Into the Woods

The ground slowly began to solidify beneath her again, and the vertigo was letting up. Hinata sighed as the calm washed over her, afraid to move. She was sore, but her body tingled as if on pins and needles. Something prickled on the edge of her awareness...someone was touching her face and speaking softly.

’Hinata...’

Everything seemed fuzzy and warm...she was sooo warm right now....sooo peaceful and content.

’Hinata...’

There it was again. But she was so happy to just lie there in his arms....

Naruto!

Her eyes shot open, blinking out the haze to make sure this was real. He was there, smiling down at her with that funny look on his face and gently brushing stray hairs off her forehead. “Hey...you alright?” Hinata beamed back at him, “I’m just perfect,” she said moving to hug him. The room started spinning again, leaving her no choice but to stay still. “Hey,” Naruto soothed, “You hit your head pretty good. You should just stay there and relax.”

’Hit my......what!?!?’

Hinata looked around, shocked to discover they weren’t tangled up in each other on the river bank anymore. She was still dressed, even wrapped in a blanket, lying next to a small fire. The forest was dark around them and the stars twinkled above. Naruto was rinsing a cloth in water and dabbing it along her forehead. He could see she was getting upset and confused. “Don’t you remember? On the way here?”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “That’s right.....I fell from that tree..but...what about....?” she looked back up at him, for some sign she wasn’t crazy. ’Don’t tell me that wasn’t....that we didn’t...was it all a dream?’

“Don’t worry,” Naruto smiled at her patting the large pack next to him, “I’ve got it right here. Everything’s alright, I’m just not so sure about you right now.”

Hinata rolled over and buried her face in the sleeping bag. ’so it was all a dream’

~*~


Naruto spent the next hour fussing over her. He made her sit up and eat some of the fish he had cooked, found her some painkillers in the first aid kit to help with her headache. She seemed almost depressed, but wouldn’t say anything to him. After she finished eating she told him she was tired, and rolled over to go to sleep. So now he sat on the other side of the fire, leaning up against an old tree stump and just watching her. Her breathing was slow and regular, and she was curled up like a kitten into a tight little ball. He wanted to go to her, to hold her and keep her warm and safe through the night, but he didn’t dare.

’Hinata...did you forget? Don’t you remember?’

He threw himself over, staring upward at the rising smoke and the flashing stars. She must be hurt worse then he thought if she could forget something like that. Maybe he should have said something...? Naruto closed his eyes with a sigh, remembering her soft skin, the smell of her hair, her taste on his lips. He had pushed her to far in her condition. When he realized she was just unconscious he carried her back to the camp site, dressed her in a clean set of clothing while the others dried by the fire *although he couldn’t figure out how to work that bra thing, and was way to embarrassed to try and slide her panties on her*, and after making sure she was warm and comfortable, snuck off behind a tree to finish himself off. ’You’re such an idiot, Naruto’ he told himself, leaning against the tree while he abused himself, keeping an eye on her incase she should wake up. ’You shouldn’t have done that to her....she’s got a fricken head injury for gods sake...she probably had no idea what she was doing! But the way she had kissed him, pressed herself against him, God even when she tugged his hair! Her body rising to his slightest touch, and that need in her eyes as she moaned softly, begging him for more.....He released himself onto the brush with a groan, his poor member finally getting the relief it had begged for for so long...

He looked back over at her sleeping form again, her back still to him. He followed the curve of her hips with his eyes, wishing to put his arms around them. But after she woke up she had shown no sign that she remembered any of it, and he was afraid what she would say if she woke up to him next to her. He kicked the tree stump in disgust before rolling over, back towards his desire, to try and get some sleep. They still had a long journey ahead of them. Maybe when they were done with the mission...

~*~

Naruto and Hinata are kissing each other passionately. He moves his hands carefully under her clothes, teasing her nipple with the right while the left is down the back of her pants playing with her damp slit. She’s undone his pants and is gripping him firmly, working the full length of his hardness with both of her small hands. Suddenly they’re on the ground, Naruto ripping her clothes off roughly, his mouth rough and forceful. “Naruto-kun....wait...you’re hurting me...” she begs him as he bites her shoulder and squeezes her breasts hard, positioning himself over her, “please...slow down!” He stops and look down at her. To her horror his gentle cerulean pools have been replaced with burning red. He lets out an evil laugh as the shadows surround them. “Naruto-kun?” he mocks, large teeth forming in his mouth, “There’s no Naruto-kun here....just a hungry demon. But don’t worry, this will all be over in a second!” He lunges down, tearing into her flesh as she screams for him to stop....

~*~

“NARTUO!” she screams, bolting upright. Hot tears burn her face as she tries to get a grip on reality.
Something grabs her from behind, and she spins, hitting it hard and screaming for help. Hinata falls over, covering her head and crying, waiting for death to come...

But instead a quiet voice calls to her, and gentle hand falls on her back. She looks up to see Naruto, plain old Naruto, looking back down at her with a bloody nose. “What’s wrong? What happened?” he asks desperately as he pulls her upright, his blue eyes....thank god! those beautiful blue eyes!, searching her for any sign of injury.

’a dream.....it was all a dream”

Hinata begins shaking, tears pouring down her face when she realizes she lashed out on him. Naruto reaches over, brushing his thumb across her cheek. “It’s ok, it’s over. I’m here. Tell me what happened.” Unable to bear it any longer, she buries her face in his chest, clinging to him with all her strength as sobs wrack her body. He pulls her gently in his lap and holds her, not sure what to do. The only other time a girl’s ever cried on him like this was when Sauske left to join Orochimaru and Sakura begged him to bring him back.. That time it was obvious what was wrong. This time he was clueless.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers as she tries to calm down. “It was... just a horrible nightmare...I didn’t mean to hit you...” Hinata looks up into his face, her watery eyes pleading for forgiveness. Again he dried her cheek with his thumb, and then planted a small kiss on her forehead. Then he pulled her close to him, cradling her against his chest. “It’s ok, don’t worry about me. All that matters to me is that you’re safe.” The tears stop instantly at those words. ’He does care...oh Naruto... She reaches slowly up and places her hand on his, moving it from her cheek and kissing his palm softly and whispering in a small voice, “I always feel safe with you.”

They sat motionless, afraid of breaking the spell that seems to have come over them. Hinata wrapped in his arms, listening to his heart beating rapidly, wondering why he seemed to be holding his breath. Naruto holding her tightly, his chest cold and damp from her tears, promising himself to never let her go.

He looks down, realizing that he’s bleeding all over her. He laughs softly, pulling his hand away to try and catch the dripping. She looks up surprised, then assumes her normal shade of crimson over what she did to him. She reaches into her pocket for her handkerchief and is surprised to find it gone. “That’s funny....I always carry a hankie or two...”

“It’s probably still in your other pants,” was his reply as he tried to stave off the blood gushing from his nose.

Hinata climbs out of his lap to go check and then stops. “Wait...other pants? What other pants, Naruto?”

Naruto looked up at her sheepishly, turning his own shade of red, or was that just blood on his face? “You had woken up once before while I was getting firewood. You’d wandered down to the river to clean up and when I came back...”

“You....you mean THAT wasn’t a DREAM!!?!?” she cut in on him, her jaw on the ground.

“You mean you DO REMEMBER THAT!?!?” he gawked back at her.

They stared at each other, speechless, until Naruto’s bloody nose interrupted them once again. “Please, lets take care of this before I bleed to death, and then we can figure this out...”