Getting back home it was weird being there without his roommate. All of a sudden it felt so lonely. After taking a shower he went to his bed. "I guess I'll sleep here tonight." But plopping his head on the pillow he felt something hard underneath it. "Huh?" He stuck his hand under the pillow and pulled out a locked. "This is Hinata's…"

He opened the locked. Inside there were two pictures. One was a beautiful woman who looked like Hinata and the other one…

…was a picture of him…

Naruto stared at the locket in shock. But he wasn't shocked about his picture being in there as much as he was shocked about the actual picture. It was his ninja identification list picture that the old man made him retake after his face paint one wasn't good for his list.

But why did Hinata have it? How did she even get it? He'll ask her about later, when she comes back home…it does feel like home now, doesn't it?

His eyes examined the other picture. It was a woman in a purple kimono with long dark hair and fair complexion like Hinata's with a smile on her face. She had the same eyes like his roommate too so she must be her mom. Naruto remembered the time she told him about her mother, her death broke her heart so he didn't want to ask more about her so that she wouldn't get sad again. He also remembered the day Hinata's compound was destroyed, she had rushed into the ashes looking for the locket. He had noticed the relief on her face when she found it, her mom must have been a very precious person to her.

He put the locked back under the pillow and decided to go to sleep. The sooner he falls asleep the sooner he will wake up to go visit his roommate in the hospital.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Sasuke had just been released. He wouldn't have even been in the hospital if that sealing jutsu Kakashi used hadn't knocked him unconscious. Kakashi even came to tell him he was going to be released this morning and of course to check the seal. Sasuke had asked him about the preliminaries, it surprised him that he actually wasn't surprised that Naruto had won his match, but what did surprise him is who Hinata had to fight. He had heard rumors about Neji and it was obvious that he was much stronger than her.

Putting his headband on, he walked out of his hospital room and walked up to the main desk.

"Oh, you were just released, weren't you?" A nurse at the desk greeted him.

"Yeah." Sasuke answered. "What room is Hinata Hyuga in?"

"Right down this hall the third door to the left. But she hasn't woken up yet."

"Oh." Sasuke said and walked out of the hospital. While walking he was in deep thought. "I've wasted enough time in this hospital…I have to go train if I don't want to have my chakra sucked out of me like that again. Hn. But I have to find Kakashi first so he can teach me that jutsu he promised when he came to my room this morning…"

"…The chidori…"

Naruto walked down the street on the way to the hospital with two to go bowls of ramen, one for him and one for Hinata. He knew that hospital food sucked.

After walking into the hospital he walked up to the main desk."Um, good morning. I'm here to visit Hinata Hyuga please." He said politely.

The nurse at the desk looked at him. "Third door to the left, but she could be asleep still." She pointed down the hallway.

"Thank you."Naruto was about to walk away but stopped. "Hey um, what room is Sasuke Uchiha in?"

"He was released this morning. As a matter of fact you just missed him."

"Oh, thanks anyway."

He walked down the hall towards Hinata's room, he slowly opened the door trying to balance the ramen bowls in one hand then he quietly walked in closing the door behind him.

He looked at his sleeping roommate, she looked so calm. He put the two bowls on the bedside table and sat on the chair next to the bed and held her hand. Both of her arms were bandaged from the wrist up, and even after that fight her hands were still so soft.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Hinata's fingers twitched slightly gripping his fingers. She made soft mewling sounds as her eyes fluttered open.

He smiled at her softly. "Hey there, sleeping beauty."

She blushed. "Naruto…" She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand in a child like manner that Naruto found absolutely adorable.

"How are you feeling?" He let go of her hand and scooted the chair closer to her.

"Better…I guess…" She looked down at her bandaged hands and gripped the sheets slightly.

"Hm? Is something wrong?" He looked at her in concern.

"I'm s-sorry…"

"Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about? We talked about the 'apologizing for nothing' thing." He smiled slightly.

"I…lost I…"

"It doesn't matter, you were awesome!"

"Really?" She blinked in surprise.

"Yeah! But hey, why didn't you tell me about the Hyuga Clan taijutsu thing?"

"Huh? I…do not know what you mean…"

"When you were fighting Kakashi-sensei told me that the Hyuga taijutsu is the most powerful taijutsu form ever! You told me about the invisible hit thing and that you can shut off people's chakra but I didn't know you could mess up someone's guts with it."

"Oh…well…My father's and Neji's taijutsu is much more developed than mine, so I thought that mine would not have the same effect…" She looked down sadly but looked right back up when Naruto gently grabbed both of her hands into his.

"Are you kidding? You totally kicked Neji's ass, you were amazing! You shouldn't be afraid to brag about it a bit!" He grinned.

She blushed but her face paled when a low growl came from her stomach and Naruto burst out laughing.

"You haven't eaten since the exams, have you?"

She shook her head as the color came back to her face.

Naruto took one of the bowls of to go ramen and put it in her lap. "Here you go." He handed her a pair of chopsticks. "Oh! And Ayame says she hopes you get better soon."

"Thank you, Naruto." She smiled.

"No problem. Let's dig in!"

"Woof! Woof!"

"I know Akamaru, I'm hungry too." Kiba rubbed his growling stomach.

"Well, I think that would be it for today."Kurenai smiled at her exhausted students. "You are improving every single day, good job."

"Yeah! And next time I face Naruto he'll know not to mess with us!"

"Woof! Woof!"

Team 8 recovered from the chunin exams and while Shino is preparing for the final round of the exams, Kiba and Sakura are training with Kurenai.

"Let's go chow down some ribs Akamaru. See ya!" Kiba waved goodbye to his sensei and teammate.

"How about we girls go have lunch together?" Kurenai asked Sakura.

Sakura smiled. "I'd like that."

As they walked away from the training grounds the two were rather silent as Sakura was lost in thought. There was only one thing on her mind…or rather one person. Naruto has changed so much since the academy and he got a lot stronger, and it seems that his chances in love are a lot better than hers. Seeing him with Hinata showed her a different side of him that she didn't even know he had…but she could swear that she saw a glimpse of that gentle and affectionate side of him once…but when? Wait…now she remembered…it was the very first time they met…

Flashback:

It was the very first day of the academy and the students who were going to be her classmates slowly entered the classroom and started chatting and introducing themselves. She didn't know anyone, she saw them around the village but never spoke to them. The only person she knew was sitting next to her, it was her best friend Ino whose ribbon was now proudly holding up her hair off of her face showing off her high forehead.

"Oh! There's Raiku. I'll go invite her to sit with us."Ino said getting up and running towards the door.

Sitting all alone made Sakura feel a little nervous. Then she felt somebody walk up to her. "Is this seat taken?"

She turned to her right so see a grinning blonde boy. "Wow, she's really pretty!" He thought.

"Umm…no." She answered shyly.

The boy plopped into the seat next to her. "I'm Naruto, what's your name?"

"Sakura." She answered quietly.

"Sakura huh? Like a cherry blossom? That's a pretty name!"

Sakura blushed a bit. "Uh…yeah…thanks."

"Hey, you. What do you think you're doing? That seat is taken." Ino's mean voice was heard above them.

They turned around to see her and Raiku frowning. "Why are you talking to him Sakura?"

Sakura looked at them in confusion. She has never seen Ino this angry before.

"You don't want to be in his loser squad, do you?" Raiku looked at her in annoyance and a tinge of disgust.

"No, he came up to me. I didn't do anything." Sakura defended herself turning away.

"Oh." Naruto choked out in sadness and got up and walked away. "I thought that she… of course not…"

Sakura looked at him walking away.

"Don't feel bad for him, Sakura." Ino took a seat next to her again while Raiku took the seat where Naruto sat a moment ago. "Everyone treats him like that. He's a total loser, and if you don't want to become a loser and stay one of us you shouldn't talk to him."

"Oh." Sakura said sadly before nodding earning a smile from Ino who quickly changed the subject and started talking about a new dress she had bought.

Sakura glanced at Naruto who was now sitting in the back row slumped over the table looking miserable.

She blinked in confusion remembering Ino's harsh words. "But he was nice to me…"

End of flashback.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Kurenai's concerned voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, I'm fine. So where are we going for lunch?" She smiled at her sensei.

"Y-you did what?" Hinata looked at Naruto in shock.

"Yeah, I vowed to beat Neji and damn right I will!"

"With…m-my blood?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Cuz I'm doing it for you."

Her eyes were wide and teary and her cheeks flushed as her hands gripped the empty ramen bowl.

"He can't get away unpunished with what he did to you. I have to sock him at least once. You did give him a few good bruises but he deserves some more. Believe it."

"I'm sorry I c-couldn't get close enough to him…" She lowered her head in disappointment.

"No! I didn't mean it like that!" He almost jumped off of the bed. Taking her bowl and putting it on the table beside him, he sat back next to her and intertwined his fingers with hers once again.

She looked up slowly and blushed when he lowered his head onto hers gently rubbing his forehead against hers. Her heart sped up ten folds. He was so close she could feel his warm breath on her face which was making her flush even more.

"When I was watching you fight…every time he hit you…every time he made you bleed…every time he hurt you…it hurt me even more…" He almost whispered with his eyes closed, his forehead still on hers. "It was hard to watch cuz I usually try my best to not let you get hurt, the thought of not being able to stop him from hurting you…not being able to protect you, even though I know you are incredibly strong and that you can take care of yourself."

"You know…" She whispered. "You have become rather overprotective towards me."

He lifted his head but just enough to look directly into her silver orbs and gave her a small smile. "I protect everything I love."

Her heart stopped.

But just for a bit before it continued racing faster than it ever did before.

They were lost in each other's eyes. He moved away a bit to see her face which was getting redder by the second.

"L-l-l-l-love?" She barely managed to choke out that word…THAT word…one of those three words that flashed in front of her eyes every time she saw him…every time he smiled at her. The three words she just could never say to him…the words that were permanently in her heart but never made it out of her lips.

She couldn't even blink but even though her eyes were getting sore from not blinking she could clearly see Naruto's eyes closing and his face slowly moving closer and closer and closer...

…Until she finally felt his lips gently touch hers…