CHAPTER RATING: T

Episode 7: "Anything, Anytime, Anywhere."

"…They're asking me to do what?!" Naruto shouted. He turned and gave a worried look at Hinata.

"The Hyuuga family has asked you to watch over Hinata." Sakura said as Hinata lowered her head.

"Why me? Why not someone from the Branch Family?" Naruto questioned

"They said that there is no one more qualified to take care of her than the Hero of Konoha." Sakura replied. Naruto's eyes shifted to Hinata in confusion. His jaw hung open in both shock at the request and at how terrible his reaction made him sound.

His eyes lowered as he began to move towards his room.

"Understood, let me go get dressed…Hinata, please, have a seat…m-make yourself at home." He said while gently turning his head to the side.

He returned minutes later, dressed in his usual attire, Black and Orange tracksuit, to find that only Hinata was waiting for him. She held her head down and blushed while avoiding eye contact with him.

"Where's Sakura-chan?" he asked her.

"S-she was summoned by Tsunade-sama" Hinata whispered. "S-so, it's just you and me, Naruto-kun." He took a very deep breath, walked up to her and extended his hand.

"So…are you hungry? I think the Ichiraku-BARBE-Q delivers…what would you like?"

"N-no, it's okay. I'm not that hungry." She quietly replied. He shrugged with a confused look on his face and sat down next to her on his bed.

"So, why is it that they chose me to watch over you?" He said in a serious tone. She looked down, depressed. Seeing her reaction, he quickly brought his hands up and waved then. "N-Not that I don't want to help watch over you!" He sincerely hoped that she didn't take offense to what he had just said.

She brought her face up and gave him a gentle smile. His eyes brightened to the fact that he hadn't upset her.

"T-the main family has gone training…a-and I was to be left behind, because I am considered too…too weak." He looked again and saw the sadness in her crystal clear eyes.

"Hinata," he moved forward and placed his hands on her shoulders. Leaning in near her face, he told her with great confidence. "…You aren't weak. You aren't weak at all; you are one of the most powerful women that I have ever met." Her face became red at the statement.

"D-do you really believe that?" She asked him. He maintained focus on her eyes and nodded.

"I do, I remember how you stood up to Pain for me, and I've never forgotten that." He said to her with a deep sincerity, and gave her a bright smile. She took his other hand and held it tightly. His deep sapphire eyes widened; looking in her eyes with surprise, he quickly broke away from her hands and brought his right hand to his neck. Her eyes shifted downwards.

"Hinata…" he took a deep breath. "How would you like to go for a walk?" he nervously asked. She didn't speak, but merely nodded.

He stood up and motioned for her to follow.

Walking out of the door, he turned and locked it with his key.

"W-where are we going?" she timidly asked. He looked at her and gave an uneasy, yet kind smile.

"I don't know, we're just going for a walk." He turned to his left and began walking.

They soon entered the forest, and came across a clearing, the same place where he had trained to create his own technique Rasen Shuriken. The land was still elevated, and the raging waterfall was still flowing.

He looked into the waters and then lifted his face to look at Hinata; what could he do to pass the time without making any wrong impressions on her? Then one thing popped into his mind.

"Hinata…Since you were left out of the training trip, how would you like to train with me? We'll do some offensive sparring." he bluntly asked her. Her face lit up with red as she replied.

"O-okay…what do you mean offensive sparring?"

"I won't be attacking, I'll just defend. You can try to hit me…but please, don't kill me." He said with a joking smile. A wave of relief entered his heart as he saw her smile at his remark.

"Okay, are you ready?" He asked, she nodded and began to run towards him. He brought his hands up as she began to strike him. "You're speed is impressive." He noted out loud. He face was clad in determination as she kept pushing forward. She hadn't struck him yet; her strikes were being dodged and deflected. She made one final lunge at him; he firmly planted his left foot down to the ground and turned out of the way; Hinata hit the dirt floor with a loud thud; and when her eyes opened again from the brief pain, she saw him standing above her with his hand extended.

"Good job, Hinata. Come sit with me for a little while and I'll tell you where I think you need improving." He motioned for her to join him as he sat by the waterfall. "From my personal observations, I think you need to be bolder. Make your moves with more power and force. You've already got speed in your movements, now just add power." She nodded in acknowledgement of his observations.

"I think we'll go for a few more rounds, what do you say?" Hinata nodded enthusiastically and returned to her ready position. An hour passed with no success. But just as Hinata had begun to give up, Naruto saw a glint of hope in her eyes. He noticed something different.

Before, she had followed his movements. Now, she was blowing past them. Instead of gently moving with his hands, she started to push him back. Her speed and aggressiveness surprisingly caught him off guard, and before he'd realized it, he felt her palm strike him directly in the chest. He stumbled, his guard now completely gone as she struck him again, and turned to deliver a forceful spinning back kick to his mid-section.

The force of the blow sent him flying. Hinata heard a splash as he landed in the water. He sat up, soaked from head to toe, and a little dizzy.

"Ow." He expressed his pain with a kind smile. "Great job, Hinata! You got past my guard." A smile stretched across her face at the praise. "Now that this is done, the sun is getting a little low; do you want to head home?"

She brought her head down and nodded. He looked at her with an encouraging look in his eyes.

"Bolder! Hinata, be bold!" her eyes opened as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! I will!" she replied. He smiled and gave an approving nod.

A while afterwards, they returned to his house.

"Make yourself at home; I need to get changed before I can accompany you back. So, just give me ten minutes." He told her

"O-okay." She replied. He entered the shower and felt the water run down his body again, as it had earlier in the day.

…

Well done. You've passed the entire day without an incident. You should be proud! His mind seemed to have developed a consciousness of its own as he spoke to him.

"Shut up." He replied.

What do you plan to do now?

"I'll take her home, and then come back and get some rest. Simple."

Do you really think it will be that simple?

"…I hope so."

…

The night was silent as they walked through the empty streets of Konoha towards the Hyuuga residence. Side-by-side they approached the front gate.

"Thank you again for taking care of me." Hinata told him as she bowed her head.

"It was no problem, Hinata, don't worry about it." He modestly replied. He gave her a smile and turned to start heading home until he felt a tug on his jacket. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

"N-Naruto-kun. You told me to be bolder…to be stronger." She stated. He looked at her and nodded uneasily. Her hands reached out, strongly grasped his jacket, and pulled him towards her. Before he could recover, their lips connected; eyes closing in unison as she brought her hands to his face and held him. Naruto's hands started to slowly move down her body, feeling her curves on their way down.

Then he caught himself.

Swiftly, he pulled away. His hands let go of her body; his face broke away from her grasp. Their eyes stared into each other in surprise and disbelief. His eyes shifted down.

"Hinata…I'm…I'm sorry. But I can't do this. I~"

"Naruto-kun! I love you!" She shouted. He took a deep breath and turned away.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. But there's someone else I love, and I can't betray her. If I did, I wouldn't be able to live with myself…I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." It was almost as if he could hear her tears hitting the dirt as they fell from her eyes. He turned around and began to walk down the road home. Halfway to his house, he started to think to himself.

…

Do you regret doing that?

"Kissing her?"

No…Do you regret rejecting her? His mind went blank for a minute

"No. I don't regret it…I can't…I can't be unfaithful"

Are you trying to convince yourself? If you believe this to be true, then why is there such a painful feeling in your heart?

"Even if I don't love her…I still care about her. I know that I hurt her, which is my regret. But even if this darkness clouds my mind…I still have the light in my heart that will shine through that darkness."

There was no reply to his statement.

The doubt in his heart was gone.

…

He continued walking home, but something tore at his consciousness, He needed to talk to her, it would rip away at his very soul if he kept this secret from her, he couldn't bear the thought of carrying a lie from the one he loved so dearly; as he listened to his footfalls on the dirt floor, he started to sing a song he heard on the radio.

"I'm coming home to you…every night….every night…every night…every night."

"I'm the colorless sunrise, that's never good enough."

"I'm the wind that's in your hair that ruffles you up."

"If you can find a reason, you can let me know."

"I won't blame you; I'll just turn and go…"

"I'm coming home to you…every night….every night…every night…every night. "

"Coming home to you…every night….every night…every night…every night."

"My mind is made up. Nothing could change that."

"I'm coming home to you…every night….every night…every night…every night."

"Searching to find myself, but all I find is you."

"I can hardly stand myself, so what am I to you?"

"If you can find a reason, you could let me know."

"I won't blame you; I'll just turn and go."

"…No matter, no matter what we're facing."

"It don't matter, don't matter."

"'cause the reason that I'm here, is the same through all these years."

"Not changing, not changing…Anything at all."

The lyrics left an impression in his heart.

He knew that he loved her, more so than anyone else.

But he also knew that tonight may be the last night that they would be together.

…

Before he'd realized it, he stood in front of the door to her house. His hand floated to the door and knocked on it three times. He heard footsteps dropping on the stairs as someone rushed to answer the door.

"Who is it?" he heard her shout.

"It's me, Naruto." He replied. He heard the clicking of the doors locks and the turning of the doorknob.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I-I need to talk to you, Sakura-chan. May I come in?" She gave him a smile and motioned for him to enter.

"We can go into my room." She said as she took his hand and led him up the steps. When they entered her room, she sat down on the bed and invited him next to her.

"Sakura-chan…Today…I did something that I really regret." He started. He saw that she was confused, but curious. "Today, while I was walking Hinata home…" his voice trailed off. He brought his eyes up and met hers. "I-I kissed her…I'm…I'm sorry." He looked at her again and noticed that her head was now held low.

"You…" she began. "You kissed her?"

"Yes…I-I didn't mean for this to happen…I'm sorry." He stood up and turned to leave; but felt a tug on his jacket, just as he had earlier. He turned as she motioned for him to sit back down. She gently gripped his hands with hers.

"You kissed her…but…" Sakura brought her hands to his face and gripped it strongly. "…You came back to me." She pulled him towards her and strongly kissed him, grasping his hair, she pulled him down onto her. "You said I could ask you for anything." His eyes widened.

"Anything. Anytime. Anywhere." Her eyes narrowed as a smile stretched across her face.

"Correct the mistake you made tonight; right now; right here." She whispered.

-You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she writes. So, let me explain my thought process for chapters 6 and 7.

-To put it metaphorically, I had my route planned out. I was going to go straight. But I looked at the path ahead of me, and realized that I didn't want to go in that direction. So I took a U-turn.

-Chapter 7 is nothing like how I had envisioned it two days ago. I said that "something new" was coming up. But it didn't.

Here's why.

-I'm well aware that I'm sharing this with perhaps hundreds of strangers, but hell, I don't mind, after all, I'm a total stranger to you also.

-The struggle that Naruto faced in these two chapters is what I was facing when I was trying to decide how to write these two chapters.

-He struggled with Hinata's feelings, as I struggled with my feelings about trying to write a different scene than I've been writing since I started here.

-In this chapter, he made the right choice, I couldn't have him become unfaithful to Sakura after I had painted him in this image.

-And just like how he made the right choice, I believe I made the right choice also, deciding to change the chapter.

-Next chapter is going to be rated M. I'm sure you know why.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.

SONG LYRICS: Imagine Dragons - Every Night...a perfect song for the pairing.