Heyy, everyone.
Thank you guys so much for letting me reach 1,000 hits on this story!
For all you contributors, I give you thanks tenfold!
I hope you enjoyed it thus far.
And, I hope you continue reading.
Also, I may not be updating this story as much, not like I update it alot anyways, because I'm also in the midst of writing another story.
It's SasuSaku, so, if you enjoy that pairing, you should check it out. (:
Anddddd, one more update.
Wanna see Nozomi?
Well, I'm sure it's awful, but here's at least a visualization.
Go to DeviantArt and put in after the URL: /art/Naruto-OC-Nozomi-Colored-103347013
And, you'll see her.
If you look on there further, you might see Sorano.
I'll eventually upload a better image of her, but, for now, you'll have to bare with me.
But, anywaysss...
Fourteenth chapter is here.
I hope you enjoy. (:

Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own Sorano, Nozomi, & the plot.

"Wh- where is everybody?"

Nozomi stood in the lonely, empty hall in the hospital. She turned back to the door she had just come out of, and walked back in. The door slid shut behind her. Suddenly, everything went black and then she began to run. She ran through the darkness looking for a way out. Where was everybody? What happened to Neji? Where was she? At the end of the darkness, there was a faint light coming closer and closer to her. As she went towards it, the darkness swelled and transformed into a sea of water. She began to swim, and swim, but she started to run out of breath. She was about to reach the light, when she, all of a sudden, lost all of her breath. The light slowly began to fade. She reached and reached, but she couldn't get to the light.

Immediately, her head popped up from the bed and she was relieved to hear the comforting sound of the rhythmic beeping on Neji's heart monitor. She looked up to see Neji's almost white eyes staring right at her. His hand was on her head, stroking her long, curly hair.

"Neji?" Nozomi wasn't quite sure if what she was seeing was real, especially with the dream she just had.

"Hey, Nozomi," as he talked, his voice wavered, as if he wasn't quite used to talking yet.

Nozomi's first reaction was to jump up and down and give him a huge kiss, but, surprisingly, she didn't. She backed up from the bed and stared at him, like she didn't know who he was. She was at a loss for words. He was bundled up in bandages and he looked fragile. She didn't even want to touch him. His face was a pale white, whiter than usual.

"Is something wrong?" his voice still oscillating a little more than before. He always had a way of sensing when something was wrong.

Nozomi remained speechless. She didn't know if what she was seeing was real. Was it a dream? She wasn't sure. But, she kinda hoped it was. Seeing Neji like that made her heart break. All of those bandages and his injuries looked as if he were in eternal pain. But, even if this was a dream, should she be so rude as to not speak to him?

"Neji?" her voice broke from not speaking for such a long period of time and the tears forming in her throat. "Are you really alive?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Come here." He weakly motioned for her to come closer to him.

Nozomi bent over top of Neji and he put his bandaged hand on her cheek. "I just wanted to let you know, no matter what we go through, I love you and I always will."

Nozomi put her hand on his and they laced their fingers together. "I love you, too, Neji."

A nurse walked calmly into the room and went over to the heart monitor. She checked it to make sure it was okay and walked towards the bed.

"I see you're awake, now.." She looked at the chart next to his bed, "Hyuuga-kun." She looked at Nozomi as she began to step away from Neji's bed, letting go of his hand. "Hello, miss." She turned back to Neji. "How are you feeling, sir?"

Neji looked at Nozomi and then at the nurse. "A little better."

"Well, soon enough, we're going to have to change your dressings." The nurse bent down towards Neji and whispered, "Is that woman your wife? She's been here the whole time you've been in that horrid coma."

Neji's eyes went wide with shock. "Wife?" He thought about it for a second. "Well, not yet, she isn't. She's my girlfriend of three years."

The nurse looked at Nozomi and examined her. "She's a beautiful young lady. You did well." She gave Neji a large smile.

Nozomi stood there wondering what they were talking about. Eventually, she left and they were alone once again.

"When is she coming back to change you?" Nozomi asked, curiously.

"Pretty soon. She just went to go get more bandages. She said that since you were here, you could do it," Neji explained.

Nozomi blushed. She'd seen him without his shirt on before, but just the thought of his bare chest aroused her.

The nurse walked back into the room with a pile of fresh bandages. She then handed them to Nozomi. "You'll be comfortable dressing him, right?" the nurse said.

Nozomi took the bandages and said, "Uhm, yeah. Sure."

The nurse gave a slight nod and left the room.

Nozomi looked at Neji. "Well, I guess I should start." She walked over to Neji's bed and looked down at him."I guess you should stand up first, though."

Neji threw the covers off of him, and as he began to sit up, he plopped right back down and let out a cry of pain.

"Wh-what's wrong, Neji? What'd I do?" Nozmomi began to panic.

"N-nothing, Nozomi. M-my ribs hurt alot. What h-happened to me? What happened when I fell?" Neji held his stomach, as if he were trying to seize the pain himself.

Nozomi realized that she never got all of the information on what happened to Neji. She remembered the chart the nurse picked up near the heart monitor and walked towards them. She picked it up and looked throughout the entire thing. Apparently, Neji had broken four ribs, gotten a concussion, and a hair fracture in his left arm. To her, he was extremely lucky. Anyone else would have been dead the moment they hit the first bomb in that dreaded hole. To her, she was lucky. They'd been together for so long and this large obstacle they've come to, well, they at least got through the hardest part: trying to keep Neji alive.

"N-nozomi?" Neji brought her back to reality.

"Huh?" she said.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking."

"Oh."

"Well, the chart says that when you fell, you broke four ribs, got a concussion, and you have a small fracture in your left arm. That's probably why you can't get up."

"Now, I'm starting to feel the pain," Neji sighed.

"But.. I still need to dress you. So, I have to get you up. C'mon." She walked back to the bed and put her hand out. "I'll help you."

Neji hesitantly took her hand. She pulled his feet towards the right side of the bed and coaxed him off very slowly.

He sat up on the side of the bed a looked up at Nozomi. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. He buried his head into her stomach and she put her hand on his head. She rubbed her fingers through his long hair, making the pony-tail holder fall out. He pulled away so she could begin. She started with the bandages on his face. She started pulling them away from the cuts and burns on his precious face. She set the bloody bandages in a pile on the bed. She took his hands and gradually pulled him up off of the bed. He stood straight, trying to get used to the pain.

"Are you okay?" Nozomi asked.

Neji breathed sharply. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Nozomi looked at him suspiciously, but then decided she should keep going. She tugged on his shirt and released its buttons. There were bandages covering his chest down to his stomach. Then, she pulled the sleeve as far as she could to get his arm out of it. She took his arm out of the other sleeve and examined him. There were bandages covering his muscular arms, along with his chest. She started with his right arm. She unwrapped the bandages and stared in awe at the sight of his burns.

"How painful.." Nozomi thought.

Nozomi threw the bandages from his arms in the pile on the bed. She started with his chest, carefully unwrapping them so she wouldn't hurt him. She threw those bandages into the pile with the others. She looked him over and then looked into his eyes. He was so tall, at least 5 inches taller than her. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close to him, so his bare chest was touching her clothed body.

Neji bent down, making their foreheads touch, and whispered, "You're beautiful."

Nozomi blushed and buried her head into his chest. Neji took his hands from her shoulders and put them on her face, making her look at him.

"You are. Nozomi, you know how much I love you?" He moved his hands to her waist and pulled her even closer. "I love you more than life itself. I love you more than anyone else has. You know how I know that?"

"How?"

"I know that because I live for one and only reason: you. You were the only thing keeping me alive in that coma. Somehow, when the warmth of your hand touched mine.."

"How did he know that? He was in a coma.. Is all that stuff they say about coma patients true?"

"..it made me come alive and I got this strange willpower and then this longing to just be with you. Then, I woke up and saw you sleeping on the bed clenching my hand. Then, you let go and got this strange look on your face, like, you were looking for something, like you had lost something. So, I tried comforting you by stroking your hair."

Nozomi was speechless. Everything made sense now. When she let go of Neji's hand, she was lost. That's when the door closed on her and she couldn't reach the light. She decided she wouldn't tell Neji, though. "Wow, Neji. I had no idea that I meant so much to you."

"But, you do. You mean more to me than anything else. If I could, I'd-"

Neji was interrupted by a finger to his lips. Nozomi stood on her tiptoes and put her arms around his neck pulling him down to her level. She pressed her lips against his and they both opened their mouths, and their tongues intertwined together. He reached in front of him, unzipped her jonin vest, and pulled it off of her, still continuing their tongue war. She pulled her arms from around his neck and rubbed the soft skin on his muscular chest. He moved her over to the bed and cradled her onto it, him now ontop. His lips and hands moved down, lips on neck and hands on legs, closing in on the button to her pants. He snapped it undone and rubbed her slim body.

Nozomi let out small, gasping breaths. "N-neji.." she moaned.

Neji groaned in reply.

Nozomi lost train of thought, and she let Neji continue. He sneaked (AN: grammatically correct, might I add) his hands into her pants, pulling them farther and farther down, until they reached her ankles. Nozomi unbuttoned his pants and pulled them off of him. He pulled her shirt off and threw it on the floor. His lips went farther and farther down her body. He'd finally reached his limit. She'd reached hers. He got on top of her.

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Sorano, Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi had finally reached Suna. Sorano carried her large bubble, which had grown ten times as it was before. Sorano and the team parted, she went to the kazekage's office while they went to the fields.

-Sorano's POV-

"Why the fuck did it take you so long?!" Gaara growled at me.

"I-I'm sorry, Gaara-sama. I..we..it wasn't intended on taking so long. Things happened on the way here that we couldn't control. I'm sorry, Gaara," I tried to smooth things out.

"Address me formally and as your kazekage when you are reporting to me! You should have that much respect for me."

"I'm sorry, kazekage-sama. We ran into Akatsuki on the way, and they kidnapped me. But, one of them, Zetsu, hepled me escape. And, then, Shikamaru and his friend, Nozomi from Konoha, rescued me. Then, Neji, another leaf ninja, was almost killed. He went into a severe coma and we're still waiting on the results from Nozomi, who's with him now. And, even before that, we were attacked by ninja from the hidden waterfall. We hurried as much as we-" I choked on tears. One fell from my eye and slid down my face. I hated it when Gaara got mad at me. I hated it so much I would cry. I'm not a wuss, but it just frusterated me.

"D-don't cry, Sorano. Hey, now. Don't do that." He used his sand to wipe my tears from across the room.

"I'm sorry, kazekage-sama. I didn't mean to." I said, trying to hide the fact that I was crying.

"Well, it's fine, now. Quit crying. Now, go back to your other partners. They're going to need you to spread the water." Gaara smirked at me.

"Thank you, Gaara-sama!" I ran over to him and gave him a hug. He shrugged me off, as usual, and I ran out of the door.

Alrightyyyyy.
Well, that's the fourteenth chapterrrr.
Hnnn, it was quite interesting wasn't it?
Well, I hoped you enjoyed.
Reviewwwww!
Seeyaaa.