I do not own Naruto.
Hinata sat beside Itachi's bed and sighed as she ran her fingers through his hair. He was hooked up to ventilators and a plethora of devices to keep him alive. She looked up to see Tsunade enter the room. "You look well…" she began and Hinata offered her a small smile, but that smile turned to irritation when the next words came out of the woman's mouth. "For someone who was missing for a month with rogue nin." Hinata's face scrunched up slightly at the scolding tone the older woman was using.
"You wanted me to bring him back…" Hinata sighed softly, only to receive a thwack to the head from the older woman. She recoiled and began rubbing her poor scalp. "You brought him back but look at the position we are in with him…" she scolded once more and Hinata's eyes softened. "I told him that if he fought… what I had fixed wouldn't stay open and he fought anyways." Hinata said softly as she once more ran a brush through Itachi's long hair.
"Well, he's stubborn like you what do you expect?" Tsunade grumbled as she pulled up a seat to watch the rise and fall of Itachi's chest with Hinata. "Speaking of rogue ninja… what happened to his partner?" Tsunade asked and Hinata looked over to her. "I don't know. He left the moment he found out that you knew Itachi wasn't really a traitor." She said and Tsunade's eyes widened slightly. Could they have known the entire time that Itachi hadn't done it to get stronger?
Hinata watched Tsunade as she thought over this ever so carefully, but didn't say anything as she trusted Kisame when he said he wouldn't tell anyone. "When do you think he will wake up?" she asked and Tsunade looked over to her with a slight frown. "I have no idea. His body went through a multitude of traumatic events so it is hard to tell." Tsunade sighed as she stood and made her way over to Itachi. She placed the back of her hand against his forehead gently, only to pull it away and sigh as she reached down to feel for a pulse on his wrist.
"His pulse is holding steady and he isn't requiring the machines to keep it going, so I think it is up to him when he wakes up." She said and Hinata nodded. She activated her byakugan and looked to see those same nodes had closed once more, possibly because he had expended a large amount of chakra in a short amount of time. She stood and made her way over to him, placing her hands on his chest once more. Tsunade watched her carefully as she began working on him once more.
His heartbeat quickened and she felt horrible that even in the state he was in that he was still responsive to this pain. She pushed the chakra through a little easier this time and smiled softly when he relaxed once more. She pulled her chair closer to his bed and laid her head on his abdomen and closed her eyes as she linked her fingers with his. "You know he talked about you in his updates?" Tsunade asked suddenly and she cracked her eyes to look at the blonde once more.
"He talked about your meetings and every time he saved you. He was professional about everything in his notes. But he never mentioned anything about having fallen in love with you. I assume he knew it was taboo." She said and Hinata listened intently. She had never known he had talked about her when he gave his updates to the village. She had never known he had talked about her period. But then again she assumed that was probably how Kisame knew about her knack for getting in trouble without trying. It came easy to her being the heiress of the clan and all… much less because she had been promised to one of the last Uchiha. That gave her extra bounty on her head.
"When did you realize you had fallen in love with him?" Tsunade asked and Hinata looked back down to their linked hands. When was the exact moment she had realized this? She honestly couldn't tell, but there were so many moments that it could have been. The flower behind her ear… all the times he had let her use him as a pillow to nap when she were younger… when he had come to her in the middle of the night and had brought her the most beautiful purple flowers…
She could still picture the last one in her mind right now. He had approached her in the dead of night while she was practicing on the lake. She had been embarrassed because he had seen her in almost nothing and yet he averted his eyes and waited for her to get dressed. He had then pulled the most beautiful purple lily from his cloak and offered it to her. she had taken that beautiful lily and pressed it in her scrapbook back home.
It could have been all the times where he caught her when she fell. Every time his arms had wrapped around her, her heart had gone into overdrive and sometimes she would faint, but she would always remember that distinct feeling fluttering through her chest. Her eyes softened and she released a sigh as the words he had said to her replayed in her mind. 'I thought you loved me…' he had been so pained when he said those words and she wanted nothing more than to show him exactly how much she loved him.
She would love him, even if he would never be a shinobi again. Even if he needed help doing the slightest things in the village she would love him. And this was because he had always been there for her. he had always shown her just how kind and caring he could be, even when he was trying to hide it. "I don't know exactly." Hinata said after a while of thinking and Tsunade only smiled at her. "You never know when it happens… you just know when it has made itself clear." She said and her eyes saddened as she sighed and seemed to be thinking of something.
"Don't ever let him wonder if you love him or not, because that will be the thing that will haunt you if anything were to ever happen to him." She said and Hinata knew immediately what she was talking about. She was talking about her and Jiraiya. Hinata's heart broke for the older woman in that moment, because she had lost everyone she had loved. Tsunade made her way over to Hinata and placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly before she left the room without another word.
Hinata closed her eyes and sighed once more. She wanted nothing more than for Itachi to wake up, but she knew it was going to be some time before that happened so until then, she would wait right here by his side. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, but a few hours later she was awoken by something wet bumping against her hand. Her eyes fluttered open and she was met with a familiar furry face that brought a smile to her lips. "Akamaru… hello." She greeted only to look u and see her teammates standing there with a bundle of food in their hands.
Her smile widened as she stood and hugged each of them. "Y'know this has got to be lonely down here in the basement, so I figured we should come visit you." Kiba said and she couldn't help the feeling that flew through her as Shino nodded. She was so lucky to have the two of them for friends. She took the food from Kiba and sat back in her chair and began eating. She looked up to them and noticed they were staring at Itachi. "What is it?" she asked and they shook their heads.
"Just… realizing that you had been plotting something like this for a long time." Kiba sighed and a slight blush coated her cheeks as she looked down to her food. "Yeah… I suppose I have…" she sighed and they chuckled. "No one can ever dull your determination, can they?" he asked and she shook her head. No one would ever be able to stop her when she put her mind to something. She slipped a bite into her mouth and started to think about everything that had happened. She couldn't believe she had saved his life not once but twice now she never thought the day would come where she would be returning the favor.
When the two of her friends left that day, they would be coming back every day for a month to visit her and see how Itachi was doing. He was resting well but had yet to wake up so she kenw that when he did there would be some deficits in his mobility, but she knew he was strong enough to work through and fight to get back to whatever he wanted to do. She sighed to herself as she made her way around the village today, greeting everyone who had missed her when she was gone.
She approached the main gates of the Hyuuga compound and smiled at the guards as they let her in the gates. She made her way to the main hall where she knew her father was going to be. She slipped open the doors and saw that he and her mother were sitting up in front of everyone else that was in the room. She apologized profusely and made her way over to a mat where she moved to her knees and sat on her feet. "Perfect timing Hinata. We were just discussing you." Her father said suddenly and she got an odd feeling in her chest.
"You were?" she asked and they nodded. "See, it has come to my attention that I have made a mistake and I aim to make amends. We have done wrong by you Hinata and we wanted to apologize. We never meant for you to endure so much by Sasuke's hand." He explained and she frowned. Despite Sasuke being so cruel to her at times, she still cared about him. Not in the same way as she did for Itachi, but she did still care about him. He was once her best friend.
"In our making amends, we have decided that your future is your own to choose. We officially absolve you of any obligation you may have still held towards the betrothal." He said and her eyes went wide as a rare smile cracked across his lips. She forced herself to her feet and made her way up to her parents. She fell to her knees before them and placed her forehead against the floor as she began to cry. They were giving her what she wanted, the opportunity to be with Itachi.
Another month had passed by and the village was bustling with activity. Something felt different about today so she decided she was going to go visit Itachi once more. When she got down there, he was still in his comatose state. Her heart sank as she sighed and sat beside him. She was relieved however, to see he was completely breathing on his own still. She made her way over to the side of his bed and pulled up her chair once more. She smiled as she pulled his hand into both of her own and she rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands.
She activated her Byakugan once more, just to check and make sure she didn't need to open the nodes once more. After a few times of her doing that, they had stayed open on her own and she was happy that she hadn't had to put him through that pain once more. She smiled and released his hand gently, placing it back beside him on the hospital bed. She was so desperately hoping today would be the day that he would open his eyes at the very least, but it didn't seem like today would be the day.
Hinata felt the building quake and she braced herself by using the railing of his bed. She looked to see medics scrambling into the room and she furrowed her brows. "What's going on?" she asked and they stopped preparing him for a move only momentarily. "Someone is attacking, there's large summons all over the village destroying everything. Tsunade thinks they're after Itachi but as far as they know he's dead so we are moving him to a safe underground bunker." The lead medic said and Hinata nodded as she rushed up the stairs to assist with search and rescue efforts.
When she got up to the top of the stairs, the building she was in was wiped out of existence. She turned to see Kiba and his mother running up with their faithful companions by their side. "Hinata hurry get out of here as soon as possible!" Kiba yelled and she nodded. "What are they here for?" she asked and he frowned at her. "They came here for Naruto." He said and she bit her lip as she looked out into the distance to see that one of them hovering above them in the sky. Her eyes widened as the wave of destruction rushed straight for her.
She stumbled backwards, but the wave of destruction buried her beneath rubble. Her entire body ached when she opened her eyes. She didn't know whether she was right side up, sideways or upside down. She just knew she was pinned by her leg. She looked around her and soon realized she was right side up, thankfully. She then proceeded to wiggle until she had enough rom to move her arm and she slammed a chakra enhanced fist into the rubble, sending it flying up and off of her.
She looked around and noticed that others were crawling up out of the debris as well. She reached down and began healing her injured leg to the best of her ability. Her eyes landed on a lump on the ground some ways away and she saw that it was one of the medics who had been with Itachi. She scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the woman who was pinned beneath a large chunk of debris and a rebar protruded from her gut. "Don't worry about me, keep moving there are others who will make it." she said and Hinata frowned at her. "I can't just leave you here…" Hinata said and the woman smiled at her.
"You can and you will. You have to survive this too. He is safe." She said and Hinata frowned even deeper as she stood. The woman wasn't going to let her touch her in the slightest. She could understand why, because the woman would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life even if she did survive the rebar being removed. She knew some shinobi would rather die than not be able to go out on assignments and hse assumed that the woman was one of them. What a stubborn woman…
But what she didn't know was that Hinata was a little more stubborn than she was. She turned and acted like she was going to walk past her but turned at the very last second and touched the side of her neck gently, hitting a tenketsu and knocking the woman out. "You will live long enough for me to learn your name." Hinata whispered and began working on carefully removing the debris that had pinned her down by her legs. Byakugan activated by habit and she looked to ensure no vital organs were hit with the rebar. She palpated the area around it to gauge bleed time and nodded to herself as she began slowly adjusting the woman to her side to be able to work on her.
She used the chakra scalpel to cut a small incision beside the rebar and she slowly worked it out of the woman inch by inch, stopping only to place a hand on the exit wound when she had moved it enough to have it all the way through her back. She then began pumping healing chakra there. She continued to work the rebar out from the other side and when she had it out she place dboth hands on her abdomen to heal the wound. A bead of sweat formed on Hinata's forehead as she worked, but someone wiped it away and began supplying her with chakra to help her.
"Thank you for not giving up on her." the man said and she offered him a small smile as she continued to work. He was yet another of the medics that had taken Itachi to safety. "She made us leave her behind too." He said and Hinata nodded, she figured that was what had happened to her. when Hinata was done healing her she lifted her up and handed her to him. He slipped her onto his back and took off towards the safe house under the hokage mountain with the others…
That was when Hinata had heard the most heart wrenching scream. She heard Naruto's name and she turned to see three toad summons upon the hill. She took off in that direction because she knew Naruto was going to need her help. When she arrived he was pinned down by metal bars and a man with orange hair was standing over him talking to him. She dropped down from above, chakra pooling in her hand as she did so. But before she could land a hit he slipped out of her path. Her fist connected with the ground and it exploded into debris.
She spun on her heel and fell into a gentle fist stance. "Hinata get out of here!" Naruto yelled from his place on the ground and she shook her head before she rushed forward. Rather than run right at the man she ran at Naruto and began breaking the bars pinning him into place. Between getting thrown around by the man and his strange ability she managed to break a few more of the bars. She had to set him free no matter what. With Itachi incapacitated the only one who could save them from this mad was him.
She rushed back toward Naruto, only to be lifted high into the air once more. When she fell, she could tell this one was going to hurt upon impact. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact… only the impact never came. She cracked her eyes open the moment arms wrapped around her and stopped her descent. "Always catching you when you fall…" he sighed and her eyes filled with tears as he landed with her in his arms. "Itachi. I wasn't expecting to see you still alive after that fight. Zetsu told me you died." Pain said and Itachi set her down gently.
"I did die." Was all he said as he burst into crows. Pain stumbled backward and began looking for where Itachi could be hiding. She knew how Itachi fought so she assumed he did as well. Clone after clone appeared and began to distract pain so she decided to take it upon herself to set Naruto free. She rushed over to him and began pulling all of the spikes out of his back and limbs. She reached for the final bar only to see that Itachi had been thrown past her. Her eyes went wide as she turned to see him coming down on her with a spike in hand.
Blood splattered her face and pain shot through her form. He had nailed her through the upper right side of her chest and pinned her to the ground at an angle. Before he could land another blow Itachi was right there once more fighting with him. She released a yell of pain as she ripped herself up and off of the bar he had impaled her with. She turned back to Naruto once more and pulled the final bar from his hands, only to cough up blood onto his face.
Her eyes fluttered shut and she slumped forward as the darkness consumed her.
:-:-:
Itachi rushed to her aid the moment Naruto had sprung into action once more. He was not in control in any way. He grabbed Hinata and drug her over away from where they were fighting. He pulled her into his lap and held her there as he gently held pressure to the wound. He could feel a pulse so she was still alive, but she was in dire straits. "What a stubborn fool." He sighed as he brushed the hair out of her face and watched as Naruto rag dolled Pain tenfold what he had done to Hinata. There was no doubt the nine tails was stronger than he was at the moment, so he believed Naruto could defeat him.
He had managed to get out of the fight with Pain unscathed and that was only because Naruto had gone feral. He looked back down to Hinata and he sighed as he pressed his forehead against hers. Her eyes fluttered open and he shook his head at her as she smiled up at him. "Y-you're awake…" she whispered and he nodded. He had done his best to protect her but he was still weak from being incapacitated for so long. She tried to sit up but he made her lay back down as she still had a head wound that he was worried about.
"He hit you in the back of the head, you need to lay still and not push yourself." He said and she nodded lightly. Soon enough a large group of shinobi surrounded them and a pink haired girl rushed up to her and immediately set to healing her. Hinata sighed in relief the moment the healing chakra washed over her. Itachi sighed once more and shook his head. She was going to cause his stress lines to become even more prominent than they already were.
When the pink haired girl was done healing her she sat up in his hold and turned to face him slowly. Her eyes were activated and she was staring at something. She breathed a sigh of relief and deactivated them. "You don't have to worry about me, I'm more concerned with you right now." He said and she let an eye roll slip, which made him quirk a brow. She leaned forward and laid her head on his chest and he felt the urge to wrap his arms around her but he didn't. "We should work on search and rescue." He said and she looked up at him oddly.
"There' no time to relax right now… Nagato has injured many and-" Hinata silence him with a hand over the mouth. He furrowed his brow at her but closed his mouth. "We are already steps ahead of you. Anyone that could move themselves are in the bunker. Hinata turned to Sakura who offered her a hand. She grabbed the pink haired girl's hand and pulled herself to stand. "How is Naruto-kun?" she asked and Itachi felt a small pang of jealousy well up in his chest at the tone of voice she had used.
She had only used that tone concerning him and his injuries. He squashed that feeling down and forced his mind to be rational, he was her friend after all. He looked over and saw a man with the same eyes as Hinata boring holes into him with an intense gaze. He made his way to his feet and returned the gaze, he knew the Hyuuga was mistrustful of him and that was fine with him, most people still would be considering how many people he had killed in his life.
He made his way over to Hinata and placed a hand on her lower back, causing her to look up at him curiously. "I'm glad you're ok." He said and she smiled at him, he could tell the feeling was mutual by the look in her eyes. "We should get to safety then. Seeing as I am still too weak to be much help around here." He said and she nodded as she tucked herself into his side to offer her support. She took him back to the bunker where he had run away from the moment he had woken up.
She placed him against the wall and turned to leave but he grabbed her hand gently and pulled her down to him. She sat beside him and they linked their hands together. They said nothing as they sat and waited out Naruto's rampage together.