Hey everyone, thanks for reading so far. This is the chapter that made me decide to write this fanfic, which is my first attempt at creative writing. :) I've been having a lot of fun and appreciate the followers, the favs, and the reviews!

Chapter 37

Hinata leaves the village:

As she prepared herself to leave the village she decided to see Naruto one last time. She walked lightly up the stairs of his apartment and could see him through the window. She didn't want to be noticed, but just needed to be sure that leaving was the right thing to do. As she watched him cook his ramen she thought about how much she loved him, and loved spending time with him. She was reminded that she couldn't live a life of pain and rejection and the only way to give herself a chance was to leave. She took her flower and laid it on his doorstep, taking one more look at him before leaving.

At the gates of the village she turned and took in a last look at the village before stepping down the path. As she walked down the path she imagined where her life would take her and what her future would look like when she heard footsteps directly behind her. She stopped and turned around while pulling out a kuni knife and activating her buyokigon, only to see Naruto.

"Naruto" she softly whispered as she stopped her buyokigon and slid her knife back into place without losing eye contact with him. Even his name seemed to be painful.

"Hinata," Naruto returned. She noticed that he was holding her flower in his hand, his arm down at his side.

For a moment they just stood and neither of them spoke.

For weeks Hinata had come to realize that Naruto could never love her, and she couldn't live in the leaf village any longer knowing that she was completely in love with someone who could never love her back. For many months also Naruto had come to realize that he had feelings for Hinata and had inherited a shyness that was new to him. He didn't talk to Hinata anymore than completely necessary and couldn't think when he was around her. She had grown so much and was so strong, and he admired her bravery as a shinobi more than anyone else in the village. He also felt responsible for the death of her cousin Neji Hyuga, and he had a hard time living with that guilt.

Naruto gently broke the silence with a rasp in his voice "are you leaving the village Hinata?"

His voice sounded pained to her but she was unsure why…

"Yes," she answered curtly.

"Why," he pleaded, "Why would you leave?"

She knew why she wanted to leave but didn't know if she could utter that truth to the very person that she could never have. She stood there again in silence looking at the source of her broken heart, trying to find words to explain.

"Hinata, please tell me" he urged her again

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I can't" rushed out of her mouth and she turned to walk away. 'I picked a course and must stay on it,' she thought, 'I will only get in the way and be miserable if I stay.'

About 3 paces ahead, Naruto caught up to her and stepped in front of her with a fiery look in his eyes. He thought about what might have happened in the village to trigger this from her, as he clutched her flower tightly in his hand. He looked her in the eyes while he growled at her "I don't get it Hinata, whatever is wrong we can fix it, I can help you, just tell me already why you want to leave," he didn't realize that he held the flower so tightly that he crushed it.

Both of them watched in silence as the pieces fell to the ground. As they did, a tear rolled down Hinata's cheek. "Because of you, Naruto."

"Because of me? What'd I do?"

There was no way for her to leave but to tell him the truth and go on her way. Maybe this one final pain of exposing her heart, giving him the only piece of her she had left, would be enough for them to part their separate ways.

"I can't see you every day and pretend you mean nothing to me, I can't pretend that I just want to be your friend, I've told you how I feel about you and nothing will change that. The only future I have is one where I give you peace and where I start a new life for myself where I'm not reminded that my feelings are a burden to you," she choked out, "what's why I have to go Naruto."

Naruto stood there shocked, unable to speak. He had heard Hinata mention her feelings for him before, that was true, during his fight with Pain and with Madara, but he thought her feelings for him had changed because of Neji's death. He needed to tell her that what she thought wasn't true, but he couldn't even move his lips. He stared widely into her soft dark eyes as they were leaking tears down her porcelain cheeks.

"Goodbye Naturo," she spoke as she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

She stepped past him and left the village