A/N: Yargh, really short chapter before the weekend. Sorry. It's just where the scene ends in my mind. However, it doesn't leave anything up in the air that wasn't already up in the air, though, so that works out, I suppose. Anyhow, I'm really happy so many of you enjoyed the battle! Yeah, the Sound ninja was reminiscent of one of the youkai in Inu Yasha (Kura, I think?), but I didn't realize that until after I wrote her, so oh well. Thank you for all the reviews - I have more reviews for this fic than for any other. I'm not getting a swollen head, I promise. I actually like it when you guys tell me things you thought I could have done differently. Whether or not I'll edit a particular chapter to make it better, though, depends on how lazy I'm feeling. I really do try to take most of your comments into consideration for later chapters. So, fire away. Thanks again!

His head felt as tight and hollow as a hide drum, forcing him to open his eyes more carefully than he would have liked. A white ceiling greeted him, a soft beeping in the background. He felt cold, shuddering, and was about to burrow deeper under the blankets when everything came rushing back to him. "Ino!" he cried, snapping upright in the bed.

"She's sleeping," a soft voice said, and he looked up to see Hinata sitting next to the bed, Naruto leaning against the wall next to her.

"How is she?" he asked, wincing as his head throbbed.

"She'll be fine," Hinata answered. "You all will be."

"Temari?"

Naruto shot Hinata a look and nodded. The woman took a deep breath before speaking. "She was badly injured, but she'll be fine."

"Sakura did the operation herself," Naruto explained. "They beat that Sound woman good, you know."

Shikamaru nodded, slowly collapsing back on to the bed. The wall calendar told him he had only been out for a day and a half, which wasn't bad. "And Chouji?"

"With Ino."

"Good," he mumbled, staring at the ceiling. His chest hurt, and not from his broken ribs, although that still bothered him as well. He supposed that someone would get around to fixing him up eventually.

"Naruto, please leave us for a moment," Hinata quietly asked.

He sighed and shook his head. "You can't save everybody, Hinata-chan."

"Neither can you," she retorted.

Naruto's customary grin spread over his face and he removed his head protector, scratching his head. "Well, I can try. I am going to be Hokage someday, after all. Probably sooner than we think, thanks to Shikamaru's brilliant planning. Next time Orochimaru shows up I'm going to kill him myself. I'm tired of him reincarnating himself."

Hinata sighed. "Oh, hush and leave us."

"I just want your attention," he replied with a wink before kissing her on the forehead.

"Looks like you're about to get the wrong kind of attention," Shikamaru commented dryly, watching Hinata's hand clench.

Naruto chortled and moved towards the door. "All right, all right," he laughed, opening the door. "But just for the record, any attention is good attention," he said, and departed.

Shikamaru watched Hinata's eyes follow the man as he left. Her entire expression was soft, her skin practically glowing. He wondered if all women in love looked like that. "He works so hard," she murmured. "He's always in the scroll library studying, or training, or trying to come up with new techniques. He loves every single one of us so very much."

She seemed sad as she uttered the last sentence, and something occurred to him. "It would be nice to be the focus of that love for once, wouldn't it?"

A blush stained her cheeks. "Perhaps. But his love for all is what will make him a wonderful Hokage."

Shikamaru impulsively covered the hand of the woman that felt like his sister. "He does focus his love on you, Hinata," he explained. "I can see it I his eyes. Every second of every day he thinks of you. You're the only person in the world, as far as he's concerned. The rest of us are just his responsibility."

Hinata laughed softly, waving her hand. "Enough," she said. "Let me look at those ribs. We were so busy earlier that I didn't get the chance."

He winced as she poked and prodded, her hands glowing with chakra. Rumor had it that Sakura's medical talent would soon outpace Tsunade's, and he knew Hinata wasn't far behind the pink-haired kunoichi. His ribs screamed pain to his brain for a few moments, then his muscles relaxed and he felt immeasurably better. Shikamaru shot her a brief smile, but the expression quickly faded from his face as a different kind of pain returned to his chest.

"Did I not do a good job?" his friend asked, white eyes concerned.

"No, you did perfectly."

"Then what is it?"

He almost didn't tell her because it would be troublesome, then he weighed the option of just keeping it cooped up inside. He went with the choice that would cause him the least grief in the long run. "Temari dumped me," he blurted, surprised at how much it hurt to admit it.

Hinata's jaw dropped slightly, and her eyes went wide. "She left you? When?"

"During the battle. She told me to see other people."

"Well? Why don't you?"

"It's not that easy," he growled. "I know she's in love with me. Why would she just leave me when she loves me?" His face began to get hot and it was hard to inhale. He felt as if he was trying to breathe past a sponge lodged in his throat.

Everything about Hinata's expression indicated that she was alarmed. "But, I thought you didn't love her, that she was too troublesome-"

"I don't know how I feel anymore," he mumbled, shutting his eyes when they began to burn. "I didn't think I was in love with her."

"You don't have to be in love with someone to care about them."

"Ninja aren't supposed to have feelings."

"Things happen." She sighed and stood, glancing at the clock. "Time will help," she said softly. "Write her a letter, tell her how you feel. Give yourself closure. The rest will come. When you're feeling better, take Ino out to dinner. She's been waiting for you a long time."

Shikamaru watched her go, wondering what she meant when she said what she did about Ino. He brooded over his feelings for a while, then decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Hinata was right. It would work itself out, he was sure of it. That being settled, he rolled over and quickly drifted off to sleep.