This is the last chapter... I do hope that it will be an ending that you will all appreciate, it's taken a while because I wanted to plan this exactly, and many of the scenario's I came up with wouldn't have kept in with the character of either Naruto or Hinata....

So...here it is....the final chapter...please enjoy!

It was raining again; it had been constantly over the last few days, thus bringing down the mood of the entire village. However, this had no comparison to the depression she was feeling. The open window filled the room with cold air, as she leaned on the frame; the rain splashing against her face, then trickled down her cheeks, combining with the tears flowing from her eyes. Her head in her hand, she stood, staring blankly into space; her mind wasn't concentrating on reality, and instead retreated to thoughts of the boy she loved.

It had only been ten days since he had left the village, but for her, every day was prolonged and felt more like a week in itself. The constant uncertainty of not knowing how long he'd be away was the hardest part for her. Now she knew what his feelings to her were, all she wanted was an opportunity to tell him that she felt the same way.

Raising her head she closed the window, and slumped back up against it, her head facing the floor. As she looked up, the mirror on her dresser caught her sight. Thinking for a moment, she slowly walked up to it and examined her reflection. She was only wearing her nighty, as she had no intention of leaving the house; her eyes were red and swollen, and her nighty soaked through, and her skin moist. She brought her hands up to her chest and formed the seal for the transformation technique;

"Hen...." she softly called, but then paused halfway through. Her head drooped and her hands fell to her sides as she let out a sigh. She leant forwards resting her forehead on the mirror, as fresh tears leaked from her eyes;

"Naruto...kun" she sniffled; "Where...are you?"

A few more days had passed, and the rains had finally stopped. The people of the village had resumed their work on re-building the village, which had been paused due to the constant rain making the re-construction near impossible. Although she had planed to stay in her room again, the hustle and bustle of the outside had lured her out. But she just ended up aimlessly wandering the streets with a vague smile on her face, trying not to let others see how upset she was.

As the sun beat down, she decided to rest for a little, as she had been walking for a lot longer than she realised. She went into a nearby cafe to order a drink, and have a quick sit down, however, while in the queue, she noticed that the place wasn't lively, it was just loud, and today, she didn't have the patience to put up with it. After receiving her drink, she took it out the cafe and escaped to one of the vilage's gates, which she knew would be quiet, as Konoha wasn't currently accepting buisiness, and almost everyone had been pulled away from their usual duties to help with the work in the town.

It was as quiet as she expected, only the chirping of the birds and the breeze rustling the leaves on the trees gave life to the place. Sitting on the grass, she reflected on Naruto; she had decided that the best way to pass the time would be to come up with a special way to apologise to him, and then to let him know her secret desire for him, which she had haboured for so long. It was after a while of contemplation that she realised that this was the same place Naruto had revealed his feelings for her. With this in mind, she decided she would put right what went wrong last time, but would she really be able to let such words escape her lips? She brought the sleeve of her jacket to her mouth and gently nibbled on it for comfort, and also to help her relax.

Holding the cool drink in her other hand, she closed her eyes and brought it to her cheek, which made her shiver as the cold of the container refreshed her heated skin. She moved it up to her forehead, and brought it back and forth over her skin, as she continued to bite down on her jacket, trying to think of a way she could show Naruto her feelings, without having to say them out loud.

While in thought she heard voices coming from the distance, which slightly iritated her, as the reason she had come to this place was to avoid the selfish shouting of other people, who had no desire to respect her silence. Her eyes still closed she removed the material from her mouth and finished off her drink; leaving her free to pull her legs into her chest and wrap her arms around them as she now bit down on her bottom lip. In this position, she felt cut off from everyone else, and that's what she wanted at that moment; so at least she'd be able to think about him without fear of interuption. However, the plan was ruined as she heard someone call out to her;

"Hinata...chan" she recognised the voice; it was male, but it didn't sound right; normally this voice was filled with so much energy, but this was more filled with sadness. However, despite it not being able to belong to him, she slowly raised her head until she had eye contact with this person, which caused her to freeze. Paralysed she continued to blankly stare at the person in front of her. The boy in front of her turned his head away, and just as it was in his voice, the sadness was etched on his face.

"N...N...Naruto-kun!" she gasped, having no idea what to say. Naruto had been away for a while, but instantly noticed one thing; Hinata had reverted to being the quiet and reserved girl she used to be, something that upset him. He had confessed his feelings for the girl in front of him, and had received a harsh silence in return. He wanted to return the pain he had felt at that point, but he couldn't, for one, that would make him as bad as Sasuke in his eyes. Hinata was still curled up, not knowing whether this was just a wonderful dream. She looked down back into her knees, causing her soft voice to be muffled; "Are you...back for good this time?" she asked. Neither of them were looking at each other at this point.

"Yeah....We found the new Hokage..." He paused to let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his head; "Hinata-chan, I...I shouldn't have said what I did before I left" Hearing this caused her to instantly bring her head up to him, and he looked back at her, once again making eye contact, so they were in the same situation as a minute ago. "Ever since then its been on my mind, beating me up inside, wishing that I'd said it so much sooner. I'm just....sorry" he solemly said, but noticed Hinata was sweating a lot. In Naruto's mind, he decided that this was because she was nervously trying to think up of a way to tell him that she didn't feel the same way about him; Naruto knew she was to kind to simply say "I don't like you".

"Naruto...kun..." she said, gulping, as she began to feel light-headed. "I..." she suddenly felt her body fall backwards onto the grass, although she never told it to, it was acting on its own. She felt her eyes closing and a loss of conciousness, as she stuggled to finish her sentance; "love....you" however, these words were barely audible, and Naurto in his confused state was in no condition to hear them, just as she was in no condition to say them.

Naruto was screaming at Hinata to open her eyes, shaking her body in an attempt to wake her up, but to no avail. He took his jacket off and placed it behind her head, to raise it slightly. While desperately trying to think what to do, he remembered that the old lady was a medical specialist. He looked up trying to see them in the distance, now wishing that he hadn't run so far ahead just to get back to the village as quickly as possible. He leant down next to her, and took her hand between his two looking at her closed eyes;

"Hinata-chan...Please be OK...I'll be back in a minute" he said to her, unsure of whether she'd hear him or not; ". . .I promise!" He quickly rose and ran back in the direction he had travelled from, then stopped. He couldn't leave her here, his love wouldn't let him. "Dammit! What do I do?" he cried as he punched himself in the head. As he recovered from the slight pain, it seemed to have done some good, he looked up and cried out; "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" The technique kicked up a lot of dust, but as it settled around him, a Naruto clone ran straight for where he knew the pervert and the old lady would be, as Naruto himself returned to the side of Hinata, once again holding her hand. He smiled slightly, and quietly said "I told you. . ."

A few minutes later a couple of figures came running down the road, causing Naruto to look up, but he wouldn't leave Hinata's side now. Besides, Naruto knew who it was, the shape of "grandma" Tsunade was too distinctive to confuse with anyone else.

"What's wrong?" He heard Tsunade cry out. Naruto waited until they arrived before bothering to answer, he just continued to hold her hand.

"I have no idea...." he replied; "She just seemed to pass out" Tsunade had now slowed down to a walking pace, and as she approached notcied Naruto holding her hand. She hadn't thought Naruto was capable of having such feelings due to his immaturity. He was surprising her more and more each day. She smiled as she gently motioned him out of the way;

"Let me take a look then" she said, placing her hand on the forehead of the young girl, then brought her ear to Hinata's chest. As she rose, she brushed her hair out of her face; "It's ok, she just has a minor heat stroke...she must have been waiting here for you for some time" she reported, giving Naruto a little wink, although Naruto was oblivious to what the wink was supposed to mean. Tsunade's hand glowed green as chakra emniated from it, she hovered her hand over Hinata's forehead for a few seconds, before the glow ceased. "She'll be fine" Tsunade reported with a smile. She now looked back at the other two members of their travelling party, Shizune and Jiraiya, both of whom from the heat, looked in a worse condition than Hinata. "Come on you two!" she shouted as she turned around and walked through the gates of Konoha, causing Jiraiya so whine;

"I wanna go to a hot spring" he moaned, causing Shizune to complain under her breath

"We just came from one you dirty old pervert!". As they exchanged words, they continued to follow Tsunade into the village, leaving Naruto to scratch his head and think about just how weird and dirty grown ups were.

"Naruto-kun?" He heard from below, looking down he saw Hinata's face; her eyes now open, although her face red, which could have been from the heat, or just her normal blushing. Whichever it was, Naruto was just glad to see her awake again, he smiled, and without thinking embraced her.

"Hinata-chan!" He didn't know why, but tears were being released, and the more he fought them, the more came out. He started sniffling, but contineud; "I'm so happy...you're OK" He pulled away gently, but left his arms around her shoulders, so they were face to face again. Hinata saw the tears falling from his eyes, not completely sure of what had just happened, or how long she'd been unconcious for, but this sight was too much for her emotions. Now completely overwhelmed by them, she was able to overcome her usual inhibitions, and pulled herself to his chest, placing her cheek upagainst his t-shirt, as she embraced him back.

"Please don't cry Naruto-kun!" she told him, begining to cry herself, partially from the flood of emotions raging through her mind at the moment, but also just because his crying made her do the same. She just quietly sobbed upagainst him, as Naruto still crying was kind of shocked, his arms had just fell to his sides after Hinata wrapped herself around him. he slowly looked down to see the purple hair that could only belong to Hinata. Another sudden rush of tears came out, as he leaned his head forwards, and placed his cheek on top of her head, then as he did, once again placed his arms around her, holding her close to him. The two of them now just sat there in each others arms, crying. Neither cared who would see them, as that was the least of their thoughts, the only thing on their minds right now was each other.

"Hinata..." Naruto began to say through the tears; "Like I said...I'm sorry for what I said before... I should have thought about how you.."

"No Naruto-kun!" Hinata said cutting him off. Still clutching at him, with her head buried in his body; "please don't ever feel that you have to be sorry" She didn't know how she was managing to say these things; she just seemed to think them, and her body immediately spoke them without her permission, which was giving her a headache, as she fought with all these feeling and emotions, but knew she had to say one more thing before she could stop; and she had to say it now! "Besides...I...I..." She was cusring herself inside her head, demanding that her body just say it, as Naruto was beginning to loosen his grip. She took this opportunity, she knew it was right. She released her grip, and looked up, causing Naruto's head to fall downwards from its position atop her head, and brought him face to face with her; so close now, that their noses actually touched, immediately causing Hinata's blushing to reach new levels. But she had to finished this one sentance, without breathing, and after a little silent pause where they looked straight into each other;

"I love you...too" she said, as yet more tears began streaming from her eyes. Naruto stayed silent, his newly flowing tears saying more than his mouth could. These tears trickled down his cheeks, and found their way onto Hinata's where their tears combined. With their noses still touching, Naruto brought his hand to her face, being as soft and gently as he could be. As She felt the warmth touch her skin, her instinct was to face its source, but she refused to take her eyes away from his. At the same time, their eyes slowly closed, and after a brief eternity, they each moved forwards to let the other know, this is what they wanted. Their lips made contact with the other's, an uncomparable warmth spread over them both, starting ffrom their lips and coursed through their entire bodies.

To them it seemed forever passed in that moment that they were together. Their lips parted and they opened their eyes again, to see the reaction of the other. Naruto gave her a reassuring smile, seeing this caused Hinata to give one back. Neither wanted to say a word that would spoil this moment, as for them, it was perfection.

They had no interest in returning to the village, they each felt they had everything they needed right next to them. They lay down on the lush grass. Hinata was resting her head on the chest of her beloved, staring up at the sky as she held hands with him. She noticed the cloud that she always saw, the one that resembled Naruto; but today, it was different, there was another cloud besides it.

"Hey Hinata....that cloud up there kinda looks like you" Naruto said chuckling as he pointed up at the sky. Hinata said nothing, but he was pointing next to the cloud that she thought looked like him.

It seemedthe heavens had planed this day all along " she thought to herself; "I don't know what brought us to this moment...but I'm thankful for it...even for all the pain...because it led to this moment..." she smiled"

"Because it led to you!"