Hope

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Sorry for the late update. It got a bit hectic with school ending and I was behind with my school stuff. Since it's summer though I should be able to update frequently. Enjoy!

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Ch. 9

I was about to go down the stairs when I heard Temari arguing with someone. "What did Kankuro do now?" I thought with a sigh. But as I got to the third step down, I noticed that the other voice was not Kankuro but Shikamaru. I thought about turning around and heading straight to my room since it wasn't my business, but curiosity got the better of me. I sat down on the stairs so that they couldn't see me.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me! Don't you dare defend yourself! You knew who she was, yet you still acted like nothing happened!" Temari snapped at him. I heard Shikamaru sigh loudly and he replied, "I didn't think it was important. And besides, I was on a mission and you know the rules Honey."

"Don't you dare Honey me! That's not going to work this time! I mean Hinata could have been in danger! Do you realize that? What if the Akatsuki took her away? Have you ever thought about that?" Temari hissed.

I could picture Shikamaru sitting in a chair massaging his temples as he grumbled something. Whatever he said made Temari angrier than she was before, if that was possible. She was completely silent, which was more frightening than her yelling. Then she spoke in a calm deadly voice.

"I realize that your job is dangerous to a point were if you would tell me information I could get killed. But I believe I have a right to know if my family is in danger. I do not want the same thing that happened to Gaara happen to her. We were lucky that he survived after what they did to him. I'm positive that Hinata wouldn't be strong enough to go through that. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to tell her father, who is an important businessman from Japan, that his daughter was tortured and then killed."

I sat there shocked as I pieced together what I just heard. My imagination went wild; think of gruesome ways I could have died if I was captured on that plane. I clutched my head, trying to take deep breathes and control my heart rate. I tried to focus on what else they were saying.

"Are they near here at all?" Temari asked in a quiet voice. There was a pause before Shikamaru answered, "No. They were spotted near Florida four days ago. If they were up here I'd recommend keeping her by Gaara all the time. I don't think that will be much of a problem anyways, since he seems to have formed a connection with her."

Temari laughed lightly. "You noticed it too huh? I think having her here really is helping him. He's starting to sleep more at night. Once he slept for a full five hours. Not only that but from what I heard from Sasuke is that he's always watching her at school. It's good to know that…" I decided that I heard enough and headed back to my room quietly. That's when I saw him standing there and his aquamarine eyes staring at me.

He knew that I heard everything that they said. I tried staring back at him, but eventually I lost my nerve and looked down at the floor. That's when the whole conversation came back to me. "Gaara was…tortured." I wanted then to go and comfort him, tell him it was all going to be okay, but I stopped myself. I lifted my head and our eyes met.

I've never seen so much emotion in his eyes before. There was fear, hate, pain, sadness, and loneliness. It was then when I wouldn't have been able to stop myself no matter what. I walked up to him and hugged him. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and started to rub his upper back. He stiffened at the contact, clearly not expecting that, but then slowly he returned my hug and wrapped him arms around my stomach. He clung to me like a lost child would to his mother.

He rested his head on my shoulder for a while before guiding us to his room slowly. He opened the door and shrunk to the floor, with me following since he wouldn't let go, and we just sat there in silence, just hearing each other breath. I knew that normally I would have been afraid or embarrassed being in a guys room, but I knew that he need me at the moment. So I continued to rub his back. The talking down stairs soon stopped completely and I heard someone walking up the stairs as I drifted off into deep sleep.

Barely awake, I heard the door open and Gaara moved his head off my shoulder to look at the intruder. "She heard," he whispered as he held me tighter. There was a sigh, which then I knew it was Temari, before the door closed and Gaara put his head back on my shoulder.

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I slowly woke up from a terrifying dream I just had. In the dream, I was walking through a forest, looking for something. It was dark and chilly out, the trees around me standing tall. There was something peaceful about the place, even with the dark look the forest had. I continued to walk until I came into a clearing that had a large lake. There was something mystical about the lake, the way it shined against the moonlight. And that's when I saw him, the something I was looking for, or rather someone.

Gaara was standing in the middle of the lake, looking at the moon. Not even wondering how he was standing on water, I called out his name. He slowly turned his head towards me and just stared at me with hopeful eyes. It was like he was pleading for me to help him, to save him. I stared back, shocked at what I saw in his eyes. The emotion changed quickly, turning into fear.

Confused, I took a step forward, my bare feet now touching the cool water. "Gaara, what's wrong?" I called out. He took a step towards me, then another. It was then he fell into the water. In slow motion I saw him fall straight down, panic expressed clearly on his face, as he reached his arm out for me.

Shocked, I stared at him for a while before realizing that he was drowning.

Without thinking, I ran in the lake towards Gaara, looking into his fearful and hopeful eyes. When I couldn't touch the bottom anymore, I started to swim towards him. Though it seemed like no matter how fast I swam, I was still nowhere near him. And it scared me, as I looked into his eyes.

After what felt like hours, I started to realize that he was struggling more violently than before, as though something was pulling him down. I pushed forward with all my strength, but I still was nowhere near him. It was as though those last hours got me nowhere. That's when I saw his head starting to go under. My eyes mirrored his as panic started to set in.

His head went down once, then back up. Then twice and back up. "GAARA!" I screamed as I reached out for him. It was then he went down for a third time, only this time he didn't come back up. "GAARA!" I wailed. I suddenly felt exhausted as I just stared at the place he just drowned. Tears poured down my face as I tore my gaze away and looked behind me towards the shore. Only when I looked back, all I saw was water for miles all around me.

Panicking, I wildly looked around me, struggling to stay above the water. Just as I calmed myself down enough to think things through and hopefully form a plan, I felt something nudge my foot. Shaking all over, I started to wonder if I too was going to drown. I didn't have to think long because a hand grabbed my foot, dragging me down into the dark water.

It was then I woke up. I blinked a couple of times, looking around me. "This isn't my room…" I thought as I took in the site before me. The walls were a dark red color, the carpet a soothing white and the bed and curtains were black. But what really got my attention were all the drawings and paintings on the walls. From the looks of it, most were of animals or landscapes, but there were also quite a few of people. There were at least twenty pictures per wall.

As my eyes observed each picture, I couldn't help but study the one above the bed. It was of a girl who looked about eighteen, with beautiful black hair that had a tint of blue in it. Her face was flushed and she was smiling shyly. By the looks of it, she was cooking pancakes on a counter, one hand resting on the counter and the other holding a spatula. She was wearing a red apron over her yellow shirt. Her eyes are what got my attention though. They held so much happiness and joy in them. But what really surprised me was the color. They were lavender.

"You're awake," a familiar voice stated. I jumped, only to feel arms tighten their hold on me. I looked up to see Gaara staring at the same picture I was just looking at. "I hope you don't mind that I drew you," he spoke softly to me. Blushing I stuttered, "N-no-o, it-t's ok-k-kay." A silence soon filled in before I spoke up quietly, "It's really-y beautiful d-drawing…I n-never knew you w-were that good."

He smirked before remarking, "So you thought I was a bad artist?" Shocked, I quickly replied, "No! N-not at a-all! It's j-just I didn't know you w-were this good." He was silent for a while before saying, "Not many people know. We should head down stairs. They're waiting for us."

Nodding I attempted to get out of his lap while blushing in embarrassment. "I can't believe what happened last night…" I thought while heading out the room, glancing back once at the painting. We headed down stairs, as I took in the smell of eggs and burnt bacon. "Why couldn't you have just waited for Hinata to wake up?" Kankuro complained as we sat down in our spots at the table.

As Kankuro said this, he turned to wink at me and I blushed in return. Then he turned to Gaara and gave him a big grin along with a thumbs up. Gaara glared in return while crossing his arms. Shikamaru sighed at the exchange while muttering, "Troublesome boys."

"Foods done! It's good to see you two up. I was starting to wonder if I would have to send Shikamaru up to wake you to up," Temari chirped. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Temari set the eggs and bacon on the table. "See! You burnt the bacon! If you would have only waited ten minutes, Hinata could have made-" Kankuro was cut off as Temari whacked him on the head with the spatula.

"One more food insult and I swear I'll shove this spatula down your throat!" Temari threatened before sitting down. Kankuro was silent as he served himself, knowing his sister would attempt to do said threat. I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Some things never change," I thought as I ate.

Finishing up my food, I walked over to the sink to put my plate away. "Hinata, when you're done would you sit back down please? There's something we have to tell you," Temari said quietly. "S-sure," I replied, having an idea what the talk is going to be about. Just as Temari said this, Kankuro went into the family room to watch TV. I sat back down in my seat as Temari moved to Kankuro's seat so she would be facing me instead of sitting next to me.

It was silent as Temari closed her eyes, thinking, while Gaara and Shikamaru stared at each other. "I'm not sure how to really put this…so I'm going to be blunt Hinata. We know that you over heard us talking about the Akatsuki and Gaara's…past. So Shikamaru and I have decided to inform you the rest since it only seems fair," Temari began. I sat there looking at the middle of the table while nodding. Out of the corner on my eye, I saw Gaara shift, as though he was preparing himself.

"I'll start by telling you about the Akatsuki," Shikamaru spoke up. "They are a group of terrorist from all parts of the world. There goal is to gain enough power to over throw our government and take control of the United States," he paused to let this sink in.

"We do not know much about them or the members besides the names of the people who are in charge. One of them is Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother. Because of that, he is the only one we really have information on, which still isn't much since he wasn't really that open about himself. The other's you would not know so I won't bother to tell you their names. Now, we do not however know the mastermind behind it all.

"To put it simply what they do is they assassinate important political people along with torturing your average citizen then murdering them so that we are reminded that no one is safe. Remember the plane ride? That man that died was an important business man, who's name I won't bother to say, and we have repeatedly told him to have a low profile for awhile since we had reason to believe that he was being targeting. Though he wouldn't listen and as a result he was poisoned. And before you ask, yes, I do work for the government, but for your safety I cannot tell you anything else."

I sat there trying to absorb all this. Slowly it was all starting to make sense to me, except one thing. "Why was Gaara…" I started unable to say that word. To my surprise, it was Gaara who answered the question. "It was like Shikamaru said, a reminder that we should fear them. I was one of the two out of fifteen who survived. The other one was…Naruto," he whispered.

Completely astonished, I placed my hand over his, hoping to comfort him in some way. "I would have never guessed that that happened to Naruto," I thought. "He was one of the reasons why we never gave up too. He was so determined that we were going to make it, even when we reached the third month," Gaara trailed off squeezing my hand.

"He had so much hope, that I couldn't help but feel that way. So we took the torture head on, in a way telling them that they don't scare us. We could tell that we surprised them by how long we survived. They weren't use to people not giving up. I would always stay up at night to be on watch, even when it was Naruto's turn. It was a week into the third month when we were rescued. It was Shikamaru who found us…" Gaara was silent after that, but didn't let go of my hand.

"Is t-that why you s-still don't sleep? You're afraid t-that they'll come b-back? Or is it the n-nightmares?" I asked quietly, remembering what Temari said last night. He was quiet, and then answered, "I'm afraid that they will take people close to me away and leave me with no one." I could tell by the way Temari sucked in her breath that she didn't know the really reason why he doesn't sleep at night.

There was a defining silence in the air, making me look at my lap. All that was heard was the TV in the other room and the soft breathing of everyone. Temari gulped once before she licked her lips and spoke, "Well, now you know the truth Hinata. I understand if you wish to leave." She was cut off by Gaara's strong voice, "She's not leaving." Surprised by his outburst, I looked up to see Gaara and Temari stare each other down.

"I understand that you've formed a close relationship with Hinata," I blushed at what Temari said, "But you need to understand that it's her life and if she does not feel safe here she can certainly go home. Understood?" He glared, clearly not happy that he wasn't in control of things. "Um Temari?" I asked quietly. All heads turned to look at me.

"If y-you d-don't mind, I w-would like t-to stay," I finished softly with a small smile to show I was sincere. Temari smiled back at me, relief shown on her face. "Then it's settled. Hinata is staying," Temari stated. If I wasn't sure about my answer then, I was when I felt a hand grab mine. I didn't have to look up to know it was Gaara who grabbed it.

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I'm rather please with this chapter. I hope a lot of questions from previous chapters were answered in this one and if not here is a short summary. Shikamaru works for the government and his job is to find the Akatsuki's hostages and their hideouts. He also was supposed to be secretly following the man who died on the airplane, but couldn't do much since he was poisoned. Also, whenever I wrote about someone staring at Hinata at school, I was talking about Gaara incase you didn't get that. That's all I can think of right now. So I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review!