A/N: Last chapter, besides the epilogue, woo hoo!
Sunako: Finally, we find out what happened to Hinata!
"Hinata, what is it?" Kiba asked, noticing that she had gone pale.
"K-Kiba, that's…that's Neji, over there and…and he's got Sasuke with him," she said, turning.
"Oh, crap, let's go, we can't let him see you," he said, grabbing her hand as they took off running.
"Kiba…I…I remember.""Wh…what?"
"I remember why I was running," said Hinata. By now, there friends had followed them."Well, why, you've gotta tell us!" Naruto said.
"First, we need to hide somewhere," said Sakura. "In the school, maybe, how about the most in the middle classroom."
"Well, the English room seems to be a rather popular spot," Temari said, and the group took off towards the school.
"Alright," Hinata said, when they were in the English room. "I'm going to tell you…exactly what happened."
And she began to tell them exactly what she remembered.
It was just an average morning, or at least, that's what it seemed like to Hinata. But after breakfast, when she stood outside their large house, she heard Neji's voice.
"I hear Itachi's graduating and coming back. But don't think that means you're going to be saved or anything. I haven't gotten to really enjoy my life with you Hinata. No one else can have you but me, so how about you let me have you now?"
Hinata knew exactly what he was implying and shook her head. "N-no…no…father wouldn't ever let you…he'd stop you…o-or you'd get in trouble or…"
"Oh, shut up," Neji said, slapping her. "You're not going to keep your mouth shut, so maybe I'll just have to kill you, destroy your body, and dump the remains in the forest after I'm done with you."
"N-no…no…" she whispered as he neared her.
"NO!" she shouted and ran off, towards the forest. Soon, she was running, as fast as she could. She had never been too fast, but she knew that she had to keep on, and felt the speed she needed come to her as she burst forward, scared to death, and then…
Everything that happened after that was perfectly familiar to Hinata, so she knew that was where she had lost her memory, scared out of her wits, in the forest.
"So…the event was so traumatizing, you must have blacked it out," said Shino.
"That bastard, he'll pay for ever touching my Hinata," Kiba said, growling much like Akamaru would.
"We need to tell your mom, she's a police officer," Ino said. "I'll go get her, Neji doesn't know me."
"I'll go with you, Ino," Naruto said, joining his girlfriend.
"Yeah, but Naruto, shouldn't you go get your mom and dad?" Chouji asked. "I'm going to get my dad, you should get your parents, since we have police as parents too."
"Alright," Shikamaru said, "we need to think this through. No one needs to be alone, so Kiba, Shino, and Sakura can stay here with Hinata. I'll go with Chouji, Naruto can go get his parents with Temari. Ino, you still go to Tsume, Gaara will accompany you. Kankuro, Tenten, you guys need to go tell Tsunade, or at least get her here."
Everyone nodded and immediately got to it.
~X~
"Tsume! Tsume!" Ino shouted when she flung open Kiba's door. Instead of Tsume, Hana came to the door.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Hinata's cousin Neji," Gaara said. "He's the reason she was running and he's here."
"Hinata's cousin? She never mentioned him to me," Hana said.
"Well, he's dangerous and we need your mom to come with us!" the blonde girl said.
"She's not home, she's over talking to Minato and Kushina," said Hana.
"Alright, well, Naruto's taking care of that, come with us," Ino said and drug Hana with her.
~X~
In time, they had the adults they needed grouped in the room and Hinata told her story again.
"There's only one thing we can do, and that's get Neji away from her, being punished like he needs to be," said Tsunade.
"It's going to be harder than that," a cold voice said, and, there, at the door, stood Neji and Sasuke. All the people running around had attracted the attention of the two, and directed it straight toward the school building, then the classroom.
Suddenly, a scream was heard as Hanabi burst down the hallway. "Hinata, I'm sorry! I told them you weren't here, but no one would believe me! I'm so sorry!"
Of course everyone going here had also attracted the attention of the other townspeople, who were soon standing behind Hanabi, watching in confusion.
"Hanabi, I told you that I would deal with you later," Neji said harshly. "Sasuke, take care of her."
"Hn, alright," he replied and walked towards the clump of people. Hanabi, terrified, flung herself at the nearest person, which happened to be Udon, who held her close.
The other people sort of moved in front of her, blocking Sasuke, who just walked back over to Neji.
"Alright, Hinata, I guess it's time I take you back home," said Neji, almost like a caring older brother.
"No one's taking Hinata anywhere," was what Kiba wanted to say, but someone else beat him to it as the crowd of townspeople split, revealing a tall male who greatly resembled Sasuke, with the same black hair and black eyes.
"Itachi," Sasuke and Hinata both said at the same time.
"Well, you shouldn't be surprised Sasuke. I did graduate yesterday, and I thought it would be nice to see Hinata. I didn't expect to see you this quickly though."
"What is this, blast from the past?" Naruto asked. "First you cousin and his friend, then your sister, now your old boyfriend!"
But Hinata wasn't there anymore, nor was Kiba, Tsume, Hana, Shino, or Sakura. Itachi had distracted everyone long enough for six to escape through the classroom's second door.
"Let's go after her," Neji said, but Naruto and Kankuro both grabbed each of him arms.
"Not so fast," Kankuro said.
"Temari, we need to block that door!" Tenten shouted.
"Right, let's go," she replied.
Sasuke tried to reach the door before them, but Itachi, Gaara, and Shikamaru grabbed him.
"Dad, do you think you should send everyone home?" Chouji asked. "I think these guys really are dangerous, maybe we should put everyone out of danger."
"Good idea," Chouza said. "And, Kushina, you should take Hanabi home with you, make sure she's safe. Minato can take care of things here, I'll make sure everyone gets home safely."
"We're not going anywhere," Ino said, going over to join Temari and Tenten. "We're all friends of Hinata's and we need to protect her. It's our job as her friends to keep her safe."
Gaara, Naruto, Kankuro, Shikamaru, Chouji, Temari, and Itachi all nodded, just as Neji broke free and lunged for the door. However, Ino reeled back her fist and punched him square in the nose. Being friends with Sakura all those years had taught her well.
Temari went to join Naruto and Kankuro as they tried to restrain him again, then Minato helped them.
"We'll go after Hinata," Ino said, and she and Tenten left, followed closely by Tsunade.
~X~
Kushina had tried to get Udon to go home, but Hanabi was still so scared that she hadn't let go of him and refused to leave her side.
~X~
The group of six was soon joined by three others and they continued running.
"We need to get her far away from here," Tsume said.
"Yeah, good idea, but there's only a cliff the way you're going!" Tsunade shouted after her."But it's far away, Neji won't get to her until the other police can take care of him and his friend!"
Tsume was wrong, because Hinata suddenly spotted the two in the corner of her eye. She let out a shriek.
"I'm sorry, Hinata, we couldn't hold on to them!" Gaara called, as the group from back at the school was running behind Neji and Sasuke.
"Kiba, you take Hinata, run faster, we'll hold them off," Tsume said..
"Alright, mom," he said, taking Hinata's hand and running with her, as hard and fast as he could. "No matter what happens, Hinata, I'll protect you, I love you."
"Kiba, please, don't let Neji get me…I…I love you too and I always will," the young woman said.
"Hinata, we still couldn't stop him!" Naruto's voice reached her ears and she suddenly heard Neji's pounding footsteps behind her. Kiba suddenly picked her up bridal style and began running faster, until they had gained an advantage and put her down to run on her own again.
Of course, Neji caught up, but the couple was determined to escape him. Hinata, not knowing the geography of the land around her, didn't know about the huge cliff.
She stopped at the edge, with Kiba yelling out to her.
"What's wrong, Hinata?" Neji asked. "Aren't you going to keep running from me?"
Hinata opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly, after all the running, her legs finally gave out. She was falling.
"K-Kiba!" she screamed as she began to plummet. The last thing she could be heard screaming was, "Kiba, I love you!"
Kiba ran to edge, but she was too far down now. "I LOVE YOU, HINATA! NO MATTER WHAT, IT'LL ALWAYS BE YOU THAT I LOVE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that she could hear him.
It was long before she slipped out of view, and the mysterious girl who had just appeared recently disappeared before his very eyes.
A/N: Sunako: N-no…
Me: I always had this ending planned from the beginning.
Sunako: I hate you.
Next time: The epilogue of course! How do they all cope without Hinata? Do they have to?