So It's been a little while since I posted a chapter...sorry! But I've been kinda focused on one of my other stories. Anyway here is chapter 5! Please remember to review and check out my other Vampire fic if you haven't yet. "Long Lost Uzumaki"
(I don't own any part of Naruto)
Naruto smelled the air as he spoke. He was getting thirsty again. Over the past few days he'd become attuned to what his body told him. He turned to the guard behind him. He said, "Hey um...Takado was it... could you tell her that I'm thirsty again...and I can feel the drug wearing off." Takado grimaced, "The new set of sedatives wore off that quickly?! Damn...I'll be right back." The guard hurriedly left the room. Kakashi asked, "New sedatives?" Naruto didn't know how to explain it. They just didn't work very well on him. The hospital staff had been through more than a dozen drugs so far in an effort to keep him weakened. He said, "Some kind of heavy tranquilizer... can't pronounce it ya know." He scratched the back of his head nervously. Kakashi was about to ask him about his other symptoms when Akana came in with a large tray. On it was a series of syringes and three pack of blood. Naruto looked sourly at the needles. He asked, "Come on...do you have to stab me every time? I mean don't you have like some kind of pill or something...?"
Akana shook her head. She was tall with short blond hair. Her intelligent green eyes hid behind narrow glasses. Though she wasn't a ninja, she was the foremost expert on everything healing. She said, "I'm sorry Naruto...but your body has built up resistances to all but the strongest of sedatives. I doubt that even Cedophine would do much more than make you drowsy and that's the strongest non damaging sedative we have. Any more powerful and we risk hurting you." Kakashi asked, "Then how are you going to keep him...safe?!" He didn't like the idea of having to deal with a berserk Naruto again. It was almost more than he could handle alone.
She bowed her head as she placed the tray on the bedside. She said, "By my calculations...we have enough new sedatives to keep him in this state for a week more...after that we will be forced to physically restrain him in the event of problems." Naruto grinned looking up at her, "Sorry about that...can I eat now?" She nodded mutely.
Naruto picked up the first blood pack and bit into the corner. Everyone watched as he sucked the blood out of it. Sakura and Sasuke were slack jawed and Hinata's eyes were bugged out. Naruto closed his eyes, savoring the flavor. His breath heart rate spiked as shown on a display near the wall. It started beeping and everyone looked at it. Akana said, "It's normal. It happens every time he drinks. We aren't exactly sure why, but Takado spends a lot of time with Naruto. He thinks that it's just because he enjoys it so much." Naruto finished the first pack and snatched the second. His eyes opened for a second as his fangs sang into it. They were red...bright arterial red. Sakura took several steps back from the bed.
As they watched, Akana took out a scanner and pressed it against Naruto's neck. He stiffened and let go of the pack. Akana's eyes grew wide and she withdrew the scanner. Kakashi asked, "What's that?" Akana took a moment to write something down in her ever present notepad before replying. She said, "It's a new bit of technology that the village stole from the Hidden Mist village. It shows the output of chakra through a person's body. It only gives a rough estimate though so it's only safe to use with large changes. The point of it is, whenever he drinks blood, his chakra immediately spikes." Naruto went back to drinking from the packet. He looked at them as he drank. His expression was almost apologetic.
Kakashi asked Akana, "Do you have any predictions at all concerning him? Any? regardless of what their about..." She said, "Yes I have a few."
"And?" She took out her note book and flipped through it. Then she said, "From what we have observed, He has become both physically and mentally addicted to blood. So my prediction is that at some point he will be forced to start feeding on living people." Hinata let out a little scream and Sakura asked, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY LIVING PEOPLE!?" Akana explained, "Normal food has become almost harmful to him. He can eat it and as far as we know...survive of it, but it would not be pleasant."
Naruto piped up as he finished the second bag. He said, "I can eat normal food as long as I already drank before that. When Old man Third brought me ramen the other day it didn't taste bad...but water..." Naruto almost gagged at the thought of it. Akana said, "He can't even drink water at the moment. His body rejects it. So...with the rate which he consumes blood on a daily basis, we don't have the capacity to keep him fed forever...and other people need blood too for valid medical reasons."
Sakura said, "So what you're telling us, is that Naruto will have to kill someone almost every day just to survive?" Akana put her hands up in the air, "Hold it...hold it! That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that a solution needs to be found. One of the other nurses had an idea that there could be someone who stays close to Naruto who he is able to get blood from...not a lot, but enough to get by. We could set up a system where we put aside a fraction of all the blood we get for him. As is...the only other way to look at it is...killing to eat."
Naruto gritted his teeth. He growled, "I won't kill just to drink...there has to be another way...and I don't want someone to have to give me their blood either. If...if I have to fight an enemy and they die... I guess then it's ok..but otherwise..." Kakashi took the time to think of a solution.
Eventually he spoke up, "Naruto. How much blood do you have to drink before you can eat normal food?" Naruto said, "I don't know...uh the day that I had ramen...I had just had like four blood packs." Kakashi turned to Sasuke. He said, "Go to the lounge room in this building and get some food. We need to see if he can eat normally with just two packs of blood." Sasuke nodded and left. Akana asked, "What are you thinking Kakashi?" He said, "Well if he can eat after only two packs then that cuts the amount of blood he needs a day in half." Akana said, "But there is no way to verify that normal food is even doing anything for him at this point. If his body rejects normal water like it does, how do we know that he can even digest regular food?"
Kakashi and Akana talked back and forth as Naruto grabbed the third blood pack and drank it. He could feel it. His strength was coming back. He flexed his arm muscles. The sound of Kakashi and Akana arguing grew louder...Naruto assumed that his hearing was getting keener as well. Naruto sniffed the air. His heart started to pound in his ears. He turned his head slightly and breath in. The smell of Hinata, Sakura, Kakashi, and Akana rushed in.
He breathed out. "So thirsty...Why am I still so thirsty...must be the drugs wearing off..." Naruto felt like he was in slow motion.
Kakashi and Akana stopped talking as Hinata squeaked, "Naruto!" They looked at the boy. He was breathing hard and he was mumbling to himself. Akana cursed silently and quickly stepped to where she had put the tray with the new set of sedatives. She readied the first one and turned to Naruto. His jaw clenched as she took his arm. She put the needle at his skin and pushed.
The needle bent and snapped, the broken edge scraping across Naruto's skin. She dropped the syringe in surprise. She thought, "The needle broke on his skin...impossible...his skin isn't that tough." Then Naruto was looking at her. He looked sad, in a soon to be satisfied sort of way.
But before he could grab her by the throat, there was a small shout and Naruto felt two arms wrap around him and a head rest on his chest, just under his chin. Shocked out of his thirst, he looked down. He asked, "Hinata? What are you...?" She said into his chest, "Please Naruto kun...don't do that ok... just let her use the sedatives..." His breath hitched. She was so close. Her skin...her hair...it all made him so thirsty. He completely forgot about Akana as he smelled her.
Naruto closed his eyes and shivered. Then cold steel stabbed into his throat. He choked as Akana depressed the plunger on the syringe. His eyes snapped open as a cold sensation ran through him. The sedative quickly drained the strength from his limbs. A moment later he fell back into his pillow. It was like his whole body had fallen asleep on him. He couldn't move a muscle.
He felt Hinata slip off of him. She took a seat in a nearby chair. After a minute had passed Kakashi was able to speak, "That was very foolish Hinata...thank you." She made no answer. Naruto saw her out of the corner of his eye. She was bright red. Her face and even her neck. She was looking in her la as her fingers pressed together. Naruto heard Sakura say, "Hinata this is just like you. Whenever your around Naruto you get all red...what is with you doing that anyway. He could have easily bitten you!" Kakashi said, "That's enough Sakura. I think she understands that she took a risk. And fortunately it paid off...right Naruto?"
Kakashi leaned over the bed to look at him. He asked, "Were you about to bite Hinata?" Naruto mustered enough strength to nod. Sakura sighed loudly and Akana said, "Thank you for intervening. He probably would have bitten me were it not for you...Now let's do the second shot." She leaned over the bed and injected the last needle into his neck. Naruto felt his muscles loosen and he twisted his neck.
Sasuke arrived back in the room. He had grabbed what he could. This place didn't have a lot that a picky eater like Naruto would enjoy, but there was ramen in abundance. As far as he knew ramen was one of Naruto's top ten favorite things. "Weirdo...being addicted to ramen and now blood. He just keeps getting stranger by the week."
The room was different than how he had left it. Hinata was red as an apple, sitting in a corner. Naruto was laid out flat on the bed and the two adult were talking quietly out of hearing range. Sasuke walked up and placed the food by the bed. As he did, Naruto forced himself into a sitting position. Naruto said, "Thanks Sasuke..." Then he grabbed the cup of ramen.
-Three days later-
Takado watched the two of them sleeping. Naruto was sleeping soundly, stretched out on the bed. Then the girl...Hinata had her head on the edge of the bed. She had fallen into a doze about thirty minutes before. He admired her devotion. She had spent more time visiting Naruto than anyone. Even the doctors and nurses weren't there as long. From how she acted, he guessed that she was infatuated with Naruto, but the blond obviously didn't know it.
Naruto was a puzzle to him. When he had first been told that he was to guard Naruto Uzumaki, he had been pissed. It was well known by the older generation that Naruto was the Ninetails vessel. And as far as he had been concerned, Naruto was no different from the Kyuubi. But after a few days of watching him and talking on occasion, he had been forced to reevaluate him. Naruto was a massive puzzle.
On one end he was clueless about many things that the average shinobi took for granted. And yet on the other side of the coin, he was able to think of things in surprising new ways. He was kind and smart... though defiantly not observant. If he had half a brain he would have realized why Hinata had been here for most of the past two days. The thing that made Takado scratch his head was how it seemed like Naruto was completely guileless. As though he didn't have the capacity to hurt someone on purpose. Yet he wasn't innocent. He knew full well how things worked in the shinobi world...
He was left wondering how Naruto must feel. Must have been damn confusing to be in his situation.
Naruto stirred and opened his eyes. As soon as he smelled the air, he knew Hinata was close by. She smelled so good. He wanted to run his hands through her hair and bury his face in the crook of her neck. Naruto sighed and blinked. He sat up and saw Hinata was sleeping at the side of the bed. She had her head on her arms and there was a book and a couple scrolls open beside her. Naruto looked around. He couldn't smell Takado close by. "I wonder where Takado went...probably to the restroom." Hm...what was Hinata writing?" He leaned forward and glanced over the papers that surrounded her. Picking up the small booklet he flipped through it. Seeing dates and times he realized it was her diary. He dropped it like a hot iron.
After a moment of thought he realized that she would wake up and see that it wasn't on the right page. Naruto gulped and placed the little book open in front of her where it had originally been. He then laid back and closed his eyes. At least he wasn't thirsty...with Takado absent at the moment it would have been way too easy to bite Hinata. Naruto caught a strong blast of her scent at the same time as she shifted. He felt her move and then yawn. He thought, "Her yawns are so cute...their almost silent. And the way she's always blushing and fidgeting..."
Naruto heard a short squeak from Hinata followed by frantic shuffling noises. Then there was a hand on his shoulder. Hinata asked, "Um...Naruto...kun...did anyone...come in...while I was sleeping?" Naruto opened his eyes saying, "Don't know -YAWN- I was asleep." Hinata nodded. Her face was flushed red and her eyes were glued to him. She asked, "Did...you...um...look in my... nevermind..." She looked away and sat back down. Naruto sat up again and saw her closing her little booklet.
Curiosity got the better of him. He asked, "Is there anything in there about me?" The second he said the words, he realized that it would give him away. Hinata's eyes widened and her neck turned crimson. She looked at him, frozen for a moment before fainting. Naruto face-palmed. He leaned forward and shook her shoulder. She didn't wake up. He poked and prodded at her but she still remained unresponsive. Getting a bit desperate he reached out and pushed his finger into the pressure point on the back of her neck.
She jolted up straight. He snatched his hand back. He said, "Sorry...I was trying to wake you up." She looked at him. He added, "I only glanced at the book, really, I wasn't trying to peek!" Hinata slumped and rested her head on the bed. She seemed both happy and disappointed. Naruto asked, "Are you ok Hinata?" She nodded, but still didn't seem alright. Eventually he asked, "Are you sure you're alright?" She said, "Yes..Naruto I'm ...alright...I just...it's like..." "It's just what?" Naruto didn't know what was making her so flustered, but she looked like she was going to faint again.
She said, "It's just...I wanted to...to telll..." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Tell what...you mean to me?" Hinata nodded again. "It's just...I...I..." Naruto asked, "Have you thought of writing it down?" Hinata seemed to freeze again. But after a moment she took out a pencil and tore a page from her diary. She began to write...slowly...precisely. When she finished she looked at the words for a long time. He thought that she had written a lot or was checking her spelling, but he realized that she was just nervous.
her face registering worry and indecision.
Hesitantly she picked up the note and handed it to him. Her eyes were wide and it seemed like she was preparing herself for bad news.
Naruto read the note. Then he read it again. Several more times and he had burned it into his mind. Written in Hinata's tidy scrawl was, "I love you Naruto." He felt his breath hitch and he blinked. For a moment all he could manage was "Thanks." Too many things were going around inside his head. The words and all the implications were making him dizzy in a happy sort of way.
Hinata, terrified to hear his response got up to leave, but felt him grab her arm. She turned only to be dragged into a bear hug. Her heart rate tripled as he hugged her. His strong arms encircled her and his pulse beat in her own ears. He said quietly, "Thank you Hinata...I...always wanted someone to tell me that..." He held her at arms length and stared into her wide lavender eyes. He said, "I know it's a but sudden...but would you be my girlfriend?" Hinata couldn't speak. She nodded and tried not to cry. Naruto drew her into another hug, and he breathed in her scent as he rested his head next to hers.
So how do you like it...Ha the confession. Well It seemed a bit quick to me but I needed the story to go ahead so I had to speed things up a bit, besides...who want to go through the seven year war of the original Naru X Hina romance again. And don't worry I won't make things too quick...their still kids at this point in the story.
Please review !