I think I'm gonna end this next chapter. It just feels right.

Enjoy.

The springs of Naruto's tattered old mattress let out a squeal as he attempts to shift into a more comfortable position. His eyes, heavy with exhaustion, continue to stare at the ceiling of his bedroom. Although utterly tired, the feelings of embarrassment and uneasiness in the pit of his stomach still linger from last night's outing.

Since then, he's received exactly ten missed calls, four voicemails, and 14 text messages. Naruto does not respond to any of them. Instead, he listens to the constant vibrations of his cellphone and anxiously waits for them to pass. When they do, he continues to silently berate himself for his foolishness.

Honestly, how did he manage humiliate himself like that in front of all his friends? Especially Hinata.

He knows she's asked on more than one occasion if he'd be alright on his own, and he still let his pride get the best of him. Hinata is someone that Naruto wants to impress the most. He wants to make her smile as bright as she did when he placed gentle kisses on her flushed skin. He wants to hear the beautiful laugh she produces when he tells a joke.

Dream Hinata thinks of him as perfection, and Naruto has to admit that she made him feel perfect in every single way.

But the real Hinata? Surely after last night she thinks of him as a broke loser who isn't worth any more of the time that she so generously had given him in the first place. A part of Naruto knows that Hinata would never think of another person like that. If she's the same woman in his dreams, then she's much too kind for that.

However, his anxiety gets the best of him.

It hounds him all the way to the dark recesses of his mind, and for an entire day, Naruto does not eat or sleep. He thinks. He thinks about the upcoming rent due in a week. He thinks about the looks of pity his friends throw at him, as if he really needs it.

He begins to think about how lonely he truly is, with no one who, at the end of the day, is there to greet him, take his mind off of the long day he's had, and embrace him for as long as they can. Sasuke has something like that. Sai has something like that.

All of his friends have that companion – or at the very least, someone that's willing to do it for them.

All Naruto has are the memories of his dreams about Hinata, and the impossible wish that they can become whatever it is they were in those beautiful dreams. The tears that well in his eyes trickle down and soak the pillow underneath him for hours until there are no more tears for him to produce.

Instead, he lies in bed with puffy red eyes and a heavy heart.

From the blinds of his window, Naruto can see the sun begin to set. The orange and red colors in the sky mix together so effortlessly, and he can tell that it's almost 6 P.M. His doorbell rings, and his heart rate speeds up as he lies deathly still in bed.

And after his doorbell stops ringing, his phone begins to buzz once more. Naruto lets out a groan, wishing his friends would get off his back about that silly night. It's probably Sakura out there, who brought along a begrudging Sasuke in an attempt to get them to make up.

Or maybe Ino's outside with Choji and Shikamaru, desperate to know about Naruto's miserable lifestyle.

After 15 painfully long minutes have gone by, Naruto manages to get out of bed, despite how badly his body protests. It's a slow and sluggish walk to the front door, and the absolute mess in his apartment isn't helping to improve his mood in the least.

Cerulean eyes peek through the peephole, but whoever rang his doorbell for five or so minutes is gone. What catches his eyes is a plastic bag, filled with what, he isn't sure. Naruto opens the front door, and a shiver crawls up his spine due to the surprisingly chilly weather outside.

Upon further inspection, the plastic bag is from the local supermarket, and contains a few snacks from what he can tell. Naruto takes it inside and sits at the kotatsu table to examine its contents. There are barbecue flavored chips, instant ramen, a couple of packaged rice balls and some cans of juice.

As he eyes the snacks, his stomach lets out a fearsome grumble, and Naruto decides it'd be best to eat something. After all, he hasn't eaten a full meal since… well, he can't remember the last time he's eaten like that.

As he fishes out one of the rice balls, a smooth surface rubs against his hand, and Naruto recoils from the bag before reaching out to retrieve whatever it was that touched him. It was a neatly handwritten note, and with narrowed eyes, Naruto's eyes scan over it.

The note reads:

Naruto-kun,

I wasn't sure which snacks you liked, so I really hope you'll enjoy what I got. Everyone wants to talk to you, and to know how you're doing, including me. Don't forget to eat. And please, don't be afraid to call or text.

– Hinata

With each time Naruto reads over the note, his chest tightens, as does his grip on the card. She's being so kind to him. She's being so patient with him. He wants to reach out to her for help, he really does, but something in him won't allow it.

Is it because he doesn't want to seem needy? Or maybe it's because he doesn't want embarrass himself further by asking for something they all know he desperately needs. He places the note down on the table and rests his heads in his hands.

Where has his style of brashness and forwardness gone? It isn't hard to dial a number and say, "I need help."

It's not supposed to be this hard, he thinks later that night, right after he decides to give up on texting Hinata.

"Hey, watch how you're pouring that tea! That stuff's hot!" Kiba cries out. Hinata, who had been serving her guests, let the glass overflow considerably. As Shino scrambles to clean the mess on the table, Hinata apologizes profusely.

Once the mess is properly cleaned up, Kiba scratches the back of his head with a sigh. "Jeez Hinata, someone could've got burned. What were you doing spacing out like that anyway?"

"I didn't mean to, I just…" her voice trails off. For an entire week now, the person who frequently occupies her thoughts is Naruto. She sometimes loses sleep over whether or not he's eaten anything, or if he's taking care of himself.

No matter how many text messages she sends, or how many times she calls his phone, he doesn't answer her. Then she panics. Is this what her dreams were alluding to as well? She remembers no matter how hard she tried to help, it always ended up with the same result.

With each unanswered phone call, Hinata wonders if something terrible has happened to him. "I um… I'm just really worried about Naruto-kun."

The room is tense when she mentions his name. Shino slides his glasses up on his face and Kiba gazes off to the side, scratching his cheek with his index finger. It's as if Akamaru can sense the feeling in the room too, because he buries his head into his paws and lets out a whine.

"We're all worried about Naruto," Shino speaks. "This is rather unlike him, and I never thought he'd be hiding something as big as this."

"Yeah, tell me about it. And no one's heard from him since that night." Kiba sighs, and lightly drums his fingers on the table. "I thought inviting him out would be a good thing but we all saw how that went. And I keep thinking that this is all my fault."

Hinata shakes her head. "You were only being considerate, Kiba-kun. I don't think Naruto-kun would hold anything against you…"

"I know, he's not really the type for that but man, I dunno…" Kiba pauses momentarily. "I just think if I was more sensitive about it, this whole thing coulda been avoided, know what I mean?"

An almost bone-crushing silence fills the air before Hinata manages to say, "I went to go see him last week. Just to check up on him."

Shino's posture straightens. "And what happened?"

"He didn't answer the door. And when I called, he never picked up," she explains. "I just stood there for a while before I left the grocery bag in front of the door. I'm… not even sure if he took it, to be honest."

"Damn," Kiba breathes. "…Should we just barge in? What if he's not alright?"

"I don't think that's our call to make," Shino says. "Why? Because Naruto is probably tired of us bothering him. No one's stopped trying to reach him since last Saturday. Give him at least a day to recharge."

Everything in Hinata's heart is screaming that this isn't what Naruto needs. For someone with so many friends and people who care about him, Naruto sure is lonely. How does something like this happen to a person as lively and friendly as Naruto?

It doesn't make any sense.

"I… I'd like to check on him at least one more time," Hinata says. "I just have a really bad feeling about this in the pit of my stomach, and if anything were to happen, I'd feel horrible."

"As nice as it is, why are you so adamant about it, Hinata?" Shino asks. "You just met him not too long ago, after all."

She's thought the same thing countless times, and the only thing she's ever come up with is how selfish she truly is. When her reasoning leaves her lips, Shino and Kiba are confused, and rightfully so. "I guess I should start from the beginning…"

Then, Hinata fills them in on everything. The moment the two of them locked eyes, when he chased her down on his bike, his time at the hospital and her horrible dreams – all of it. She tells them of how the guilt plagues her mind ever since their outing on Saturday, and how it almost makes it hard to breathe.

She knows that Naruto doesn't resent her for it. After all, Kiba did say that Naruto isn't the type to hold grudges, but Hinata just can't help but think that if she had turned around to greet him that day, maybe she would have spared him all this pain.

"That dumbass," Kiba says before sighing. "That's not how you pick up girls at all. I can't believe he told me he was rushing to make it to the supermarket in time before it closed."

Rushing to the supermarket? Maybe Naruto was too embarrassed to tell their friends what truly happened that night, not that she blamed him. "P-please don't tell anyone else about this. If he knew that everyone knew, I'm afraid it'd crush him even more."

"We won't," Shino says. "Hinata, there's nothing to feel guilty for, and you're not selfish for wanting to help."

Even though he says that, her heart just won't allow her to think otherwise.

"That's so weird though," Kiba says, and Shino has to ask what he means. "As reckless as he is, I didn't really take Naruto as the type to chase down a girl he's never met before. Did ya ever get to ask him why?"

"No, I didn't," Hinata says. He never brought it up again, and Hinata wonders if it was out of fear of rejection. It's a normal fear to have. Hinata isn't even sure if she'd say yes. They only just met, wouldn't things be moving much too fast?

Yet at the same time, there is this indescribable connection she feels with him – as if it were fate. It's terrifying to explore – why were they fated to meet this way? There should have been a way with less pain, right?

Hinata gives a small sigh. Maybe she should ask him why he'd been so desperate to catch up to her. She has a feeling that Naruto wasn't just flirting with her when he called her the girl of his dreams.

Naruto is only partially clothed when he's forced to get of bed by the constant buzzing of his doorbell.

It's probably the landlord, ready to hound Naruto for this month's rent yet again. Naruto knows he's late, there is no need for a reminder every other day, and he promises to hand over the money soon – he just isn't sure where that money will come from.

Bare feet hit the wooden floor of his apartment gently and he uses his left hand to scratch the back of his head. A scowl spreads across his lips, already irritated with the doorbell. He heard it ring the first time!

He swings open the door with great force, and closes his eyes before crying out, "Dammit old man! I already told you I'm working on getting the money!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Naruto's eyes widen in shock. The look of annoyance of his face washes away immediately, and all the muscles in his body suddenly tense up. Hinata stands directly in front of him, carrying a grocery bag of what he assumes to be more snacks.

Her eyebrows knit together in confusion, and lavender eyes look him over in concern. She fixes her mouth to say something to him, but before she can get the chance, Naruto slams the door shut. It's the only thing his body was able to do in response.

Naruto inwardly groans. Why didn't he check the peephole first before opening the door? He could have saved himself so much trouble! He grits his teeth as Hinata calls for him through the door. "Naruto-kun, wait just a moment please! I really want to talk to you!"

He knows, but this is all so embarrassing. With the way he's ignored her and so rudely slammed the door in her face just now, why does she even bother putting up with him? Naruto lets out a sigh, and the fingers on this left hand ball up into a tightened fist.

"Hinata, I really think you should go back home," he spoke tentatively.

"But I don't understand…" her voice trails off, and it pains him to hear the sadness behind it. He knows how desperately she wants to help, and he knows how desperately he needs the help but he still can't find it in himself to say it.

After a few moments of painful silence, Hinata speaks up again. "At least let me give you these snacks. It's the least I can do…"

When he opens the door, there's somewhat of a hopeful look in Hinata's eye as she hands him the grocery bag of snacks. When she manages a sort of somber smile, quite unlike anything he's seen before, his heart practically rips in two.

"Hinata," he begins. "I… I'm not trying to be an ass or anything, I just–"

"I know," she cuts in. "I know it's hard for you to open up. I understand how that feels, but I know you want to be alone so I won't bother you anymore after this."

"I want you to bother me," he speaks before thinking. One part of Naruto wants to kick himself for saying something so weird while another part of him is relieved he did so. Why wouldn't he want Hinata around?

Naruto remembers all the times he lay in bed wishing for her to be real, and the way he felt when he first laid eyes on Hinata outside of those dreams. He'd be a fool to let her slip away after he's yearned for her company for so long.

She looks as surprised by his words as he does, with widened eyes and her mouth just slightly ajar. Naruto moves to say something to her, but her lips move faster. "May I come in?" she asks.

His lips curve into frown. "It's disgusting in there."

"I don't mind," she shoots back, not even missing a beat. "I won't judge you."

A cool breeze sweeps by and causes goosebumps to prickle his skin. Naruto then realizes that he's been talking to Hinata in nothing but a t-shirt and boxers for five minutes now. He begins to cringe. "You can come in, but before we talk, can I uh… put on some pants first…?"

She gasps, and averts her eyes elsewhere as the pop of color on her face grows considerably darker. "Oh, b-but of course!" she squeaks. "God, I'm so sorry…"

Naruto moves to let Hinata inside, and she scurries past him before taking off her shoes. Once he's in his black and orange plaid pajama pants, they sit across from each other at his cluttered table where he sets the bag of groceries she's purchased.

He watches as lavender eyes roam over his shabby apartment, but not in scrutiny. It's as if she's taking this all in. "It must be difficult to do the cleaning with one arm," she says quietly.

"Yeah," he says. It wasn't as if he did any cleaning before he went and broke his arm, but she didn't need to know that.

"I can help with the cleaning," she offers with a smile. "I can come in on weekends for however long you need me too."

"But I feel weird having you come in and clean for me…" Naruto says. Besides, there's so much to do around here for one person. The bathroom, the kitchen, the laundry, his living room – everything is such a mess.

He couldn't ask her to do all of that for him. "I don't want you doing this all by yourself. I can manage."

Hinata's frown speaks volumes about how she feels about that, and Naruto quickly retracts his statement. "Okay, so maybe I can't manage… but this is a lot of work to do by yourself."

She looks over the place once more, and Naruto hopes that she can see that she's about to bite off a little more than she can chew. The silence in the air puts him on edge for a moment, but then she speaks, and changes the topic completely.

"What were you talking about earlier?" she asks. "About getting money?"

Naruto sighs. He really doesn't want to talk about it, but she, along with the rest of his friends, already knows about his financial situation. It'll only hurt him to remain silent about it in the end. "It's the rent money," Naruto tells her. "I'm late, and I really don't know how I'm gonna be able to scrape together any money without a job."

There is a bit of money left in his savings, but with food, rent and medical bills pulling it in three different directions, it's wearing thin.

"…Why didn't you tell me things were like this for you?" Hinata asks. "Back in the hospital, you had me believing that everything was okay… and that you were fine. Why hide everything?"

"Why?" he parrots as he casts his gaze off to the side. "I guess… I just didn't want anyone to worry about me. But look where that's gotten me," he says before giving a dry laugh.

"But everyone's worried because they care about you, Naruto-kun," she argues. "I care about you…"

There's something about the way she says it that reminds him of Dream Hinata. The warmth behind her words is something he hasn't experienced in quite a while. "Do you really mean that…?" he asks.

She nods. "I… I believe so."

What kind of answer was that? When he asks, she fiddles with the hem of her shirt. "I… I thought I was doing this because I was selfish – easing my own guilt because I felt like it was my fault that you had gotten hurt. But I don't think I'd be trying this hard if I really didn't care about what happened to you."

"…It wasn't your fault, y'know. I thought we talked about this."

"And we did." Briefly, but they did. "I remember saying that I had never been called someone's dream girl before. Why did you call me that?"

"That… I can't answer right now," Naruto tells her, fearful that he'll scare her off again with talk of his dreams about her. "But, I promise I'll tell you one day." With a grin, he sticks his left arm across the table and holds out his pinkie for her to grab.

Light laughter escapes from her lips, and Hinata wraps her pinkie finger around his own. It's a promise.

When Naruto finally has the motivation to take out the trash, he runs into his landlord – just his luck. He'd been trying to avoid him for days now. Naruto would conveniently step out during the typical hours his landlord would drop by or turn his phone off so that he wouldn't have to put up with listening to his phone ring constantly.

He tries to walk the other way, but it's no use. The old man calls out to him, and with a strained smile, Naruto turns around to greet him. It is the respectful thing to do, after all.

"Good morning to you too," he speaks as his eyes slowly trail to Naruto's right arm. "I see that arm is still bandaged up. You really must've banged it up pretty bad."

Well, there was a bone sticking out of it when he lie bleeding in the middle of the street. "Yeah, it was pretty ugly. But I get to go to the hospital soon, and I'll have everything removed, so I'll be fine," he beamed.

The old man gave a sort of wistful sigh. "Ah, the perks of being young. You all can be as reckless as you want and bounce back no problem. It truly is enviable."

Yeah, Naruto thinks, because swimming in debt is something you'd call bouncing back no problem. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Naruto says, "Hey, hey. I didn't come out here to be lectured, y'know!"

"Yeah, I know that," the landlord argues back.

Thinks get quiet between them for a moment before Naruto just can't take it anymore. "Look, old man, about the money…" he trails off. "I know I said I'd get it to you this week, but I just need a little more time, please!"

His landlord's brow furrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto blinks. "Huh?"

"I already got your rent money – four months' worth of it actually," he says matter-of-factly. "Some young lady stopped by a few days ago and told me that you told her to give it to me."

Young lady? Naruto doesn't even need a description to figure out who the culprit was, but he asks anyway. "What'd she look like?"

"Eh… kinda on the small side, dark hair… ah, and she had these weird white eyes too…" There was no mistaking it. The old man is definitely talking about Hinata. "I was gonna ask if you robbed a bank with all the money you gave me, but since you look clueless, it's safe to say that the money didn't come from you at all. Oh well."

Naruto doesn't pay the old man any mind as he walks past him. At least he'll have him out of his hair for the next four months. Still, Naruto can't help but think of what an angel Hinata is. She didn't have to go do that for him. When he thinks about her kindness, the guilt he thought he'd feel about mooching off of her isn't there.

Instead, it feels like a giant weight as been lifted from his shoulders, and his respect for Hinata has increased tenfold.

"Yah-ho!" Kiba greets cheerily in front of the doorway. Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sai, Sasuke… they're all here. As Naruto's eyes skeptically shift between the six of them, his lips purse before asking why they're all here, and why are they here so early?

Shikamaru shoves his hands into his pockets and breathes a sigh. "To be honest, I didn't want to come here so early. But I didn't wanna get home late either, so this was the better option."

Naruto's eyes narrow. "Better option for what?"

"For cleaning this place up," Sai says as he and the rest brush past Naruto and enter his apartment. "A little birdie told us that this place was a pigsty."

"Did she now?" he asks dryly as he shuts his front door.

"Well, not exactly in those words," Shino says quietly.

While he did tell her that he didn't want her to clean his entire house by herself, he didn't think she'd get all of his guy friends to come clean for him. In all honesty, he'd rather some alone time with her than have these guys make snide remarks while rifling through his messy home.

Still, Naruto is grateful.

He hasn't seen these guys in such a long time, and for them to chat and joke around as usual while they help him out – it feels like his first real step back into his normal life. The second step, Naruto knows, is talking to Sasuke, who hangs the laundry out on the balcony.

It's nerve wrecking to go out and talk to him, but when he works up the courage, the first words that leave his mouth are, "Didn't think I'd see the day that you'd help me do laundry."

Sasuke makes a face. "And it'll definitely be the last."

Naruto lets out a low chuckle. "Still, I didn't think Hinata could get you of all people to come over here and help me out."

His eyes narrow for a moment before a sudden realization hits him. "…Ah, you're speaking of Hyūga. She didn't get me to do anything," Sasuke says casually. "I thought to do this on my own." At Teuchi's, Sasuke happened to overhear Hinata telling Shino and Kiba that Naruto had a hard time cleaning his apartment and thought to help out.

When he mentioned it in passing to Sakura, she told Ino, who urged Shikamaru, Choji and Sai to help as well. When Kiba and Shino got word of this, they decided they wanted to help as well. Sasuke wasn't going to tell them they couldn't help out, so they all ended up tagging along.

"That's… really nice of you, Sasuke. I appreciate it," he smiles. "What made you decide you wanted to help out anyway?"

He shrugs. "I figured it was the least I could do."

That was the closest to an apology for their argument a few weeks ago that Naruto is going to get, not that he minds though. That's just how Sasuke is, and always will be.

He woudn't have it any other way.

Naruto looks at his right arm in awe. He's able to curl and wiggle his fingers. He's able to flex his muscles. It feels so strange to move it now since it's been in one position all this time. It kind of smells though, and the skin looks rather pale compared to the rest of him. He can't wait to go home and get a nice shower.

"This is great isn't it? Your arm is out of its cast now." When Naruto found out when he'd be removing his cast, he'd asked Hinata if she wanted to come with him. The support was much needed.

He gives her a big grin. "I know! I can't wait to start working at Teuchi's now! I'm gonna make the best ramen anyone's ever seen!"

"Naruto-kun, you heard the doctor," Hinata says. "You need to ease into things or else you'll hurt your arm again."

"Oh, right…" he sighs. Looks like getting his life on the track back to normalcy will take a while. But it isn't too bad. "Hey Hinata, thanks again for coming with me. I'm really glad you did."

She smiles. "Oh, there's no need to thank me. I was honored that you asked me to."

But there is a need to thank her – for the rent money, for her smiles, and for her just being by his side. And although he thanks her any chance he gets, it still doesn't feel like it's enough. "Hey," she starts. "I was wondering… to celebrate your cast removal, maybe we can all go out for dinner?"

Naruto's eyes widen. "You mean like a date?" he asks. When Hinata's cheeks turn a vibrant shade of red, Naruto realizes that's probably not what she meant. Soon, he can feel his own face grow warmer.

"I-I meant with everyone else…" she mumbles.

"Shit! I didn't meant to call it a date, I'm so sorry!" he cries. "Yeah! A celebration sounds great, we should do that. I'm real sorry I misheard you, I didn't mean–"

He is cut off by the sound of Hinata's light laughter. She covers her lips with her hands before she looks him straight in the eye. "I um… I wouldn't mind going on a date with you. But I've never been on one so I wouldn't really know what to do."

Her smile is coy, and her eyes are only locked with his for a second longer before she drops her gaze to the floor. He can't seem to suppress the smile on his face as well as the tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. This is exactly how those dreams of her made him feel.

He secretly pinches himself just to make sure this isn't some cruel joke, and when Naruto feels the small stinging sensation on his skin, his smile broadens.

"It's okay. I've never been on one either," he assures her. "But to be honest, I don't really care what we do."

All he wants to do is be by Hinata's side.