Chapter Four

Getting out of the Hospital

As Naruto woke up the next morning he couldn't get Hinata out of his mind. He was happy that he was finally home and to see Hinata again. But he felt bad for coming to Konoha without Sasuke because he promised Hinata when he came back he would have Sasuke with him and not only did he promise Hinata he promised Sakura, but he wasn't going to give up so easily on Sasuke…he was going to bring him back.

As he was getting up from his bed to go the bathroom to wash up someone knocked on his door. Naruto looked at the door for a while before he walked over to the door and opened it to see the pink haired Sakura standing there.

"Hello Naruto I see you're getting better ne?" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto as she blushed. Naruto was standing in front of her without a shirt on and he had a very muscular body. Sakura continued to stare until Naruto cough to get Sakura's attention.

"Yeah…I am getting better, the doctor said I can go home today" Naruto explained as he motioned for Sakura to come in. Sakura walked inside to room as Naruto closed the door.

"I kind of thought that Hinata-chan was going to be here" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto. Sakura and Hinata had become very good friends over the three years, even though Sakura was still a little jealous that she was still with Sasuke but never said anything about it. Sakura still cared about Sasuke very dearly but she knew that he couldn't love her the way she wanted him to because his heart belongs to Hinata and her only.

"…Oh yeah Hinata-chan was here yesterday but I told her to go home to get some rest…seeing that she stayed here for three days straight by my side" Naruto stated as he looked at Sakura.

"Yeah I kind of figured that she stayed here with you…she was really worried about you when she heard that you were here in the hospital and she told Hokage-sama that she wanted to stay here by your side until you woke up" Sakura explained as she looked at Naruto.

Naruto just smiled at the thought of Hinata's kindness. Sakura looked at Naruto and smiled when she saw his expression. She knew that Naruto still held feelings for Hinata and loved her but never told Hinata about it even though it was quite obvious she figured that Hinata had already known.

"S-So um…Naruto do you maybe wanna hang out today…you know to remise about the past?" Sakura asked while looking at Naruto smiling.

"Well I would love to but I promised Hinata-chan that as soon as I come from the hospital that I'll hang out with her" Naruto replied as he looked at Sakura who seemed a little disappointed.

"Well…maybe we could hang out later today" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto. Naruto turned his head away from Sakura.

"Well I promised Hinata-chan the whole day…we can always hang out Sakura-chan but today is reserved for Hinata-chan and I…I really missed her and I wanted to spend the day with her" Naruto explained while still not making eye contact with her.

Sakura was surprised that Naruto had brushed her off so quickly. She kind of missed the Naruto that use to have a crush on her but she knew that Naruto was long gone.

Naruto glanced at Sakura, he had notice that her expression had saddened. He felt bad, but he really wanted to spend the day with Hinata. He no longer liked Sakura the way he use to and never will because even though the girl that he cared for already has someone he will always love her and her only, his best friend, his number one crush…Hyuuga Hinata.

"I see…well you're right we can always spend time together…maybe tomorrow" Sakura said as she smiled at Naruto. Naruto looked at Sakura for a while before he placed a grin on his face.

"Yeah maybe tomorrow" Naruto grinned as he looked at Sakura. "Well I better get going I promised Mizuki that I'll go shopping with her today" Sakura said as she walked towards the door.

"Mizuki. Who is that?" Naruto asked with one eyebrow up.

"Mizuki is Akira's teammate…she and I became really close friends so we practical hang out almost everyday" Sakura explained.

"Akira…" Naruto said in a whisper. Naruto looked at the ground as was quiet for a while when he heard his name.

"Yeah Akira…I don't think that you have ever met him" Sakura said as she looked at Naruto. "Oh I met him…he's okay I guess" Naruto replied as he looked up at Sakura.

"Well Ja ne Naruto" Sakura said as she walked out of the door.

"Ja ne Sakura-chan" Naruto replied as he watched Sakura walk out of the door. Naruto stood still for a while thinking about Akira and the way he was looking at Hinata, but he shook it off and walked towards the bathroom to get ready.

The female Hyuuga was already up in her living room watching T.V until she heard someone knocking on her door. She rushed to the door with a smile on her face and as she opened it.

"Oh…hello" Hinata said as her smile dropped.

"You don't seem very happy to see me Hinata-sama" Neji said as he stared at Hinata. Hinata blushed. "No, it's not that I just thought you were someone else…that I was expecting that's all" Hinata explained as she motioned him to come in but he wouldn't move from his spot.

"I won't be staying long Hinata-sama I only came here to see how you were doing that is all" Neji stated as he looked at his cousin. "Oh…well I'm doing fine and you" Hinata asked as she looked at him.

"Good…I…um…um…miss seeing you at the Hyuuga manor…Hinata-sama" Neji said so lowly that Hinata hardly had picked up what he had said but she did hear him. She smiled as she looked at his embarrassed facial expression.

"…To be honest I miss being there too…but it feels right to be on my own…father probably still thinks I'm a failure doesn't he?" Hinata asked as she looked at Neji but she noticed that he wasn't answering her and knew the answer right away.

"Well it doesn't matter because I'm actually doing really well on my own" Hinata said proudly. It was the truth she was doing really well on her own but she still felt lonely ever now and then when Sasuke first left she felt alone but Naruto was there for her so she didn't feel alone anymore because he was always there for her but when he left she was completely alone. Sure she had Akira and Sakura even Gaara but neither of them were like Naruto and Sasuke who whenever she was around them she felt at peace. Well she did feel the same way around Gaara but he was hardly in Konoha, he came every blue moon. And when he did come he spends most of his time with her.

Hinata and Gaara had become friends very slowly because Gaara was very hard to talk to because he wouldn't let anyone in but he finally had opened open to her and ever since then the two had been very close. Hinata always had noticed that every time he came to Konoha he would always stare at her whenever he saw her, it really scared her and one day when she was training three years ago when she was twelve he had came to the training grounds also.

(Flashback)

As Hinata was training in the training grounds she stopped when she heard a branch break like someone was walking. When she turned around she saw Gaara. She stared at him for a while staring at him in fear. She had remembered him from their chunnin exams when he fought Lee. She noticed that he was just standing there staring at her not saying anything just staring.

"What is he up to? I wish that Shino-kun or Kiba-kun was here right about now" Hinata thought as she turned around to walked away but was stopped when he had a hold of her arm.

Hinata slowly turned around and looked at him fear spreading throughout her eyes.

"How have you been?" The red haired ninja asked as he looked at her staring into her eyes. Hinata looked at him being quite puzzled but she noticed that he still had a good grip on her arm, it didn't hurt or anything but it was Gaara after all and she didn't know what he was going to do to her.

"You're injures that you had gotten when you fought your cousin Hyuuga Neji…" Gaara asked as he looked at her. His expression seemed to soften a little as he looked at her.

Hinata was surprise to see that Gaara had asked her about her injurers, even more shocked that he had even remembered her, even though that fight wasn't too long ago.

"I'm fine now…"Hinata replied as she looked at him. She noticed that he had been go of her arm.

Gaara stared at the girl before him for a while. He had been thinking about her for a while now ever since he saw her fight him, how she never gave up even though she knew she going to lose. To be honest he wanted the girl to win in the fight against Neji even though he knew it was impossible but he wanted her to. This girl had made him feel different after time he would see her. He didn't know why but she just did.

"That's good…" Gaara said as he looked at her. As she was looking at him she could have sworn she saw him smile at her but had thought she was seeing things.

"You know…you don't have to fear me I won't hurt you" Gaara said in a monotonous tone. Hinata nodded as she looked down at the ground. She couldn't even make eye contact with him. His stare was so intense, it was too much for her.

Gaara frowned when he noticed that she wasn't looking at him. He placed his hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. He didn't do it hard but he did it in a gently way so she wouldn't be scared of him.

"Please look at me when I'm talking to you…I told you I would hurt you" the red haired boy said as he looked at the Hyuuga girl.

Hinata looked into his eyes and noticed that he had beautiful sea green eyes.

"I'm sorry Gaara-san…but I must go now" Hinata said as she looked away from him blushing. Gaara looked at Hinata and smirked as he watched her leave in a hurry. He had heard that she was dating the Uchiha and he thought that Sasuke was a very lucky boy to have someone like her. He'd never admit it though but he was very jealous.

(End of Flashback)

"I don't think that you're a failure Hinata-sama…and I'm very proud of you" Neji said as he looked at Hinata smiling. Hinata blushed as she smiled back at him.

"Thank you Neji-niisan" Hinata replied. Neji planted one more smile on his face before his face turned back into his normal straight face expression.

"Well I'm going to get going now…who were you expecting?" Neji asked as he turned his back on Hinata getting ready to walk away.

"Naruto-kun…he said he was going to stop by here" Hinata explained in a happy tone. Neji smirked to himself. He was glad that Naruto was back because when he left Hinata wasn't the same anymore, she had always seemed sad and stayed inside all of the time except when she would train. But now that he's back she's happy again and when she's happy he's happy.

Neji smiled to himself as he continued walking. "Ja ne Hinata-sama" Neji said as he continued walking. "See you later Neji-niisan" Hinata smiled as she watched him walk away. Hinata sighed as she walked back inside her apartment as she closed the door.

"I can't wait to spend the day with Hinata-chan" Naruto thought to himself as he was grinning.

"What are you grinning about Uzumaki?" The blue haired teen asked. Naruto opened his eyes to see Akira standing in front of him.

"Nothing…"Naruto replied as he slightly frowned. Akira noticed the frown and of course he said something.

"What's with the frown…I thought we were friends" Akira said with a stern expression. "Who said anything about us being friends? I don't even know you well enough for us to even be friends" Naruto shot back. He didn't mean to be so rude but he didn't like the guy. He knows that he told Sakura that he thinks he's okay but that was only partially telling the truth.

Akira stared at him for a while before he started back talking. "Well…whatever if you don't want to be my friend just say so you don't have to be so rude about it" Akira said as he stared at Naruto with a frown. Naruto looked at Akira, he knew that he only wanted friends and didn't want to act that way because he too was like that when he was younger.

"I'm sorry Akira...it's just that I'm in a hurry that's all" Naruto explained as he looked at Akira who was now looking at him without a frown.

"Oh…well you should have said so in the first place…I didn't mean to hold you up" Akira said with a smile. Naruto nodded as he waved bye to Akira.

Naruto continued walking until he finally spotted the apartments that Hinata were talking about. "Okay apartment 26B…26B…ah here it is" Naruto knocked on the door and was greeted by a very happy Hyuuga.

"Naruto-kun you're here" Hinata said happily as she smiled at her best friend. Naruto grinned at Hinata as she motioned him to come in.

Naruto walked inside as he closed the door behind him. Naruto looked around and noticed that Hinata was a very neat person. "Wow…Hinata-chan you're apartment is very nice…you're very neat" Naruto exclaimed as he sat down on Hinata couch.

Hinata blushed as she smiled at him. "So Naruto-kun what did you want to do today" Hinata asked. Hinata was no longer shy like she use to be when she was around him but there were some times when she found herself blushing around him.

"Well…I don't really know well…um…we can go to Ichiraku's, then we could go um…walking…I mean if you wanna go do something like that?" Naruto asked while blushing and scratching the back of his head.

"It doesn't matter to me what we do Naruto-kun" Hinata said as she looked at him.

"Well okay then let's get going" Naruto said as he stood up along with Hinata. Both Naruto and Hinata walked out of the door as they started their day together.