Chapter 29: False Bravery

(Italics: Thoughts/Flashbacks/Dream sequence. Bold: Title and Kyubi's / Demon's / Inner Naruto's / Inner Sakura's Speech. Underline: Time Skips)

Hinata's blush seemed to steadily grow with every step she took, her breathing became deep and uneven as if gasping for air.

She reached for the handle to Naruto's apartment and before her hand could make contact she froze.

She slowly reached for the handle and turned it slowly. Hinata gulped as she entered Naruto's apartment, the only bravery emitting from her came from the same source as the alcohol on her breath.

Naruto stirred in his sleep as an uncomfortable feeling formed in the pit of his stomach, following his gut intuition Naruto opened his eyes slowly, he tried to get up but an unbearable pain suddenly shot through his head, Naruto cursed to himself as he held his head and sat up.

Due to the Kyubi's influence Naruto recovered from hangovers at a much faster rate than the average Shinobi, unfortunately for Naruto that meant his buzz doesn't last that long which is the reason he consumes such a large quantity every time he drank, which has become quite often ever since Naruto became Jounin class.

Just as Naruto almost felt himself passing out a light knock sounded on the outside of Naruto's front door. Naruto opened his eyes and eyed his clock, it had read 12:42 a.m., Naruto approached his door and motioned to open it as he thought out loud: "Who would knock at this hour?"

Naruto opened the door and a tired looking Hinata smiled weakly at Naruto and said: "G-Good e-evening N-Naruto-kun..."As she tried her best to keep her balance, her legs giving way on her due to the effects of the alcohol.

Naruto immediately rushed over to her and asked out of pure concern: "Hinata are you alright? You look like you've been drinking... Here come inside and lie down..." Naruto helped Hinata into his apartment and lied her down on his bed as he closed the door behind him.

Hinata smiled warmly at Naruto and said: "T-Thank you N-Naruto-kun..." Naruto smiled warmly and replied: "Don't worry Hinata, my home is your home, now get some sleep I'll be on the couch if you need me okay?"

Naruto smiled once more and went to move but he was stopped suddenly as Hinata grabbed his wrist. Naruto turned around and Hinata said: "P-Please d-don't g-go N-Naruto-k-kun..." Naruto smiled and said: "I'm not going anywhere Hinata I just don't want to sleep in the same bed as you it's nothing personal..."

With these words Hinata began to gather tears in her eyes as she said: "W-Why N-Naruto... Why did you choose Ino instead of me? I Love you Naruto! And I always have!"

Naruto's eyes shot open wide as the sudden realization hit him and before he knew what had happed Hinata had pressed her lips against his.

Ino sighed and looked out the window as a full moon glowed brightly along with the many stars of the night. Ino smiled at this sight and realized suddenly that earlier when she dropped Naruto off at his apartment she forgot her coat. She knew it wasn't that big of a deal but she wanted to check up on him anyway.

Ino quickly threw on a black sweatshirt and a pair of black combat boots and swiftly ran toward Naruto's apartment. She arrived about a block away from Naruto's place when out of the distance a drunk-looking Hinata stumbled toward Naruto's house.

Out of a mixture of caution and curiosity Ino watched the scene in front of her take place as Hinata knocked on the door, awaiting an answer. A moment later the door opened and she heard Naruto say:

"Hinata are you alright? You look like you've been drinking... Here come inside and lie down..."

Ino's heart began to race as many possibilities entered her mind regarding the scenario unfolding before her.

She trusted Naruto with all of her heart and wanted to believe he wouldn't do something as foolish and heartbreaking as to romantically involved with Hinata and leave her for Hinata...

But she couldn't deny the possibility and decided to investigate further, what she saw when she looked through the window had a powerful impact on her, with the fresh, burning memory of Hinata's lips pressed against Naruto's, tears began to swell up in her eyes and as powerful as she had trained her body and ninja skills to overcome her enemies, heartbreak was still a major weakness for her...

With this explosive amount of emotions burning inside of Ino's consciousness she ran as fast as her legs would take her. Not wanting to look back.

As s shinobi she knew everything wasn't as it looks but still she had no way of knowing if Hinata had merely made a failed attempt to have a place in Naruto's heart or if she already did and she sadly, did not.

Naruto snapped back t reality and lightly pushed Hinata off of him, Naruto looked away darkly and said: "Hinata... Please go home you stink of alcohol... I need some time to think about your feelings for me but I've already promised Ino I would stay by her side... And it would go against my Shinobi way to leave her for you... I'm sorry Hinata I truly enjoy the friendship we share but that's all we'll be... Only friends."

And with those words a drunk and teary eyed Hinata ran through the streets of Konoha, running right to the Hyuuga compound, ran straight to her room and began to cry hard into her pillow as the alcohol began to slowly leave her system and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Naruto sighed and rubbed his head as he said out loud: "I hope this is just a bad dream... If Ino saw me kissing Hinata like that she'd flip or worse yet... I'd break her heart..." Naruto looked out into the starry sky as he thought:

Damn why are my relationships with people suddenly changing? I hate change...

Naruto sighed and lied down on his bed face first, after a good twenty minutes of thought he slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping he'd wake up to a better day...

Ino was deep in the Konoha forest lying against a tree, crying hard, after a long moment of silence a demonic voice speaks from nowhere:

"Well, well why all the way out here and why the tears woman?"

Ino immediately wiped away her tears and jumped backwards about ten feet amd pulls Two hidden Kunai from beneath her sleeves so one Kunai is in each hand. She gazed into the proceeding darkness and called out:

"Who's there?!"

A Dark and malicious laughter echoed the darkness around her and the form of Zero emerged from the shadows, glaring down at Ino. Ino's eyes shot wide out of recognition and fear as she said:

"It's you!"

Zero lunged forward, unsheathing his blade as he roared: "It's bad manners to forget the name of your greatest enemy! I am Zero, remember my name!"

Shizune bursted open into Tsunade's office just as she was waking up and making coffee and said: "Lady Tsunade!" Tsunade looked at her apprentice and the urgency on her face as she asked:

"What is it Shizune?"

Shizune caught her breath and replied:

"It's Ino, it seems she's disappeared from her home, nobody seems to know what happened to her."

Tsunade nodded as she thought: It must be him... That Zero guy that Naruto fought...

Tsunade cleared her throat and snapped her fingers three times. Three ANBU appeared in front of the Hokage desk and the leader asks:

"Your orders Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade nodded and cleared her throat as she said:

"You are ordered to locate and retrieve the leaf jounin, Ino Yamanaka. And if a hostile enemy has taken her hostage make all efforts to eliminate them, you are dismissed!"

The leader nodded and replied:

"At once Lady Hokage!"

And with those words the three ANBU vanished into oblivion.

Tsunade sighed as she thought desperately: Please be okay Ino... Live not just for me and Naruto's sake... But for yourself too...

A/N: Hey readers it's been a while, recently I've been working on this chapter plus the final chapter to my very first story. I'm not sure when it will be complete but it should be up next month at the latest. Anyway I hope everyone is satisfied with the latest installment on: A Jinchuuriki's Tale. Please REVIEW if you care!

Peace! - DemonicLove555