A/N: Hey they're all my faithful readers! I'm starting this chapter about a day before my dead line so please forgive me if it's very brief and fast paced. I would also like to apologize if the last chapter offended anybody. I wanted to get the medical stuff as accurate as possible, so again I'm sorry and it won't happen again.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 18
A pair of striking aqua eyes glared up at the hospital ceiling. The young Kazekage felt like killing something. Here he was in the hospital as an honored guest in Suna was being dissected by a group of S class criminals. But even that didn't bother him as much as the thought of being useless to help his precious people as Naruto put it. The door to his room opened with a small creak and his eyes darted in the direction of the door. He saw a pink head bob towards him. Bright green eyes met his briefly before backing up a few feet.
"Hello, Kazekage-sama," the girl said as Gaara sat up. "I am Haruno Sakura, apprentice to Lady Tsunade and your caretaker for the next few days."
Gaara remained silent as he sat up and scooted against a pillow, before his eyes rested on the girl. He recognized her almost immediately as the weakling he tried to kill in the final part of the chunin exams. Her pink hair still remained short and her face still held the slight roundness of childhood, but she had grown a little taller and she looked more confident then before which annoyed Gaara to no end. He was used to seeing shy people who were demure and relied on others for support. It made Gaara feel needed and wanted. His mind began to play with new thoughts, thoughts that maybe it wasn't the personality he missed but the person.
"Gaara-sama?" Sakura asked trying to catch the handsome red heads attention.
He turned and looked at the now blushing girl. His gaze remained fixed on her face never moving. Finally Sakura got so flustered she stuttered out a response that Gaara didn't register. She stood up and ran out of the room the door slamming shut behind her, causing Gaara to glare at the closed door, and he decided on one thing. It definitely was the person he missed.
Naruto stood at the gates of Suna facing Temari and Kankurou. Neji, Kiba and Shino stood on his right with Tsunade who was arguing with Jiraya.
"So you're leaving right?" Temari asked, as she shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah," Naruto said uneasily.
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to get her back," Kankurou said reassuringly.
"I won't stop looking, you know that right?" Naruto asked.
Both of the siblings smiled and nodded, before the hyperactive ninja turned to the other leaf ninjas.
"You won't be coming back with us, are you Naruto?" Kiba asked, with a slightly crest fallen look.
"No," Naruto said. "But if you're worried that I'll abandon you guys, you're wrong, I'm coming back in about a year."
"Of course," Shino said nodding.
"But we have not given up on Hinata-sama yet," Neji almost spat.
"I know! I know!" Naruto defended. "But I won't give up either."
Neji smirked at that and nodded as Tsunade stomped over to her group of ninjas.
"None of you will look for Hinata," Tsunade said grumpily.
"WHAT!? WHY NOT?" All of them yelled in unison.
"I have to send Anbu nothing lower," Tsunade stated.
"But Hinata's my friend!" Naruto defended.
"And our teammate," Shino added, restraining Kiba with a pale hand on his shoulder.
"And our honored guest!" Kankurou spat, because Temari was to stunned to reply.
"Lady Tsunade," Neji said in the calmest voice he could muster. "I can understand why you wouldn't want them to go."
He received many glares and shocked looks from the people around him, but he ignored them and focused solely on Tsunade.
"Demo, I am Hinata-sama's protector, her guardian, I can't just leave her. I refuse." Neji said the Byakugan automatically activating itself.
Tsunade looked at him sadly and shook her head almost disappointed. Her brown eyes fixed onto Neji's angry white ones, and immediately the teen knew what she would say.
"I'm sorry Neji but there is a good chance that Hinata-san is already dead." Tsunade said her eyes never leaving Neji's. "We have to send anbu to retrieve her body."
Silence fell over everyone in the group and no one moved. Tears formed at the edges of Temari's eyes while the boys clenched their fists. Tsunade let her head fall onto her chest and walked away back into Suna to meet with the Kazekage. Neji looked as if he had been smacked in the face. He fell to his knees and held his head in his hands as the great Hyuuga genius felt defeated.
"NO!" Naruto roared. "I will not give up, I WILL find her, I swear!"
A pearl eye opened to see sunlight streaming through a canopy. Hinata tested her limbs and began to move; finally she sat up and looked around her almost wildly. She realized she was in a tent and next to her was a pile of clothes she didn't recognize. A shaky hand reached out and she picked up the clothes and realized they were left for her. She pulled them on quickly, only then noticing the bandage's covering her stomach. As she noticed the bandages over her torso she also noticed that she couldn't see anything through her left eye. She was right eye dominant, which was why she hadn't noticed before.
Her hand felt around her face until she found a makeshift eye patch made out of bandages and she began to freak out. Was her eye gone!? She quickly began the seals for her Byakugan and activated it. The world spun in a blurb of black and white and she thought she was going to puke, but the good thing was that she could see through the eye patch meaning she still had her left eye but it was hazy. She fell to her knees as pain shot through her head. A shadow soon loomed over her and the Byakugan turned off as her body prepared to protect itself against the newest threat.
"So you're finally awake," a girl with red hair said as she set down a tray of food in front of Hinata. "Eat up, Kabuto says it's the only way you'll get better."
Kabuto? Where had Hinata heard that name before?
"Kabuto…." Hinata murmured to her self accidentally.
"Yeah you probably know who Kabuto is, he was a traitor to your village after all." The girl said seating herself next to Hinata.
The Hyuuga girl shuddered as she recalled what Naruto had told her during the third part of the chunin exam. Before she could ask any more questions a wave of nausea hit her immediately and she felt her stomach lurch. She bent forward on her knees touched the ground with her head while she moaned.
"Oh god I'm not a medical ninja!" the girl cried. "Stop that! Stop it right now!"
Hinata sat back up and her cheeks puffed out as if she was going to puke. The sound ninja wasted no time in dragging Hinata to her feet and outside. She grabbed Hinata's loose hair and twisted it behind her head before forcing her head down as she puked. Afterwards Hinata felt light headed and almost tipped over onto the sound ninja.
"Whoa there, lets get you back into the tent." The girl said as she opened the flap and helped Hinata lie down.
A strange feeling filled Hinata with a deep insatiable hunger; she pounced at the tray of food and began to eat. The sound ninja watched in repulsion as Hinata continued to stuff her face. Soon the whole plate was gone and Hinata still wanted more. She looked up at the stunned sound ninja girl.
"A-ano do you have anymore food?" Hinata asked embarrassed.
"Holy crap man!" The girl cried. "I thought Hyuuga's were supposed to be dainty and polite but that was…that was…WOW."
Hinata blushed an even deeper red and hid her face behind her hair, which was at her upper back a little below the shoulder blades. The girl got up and left the tent only to come back with more food before handing it to Hinata.
"Here you go," she said.
Hinata immediately finished off that amount of food and was shockingly still hungry. Her face turned beet red and she lowered her eyes, the girl in front of her immediately understood what that look meant and blushed herself.
"Holy crap! What are you pregnant?" the girl exclaimed.
Hinata thought she was going to pass out from embarrassment before she remembered the bundle she now carried. She hung her head in shame and clasped her hands over her still flat stomach. The sound ninja girl was quiet and she didn't even move. Finally she stood.
"My name is Kyoko, I'll be helping you until we arrive to the sound village," she said before leaving the tent.
Hinata lay down and closed her eyes. Tears made the edges of her vision fuzzy and she was forced to open the only eye she could. Time was no longer a factor in Hinata's life, minutes, hours, days could have passed by and she wouldn't have even noticed. She was dead to the world as it was dead to her. Until one day when Kyoko entered followed by another young man that Hinata didn't care enough to recognize.
" I was ordered to go ahead to the sound village with Kabuto, Uchiha-san," Kyoko said as she stood over Hinata who just stared. "She is ready to be moved but you must be gentle with her, and although her eye is healing almost perfectly she is not permitted to use the Byakugan understand?"
"Hn," Sasuke said, as he crossed his arms and glared down at Hinata who cringed under his gaze.
Kyoko then left, Hinata hoped she would bring Sasuke with her but instead he still stared down at her. After a long moment of silence he sat on the floor next to her and picked up the bowels of spoiled food at her side.
"Haven't had much of an appetite since the first day huh?" Sasuke asked receiving no reply from Hinata. "I heard though that on the first day you ate like a pig."
Hinata's face flushed and she turned her head away. She refused to eat only because of the demons inside of her. If she didn't eat she only assumed that the demons weren't eating either.
"Do you want to seem weak?" Sasuke asked, receiving a shocked half glare from her.
"N-no," she said in a cracked voice.
"Well then sit up, prove to me you can stand on your own feet," Sasuke spat.
Hinata's eyes shone with anger and she stood up a little shakily but stood nonetheless.
"You shouldn't be so full of yourself Uchiha-san," Hinata replied, saying his name with more venom.
Sasuke stood smirking and led the way outside, Hinata glanced around herself and found that once again she was in an unidentifiable forest. He led the way through the camp, of course attracting all the glances of the other sound ninja. Sasuke led her into a clearing and stopped to face her.
"You're weak," he said simply, making Hinata bite her lip and glare at him. "I cannot have you even as a companion if you are so easily crushed. Here I am to make you strong."
Without another word Sasuke lunged at her and reached for her throat. Hinata only barely dodged. But suddenly pain shot through her spine as he sent a kick against her back and knocked her foreword and pinned her to the ground.
"You rely to heavily on your Byakugan and fighting style if you don't experiment using more then one style you will certainly lose and that makes you weak." Sasuke replied getting off of her. "From today on I will train you in all forms of regular Taijutsu even as we travel, understood?"
Hinata nodded before she was pulled back onto her feet and Sasuke began his assault once more. Sasuke's training was probably even more strenuous then Gaara's. They trained day in and day out even when they were traveling. Hinata learned lots of new things and ways to manipulate old things to work like new things.
At first he had her block, then when she could officially block he taught her blocking by moving. After, he taught her how to block and counter all at once and he explained and soon every day fit in that routine. However about three weeks of training with Sasuke she received an unexpected visit from him. He opened the tent while she was still trying to succumb to sleep.
"Tomorrow morning," Sasuke began as Hinata leaned in. "You will need to wake up exactly when I say so, no later and no sooner understood?"
Hinata nodded so no one else would hear and with that Sasuke left. At around 3:30 the next morning Hinata was shaken awake by the young man covered in blood.
"Get up and follow me, what ever you do, don't stop for anything," Sasuke warned and with that he grabbed her hand and snuck out of the tent.
Hinata's eyes couldn't help wandering over the countless sound ninja's bodies littering the path.
"A-are they dead?" Hinata asked nervously.
"No," Sasuke stated. "They are only unconscious which is why I need you to move as fast as you can."
Hinata followed Sasuke and they finally came to a stop at the edge of the woods. Sasuke unhooked a cloak and helped Hinata tie it around her neck.
"Why are you helping me escape Uchiha-san?" Hinata asked curiously.
"Orochimaru wants us to get married and have a kid with the Byakugan and the sharringan. However I'm not a big fan for that idea, so I decided to let you go." Sasuke said as he finished fastening the cape around her shoulders.
"I see, thank you Uchiha-san," Hinata said bowing and getting ready to leave.
"Wait you're not in the clear yet, first we have to get you to Suna," and with that Sasuke began their trek back to Suna.
A/N: I know crappy and way to rushed. I would however appreciate f you review. Oh and if you could can you check out my other new story? Thanks again and remember read and review!