Into the Woods

my deepest apologies for taking so long on this update. With the heatwave raging here I was really unable to focus. Let's just say that it's been btwn 95-100 degrees here during the day and staying around 90 all night long for a week now! And I don't have air conditioning in my house, so that's been the internal temp as well. Today was the first break! yay!

Anyways, now that Kyubi is done trying to roast me alive for the past cruelties toward Hinata (looks at chibi-kyubi who is holding up the cue cards and gryning). I'm sorry for making you all suffer, and i hope you enjoy this chapter.

~Teaser

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As he closed his eyes he reached out, finding the flickering thread of her chakra. Charging his hands he reached out to into the darkness to grab it....

’Hinata.....I’m here...just hold on’

But the link was too fragile, to insubstantial at this point for him to hold. He followed it back to her coils, finding them almost depleted. With a gentle push, he began pouring his own chakra into her system, startled when it began to actively accept his energies. He relaxed letting it feed, focusing his attention to the tread and watching as it began to glow and strengthen.

He could feel a familiar warmth bubbling up inside him, rising to the surface. This was burning too much chakra, but he didn’t dare stop now. He fought to hold the warmth back, to keep the energy he was pushing into her pure. ’Dammit Kyubi, I can’t give her that....we don’t know what it’ll do to her’ He had to get her back quickly, before he was left with no other choice. Continuing to feed her coils, he reached through them to the shining strand and tried to grab it...

She had just been ready to give in, to go gently into that night when her world seemed to suddenly jostle. Instead of the peaceful darkness she was expecting there was cold tingle running through her very being. She turned panicked to her companion, terrified to see him beginning to bristle and growl softly. He nudged her gently, urgently trying to push her away. She clung to him as she was griped by fear.

Little one, it’s time...you have to hurry...it’s time you leave me and go back..

What’s going on? What are you talking about?? I don’t want to leave you... her senses going numb from this cold that was rushing through her. It slowly made its way up, almost drowning her. There was a familiar fire growing in his eyes as he gave her a soft lick before pushing her away harder.

”You have to go now....he’s calling you....go to him...”

“Who is? What’s wrong with...”

And then she noticed it. A fluttering, like a gentle caress at the edge of her consciousness. It touched lightly, tentatively, as if to make sure it was safe. She could hear it as it reached for her, the name she’d almost forgotten. ’Hinata.....I’m here...’

An angry snarl erupted behind her. As she turned she was suddenly confronted with a nightmare. Burning eyes hovered over fiercely bared teeth. Long claws furrowed into the ground sharply, and nine fiery tails whipped behind him. She screamed as the creature suddenly lunged for her...

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She was woken up by Tama’s frightened outburst, but was terrified by the intensity of the waves of chakra emanating from Naruto. Sakura watched frozen as he sat there, straddling Hinata’s legs, his arms glowing as he forced the energy into her weak body. His head was back, face raised to the ceiling with closed eyes and sweat beading on his brow. The glow slowly began to change from a glaring blue mixing to a deep purple, flaring red briefly from time to time. Her focus was broken by a frantic scream, and she turned in time to see Tama running towards them.

“NO! Don’t touch him!” she screamed, throwing herself at the frantic medic. They collided onto the floor as she held him back.

“We have to stop him! He’s going to KILL HER if we don’t stop him!!” Tama yelled, trying to free himself from her.

“If you stop him now you’ll kill both of them.” she yelled back, shaking him hard. He stopped fighting her, and together they sat there watching in horror.

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Kakashi and Tsunade were on their way to the hospital from the tower, having spent all morning arguing over the best course of action. Her hangover finally starting to wear off, she was regretting letting the copy-nin talk her into taking him to visit Naruto...he’d been nothing but a headache to her all morning.

“I know your attached, Tsunade, I’m just saying it might be the best plan all around.” He calmly pointed out to her.

“Not that crazy idea again. And I am not attached!” She scowled back, her headache returning full force. “I just don’t understand what you think that is going to accomplish!”

“Three things: time, experience, and information.” he stated matter of factly, his eye smiling down at her above his mask. She glared at him again, not wanting to admit that maybe he was right.

“But Kakashi you have to think reasonably...who the hell could I spare for such a thing? We’re stretched frighteningly thin as it is...” she was cut off before she could get any further, startled by the sudden oppressive force. Both shinobi stood in awe at the sensation of a massive release of chakra coming from the hospital. And not just any chakra.

“I thought you said everything was improving in there.” Kakashi stated slowly, trying to hide the shock in his voice.

“It had been....” was all she managed to reply. They looked suddenly to each other before taking off at full speed, to scared to think of what could have caused such a thing to happen.

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He had pushed her free and she was now left surrounded by the darkness again. As she watched him fade away she could hear him call to her softly one last time.

”You must hurry...don’t worry...I’ll be watching you...Little one”

Panic and confusion were setting in. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Heartbroken by her sudden abandonment she cried out.

”Please....don’t leave me! I don’t know what to do!”

“I have no intention of doing such a thing...just reach out for me Hinata....I’m right here”

She startled at the voice, surprised at how close it sounded. The fear vanished immediately as she turned, trying to find it’s source.

”Na....Naruto? Is that....that really you?”

“It’s me, beautiful....don’t you dare give up on me now” He thrilled silently to himself when she said his name, his determination fired. He reached for her again, pouring more energy into it. “Come on, Hinata...I can’t hold this forever... come back to me.”

She knew that voice, she longed for that warmth and comfort that came with it, to be free of this unending darkness and the confusion. But she couldn’t find him anywhere in it. Then she felt it again, this time more of a nudge.

”Naruto....” She turned and threw herself at it, reaching back as she felt the grip tighten, pulling her back towards the light. It exploded around her in a flash of searing white and burning agony. Pain tore through her as she fought the squeezing suffocation until....

Tsunade and Kakashi had rushed through the quarantine unit. They made it past Kiba and Neji without any protest; the one having blinded himself by attempting to use his byacaguan to see what was causing this massive outpouring (a temporary effect similar to staring directly at the sun after coming out of the dark), the other watching helplessly as he writhed on the floor in pain, and were now standing in awed silence watching the scene play out through the observation window with the rest of the medical staff in the ward.

Naruto was completely enveloped in red chakra, his hands glowing purple where the two conflicting energies mixed before pouring in the body below him, with what almost appeared to be a tail flicking behind him. Hinata’s body had begun to glow as well, giving off a faint blue aura. The part that truly disturbed the two was the fact that her coil system had begun to glow as well, the swirls clearly visible to the naked eye as the two energies raced through them. Sakura and Tama were on floor, clinging to each other in horror, unable to flee and not knowing what to do. Kakashi had just made up his mind to race in and pull them out, virus be damned, when it happened.

Hinata arched below him with a jolt, letting out a strangled cry. Naruto jerked his hands off and nearly collapsed, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He leaned forward, holding himself up on quivering arms as he caressed her cheek softly. She had stopped breathing, but he knew she was in there somewhere.

“Come on, Hinata....don’t you dare give up on me...” he whispered roughly between his own breaths, the glow fading around him slowly. She lay there, peaceful and lifeless. “Fight dammit....please...” his chin trembling as he tried not to fall apart, his hand moving to shake her shoulder gently. Still no response. “Dammit, Hinata....BREATH!” he screamed the last word inches from her face as he desperately thumped her chest with a weak fist. She suddenly gasped, letting air rush into her. He closed his eyes as tears dripped down onto her cheek while she coughed and sputtered below him. Her eyes fluttered open, blinking at the brightness they let in. Naruto smiled as the world started to spin around him.

“I knew you could do it” he whispered as his strength gave out and the world went black.

~*~


His eyes were assaulted by the hard florescent lights, rousing that now familiar headache. ’Ah, another morning in lock down...another chance to curse the designer of these damn lights.’ His body felt like lead and his mouth seemed full of cotton. “Damn hospital” he muttered to himself as he tried to wake his salivary glands up to wet the dried sponge in his mouth that used to be his tongue.

“So, you’ve decided to return to the world of the living.” a voice he hadn’t heard in months teased gently from the side. Naruto bolted upright to confirm the owner.

“Kakashi-sensei!?! What the hell are you doing in here?!?!” He gawked at his old teacher, who grinned back at him with a merry eye above that old familiar mask.

“Well I was waiting for you to wake up, but seeing as how you’re up now I guess I’m talking to you.” he quipped back, always one to happily take the role of Capt. Obvious.

“But...but what about the quarantine???” The headache was throbbing steadily now and the juonin was not helping it any.

“What quarantine? You’ve been out of the unit for 4 days now. In fact the other two are out as well by now. I must say I was quite surprised to hear you’d succumbed to Chakra Depletion....I didn’t think that was physically possible for you.” Kakashi stated as he reached over to ruffle the blonde hair fondly. “By the way, Tsunade has been wanting to pummel you for whatever the hell that stunt was you pulled on us...but I’m sure she’ll forget about it when she see’s you’re alright. What was that anyways?” Naruto shoved his hand away playfully, trying to remember what had happened.

“I....I can’t remember...it was something Kyubi told me to do...” The throbbing was making it hard to remember, something about flooding her with chakra so she wouldn’t die... ’Hinata!’ His eyes shot up as he remembered.

“Hinata! Where is she!?!? Is she ok!?” He started to get out of the bed but was gently pushed back in by his sensei.

“Hinata is fine. She’s severely weakened by her ordeal but she should make a full recovery. She’s resting down the hall in her room.” Naruto let out a sign and lay back on the pillows again. Kakashi eyed him curiously for a moment. “What’s this about ‘Kyubi told me to do it’? You mean he talks to you now?” The boy nodded slowly. The eyebrow raised up under the hitai-ate “What exactly does he tell you?” Naruto sighed, trying to figure out how to answer that one without sounding like he was going crazy.

“It’s only been a few times. He thinks I’m weak and pitiful, tells me he could make me strong if I listened to him and let him help me more.” He turned to see the concern showing in the watching eye. “It’s not like that....he’s not telling me to be violent or evil...he...he actually seemed concerned Hinata would die, so he showed me how to help her.”

Kakashi thought about this for a moment. Shukaku had pushed Gaara to the brink of madness, now Kyubi was offering to help Naruto? Was it possible the demon nine tails that had nearly eradicated the village had, 15 years later, decided to help protect it? This could be trouble, or it could be something big. When they had first pulled Naruto out of the room after he collapsed the first thing the masked nin had done was to check that the seal was still intact. So far as he could tell it was fine, but then again this wasn’t your normal seal. He would have to mention this to Jiraya when he returned. Realizing Naruto was getting anxious he smiled at him.

“Well then, I trust that if he starts acting up you’ll come to me or Tsunade for help. You know we’re here for you.” He rose from his seat and smiled down at the sheepishly grinning blonde. “I have to go tell them you’re up. You’ve got some visitors who have been anxious to see you.”

Naruto sighed as he sat himself up, smoothing the sheets out and looking around for that damn water pitcher they always had sitting around in hospital rooms. His mouth was still bone dry and he was really starting to get thirsty. Besides, there were only two people he wanted to see right now. Luckily, one of them was coming through his door carrying a large fruit basket.

“It’s about time you woke up! You scared the hell outta me!” she said as she placed the basket down and came over to nearly shove him out of the bed. He laughed and shoved his pink haired friend back gently.

“Oh come on, Sakura-chan! I was faking it the whole time! And you call yourself a medical professional.” He watched as she faked a laugh, but he could see the worry in her pretty green eyes. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in for a hug, surprised at how easily she wrapped herself up in his arms. She sniffled softly, as if she were on the verge of tears, and a wave of guilt washed over him.

“Don’t you ever do that again.” she said softly, her voice shaky. He could feel her hands tembling as her fingers fisted into the back of his shirt. “You don’t know how scary that was....to see you like that, pouring all your energy into her...what were you thinking? Where the hell did that come from?” Tears were streaming down her face now, dropping down to soak his shoulder. “And then when you just collapsed...I thought..I thought you were...dammit Naruto you’re all I’ve got left!” She buried her face in his chest now, clinging to him as she cried. He held her tightly till she calmed, trying to think of what to say to his dearest friend that wouldn’t push her away.

“I’m sorry, Sakura” he soothed to her, running his fingers through her soft hair. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid like that again. I wish...” he sighed. He really did. “I wish that I could tell you what happened...but I can’t explain it. Maybe someday I’ll be able to answer you’re questions. But for now, all I can do is apologize and promise not to scare you like that again.” She had stilled in his arms, sniffling every so often.

“Idiot” she said softly, poking him in a ticklish spot. He chuckled and poked her back.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way.”

She laughed softly and pushed his hand away. “Maybe....but you’re still an idiot.”

~*~


Hinata lay in her hospital bed, dozing quietly between visitors. Much to everyones chagrin she didn’t remember much of what had happened to her since she had returned from that fateful mission. She remembered being put into the lock down unit, but much after that was a blur. The last few days was a total blank to her, though she’d heard some interesting stories from the others about what supposedly happened. She was really to tired to care though. Her body ached and felt heavy to her, and she had a strange feeling of loss, like someone dear had been torn away from her. And while she appreciated the attention she was getting, she couldn’t understand what all the fuss over her was.

Even her father seemed to be acting weird. He had shown up earlier and chased Kiba and Shino out of the room, stating they needed to have a serious discussion. She wished she could remember more of it, but she kept drifting off to sleep and back again while he ranted on and on. Hinata had some feeling there was some kind of apology in there, or had she been the one apologizing? Something about change...or she needed to change? It was frustrating her trying to sort it out. She just wanted to sleep.

The one thing she did remember was being told Naruto had somehow been hurt trying to save her. Apparently it was pretty badly too, judging from what she managed to pick up from the conversations held around her. There were times when they must have assumed she was sleeping and went on about how he’d nearly killed himself over her. And now he was unconscious in some other room and she was still unable to go see him.

’Oh Naruto-kun...why did you have to do such a thing over me? I don’t deserve that kind of sacrifice.’ she thought to herself, making up her mind to try and get better as soon as possible so she could go visit him.

But for now she was enjoying the peace and solitude of the room. There had been way to much fuss over her, someone always in the room poking this or adjusting that. She was glad to have a moment alone. The room was filled with flowers, though her favorite was sitting right next to her pillow on the night stand. The gardenia Kiba had brought her filling the room with it’s sweet perfume and making her drowsy. Someone had opened the window and left the curtains drawn, letting the warm sunlight wash over her. For being stuck in a hospital it was actually quite pleasant. ’I just wish Naruto was here to enjoy it too’ she thought to herself as she drifted back off to sleep.

~*~

Naruto was feeling better already. After Sakura had left and and the others had come and gone, he’d gotten a stern talking to from Granny-Tsunade. She told him if he ever pulled a stunt like that again and managed to survive she would kill him, then gave him the bag of ramen she had been hiding outside. Now, after having eaten and gotten a hot shower, he was slowly making his way down the hall. He couldn’t believe how exhausted he was by the time he made it to her door.

’Damn Kyubi, I hope you’re alright in there. I promise never to take you for granted again.” he huffed to himself as he leaned on the wall railing, trying to catch his breath. Tsunade had told him to stay in his room and rest, he could go see her tomorrow after he’d recuperated some more. But he couldn’t wait any longer, so he’d snuck down here on his own. Now after he’d caught his breath, he turned to go into her room.

He was breathless again a minute later. It was already late in the evening, and the colors of the setting sun played gently across her sleeping form. Flowers were set on every available surface, filling the room with their heady aromas. It was like some kind of dream. He would have thought her dead if not for the steady rise and fall of her chest. He made his way slowly across the room to sit on the edge of her bed. Though there was more color to her skin, she was marked from her ordeal. Bandages were wrapped around her wrists where the tubes and needles had been, covering most of the bruises, though some discoloration showed creeping up her forearms. The delicate skin on her face still showed red marks from where her mask and tubes had rubbed. He gently lifted her hand to his lips and placed several gentle kisses on her cool fingers and palm, grining as she sighed softly, the corners of her mouth lifting to a quiet smile. Looking quickly over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming, he leaned down, cupping her chin in his other hand and lightly brushed his lips against hers.

Pale opaline eyes fluttered open, blinking up into deep cobalt. It took her a moment to realize who it was hovering over her, a playful smile gracing a whisker kissed face. Her heart swelled as relief flooded her, her hands shaking as they rose up to touch the vision before her.

“Naruto...you’re alright...” her already soft voice barely above a whisper. He nodded as he kissed her outstretched hands, reaching back to brush the stray hairs off her forehead.

“Of course I am. How are you doing, sweetness?” he said softly, gazing down into those milky pools he’d missed for so long.

“I’m better, now that you’re here.” Hinata pulled him gently down to her, and he went without protest. Naruto pulled his legs up onto the bed, snuggling her from on top of the covers. It wasn’t long till they were both asleep, content to be back in each others arms.
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NO I'M NOT DONE YET! There's still another chapter or three left in this old story yet. Stay tuned! And thanks as always for your support!