Hey guys! Here's another chapter :) I'm trying to finish this fic before uploading the others. (I've already started writing them, if I don't I'll forget :P) hope you enjoy this fic! (it's a little long though.) you can skip most of the part, it's just repetition of what happened in the manga/anime.

p/s: thanks for the reviews! Really appreciate it :D

Enjoy!

He was trapped, there was no way out of this mirror of ice. Sasuke was on alert, every move he make might be a mistake. Naruto was moving cautiously as well, but he was badly injured like Sasuke. Who knew there was someone much stronger than him, he thought. He really felt like a frog born in a well who knew nothing but the sky he sees from the hole above him. The needles that pierced through his skin were uncomfortable, and quite painful, it was quite difficult to move around with one on his knee. He was frustrated, how could he be loosing to someone, death seemed so close to him, staring him in the eyes. He felt pathetic, even Hinata, who deemed weak could activate her Byakugan at a young age. He wanted to be stronger, he needed power. A rain of needles were fired towards them, Sasuke quickly ran towards Naruto's side. He didn't know why, but he predicted what his enemy was going to do next. He glared at his enemy in front of him. What he saw was not an image, but faint chakra flames circulating. He had activated his

Sharingan.

Hinata pricked her finger while sewing, she was helping patching up holes on Sasuke's clothes. Hinata was usually very careful when it comes to sewing, she wondered what could cause her to prick her finger.

"I-I hope this isn't one of those signs..." Hinata said to herself in a worried voice.

Sasuke couldn't believe he did something so stupid. Naruto's an idiot, he didn't like him from the start, but he accepted him as a team mate. Sasuke had seen Naruto's efforts, he wasn't useless or lazy as everyone said. He has his own way of learning, not very talented, but hard working. Sasuke noticed the resemblance between him and Hinata. They both wanted people to acknowledge the strength they have, it was just the amount of time they need to show it. Sasuke saw Naruto passed out from the chakra training, he begun to know why Hinata likes him so much. Still, Sasuke didn't like him in a way that cannot be describe even by Sasuke himself. "Geez...all you ever do is get in the way..." Sasuke coughed out blood. Naruto was staring back at him in disbelief.

"What's with that face...you moron."

"Why" He protected Naruto, he didn't even know why his body moved on his own. The thought of Hinata unconsciously came up to him, what would she do if she finds out Naruto's dead, while her best friends just stood there and watch him being tortured to death? The thought of Hinata crying, he remembered the time she cried and starved herself when a rabbit died. Was sacrificing himself worth it? Naruto wasn't so bad after all, Sasuke didn't want to admit it, but Naruto is his comrade. Those who doesn't appreciate their comrade are worse than trash.

"But...but...why? Why me?" Naruto was confused himself.

"I don't know...my body moved on it's own...idiot." He regretted his revenge on his brother. Itachi's face played through his mind, he didn't want to die yet, not until he killed him. He also regretted his inability to tell Hinata he's sorry he wasn't able to keep their promise. But he did what he thought was right.

"That man...my brother. I told myself I wouldn't die until I kill him. Don't you die too." Sasuke's voice was weak, he grew tired, too weak to open his eyes again.

It wasn't long when he heard someone sobbing on his body. Sasuke's first thought was they brought his body back to Konoha, and someone was crying over his death. But then again, if he was dead, he wouldn't have felt anything. Sasuke recognize that sobbing, it was Sakura. He called out her name in his head, his lips were too dry and heavy to speak properly, but he finally did spoke.

"Sakura, you're heavy." he finally saw light, he wasn't dead after all. Sakura, who was mourning over Sasuke cried even louder when she saw the love of her life crawled back from the dead, she held Sasuke close to her, squeezing the remaining life out of him.

"Sakura...that hurts..." Sasuke could still feel pain streaming down his body.

"Ah, S-Sorry." she was too happy to see him alive. Sasuke tried standing up, but Sakura tried to keep him seated.

"What about, Naruto?" Sasuke was curious, but more worried.

"Naruto's fine, but the masked kid is dead." Dead? was Naruto that strong?

"Dead? Did Naruto kill him?" Sasuke needed to know.

"N-No, I'm not sure, but he protected Zabuza."

"I see." Sakura was glad to see him alive and moving, she started praising him.

"I had faith in you, It's impressive that you prevented attacks to your critical areas."

"No." Sasuke thought again, he remembered the battle well. Haku, the masked boy did not intend to kill them to begin with.

"Naruto! He's alright! Sasuke's alive!" Sakura screamed out at the top of her lungs. Naruto wasn't far away, he was next to Kakashi. Sasuke saw Naruto, he had recovered from his wounds and was prepared to battle alongside Kakashi. Sasuke was embarrassed, he just gave a small wave to Naruto, Naruto on the other hand was close to tears. He thought everything ended, but more ninjas came. It's the end for them, Kakashi is worn out and so is Naruto and the others. Sasuke was weak on his knees, Sakura had to help him stand. As the ninjas were about to charge at them, the villagers came just in time with weapons. Inari, Tazuna's grandson had gathered everyone in the village to fight. Kakashi also helped. Everything ended better than expected. Snow fell from the sky when Kakashi helped Zabuza next to Haku. Sasuke looked up, finally, everything's over.

After the mission, they stayed in the village for another two weeks, to settle things down for a bit. Kakashi had buried Haku next to Zabuza, Naruto questioned Kakashi about Ninjas being tools. If a ninja wasn't allowed to pursue his or her own goal, then what are they living for? Just to be used and thrown away? Naruto didn't like it, neither does Sasuke.

"You believe that too?" Sasuke wanted to know what Kakashi thought.

"Well, each and over ninja has to live while dealing with that issue. Just like Zabuza and that boy."

Everyone was silent.

"Ok, I just decided. I'm going to be a ninja in my own way." Sasuke thought through, Naruto stood his ground, but Sasuke wasn't sure about what he would be a ninja for.

Sasuke's mission took longer than Hinata thought, a C rank mission such as this would only take a week tops, but it was almost 3 weeks. She was worried about Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura too, who was a classmate of hers.

"Gatsuga!" Kiba's attack rage towards her. Hinata snapped out, but wasn't fast enough to dodge Kiba's attack. His Gatsuga sent her flying, she was lucky Kiba held back a little bit.

"Hinata, are you alright?" Kiba and Akamaru rushed to her aid.

"I-I'm fine." Hinata tried to stand up, but the blow she took on her stomach stung in pain. Akamaru licked her hand.

"Hinata, what were you doing?" Kurenai came with her arms crossed, she wasn't really pleased.

"I-I'm sorry." She stood back up in wincing pain.

"We'll call it a day. Let's get your wounds treat, Hinata." Kurenai took her back home. Kurenai treated her wounds carefully, Hinata had her jacket taken off and lifted her shirt, showing just her stomach's wound. She looked quite off.

"You're distracted, Hinata." Kurenai started applying ointments to the wound.

"I-I wasn't...really." Hinata looked down at her feet.

"What's wrong?" Kurenai proceeded to bandaging.

"T-Team 7, they haven't returned from their m-mission yet. I-I'm worried, that's all." Kurenai tied a knot a the side of her, just to make it less uncomfortable when she sits.

"Kakashi sent a message before, they had encountered some trouble on their way, they'll be back soon." Hinata's spirits finally lifted, she was glad to hear any news.

"I'm glad." she smiled.

"There, all done. Don't over work yourself too hard now. I have some errands to do so I'll be leaving." Kurenai started packing up the first aid.

"I-I'll take care of this, P-Please leave it to me." Hinata took the roll of bandage from Kurenai. She nodded and left the room. Sasuke and Naruto must have been doing well in their mission, Hinata wished she could embark in such adventure. She looked up at the clock, it's nearly noon.

"I-I should prepare something for Sasuke, h-he must be hungry from his trip." Hinata quickly packed and headed to the nearest supermarket.

It was already noon when team 7 returned, it has been an exhausting day, everyone just wanted a good night rest in their own beds. Kakashi was the first to leave, how lucky was he just disappearing like that. Sakura was too tired to flirt with Sasuke, let alone walk home with him.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun." Sakura forced a sweet voice to cover up the fatigue before walking off. Sasuke, as usual ignored her. He concluded if you ignore Sakura long enough, she might stop with these ridiculous flirting and talk to him properly, it might be working. Naruto still had some energy left in him, the first thing he yelled out when they entered the village was Ichiraku Ramen. He's going to loose a lot of hair in future if he continues to eat ramen. They both exchanged eye contacts, but it didn't last long. They were to the point of rivals. Sasuke looked the street on his way back, he hadn't eaten much for breakfast, lunch wasn't prepared much considered the village was poor.

Sasuke was lucky, around this time of the day, food kiosk will be everywhere. The sweet smell of hot buns filled the air, how Sasuke's mouth went watery. He loved the dumplings Hinata made for him, they weren't exactly prefect, but just the taste he liked. He walked past a bakery, the one Hinata often visit. He saw some bread left unsold and walked in.

Hinata had prepared dinner for Sasuke and herself, she had made as many dishes based on tomatoes as she could think of. She waited and waited for Sasuke's return. The food was getting cold, she wondered what took him so long. She was about to give up all hope until she heard the door being unlocked. Hinata sprung out from her seat and sprinted towards the entrance.

"W-Welcome back!" Hinata greeted him in her casual clothes. Sasuke was surprised himself to see Hinata in his apartment.

"I'm home." he smiled back. It had been awhile since he'd smiled.

"I-I made dinner, I-I'll go heat it up now!" Hinata ran back to the table. Sasuke suddenly felt shy. If other people didn't know and saw them from a third person's point of view, they would assume Sasuke and Hinata were dating or even married.

"S-Sasuke?" Hinata waved at his face, Sasuke looked away shyly. He wanted to strangle himself for having these thoughts about him and his best friend, his only friend. Dinner was served within a couple of minutes, Hinata placed the hot bowl of Donburi in front of Sasuke. He looked down. He remembered the first time Hinata's mother made Donburi for him, he misunderstood her at first, but now he knew what she meant.

"I-Is something wrong?" Hinata looked up. Sasuke shook his head.

"Nothing, I just remembered something that's all."

"oh." they both ate in silence. Hinata didn't want to flood Sasuke with questions, especially since he just came back from a mission and it would feel awkward.

"I brought cinnamon rolls on my way home." he held out a plastic bag.

"I-I thought you didn't like s-sweet food." Hinata asked with another sip of her miso.

"But you do." Hinata smiled.

"Thanks... S-So, H-how was your mission?" she finally had the courage to ask. It took Sasuke a while to reply, but he didn't stop then. He continued with his story, how it turned from a C rank mission into a A rank.

"A-Are you badly injured? D-do you need to go to the doctors t-tomorrow?" Hinata started panicking. Sasuke calmed her down and chuckled.

"Not too bad." he patted his bandaged cheek.

"S-Sakura-san must have had a terrible fright, s-since she liked you so much and all." Hinata could understand Sakura's pain, if she looses Sasuke, she didn't know how she could go on. She held back her tears, Sasuke's alive isn't he, she shouldn't cry.

"W-What about N-Naruto-kun, is he alright too?" Sasuke felt a nerve pulsed against his skin. Why did she have to mention his name?

"Ya, he's fine." Sasuke was sulking, he wasn't trying to show it but he had a tone in his words.

"Thanks for the meal." he had finished his meal, Hinata wasn't even half way yet.

"Why aren't you eating?" Sasuke asked, Hinata seemed to be loosing her appetite.

"N-nothing, I-I just didn't feel like eating that's all." the truth was, she was holding back the pain in her stomach, Kiba's attacks were powerful, if he was serious about the fight, he could have pierced through her skin even further and leave an eternal scare on her. Sasuke noticed how she had been touching her stomach a lot, he pulled her arm away with one hand and lifted her shirt up with the other. Sasuke wasn't aware of what he did.

"You hurt your stomach?" Sasuke asked. Hinata blushed, she pulled her arm away from Sasuke's grip, quickly covered her bandaged stomach.

"I-It's nothing." Hinata didn't like lying, but she didn't want Sasuke to worry either.

"Y-your wounds are more serious than mine, y-you should be more worried about yours i-instead." Hinata was right, Sasuke should be concern about his own health.

"Your healing ointment did help." Sasuke smirked. Hinata was glad, she felt for once, she was being useful.

"I-I'll go do the dishes." she packed the bowls together and took them to the kitchen, she was humming a song while doing dishes. Sasuke laid back, it's good to be home, he thought. He looked over at Hinata, why was she born in the wrong family, being a Hyuuga gave her potential, but it also made her weak and venerable. Sasuke went deep into his thoughts. He remembered Naruto said he will be a ninja in his own way, Sasuke decided on his own too. He will be a ninja for the sake of protecting Hinata, his promise to her will be eternal. He stared at her more intensely, yet not too obvious as Hinata's not paying much attention to him. He liked the way she stood, her cooking, her personality, everything about Hinata smooths him. He remembered the last moment of his life flashed past him, the only people he though of was Itachi and Hinata. Sasuke wondered to himself, was it because she's his best friend that his last moment of life she appeared? Or has Sasuke developed feelings deeper than friendship he did not dare ask himself. Everything became more complicated for him to understand. He remembered the sight of Hinata's bandaged stomach and realize what he did, he hid his face with a pillow, embarrassed. How would he face Hinata again without the image of her flat stomach.

Hmm, I think I might be getting side tracked here...But thanks for reading! I'll update the next one very soon :)