Chapter 8:

Naruto's apartment couldn't be close enough. They both felt as if they had escaped something that could of ended badly. There was a mix of feelings of both anger and earnest fear. Hinata, whose arms were wrapped around Naruto with his support, had thoughts flying through her head.

Why me

What did I do to deserve this

Why did he help me

Eventually they reach his apartment and he pulls out a chair for Hinata to sit on.

"Just hang here I'm going to get some alcohol and band-aids for your wounds." He runs off into the bathroom and grabs his first aid kit.

"Here, lets try this." Naruto pulls out an alcohol wipe and presses it against her cuts and scrapes. The white wipes soon turn red with her blood.

She lowers her head in embarrassment, only nodding in thanks. Naruto, wanting to clear the air and lower the tension, finally speaks up.

"Are you okay Hinata? Tell me, how's your lip?"
"I'm fine. It's fine."

"Oh good." He dries up her wounds with a napkin then applies band-aids on them.

"Here." Naruto shows Hinata the design of the band-aids that he used. They were cute chibi cats on top of floating beds of flowers.

Hinata lets up a smile, "Can you believe it?" she says, "Can you believe that I've on been here for a few days and I already have enemies out to get me?"
She crumbles the napkin she has in her hand leaving the blood that was on it to stain her fingers in anger.

"Hinata..." He says.

"I'm scared, Naruto." Her shaking fumbles her normally confident words. "I'm scared..."

These words reach his heart to its core.

"Don't worry Hinata, I'll make sure they don't even touch you ever again."

"Thanks."

After a few minutes he takes all the dirtied bits and pieces of the first aid kit and tosses it into the trash. Without asking he brews a pot of coffee for the both of them.

Handing her the mug he says, "Here, take this."
"Hm?"
"My mom… well, my mom used to always give me coffee, and we'd drink it together. It help'd us feel better, sorta. I don't know, it's kinda weird I guess."
"No!" She shakes her head, "Not at all. I think it's neat. Thank you."

She takes a sip from her coffee.

"That tastes really good!"

"I'm glad you like it. I try to make it like how my mom used to."

After taking another sip she asks, "Hey Naruto, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, bet."
"What were you doing out there? How did you know I'd be in trouble?"

Naruto almost gags on his coffee. He gazes into his cup and twiddles with his fingers against the warm mug.

"Well, I guess you could say that I smelled something fishy. I don't know."
Hinata smiles and says, "Out of experience I presume?"

Naruto feels like a stalker. He didn't want to feel that way, but essentially he was stalking her. It worked out much to their benefit.

"You could say that. They have been around for a while."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've had a fan club since grade school. All they do is harass me both mentally, physically, and to be honest, it's borderline sexual harassment as well. Sadly a lot of people think harems are fun and quirky but let me tell you, in real life they're the total opposite. They never leave me alone."

"Haha! You've got a school full of stalkers around you, that's hilarious!"
Naruto laughs along with her at the absurdity of his situation. In hindsight he finds his perspective pretty funny.

"Hey now, remember that I didn't cause this!" He says jokingly.

"I know, I know." She says while she looks at her watch. "Oh, its already late. I think I should go back to my apartment."

Naruto walks her to the door and opens it for her. As soon as he closes it behind her he puts his ear against the door to listen for footsteps. He waits a solid minute, but he hears no sound.

Oh no, I can't hear her! Maybe I should have walked her to her apartment door!

He pulls open the knob and the door flies open. Before him Hinata stood in the same position she left him. Her hand raised in a knocking position. They both stood quietly motionless.

"Uh..." Naruto mumbled.

"Hey can I stay over at your apartment tonight?"

"HM?!"
"I'm scared. I'm still so shaken up from what happened earlier that I don't know if I can sleep all alone. That's why..." She turned her face away in slight shame, "That's why I'm asking if I can stay here the night!"

She says this so loudly. As if she didn't say it, these words were pushed out of her mouth with all of the force in her body.

He stares at the embarrassed girl in front of him.

"I guess that'll be okay. Just for tonight."
She immediately hugs him tightly and says, "Thank you so much! I promise that you'll barely notice that I'm even hear!"

They both change into more comfortable clothes to get some sleep. Once they're both dressed in their pajamas Naruto looks at his bed longingly, but then goes to his couch.

"I guess I'll just sleep on the couch tonight. It suits me, my dad used to all the time." He says under his breath with disappointment.

Hinata grabs his hand and turns him around forcefully.

"No, no!" she says loudly, "Remember? I just said that you'll barely notice me! There's no way I'm letting you sleep on the couch. Let's just go to bed together."

This broke Naruto. He couldn't even form a reply. Narutos embarrassment transferred onto Hinata.

"I didn't mean like that!" she says. "What I meant to say was that we could sleep on opposite sides of the bed. Besides… I would like to be near someone tonight. I don't think I could even sleep alone right now."

"Oh, I see. That's OK then."

Naruto and Hinata get onto the bed, from opposite sides of course. They both look at the ceiling from the blankness of their side.

"Hey Naruto?"

"Yes Hinata?"

"Doesn't it kinda feel like we're a married couple sleeping like this? In the same bed."
He tries to shove the feelings away but is unsuccessful.

"Good night." She says.

Naruto claps his hands, causing the lights to turn off in the bed room.
"Good night."

Sleep

Naruto doesn't normally dream. He can't even remember the last time he had one. When he was a child he used to go on wild adventures in distant lands, but now as a teen its a rare occurrence.

Narutos Dream

This dream takes him into a vast, white room that is submerged in light. Countless pictures of Hinata hand on the nothingness of the void, hovering in the air. Behind him is a picture, behind it is written 'go through the door'. A door comes from out of nowhere in front of him. He feels a key sneak into his palm which he uses to open the door.

Once he goes through it he sees what was waiting behind it. Hinata is on his bed, covered in blankets, waiting for him.

"I thought you'd never come." She says

"What are you saying?"
"Whatever you want me to say, this is a dream after all."
He walks over to the her side and joins her in bed sitting up. Naruto grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her up to his embrace and hugs her tightly as ever.
"Hinata, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes."
"Do you… do you like me?"
"I..."
The everlasting light in his dream blinds his vision and opens up his dream causing him to wake up from his deep slumber.

"It was only a dream, I guess I should probably get up." He says. But he's stopped by Hinatas head laying on his open arms that are wrapped around her. He blushes and slyly tries to shake his arms away from her which wakes Hinata up.

"Oh… good morning Naruto. Getting friendly, I see." she says with a slight giggle in her voice. Naruto notices that she doesn't try to pry out of his arms.

"I'm sorry! I just woke up and we were like this and..."
"No worries." She says. "Its alright. Lets just get ready for school!"

"Sure." he says.

They both get dressed back up into their school clothes.

All dressed up and ready for school, Hinata says, "Lets eat breakfast together!".