AN: Hi all, so sorry about the lack of updates, I had been prepping for an interview which happened yesterday, and fortunately I was successful. My baby has also been quite unwell with a new tooth coming out so things have been a bit hective. Then for some reason my Fanfic account wasn't working, but now it is so I hope you all get full access to this chapter! While writing this, I was imagining the 'seven sisters' which are a group of white cliffs in the south east of England by Eastbourne, they are really beautiful but also dangerous, which was the setting I had in mind during the cliff scenes. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 8

Having finally shared the grievances she had been carrying for several months, Hinata left Kiba's room later that night with a clear chest and a lighter heart. He had given her a brotherly hug as a goodnight gesture to further comfort her. Feeling more grateful for her friend with every step, she failed to notice she wore a small smile on her face, nor did she take caution of Sakura noticing her from the shadows, until the latter decided to end her disguise and 'accidentally' bump into Hinata.

"Oh Sakura-san, I didn't notice you there." Hinata wished they didn't have to talk, seeing her again reminded her of the last time she saw her, which was with Naruto in a scene she wished she could burn from her memory.

Sakura smiled a sly grin, "You seemed distracted, I hope you're not feeling unwell? You left Lee's house in a hurry."

"I just had a slight headache, I feel better now, thank you for asking." She could feel a headache brewing at the slightly predatory look Sakura was giving her.

"We noticed you left with Kiba, did he take care of you?"

"Yes, he made sure I returned safely."

"Did you just come from his room?"

Hinata felt the impudence in all its forms, "Sorry Sakura-san, but it is late and I'd like to sleep now." Sakura looked frankly shocked at Hinata's downright dismissal and said nothing else as Hinata brushed past her. She was shaking with anger, a feeling she hadn't exercised in a long while, that Hinata was initially at a loss as to how to manage it.

Fuming, she stalked her way down the corridor to the safety of her room, where she still frowned as she changed for bed. Sakura had no right to know her business, or question who she kept company with. Considering the remarkable self restraint she had shown while Sakura had flounced her flirtation with the former love of her life, even though Sakura didn't know her feelings, Hinata felt an unexplainable entitlement to be left uninterfered with when it came to her own matters. As she lay down for bed with a continued frown, Hinata could only conclude that Sakura simply had a strong compulsion for gossip, and was grateful she herself did not share in such a pastime.

The next morning, it being their last at the onsen, held a slight gloom over the team. To counter this it was quickly agreed that they were to go on a walk that morning. Some however had remnant headaches from the previous night' activities and declined. The party resulted in a smaller number than originally intended, which included Hinata, Kiba, Sakura and Naruto in addition to three more colleagues, but a later addition was to be made on the road by Lee, his wife and friend.

Hinata found herself highly anticipating this last walk with her beloved green scenery and was determined to enjoy every minute as much as possible. But she began to doubt herself when she noted Uzumaki Naruto frequently casting quick glances at herself and more sterner glances at Kiba. She was even more confused when he stood up from his seat at the breakfast table to join Kiba as he fixed himself a cup of coffee at the coffee dispenser, and the two shared a hushed but rather intense conversation. The two had spoken before, but Hinata could never remember Naruto initiating a private conversation with him. Perhaps it was to do with work, or their journey, but she contrived to find out in a subtle way later from Kiba. It will be difficult to mask her true motives now that he knew more about her history with him.

It had been a relief indeed to share the emotional burdens of the past few months with him, and Hinata wondered how much more different it would have been if she had confided in him earlier. She shook herself slightly as she returned her gaze to her breakfast plate, there was no reason to dwell on what could have been, she would instead enjoy the relief friendship had given her in the here and now.

The walk had been uneventful, and they had been enjoying the pleasures of the scenery. Hinata, while occasionally gazing at the back of Naruto, who was busily interlocking arms with Sakura beside him, was wracking her brain as to how to bring up the topic of the Kiba-Naruto interaction without arising suspicion in her friend.

It was when a particularly gleeful giggle was heard from Sakura and a corresponding tease came from Naruto that Kiba began the topic uninduced.

"Uzumaki said something weird to me this morning."

"Oh?" She hoped her voice didn't portray anything too eager.

"Yeah, kind of weird, he asked me if I was still dating Karin."

"That is weird. What did you say."

"I asked him why he wanted to know. Then he got a bit antsy with me. Said it's not right to cheat on a woman."

"That is really weird."

"Yeah, don't know what's gotten into him, he's never cared about anyone's love life before."

"Hmm." Was all Hinata could say, her brain running a mile a minute. Trusting his new girlfriend's gossiping tendencies, Naruto likely heard about Hinata's run in with Sakura last night, and likely knew of her leaving Kiba's room at the late hour. Sakura being who she was, was likely to infer a false conclusion, and that must have found its way to Naruto's ears. The question now remained… why did he think? And why was he involving himself? Hinata's eyes, for what seemed like the hundredth time, shifted to the silhouette of Naruto and Sakura together, their frame appearing happy in the soft light of the late morning. She didn't know what happened between them last night, and she frankly didn't want to know, but they were certainly acting closer, their interactions were tinged with a lot more physical touch. If he appeared as happy and settled as he was, why was Naruto asking questions around Kiba's fidelity?

Hinata left a small sigh escape, if her assumptions were correct that Naruto did know of herself leaving Kiba's room late last night from Sakura, then it wouldn't be too implausible to surmise he considered them to have been intimate in some way, and considering everyone knew Kiba to be attached to Karin, who coincidentally was not present on the onsen trip, Naruto probably was likely reminding Kiba of his responsibilities. His motives couldn't be anything romantic, he was settled with Sakura, and thought very poorly of herself, he must only be acting in kindness to protect both herself and Karin from a possible promiscuous Kiba. The idea was laughable, but Hinata could picture no other motive for his actions. Hinata giggled to herself a little, considering the general impression Kiba gave on people was of the mannerisms of a dog, perhaps it wasn't so far fetched that he would exude an aura of promiscuity too.

"What are you laughing at?" Said dog interrupted. Hinata gave him a reply of little consequence and continued walking. The coastal path was approaching a more eroded area and the group made to walk further inland. "By the way, I wanted to ask if you're alright after last night?"

She smiled at him genuinely, "thanks for asking Kiba, I'm feeling much better now."

"Good, I got worried when we left Lee's home."

"You shouldn't be worried about me. I can handle it."

"No one can handle too much by themselves. Friends are important Hinata." He touched her elbow to emphasize his point, "so make sure you ask for help before things get too much next time."

She patted his arm platonically "Hopefully there won't be a next time. I'm not intending to keep up the charade of a hopeless case."

He laughed and bumped her shoulder playfully. She laughed quietly and carried on walking ahead where she noticed Naruto looking in their direction, he was perhaps ten feet ahead of them, but had a discernibly irritated look on his face, and she felt his gaze wasn't directly at her, but more a little to her left, more in Kiba's direction. Then the thought struck like lightening… was he glaring at Kiba? But she was saved from any further speculation by the arrival of Lee, his wife and Sasuke. They all made their usual greetings. And Sasuke moved to walk alongside Hinata's available side, making Kiba grin suggestively. Hinata ignored him and made the usual small talk, hoping to be minimal to avoid appearing encouraging. But she was unable to keep it short and sweet because Sasuke was making consistent, if not emphatic, inquiries as to her health. It would appear she had alarmed quite a few people by her sudden departure last night.

She assured him of her well being, and trying to change the subject, asked Kiba to take a photo of her with the sea in the background. Kiba agreed jovially, but was interrupted by Sasuke who stated that he had had some experience with photography which he would be happy to excercise for her. Hinata almost sighed, it was getting harder for her to appear impartial and polite. But she was suddenly drawn away from her thoughts when Sakura stalked over, a tiny frown on her usually cheerful face was the only marker of any displeasure in her demeanor.

"Sasuke-kun, I haven't taken many pictures either, would you mind taking one of me and Naruto please?" Sasuke seemed surprised, the two had barely spoken before, but for the sake of civility he agreed and took her phone to snap a few photos. Hinata was a little perplexed, but felt confident that Sakura's behavior may have been rooted in a degree of jealousy, the motive behind her jealousy remained obscure, but the look on the blonde's face next to her could afford no explanation from Hinata.

"Naruto! I want one with you catching me, it will look amazing on instagram." Naruto seemed distracted, but agreed, he caught her once and Sasuke caught the photo. "Again! Over here!" And she dragged him a few paces closer to the edge of the cliff, getting a better view of the cliff edges that preceded them.

She prepared to jump but Naruto wasn't braced for an impact yet, "Sakura wait!"

"Ready or not, here I come!" She sang playfully, and true to her word she had jumped, but as expected Naruto missed. In horror the group watched in impotent paralysis as the impact she had made with the ground caused it to crumple beneath her feet and began to slide with the soil down towards the bottom of the cliff. With alacrity did Naruto manage to catch her wrist before all her body fell to a certain death.

Two seconds passed before Naruto destroyed the group's paralysis "Someone help!" And immediately four of the party moved to his aid.

"No stop!" Interrupted Hinata, the four turned to her as confusion and shock mixed their horror, "the ground isn't stable, one person go, and make sure you crawl to Uzumaki-san." The sense in her words were agreed to, but then there came hesitance as to who would go, Hinata realizing time was of the essence delegated Sasuke to go as he appeared the lightest but strongest for his build.

"Go as carefully as you can." She continued, together Sasuke and Naruto managed to drag an unconscious Sakura back to the cliff face's deceptively safe grassland, her arm that Naruto had saved the rest of her body by appearing at an odd angle to her shoulder, which hinata could only guess was dislocated. If she hadn't just been laughingly demanding to be caught just a few moments ago, any stranger would think Sakura had died.

"What now?" Said Kiba to the right of her, the rest of the group turned to look at her, and she noted that even Naruto directed his blue horrified eyes towards her for leadership.

"Bring her further in so we can assess her safely." They did as she directed. "Is she breathing?"

Shock being an obstruction to clear thinking as it normally is made Naruto question, "how?"

"Can you see her chest rise? Or feel it if you moved close to her nose and mouth?"

He did as she suggested and he replied that she was, thank God, breathing.

"What now?" Asked Sasuke.

"An Ambulance!" And Kiba immediately took out his phone to dial the appropriate emergency number, "No Kiba-kun, Sasuke-san or Lee-san can you make the call please? You know the area better." Lee immediately made the call.

"But how would they get here? There aren't any roads for several miles."

"Tell them we need an air ambulance, that is the fastest way to get Sakura-san to a hospital." As they waited for the sound of a helicopter in the sky, they tried to rouse Sakura by shouting in her ear and pinching her uninsured shoulder, but she responded to neither sound or pain. The best they could do was take comfort in her slow but steady pulse and be grateful she had not cut herself dangerously. The wait was only 7 minutes but it felt like an age, the group was steadily coming to terms with what they had witnessed, but Naruto looked like a picture of traumatized guilt. Hinata's heart ached, she knew very well what it felt to see a loved one in pain, especially at your own hand.

Eventually the specialists arrived, all calm smiles as though entering a normal everyday scenario and not the literal precipice of death that they had stumbled upon. They strapped the patient and was ready to lift her, but then asked for the next of kin to join. At this point Naruto roused himself from whatever was haunting him and looked towards Hinata, she could have sworn he wanted to say something to her, and he even leaned towards her but on a second prompt from the emergency staff he stated himself as Sakura's boyfriend and agreed to join them in the helicopter as escort. Sasuke, triggered by memories of his deceased fiancé, offered to go in his place, but Naruto was firm "I'm responsible for this." Was all his reply, and with one last look at Hinata, he turned and joined the crew.