"Rock Lee is in room 508." The nurse said "But please keep your visit short, he needs his rest."

"Ok, thank you." Hinata said before making her way to the room.

It had been a week since she left the hospital and Hinata thought she's had enough rest and it was time to get back to training. Just because she wasn't in the third part of the chunin exams, doesn't mean she couldn't still train.

I have to keep up with Sasuke and Naruto. As long as I don't strain myself, I should be fine.

But before she did any training, she wanted to come and see Lee. She heard about his injures from Gai when he came to visit her and Neji. She tried to see him while she was in the hospital but something always got in the way, whether it was a nurse telling her to go back to bed or saying that he was resting. Now she was going to see him and hopeful they could catch up.

As she got to the door, she heard the sound of a window opening. Knowing Lee shouldn't be up for anything, Hinata opened the door to go help, only to find that he was trying to climb out the window.

"Lee!" She cried.

Said guy turned around and was surprised to see who it was "Hinata?"

After getting Lee back to bed, Hinata took a seat next to him "Here..."

She placed the item on his lap "I know it's not the same curry you told me about but I hope you'll like better than hospital food."

"Thank you, Hinata. I'm sure it will be delicious."

As she looked at her friend, she noticed he was less enthusiastic as he normally was and had this sad, almost miserable look on his face.

This is not like him at all...

"You know..." Lee's voice pulled her out of her thoughts "It's funny, we were in the hospital together and in all that time, I've never seen you or Neji visit."

"We wanted to, especially after what Gai sensei told us about your match but the nurses here are very strict. They either told us about our rest or about yours."

"That makes sense, I mean you and Neji did quite a bit of damage to each other."

She nodded "Yes but...not the type of damage you're doing to yourself right now."

From the tone of her voice, Lee knew she was talking about what happened earlier and couldn't help but turn away from her.

Hinata sighed at that "Ino came to visit me the day she and Sakura came to visit you and Sasuke. And she told me that you were training dispute your injuries."

Lee remained silent.

"I know how much training means to you, Lee, but you have to let your body recover before you start pushing it again."

He spoke "I would have done that if this was all the other times."

The young Hyuga was confused, so he explained "That sand ninja, Garra, last attack crushed my right arm and leg. When I woke up, I thought it was like the others times when I broke them but the doctors said this damage is much more severe."

Much more severe... Hinata tried to think what was more severe than a crushed arm and leg. But nothing came to mind, so to understand what he meant...

Byakugan!

With her kekkei genkai, she examined Lee's skeletal structure. It was true, she could see the damage done to his arm and leg, but what she saw next answered her question. His spine was severely damaged. She could see the cracks in his spine as well as some of the bone fragments are embedded deeply in his spinal canal.

Even if she wasn't a medical ninja, Hinata knew that the spine was extremely important to humans. The human spine is the scaffolding for the entire body. It provides protection to the spinal cord and nerves.

"They said that they're doing everything they can without causing further damage. But it's been almost two weeks and not even the most skill medical ninja in this hospital can help me."

She deactivates her byakugan "Lee.."

His body trembled as tears started to gather in his eyes "B-But I am not done! I don't want to be left behind! I have to catch up to them! To you! I don't want this to be the end!"

Hinata's heart ached for her friend. All he's ever wanted is to show people that he can be a great ninja, even if he can only use taijutsu. But the injures threaten that dream.

He needs someone who can truly help him, someone who knows everything there is to know about medical ninjutsu...

Her eyes widen as she thought as the right person.

"Lady Tsunade." She whispered

Lee turned to her, his tears still in his eyes "What did you say?"

Hinata leaned closer to him, placing a supportive hand on his arm "If normal medical ninja can't help you, then maybe the greatest medical ninja of all time can, Lady Tsunade!"

She was hoping that this idea would light his spirits and for a few moments a familiar light return to his light but it dimmed a bit as a thought occurred to him.

"But Hinata, Lady Tsunade hasn't been seen in years. Nobody knows where she is or what she's doing. It would be impossible to find her."

What he said was true. Tsunade hasn't been in the Leaf village for many years and due to her movement, no one can tell where she really is.

But still...

"Then we'll have to look for her!" She exclaimed determinedly

Lee looked at her in shock at her determined face "Hinata..."

She knew she was making a big promise to him but Lee was her friend. He befriended her despite Neji's past words and risked his life to save her and her team. He didn't deserve the pain he was going through.

"Lee, you are my friend and one of the people who have supported me when I didn't believe in myself. The way you push and believe in yourself is amazing. Most people would give up on being a ninja if they had no genjutsu or ninjutsu, but not you. From what I can see, you deserve to be a ninja because you don't let that hold you back. You go with what you have and make everyone see how great it is. Even if others can't see it, I think you are a splendid ninja."

Words couldn't describe how happy and grateful he was to hear those words. Besides Gai sensei, no one thought he could make it as a ninja. And his injures started to cloud his dream but now Hinata's words brought him so much hope that he couldn't stop the tears rolling down cheeks. "H-Hinata...thank you."

She nodded, smiling softly "But this has to wait until the chunin exams are over. Until then, please don't do anything that can cause anymore damage to yourself."

Lee nodded, wiping away his tears "Yes, I'm sorry."

"Now you should eat before the curry get cold." She said, setting up his meal

"Yes, of course. Proper nutrition will help me heal a lot faster. Thank you for the food!"

Hinata sat there while Lee ate his food, seeing a bit more of the old Lee come back.

Her fist tighten in her laps, the same kind determination she had with changing her clan, ran through her blood.

You'll be back to training Lee. I know you will.

After her visit, she wanted to get straight to training but also wanted to give her team their gifts. She had already drop out Naruto's gift on her way to visit Lee, since it was on the route she was taking.

Hinata went back to Kakashi's to retrieve his and Sasuke's gifts, however the cleaning kit and the demon shurikens were replace with a few bags of groceries follow by a note.

She quickly put away the groceries, knowing some items would spoil it not refrigerated before reading the note.

It said:

Dear Hinata,

I'm sorry for leaving you alone like this especially after being discharged from the hospital but with the next part of chunin exam around the corner, I have to focus more on Sasuke's training. And considering that people are still looking for him, they're starting to pick together that I'm with him, so it means I can't return to check on you again until the today of the exam. But I did leave enough groceries to last you two weeks. I know by now you are up and about but please take it easy and make sure you don't over do it.

Sincerely, Kakashi

P.S: Thank you for the cleaning kit, I really did need it. It's better than having to buy new tools. Saves me some money. And don't worry, Sasuke is doing just fine and I'll make sure gets his gift too.

Hinata sighed after reading the note. She knew that Sasuke had to train but she was hoping that the gifts would be a good excuse to go and find him. After what happened in the Forest of Death, his match and his escape from the hospital, she couldn't help but worry about him. She knew Kakashi sensei would take good care of Sasuke, but she wanted to see how he was doing herself and what happened to the curse mark on his neck.

Then it hit her, there was more to his gifts than just the shurikens. Hinata went into her room and opened her drawer and saw that the ointments and the necklace were still there. She smiled, this meant she could still go see him. And once she knows he's ok, she'll leave and begin her own training.

Now the question was: Where are they training?

She sat on her bed and began to think.

Kakashi was best suited to train Sasuke because he too had the sharingan eye. So he could help Sasuke develop his kekkei genkai more. From what she knew about the sharingan, it allows the user to copy another ninja's jutsus on the spot. But she knew copying another people wasn't Sasuke's style, he wasn't a follower.

However there was one jutsu that stood out to her. It was the one Kakashi used against Zabuza. Even through the mist, she saw her sensei gathering a large amount of charka into his palm and then turning the charka into lightening.

She asked him once about it and he said it was a jutsu of his own creation.

She figured that had to be what Kakashi sensei was teaching him and if it was, thinking of the burns on his arms from the lightening, he really would need the ointments she made.

But where would be the perfect place to learn a technique like that?

Lightning starts fires when it comes into contact with wood. So if they planned on training with trees, they would need to stay in an area where a lake or river is near, just in case.

She shook her head, dismissing the idea.

Most of those areas are well known, there's no way they would be there when people are still trying to find Sasuke. And the only place I can think of besides those areas is the Forest of Death and I doubt after what we've been through, he would want to go back in there. So where would it be possible to train for that type of jutsu?

Hinata thought about it for a while and sighed when nothing came to mind. She went to open the window and saw that the sun was about to set, she must have been thinking for a while now. As the afternoon breeze fanned her face, she looked in the direction it was coming from. From where she sat, she could see Hokage Rock, where the faces of the previous and current Hokage were carved.

As she looked at the mountain, the answer came to her.

"The mountains!" She exclaimed

A couple miles pass Hokage Rock, there are mountains that some of the villagers have forgotten about. It was the perfect place for them to train. And if she remembered correctly from geography class in the academy, there's a waterfall around the area. Meaning they had fresh water to drink.

That has to be where they are but its too late to go and check. I guess I'll go tomorrow.

She looked at necklace on the drawer, excitement and nervousness filled her body as she thought about tomorrow.

The next day, Sakura was walking down the busy streets of the village with her head down, a depressed expression on her face and gloomy cloud hanging over her. It had been two weeks since she last seen Sasuke and everyday since her first visit, she had gone back to the hospital asking if he had returned. Today was the last straw, so the nurses politely asked her to leave and not come back unless it was necessary.

But it wasn't just the hospital she asked, Sakura had asked most of the other 9 rookies, including Neji's team, if they had seen or heard Sasuke lately but all their answers were no. Yesterday she tried to ask Naruto and Kakashi sensei if they might know but to her disappointment, they were no where to be found either.

She had ask everyone she could think of who might know except for a certain bluenette.

She sighed deeply before looking up to see where her legs had wandered her to and who she saw a couple stores down was the same person she was avoiding.

Hinata was coming out of a convenient store after buying some drinks for Sasuke and Kakashi. When she woke up this morning, she quickly got ready for the day, packed ninja tools and Sasuke's ointments into her weapons pouch and the necklace in her pocket and prepared food for them in case they hadn't ate yet. But on her way, she forget about drinks and decided to stop and buy some. Now she was making her way down the street, unaware of the green eyes following her.

As she saw Hinata walking in her direction, Sakura thought about her next move. She could just go ask her like she asked the others but Hinata wasn't like the others. She didn't hate her, honestly no one could possibly hate Hinata. But every time Sakura saw her, feelings of bitterness and envy welled up inside her.

It wasn't there in the beginning when the teams were first set, back then she was jealous that Hinata got to be in the same team as the love of her life. But now it was different. All throughout the preliminaries of chunin exams, Sakura has tried to get Sasuke's attention but all of it was directed toward Hinata.

During the matches before hers, Sakura came over to the group and decided to watch the fights with them. She knew the other members of his team were giving their own reaction to her choice, but she only cared about his. But reaction wasn't what she hoped for.

Whenever Sakura spoke, Sasuke's gaze remained neutral, he had his normal scowl on his face when he spoke to her and she only got one word responses. While with Hinata, Sasuke's gaze softening when she spoke, he wore a real smile when he talked to her and he gave her more than a one word responses. He never acted that way towards her.

But when her match came, she thought that would be the moment where she showed him what she could do but during her match, when she glanced at him, he didn't seem all that impressed and when he showed interest, it wasn't towards her but Ino!

When Hinata's match came, he gave it his full attention. He watched every single move closely and any damage she made, he smiled a little. And that moment before the medics came and how he wanted to follow after her when they left.

She couldn't help but grind her teeth at those memories.

It's not fair, why doesn't he do those things for me?

When Hinata, unknowing, passed her, She made her decision. Right now, finding him and getting him back to the hospital was important.

When Sasuke's back, I'll show him my nurturing side. I won't leave his bedside until he's all better!

"Hey Hinata!" Sakura called

Hinata turned and mentally sighed as she saw the pink haired kunoichi approached her. It's not because she didn't like her, but because she didn't know how long this would take and she already had an idea of what Sakura wanted.

"Hello Sakura, how are you?"

"Well I'm feeling kind of down actually and I'm hoping you can help."

Sakura then noticed the bag of drinks and cloth wrapped bentos in her hands. There had to be at least three bentos in the cloth.

"Hello? Sakura, what is it you need?"

Sakura flinched a bit "Oh right, um that quite a bit of food you got there." She gave Hinata a calculating look "Are you planning on giving some to Sasuke?"

Hinata's expression and body language didn't change due to the fact she was expecting questions about her teammate/crush "How would I give this to him if I don't even know where he is?"

Sakura eyes sharpened "But you do, don't you?"

"No, I don't."

"Oh, come on!" She said frustrated "You have to at least have an idea to where he might be!"

"Even if I did, why is it so important to you?"

"Sasuke needs to be back in the hospital recuperating from the preliminaries. But instead he's off somewhere, probably still suffering from his injuries. You have to be worried about him, right? Don't care if he gets worse?"

Hinata tightens the fist around the bags in her hands "Of course I do, I care about him and his wellbeing..."

Sakura was glad she was getting somewhere "Then we should-"

"But..," the bluenette cut her off "I also respect his decisions. If he didn't want to stay in the hospital, then who am I to force him to stay?"

"You're his teammate! It's dangerous for him to be up and about when he's not fully healed yet! How can you respect a choice like that?!"

"Because I trust my teammate's abilities and endurance!" Hinata exclaimed "You're underestimating Sasuke, he knows his limits and he knows how far he needs to push himself beyond without causing farther damage to himself."

"B-But..."

"Sakura, did you forget that the chunin exams are still going on? Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru and your teammate, Shino earned their spots in the next part of the exams."

"Of course I know! Hello?! I was there, cheering him and Shino on!"

"Then you know that he and the others have only a month until then to hone their skills and come up with new strategies and Justus. They have so much to do in a small amount of time."

Sakura's frustration flatten into disappointment as she began to see Hinata's point.

"You know how strict the medical ninja and nurses are in our hospital, even if he was feeling fine, they wouldn't have let him out for another 2 days or so. And that means more time wasted on resting than training."

It might have been longer than that because of the curse mark...

"Listen, it's sweet that you care about his wellbeing but the way you're doing it holds him back from his goals." She continued.

Sakura's hands shook as she contained her anger and frustration. She wasn't holding him back, she just wanted him to rest, help him sped up his recover and hopefully help him in his training. Everyone had goals but goals take time, surely Sasuke knew that. Right?

Looking down at pinknette's hands, Hinata knew that she was being stubborn and decided it was time to go "I'm sure when the next exam comes, Sasuke will come back better than before. Just be patient and wait. I need to get going."

With a nod goodbye, Hinata continued on her way to her destination.

Sakura watched Hinata get farther away before she started to follow her.

The pink haired kunoichi followed the young Hyuga all the way to Hokage Rock. She knew that Hinata had a clue to where he was, just from the lunches in her hands. She may have understood the point Hinata was making but she couldn't accept it. The chunin exams comes twice a year, so even if Sasuke fails, he could just retake it. And she couldn't accept that Hinata was the only person to possibly know where he's training. The thought of her bring the only one going to see him while he was hiding was enough to get her blood boiling.

The sound of someone soaring through the trees around the rock brought her out of her thought. She was so distracted with her thought she didn't notice that Hinata was out of her line of vision. Sakura cursed under her breath and tried to track down Hinata. After a while, she came to a opening in the middle of the trees but there was no Hinata and there was no Sasuke.

Sakura just stood there with her hair covering her face and her body trembling with such frustration, she felt like crying.

No.

She shook her head and took a deep calming breath.

I'm not a kid, I'm not going to throw a tantrum over this. It would be a total turn off for Sasuke to see me like that. All I have to do is spy on Hinata for until the next exam come. She'll have to visit him again before then. And once she does, I'll follow her again and know exactly where my Sasuke is hiding!

Sakura inwardly giggled with excitement about the thought of seeing him again.

With her nodding at her 'great' plan, Sakura made her way back to the village. A few meters away, Hinata came out from the bushes she was hiding behind and sighed in relief.

Halfway to Hokage Rock, she notice Sakura following her and waited for the chance to slip away pink haired girl. She had to admit Sakura's persistence was admirable if only it was directed towards something else besides Sasuke. Because this was just a very unhealthy obsession.

"Ok, time to get moving."

Sasuke was panting heavily after another attempt to perfect the Chidori technique. It's been weeks since he's left the hospital and began his training with Kakashi. When Kakashi first showed him this jutsus, it was amazed at the raw power that his teacher held in the palm of his hand and more so at how much damage it could cause. After what Kakashi told him about his opponent, this was jutsus he needed to break through Garra's sand defense.

But it wasn't just Chidori he was working on, it was also increasing his endurance, his stamina and his chakra control.

Chakra control...

Whenever he was doing that, he thought back to the person who had the best chakra control on their team, Hinata.

He hadn't seen her since she collapsed. Although he thought about checking on how she was, he knew he couldn't. The medical ninja were still looking for him, not to mention his (annoying) fan club. He had to rely on what Kakashi told him the last time he visit her.

What he said told him about the visit made him think about what he told him just as he was preparing the seal the curse mark.

(FLASHBACK)

The two were in a hidden dark room with many stone columns spread around except the center where they stood.

Kakashi began setting things in place, first he lit candles around to him more visibility. Then he asked Sasuke to step back as he pulled out a kunai and started carving a circle big enough for Sasuke to sit in and another larger one around it.

During the preparation, the young Uchiha couldn't help but think about Hinata's match. It occurred to him that he knew so little about her family life. She was always more concerned with him and Naruto rather than herself. She never seem to talk about her home life. It was only before the match that Hinata told him a bit about her relationship with Neji.

"-suke, Sasuke!"

Said boy flinched at the risen voice and looked up at his teacher "What?"

"Nice to see you're still awake. Like I was saying, you need to take off your shirt."

Sasuke's face went blank "Come again?"

"I have to write sealing marks on your back in order for this to work and the shirt is in the way." Kakashi said.

Sasuke said nothing else and removed his shirt revealing his tone upper body.

"Now sit in the center circle, I'll try to do this as fast as I can before the medicine completely wears off."

Kakashi watched his student sit on the ground, his back to him. He pulled out another kunai and cut his gloved palm with it. He position his hand in a way that he could use the blood as ink to write with and began marking Sasuke's back.

"Kakashi..."

"Hmm?"

"What do you know about Hinata's life at home?"

He paused and looked at the back of Sasuke's head "I thought her match showed you the tension within her clan."

"Between the main and side branch, yeah. But not about her family life." The tone of his voice was neutral but Kakashi detected a bit a uncertainty "I never knew she was the heir to the Hyuga clan."

Kakashi sighed, not knowing how to handle this.

"It's not really my place to tell you. Couldn't you ask Hinata the next time see her?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder with his eyebrows raised "You really think Hinata's the type of person who wants people worrying about her troubles?"

He got him there, but still he needed to think about this. On one hand this is Hinata's business and he should respect it but on the other hand, this may help them get closer together as a team and friends (-cough- lovebirds-cough-)

Especially since...

He looked at the curse mark "Ok, then. I'll tell you. But everything I'm about to tell you is not all from my own experience with them. It's also from the person who was in charge of watching her when she was young."

Sasuke's posture straighten at those words, giving Kakashi a sign that he was listening.

As he continued his work, he spoke "Hinata is the eldest daughter of Hiashi Hyuga, the Hyuga clan's leader. She has a younger sister named Hanabi Hyuga, who is five years younger than her. Her mother, well from what I've heard, died shortly after Hanabi was born. Ever since Hinata was young, Hiashi had been training her in the way of the Hyuga. Consistently pushing her to be the future leader the Hyuga clan, in his eyes, needed. That was until three years ago."

"What happened three years ago?" Sasuke asked

"Hanabi began training with Hinata when she was three, the same age Hinata began her training. As she progressed, the elders of the clan started to see she had more potential to become the future leader than Hinata. However, due to the fact Hinata is the first born, the elders came to the conclusion that pit them against each other."

Sasuke sat there, trying to process all the information "If this happened three years ago and Hinata is five years than Hanabi..."

Though Sasuke couldn't see, Kakashi nodded "They pitted a ten year old, who has had seven years of training, against a five years old, who had only two years."

"But a battle for the title of clan leader, they would have to go all out and Hinata's nature is..." Sasuke's voice trailed.

"Then you realize what the outcome was. Hinata hesitated when she had an opening because dispute all that was happening, she couldn't hurt her little sister. And since then, Hiashi has put all his time and effort on Hanabi and shunned Hinata." As Kakashi continued to speak, his annoyance of the Hyuga leader made him to clench his injured hand, causing to remember the task at hand.

Sasuke had always wondered why Hinata was so shy and had no confidence in herself and now after hearing this, it made his blood boil and it only increased as Kakashi continued.

"In all that time after, Hinata has tried to show him how wrong he was about her but he wouldn't pay attention. He has to continue her training, instead focusing all his time and effort on Hanabi, he hardly ever speaks to her except when necessary. He found her to be such a bother, he made me her guardian."

Kakashi would have continue if it wasn't for the fact he could feel this raging aura coming him his student. Not that he could blame him but still he was afraid this might happen if he told them. Now he had to calm him down.

"Don't go doing anything rash. Besides you weren't even suppose to know about this. And you don't need to worry about all of that."

Sasuke's rage dialed back to anger "What do you mean?"

"I mean since joining our team, Hinata has changed so much and she's a lot happier now than she was before. As long as she has us, she'll be fine, right?"

Sasuke glance at his teacher, dispute the mask, he could tell that Kakashi was smiling. He nodded in agreement.

As long as she's with us, she's be happy...

(FLASHBACK END)

"Well, isn't this a surprise." He heard Kakashi said "How did you manage to find us?"

What?! Someone actually found them?! Sasuke turned around and was shock to see the same person he was just thinking about "Hinata..."

Hinata stood there, too nervous to say anything. She told herself that she would act the same around Sasuke but now that he's in front of her, that plan went out the window. From where she stood, she could see that he had grown a bit taller and his bangs had grown. Though he was getting to the point of exhaustion, that same determination he always didn't waver a bit. She felt her heart beating and her cheeks getting warmer as Sasuke's onyx eyes stared into her pale lavender ones.

This is the boy I'm in love with...

Gathering all her courage, she spoke "I-I hope I'm not interrupting your training."

Kakashi smiled "You came at a good time, I was about to tell Sasuke to take a break."

Sasuke clicked his tongue, annoyed "I don't need a break, Kakashi. I need to get this jutsu right."

"It's not going to help if you collapse from exhaustion. This technique takes up a lot of chakra, it's best if you rest up now and try again later."

Sasuke scoffed and was about to turn back to his target.

"Sasuke..."

He stop mid turn and looked at the young Hyuga, who held out the bag of bentos she made "P-Please don't over do it. I-I know this is important and you want to do your best but remember you were suppose to stay in the hospital until you fully recovered. If you keep this up, you might be too tired to compete in the next exam."

He looked at the bentos, then glance at Hinata. Her cheeks were red but her eyes held much seriousness in them. He sighed, she maybe the only person could convince him to rest without him arguing back. Besides she did have a point, he wanted to be in top physical condition when he faced Garra.

He took the bentos from her "Alright, I'll take a break but I'm going to training as soon as I'm finished."

She nodded "Just as long as you eat at a normal pace, there's no rush."

She turned to her sensei "I also made one for you, sensei."

Kakashi perked up at this and came over to get his "Have I told you, you are my favorite student?"

"I'm curious, how did you figure out we were here?" Sasuke asked

Sasuke and Hinata sat on a rock formation while Kakashi sat on the edge of the cliff, close enough for him to hear them and far enough for them not to see his face as he eats.

"You and sensei are alike in many ways, so I figured he would want teach you this lightning technique he came up with. And this jutsu does a lot of damage, so I thought this would be the best place for no one to disturb you and you could cause as much damage as needed." Hinata explained.

"I see." He said before taking another bite of his bento. He inwardly groans, Hinata's food was simply the best he's ever had.

"It's good to see your deduction skills are improving, Hinata." Kakashi praised "But you know you can't just keep coming to see us here. Eventually someone will notice you heading here and try to follow."

She sighed "I know but I came because I didn't get to give Sasuke his another gifts."

The young Uchiha's eyes widen, there was more she wanted to give him. She already brought him an amazing set of demon wind shurikens and he knee those weren't cheap.

"Hinata, not that I'm not grateful but why did you decide to buy us stuff?"

She fumbles with her hands a bit and a soft smile comes to her face "It's my way of thanking you for helping me."

"Hinata, you know don't have to thank us." Kakashi said.

She shook her head "I wanted to. When I look back at my past, I almost can't believe how much I've changed. And it's all because my team, so I want to show you all how much I appreciate you."

As she was explaining her actions, Kakashi noticed how nervous and fidgety Hinata was and it had an idea of why she was like this.

She said she had more to give to Sasuke, whatever it is she's probably to embarrassed to give it in front of me.

He chuckled.

I guess I could give them some time to themselves.

He quickly finishes his meal and drink and stands up ready to leave.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked, noticing his sensei's movement.

"I'm going to patrol the area, I want to make absolutely sure that no one followed Hinata here."

With that said, he vanished in a blur.

Sasuke clicked his tongue "Doesn't he know you could easily sense in someone was following you? He's underestimating you."

Hinata blushes at the compliment and takes a deep breath.

We're alone now so I can...

"A-About your other presents..." She pulled out the ointments "I-I know that you're overdoing things and your hands have taken quite a bit of damage." She said, looking at the burns and cuts on his hands "So I brought you more ointment for you, just apply before you go to bed, ok?"

Sasuke smiled, feeling grateful for the medicine. During the pass few weeks, after practicing the Chidori many times, the burns and wounds on his hands sometimes become too much to bear forcing him to stop until the pain passes. Now with this, he can keep training without destroying his hands.

"Thank you, Hinata."

"Your welcome b-but that's not all..."

He watched as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace "Is that the symbol of your clan as the charm?"

She nodded, hiding her eyes behind her bangs as she held it out for them "Even though we're teammates, there will be times that we will be unable to fight by each other side b-but with this I thought that you could alway have a part of me with you. When things get tough, you have it with you and know that I'll be there, supporting you just like you have done for me."

Sasuke was wondering if Hinata could hear the sound of his heart pound since it was loud and clear to him in his own ears.

Hinata...

His gaze on her softens more than usual and he smiles kindly as he lays his hands on hers, covering the necklace. Hinata gasps as she is pulled into his chest, his head on her shoulder and his arm around her, holding her tight.

"Thank you for always supporting me, Hinata. You don't know how much it means to me."

You don't know how much you mean to me.

Love, that was what Hinata wanted to say at that moment. She wanted to tell him that she loved him and that she would always be there for him. But instead, she held him just as tightly as he held her.

"I will alway be there for you, Sasuke. Always."