A/N: Hello everyone, welcome to the latest chapter of One Year Early. Today we continue with the the ongoing process of our favourite couple continuing their getting together. So, this is mostly NaruHina and for the next two or three chapters, we will be transitioning to the next arc, which one you ask? Well, the the next arc would be pretty obvious at the end of this chapter. Anyways, lets not waste further time and get on with the chapter. Happy reading.

CHAPTER 9: CONSEQUENCES OF THE INJURY, CUDDLES AND SOME ROMANCE

Naruto was sitting on the visitors' chairs before the ICU. His beloved was currently unconscious. He had lost consciousness soon after their mutual confession. The blonde was crying, it was hard to hold the tears back anymore and he needed to let them out before he would have to face his princess, or she might think that she had made him cry.

Finally, having finished with the troublesome talks, Shikaku got to the hospital and sat by his blonde student's side and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"She's yet to gain consciousness, sensei. They've put her in the intensive care and aren't allowing anyone. Hinata-chan…she said she loves me and she didn't even give a thought towards herself or anything else when she threw me out of the line of attack. She did it when Mizuki attacked me and she did it again today. I…I..." Naruto said barely able to hold himself together.

"I see. It's pretty clear that she loves you, not just loves you but perhaps loves you the most. So, she didn't hesitate for a second before putting her life on the line for you. What else can I say? Other than to suggest you to give her feelings some consideration and not leave her hanging for too long, that would be very painful for her." The wizened Nara commented.

"I…I've already told her that I love her and want to be with her, sensei." Naruto replied. Shikaku let out a sigh of relief.

"Well then, that will definitely give her the strength to cope with the injuries she's suffered today and she'll be really happy, I am sure of that." The head jonin said.

"I hope so too, sensei. I'll do everything in my capacity to keep her happy, but she…she has to live, she can't die, no way, she can't leave me." Naruto said trembling, making the Jonin sigh.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I really did let you two down. I should have been there, it's my responsibility to ensure your safety, I…I could have trained you some more, maybe taught you some more effective jutsu and strategies, ones that would have worked better here. Had I not been so lazy, Hinata might not have ended up in this state. I am sorry." Shikaku said in a slow voice, Naruto understood that his sensei was also pulling himself together barely.

"What are you apologizing for sensei? I mean, our team was formed about what…a month ago. We only wasted about three or four days with the D-rank chores. You had to work on my messy chakra control and then brush up our basics. You trained us in ninjutsu as soon as we left the village. You didn't even waste a second. After that it was mine and Hinata-chan's job to complete our training as fast as we could. Perhaps I could have been a bit faster by putting more shadow clones, but that can never be your fault. With the limited time you've had with us, we have been learning many things. If anything, I think you were quick." Naruto described, trying to reassure the jonin and clan head who closed his eyes and tried to pull his thoughts together. It had been a while since he had commanded a genin team and Team-6 was only his second one, the first one was during the Third Great War but he had managed to keep those kids out of trouble for all the time they were under his watch. But this time, as soon as the first C-ranked mission happened, his students got into trouble, big trouble. The Nara clan head couldn't help but to start blaming himself. He could have just gone with the Hokage's reasoning and let him assign Teams 7 and 8 just as the old man intended without speaking out his mind. He could have suggested someone other than himself to command Team-6 when the team was decided, he could have given them more training instead of having them carry out D-ranks. But in a way, Naruto was right, his only failure was that he wasn't able to anticipate such a surprise attack happening in Taki. He had no way of assuming that Suna's jinchuuriki would end up close to Taki and then lose his mind. Shikaku shook his head. There will be a time to contemplate, but this was sure as hell not that time.

"What happened to Gaara and his siblings?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing much, Shibuki suggested putting Gaara in isolation for the time, the Sand team had to remain here. But his siblings pleaded to let them stay together. The biggest irony is that, Fu invited them to her place saying that she would like to keep company of someone like her, who has had it far worse."

"Really?!" Naruto said in a bit of surprise but then he realized that this shouldn't have come as a surprise at all. "I should have figured. I think I should have some more words with Gaara, but I'm not going anywhere from here. I want to be here when Hinata-Hime opens her eyes, I want to be by her side when she wakes up." The blonde boy said in a determined voice.

"I understand Naruto." His sensei replied, patting his shoulder.

For the next hour or so, the two sat there in silence until a nurse showed up.

"Nara-sama, Uzumaki-san, Hyuuga-san is still unconscious but you may go inside and see her."

"Thank you." Both replied at the same time and immediately rushed in.

In the ICU, Hinata was lying there, an IV-drip was connected to her wrist. Her leg was fully bandaged. A doctor was there with a notepad taking some notes. The sound of people entering into the room got his attention and she looked up towards the Jonin and his student.

"Good afternoon, Nara-sama, Uzumaki-san." The doctor said in a rather dry tone which made it clear for Shikaku that the situation wasn't good.

"Doctor. Tell us everything." Shikaku demanded, his tone making it clear that there was no room for argument. The doctor sighed.

"Well, you see…Nara-sama. The situation is not good." The doctor replied.

"Would you kindly elaborate, because I am not in the mood of working out the meaning behind troublesome mental puzzles currently so I insist that you be direct and to the point, understood?" Shikaku said in a serious tone, with the deceptive calm before a calamity. The doctor steeled herself to break the sad news.

"Fine, Shikaku-sama. I would like to begin with the fact that, we were able to take care of all the damage Hyuuga-san sustained over her chest and torso due to the 'Sand Shurikens' if I am not wrong." The Taki surgeon elaborated. Naruto and Shikaku let out a small sigh of relief.

"So, there shouldn't be any risk to her life, right?" Shikaku asked.

"Correct, there is no more any risk to Hyuuga-san's life. She would live. Yes, she has suffered some blood loss due to the wounds she sustained during the fight, but luckily we had blood of matching blood group in the blood bank so we were able to cover that."

"You have my sincere gratitude doctor. I am glad that you were able to save my student's life." Shikaku said a bit visibly relieved but he also knew there were still information they needed to learn.

"But there is still more, you need to learn Nara-sama." The doctor said now getting a bit serious. "Unfortunately, the damage Hyuuga-san sustained on her leg has shattered her bones there completely, her nerves in that region are very badly damaged and so are the muscles. The damage was irreparable. We can't do anything about that leg Nara-sama. It's completely shattered. I am afraid she'll never be able to walk using that leg. The only solution to make her walk again is to amputate the broken leg and attach a prosthetic there in place. But that would mean…"

"She would never be able to be a shinobi again. I understand doctor. Thank you for letting us know." Shikaku calmly replied.

As the revelation set in, Naruto's face became fully downcast as he tried to process and understand his beloved's current predicament. It took him some minutes to do so, but he didn't say anything.

"Nara-sama, would you like us to do the amputation right now? We would need your permission to do so." The doctor asked.

The Head Jonin thought for some moments.

"Thank you very much doctor but I would like to respectfully decline. I would like to have it done in Konoha since it might be harmful for her to travel for such a long distance after such a major operation as that could risk a serious infection."

"I see, I understand. But I would suggest to carry out the operation as quickly as possible. Now please excuse me and I am really sorry, but my colleagues and I can't do anything more for her." The doctor stated.

Shikaku looked at the unconscious frame of his student for a few minutes.

"I think we should go outside now Naruto." Shikaku softly stated.

"If you don't mind sensei, I want to be here." Naruto softly said. Shikaku sighed.

"Will that be a problem doctor?"

"I don't think so. You may remain here until 21:00 hours. Now please excuse me." The doctor said before leaving.

"Well then, Naruto be with her and stay strong, okay? I'll be outside, call me if you need anything." The sensei of Team-6 said softly patting his blonde student's shoulder.

"Thank you, sensei." Naruto said as Shikaku nodded and left. The blonde then proceeded to take a seat at the stool by Hinata's bed and softly grasped her hand. A few tears fell down as he bent down and put the hand on his head. Within minutes the blonde was asleep.

What neither he, nor the doctor, nor Shikaku had known that Hinata had in fact regained consciousness just before the doctor began talking about her condition. It was the fact that she found it difficult to open her eyes and her beloved and sensei were focused on listening to the doctor's explanation that they didn't take notice of her gradually regaining consciousness.

Some minutes after Naruto had seemingly drifted off to sleep, Hinata slowly opened her eyes and tears began flowing out immediately. She carefully moved her neck to glance at the sleeping form of her beloved blonde, grasping her hand and sleeping, putting the same hand on his head. She should have been happier than ever before that her feelings had been returned. She was indeed but she was also sad at the same time. Sad for knowing that now she was totally useless, nothing more than a true burden who might not even be able to do trivial tasks, let alone do anything required of a shinobi. She wouldn't be able to keep protecting her Naruto-kun anymore. She wouldn't be able to do anything about the caged bird seal or her clan, she wouldn't be able to become a strong person like her father and a kind person like her mother as she truly wished, neither would she be able to be her Naruto-kun's pillar of support and help him achieve his dream. She was now a burden, on her family, on her beloved. Naruto didn't deserve it. He didn't need her to be an extra burden on her shoulders, he was already having a lot of troubles of his own, troubles she would now never be able to help him solve. Her clan would definitely disown her and either Naruto or Shikaku sensei would be forced to take care of a burden like her.

Just then Hinata's gaze fell upon a surgical kit, someone had carelessly left there, which obviously contained a surgical knife. At the present moment, the knife seemed very friendly to the injured Hyuuga girl, it could be a solution to all the problems she was going to cause to Naruto and everyone else. Her family might even be happy. And Naruto?

'Had things not turned as they did…we could have been really happy together Naruto-kun. But now, you don't deserve a girlfriend like me, I won't be a support for you but a burden, just another burden upon your already large number of burdens. You deserve better my love and I am sure you'll find someone better. I am sorry Naruto-kun…but I am sure this will be for the best. I am so sorry.' The Hyuuga tearfully thought to herself as her hand reached the surgical knife. She carefully took it up without making a noise to wake Naruto up, she wanted to go without bothering anyone at all.

'I am so useless that I can't even say good bye.' Hinata thought as she brought the knife to her throat, now just a slight movement and all would be over really quickly. But that was not to be. A hand shot up and tightly held her hand before she could do anything stupid and dangerous.

"Why Hinata-chan?" The Hyuuga heard her hero ask in a trembling voice and the feeling of guilt and self-loathing hit with full force. "Did you not think for a moment of what would happen to me if you go on with what you were about to do?" Naruto asked again. The Hyuuga found it hard to even look at him, but her blonde hero moved her face towards him. He was greeted with the lavender eyes full of tears.

"I-I am o-of n-no u-use to anyone anymore, N-Naruto-kun. I-it's b-better to j-just f-finish i-it all. I-I d-don't want y-you to w-worry a-about me anymore." Hinata tearfully replied.

"Who told you that!? Who told you that you are of no use to anyone? I want you! I need you!" Naruto almost shouted, but he was mindful enough to not alert anyone from outside.

"Y-You d-don't N-Naruto-kun. I w-won't b-be able to h-help y-you w-with your m-missions, y-your e-enemies. I-I w-won't be able to k-keep p-protecting y-you. Y-you'll h-have to t-take c-care of me, y-you or sensei t-that is since m-my c-clan, t-they w-would s-simply d-d-disown me…..I am w-worthless a-after all and I-I don't want to b-be anyone's b-burden. I-I am r-really h-happy that y-you r-returned m-my feelings, b-but I-I wouldn't be a-any good a-as a g-girlfriend…..I-I a-actually dreamed o-of e-even m-marrying you….b-but e-even t-that….." Hinata couldn't hold her tears anymore and broke down.

"Hime…." Naruto softly called her with the affectionate nickname, stopping her for a moment. "If you truly want that…. then I would gladly marry you. Believe it. I promise you that. And as for you being useless is concerned. I can get some hugs and kisses from you every day or at least see that angelic smile of yours, right? That's more than enough for me. If I can see that…I will gladly take on the whole world all by myself. That night when you saved me from Mizuki, you saved me from myself as well for at that time, I had already given up on everything. But you made me believe that I can be wanted too. And when you said that you loved me…..do you even know how happy that made me feel, to know that I can be wanted in that way too, that too by the one most dear and precious to me, the one I love with all my heart and the one I want be with till eternity. And in the next moment when I heard your scream and saw you bleeding like that….my whole world went dark Hime…..I…It has to be you….for me it can only be you, no one can take your place. I love you! I want you! I need you! I really do. And if you still insist of dying then-" Naruto brought Hinata's hand that was holding the surgical knife to his own throat. "Then slit my throat first because without you, I won't be able to go on. So, if you have to die, take me with you as well." The blonde said tightly pressing the knife against his throat. Hinata's eyes widened in total alarm when she saw that the knife was about to cut his skin and puncture the artery there. She immediately pulled her hand back and threw the knife away.

"YOU'RE NOT DOING THAT!" She shouted, well almost, since her voice was quite weak at moment.

"Then what makes you think you have the right to do that?" Naruto retorted again. Hinata had no reply to that.

"I-I a-am s-sorry…N-Naruto-kun." She finally said in tears.

"I am not angry on you…I might have thought similarly if I were in your place… but please…don't leave me." Naruto pleaded, almost teary eyed himself. Hinata put her hand on his cheek.

"I…won't Naruto-kun...I promise." She said with a small smile.

"Will you…Will you be my girlfriend…and well…my wife when we become old enough…I mean I might be going too fast but yeah…I have decided that I want that." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head with a bit of an embarrassed face.

"In every lifetime my dear." Hinata replied with an affectionate smile and slowly pulled his face towards her. Her face reddened at the thought of what she was going to do, but she didn't give in to the temptation to faint, she proceeded. There was a lot of tension that needed to be released and they did so when their lips met. Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's head and held him in place while she put all of her remaining little strength into the kiss.

The kiss lasted for about two minutes before the lovely couple had to separate for breathing purposes.

"Wow…Hinata-chan…it was…wonderful." Naruto said in amusement and then he decided that he wanted some more.

No…not quite like that(yet).

"Can I hug you?" Naruto asked innocently and even with all the negative emotions and depressing thoughts that were eating her mind moments ago, Hinata couldn't help giggle. She simply patted the vacant space on the bed by her side. Naruto removed his shoes and carefully got into the bed and laid down by who was now his girlfriend's side and hugged her tightly. At that moment Hinata remembered how her mother used to embrace her or how she herself used to embrace Hanabi when things were good between them. She pushed Naruto's face down a bit, into her chest to be exact. She didn't really know why she did that but doing so just felt right. (Hey, don't look at me like that…all Hinatas in my fics like hugging Naruto that way the most, from the get go. -R)

Now Naruto was confused a bit, he thought he had to comfort his girlfriend but here she was…cuddling him like a baby. He tried to move and well….reverse their positions….but to no avail since Hinata resisted.

"A-aren't y-you comfortable, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, a bit unsure as to if her boyfriend didn't like being hugged that way.

"No…I mean yeah…I am comfortable but…you…I mean…" Naruto tried to explain with a red face, since he was actually enjoying being hugged like that, snuggled into a warm embrace. Hinata understood what he wanted to say…that she was the one that needed comforting at the moment, not him.

"I-It's a-alright. I-I p-prefer i-it t-this way. It's v-very c-comfortable f-for m-me a-and r-really warm t-too." Hinata said with a soft smile on her lips that made Naruto's heart melt. Unable to argue any more, the blonde simply snuggled back to his place and felt Hinata's arms tighten around his head and her chin being pressed on the top of his head.

"You won't try anything stupid again will you, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked from within his lover's embrace. Hinata sighed, she was already feeling guilty for even considering something as stupid as suicide. She didn't really know that Naruto would be affected that badly if he lost her. It didn't take even a minute to realize just how important she was to him. 'I have to live for his sake. He needs me…he really does. I will live for you, Naruto-kun, I am really glad that you love me so much. I will give every lifetime I get to you, all of them.' She vowed to herself.

"I promise…I-I won't." Hinata softly responded, running her finger through his hair.

"Your heartbeat…it's really soothing y'know. Like a music. I just want to keep listening to it….forever and ever and not move an inch." Naruto mumbled as sleep gradually started taking over him. Hinata only ruffled his hair a bit more in response.

"It…it beats f-for y-you. L-listen t-to i-it a-as m-much a-as you w-want, my Love." Hinata softly whispered as she let sleep gradually take over her as well, even with her present predicament, the Hyuuga girl was able to sleep with a very satisfied and content smile. After all, what she had now was something she's always wanted more than anything.

After an hour Shikaku again entered the room to check upon his students and stumbled upon a really interesting sight.

"And finally, it happened." Although things were not good, especially with regards to Hinata but Shikaku couldn't help chuckle a bit to himself. "They look really cute…snuggled up like that. Regardless of how troublesome things are, at least something good did come out of it. God bless you two." Shikaku mumbled to himself before walking back and leaving his asleep students to their privacy. He would also have to manage the hospital staff from freaking out and interrupting the moment when they would come and see the kids like that. Well, that's something he could easily manage.

'I wonder how Hiashi would take the news. Wait a minute…Hiashi…the Hyuuga clan. Shit, they would make things really difficult for Hinata. That idiot Hiashi has to get his shit together and come back to reality. He has no idea how much damage he has caused to his daughter. Fine, if Hiashi decides to continue being an ass, I will have Hinata move into the Nara clan compound, or better have her moved in with Naruto, or….even better…have them both moved to the Nara clan compound. Anyways, I will be having a talk with that stoic fool once we get back, Hinata is my student now and I won't allow anyone to misbehave with her.'

Shikaku then strolled outside and took a small leisurely walk. He had left a clone at the hospital outside Hinata's room to keep watch and keep the hospital staff from freaking out if they saw Naruto and Hinata sleeping together.

The Nara spotted an office of the Shinobi postmen. He knew these people were currently the most efficient and fastest means of delivering messages. He wrote a small note to the Hokage, requesting for the latest intel on the whereabouts of a certain blonde woman and gave the letter over to the Shinobi postman service. Certainly, he would be getting a reply in 4 to 5 days.

'I am sure of it; she will have a better solution for Hinata than just amputating her leg. If anyone can do it, it's her and I'll convince her for it, no matter what it takes, I'll have my student treated.' Shikaku thought to himself in determination.

A/N: And done! a little drama, a little fluff and some good ol' romance. I hope you all enjoyed it. And well, I hope its already clear to everyone, what the next arc is going to be about. We'll get there in a couple of chapters. Thank you all again for all the support and love. And with that, see ya all in the next chapter folks. RaNK001 out.