(NOTE: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY)

Chapter 7 "Forgotten Love"

She sat up in her bed and looked down at herself. She saw some blood on her purple jacket, images flashing through her head. Yukihiro's face, Naruto looking scared at her and running towards her, a great kunai coming close… "Naruto!" She stood up and almost fell. Shino caught her. "I have to see him! Is he alive?!" She tried to stand on her own but she was still too weak. "Yes, but he is having Realistic Nightmares."

"What does that mean?" she looked scared and puzzled. "Okay. Let's say a patient is hurt real bad, and after an operation is recovering quickly, but he sleeps all the time. Sleeping normally is a good thing, but in this case it is not. The patient suffers from the same nightmare every night, until one day, there is a new nightmare. One that is more terrible than the other one. And when that happens, the next night he will have a vision of something real that really happened," she glanced at Kiba and then back to Hinata "and after that, he wakes up and doesn't know the person he has dreamed of all this time. It happens mostly to…people in love."

"People in… love?"

"Yes. The person whose name he says while he's sleeping…well…he will forget this person, and eventually other people as well."

"And…whose name…did he say?"

"Yours. Hinata."

"No…" she started crying "He will forget me? I…no…!"

"He will only forget you if you can't wake him up! Now follow me! You will have to start right away" She took Hinata by her hand and led her into Naruto's room. The other guys followed them. "You will have to do everything to wake him up. Talk to him, scream, whatever! Just wake him! If not…well, only god knows what will happen…" She looked at Naruto and smiled. "You can do it! I believe in you!" she looked at Hinata reassuringly and left. The others had to wait outside. Sakura was sitting on a bench, looking really upset. The boys, Shino, Sasuke, Kiba and Lee were all pacing in the hallway, back and forth, hands behind their backs. Inside, Hinata was slowly moving towards him, looking at him as if he were something very precious to her, which he was. "Naruto? Naruto? Wake up Naruto…wake up!" she talked very soft, wishing she wouldn't have to scream at him. "Please, wake up!" she took him by both shoulders and shook him. That didn't work. Nothing worked. She tried screaming at him. Nothing. She hit him. Nothing. She tickled him. Nothing. Again and again, whatever that she did, no response, nothing. It was almost time for dinner when she gave up. She sat in a chair next to his bed, crying, with her head in her hands. "Why don't you wake up?" she said between sobs "Do you even want to wake up? Do you… want to…forget me?" The sun was slowly going down. "Please…wake…NARUTO!!!" she couldn't bare it any longer. She laid her head on his torso and wept. She felt him breathing and heard his heart beat. She lay there quite a long time, until his breath was getting heavier and his heartbeat quicker by the second. She spun around and looked out of the window. The sun had already gone. "No…" she turned to Naruto, his face had agony written all over it. He started talking "Why am I in a hospital room? Sasuke? Sakura? They can't hear me… Hinata! She is hurt! Why? No...No…NOOOO!!! KIBA! GET AWAY FROM HER!!"

"Naruto!! NO!! STOP IT!!" Hinata was terrified. It had begun. She held him tightly in her arms, tears flowing down her face, trying to keep him down. Her tears were dropping on his face in her wild attempt to hold him. "No! I must…DO something!!!" she thought, looking desperate. An idea came to her mind. 'What if I…?' she thought. "Hinata! Now is not the time to think! ACT!! QUICKLY!" saying it to herself, hoping it would work. She leaned over to Naruto's face, he was crying now too, and said what she had never thought she would dare to say "Naruto, listen to me!" she whispered in his ear "I…I love you!" and with that, she bent over his face and kissed him. Naruto suddenly went still, just lying there. Had it worked? Suddenly, Naruto began to speak again. This time quieter "If he ever kisses you again, I will kick him where the sun doesn't shine…Hinata." He smiled, eyes still closed. "No, wait. There is one more thing I have to say." His arm shot out of the blanket, pulling Hinata close to him "Wha…?" "I love you too." His shining blue eyes opened now, smiling at her as if he was in heaven. "Oh, Naruto! You're awake!" She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight, not even thinking about letting him go. She started crying again. This time they were tears of joy. Naruto hugged back, kissing her cheek. Outside the door, the boys were sitting on the bench and Sakura was walking to and fro, frowning. "This is taking too long! It's already nightfall!"

"Sakura, you are right, this is taking forever! I'm going in."

"Sasuke-kun…"

He marched to the door and knocked hard.

"Hinata? Can we come in?"

They heard Naruto shouting "No!! No!! Please!!"

"Oh no! He's having the vision!!"

They stormed into the room. "Umm… wait a minute…"

"Mercy!! Hinata! Mercy!!" shouted Naruto, laughing. They were having a pillow fight.

"Umm…Naruto? Are you awake?" Sakura didn't understand anything.

"Of course I'm awake!" Hinata stopped hitting him with a pillow. "And guess what? I have a girlfriend now!!" He walked over to Hinata, who was blushing furiously, took one of her hands and kissed her. She was totally surprised but kissed back in an instant. "Well, it's about time" said Jiraiya, appearing out of nowhere. Sakura, Shino, Sasuke and Lee clapped. "Wohooo, Naruto!! You have the spirit of youth!!'

"Wow…you ended up with a girlfriend, too, huh?" Sasuke said approvingly.

"What?! Sasuke-kun, you have a girlfriend??" Sakura was shocked. "Yes, you dummy" everybody stopped clapping "It's you!" Laughter all around and a slightly blushing Sakura. The only one who wasn't laughing or clapping was Kiba. He left the room without anyone noticing. "How could I have been so dumb, Akamaru? How?" "Bark bark! (you will find another love, Kiba!)"

"Well, that might take time…She is definitely not the one for me…"

"Bark…(yeah, and Naruto would have your ass for that…)

Kiba started laughing. "Well, maybe we should go back and congratulate them."

"Awoof!! (I call that very cool of you, Kiba!!)"

Together they went back into the hospital room and celebrated with the others.