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Chapter 12: Can't Forgive
'Isn't it nice I don't have to look
far
To find the person who leaves the deepest scar
Isn't it sad
that as long as I live
I am the fuck-up
That I can't forgive'
Embrace: Can't Forgive
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(Three Weeks Later – Konohagakure)
As always, morning broke softly into the Hyuuga Compound. Small rays of light crept through the windows, weaving an intricate pattern in the shadows on the floor. Hinata, who was used to waking up to the slow fingers of light creeping across her eyes, watched with bleary eyes as the transient glowing dance spilled across her floor. The sight was an overwhelming one, beautiful and simple. Hinata, however, could not appreciate it.
Her eyes, usually expressive, were unfocussed and blank, reflecting the war going on in her head. Exhaustion and guilt battled for control, the first dragging her back down to her mattress to close her eyes and slip off into oblivion, and the second flashing images before her eyes, refusing to allow her the rest she needed.
She supposed that, at some point, she must have drifted off to sleep the previous night, because the time had passed less slowly than it should have. However, the line between nightmare and waking was so thin, that she wasn't sure how long. It couldn't have been long, she thought, because she felt as though she had gotten no sleep at all.
It wasn't that she wanted to remain awake. However, whenever she closed her eyes, she could see the mocking eyes of Orochimaru staring into her soul, picking apart her life languidly, as though bored of it, and judging her unfit.
He raised his hand to strike, mockery ablaze in his eyes, and fear shook her to the core. "So this is the heir of the Hyuuga Clan? Dear Hiashi must be so… Disappointed. Where is the vaunted Hyuuga pride? Silly little girl, you cannot even defend your pitiful teammates.'
His hand flashed downwards, and –
"Hinata! Wake up!" Her father was leaning over her, looking concerned. "You're late to your team meeting."
She bolted upright from where she had slid down her wall in her sleep, a crick in her neck scolding her for sleeping in such an uncomfortable position. To her horror, an uncharacteristic oath sprung from her lips, causing her father to raise his eyebrows. Her face quickly turned scarlet, and she mumbled an indistinct apology.
Hiashi, however, was not content to let it go at that. His eyebrows constricted in worry, and he queried, "Is something wrong, Hinata? Your behavior is most out of character for you."
"N-nothing, O-otousan."
He gave her a piercing look, and for a moment, she silently damned the Byaakugan's ability to read emotions with great ease. Her father's eyes, though deactivated, clearly were aware of her lies. After a moment, he nodded. "Well, when you decide to tell me, I am here. For the moment, I suggest that you go to your meeting before you are later than your sensei."
He left the room, and she sprang into action, throwing on a set of clean clothes, and pulling together her kit. Moments later, she rushed from her room and ran out of the compound at a flat sprint.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Naruto casually rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling the pattern of raised skin that the curse seal, and the surrounding seal that the Sandaime had applied to control in, created. "I wonder where Hinata is…"
Sasuke, who was grumpier than usual, no doubt due to the combined lateness of their teacher and teammate, harrumphed. "No doubt she figured out that there was no point in showing up on time when our teacher never does. It's a pity that you never learned that, moron, because I could have used the extra sleep."
Naruto made a rude gesture at him with the hand that was not rubbing the back of his neck. It was true that he had awakened his teammate from a sound slumber by pounding on the doorway of the building that the boy called a home. "You never know, some day, we'll all have given up on Kakashi-sensei turning up on time, and we won't be there when he actually does. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
The sole survivor of the Uchiha clan rolled his eyes at him. "As if. That will never happen."
"Wanna bet?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Well, since you're so sure that Kakashi-sensei will never show up to a meeting on time, I figured you might as well back your words up." Naruto gave a foxy grin, knowing that the proud Uchiha could never turn down a bet that was phrased in that manner. His ego would not allow it. "Since you're so sure, let's do this. If, by the time we make chuunin, Kakashi turns up on time to a meeting, you have to… I dunno… Ask an annoying fan girl out on a date. The pink-haired one. What ever her name is."
The pale boy flinched at Naruto's terms, but nodded his head. "Fine, but if you lose, you have to…" He paused, clearly trying to think of something on the level of taking Haruno Sakura on a date. "Ask… Hinata, out on a date!"
Naruto, who was sure of his victory (and not all that afraid of the consequences of defeat. After all, Hinata was a nice girl.), stuck his hand out. "Deal."
Sasuke shook his hand, grasping it more tightly than was truly necessary. For a moment, they entertained themselves with trying to crush one another's hand, but before they could succeed in their goal of rendering one another unable to pick up so much as a pencil, Hinata came sprinting into their meeting site.
Naruto's jaw dropped as she approached. Her lavender eyes were surrounded by deep circles and her pale skin was even paler. As she reached the bridge, she stuttered out an apology. "G-gomen... I fell asleep."
Her breath was coming in ragged pants, and, now that she was closer, Naruto could see that her eyes were bloodshot. Naruto peered at her in consternation. "Hinata, are you alright?"
She flushed, adding some color to her too-pale skin. "Y-yes, of course. F-fine. W-why do y-you ask?"
Her stutter had clearly come back with a revenge, and Naruto felt his concern growing. "You don't look well. Are you sick or something?"
She shook her head violently, and Sasuke gave a grunt. "You should sleep more, Hinata. If you are not rested, your practice will do more harm than good."
Hinata, who clearly wanted the whole issue to be dropped, nodded and redirected the conversation. "Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet?"
"Nope." Naruto balanced on the edge of the bridge, both hands behind his neck as he swayed back and forth with his center of gravity. "The lazy bastard is probably still asleep."
"What lazy bastard?" From nowhere, their Sensei appeared on the bridge, peering at Naruto in interest. "It's terribly rude of him to still be asleep."
"Waaaah!!!" The surprise appearance of Konoha's Copy-cat Ninja disrupted Naruto's balance, and he fell, his arms windmilling. He hit the water with a great splash. A moment later, his head appeared in the water, and he shook it like a dog. "What was that for?"
Kakashi's good eye curved upwards in an invisible smile. "What?"
The blonde paddled over to the steep edges of the river, and he dragged himself out. However, he decided it was not worth the effort of arguing with his teacher on this matter, and so he let it drop. "You're late!"
Their teacher opened his mouth to make an excuse, but Sasuke interrupted him. "Whatever. He's never on time anyway. What are we doing today?"
Kakashi arched a grey eyebrow at the foul-tempered Uchiha, but did not comment on his rudeness. "The Hokage is giving us two weeks off from missions to recuperate. We're going to spend that time working on improving chakra control."
"Why?" Sasuke protested. "I mean, we've already learned to climb trees. Why learn any more? We should be learning more powerful techniques, since we were beaten so thoroughly."
"What you learned was the most simplistic of chakra control exercises. It was a low level Genin technique, at most. While it expanded your chakra control and your reserves, to use powerful techniques, you will need more than simply tree-climbing." Kakashi paused, and glanced at Naruto. "Also… The Hokage specifically requested that we focus on them."
Naruto felt as though he had been punched in the gut. Kakashi's meaning was clear. The Hokage had insisted that Naruto was too much of a liability until the Hokage was sure that he could control the Curse Seal. 'I'm holding them back.'
It didn't bother him that he was seen as a threat. After all, he had been seen that way for much of his life, prior to being sent off to the Monastery. What bothered him was that his team was being held back by his weakness. "I-I shouldn't be holding them back."
To his surprise Sasuke was the first to correct him. "We're all going to learn this eventually, aren't we? We may as well learn it now. Besides which, you didn't ask to get that stupid thing attached to your neck."
Hinata nodded, and Kakashi patted him on the head. "Exactly what Sasuke said. If you ever want to be Hokage, you need to know these exercises anyway."
Naruto nodded solemnly, not necessarily convinced, but willing to go along. Kakashi began to walk off the bridge and onto the bank of the small river that ran through the city. To Naruto's surprise, when he reached the edge of the water, he did not stop, but instead began to walk on the water with the same ease that he had walked on the land. "How did you do that?"
Kakashi got to the other side of the river, and hopped off. "It's actually fairly easy. You use the same technique that you use to climb trees, but you expel Chakra from your feet constantly and have to be careful to keep the flow constant."
Naruto went to the edge of the water to try himself, but Kakashi stopped him. "For the moment, we'll start with still water. Running water is harder to walk on because it's moving. Meet me at Training Area 19 in 10 minutes."
With that, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke stood up from where he was leaning against the edge of the bridge and began to walk towards the Training Area (which Naruto was fairly sure was very close to their normal training area. Naruto followed, but after a second, he realized that Hinata was not along. "Sasuke, wait."
He turned around, and to his shock, the young Hyuuga heiress was asleep on the bridge. Sasuke, who had turned around, caught up with him, and joined him in watching her with concern. "Do you think something's wrong?"
Naruto made a face, and nodded. "Yeah. She's never like this, usually."
"Maybe she's just short on sleep."
Naruto made a noncommittal sound, and walked over to where his lavender-eyed teammate was sleeping. He lightly shook her shoulder, and said. "Hey, Hinata, wake up. We've got training to do."
She stirred, and with a groan of effort, forced her eyes open. Naruto watched her struggle with consciousness with an expression of concern. "Are you okay, Hinata? Maybe you're sick. If you aren't feeling well, you should go home and rest."
Hinata shot to her feet shaking her head (and narrowly missing Naruto's chin as she stood). "No!"
As her shout echoed back at her, she blushed bright red. "I mean… Um… I'm fine, r-really!"
Sasuke grunted his annoyance. "If you're sure… You need to be careful. If you fall asleep during training, you could get hurt."
She looked away, not meeting Naruto's eyes. He could see her face struggling with disappointment. After a moment, she replied, "I'm fine. I won't hold you back, I promise."
"It isn't about holding us back." Naruto protested. "We're concerned that you might hurt yourself."
Hinata shook her head emphatically, and began walking. After a moment, Naruto noted. "Um… Hinata, you're going the wrong way."
The ten minute walk to Training Area 19 was largely uneventful, but Naruto felt his concern for Hinata grow as she stumbled over her feet, and remained largely unresponsive. Twice he was forced to stop her from walking into a wall, and each time she refused to return home and rest.
In the end, they arrived at the Training Area late (albeit still before Kakashi), and stopped to gape at the sight before them. Training Area 19 was a giant water park. There were simulation rivers of different speeds and depths, a giant pool, and a number of water slides. "This is a training area? How cool!"
Sasuke laughed at Naruto's comment, and Hinata chuckled slightly. They all sat down on the edge of the pool, and waited. Hinata was slightly more awake, and she managed to carry on a conversation with them for a while. After a while, the discussion turned to Naruto's seal. Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to bring it up. "Naruto, has the seal acted up or anything?"
Naruto shook his head. "Nope. Occasionally it stings, but nothing too bad."
"Liar."
'What they don't know, can't hurt them.' It wasn't entirely a lie, either. The seal did occasionally sting, but when it stung, the feeling of fire that spread throughout him, especially to his seal, was so intense that he felt like he had suffered a point-blank blast from Sasuke's Goukakyuu. 'Besides, you said it isn't anything to worry about, didn't you,'
His tenant made no reply, so he declared himself the victor. Hinata, paying full attention for the first time since the conversation had begun, frowned at his answer. "Naruto, if it bothers you, you should tell Sandaime-sama. He was very clear about that."
Naruto grunted in response, and the subject was summarily dropped, although both Hinata and Sasuke had begun to glance at his neck every fairly regularly with trepidation.
After they had waited for nearly fifteen minutes, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. "I'm sorry; I got pulled into an interdimensional rift and was forced to fight a war to save the world."
Naruto blinked. For once he was completely at a loss to say anything. After a moment or so of absolutely shocked silence, Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well then… To work. This is Training Area 19, better known as the Suiton Complex. It's generally used by Shinobi specializing in the water element. Today, however, we are going to be using it to practice walking on water. Do you all remember my instructions from before?"
To Naruto's surprise, Hinata gave a very definite nod. He was sure that she had been asleep at that time, and so he decided a small white lie was in order. "Uh… Sensei, I sorta forgot them…"
Kakashi rolled his eyes and repeated his instructions word for word. Within five minutes, they were making their first attempts at walking on water.
When they had done the tree climbing exercise, Hinata had been the first to complete it. It had taken her only three tries to climb the tree completely, and although she had stayed and worked while her teammates did, it had clearly been no challenge for her. This time, however, she was the first to fall in.
Naruto stepped onto the water for the first time, and managed to retain his balance for three seconds or so. However, as he had been concentrating, Hinata had taken her first step onto the water, and had fallen straight in, making the water ripple, and causing Naruto to tumble into the water.
Both had come up sopping wet, while Sasuke remained atop the water for another few seconds, laughing at them. Kakashi showed them all a technique that dried their clothes fairly quickly (noting that a ninja dripping water was a ninja incapable of remaining quiet), and had warned them not to put too much energy into (Naruto had ignored him, and had promptly set his clothes on fire, before plunging into the water).
And so it continued for a few hours. Naruto was managing to stay on the water for nearly a minute at a time, and could take a few faltering steps before crashing into the deep, still pool. Sasuke had gotten to the point where, if he stood still, he could remain on the water nearly indefinitely (Naruto was happy to note, however, that Sasuke could not walk on it yet). Hinata, on the other hand, had made no progress.
She could now remain on the water for about a second, before she fell in. Kakashi had been concerned that the team member who was best at Chakra control exercises was performing so poorly, and had asked if she was alright.
To his surprise, she had vehemently insisted that she was fine, and that she wasn't going to hold anyone back. Kakashi had backpedaled quickly, and not said anything to the girl, whose strange behavior had not ceased.
Naruto was celebrating a five step success when Hinata went crashing into the water. The sound of her fall jarred him and he, too, plummeted into the water. He came up, gasping for breath, and looked around.
After a couple seconds, Hinata had still not surfaced. With growing concern, he ducked his head into the water, and began to search for her frantically. The pool was at least 35 feet deep, and shadows kept him from seeing to the bottom. His lungs burned as he descended quickly seeking his teammate and friend.
He was about to give up and try to use his chakra to catapult himself to the surface, when a glimpse of lavender showed in the corner of his eyes. His lungs felt ready to explode as he swam over to where Hinata was sinking, her body completely still, her eyes closed, and her hair like a halo around her head.
With one hand, he snagged her arm, and with the other, he grabbed the edge of the pool, shooting chakra into it the resulting propulsion carried them to the surface, where Naruto gasped, barely able to hold Hinata and remain afloat.
After a moment, his burden was relieved by Kakashi, who had walked into the middle of the water and picked her up. Naruto swam over to the side, and flopped onto solid ground, breathing hard and feeling very cold. After he had caught his breath, he crawled over to where Kakashi was kneeling over a prone Hinata (who looked surprisingly reminiscent of a drowned rat), and watched in concern.
Kakashi concentrated for a moment, and his fingers glowed blue with chakra concentration. Wordlessly, he pushed his fingers into Hinata's solar plexus, and she gasped loudly, and began coughing up water. Her eyes opened, and she rolled over, heaving, trying to get the water out of her system.
Minutes passed, and eventually her breathing returned to normal. She gave one last loud cough, and then collapsed, shivering to the ground. Naruto rushed to check on her. "Is she alright?"
Sasuke caught his shoulder, and watched Kakashi with concerned eyes. Kakashi used the drying jutsu he had taught them earlier, and Hinata's clothes and hair dried out. "Shock. We need to get her to the Hospital."
He scooped Hinata up onto his shoulder, formed a half-seal with his right hand, and disappeared. Naruto shook Sasuke's hand off of his shoulder and ran to where his sensei had been a moment ago. His raven-haired teammate joined him shortly. "Naruto, he took her to the hospital, we should follow."
Naruto nodded, and they were off. They moved quickly and with purpose in the direction of the Konoha Shinobi Hospital. The rush of air past him was enough to dry him off quickly, and he dashed ignoring faces and forms. Sasuke followed, occasionally stopping to apologize to passersby who Naruto ran down in his rush.
Naruto's world was reduced to two impulses: run, and find friend. Extraneous details were expunged from his mind, and he rushed down the streets of Konoha with tunnel vision. Later, he would say that he could not remember if it had been a minute since he began running, or an hour when he reached the Hospital.
He rushed in the doorway, pushing the heavy doors aside with a crash. The secretary at the desk looked up, and her face became a sneer of disdain. "Get out. We will not have you causing trouble in this Hospital, brat."
A deep growl sounded in his throat, and he would have yelled at the woman, but Sasuke came thundering into the room at that moment, and came to stand beside Naruto. The secretary's attention was taken away from Naruto and in the simpering manner that so many of Konoha's residents used with the sole remaining Uchiha. "How can I help you, Sasuke-kun?"
"Has Hyuuga Hinata been checked into this hospital recently?"
The secretary blinked. "Yes, she arrived here ten minutes ago with Hatake Kakashi. She's still with the doctor, but you can go wait near her room. She's in room 106 three doors down to your right."
Sasuke nodded and wordlessly began to walk towards the room at a brisk pace. Naruto turned to follow, but the acidic voice of the Secretary cut him short. "Wait. I didn't say you could go, demon."
Naruto's rage redoubled, and he was moments from jumping at the woman in his rage, when Sasuke spoke. "He's with me. Leave him alone."
The cold steel of the raven-haired boy's voice quieted any objection from the woman, and she nodded, her eyes the size of saucers. Sasuke gripped Naruto's shoulder and began pulling him along. "Hinata first. You can worry about that stupid bitch later."
Naruto brushed Sasuke's hand off, but kept walking towards the designated door. "I know that."
Outside the door, Kakashi was leaning on the wall, with a completely blank expression. Sasuke and Naruto walked up to him and slid down the wall on either side, sitting down. Sasuke voiced their collective concern first. "How is she?"
"She'll be fine. The doctors say that it is a simple case of shock and exhaustion, and that rest and time will heal her now. They're in there checking to make sure that nothing else caused her to pass out like that."
Some of the fear in Naruto's stomach seemed to come unknotted, but the mass of it remained. They sat in silence for twenty more minutes, before two Medic-nin walked out. The older of the two, a man with graying hair and a lined face greeted them with a bow. "Hyuuga-san seems to merely be suffering from lack of sleep, likely post-mission stress. She should be urged to talk to someone about it, and to see a psychologist if the problem continues. For the moment, however, she should be absolutely fine in a day or so."
The other doctor paused to sneer at Naruto, and bowed to them before walking off. His colleague scowled at his back. "Forgive him, he is still new to this business, and he suffers from the arrogance of youth."
Naruto nodded his understanding, and the man left without another word. As one, the team walked into Hinata's room, and arrayed themselves on the nearby seats.
For a time, they sat, concern and frustration etched into their faces. No words were exchanged, as they sat with the pale, quiet girl who was their teammate. She was paler than usual. Her skin was nearly translucent, and her lips retained a bluish tinge to them. Her dark-blue hair shone glossily in contrast with her pale skin, and Naruto found himself staring at her, enthralled with her otherworldly beauty.
"You shouldn't stare, Kit. It's rude."
He fought to keep his grimace off of his fate. 'Shut it, puppy. I'm just worried.'
The Kyuubi guffawed. "Worried… Right."
After a few more minutes of quiet contemplation, the door creaked open, and a tall man with black hair and blank eyes, like Hinata, walked into the room. Kakashi immediately rose, and gave the man a bow. "Hiashi-sama."
The man gave Kakashi next to no acknowledgement, and walked over to stand next to his daughter. "She will be alright?"
"Yes"
To Naruto's surprise, it was not Kakashi who spoke, but Naruto. The man looked at Naruto, piercing him with his powerful eyes. "Good. See that she remains that way."
For some reason, Naruto felt as though more that what he had just heard had been said, and he nodded. The man stroked his daughter's cheek gently and turned back to Naruto. "What happened?"
The blonde-haired Jinchuuriki told the whole story, leaving out no details. When he finished, the man nodded. "Yes, I believe she has been sleeping poorly since she returned from your mission. I would speak to her… But she is reticent to speak with me."
The man sighed in frustration and Kakashi's mask stretched slightly as he opened his mouth to speak. However, the man ignored Kakashi completely. Instead he gave Naruto a significant look, and walked from the room. "I expect you will keep your word, boy."
Naruto nodded, and steeled his face in determination. "I will. I always do. That is my nindo."
After the man had left, Kakashi spent a few moments observing Naruto, and then the gray-haired scarecrow shrugged and stood up. "Well, I need to go speak with the Hokage. You two have tomorrow off, but I expect to see you the next day well-rested and prepared to train twice as hard."
Naruto and Sasuke nodded, and they fell into silence as the man left. For an hour or so, the only sound was the mutter of doctors passing by in the hall, and the clamor of the street outside. As the murmur of city noises began to fade, and the sun peeked through the windows in its swing towards the horizon, Sasuke rose, and left.
Now Naruto was left alone with his female teammate as she slept. The rhythmic drip of water from a nearby faucet was his only company. He spent the time in silent contemplation, his face a mask of frustration.
He had known that something was wrong, but had he done enough to stop it? Now, more than ever before, he understood Sarutobi's emphasis on teamwork and friendship. The frustration of being shut out and of failing to protect a teammate from their pain was slowly eating at him.
Worse was the knowledge that it was his responsibility alone to fix this dilemma. The weight of responsibility seemed harshest in what was, in his eyes, the wake of a failure of his responsibilities.
With these warring emotions, he watched the sun sink below the horizon, and the room grew dark. Some hours later, he realized that it was likely past midnight. He cursed, and tried to rise, but as he rose from his seat, Hinata whimpered in her sleep. She began to toss and turn, and make indiscernible sounds of fear. With concern, Naruto sat down and watched helplessly for a moment.
However, as he returned to his seat her nightmare seemed to fade, and she fell back into a peaceful sleep. He promised himself that he would leave in an hour, and settled down to keep watch over her sleep. Within ten minutes, he too had fallen into the arms of Morpheus.
--- --- --- --- ---
Hinata slipped into wakefulness with the reluctance of one who had slept for 24 hours. She pried her eyes open with great effort, and was greeted by the harsh light of the noonday sun. She raised an arm to cover her eyes, but found that it was trapped by a heavy weight.
With some confusion she glanced around her surroundings and found herself in the sterile, white environment of a hospital room. As she slowly remembered the previous day's events, she felt shame burn its way across her face. Again, she had failed her teammates with her weakness.
Before she could get caught up in her depression, she realized that the weight on her arm was someone's head. Naruto was asleep, his head resting on top of her arm as he sat half-in, half-out of a nearby chair. His back rose and fell slowly in the rhythm of his sleep, and Hinata blushed even brighter, this time at the proximity of her crush.
She lightly reached out with her other arm and shook him into wakefulness. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, still not well oriented. After a moment, he realized where he was, and blushed a little in embarrassment.
"Um… I must've fallen asleep here last night or something…"
Hinata smiled a little at his bashful tone. "D-don't worry, Naruto-kun. I am sorry for making you worry. You shouldn't worry about me."
She did not know what response she was expecting, but his cry of outrage was not what she had expected. "Yes I should! Hinata, you're my teammate and my friend! It's my job to worry about you when you are hurt or unhappy."
Her face grew hot with a blush but she shook her head. "You shouldn't! I keep holding you back! I'm too weak to be on the same team as you and Sasuke. I could not even defend myself for a moment against our attackers, and I could not even manage to train without nearly getting myself killed! I'm a useless teammate!"
He shook his head emphatically. "No you aren't! You were the one who looked after Sasuke when he was poisoned, and stalled Orochimaru until I broke his genjutsu! You're an important part of our team, and you're our friend. When something is bothering you, you need to tell us."
Now, tears were pouring down her face, and she her face in her hands. "B-but… B-but… I'm so weak!"
Naruto reached out and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "No you aren't. You got graduated from the academy early, didn't you? No weakling would graduate early! You're a powerful holder of a major bloodline, and a skilled Kunoichi. Don't say anything else! Walk with your head high, and have no regrets. That's my nindo!"
Fighting frustration and gratefulness, she threw herself on his shoulder and cried. He awkwardly held her and patted her back while she sobbed out her inner demons and frustrations.
Some time later, her tears subsided, and she leaned off of Naruto's shoulder slightly. "T-thank you, Naruto-kun."
He smiled at her, and she felt herself smile in return, as his sunny smile burned into her. "No problem, Hinata. That's what friends are for."
She nodded, and finally felt the embarrassment of having sobbed on her crush's shoulder for so long rush through her. Before she could pull away, Naruto caught her gaze. "Hinata, remember, you are not weak. The only person who is weak is the person who does not try. Always try your hardest, and work to be your best, and nothing else matters at all. And if you need help, your friends are here, okay?"
Hinata nodded slightly and felt a rush of determination. "Yes, Naruto-kun. I'll work my hardest to become stronger and never need to feel shame after a mission again."
He smiled at her, and was about to say something when the door swung open, and Sasuke stepped into the room. For a moment, the boy stood stock-still as he stared at his teammates, and then he backed out of the room. "Sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt anything!"
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Author's Notes: And there you are. Two chapters in the same night. I'm really tired now. Hope that you enjoyed a little bit of fluff there. I'll be back soon with the next chapter of Seeking a Center: Chapter 13: Half a Century.