Author's Note: I do not own Naruto. Now on to other things. I would like to thank all of you who reviewed. I think I told each one of you I was planning to have this chapter out by the weekend but here it is a bit early so that none of you have to wonder any longer who it was that pushed Hinata out of the way. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thanks again for reading.


"Oh God not this." The words echoed in her mind over and over again as she stared at the crumpled figure on the ground, the shouts and screams sounding as distant to her ears as the car as it sped off. For a moment she was frozen entirely in place, rooted to the spot where she stood despite the throb in her own leg. This was all her fault. It was her fault that he was lying in a crumbled heap only yards away.

In that moment she absolutely hated herself, hated herself so much that she wished with all her might that it was her laying there on the ground. She deserved to be the one that the car had hit. But she could not change the course events no matter how much she willed them to have ended differently.

In that moment she willed her own body to move. She was the closest to him and as she sprinted forward, despite the pain shooting down her leg, she prayed that he was breathing. She didn't know what she would do if he was… she didn't even allow her mind to finish the thought. She cut it off though she knew exactly where it had been going.

When she reached his side, she noticed the shallow rise and fall of his body as he breathed. Her relief was only minor though as she looked at his unconscious face. She was terrified to touch him. She didn't want to hurt him and had no idea what his injuries might be. She felt completely panicked. She had no idea what to do.

"Oh Naruto I am so sorry," she whispered to his unconscious form, her tears spilling down her cheeks as her body started shaking. She heard the sound of footsteps and glanced up. Through her tear filled vision she was able to Shikamaru snapping his cell phone shut as he closed the distance between them. Sakura was directly behind Shikamaru, her emerald eyes wide with horror and her hand clamped over her mouth.

Shikamaru kneeled down beside Naruto, his face collected though Hinata could clearly see the worry in his eyes as he too looked over Naruto. "We can't move him," he instructed his voice solemn. "There could be injuries we don't know about."

Hinata nodded though it was harder than anything to sit there and stare at the awkward way Naruto was laying on asphalt. He looked so uncomfortable. She wanted nothing more than to lift his head and put it in her lap but instead she clutched her hands to her chest preventing them from reaching out and moving her blonde friend.

"Violet." She heard Shikamaru speak her name and it was all she could do to pull her gaze away from Naruto. "You need to go," he said sternly to which she started shaking her head, the beads of moisture falling from her face with the movement of her head.

"No I can't leave him," she muttered her voice nearly unintelligible.

"You can't do anything else for him now. Neither of us can. Listen, you can hear the sirens already. If you're still here when the police and paramedics arrive you are going to end up in a lot of trouble."

"That doesn't matter," she said protesting once again. She didn't care what kind of trouble she might get in. She deserved it, all of it, for getting her friends involved in all of this.

"Listen to me," Shikamaru said, his voice more forceful now, and she realized he had moved around Naruto and was next to her, pulling her to her feet by the arm. "It's no longer safe for you to be behind that mask. This wasn't supposed to be him, it was supposed to be you. I know you don't want to leave him but don't make what he just did worthless. Go home, get changed, and meet me at the hospital," he ordered.

"Won't you get in trouble," she whispered.

"Not as much as you would. Take Sakura with you and take my truck," he said placing the keys in her hand and closing her fingers over them. "And be careful," he said pushing her towards where Sakura was still standing, her own jade eyes now glistening with tears.

Hinata did as she was told. She ignored the stinging pain in her leg and willed her body to move once again. She could hear the sirens rapidly approaching as she grabbed Sakura's arm and drug her off towards Shikamaru's truck, both girls shaking and fighting to see through tears as they walked.

Shikamaru watched them go and crouched down beside Naruto, his face still collected though considerably paler than usual. He wrung his own hands together in order to resist the urge to touch his friend, who was still breathing. It was best not to move him, Shikamaru knew that. So as long as Naruto was still breathing, it was best not to touch him and risk the possibility of injuring him even further. "Hang in there buddy," Shikamaru said quietly, his words nearly lost in the scream of the sirens as they pulled up.

Hinata did as she was told. She dropped Sakura off at her house. The entire ride home neither girl had said a word, both of their minds on a particular blonde who's life, at that very moment, seemed to be up in the air. Hinata nearly drove right past Sakura's house, the anguish that she felt threatening to swallow her whole. At the very moment she almost wished that Shikamaru was right, that someone would come barreling down the road and finish her off. She would gladly give anything to ensure the safety of her friend.

"He'll be okay, won't he?" The clear, if not shaky voice of Sakura filled the cab of the truck and Hinata turned her shimmering gaze to the pink-haired girl. It seemed as though her concern was quite genuine. She really did care about Naruto. It was a bittersweet realization for Hinata, glad that the girl who her friend had been after all these years finally noticed him enough to care and at the same time wondering if he would ever get to realize that fact.

Hinata set her chin and gave Sakura a nod. "He will," she said, willing the words to be true as she said them. Naruto would be okay. The world would certainly be a less brighter place without him, and Hinata simply did not want to live in that world. With her words, Sakura too set her chin and nodded back to Hinata. She climbed out of the cab of the truck and ran to her front door. Hinata took a shaky breath and pulled away from the curb.

It didn't take her long to reach Shikamaru's and she parked the truck in the driveway, leaving the keys under the front mat of the truck. She would need to borrow the truck again to get back to the hospital so she would be right back, and she didn't want to risk driving it near her house. She flipped open her phone as it buzzed in the pocket of her jacket. She flipped it open and read the text from Shikamaru.

At the hospital. Iruka's here already. They took him into surgery. Won't know anything for a bit.

Fresh tears spilled from her violet eyes as she ran towards her house. She could barely see through her blurred vision. She stumbled several times, a combination of her watery gaze and the pain that was shooting up her leg as she ran towards her house. This was all her fault. She deserved the pain in her leg and so much more. Once again she repeated that to herself. It didn't make it any better though because the fact of it was that Naruto was still in surgery because he had saved her.

She made it to her room, not caring who she woke once she was inside. She quickly removed her clothes and shoved them into the bottom of her hamper. She tugged on a simple pair of jeans and long-sleeved black shirt. She tugged her hair back into a long ponytail, not concerned with the stray pieces that she missed or simply fell out of the confines of her ponytail holder. She could care less what she might look like at the moment. She traded her boots for a pair of sneakers and walked into her bathroom.

She removed her mask, now damp from her tears, and stuck it into her drawer. She removed her contacts with some difficultly as she found her hands shaky. Once they were removed she put them away as well. She then let the water run as she scrubbed the makeup off of her face. She nearly scrubbed her face raw as fresh tears ran along her cheeks along with the water.

She shut off the water and toweled off her face, her pale eyes meeting her reflection in the small mirror above the sink. Her eyes were puffing and despite the fact that she had just washed her face, it was obvious that her cheeks had been streaked with tears. She walked out of the bathroom and grabbed her cell, which she shoved into the pocket of her jeans and without a second glance she headed out of her room.

She practically ran down the stairs, stumbling and nearly falling except for her grip on the railing as another shot of pain ran down her leg. It was probably going to bruise horribly, but her injury was nothing compared to what her friend had suffered. That thought had her once again ignoring the pain as she hobbled out the front door, not caring who heard her as she shut it behind her. Surely her father would understand her going to the hospital to see her friend, and if he didn't, well she would simply deal with those consequences later. She would be there for Naruto no matter what.

She heard a car door slam and she spun her head in time to spot Neji and crew climbing out of Naji's car. As if nothing else could go wrong tonight, she had to run into them. It was too late to make a break for it, they had already seen her. She closed her eyes and mentally prepared as Neji and Tenten walked over to her.

"Where do you think you're going at this hour," Neji demanded.

"Naruto is in the hospital. I am going to see him," she said, slightly surprised at the fact that she was tripping over her words. She didn't have time to stutter about though. She needed to get to the hospital.

"Neji, her little boyfriend is in the hospital. How tragic. Did the loser get hurt," Tenten taunted getting into Hinata's face like she always did.

"Don't talk about him like that," Hinata snapped as fresh tears began spilling down her cheeks. He was in the hospital because he had saved her. He wasn't a loser, he was a hero. He didn't deserve what happened to him. She didn't need this now either. Why couldn't Tenten and Neji just leave her alone? It wasn't about her anymore. She would deal with them later. Tenten could torment her all she wanted if she would just let her go now.

"I think I made her cry. Why don't you grow up little girl? No one wants to hang around with such a baby. Not even that loser friend…"

Tenten didn't get to finish her sentence. Hinata wasn't sure what happened. One minute she had been squeezing her eyes shut willing everything away and the next she had simply snapped. Her hand had come up on it own volition and her fist met Tenten's face, square on the nose. The brunette squealed as her hands flew to her nose, which began to bleed. Neji stared at Hinata in shock and Hinata stared wide-eyed at the brunette who was practically snarling at her.

"You little bitch," she hissed. "Neji do something," she whined then. But Neji was too shocked to react. Even Hinata herself was stunned. Her gaze drifted to the clenched fist at her side, her hand stinging slightly. She was shocked that no apology rushed out of her mouth and at the smug sense of satisfaction she felt while the brunette continued shrieking.

"I said don't talk about him like that," Hinata said before brushing past both of them and heading for the sidewalk. A small smile worked its way across her tear-streaked face despite everything. That had been for Naruto.


Sasuke had been watching the events in front of him unfold with a stoic expression. He watched Tenten immediately lash out at Hinata, who was obviously upset. She must have heard about the incident at the rally. She wanted to see her friend and here Tenten had started to harass her.

Neji's girlfriend was a bitch, that much was a fact, and Sasuke suddenly felt himself annoyed as the older girl tore into her weaker opponent. Sasuke was about to say something, despite the fact that he usually stayed out of these sorts of spats, when he too was surprised. It took a moment for the fact that Hinata had punched Tenten solidly in the nose to set in. And once it did set in, his usual indifferent gaze became an amused smirk. Tenten had deseved it and it was nice to see that Hinata had a little fight in her. The girl was always so quiet at school.

He watched as Hinata brushed past Neji and Tenten, his smirk instantly vanishing. An odd sense of familiarity swept over him as he watched her head towards the road. He noticed then that she was, limping? Not to mention shaking. Even from where he was standing he could see the indigo-haired girl was shaking like a leaf. He frowned at the thought of her driving to the hospital. She looked like a complete wreck.


Hinata was at the sidewalk when she felt a hand on her arm. She whirled around, her small hands clenched into fists, her pale eyes narrowed and ready for a fight. However they quickly widened in shock as she stared up at the intense onyx gaze of Sasuke Uchiha. She resisted the urge to flee and instead stared blankly up at him, unable to think of something to say. More than anything she wanted to throw herself against him and sob into his shoulder, but that wasn't an option. For one she didn't deserve the comfort and the second was that at the moment she was Hinata. She was nothing to him.

"Do you mind if I come with you?" His familiar tone was a comfort to her despite the fact that she felt as though she didn't deserve it.

"You… you want to come with me," she managed to choke out, her voice shaky but for the most part unwavering.

Sasuke nodded once. "We're not exactly close but I'd like to think of Naruto as a friend," he said though she could tell just how difficult it was for him to use the term friend. It came out of his lips as if he was speaking a foreign language that he wasn't even sure of. "Besides I owe him more than you could imagine," he added solemnly, and Hinata wondered what he could possibly mean by that. Of course she didn't press the fact, she simply nodded and began walking again.

"Did you hurt your leg," Sasuke asked, once again noting the limp. Hinata swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded, not trusting herself with words. She was thankful that Sasuke didn't press the manner any further, and the two slipped into silence as they made their way to Shikamaru's where the truck was parked.

"Why are we at Shikamaru's," Sasuke asked causing Hinata to frantically search her mind for some sort of answer.

"He was with Naruto. He… he's the one that told me what happened. He asked me to bring his truck. Besides I don't have a car of my own," she said, her voice trailing off hoping that Sasuke bought her lie. He nodded so she could only assume that he did.

When they reached the truck, Hinata walked over to the driver's side door. She froze when she felt Sasuke place a hand on her arm. Her watery gaze was lifted to meet his intense onyx stare.

"Why don't you let me drive? You're a mess at the moment," he said carefully. There was no trace of a taunt in his voice and when she glanced down at her shaking hands, she knew that he was right. She really was in no condition to drive. It was a wonder she had gotten herself and Sakura home in one piece.

She nodded, not trusting her voice and opened the door. She took the keys and placed them into Sasuke's hand before moving around to the other side of the truck. She winced as she hopped into the cab of the truck and then buckled her seatbelt with a shaky hand. The whole time she felt Sasuke's gaze on her as he waited for her to get herself buckled in.

Once the seatbelt was clicked into place, Sasuke started Shikamaru's truck and backed out of the driveway. Silence settled between them in the cab, as Sasuke drove them both to the hospital. Hinata found herself clasping her hands together in her lap in order to stop them from shaking. And despite the fact that she didn't want to cry in front of the raven-haired boy beside her, tears slipped down her pale cheeks as she stared blankly out the window.

Sasuke studied the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye. He really didn't know the younger Hyuga that well but there was certainly something different about her at the moment. He couldn't put his finger on it but she seemed so different than the girl he was used to seeing at school. Perhaps it was because of the fact that the girl beside him was actually interesting. He had never seen any type of extreme mood from Hinata in the time he had see her before. He had never seen sorrow or anger in the timid girl. Nor had he ever seen her in such typical teenage clothes. Apparently there was more to her than he had thought. Plus he still couldn't shake that familiar feeling when he looked at her.

He felt the need to offer her some words of comfort. She looked completely distraught sitting there with her slender hands being wrung together as if her life depended on it. He had never been one for comfort though so instead he remained silent. Besides he didn't see the point in making false promises. How was he supposed to tell her that it would be alright when there was no way he knew if it was the truth or not? Lying to her now might make her feel better, but it might end up making it worse in the end. Hell, he wasn't even sure why he cared so much. Maybe it was because he really did feel like he owed quite a bit to the blonde at the hospital.

Sasuke had sort of taken it on himself to keep Violet out of harm's way. He had let his guard slip after the race and it had nearly gotten her killed. It may have if it hadn't been for her friend. Plus in some strange way, Sasuke actually liked Naruto despite the fact that he was loud and could also be quite annoying. There was a lot to be said for someone who wasn't afraid to tell someone what they were thinking or who wasn't afraid to follow their own path. He really did hope the guy was okay even if his face remained stoic through it all.

It didn't take them long to reach the hospital, and once they had parked, he watched as Hinata threw open her door and sprinted for the emergency room doors, obviously now ignoring the pain in her leg. She disappeared inside of them and he shook his head as he continued walking at his own normal pace. To say he hated hospitals was a bit of an understatement, but he made do and stepped inside as the door parted for him. It didn't take him long to spot Hinata in the waiting room, her arms around Shikamaru, sobbing into his shoulder. He frowned at the sight but walked over anyway in time to catch Hinata's muffled words.

"It's all my fault," she said choking back her sobs.

"No its not," Shikamaru said gently if not a bit awkwardly.

"Yes it is. This would have never happened if it wasn't for me," she said as she pulled away from her friend and swiped furiously at her eyes.

"Were you the one driving that car," Sasuke said, surprising himself as he interrupted their little moment. He felt two sets of eyes turn to stare at him. Hinata blinked at him, her lips parted slightly as if she was going to answer him but suddenly forgot how to speak.

"Well were you," he demanded, perhaps a bit harsher than was necessary.

"N… no," she stuttered out, using the back of her hand once again to wipe away the tears that spilled down her pale cheeks.

"Well then I don't see how this could possibly be your fault," he said taking a seat beside the girl, who continued to stare at him blankly. He turned away from her pale stare and looked forward, catching Sakura of all people walking into the waiting room out of the corner of his eye.

"Thank you," he heard her whisper. He gave a quick nod and noticed then the man a few seats down from them with a scar across his face stand. Immediately he felt the girl beside him tense and his onyx gaze fell on the approaching doctor.

The doctor cleared his voice. "Mr. Umino…"


Meanwhile back at the Hyuga residence, Tenten was fuming. She couldn't believe the nerve of Hinata. To make matters worse, Neji had stood there like an incompetent moron after his cousin had attacked her. Plus Neji's so called friend had even gone after the little brat after she had left. Tenten wanted to throw a fit, after all she was the victim here, not that little Hyuga bitch.

She held the paper towel under her nose, hoping that the bleeding would stop soon, and swearing under her breath all the things she would do to Hinata if her nose was broken. Neji had woken his uncle and the two were in the other room discussing Hinata's behavior but Tenten wasn't satisfied in the least. The girl needed to pay.

Tenten stomped up the stairs to Hinata's room. It took her a minute to find the room but once she did, she yanked the door open, her eyes swept over the room, trying to find a target. The room was next to spotless, causing Tenten's plan to momentarily escape her. There was nothing obvious to target.

A sound of disgust escaped her lips as she felt the paper towel in her hand grow damp from her own blood. Tenten stormed into the bathroom. She yanked open the cabinet looking for a cloth of some sorts but found none. She slammed it shut and jerked open a drawer, her hand rummaging around for a cloth. She froze when she felt something strange. She grasped the object and pulled it out of the drawer.

"No way," she screeched out loud as she stared at the simple black mask in her hand. "Neji!"


Okay so I am horrible leaving you all with more cliffhangers. Anyway I just wanted to say how no one thought to mention Naruto. A lot of you were hoping it wasn't Sasuke and a few of you mentioned the possibility of Shikamaru but no Naruto. Sorry if I didn't make it clear at the end of the last chapter but they were all together. I wrote that Naruto and Sakura would meet up with Shika and Hinata and when the accident occured, it was a few hours later so I was basing it off of all of them together. Originally I planned for Shikamaru to be the one who shoved Hinata out of the way, but in the end I thought this way worked better. As for those of you who were worried it might be Sasuke, well I need him up and about for what is all going to happen after this. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.