A/N: It seems that we have a new record for most reviews in a single chapter. :) 49 for Chapter Twenty-Seven. Previous record was 30 for chapter Twenty.

I'm working on a little video project entitled "The Making of Lacking Sight." When it is complete, I will post it on youtube and put the link in another chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The New Purpose

Konoha saw the mid-afternoon sun for the first time in many days. It shone overhead, the giver of light, warmth, and hope in the aftermath of the previous night's blood bath. There was not a soul in the whole of the village that was not glad to see it. All of the streets in the center of town were full of survivors, praising their gods, their Hokage, and even the Suna shinobi, whom they had only three years ago cursed as they now cursed the ninja of the Rock.

The village was a horrible mess. Everywhere, the rubble of collapsed buildings and exploded pathways obstructed the movements of the medical teams, and craters full of half-day old bodies balked the queasier members of the cleanup crews. Fire suppression teams were working themselves to exhaustion as they contained one conflagration only to have another rekindle itself halfway across the village. Commerce was effectively halted. Shinobi were living on soldier pills or on nothing at all, allowing the civilians and the wounded to eat the limited stores of food that had not been lost. Many people grieved for lost friends and relatives.

But Konoha was nowhere near as weakened as it had been three years previously. The property damage affected less than thirty percent of the village, the main enemy forces having gone straight for the most valuable targets and been halted there. Civilian casualties were limited almost expressly to those who had been in the path of the initial explosive entry, the brave and proud shinobi having protected them to the end even at the cost of their lives.

Indeed, the shinobi themselves suffered the greatest loss; nearly one-fifth of their number had lost their lives in the vicious onslaught, and another one-fourth had been gravely injured. Due to the timely arrival of the ninja of the Sand, however, none of the enemy had escaped alive, and the destruction was halted within three hours of its beginning.

Because of the great number of injuries, the main hospital building was unimaginably crowded. Yet, Kakashi had done well for his former students and their friend. He had commandeered a room for just the three of them. Though the Florence Nightengales had had some difficulty squeezing a third bed into the two-patient room, Lee had volunteered his assistance, and the task was accomplished to the masked Jounin's liking fairly quickly.

Hinata counted herself lucky when the bright sun glared through the open window and woke her. She had slept peacefully for eight hours, judging by the clock on the wall, and her injuries did not pain her very badly as she sat up in her hospital bed. Before she had succumbed to sleep earlier, she had been told that her family survived; she would not have to greive for the loss of her father, her sister, or Haruka. Kiba was one room adjacent to theirs and in stable condition, Akamaru standing faithful watch at the door. All of her precious people had survived, and she herself was in excellent shape.

"Thank goodness," she breathed to herself. Her heart, despite the strains of the previous day and night, was at peace.

"So, you're awake too?"

Hinata turned to look at the bed next to hers. Sakura was also awake and sitting up. Her torso was swathed in immobilizing bandages beneath the hospital gown, protecting her multiple broken ribs. Her left forearm was also in a large cast. Several layers of gauze covered a nasty cut on the left side of her face. In spite of what Hinata thought must have been tremendously painful injuries, the pink-haired medic was upright and speaking in a normal tone of voice. Her green eyes expressed some sadness, but the Hyuuga girl could detect no wince of physical pain at all.

Hinata smiled warmly at her. "You're very stoic, Sakura-chan. If it were me, I would probably still be flat on my back."

Sakura returned the smile half-heartedly. "Maybe," she said. "But then again, you would never let this happen to you. There's no force on earth that can crack your defense when you're serious..."

The Hyuuga girl detected something familiar in her friend's voice. It was something that she herself had often felt in the past.

"It... I don't think it was your fault, Sakura-chan," she said gently. "I understand. It is difficult to stand opposite a loved one and fight with your heart in it..."

She stopped. Sakura's smile had fallen away.

"That isn't it, Hinata-chan," Sakura said. "My heart was in it. I fought him with all of the skill and power I had. I was ready to use lethal force if I had to."

The girl's unbandaged hand clenched hard at the bedsheets, wringing them in its grip. Her face was strained; she was working hard to keep it from blooming into a mask of misery.

"And even with all of that," she finished, "I still wasn't able to stop him. Naruto had to save me again."

Sakura's gaze turned from her dark-haired friend to her teammate in the bed beside her. The blond boy was fast asleep, exhausted from his efforts. Yesterday had quite possibly been the most taxing day of his life. He had survived the engraving of the Caged Bird seal, an assassination attempt by Akatsuki, an inner struggle with the Bijyuu inside of him, and the near-apocalyptic battle with his arch rival. His chakra had been almost entirely depleted. Yet, rest and the restorative powers of demonic chakra were curing him at the usual accelerated rate; Sakura's analytical surgeon's eyes told her that he would be fully healed within another forty-eight hours.

"Naruto was the only one who could even keep up with him," she went on. "Naruto the idiot, the dead-last, the pervert... I never gave him full credit for his good qualities. You did, Hinata... and in the end it was you who went with him and ended it. Not me."

Hinata's heart went out to her friend. She knew what it was like to feel useless. She would not wish it on anyone else. Leaning towards her, she spoke in quiet, even tones.

"It's a little ironic, isn't it?" she asked. Sakura's head rotated back her way. A confused expression was on her face. Seeing that she had her attention, Hinata continued.

"For the last three years, it was always you was counseling me. I was the one who constantly needed to be reminded of her own self-worth. It was me who was uncertain of whether or not I would be able to do things differently. You were the strong one, Sakura-chan."

Sakura's expression shifted as memories resurfaced in her brain. She found herself reliving the times that she had discovered Hinata battling with self-doubt at Ichiraku's or some other place.

"In those times, your words would always bring me back to myself," Hinata said. "You would speak wisely—sometimes from your own experience—and I would remember my own ability, remember why I was trying so hard. I'll return some of that wisdom to you now, Sakura-chan.

"If you keep dwelling on your past mistakes, you'll drown in your own tears."

Sakura's pale face brightened. She remembered that one; it was the first one she had used, when Hinata had been sad over having been too shy to bid Naruto farewell. The two of them had started to become much greater friends after that.

"Hinata-chan..." she began.

"You aren't the only one who is troubled," said Hinata, cutting her off. "Naruto-kun and I managed to stop him, but Sasuke-san did not come peacefully. He..." she swallowed hard at the memory, and peered across Sakura's bed at the blond to reassure herself.

"He nearly killed Naruto-kun, even when he knew that he had been defeated. He is still dangerous, Sakura-chan. I keep worrying that either he will escape and try to finish what he began, or that Naruto-kun, who wants so badly to make him see reason, will do something terribly rash..."

Something rash? Sakura thought. Now that I think about it, Naruto does tend to go to extremes when he tries to reform people. I've heard the stories from Tsunade-sama. What if Naruto tries to earn Sasuke-kun's trust by setting him free? Or what if he makes some ridiculous self-sacrificing bargain? It's possible...

"When you said that if anyone could stop Sasuke-san, it was Naruto-kun, you were right," Hinata said. "But I think that the best bet to reform him safely is you, Sakura-chan. You were wise enough to turn my mood around when my faith slipped... you should be able to do something to help your teammate, too. And if you can't, then you can at least help to talk Naruto-kun out of making any horrible mistakes."

Sakura stared at her friend for a long moment. Then, a magical change came over her; color returned to her skin, and the sadness left her eyes, replaced by renewed determination. Her mind had been made up. Against the pain of her injuries, she got out of the bed. Her legs were fine, and she was able to stand easily.

Hinata questioned her with her pearl eyes. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura turned her back and began walking to the locker on the other side of the room, where her clothes were.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan," she said over her shoulder. "I know what I have to do now. Even if I couldn't do things exactly as I wanted to, there's still a way that I can help."

She crossed to the adjoining bathroom and disappeared into it. She emerged fully dressed, walking upright and proud. She regarded Hinata with kind, grateful eyes and a sense of purpose.

"You should stay here and look after Naruto," she said. "Even if he has that demon in him to speed up his recovery, he'll still be out of it for a while. Make sure he heals properly, and don't let him leave until Tsunade-sama clears him. I'm sure he'll listen to you."

Hinata nodded. "Of course."

Sakura nodded in kind, glanced at Naruto briefly, then walked out of the room. Hinata was left alone with Naruto.

Climbing out of her own bed, she took a chair from the other side of the room and sat down at his side. She would watch over him while he slept, and be the first thing that he saw when he awoke. Looking at his serene face, she could see that his sleep was sound and untroubled.

Good, she thought. Heaven knows that he needs it.

She settled herself back in the chair and listened to the sounds of the busy hospital around her. Their floor was fairly quiet; agonized screaming and moaning was very infrequent, for which she was grateful. In the next room, she could hear Akamaru's happy bark as Kiba began to stir. The dog owner greeted his beast with a tired, broken voice, but he was not laboring to breathe and did not vocalize his pains.

My team is very lucky, she thought. All of us came out alive, and we will meet again to train together as soon as we are all well, which won't be long. The medical staff will treat us well because we are heroes. But Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun...

Hinata looked down at Naruto again, and gave a sad smile.

"Naruto-kun," she whispered, reaching out to put a tender hand on his brow, "I feel so badly for you. Sasuke-san is a traitor, a dangerous criminal; your team may never truly be together again. It's going to be so hard on you..."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Uchiha Sasuke had spent half of his life hating his older brother. This hatred had led him to abandon any hope for his future and seek vengeance for his past. The third anniversary of that fateful day was drawing ever nearer, only weeks away. He had spent those three years gaining strength in whatever dark or evil art that suited his needs. He did so because he believed that the way Konoha shinobi did things—with peace and stability as the ultimate goal—was too inherently weak for the purposes of revenge, especially against Uchiha Itachi.

Yet, as he had found out, Konoha's way of doing things had been perfectly sufficient to stomp him into the dirt, even after all of his training in Orochimaru's blacker methods. If he had known this from the start, he wouldn't have been so surprised that he was now strapped into a chair in a sealed ANBU interrogation chamber, his wounds only treated enough to keep him alive, with intravenous tubes stuck into his arm for the purpose of delivering not only life-preserving nutrients, but also whatever drugs the interrogator might later want to use. He could see the vials of numerous sinister-looking fluids resting in a rack on the far wall, near an assortment of painful-looking metal instruments.

"He's awake," announced an authoritative voice. It belonged to a masked ANBU standing to Sasuke's right. "Go get Ibiki-sama and Tsunade-sama, quickly. They will want to begin immediately."

"Hai, sempai," said one of the ANBU by the door. He hurried out to execute his orders.

Gritting his teeth against the extreme soreness and pain that he felt, Sasuke tested his restraints. They were expertly done; he might have been able to free himself if he were at the height of his power, but at the moment, he was pitifully weak, out of chakra, and out of luck.

"Don't bother," said his solemn companion. "Even if you were to escape the chair restraints, we have orders to use lethal force in order to subdue you... and in your state, you wouldn't make it far."

The young Uchiha didn't speak. Talking to this peon would be a waste of time; there would be no way to use an ANBU to his advantage, and he wouldn't be able to wheedle information out of him either. He sat in stony silence, awaiting the arrival of the people who actually meant something.

They arrived soon enough. Morino Ibiki held the door for the Hokage, who strode into the chamber haughtily and powerfully. Her justice rage was palpable beneath her mask of authoritative calm, and all knew that if the Uchiha traitor wasn't very, very lucky, he was very likely doomed already. The door of the chamber closed. Tsunade began.

"Well, well," she said. "Uchiha Sasuke. I see Naruto did quite the job on you, as expected. You were incredibly lucky to survive the night—thanks in no small part to me. You had better be grateful that I was able to stomach the stench that Orochimaru left on you, and that your head is more valuable on your shoulders than on a pike. You can't torture information from a head on a pike."

Sasuke glared at her, allowing her to have her tirade while making it clear that he really didn't give a damn. He'd endured torture resistance practice, administered by Orochimaru himself, and Orochimaru had not been a kind instructor. He could take whatever she could dish out.

Tsunade ignored him, continuing to speak. "Naruto will come out of the hospital with a hero's fanfare. You, meanwhile, will entertain Ibiki until he has been sated, and then if you have no more information to give us, you'll be lucky if you're killed quickly rather than kept alive as his practice subject for the rest of your life..."

"If you wanted information," Sasuke spat, "You could have asked your 'colleague,' Danzou. He's been the intelligence link between Orochimaru and Konoha for months."

Tsunade's visage did not soften. "Danzou was killed in your force's raid on the Village Council," she said. "Even if we'd known about his involvement—and believe me, I did suspect—we couldn't ask him anything now."

"You mean he didn't run?" Sasuke said, his face a mask of dispassionate surprise.

"Run?" Tsunade asked.

"I thought he would have gotten scared and fled the village after I killed his subordinate, Sai. Thinking about it, though, he might have expected me to, the kid was so annoying..."

This made Tsunade think. What was Sasuke getting at? Had he killed the boy out of mere annoyance, or had he meant to warn Danzou? If he had meant the latter, why would Danzou's life be useful to him? With any other prisoner she might have dismissed such wondering, but Uchiha Sasuke was different; everything he said had to be taken seriously and analyzed thoroughly, because every word might hold a clue about Orochimaru or Akatsuki. Tsunade opened her mouth, intending to ask more.

Sudden noise from outside distracted her. There was yelling, pained yelping, and muffled thudding and thumping. Turning from Sasuke and narrowing her brow in irritation, she began to walk towards the door.

"What in the name of..."

The door burst open. From the hallway came a blur of motion that flowed into the chamber almost faster than a human eye could see. It's trajectory was aimed directly at Uchiha Sasuke. The guard at the chair's side reacted quickly enough, however, and restrained the intruder by its arms. The blur resolved into a woman with dark hair tied back in a long braid, intensely burning white eyes, and an elegant seal on her forehead that gleamed with yellow and blue luminescence. Her lips were curled back in a savage expression of loathing, and she fought the guard's grip relentlessly, trying with all her might to reach Sasuke and—from the looks of it—tear his heart out.

"Where did they take him?" the woman snarled.

Sasuke regarded her with wide eyes. Her aura is... incredibly intense! Who is she?

"Haruka-san," cried one of the ANBU pleadingly, "Please, stop! You should not be here..."

The woman ignored him. She kept fighting her captor's grip, striving to free herself with all of her might. She kept her eyes fixed on Sasuke, eyes that emitted rays of pure hate.

"Where?" she screamed at him. "Where did your thugs carry Keisuke off to? Talk, damn you!"

Her struggling finally overpowered the guard, and she wrested herself out of his grip and flung herself at Sasuke. Her open palm was coiled by her side, prepared to shove right into his chest. Sasuke could feel power coming from that palm, power magnified by a rage the like of which he had only ever seen before in Naruto. For a fraction of a second, he felt that power coming straight for his heart, and knew that he faced death.

Then the woman's advance halted as Tsunade grabbed her shoulder, stopping her one-handed. The deadly palm was poised a mere inch from Sasuke's left breast. The woman continued to struggle.

"Let go of me, Tsunade-sama!" she yelled. "Let me have... Argh!"

Her sentence was ended prematurely in a howl of pain as Tsunade squeezed her collarbone with her monstrous strength. The pressure was agonizing. If the Hokage squeezed any harder, the bone would snap.

"Hyuuga Haruka!" Tsunade snapped. Her face was livid with anger. "You have not been ordered to carry out aggressive interrogation. That duty has been assigned to Morino Ibiki and the ANBU in his command. I command you, stand down or be punished!"

Haruka's struggles ceased. She stood stock-still, fists at her sides, glaring daggers at Sasuke, but she no longer shouted, and did not try to break free.

Sasuke was perplexed. Orochimaru had Keisuke of the Grave taken as well? he thought. If he had me after Naruto already, why do that? He only needs one subject... unless he expected me to fail? The thought that his new master would abandon him to be devoured by the Leaf sent the spark of anger coursing through him.

Then he calmed. No, he wouldn't; he needs my body. He wouldn't give me up easily, especially not so close to the time of transfer.

But then, why did he even take the risk in sending me here?

He thought hard, but he did not come up with an answer immediately. Which was unfortunate, because Haruka had finally stopped staring lividly at him and left the room. His interrogation was about to resume. Tsunade turned to him again.

"Thanks to that interruption, I am out of time," she said. "I am scheduled to meet with the Kazekage in five minutes, so I can't stay. As much as I'm sure you'll miss me, you'll have to make do with Ibiki, here."

The torture expert stepped forward. "Come now, Tsunade-sama," he said, "My methods aren't that terrible. At least, they're never boring..."

Tsunade left the room, and the door closed.

Ibiki smiled.

"I've been planning out this day's fun for well over a year," he said.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Witnessing the invasion's aftermath first-hand did little to ease Sakura's anxiety. The district in which the Hokage tower was located had been the center for much of the devastation, and she was surrounded by ruin, rubble, and grieving citizens. Everywhere she went, everything she saw, made her reflect on just who it was who had orchestrated all of this.

Sasuke-kun.

He might not have designed it—in fact, it was probably Orochimaru who deserved credit for that—but it had been Uchiha Sasuke who had seen it executed. There could be no skirting around that fact. Naruto would try to smash through it. Sakura could not.

Trudging wearily through the ashes of a once-happy neighborhood, she exerted every effort to hold herself tall, keep going. She was determined to do what she had resolved to do, as painful as it would be to her. The physical pain of her injuries helped distract her, and she was able to keep going.

Suddenly, the crowd ahead of her parted with a cry of alarm. Sakura raised her head to see what was going on, glad for an excuse to be drawn out of her dismal thoughts. When she saw the familiar face and clothes, her gladness increased; talking to a friend might do wonders for her nerves.

"Haruka-san!" she called. Haruka heard her and looked around a moment, then saw her and started in recognition. Sakura walked over to her.

"Sakura-san," Haruka said, clearly surprised. "They told me that you were badly injured. Why are you up and walking around so early?"

Sakura smiled. "The medical staff trust me to know when my own body is ready; I'm a medic, too, after all. I could have walked out of there much earlier, if I chose."

"Ah," Haruka said, "I see..."

Sakura began to notice something odd about the older woman. She seemed somehow subdued, complacent in comparison to her usual energetic and slightly mischievous self. Her face appeared tired and weathered, and the spark was gone from her eyes.

"Haruka-san?" Sakura asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but you seem a little out of sorts. Is something wrong?"

Haruka laughed. "No, nothing's wrong. I'm a bit annoyed because of the Branch House brown-nosers that have been following me around... 'Haruka-sama, Haruka-sama!' But they're just an inconvenience. Nothing's wrong, nothing at all..."

Sakura didn't buy it. Haruka was making an effort to act normal, but her eyes still looked dull, lifeless, and there was a hollowness to her laugh. The medic thought hard, wondering what could be bothering her. After a moment, something clicked.

"Haruka-san, where is Keisuke-san? Is he injured? Is that why you're upset?"

Sakura knew she'd struck gold in the next instant. Haruka's eyes flickered with momentary fire, and her brow twitched.

"No, he's not," Haruka said. "Though he will be when I find him... What, does he think I'll miss him while he's hiding out in the woods, playing his damned joke? I don't! Who'd miss an idiot like him, anyway?"

Haruka forgot Sakura entirely and stormed away, absorbed in her own thoughts.

Hiding in the woods? Sakura thought. Practical joke? Somehow, I don't think that's what happened. Oh! Was Keisuke-san captured?

She pondered the possibility as she walked the last block to the tower. Naruto and Hinata-chan are coming together, she thought. Haruka-san and Keisuke-san have been torn apart.

Her breath caught in her chest, and her heart began to beat faster as she opened the door. Her anxiety was back in full swing as she entered the elevator and typed the code that would take her to the ANBU high-security facility below.

What is going to happen to me?

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Morino Ibiki let the boy scream one last time, and then held his hand up, commanding a halt in the process.

"A little respite, gentlemen," he said. "This work makes me thirsty. And if we don't give him a break soon, he could die before we get anything out of him."

He moved for the door, intent on getting himself a glass of cool water. He'd been in there for only twenty minutes, but he'd already dealt enough pain to make even his hardest prior subject spill his guts. Normally, he liked to take things slower, but this was a special case. He was already proving to be the toughest shell yet, and he might be many times tougher still. It was going to take a lot of energy, but he was determined to crack the boy wide open.

As he opened the door, however, his eyes met with a head of pink hair. He nodded to himself in his mind; he'd expected the girl to show up here at least once. He moved out of her way courteously and closed the door behind her, forgetting his water for the moment. Haruno Sakura, the boy's former teammate, might have a certain ability to get under the Uchiha's skin that he, Ibiki, did not, and so he had decided beforehand to let her in if she showed up. Standing against the wall near the door, he waited to see what would happen.

The boy reacted with a sneer.

"Sakura," he said, "If you're here to try to talk sense into me again, it's too la..."

CRACK.

Ibiki and all of the ANBU present were shocked as the girl's fist slammed into Sasuke's jaw, making a horrible, sickening crunching sound as the bones fractured. None of them had expected this. They had been anticipating an exchange of questions, pleading, and argument. Under no circumstances had anyone ever, ever imagined Haruno Sakura walking into the room and punching a helpless Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke himself seemed mortified. He could no longer speak with his lower jaw broken, but the wide eyes and gutteral cry spoke enough for his feelings.

Sakura did not stay to watch his reaction. As soon as she'd finished, she turned on her heel and strode right back out the way she'd come. An alarmed ANBU found his coordination and opened and closed the door for her.

For a long moment, the room was motionless and silent. Then Ibiki found his wits.

"You," he said, pointing at the ANBU who had worked the door, "Get Tsunade-sama... no, she's busy, get Shizune-sama. If the boy is going to talk, he'll need his mouth fixed."

"H-hai, Ibiki-sama."

Ibiki watched the young ANBU go, then turned his gaze back onto Sasuke. Blood was dribbling out from between his lips, and his eyes remained open wide in stark disbelief. He didn't seem to quite comprehend what had been done to him. Ibiki himself was still having trouble believing it.

That girl, he thought, has matured quite a bit in the last three years.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Mmmrrrgh..."

"Naruto-kun?"

"Mmmrrmph."

"Naruto-kun, are you awake?"

"Mmmph... huh? Sasuke!"

Naruto suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed, casting his eyes about for his treacherous former teammate.

"N-Naruto-kun, calm down. Sasuke-san is with the ANBU now, everything is okay..."

As his eyes finally adjusted to wakefulness, Naruto began to take in his surroundings. He realized that he was in Konoha's hospital. All about him were clean walls and linen bedsheets, fake plants, the patient file in the rack by the door, and sitting at the edge of his bed...

"Hinata?" he said, recognizing his roommate. "How long have I been here?"

The girl breathed a relieved sigh, glad that he was awake and had his wits about him. "We were admitted to the hospital nine hours ago, Naruto-kun," she said. "Sakura-chan was here with us also, but she left us thirty minutes ago."

"Oh," Naruto said. "And Sasuke? You said the ANBU had him?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes. Kakashi-sensei said that they plan to interrogate him as soon as he wakes up, to learn what they can from him about Orochimaru."

"Well, that's a good thing, I suppose," Naruto said, relaxing against his headboard. "It would be better if I could do the interrogating, but Tsunade obaa-chan would never let me..."

Hinata made no comment. She had feared that he would feel entitled to the decision of justice for Sasuke, and was pleased to see that he was not being so fanatical about it now. She didn't know how quickly that would change, however, so she felt it was best not to talk about it. She was spared the difficulty of finding something else to talk about by the loud rumblings of Naruto's stomach.

"Whoa," Naruto said. "I forgot that I haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon. I knew I should have grabbed some ramen on the way out of the village."

Hinata smiled—here was a chance to get his thoughts off of Sasuke and on to other things... preferably her.

"It shouldn't be to late to get some now," she said. "I'm feeling well enough to move; would you like me to see what I can find in the hospital kitchen?"

Naruto's face brightened. Free food? He was there.

"Sure, Hinata-chan." he said cheerfully.

Flushing with pleasure at the honorific that Naruto rarely used in conjunction with her, Hinata got up and began to walk out of the room. She was just reaching for the door handle when Naruto's voice stopped her.

"Wait a minute. Before you go, I have a question."

Hinata turned to look back at him. She thought at first that it might have something to do with the food, but when she saw the serious, soul-piercing look in his blue eyes, she thought differently. Something important was on his mind. Her nerves began to prickle.

"Y-Yes?"

Naruto paused, as though carefully considering his thoughts.

"Last night..."

Hinata's heart rate increased. "Yes?"

"When you said, 'your life is as valuable as mine,' what did you mean?" Naruto was less immature than he had been three years ago. He had his suspicions about what she might have meant. The problem was, if it was what he thought it was, he had no idea what his reaction would be. There was, however, only one way to find out, and that was to confront her directly. They had just survived an incredibly rough battle together; what better time was there than now to ask?

He watched as the girl's cheeks colored and her eyes refocused from his face onto the floor. For a moment, he thought that she was going to fall back into her shy habit and give an unintelligible answer. But then, she seemed to take on a fresh determination. Though she remained red, she looked him squarely in the eyes, as she had done the night before. Her hands were clasped in front of her, but she did not fidget.

Her mouth opened.

"Na..."

"Naruto-kun!" interrupted another voice, "I heard that Sakura-san was in this room! Do you know where she went?"

Hinata started. "L-Lee-kun?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know where Sakura went off to. You might want to try the Hokage tower, though, since she has to report there sometime anyway."

"Ah, I see!" said the green-clad young Chuunin. "Thank you. I wish you a speedy recovery, Naruto-kun! And you, Hinata-san. Neji sends his love, as well, though he is currently very busy with things at the Hyuuga estate."

"Ah... thank you, Lee-kun." Hinata said.

Lee gave a wink and a toothy smile, and with a parting, "Sayonara!" was on his way.

Hinata stood at the door uncomfortably. Naruto gave an encouraging gesture.

"Okay, okay. What were you gonna say, Hinata?"

Hinata swallowed. She hadn't counted on being interrupted. She had to take a moment to collect her resolve once again. It didn't take long; within a few seconds, she was ready again.

"Naruto-kun..."

"Hinata!" yelled another voice from the doorway. "You're all right, huh? Did your sister come back okay?"

Naruto and Hinata turned their faces to the source of this new intruder. Kiba was there, looking into their room from a wheelchair. Akamaru sat comfortably on his right side, tail wagging happily.

"Kiba!" Naruto shouted. "What the heck happened to you?"

"Long story," Kiba said. "Got into a nasty fight with a couple of enemies over Hinata's little sister. I got whipped. Luckily, Shino's folks got me to the medics in time. I was almost a goner there!"

"Well," Naruto said, "It's good that you didn't die... I still owe you a rematch, after all."

Kiba chuckled. "Yeah, I forgot about that. Let's both concentrate on getting better first, okay?"

Naruto grinned, "Sure. But watch out once I'm out of here. Take it easy, dog-breath."

"You too. Glad to see you're okay, Hinata. Make sure this idiot keeps out of trouble."

"Thank you, Kiba-kun," Hinata said. "I-I will."

Kiba rolled away, Akamaru trailing happily alongside him.

"Geez," Naruto said, "Can you believe this? I didn't think we'd get interrupted this much."

Hinata silently agreed. It was beginning to frustrate her as well. I won't let it happen again, she thought, and closed the door tightly. Stepping forward, she looked at Naruto again, determined to speak the words before she lost her chance.

"Naruto-kun, I..."

SLAM.

"Naruto-kun! Get up and get dressed."

"Ah, not again!" Naruto cried. "Haruka-nee-chan, we're a little busy right now..."

"I don't have time for busy," Haruka said, annoyed. "I've had enough of being put off. I'm doing it now, and you're going to help me."

Naruto sighed. It seemed that there was no avoiding it.

"Help you what, Haruka-nee-chan?"

Haruka's face was full of indestructible purpose.

"Help me find Keisuke."

OoOoOoOoOoOo End Chapter Twenty-Eight oOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: I was tempted to put a really, really evil cliffhanger before the first interruption, but I thought better of it. So... everybody okay with where this is going? Or do I need to convince anybody that this is the right way?