Holy cow it's chapter 3!! Yay! I can't believe I've made it this far. (I have a short attention span for making fanfics). But I will finish this one. I know what I'm going to do, but I got to write it all down.
Thanks for all the reviews! I love you all and it really helps me write and think of stuff. Okay, I'll stop and let you read the next chapter.
Disclaimer: The honor of owning Naruto does not belong to me.
A small breeze drifted through the training area sending leaves loose of their birth homes on the tree, and into a spiraling dance on the winds. Hinata and Naruto stood facing each other 10 feet apart. Hinata's hair shifted a little in the wind as Naruto stared down at her. He really didn't want to fight her, not while she was in this condition.
"Please don't hold back too much Naruto-san." She had said moments before.
'Yeah right. Like I'll even be able to throw a punch at you.' He thought to himself.
"Are you two ready?" Ino asked from the sidelines.
Hinata nodded and raised her fists into a fighting position. Naruto merely gulped and then nodded. He could feel a death glare coming from Neji as he stood there trying to figure out a way to talk himself out of it. But it was too late.
"Go!" Ino shouted and Hinata rushed at him.
She threw the first punch, but he was so out of it, he was hit and took a few steps back. She may not have her memory, but her punch still had some power behind it. Naruto's first thought was to strike back. But instead he saw a fist coming towards him. He grabbed it with one hand and then punched back with his other. Just before the punch connected, he remembered it was Hinata he was fighting and didn't put as much power into the punch as he had planed.
Hinata and Naruto stood frozen as the punch hit. One of Hinata's fists in Naruto's palm, Hinata's spare hand had been pulled back ready for another punch, while Naruto's hand… wandered a little higher than where he meant to hit.
Hinata turned a scarlet, as she had done in the past. And Naruto was still trying to process what he was doing. Once it sunk in, he jumped back. "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he repeated over and over, backing away slowly.
Hinata had lowered her arms and now was crossing them in front of her where she was hit, her face was still red. Naruto didn't dare look at the others of the group, but he could feel the death glares he was receiving.
Okay, he stole a glance over there. Shikamaru seemed extremely lost. Sakura, Tenten, Ino, and Neji were giving him death glares. Kiba and Choji's mouth was hanging open and Shino didn't have an expression that could be seen.
As soon as he looked at the group he looked back at the red Hinata. She was still standing in the same position, and Naruto was trying to decide if she was mad, upset, or shocked.
With his attention on Hinata, he didn't see the angry Sakura coming his way with a fist. The next thing he knew, there was a rather large bump on his head and Sakura was yelling at him. Due to the conk on the head, he wasn't able to understand any of the words that the pink-haired kunoichi was saying. But he did understand the wall of people that were separating him and Hinata.
He finally understood some of the words that were being yelled at him, but it wasn't just Sakura who was yelling, it seemed like half of the people were yelling. Not at him, but to anyone.
TenTen and Lee were yelling at each other. Kiba and Choji were ganging up on Ino, who was yelling back and winning. Neji was trying to keep his voice down, but still kind-of yelling at Hinata. And Shikamaru and Shino were just there.
Naruto finally got his head straight and was able to hear what Sakura was saying. Which was still kind-of hard to hear over everyone else; but it was along the lines of "How could you do that? That is inexcusable! I don't care if you have been training with Jiraya-sama, this is no excuse!"
"Okay, okay, Sakura. I get it!" Naruto told her rubbing his head. He could feel a bump forming as he rubbed it. He stood up and Hinata gave him a look. It wasn't a dirty look; it was a mix between a blush and it-is-okay look.
Naruto gave her a small smile in return and then looked at Neji. He walked over and said, "It wasn't her fault. It was mine. Just don't yell at her anymore."
Neji gave him a surprised look and everyone was looking at him. Maybe it was the way he had said it. Tired and low, very un-Naruto like. Then there was the fact that he had spoken to Neji.
But that really didn't count.
Naruto walked to Hinata and apologized. "I'm sorry. It was my fault. I didn't mean to."
Hinata shook her head. "No, it was my fault, I made you fight. Then you held back and…" she trailed off and blushed again.
Neji glared at Naruto. "This is no excuse Hinata-sama. I think that Naruto might have meant to do that."
"What?!" Naruto half yelled. His head started to hurt where Sakura had hit him. "Why don't you scan me with those eyes of yours then."
Ino and TenTen began to giggle. Sakura was still mad and Hinata didn't get it. The other boys didn't understand why two girls were giggling and why it had all gone quiet.
Neji gave Naruto another look and then soften a little. Very little. "Fine. I believe you." Clearly he didn't need the bygaugan to see if he was telling the truth.
Naruto gave a small sigh of relief as the older Hyuuga in their group turned to the younger one.
With a yawn, Shikamaru merely stated, "I suppose we should get going."
"Why?" Kiba asked turning to the lazy ninja.
Shikamaru lifted a finger and pointed to the sun. The rest of the group looked in the direction of the finger, but had to readjust their gazes lower to see the setting sun that was starting to touch the horizon.
Choji nodded in agreement. "We should go and eat dinner."
Ino gave her teammate a disgusted look. "That's all you ever think about isn't it?" A shrug was her response.
"Choji's right." Neji said turning to the group. "I'll get Hinata-sama back home. You all should go home too."
"Can I say one thing please." Hinata asked Neji.
"Of course." Neji answered her, giving her room to speak to everyone.
Hinata gave him a smile and stepped closer to the group. She bowed to them with her hands in front of her and while still looking at the ground she said, "Thank you so much for today."
Naruto had to smile. He stretched his arms over his head and crossed them behind his head. He grinned as he said, "Don't worry about it."
Hinata stood back straight and smiled once again to the group.
After that, everyone said their good-byes and left for their homes. Naruto headed for the Ichiraku ramen shop. He sat down, ordered a miso ramen from Teuchi, and waited for it to come.
As he waited he stared down at the counter. His thoughts wander over to the last few months. How the search for the Hyuuga heir started and down to the last hour that just pasted.
His train of thought was broken by a bowl of steaming hot ramen that was placed in front of him.
"You seem really out of it Naruto-kun." Ayame said taking note of the blond.
"Really? Sorry." Naruto said with a forced laugh.
"Ayame, leave Naruto-kun alone," her father told her. "He's probably just thinking of what to order for tomorrow."
Ayame giggled. "Okay, okay." And she walked to the back of the store to make some more noodles maybe.
Naruto gave then a relatively normal smile, thanked them for the food, and began to eat at a normal pace. Or at least on what he felt like it was a normal pace. It was hard to tell what his usual eating pace was since he never paid attention before, and now when he needed to act normal, he couldn't.
After eating his dinner he left a tip for the workers and went home. He walked slowly, his mind racing. Even after the meal he didn't feel full. It was like there was a hole in his stomach that no amount of food can fill. It was gnawing at the insides of his stomach and he wished it would just leave him alone.
Naruto got home, showered, dressed, brushed his teeth, and climbed into his bed. By now it was late and half of the village was a sleep.
Naruto could feel the essence of sleep in the back of his head, but no matter what he did, he couldn't sleep.
His thoughts kept going back to Hinata. Back to three months ago. Back to this afternoon. Back to years ago.
Why was this coming to him now?
He turned to his side and stared straight ahead. There was no moon out tonight, so his room was completely dark.
What was this feeling in his chest? And why didn't it go away?
He turned back onto his back and stared at the ceiling, trying to see any shapes that could be there.
Why were these thoughts of Hinata coming to him now? He felt something in his chest as he thought of Hinata. He lifted his hand and placed it over his heart. He could feel his grip on his shirt tighten as sleep finally came to him.
Why?
The next morning came and Naruto woke up by the light of the sun. He didn't feel rested; he hadn't slept well during the night. His dreams had been troubling and he kept tossing and turning.
He pulled himself out of bed and forced his legs to get him into the bathroom. Rubbing his eyes from the sleep, he looked in the mirror. The lack of sleep he got showed in his face, but he should be able to look more presentable before seeing anyone for today.
So he did have to meet with someone. And yesterday wasn't a dream. Hinata really did lose her memory.
A pull at some of his heartstrings woke him fully. Why? Did he think of it as his fault, like how he lost Sasuke?
No. He shouldn't think like this.
He splashed water on his face. This wasn't the time to be thinking about something like that. Hinata needs his help now, Sasuke can wait. Hinata tried to help him before, and now is his chance to help her back.
Inspired, Naruto completed the morning ritual of bathroom necessities, breakfast, changing, and cleaning up after himself. After he was satisfied with the condition of his home, he locked the door and headed out for the rest of the village.
He started to walk around with a smile on his face.
"Looks like you're feeling better Naruto," a voice next to him said.
Naruto looked to his right and saw Sakura there. She had fallen into step next to him.
He gave her a big grin. "I guess. Why would you say that?" he asked narrowing his eyes at her.
She laughed. "It's just that yesterday you seemed rather downcast."
"I did?" the blond asked tilting his head to the side.
Sakura nodded.
Naruto was about to more when an out-of-breath Kiba popped out in front of them. "There you are." He said breathing hard.
"Kiba? What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"Hokage-sama has called an emergency meeting about Hinata," he said finally getting his breath back.
"What?!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at the same time attracting attention from the villagers nearby.
"Yeah, you better come quick. Neji's even worried." Kiba explained running off again.
What can be so bad that Neji's worried? Stay tuned to find out!
And incase you have been following my posting patterns, I post a new chapter in the start of the month. The second week the latest. So if something should go wrong, you'll know that I ran out of ideas and you can spam me as much as you want.
