Thanks for the reviews, especially the obscenely long ones, they made my day... even though that was like 2 months ago.

Apologizing for the delay would mean that I meant to update sooner next time. I won't promise that because I don't know when I'll actually finish another one, since I have a tendency to sit and write, then set it down for a few weeks, then pick it back up... etc.

Got my Naruto music files working again WOOT!

Chapter 10:

Naruto was thirsty. As he walked along the hallways of the seventh floor of the hospital, all he could think about was the subtle dryness at the back of his throat. The minor ache consumsed enough of his mind to keep him from talking to Hinata, who remained just as silent. He walked by pure reflex, his guard completely down as he pondered what exactly he felt like drinking. It was no small decision, because it wasn't an "I need water" thirst for general dryness, nor was it a "I need milk" thirst for having too many cookies or chocolates. If anything, it was more like an "I need something subtle but sweet, yet full of flavor" thirst but that wasn't exactly right, and the only thing he was positive would settle it was ramen broth.

Naruto was thirsty. Naruto had a problem.

Hinata wasn't sure that what was happening was real. Here she was, standing so close to the object of her affection that she could actually reach out and touch him. She couldn't speak, but it was more because she couldn't find anything to say. Her mind was racing at hundreds of thoughts per minute, yet in all of the chaos, there wasn't a single thing she could think to talk about, let alone open the conversation. Though despite all of that, it didn't bother her too much. She wasn't beating herself up or thinking about how useless she was, she simply stood and walked.

Her heart had slowed to a normal pulse a little while ago, but she still blushed whenever it seemed that he would catch her glance. She would look away hurredly everytime, but he never made any mention of it. Eventually she settled for merely listening to the quiet drag of his feet with every step of his right foot, just before it landed. He smelled like sweat and dirt, and she was almost positive there was a faint smell of burned fabric. It was a masculine scent that gave of an air of the same nature, and when she snuck a glance at his boy-ish face and pudgy cheeks, it seemed slightly out of place.

The two walked in near silence until they found themselves at a fork in hallway. Hinata thought nothing of it, but to Naruto, it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. At the end of the fork was a small section set aside with chairs and a television, though all of that paled in comparison to the holy grail of the hospital: sitting on one of the walls of the waiting room, in what could almost be described as shining glory, was a vending machine.

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks as he stared down the hall, or more specifically, the metal god sitting quietly, waiting to reward any follower that would pay appropriate tribute. Yellow paint on the side for a background to a brand of canned tea that he never drank, was all that Naruto saw, but even though he couldn't see the exact contents of the machine, he had faith that it would take care of his needs. His right hand sunk into the pocket of his jacket and fingered around until it reached the familiar size of a 100 yen coin.

Hinata realized he had stopped after only taking a single step and stopped to look at him, though his gaze never wavered from the hallway towards the waiting room. He smacked his lips and tongue as he looked on in almost a daze before finally turning to her with a very wide grin on his face.

"Uh, Hinata-chan? I'll be there in a second...but I'm really thirsty so..."

He simply let the sentence drop off at that point, and she looked at him dumbfounded for a second wondering if he would continue speaking or not. Upon realizing the latter, she found herself unable to do anything but giggle at his antics.

Taking the laughter as a "Sure, go on ahead" Naruto walked down the hallway, still fingering the 100 yen coin and thinking harder about what he wanted to drink.

Every room in a building is different in some miniscule way or another. A crack on a wall, a collection of dirt in a corner, a spot on the carpet, or a chip in a tile. It doesn't take much to make a room all it's own, to make an individual thing out of the squares and lines that the achitect sees or the impersonal support and walls that the contruction workers build. No one in Konoha appreciated the subtle qualities that made every room different in the same way that an Inuzuka did. The Hyuuga looked over and through everything, not focusing on the detail and noted how all the rooms looked identical, and the Uchiha were no longer around for contest, but the Inuzuka could tell that no matter what, no two rooms anywhere in all the countries combined could ever smell exactly alike.

The room Kiba was in was a single bedded room with a television that he had turned off long ago when he realized it only had one channel. The walls were so white that it was almost a crime to have windows because the sun reflected hard off of them. The floor was made up of white tiles that had occasional scratch marks from an object that was too heavy being moved across it. White door, white ceiling, white sheet, white bed, Kiba had heard rumors that the Konoha hospital had driven more than one person to madness, and somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he found it amusing that it was as probable as it was.

Though in the state he was in now, he had no room for laughter. He sat at the head of the bed, his back propped up by the crappy pillow that was about as comfortable as bed of leaves, and he was scooted a bit to the side so that Akamaru could rest his head on said crappy pillow. Fortunately, there were no IVs in him nor any feeding tubes since he was capable of all that on his own, but there was still the incessant beeping of the heart rate moniter that was attached to a tube that was taped to his chest under his white hospital robe. His hands were bleeding from holding the last of his shuriken in his hand too tightly, and thus, some of his blood had managed to get onto the opposite wall, along with the majority of his weapons. There were only six in the wall, but there were another twenty marks where blades had been lodged in and removed.

Akamaru whined a bit again. Kiba had been doing this since Nira had come to visit him a few hours ago just after the surgery had been reported a success. She brought the shuriken hoping that it might make him feel better to be partially armed since she was going through the stress of not being so. He was worried for Kiba though, it's not everyday that you end up in the hospital with a wound that might end your career, and it's even slimmer of a chance if your sister comes in two days later saying that it was no ordinary child but the carrier of a demon. He shivered a bit at the memory of Naruto's chakra on the night that this had all started, it was so different than it was in the Chunnin exams, more potent, more deadly. The killer intent had been so raw and pungeant in his chakra that the dog had actually pondered holding his breath during the fight. It had reminded him too much of the boy from Sunakagure for his own comfort, and he wished that he would have gone with his instincts and warned Kiba to back off. He knew better though, the look in Naruto's eyes, as well as the determination that he knew Kiba felt would have insured the fight carried on.

The dog let out a light sigh and a whine that human ears couldn't pick up before turning his gaze back to Kiba. His sides were a bit sore from the minor scratches he received, but he pushed himself to his feet and pivoted himself completely around without moving too much in the little space he had. He looked back up into Kiba's eyes, his whole being seemed so distant that the dog found himself at a loss of what to do. Kiba's whole body was tense, and with Akamaru's nose, he was sure that a fresh flow of blood had just been generated in the boy's hands. Red, swollen eyes were the highlight of theboy's face as his jaw clenched in anger and the dog knew immediately what was to happen next. He climbed up as best as he could while putting no pressure on the chakra-healed inscission marks on the boy's stomach, his hind legs sitting right on his thighs, and his his forepaws pressing against his shoulders. He leaned down and buried his muzzle in his master's neck just as the boys hands suddenly wrapped around him and held him close. And with his best friend consoling him as much as a dog possibly can, Inuzuka Kiba cried and cried as he had been doing since "success" of his operation.

The tears flowed freely and bitterly as he wept and and even wailed a little. All sense of bravado being left on the operating table since the only ones in the room were himself and the dog that could be described as nothing less than an extension of himself. His shoulders shook against the tiny body against his chest and he held on fast, silently thanking God that the pup's injuries weren't so bad as to keep him from standing the embrace. He cried because he was miserable, he cried because he was in pain, he cried because life wasn't fair and there were no happy endings he could see. He cried because his life had vanished in the blink of an eyeand he cried because he didn't know what he was going to do, but most of all, he cried as it hit him once again that his best friend now shared the mortal life of each and every other canine walking around Konoha. Amidst his tears he cursed himself, cursed the new weakness he had attained, he cursed knowing that when Akamaru's natural life span had ended he would not be able to sustain the dog on his own chakra as all other Inuzuka before him had. He would be stripped of thecomfort ofhis dog sharing his dying breath and that on his death bed at the end of his own natural life, he would be more alone than any Inuzuka had ever been. He cried and cried and cried,and though no tears fell from Akamaru's face, the dog wept inwardly, not for his own mortality, but for the grim future of his best friend and master.

Kiba weptso hard that he didn't notice the door crack open, he didn't notice the small meep of a girl outside, and he didn't noticesound of his room door closing afterwards. He clutched his dog in his arms until the wave of emotion passed over him and his cries slowed to a painful stop. When the tears had stopped and all that was left was the leftover sniffling from a good cry, he looked down into the eyes of his best friend.Likewise, Akamaru looked up into the eyes of the only true friend he had in the world,though the dog was the only of the two of them with a smile on his face. With a single yip, he conveyed his sentiments to the Inuzuka boy in a way that he knew only he could understand.

Slowly, a bit of a smile crept onto Kiba's face as he looked into the smile of his best friend. He wiped his eyes and nose on the sleeve of the hospital gown.

"Yeah, you're right. This isn't going to stop us."

Akamaru yipped again, his support conveyed in the pitch of his call, the wag of his tail, and very human looking smile on his muzzle. The next sound heard in the room was the soft knocking of his door, which caught Kiba by surprise.

"Eh? Come on in."

He figured it would be a nurse, coming to check on him, and he had to admit that he hoped it would be one with good news. He was surprised to see Hinata behind the slowly opening door, though it wasn't a completely unwanted visit. Truth be told, seeing Hinata illicited a gamut of emotions that he never thought the girl could stir.

He was happy to be around one of his comrades, one whom he trusted more than his own family. His faith in the girl remained unshaken ever since the Chuunin exams. She had tried hard and steadily improved, though it was most satisfying to see her more bold on the battle field. Where once was a timid girl on the verge of breaking, there stood a bashful Hyuuga, who was still aHyuuga nonetheless and showed that to all the enemies that they encountered.

On another hand, he was worried by seeing her. Only moments ago, he had been in such a state that he nevered showed to anyone other than Akamaru since he couldn't remember. The very few times that tears pierced his eyes, the only one who had seen it was the one who couldn't tell a soul if he wanted to (save another Inuzuka). He wasn't sure how long Hinata had been outside, though he wasn't foolish enough to believe that his face had completely cleared up.

Another part of him was filled with a sudden deep weight. He didn't feel any draw on his chakra being used, though he had inwardly hoped that his chakra was still being sent to his nose and he simply didn't notice. Though he'd never mistake Hinata's scent, and even with her slowly walking into the room, he could only pick it out of the air because he knew what to look for. It was too faint for his sense of smell to be what it normally was.

The last, but most powerful, and most confusing of the emotions he felt though, was a strong protective impulse.

"Oi, Hinata. You came to visit me?"

She walked in the room without further hesitation. She carried a smile that was so bright that it put the shining of the sun off the walls to shame, though it was far more welcome. She stepped in, shutting the door behind her, and forced the scene she had just seen from the front of her mind.

Kiba's stomach turned inside out at that point as heavy realization donned him and he suddenly felt weighted down. No one knew the lengths of Hinata's infatuation with Naruto more than he did. Sometimes, he even believed that he knew more about it than she did herself. He noticed the subtle changes in the way she stood, the way she walked, he could hear the change in the pace of her breath when he was brought up.Most disturbingly, as of late, he had been able to pick up the odor of excitement when he was brought up in conversation. He was no stranger to such a scent, living in a house with two women, and Inukuza women for that matter who weren't shy about human sexuality at all; though smelling it come off of a girl like Hinata, it was disturbing.

It had taken him a long time to allow himself to allow the girl he saw much like a younger sister to have such a reaction to any boy. Many frustrated nights trying to sleep despite the murderous intent he felt towards Naruto, after a while he finally accepted that Hinata was a young woman, filled with feminine hormones as well. Though a new layer of protectiveness clouded his judgement as the another angle of enlightenment became apparent.

His face shifted into a look of utter determination as he realized what he had to do.

"Hinata... I need to talk you. It's about Naruto."

The process was arduous, even downright painful to an extent, though Naruto had finally reduced his selection to two choices. His fingers rested on the slit in the machine, long since having let go of the 100-yen piece. His eyes looked over the last two choices in utter hesitation. They were both from the same brand, Ko Cho Ka Den... both the most popular canned tea among the Konoha youth, and the only brand that he even bothered to try. Though the decision became difficult when it came down to the actual drink to choose.

The display had a white background, 16 different drinks shown by way of empty cans behind a glass case. Two rows of eight, and on the top, on the far left was the first of his choices. Ko Cho Ka Den's Apple tea, concealed in a green can no more than 5 inches tall. It had been his more recent encounter with the brand, and it had a taste that was so soft that one could miss it if they didn't look for it. It wasn't bitter but it wasn't too sweet, and the slight tinge of apple was only surpassed by the apple after taste with every swallow. He tried it on a whim, it was less popular than the traditional Lemon tea that had every teen in Konoha hooked, but it was good. Part of him felt special because while everyone else sported the yellow Lemon tea cans, he generally walked with the green one. Below the can, "A1" was printed in brown ink. His fingers moved to thecombination pad, almost ready to punch in the code until his other choice grabbed his attention.

On the bottom row, two cans from the far right, above the "B6" inscribed in brown ink, was an empty can of Ko Cho Ka Den's best selling Garden Lemon Tea. The can was intricate yet simple, yellow background with a glass of the tea and ice, a box of red concealing the words "Garden Lemon Tea." along with the famous characters Ko, Cho, Ka, and Den. It was everywhere, almost everyone had a can at some time or another. It was impossible to fathom that anyone could actually try it and not like it. It was subtle much like the Apple Tea, though it had a slightly more sour tinge to it. The faint lemon was a little bit subtler than the apple in the Apple Tea, though the aftertaste hit the taste buds in a much more fulfilling way. It made one stop and think because one could only enjoy it if they stopped, and even though it would surprise most, Naruto was capable of stopping to enjoy it on occasion. It started with a desire to fit in, much like many of his customs,he bought a can from a store and took it home, planning on trying it first in the comfort of his own walls. When he first popped it open, he was filled with an anticipation that he couldn't descibe. Before him, he believed, was instant popularity, all he'd have to do was drink it in public and instantly all the stares and glares would turn to looks of approval. He was young, and he was restless, so his first drink of it was meaningless. To him, it seemed almost like water at the time and he left it on the table in exchange for some ramen.

The can sat there all day and into the night until he was awakened by a midnight thirst. Groggy and cranky he walked into the kitchen, stepping over the trash.Clothed in white pajama pants and a white t-shirt, he sought something to parch his thrist, and the first thing he was was the "weak" tea that was almost like water that too popularfor it's taste. He pickedit up, slow and dazedly, and took another drink. It was the same, but it was different. His reactions slowed and hisenergy dispelled, he actually sat therefor a moment and turned the tea overon his tongue before swallowing. It was that night that Uzumaki Naruto became yet another drinker of Ko Cho Ka Den, though not nearly as religiously as his peers.

Seeing the can brought many memories, both good and bad, and even seeingit let his mindvisualize the taste off memory alone.B6... A1... it was hard to decideat first, though the nostalgiac memories settled the debate quickly. His finger grazed the "B" button easily and moved towards the "6" until he suddenly sneezed. By sheer accident, he pressed the "5" instead, and with a heavy heart, he realized that his chance at happiness was gone. He didn't even look to see what the drink was, because he knew he'd hate it.

Angrily, he turned back into the hall to make his way to Kiba's room when something caught his attention out of his peripheal vision. An open door marked "745" but what was on the inside caught him slightly off-guard. He stopped to look, turning his head completely to watch the scene before him. Sitting on a patient bed was a young woman, by the looks of it, she was not much more than five years Naruto's senior. Strands of blonde hair reaching down to her shoulers and parted before her face and eyes that looked hazel from where Naruto stood. Sitting next to her, facing her from a seat, sat a boy who looked around the same age. Dark, thick hair that wasn't really curly, nor was it straight.

He couldn't see the boy's eyes, though he could tell where they were. He could almost see their reflextion in the girl's eyes. Even from where he stood he could discern the scene. Small movements of lips betrayed quiet words, the dreamy look in her eyes was testimony to her affection, and the fact that her small hand was in his showed the truth of their relationship.

Naruto turned and continued just as the two leaned in for what he presumed was a kiss. His steps continued slowly, destination set in auto-pilot, but his mind stuck on the only three words he could discern from watching her lips.

...I love you...

He missed the rest, though he didn't care. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was thinking about it now. He'd seen that look before, seen it been given by others, to others, though he'd never received it and he'd never given it. It would be a lie to say it never bothered him, but just like most things, he'd come to ignore it. Though as of that moment, his footsteps stopped. His mind turned over what he saw again and again, and rather than simply scoffing it off as a fantasy he knew he'd never obtain... he began to wonder what it was like to feel that kind of affection.

No one ever described it to him before, and he'd never known anyone that was actually experiencing that save for Sakura. Though even she didn't have the satisfaction of having it returned. He'd never known anyone to describe that dreamy expression, or the calm quiet that he often saw young couples indulge in.

His hand rose up and landed on the wall to his left. His gaze fell to the ground as he let the wall support some of his weight. In an instant, he felt heavy. Heavy with longing for something he'd never experienced, and never really thought he would. He let out a soft, sad laugh to himself as he spoke to himself in a whisper.

"I guess dying makes you think about stuff differently..."

As if on cue, memories of what he saw from Tsunade's jutsu flooded into his mind. A warmth wrapped around his thoughts as he recalled excerpts in such realism that he could have sworn that for a brief instant, that he was in the forest with Konohamaru and Ebisu again, or the clearing the strange Hinata he'd seen, and even in this very hospital.

"Didn't he understand that there were people who admired him...people that liked him...cared about him? People that loved him?"

Naruto froze completely as he remembered the words that Hinata uttered between sobs and amuck emotions. Suddenly, by a will not his own, he was running towards Kiba's room to find Hinata, and ask her what exactly she was talking about.

Author: I can't go on... I can't bring myself to add any more to this chapter. I feel like I've failed... there was more that I had to say... but it was simply too long...

I can't promise anything about the next update other than the fact that my personal favorite portion of this whole long mental story is coming up soon. Mind you, this fic is not going to be focused on romance... so don't think that it's going to become a super fluffy NaruHina from this point on... because it won't.

Anyway, until next update.