A/N: Hullo!

This should have been up a week ago, but alas, my parents dragged me off to Glacier National Park to go hiking for a week and a half. It was fun and stuff but this stupid chapter had me kinda axious cause it was done but i coudln't put it up becasue I didn't have acess to a computer. DX

Thanks to all for who suggested Mangas. I am quite obsessed now :)

Chapter 23 – Educated Guesses

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called again. Frustration and determination colored every part of her voice.

He was about to open the door to their cottage when his head jerked up to face her. "I really am sorry, Hinata-chan. I'm really tired 'cause Kyuubi is-" He stopped as he realized that was not what she wanted to know.

She sauntered like a feline on the prowl up to him and stopped in front of him, sandwiching him between the cottage and her body. Her stance, with her hips cocked, told him she wasn't going to be violent with him…for now, at least.

What had he done to upset her so badly? There was nothing that he could remember. Crap…crap…crap. Naruto looked up from the ground to meet her eyes for a second…bad idea. She looked gloriously furious, beautifully angry. He waited for her verdict.

Hinata stared him down. Of course she loved him with all her heart and wanted to be with him, but right now, as he looked at his feet like a child who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, she couldn't help but be very, VERY annoyed with him. He had done a complete one-eighty in the past week and a half, going from his usual positive, caring, free-spirited self that she had always known to a withdrawn, nervous sort of person. The changes were small and a regular person would not have noticed them, but she had known him and been alone with him for almost three years now, so these changes were pretty obvious to her. If he thought that she wouldn't notice them, he was dead wrong.

The silence between them drew out into an awkward moment.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

"What?" he mumbled.

A direct question would be best, she decided. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

He didn't answer.

"Did I do something?" she probed. An edge of worry crept into her voice.

"No…" Yes. You let me know that you love me, just like I love you.

"Then what?" She bent down and tried to make eye contact with him.

"I…" He leaned back against the storm door on their cottage and covered his face with his hands.

"Yes?" she urged. Her heart began to beat faster. She almost had it out of him now.

"I…I…" Then he mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?" Hinata took one of his hands off his face and held it in her own. His other hand moved from his face to the back of his head and he grabbed a fistful of hair.

His eyes snapped up to meet hers. She flinched as she saw the fierce conviction in the deep blue of them.

"I'm in love with you, Hinata, totally and completely in love with you."

She took a small step back, confused, surprised and completely exhilarated by his sudden confession.

And despite the situation, Hinata broke down into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Naruto's face quickly turned red. "I…I confess myself and… this is how you react?" he grumbled.

"Hahaha…ahahaha…aha…" Hinata wiped her eyes and smiled in that special way that would light up a room. "Gomen, Naruto-kun, it's just that…aha…" She leaned her back on the storm door next to him. "I never in my life thought I would ever hear you say that. Never." She shook her head and grinned as she said it.

He stepped hesitantly in front of her. "Wait, does that mean you don't…? But I heard you sing…" He looked back down in the vicinity of her knees.

She looked shocked. "You heard that?" Hinata quickly played through here memory of that night to see if there was any sign she had seen or heard that he was awake then. She didn't find any.

"Yeah." His voice was husky.

She tipped his chin up so he would look at her. Lavender locked with deep blue again. "Every single word of it was true. I've been in love with you since the Academy days. You were everything I wasn't. You were loud, you were talented, you were confident, and most of all, even though people didn't care what you said, you were heard. Remember? I was the quiet, average, weird girl who-"

He suddenly swept her up into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you. Thank you." he whispered with relief in her ear.

She was caught off guard again, but soon returned his embrace, relaxing into it, closing her eyes and smiling as she did so.

"Ano, Hina-chan…" He loosened his arms around her but kept one wrapped around her waist and cupped her face with his other. "Will you, um…" He looked away and blushed. He tried again. "Will you become my girlfriend?"

She looked up into his face and her eyes softened, a small smile forming on her lips. She reached up and wrapped an arm around his neck and the other hand brought his head down. She kissed his forehead then laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

It came as a whisper, only for him. "Yes."

It was quite convenient now that her head fit perfectly underneath his chin, as it did so. He hugged her tightly, a million unspoken words now not ever needing to be said.

"Hey," he whispered again.

She pulled back and looked at him quizzically.

"One thing I want you to know," he began to say softly, "and I swear these words, I won't let this go. Ever. Hah, I know this sounds corny, but I just realized that I'm nothing without you. We affect each other too much for both our own damn good."

Hinata giggled. It was pretty corny, but it was true all the same as she realized it too.

He smiled down at the beautiful angel in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you Hina-chan."

Her face automatically lifted into that perfect smile he melted at again. "I love you too, Naruto-kun."

Gaara knocked on the door to the Hokage's office while tightly holding Sakura's hand next to him. This was the norm now after nearly losing her forever.

Sounds of a hasty movement came from inside and Sakura grimaced. Tsunade was probably drinking again. Then, "Come in."

Gaara opened the door for Sakura and closed it behind him once she was in. Tsunade welcomed them. "Please, sit." She gestured to the two seats in front of her desk and they sat. "Gaara-san, have you contacted your village yet?"

"Yes, I have. I did as soon as she was out of danger," he glanced at Sakura, "and I explained my absence and that I would be gone for another week since she is nearly completely healed."

"Good." The conversation pleasantly drifted from topic to topic and Shizune, Tsunade's personal assistant brought in tea at one point.

"So, where is Naruto-san and Sasuke-san?" Gaara asked.

"Naruto left on a five year training trip with Hyuuga Hinata almost three years ago, about three weeks after the end of the Chuunin Exams. Sauske has defected from the village, however. When we realized that he was gone, two days had already passed so there was no hope for the hunter nins to trail him."

It felt like the bottom of Sakura's stomach had dropped out. "What do you mean, 'defected'? Like he just up and left?" Her voice had a slight quiver to it.

"Yeah, we don't know why. He didn't leave a note in his house or anything. As soon as we realized he had left, we sent out messages to all the towns and villages in Fire Country asking for his capture with a reward. We also put him in the Bingo Book to see if that would help as well. There haven't been any reports at all that he has been sighted. However, four months ago," Tsunade paused, opened a drawer to her desk and pulled out a map and unrolled it across her desk, "a team of Chuunins coming home from an out of country mission found a whole gang of seventeen people dead in the middle of the forest. They reported that they found them right about here," she pointed to a spot on the map, "right near the border of Rice Country and Fire Country. They scavenged the supplies on the bodies and one of the Nins found a wanted poster for Sasuke clutched in his hand. The gang had been killed using kunai and senbon from the wounds they had suffered since the weapons were retrieved. Some members were even burned to death.

"From this evidence, we theorized that the gang attacked Sasuke to get him for the reward, but he defeated them. Apparently, he has an accomplice too since we know he doesn't use senbon unless he was taught how to use them by someone, but this is highly unlikely with the reward out there." She waved a hand lazily. "This is all speculation anyways. This might not even be true. But unfortunately, it's the best news we have about him."

Sakura stared at the place on the map where the slaughter had apparently taken place. "I don't get it…Why would he leave? Why would do something like that? He still had Kakashi-sensei here and a bunch of the other "Rookie Nine" like: Shikamaru, Kiba, Chouji, Shino…" Gaara squeezed her hand.

"My guesses at his motives are as good as yours Sakura-san. He…" She trailed off when she took in the new expression on the girl's face. "What is it?"

"Itachi. That has to be it. That has to be the reason he left." She saw Tsunade furrow her brow as she considered that.

"Sakura-san, who is Itachi?" Gaara tried his words carefully.

She took a deep breath. "Itachi was Sasuke's older brother. When Sasuke was eight, Itachi killed everyone his own clan, the Uchiha clan. Everyone except Sasuke, that is. Ever since, Sasuke was always trying to become stronger so he could find Itachi and kill him to have revenge for killing his mother and father and everyone else that mattered to him."

"Itachi now is a member of Akatsuki." said Tsunade. "He has been for a long time now."

"He has become powerful indeed if he has joined them." agreed Gaara.

"He has a long way to go before he gets powerful enough to be a match for Itachi." said Sakura solemnly.

"Which brings me to another point." Gaara turned his gaze to Tsunade. "Do you have any information on Akatsuki? With the remaining time I have left here, I would like to copy it."

"Why?"

"Ever since you finished healing Sakura," – he squeezed her hand again, - "I have been thinking about that organization and would like to investigate them. They will come again to capture my Bijuu and I would like to be prepared when they do. Aside from collecting the Nine Bijuu of Legend, I would like to know what their other motives are if that is not their real one. If I do discover it, I would like to prepare myself and… other people just in case we do face them in the near future."

Tsunade knew he was referring to Naruto.

"I am sorry that we are late, Pain-sama." Kakazu said as he and Hidan projected themselves into the cave. They were the last members of Akatsuki to arrive to the meeting. "We just turned in another wanted man and received 50,000 ryu for him."

"That is fine Kakazu. Send it as soon as possible." the projection of the man called Pain said. He looked around. "Saisori, where is Deidara?"

"He was arrogant and got himself killed when trying to capture the Ichibi."

"Go and capture him within the next year. We will need him soon." Pain's eyes switched to the spot that was filled next to Saisori. "Who are you?"

The person in question was no doubt a male, with broad shoulders and a flat chest. His hair was cut very short and he wore a black body suit with overlapping armor on his arms and screws printed on his sleeves at his elbows and shoulders. His mask was bright orange with black lines that swirled into the hole over his right eye.

"Please, Pain-sama, I tried to discourage him from attending but he persisted anyways." Saisori cut in. "He's an idiot who wants to join us."

His voice was unnaturally high pitched for a man. "My name is Tobi and I wanna join you guys now that you're one short. Can I? Please? Tobi is a good boy."

"What are your abilities?"

"Um, well, I'm a good fighter, I'm really good at fire jutsus and I can sort of rematerialize too. As in instantly disappear."

"Fine. You're in."

"But sir-" Saisori tried to say.

"He is with us, Saisori." Pain commanded. "What about the Niibi? Have you found her yet?"

"No." Hidan replied this time. "Well, sort of I think. I felt a fucking huge blast of demon energy south-west of where Kakazu and I were searching in Lightning Country. He didn't feel it but I sure did. I had a feeling that we should follow it and we did, all the way back to where the residual chakra was most concentrated. It was in a small, shitty town near the Sand-Rock border on the Rock side. It happened in the only inn in town but nobody noticed it 'cause nobody can sense demon chakra like we can because we have been exposed to it all the damn time.

"Apparently, after I threatened the inn keeper, he told me an old woman, a blond teen and his dark haired girl friend had stopped on the day that the blast happened. Then they left immediately after it happened 'cause they checked out the same night. The old woman had long gray hair that still had red in it, the blond teen had blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek and the girl had long dark hair, pale skin and whitish-purple eyes."

"The boy was Uzumaki Naruto, Jinjuuriki of the Kyuubi." Itachi had remained silent up until now.

"How do you know this, Itachi-san?" Pain questioned.

"I've seen Naruto before. Back when I used to play the older brother before I left Konoha, I saw Naruto a few times when I picked Sasuke up from the Academy when I didn't have a mission. The description fits him perfectly. As for the older woman, I do not have a guess."

"And the girl?"

"A Hyuuga. No other clan has those color eyes. If she was around the same age as Naruto, then I would say Hyuuga Hinata. She was in the same Academy class as my younger brother as well."

"There's more to my goddamn story, you know." Hidan grumbled.

"Fine then, continue."

"Once they checked out and the old woman had left, he looked out the door to see why she had left in such a hurry. He saw this Naruto kid carrying the Hinata girl as he and the old lady ran out of the town. That's all."

There was a pause before the dark half of Zetsu spoke. "The girl has the Niibi in her."

"It would seem so." Pain agreed. "An unrecorded Jinjuuriki. For a Bijuu that was still presumed to be free in the world. Hmph. I knew there was something more to that one than what we already knew. Good job Hidan. Now we know who has each Bijuu in them if we haven't captured them yet since the Niibi was the only one we could not find."

"Bah. I hate those meetings. They're very stiff."

Itachi didn't reply to his partner's comment.

"Who was that Tobi guy anyways? He was weird. Hmph. Doesn't matter it's Pain decision anyway, not ours."

More silence came from the Uchiha.

"Hey, I wasn't sure if I should say this to the rest of the organization or not just then," Kisame stood up from the rock that he was sitting on, "but my spy within Mist village reported to me that a young man by the name of Sasuke has become the Mizukage's apprentice. It's your brother, no doubt."

Itachi didn't reply right away. "If the path he has chosen is to study is under that blood-stained man, then so be it."

"Very good, Sasuke." The Mizukage praised. He stood in the middle of a training field just south of the Mist village. "Now, electrocute the cat that I penned up over there. Shock it enough so that it is just on the brink of death."

Sasuke aimed the electricity in his hand a hundred feet or so to his left and zapped the tawny housecat that meowed as it paced along the length of the chain link fence. It gave one last screech before it fell on its side, motionless. A whiff of burnt fur came a second later.

The Mizukage, named Darama as Sasuke had found out soon after his and Haku's arrival, had taken in Sasuke warmly and even began to teach him soon after Sasuke confessed his need for revenge. He had started with teaching Lightning techniques, since that was one of Sasuke's elemental affinities. Sasuke was now learning how to increase the range of the Chidori that his former sensei had taught him for the Chuunin exams and to shape it into bolts and how to use it to surround a held object to make it an instant weapon.

Sasuke walked over to the cat. He checked it for a pulse but found none and frowned at himself. "Dead." he reported.

"Sasuke," Darama sighed, "how many times do we have to try to get this right?"

"Sensei, with all due respect and thanks to the power you have given me so far, I don't see how leaving an enemy alive but incapacitated will be beneficial." Sasuke said as he stood up.

"Come here." Sasuke did as he was told and stood in front of his sensei. "If you paralyze your brother, he can't fight back. He cannot move, not even lift a finger to help himself. He can't do anything. He must watch you draw out his death, slowly and painfully if you so desire. You can get every single drop of satisfaction that you wish from killing him this way. And, you can stop your enemies without killing them if you so desire too." He added the last part as an afterthought, as if it justified the action.

"Yes, sensei."

Sasuke, even if his teacher's techniques seemed rudimentary at first, felt the power growing within him. His ability to use his Sharingan increased even if he had gained the last tomoe years ago. On top of that, he had learned how to control an already very powerful move and had learned quite a few other powerful ones.

What had seemed slightly odd at first about this training was that Darama insisted on using real live animals as targets and tests for the new jutsus. He gauged Sasuke's success at the technique based on how alive the Mizukage wanted it and how much life was actually left in the creature.

"It is so you won't have to hesitate about killing a person when you must." he had explained when Sasuke had asked about it. "You don't want to be frozen with fear when you have that split second window, do you?"

Haku, on the other hand, disapproved of this method and his reasoning. The last time Sasuke and her had talked was about that exact topic. The argument was not exactly easy for him to digest.

"I don't like it, Sasuke-san." she had said. "It's wrong."

"Why? There are plenty of other animals to replace the one that I kill." He looked the other way down the street disinterestedly. They were sitting in adjacent trees in a small park near the apartment building where they lived. They each had their own room there, next to each other.

Her voice and expression grew hard. "Come out of your rock hard, arrogant head for a second. Imagine the animal you're using is a human being. A hardworking father, trying to feed his three children for instance. Does your compassion change?"

"No. It's just a bird Haku-san. Jeez, why do you have to get so worked up over this? There's a billion and more of them in this world." he sighed.

"Well, maybe that bird was a hardworking father, trying to feed his three baby chicks in his mate's nest, but was unlucky and got caught by the Mizukage when looking for food for them. What will happen to the baby birds now that their father is gone? Especially if the mother died as well! Maybe you killed her last week or something! Now the babies are starving and will die soon because they can't get any food!"

The truths she spoke made him uncomfortable. He really didn't think about the consequences of killing the bird. Oh great, now he was worried about three little baby birds alone in the forest, slowly dying of hunger.

"So just think about that for a second, baka. Be smart. What if we were the little test animals of some greater beasts? That'll put in perspective for you." She slid off the tree branch she was sitting on and landed smoothly on the ground. "Talk to me again when you get what I'm trying to tell you." she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

He wanted to tell her something that would make her stop but he bit his tongue as he watched her back disappear. It was some minutes before he had jumped down too and followed her.

He had lain in bed most of the night thinking about what she had said. The red numbers of his alarm clock told him it was four thirty in the morning and he still hadn't gotten an answer for her.

It was now a few weeks after that. He now understood what she had meant but up until now, his pride refused to let him give in first and tell her. Tonight, he would give her his answer.

He knocked on her apartment door and waited. A moment later, when he received only silence he called out her name. "Haku-san?"

There still was no answer to her door. He grumbled to himself and went back to his apartment and grabbed his copy of her apartment key. They had made duplicate keys and given them to each other as a sign of mutual trust.

Sasuke let himself in and walked immediately to the low table in the center since there was a single piece of paper on it. It was a note to him, dated two days prior.

Sasuke-san,

I am on a mission. I will be back in a week or so. If you came here looking to give me an answer, great. Hang onto it until I get back. If not, don't steal my food or you'll suffer the consequences.

Haku-san

He grumbled again. Well, this was just his luck. Who knows when his pride will come down enough again to let him say this?

He crumpled up the note and threw it in the trash to leave proof that he was here when she got back in five days. Then he stepped out and locked up her apartment.

Returning to his place, he took a shower, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, draped his towel around his neck and grabbed the milk carton out of the fridge. For the next hour, he finished the carton while sprawled on the couch and trying to pay attention to the TV. Unfortunately, all he could think about was Haku and his stupid timing.

Annoyed, he switched the TV off, threw the finished carton in the trash and jumped onto his bed, hands behind his head. He had quite a time trying to fall asleep.

His morning was not so good either, as the milk had gone bad a few days before.

A/N: So now the REAL story is set in motion. I can't wait to write out the rest of it. X]

And was that NOT the best NaruHina confession scene you have EVER read?!?!??!?!??!??!!!!?!//1/1/1/ As I was writing the last part of that scene, my iPod began playing "With Me" by Sum 41. Gahhh I love that song. So I threw in those awkward lines. haha. YAY FOR CORNY.

I kid, I kid about that. I'm getting full of myself. -slaps self-

Until next time,

IBP

Nex Chapter: A little mystery is unraveled, bringing to light many things that should never be said.