a few extra blankets, medical supplies and a water basin. It wasn't much but it was something. They must of went crazy finding these things while everything was happening. No wonder Itachi, Sasuke and Kisame went on the hunt for supplies.
I moved more inside the tent and decided to sit next to her. I wondered how long she would be out cold for but I guess it didn't matter because she was going to get better at the end of this. She was different, her hair was shorter and she looked more mature. Nothing else seemed different about her except the vibes she was giving off were of a killing manner, so to speak. I guess when you're gone all this time you learn to build up a wall quickly.
As time passed, I began to get sleepy. I knew I was out cold for a few hours but being dead and sleeping aren't the same thing. I guess now would be a good time to rest considering no one was looking for me and I had nothing to do.
I looked at her floor mat and found a small spot near her head to place my head on so it wasn't on the hard terrain. I could feel the top of my head touching the side of her face. I knew sleep was coming for me so I searched for her hand and grabbed it. She held mine while I was dead, the least I could do was hold hers while she was recovering. I closed my eyes and sleep overcame me.
-The next morning-
My eyes opened slowly and I felt the warmth of a body next to me. I looked, I must've subconsciously moved closer to her in my sleep. I was on my right side, facing her. She was still sound asleep and I quietly moved so I could sit up to stretch. I moved my face mask down so I could take a deep breathe of fresh air before the day started.
I looked over and the sun was blindly shining threw the semi-open tent flap. Was I late to help start restoration? I shrugged my shoulders, I was late to everything, might as well continue taking my time.
"Am I dead?" a weak voice asked, my attention immediately snapped to Hinata.
"No, you're very much alive" I told her, I turned my body toward her so I was sitting in front of her.
"I'm looking at you though Kakashi, you're dead" she was confused while she spoke.
"I was granted a second life" I told her smiling.
"I thought you were gone, I'm happy you're here" she said and a tear fell down her face. Keep yourself together, I kept telling myself.
"I'm glad I'm here too," I told her, grabbing her hand and giving her a gentle squeeze.
"How have you been?" she asked me, really? That was her first question. Nothing about her changed, always right to the point.
"I've been drunk, suicidal and angry. Recent events have changed my views on life but more of that later" I told her honestly.
"I'm sorry I-" she started to speak but I cut her off.
"Don't apologize. You were also hurting when you left" I told her.
"No. You need an apology. After Itachi told me he nearly jumped off a cliff over me, I feel horrible" she choked out.
"You need water" I said. I could hear it in her voice that her throat was dry. I looked around the room and noticed a water bottle. I reminded myself to thank Itachi later for going to find this.I got up, grabbed the bottle, opening it for her and handed it to her good arm.
"Try not to move so much, you fractured your spine" I told her and she nodded, moving carefully. When she was done with the water, she handed it back to me. I followed suit and it felt amazing on my throat. I didn't realize I was thirsty until I took a sip. I removed the bottle from my lips and put the cap back on, placing it back where I got it. I sat back down next to her.
"Kakashi, for whatever you went through when I left, I need you to know you can talk to me about it. I'm sure you had or still have a lot of built up emotion" Hinata said, going back to the subject.
"I'm not exactly sure what to say" I said honestly, I wouldn't even know where to start.
"Just, anything. Seeing you dead made me realize I messed up a lot of things when I left" she told me.
"For starters, Neji helped me every step of the way. He always cleans up your messes that you leave behind. He came by every morning since you left to make sure I was okay, I drank a lot every single night just so I could sleep" I sighed while I talked, she was listening to every word.
"Anger took over after a while, I was so angry with you for just leaving and going on that suicide mission. I didn't want to deal with anything but then I found out about Itachi, it reminded me that I needed my friends and my friends needed me. I was okay for a couple of months and then we thought you died and long behold, I started drinking again and going on s-rank missions, not exactly caring if I came back or not" I told her in one giant breath, I stopped to look at her and she was teary eyed.
"I really didn't realize how much it would bother the both of you, I thought I was doing you both a favor" she spoke softly, a tear rolling down her cheek. I wiped the tears away and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I thought about the last year and my emotions were starting to get the better of me. I told myself when I was in that weird place with my Dad I wouldn't hold grudges but seeing her was making me slightly bitter.
"You didn't do either of us a favor, I reverted to something I never wanted to be and Itachi is still recovering mentally. Both of us have been threw so much and someone we both hold very dear to our hearts just left. We didn't even know if you were coming back alive or just adding another grave to our lives" I spat at her, not meaning to. She remained silent. I'm sure Itachi wasn't as mean to her but she needed to hear some of these things.
"You've been gone this entire time and you have nothing to say?" I questioned her. Surely she must of been emotional at some point too.
"I don't know what to say, I just want to make it up to you guys. I know Itachi forgave me and I want your forgiveness too" she said.
"Everytime you leave me in some way, I became a lesser version of myself. Everyone I've ever known has died and sometimes I think you forget the trauma others have gone threw. You are the most selfish person I've ever met but you're also the most selfless" I said, grabbing her hand. She remained quiet, probably trying to process everything I had said. I had so much more to say but for now I knew biting my tongue was a better idea..
"I'm going to be honest here, I'm so happy you're alive and back but I don't have any trust to give you. We can work on it but it's going to take a while" I told her honestly and she nodded her head. Neither of us said anything for a little bit and then I heard footsteps approaching the tent. I knew for the moment that I needed some air and a distraction.
"Hinata?" a male voice called out, Neji? I questioned it for a second before he came walking on it the tent.
"Oh, Kakashi. I can leave you guys alone" he said, taking a step back.
"No worries, I have things to do today" I told him and I looked at Hinata one last time, squeezed her hand and stood up.
Before I got a chance to leave the tent, I watched Neji dive onto his cousin gently, giving her a hug and he buried his face into her. I knew out of all of us, he missed her the most.
"I didn't think you were coming back" he said lifting his head back up, he had silent tears coming down his face. She did too, today would be nothing but emotion for her considering she couldn't move well.
"I keep hearing that.." she sniffled, wiping a tear from her face, giving me a quick glance.
"I'm going to start the long clean up process" I told them, waving and exiting the tent. I didn't exactly want to be apart of whatever conversation they were about to have because I knew them, it was going to be a long conversation.
I left the tent and looked around, everything was hectic but in a good way. Everyone was already doing things in order to get the village back in shape.
Itachis POV:
"This sucks" Sasuke said out loud, throwing small rocks into a pile we were creating.
"Stop complaining, it isn't going to help anyone," I said to him, the sun was already high in the sky and it was warm out. I was sweating so much but I didn't want to take my shirt off in case something hit me while moving things. A small layer was better than being bare I suppose.
A few other shinobi had joined us, there were twelve of us working on the academy area, Kakashi would be thirteen whenever he decided to join us. I didn't bother waking him up this morning because I'm sure coming back to life took a toll on your body and he needed rest.
Hinata too, we were all quiet this morning. Both of them were sound asleep and they also needed to talk, which I was hoping they did this morning. I really just wanted things to be normal, well as normal as we could get considering the state of the village.
"We're going to need one of you to push this giant boulder back" a shinobi yelled, throwing his shovel over his shoulder.
"I'll do it" a voice said and I looked, Kakashi. Finally.
"Nice of you to finally join us" Sasuke said bitterly and I smirked a bit.
"Aren't you just a ball of sunshine today?" Kakashi said back sarcastically and walked over to the area that help was needed in. I activated my bloodline so I could copy his hand signs for his use of earth jutsu, he made quick hand signs and pushed the boulder back with a wall.
"Thank you" the shinobi said and started shoveling things back out of the way. Kakashi turned and started walking back over to us.
"What should I start with?" he asked me as I continued to clear out rubble in front of me.
"Unfortunately we need to move everything out of the way to get to flat ground again so really anywhere?" I told him.
"Sounds great" he mumbled and looked around, probably trying to pick a spot to start in.
"How did you manage to forgive her so easily?" he asked me, catching me off guard. Was this really how we were going to start our morning?
"I'm not really understanding what you're getting at" I said honestly.
"Hinata. How did you forgive her so easily when she came back to the village?" he asked again a little more clearly.
"Oh.." I said, kicking aside a smaller rock near my feet.
"I knew if she ever did come back, I would just hug her and be there for her. My love for her will be eternal but I would never let her know that, I long for her friendship more than anything. I'm partially scared to openly love her like that again" I said truthfully, I was just thinking about this the other day before she came crashing into Tsunade's office, literally.
"I see.. So you're just going to forgive her because you love her?" he questioned me. I internally sighed a bit, was he really this conflicted about her being back here?
"She might of left us behind and we went down a dark path but you need to remember that she also has emotions and doesn't know how to feel properly because of her family. She's just as much of a train wreck as we were" I told him and was taken back by my response. My sessions with Shizune really helped me out I guess..
"I just can't seem to forgive or trust her so easily like you did," he said.
"We're under different circumstances. She was my best friend before I realized I was in love with her. I would literally die for her.. You guys fixed and loved each other because I left the village. You're in love with her differently than I am.. I think you need to rebuild your friendship first and forget you loved her like that or it's only going to get in the way" I said to him, my rambling made more sense in my head but I think I got my point across. I looked at him and I saw something in his eyes change.
"I think you're right" he said and moved past me to get to an area to start cleaning up and moving things.
I really thought about things while I continued moving around and breaking stuff down. She really was my everything but I couldn't push myself to openly love her like that again. For all I knew she wanted Kakashi or neither of us and I don't think I would be able to come back from a second round of heartbreak from her again.
I shook my thoughts and focused on the task in front of me. The village needed me the most right now and I was going to give it my all everyday until it was back to being stable.
The sun was setting low but we still had daylight for at least another hour but I was exhausted.
"Hey guys, I'm going to call it a day for now. I got here before the sun even rose so I'll see everyone in a little while?" I called out to everyone near me, throwing my shirt over my shoulder. I finally quit wearing it half way through the day, it had become unbearably warm.
"Are you ever gonna not be an overachiever?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the shovel he grabbed at some point.
"Get up earlier and you can leave early. What do you want from me?" I asked back and he rolled his eyes. Foolish little brother, you'll learn one day. I turned and started heading back towards Hinata's tent. For the meantime, it was our home. I knew kakashi and hinatas house were gone considering they were in the middle of the village. Their might be part of the Uchiha district left but I hadn't checked yet.
Walking back to the tent was relaxing in itself from the breeze blowing and the sun not burning my back.
"Itachi!" someone shouted and I looked to see Neji coming toward me.
"You done helping with repairs for the day too?" I asked him when he got closer.
"I've been here in the medical area all day. My eyes are useful here then they are rebuilding the village. I've also been moving people around all day" he said, shrugging his shoulders. He had a point but he was damn lucky, he didn't need to break his back.
"Anyways, oh lucky one. Did you need something?" I asked him, poking some fun at him.
"Just came to let you know that Hinata isn't in a tent anymore. I didn't think you would of cared but I moved her into one of the standing houses of your district. She was fighting me about going back to the Hyuga compound" Neji said, looking timid.
"So that means some of my home area had been missed from the blast?" I asked, completely ignoring the part that his cousin was there.
"Yes, actually everything from your house back is still standing," he told me and hope filled my chest. If my house was still standing then mathematically forty-percent of the district was left. A small smile spread across my face.
"Thank you, can you let Sasuke and them know? Also, you're more than welcome to join too" I told him, bowing and I made a run for it. Running wasn't helping my sore body but I needed to be back in tip top shape anyhow.
I wasn't sure why I was so overly excited to see my district still standing. Maybe because for once not everything I had was taken from me? Maybe it was the form-fitting idea that I had a comfortable place to sleep tonight or that I could help some more if others needed somewhere to go? Or it could of just been after a year of hard work rebuilding it, not all my hard work was gone.. I wasn't sure but happiness filled my chest.
As I approached what would of been the gates to my district, I looked around. Almost half of this place was still standing and I stopped to take a deep breath. I focused for a minute, where did he put Hinata anyways.
I felt her chakra and it was coming from my house, of course. I shook my head and made my way toward my home still overly excited.
I had reached the front door and opened it a little to hard but I walked inside, dropping my wet and dirty shirt to the floor and taking my sandles off.
I focused once again to find Hinata in the house, was she in my bedroom? Damn it, Neji. I walked up the stairs, I had to go in their anyways for clothes so I could shower. I opened the door and Hinata was laying on my bed, sleeping.
"Hinata?" I called out, and walked closer to her. I reached the side of her and noticed she was somewhat cleaned up but not fully clean. I guess the care-taking roles were reversed now.
"Itachi?" she asked, opening her eyes and just stared at me. I felt my heartbeat speed up a bit but ignored it.
"You look like you could be cleaned up some more" I told her.
"Speak for yourself, you're covered in dirt" she gave me a small dirty look and I smiled at her.
"I'm going to go get things to help clean you and then I'm taking a shower, I'll be back" I said, retracing my steps. I walked to the bathroom, grabbing a small bowl and filled it with warm water, and two cloths. One for cleaning and one for rinsing.
I made my way back to my bedroom and she was more awake this time. I placed everything on the nightstand near the bed and then grabbed some of my clothes for her to rest in.
"I'm gonna clean the top half of you first because of your back it's gonna take a bit to move you around" I told her.
"You don't have to, I'm sure if you asked Sakura to do this she wouldn't mind" Hinata said, sounding shy.
"You helped me when I needed and now I'm helping you and Sakura is busy healing people" I reminded her.
"True" she said and I walked near her. I made sure I was delicate while I removed her shirt, she made a couple of faces and ows while removing it from her back fracture. Luckily getting her shirt over her broken arm was easy. I laid her back down on the bed and started washing her and then I realized I had to take her chest bindings off to give her new ones.
"If you remove them you don't have to replace them. I'm sure it'll be a faster recovery on my back if something isn't restricting me" she said, looking me in the eyes. I nodded my head and opened the drawer to the nightstand, grabbing a kunai from it. Cutting them off was probably easier then having her sit up again.
"Ready?" I asked, touching her skin between her breasts with the cold piece of metal and I cut upwards. The bandages fell and I tried to hard not to look at her exposed top but I was failing. She saw me looking and a blush appeared.
"It's okay to look" she reassured me. She was making not loving her so damn hard but I pushed my feelings back.
"I'm here to help, not look" I said bluntly and quickly washed the top half of her so I wouldn't have to keep staring at her. I moved her gently again to throw my shirt over her head. At least the top half was done.
Doing the bottom half of her was so much faster, easier and less awkward for me. She was so confident in her body and I was trying to push my feelings aside.
"Since you're clean now, I'm going to shower" I told her, turning quickly, taking everything with me to put back in the bathroom.
When I reached the bathroom I slammed the door loudly and leaned my back against it. What was wrong with me? Damn it Neji, why did you have to put her in my bed? I mentally cursed at him and stripped my clothing off.
My shower was longer than usual. I needed to cool down from the sunburn and my emotions. It took mere seconds for everything to come back to me after not seeing her for so long. It could also be from a deep hunger from wanting more of her since the last night we spent together we had sex. I buried all emotions and now they were coming up.
I sighed and shut the water off. I dried myself and then realized I never grabbed myself clean clothes and I really hoped for some reason she was sleeping when I went into my room. Avoid another awkward moment from me being naked this time.
I walked out of the bathroom slowly and made sure no one else was in the house considering my home would be full of living people soon.
I crept across the hallway and opened my bedroom door silently, peeking my head in.
"That was a long shower" she said, turning her head towards me. Damn it.
"Yeah, it was a long day and the water felt good on my back" I told her, lying.
"Do you want me to rub your back for you?" she asked me.
"You're literally in bed with a fractured spine and you want to rub my back because its sore? No, Hinata. It's okay" I chuckled a little bit, there it was. One of the reasons I fell so deeply in love with her.. She always made sure everyone else around her were good.
I walked to my closet, grabbing clothes and went to walk back towards the bathroom to get dressed.
"You don't have to leave, I won't look" she said and turned her eyes towards the ceiling. I quickly pulled my pants and shirt on. Well, that was easy. I hung my towel up and made my way toward my bed. I was so tired but I wasn't sure if it would be okay to lay next to her. I know this morning before we left the tent, Kakashi was holding her hand and now I felt bad. I basically told him to get over his love her and now I was going to lay next to her. That made me look bad.
"If you want to move me into the spare bedroom, I'll sleep there. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable" she said to me, while I just stood there debating things in my head.
"That's probably a good idea," I said to her, walking around the bed so I could lift her. Sleeping next to her wouldn't be beneficial to anyone right now..
"Ready?" I asked, bending down and positioning my arms. She nodded her head and I picked her up carefully. She slung her right arm over my neck and grabbed her right arm with her left hand so she was basically hugging me and also making carrying her easier.
"At least my back injury won't take long to heal," she said resting her head on my chest. Damn it, stop doing things.. Living with her was going to make things incredibly hard. I got to my bedroom door and carefully made my way into the hallway.
"The same for your arm, just a simple clean break of the forearm isn't to bad" I added to her injury comment. She was lucky that was all she had, watching her body crash into the ground with such force and speed was terrifying.
I opened the door to the guest bedroom which was next to my bedroom in case she needed something she would knock on the wall and I would hear her. I walked in and headed toward the bed, I leaned down and placed her on the bed. She slowly let her arms go but before I could fully remove myself from her personal bubble, she stopped me. My face started burning being so close to hers again.
I was frozen in place because I wasn't sure what she was doing. She pulled my face closer to hers and then just stopped. I was about an inch away from now.
"Thank you" she said and ghosted my lips. I knew I shouldn't have but I took my shot and actually kissed her. I swear I felt a small smile from her but she kissed me again. I knew in my mind I was making a horrible mistake but I just couldn't stop.
I knew in my heart I would always be a puppet she controlled and I didn't mind. That's what the problem was. I backed myself away and we just gazed at each other.
"I need to go" I spoke, moving away from her quickly. I stopped in the doorway.
"If you need anything knock on the wall. Also, we're probably going to have house guests until the village is rebuilt" I turned to inform her.
"Who's staying here?" she looked confused when asking.
"Kisame, Sasuke, Kakashi and possibly Neji" I told her and her eyes widened. I didn't give either of us a chance to speak, I just left the room, closing the door behind me. I leaned against the door again, and just looked at my ceiling. I felt horrible for kissing her, or even having my feelings remotely come to the surface again.
I felt even worse considering what I had told Kakashi this morning. The only thing I knew at the moment was I going to have to pretend nothing happened a few moments ago and it was going to suck.
I removed myself from the guest bedroom door and headed downstairs into the kitchen, I was going to make some tea to calm my nerves before anyone arrived. The adventure was only beginning I suppose..