Naruto spent eight days in the hospital recovering from the ordeal of his capture. He would have left earlier, thanks to his incredible healing rate (due to the return of the chakra flow from the Kyuubi and maybe the Uzumaki longevity he unknowingly inherited from his mother). But, Tsunade insisted that he stay and get some rest. And for once he was not completely against having some downtime, even if it meant spending said downtime in a hospital of all places.
It was on his fourth day in recovery that he was allowed to have visitors, and he had a lot of them. Ino brought him a bunch of flowers from her family's shop, choosing various ones that symbolized a quick recovery and long health. Sakura even brought him some homemade cookies that tasted terrific, although he was a bit more interested in the container of ramen Choji had snuck in for him, both of them agreeing that hospital food was horrible for recovery. The doctors could say the nutrition was ideal for the patient but the taste always negated it. Tenten even showed him up and presented him with a pack of newly made and sharpened kunai's from her family's weapon store. That would be helpful since he lost all his old ones on that nightmare of a mission.
Others came too, such as Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Lee. The bushy-browed ninja had tried to get Naruto to join him in a thousand push-ups. He kept claiming that 'the eternal flames of youth can only be revived through intense training and practice'. The bushy-browed ninja had to be taken out of the room before he forced Naruto into his inhumane exercise. Sometimes it was harder to tell who had more energy, Lee or Naruto.
Even Kakashi paid a visit and said it was good to see Naruto back, alive and well. "I knew you would be coming back. You're too stubborn to die." The Copycat Ninja said as he patted the blonde on the shoulder.
Yes, all of his friends came to visit him. And while he liked seeing all of them, there was one that Naruto focused on above all others, Hinata. He didn't know why though. His first guess was that she was the first he saw and the one who spent the most time with him, but somehow that just didn't quite cover it all.
It wasn't like Hinata did anything spectacular when she visited. She conversed, played a few games with him, and shared a few academy and mission memories. Just liked all his visitors did in their visits. Sure, she was the first and the most frequent of them all, her excuse being she was asked to check up on him regularly for Tsunade. But overall she was just... herself.
Naruto hadn't been able to figure out why thoughts of her kept coming to him, but he had noticed certain things about her. She looked like she had matured the most out of all his friends. Not to say the rest looked immature, but to him Sakura, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Chouji all sort of looked like taller versions of their genin selves with slightly different outfits. Hinata looked like she had changed the most. Her hair was longer, her body was more womanly, her chuunin rank proved her self-esteem was no longer on a teeter, and her ensemble didn't look like she had been wearing it for years. Her stutter had also decreased and she didn't act like she had difficulty giving him eye contact regularly anymore.
And for some reason, he liked that. He liked that a lot.
Finally, the day came when Naruto could leave the hospital. And boy was he happy.
He was more than happy to get out of the hospital bed, which apart from his room, he had been confined in. He was also grateful to wear his normal clothes, although he was a bit saddened to learn his favorite jacket had been torn and ripped beyond repair, but he could always get a new one.
But of course, there was always some element to put a damper on his good feelings, and that element was Tsunade. She walked with Naruto down the hall of the hospital, like a mother hen.
"Remember Naruto, I want you to avoid strenuous training and only train with company, and if they ask you to stop, you stop. After four days, if nothing goes wrong you can resume training at your own pace, and after five days if you're considered clear you can be eligible for mission work again. You'll start off lightly though as a formality just to warn you." Tsunade advised him.
"I will Baa-chan." The blonde replied, sounding like he wasn't completely paying attention, which he wasn't. His main thought of focus was going out to get some real food. Food that did not taste like it had already been digested.
Resisting the urge to smack him on the head in frustration, Tsunade continued. "Also Naruto, two things. I've asked Hinata to check up on you twice a day, once in the morning before lunchtime and again in the evening. If she gets called on a mission soon you come to me or Shizune. This is merely another formality to ensure there is no residual damage to your body."
"Makes sense." Naruto said, his first thought was to go down and get about a dozen bowls of beef ramen.
"The other thing is I've asked the Ichiraku's to not serve you any ramen until further notice." Tsunade added, knowing this would be a bombshell.
The thoughts of noodles cracked and shattered in Naruto's mind.
"WHAT?" Naruto shouted, causing a few doctors and nurses to stop and stare, and even some patients peeked from outside their rooms, to see Naruto confront his grandmother figure. "HOW COULD YOU-?"
"QUIET NARUTO!" Tsunade shouted, silencing him albeit briefly and then glaring at the onlookers, her eyes saying very clearly 'Piss off', which they quickly did. In one case quite literally. She then turned her attention back to the boy. "Because we don't know what all happened to you, we can't risk your body getting worse due to being overworked or improper diet. I know you love ramen, but do you love it enough to really risk putting yourself back in here in a day or two?" To her horror and irritation, the whiskered boy looked like he was seriously unable to answer that question. "Naruto, as your Hokage I'm ordering you to not eat any ramen at all. I've got a list of approved meal suggestions for you and I will ask Hinata to confirm or deny if you've deviated from the list for even so much as a candy bar. If you disappoint me on this, I swear your punishment will make chasing the Daimyo's cat Tora look like a privilege."
"Yeah right. Nothing could do that." Naruto said, disbelieving.
"Trust me Naruto, no matter how annoying a job may be, there's always something worse to do. And you don't want to find out what that is, so just stick to the list for four days and you'll be alright. After that, you can eat your normal diet for all I care, as long as you don't try to compensate for any missed days. I do not need you fat anymore than I need you unhealthy."
"Alright Baa-chan, alright. And thanks for caring for me. As irritating as it is sometimes, it's still nice to know you care." He told her, making her feel awkward but flattered.
"Now get out of here and try not to do anything stupid." She told him in a friendly way,
"Here you go Naruto, one bowl of beef ramen." Ayame said with a smile as she set the food down in front of the literally drooling blonde.
"Thanks Ayame-neechan, you truly are the best." Naruto said in his most humble and thankful voice.
The brown-haired woman giggled. "Oh you." She said as she walked away.
Naruto snickered as he shoveled the food into his mouth at a rapid speed.
"Stupid Baa-chan, like I would really not eat ramen. The thought of this stuff is what partly kept me going while being in that hellhole." Naruto thought in between mouthfuls.
And now that he had a chance to really think about it, what did happen there?
He could remember everything up to where that bastard doctor stuck him with a needle, at least the first time he actually knew it was happening, but beyond that everything else was blank. He had no memory of escaping, nor any memory of how all of that blood got on his clothing or whose blood it was.
Post-traumatic amnesia, that is what Tsunade had called it. So terrible was his experience that his mind simply refused to let him remember what had occurred. Like it forgot on purpose for the sake of maintaining his own sanity. But... if that was true, then why could he remember all of those horrid experiments, but nothing else afterwards?
Suddenly, very suddenly in fact, Naruto felt a sharp pain go thru his head. "ARGHHH!" He yelled as he gripped his head.
"Naruto?" Ayame said as she rushed over to him. "Are you alright?" She asked, her voice filled with worry while her mind was filled with thoughts of calling the hospital for the ambulance version of medic nins.
And then, as quickly as it had come, the throbbing pain just vanished, and Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he sat up.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. Just… just a bad headache for a moment there." He said as he smiled. "Uhhh, you know what… I think I'm just gonna go home." He put some money on the counter and walked away, vanishing into the crowd.
As she was picking up the money, Ayame looked into Naruto's bowl and gasped in surprise. There was still ramen left in it.
Naruto, never, ever, not once in all the times he had come here, had left a bowl unfinished. Not even so much as half a single noodle remained when he left. An otherwise act seemed nearly unthinkable in her mind.
"He must really be sick." Ayame said absently, still staring at the unfinished ramen.
Naruto was walking down the streets, too much on his mind for even him to be aware he didn't finish his ramen. His thought process revolved around two key questions: What happened to him, and would he be able to be an effective ninja again?
'It's not like anyone really thought I was that great before, so what if I've gotten worse? What if I can't even do a rasengan anymore?' The more he thought about it, the more worried he got. 'I better go find a private place to go practice in. I need to know now.'
Naruto then ran to where Team 7 usually got together while they waited for Kakashi to show up. His worry was momentarily swept aside by the nostalgia of better, naiver times and the misery of Sasuke's absence. Although right then, Naruto also felt anger on that subject, and not for the first time.
'Dammit Sasuke, what the fuck were you thinking? You had it all here, top-notch training, girls that want to hug you instead of hit you, memories of your parents, everything every orphan dreams of, and you had the nerve to say it wasn't good enough for you? Like you deserved better? Do you hate Itachi so much that his death is more important than your life? Someone should knock some sense into you with a sledgehammer.'
He came to a stop and looked at a training post usually meant for receiving punches and kicks. 'Good enough target to test my rasengan on.' He created a single shadow clone.'Good, I can still do that.' Though he felt a bit weary, he ignored it and the two tried to create a rasengan. It started slower than normal, and Naruto felt like he had to put in a lot more chakra than normal just to get it started.
After a while without success, Naruto stopped and the clone dispelled. He sighed heavily and sat down on the ground. "Dammit, what's wrong with me? Am I just out of practice, or did... that monster do this? Maybe I should..."
He stopped, as if words were lost to him, and settled for a sigh and look at the sky. "Baa-chan will kill me if she heard I did anything else. I should just get home and... be bored being alone, as always. Hey, maybe a friend will stop by today for once." He got back to his feet and laughed without mirth. "Yeah right, why would they start now? Not like anyone ever did before when I was hurt, or even when I came back after being gone for three years. Tonight's going to be no different."
He didn't know why he was thinking this, and he didn't catch the amount of irritation and hurt in his own voice as he said it, but he was glad no one was around to hear it so he wouldn't take his frustration out on them.
Night seemed to fall a lot quicker that day. After the sun had set and all the people had gotten off the streets, there was a silence in the village. A silence that felt unsettling, even for ninja.
And in his apartment, Naruto twisted and turned on his futon, his covers had been thrown off of his a while ago. "No… no… stop it… get away from me. No… I am not… I won't… LEAVE ME ALONE!" He shouted, and suddenly he sat upright, wide awake.
Sweat dripped from his face, he felt so hot, and yet his body was shivering like he was freezing. He quickly wiped the sweat off and his arms and legs, trying to chase the shivers away. After a moment or two the feeling vanished and he relaxed.
"Just a dream, just a bad dream." He told himself as he took in a few deep breaths of air, it felt cool and sweet to his lungs. However that feeling soon faded, as he took in his next breath, he felt himself gag. He could taste something vile in his mouth. He was going to throw up.
Jumping up from the ground, he rushed over to the bathroom, barely having time to flip on the lights, when he fell in front of the toilet and just emptied his stomach. It came up as yellow bile, it looked like paste with bits of the ramen he had early stuck to it. And while he normally had a strong stomach, the sight of this made him vomit again. He remained there for several minutes, coughing and spitting up any remainder of the vomit from his mouth. He slowly stood up from the ground, feeling kind of weak in his legs, it felt like they were vibrating from the inside.
After some test steps, to make sure he was not going to fall over, he walked to the sink where he turned on the faucet. He splashed the cold and refreshing water on his face, and actually felt a lot better.
"Guess Baa-chan was right, I should not have eaten that ramen. Damn you noodles for being so tasty and delicious." He said with a dry laugh as he splashed more water on his face.
Picking up a towel he wiped his face. Pressing the soft cotton against his skin for a moment to absorb all the water, he then pulled it away and looked at himself in the mirror. What was staring back at him made Naruto jump in surprise
It was him, but it was not him. The Naruto in the mirror had black eyes with red pupils, and a cruel smirk on his face. Naruto stood there for a moment, looking at his reflection, which suddenly lunged out from the mirror and grabbed him by his tee-shirt.
"Time to die." The mirror Naruto sneered as a kunai appeared in his free hand, which he drew back, ready to stab the real Naruto.
"NOOOO!" Naruto yelled as he sat up on his futon. He looked around wildly. There was no other Naruto coming out of the mirror, he was by himself.
"Another dream? I dreamed I woke up and did all that?" He asked himself, wondering how he could be back in bed. "No, I still taste bile, and it's looking a little lighter outside. I... must have blacked out again."
He laid back on his futon, looking up at his blank ceiling, thinking he must have hallucinated the whole evil twin jumping out from the mirror thing.
"If I ever see that Okaru bastard again, I'll slaughter him." He said before he realized just what he had said. "No, then I'd be worse than him. I should... capture him so the Hokage can kil... punish him. Damn, what's wrong with me?" He said as he face palmed himself, "It's not right to wish death on someone like this, even if they deserve it. Ero-sennin always said you should kill only because you have to, not because you want to."
And yet despite his claims, deep down Naruto still hoped the sadistic mad scientist who had tortured him would be killed in a painful manner.
And while he drifted off back into a hazy sleep, a smile formed on his face at the idea of that happening.
'I can't believe I actually get to come to Naruto-kun's house each day for a little while.' Hinata told herself, trying to calm her beating heart as she walked up the stairs to his door. But to her this was a fantasy come true. How long she had wanted to come to Naruto's place.
Well, she had been to his place before, never inside of it though, just looking inside of it with her Byakugan. To watch Naruto, but she did not do it to be perverted or creepy, she just wanted to watch him.
Yesterday Tsunade had tried to give the Hyuuga heiress his address, but Hinata told the Hokage she already knew it.
She reached her door and rose her hand to knock, but stopped herself. 'Calm down girl, calm down. You can do this. He needs you, and he does like your company. You have nothing to be afraid of.' With that, she made herself knock. "Naruto-kun?"
It took a while longer than she expected, but he did answer the door. "Hinata?"
"Naruto-kun?" She asked once she saw him. "You look... unwell."
It was true but a big understatement. He looked terrible. There were bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept in weeks, even though he had spent the past few days resting. His hair was completely disarrayed rather than it's usual spiky manner, and he was slightly pale. Not only that, he stood like his legs couldn't really support his weight right then, since he was leaned against the door.
"I feel as bad as I look." He told her, sounding better than he looked at least. "I couldn't really sleep and I kept throwing up every time I tried to sleep. But I think the worst is over, I had just fallen back asleep about an hour ago" he said as he rubbed his tired eyes.
"Ma-maybe we should get you back to the hospital." Hinata suggested, knowing he wouldn't like it.
"Could we wait just a little bit first? See if I get better on my own first?" Naruto asked.
Although the Hokage had told her to bring Naruto back to the hospital immediately if there were any problems, Hinata slowly nodded. "We can try. But please Naruto-kun, if it gets worse, let me know so we can get you proper help."
He nodded and wobbled, like his legs were giving out. Hinata rushed forward and caught him, and his body slumped onto her own. She blushed heavily, but the seriousness of the situation forced her to remain erect so they both didn't collapse on the ground. 'He's so warm, almost burning up, and lighter than I expected. He needs some proper rest.'
She carried him to his couch and set him down, making sure he was on his back. She looked at him with much sympathy and concern, watching him drift into unconsciousness.'I'm glad I didn't have any plans for today. I'd probably have to cancel them. Naruto-kun needs me more, and for longer than just a few minutes. I should wait until he wakes up at least.'
Of course, other than training and volunteer work at the hospital, Hinata never had any real plans.
It was then Hinata noticed how disarrayed everything was in Naruto's apartment, and that made her frown. 'No wonder he got sick again, if this is the condition he is living in.'
With nothing else to do, Hinata started cleaning up Naruto's apartment little by little, keeping her senses open for any responses from Naruto. She started with the living room, clearing dust from the walls and corners, trying not to disrupt the way he had things arranged. It was his home after all, not hers.
About four hours later, between lunch and dinner time, Naruto finally woke up. "Huh? What happened?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes, unable to remember much.
"Naruto-kun? Are you alright?"
"Hinata?" He asked, his eyes still not focusing. 'Oh yeah, she came over to see if I was improving or not. How long was I out?' He cleared his throat. "What time is it?"
"Late afternoon but not evening. Are you feeling okay?"
"About a thousand times better than I did when I first woke up. I didn't even have nightmares this time." He said, indeed sounding like he had a lot more energy.
"That's good." Hinata said.
Naruto stretched and yawned. "Were you here this whole time?"
Hinata nodded. "I didn't want to leave you... in case anything happened. I tried to keep you from overheating and I kept the noise down, since you had a fever and were so exhausted."
"Thank you Hinata. You're so much better than the hospital."
The white-eyed girl blushed under his praise. "Oh I-I'm not th-that good. Sakura and Ino are much better than me. They were actually trained to be medics. I just used basic first aid and common sense."
"At least you have common sense. Ero-sannin once told me most people don't." Naruto commented.
"Sadly that's true." Hinata commented as well. She then reached out and felt his forehead, checking for a fever. 'How ironic, for once I'm checking him for a fever because he's the one who's red.' She thought, finding the role reversal funny. "You still feel a little warm, so lay down and I'll bring you some water."
"Thanks Hinata." He said as he lay back down on his couch.
He watched her intently as she walked over to the sink and filled a glass of water. Her every moment was so graceful, almost fluid.
Naruto felt his heart begin to beat a little faster, and suddenly everything else around him appeared to move slower. All he could focus on was Hinata.
He could see every inch of her perfect figure, so fit and firm.
He could smell the aroma coming from her, lavender, with just a bit of cinnamon mixed in it.
And he could her, he could hear her heart beat… it seemed to nearly be in perfect rhythm with his own. He could hear the blood pumping through her-
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. The blonde suddenly snapped back into reality. Hinata was standing right above him with a glass of water in her hand. "Are you alright? Do you feel sick again?" She asked, very worried.
Naruto quickly shook his head and smiled. "No, no I just uhh dozed off a bit and was staring into space."
Hinata stared at him for a moment, and then she offered him the glass of water, which he took and drank greedily.
Afterwards, the two of them sat together and talked for a while, starting off with small things and then it grew into deeper conversation. The time actually got away from them. Hinata was actually halfway into how she had been taking extra training sessions when she looked out the window and saw how dark it had gotten.
"Oh no." She said as she stood up. "It is so late. I am sorry Naruto, I did not mean to keep you up for this long." She said, looking flustered.
Naruto actually chuckled. "You're fine Hinata, actually I think talking and chatting with you has helped me out a lot better than rest ever could."
Hinata felt a warm blush begin to spread on her own face. She quickly looked away so Naruto could not see it.
"I… I umm well I should get going. You… you do still need your rest. And I need to get home." She said as she began to move towards the door.
"Okay… but uh Hinata?" Naruto called, quickly before she could open the door.
The Hyuuga paused. "Y-yes?" She asked, turning her head to look at him.
"I, well if I am feeling better tomorrow, I was wondering, if maybe you wanted to hang out. Not just to watch me in case I get sick, but to just… you know, hang out and spend time with me."
The blush quickly returned to Hinata's face, and she would swear that her heart actually skipped a beat.
'A date? He just asked me out on a date!' She screamed in her mind with pure utter joy. Although she knew that most other people would not have considered his request an offer for a date. But still-
"Of course Naruto, I would lo- like that very much." She said, catching herself before she said 'love'. She did not want to come off like that just yet.
Naruto smiled happily, mentally thanking Kami-sama for Hinata saying yes. "Great. Awesome. Can you show up about the same time tomorrow?"
Hinata nodded quickly, maybe too quickly. "Yes, of course. No problem. Well, bye." She said, quickly closing the door behind her. And outside his apartment, she jumped up and down and giggled like a girl who had just gotten a pony for her birthday. She even pinched herself a few times to make sure she had not fallen asleep and was dreaming all of this. When she was sure, she walked down the stairs and headed back to the Hyuuga estate. Feeling happier then she had ever felt before.
Meanwhile Naruto, he laid back down on his futon, pulling his covers up tight against him. He quickly drifted off to sleep.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, it was a calm and blissful sleep.