First of all, thanks for all the reviews! I actually began to feel like I was navigating a sinking ship, but your support convinced me to continue writing.

Also, I'd like to give some answers to a couple of reviews.

To Demon of Konoha: I'm really glad you pointed those things out to me, though I do believe that although the Hyuga family isn't exactly running Konoha, they have some great influence. Compare medieval European and Japanese kingdoms, the kings were always dependant on the good will of the nobles to stay in charge. I think that's how it works in Konoha too. The Kage is the 'king', but he or she needs support from the nobles, 'clans', to be able to rule. As for the Akatsuki, that was really embarrassing, I totally forgot about those guys, though I tried to fix it in this chapter, hope it makes sense.

To Kingdom219: I actually don't now (and if I did I wouldn't be telling you, 'wicked grin') but it gives me something to think about.

To Burnstar: yeah I kinda think so too, but then I'd have to make Naruto stay in Konoha for two years instead of training with Jiraiya. And I'm feeling a bit too lazy to come up with a good reason for that so this is how it's going to be.

And I think that's about everything, thanks again to everyone who gives me their reviews!

Final Disclaimer: I think you understand by now that I don't own Naruto, so this is the last disclaimer.

Enough rambling! On with the fic!

The Tragic Life of Hyuuga Hinata

By Ausir

Chapter 4

Hinata leapt through the thick and damp forest which covered much of the Fire country, as she had for several hours without pause. Even though she was a trained shinobi, her breathing had still become strained by the rapid pace she was keeping, not to mention that she also carried the still unconscious Naruto in her arms. In addition, she had only received minimal sleep during the night, and had yet to eat any breakfast. She was however reluctant to make even a short halt for fear that the Hyugas might now be on their trail. So she pressed on, even though her hungry and sleep-deprived body demanded otherwise, relying on will-power alone.

Yet, no matter how much a human is able to endure, in such conditions, the body always triumphs in the end. So, after another hour of jumping between branches, Hinata found a relatively safe-looking grove where she put both the boy and her backpack down. And then she collapsed, finally giving her body the rest it so desperately craved. The fall was not hard though, for the forest floor was covered in thick and lush moss, creating a most enjoyable softness. Also, here the sun's rays were able to penetrate the forest's green patchwork of leaves, its warmth adding to the overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquillity.

Therefore, even though she fought valiantly against it, Hinata was soon claimed by sleep, and a most enjoyable one at that. There, on the bed of deep green moss, the young girl slept more soundly than she had for several years in her own bed in the Hyuga mansion. Her most favourite dream also returned, of kissing Naruto under a starlit sky with the moon as their only witness. And in part, this was no longer merely a hopeful dream, the kiss actually having taken place about two days ago. Although, in her dream, the kiss continued forever, without the interruption of the fake ANBU under her father's control.

The dream went on until it to the Hyuga girl's great dismay began to fade, and she returned to the waking world once more. Yet, the great warmth she had felt in her sleep had not disappeared entirely, and as she soon found out, it was not entirely due to the sun's blissful light either. Hinata's eyes fluttered open and revealed to her that her face was barely an inch away from that belonging to the a certain whisker-marked blonde. The dream still in good memory, the lavender eyed girl blushed fiercely and even more so when she found that she was holding him in her arms as much as he was holding her.

The girl let out a soft squeal of surprise which also seemed to rouse the number one hyperactive nin from his sleep. Naruto stirred and soon his eyes fell open, revealing to him the blushing face of a very pretty girl. The boy blinked, and blinked again, as if convinced that the lovely sight in front of him was in fact a wonderful dream, or maybe an extremely well performed genjutsu.

"Hm…Hinata?" he asked incredulously as recognition dawned. His bare mentioning of her name caused the shy girl to scream and try to push the boy away from her, even though her heart wished for nothing else than this moment to last.

"Kyaaaaaa! N-n-naruto-kun, I-I'm s-so sorry!" she exclaimed and got into a sitting position with her head cast down in embarrassment. Naruto, still lying down, looked extremely confused.

"Ne, ne, Hinata why am I sleeping out here with you?" he asked as he sat himself up "I mean, what happened to the dungeon and that bastard Hiashi? How did I get here?"

The boy didn't remember all too much of what had happened since the Hyugas had started their first torture session on him, though he had a faint memory that the baka-kitsune had been talking to him. That and the few things he could remember from the torture both seemed so unreal now as he sat on the soft ground, talking to the blue haired girl sitting in front of him. Hinata, with her eyes still downcast, began to fill the whiskered boy in on what she knew.

"Um… the jounin t-teachers and Neji-niisan b-broke into the mansion last night…" she began "I-I guess they'd heard a-about… what happened… a-and c-came to rescue us both." The girl's soft tone as well as her stuttering made it somewhat difficult for Naruto to hear what she told him, so he leaned forward a bit, reducing the space between them.

"S-so they took us out," the lavender eyed girl continued, quite oblivious that Naruto was closing in on her "a-and when they b-brought us to the village g-gate, y-you were in a really bad shape. Shizune-san h-had to work a lot on you, a-and I helped o-out a b-bit a-also…" She spoke the last part as quietly as she could, but Naruto still picked it up, his eyes growing somewhat in surprise.

"F-finally, Kakashi-sensei s-said that we h-had to leave Konoha, so I c-carried you since y-you where u-unconscious and…" The final sentence was left unfinished as Hinata lifted her gaze slightly and finally noticed Naruto's closeness. The boy had his eyes fixed on her, the blue orbs filled with both sadness and happiness beyond description.

"You…did that for me, Hinata-chan?" he asked her, seemingly almost unable to believe that anyone would. Hinata nodded, unable to form any other response under the spell of the boy's beautiful azure eyes. And she almost fainted as Naruto closed the last space between them, and embraced her.

"I'm sorry, Hinata…" he said, tears beginning to flow down his cheeks "I'm sorry you had to go through this."

The Hyuga girl was paralyzed from shock. Both from once again being so close to the blonde nin, but also that he was begging for her forgiveness. To Hinata, it should obviously be the other way around. She had been the reason for everything going awry, had it not been for her, Naruto wouldn't have been imprisoned or tortured to near death, and they wouldn't be in exile for life either. If anyone was to apologise, it should be her.

"N-naruto-kun…please stop…" she said, tears of her own starting to well up "it's not your fault… it's mine… just b-because I'm so selfish…" Naruto broke away slightly, though just so he could look the girl in the eyes.

"Hinata, you're the least selfish person I know," he said with absolute conviction. "I'm the selfish one," he continued, and began to distance himself more and more from the timid girl in front of him "monsters like me weren't meant to be happy, or even exist; I think I know that now." He gave a sad chuckle "You know, that time, I actually thought that, maybe, it didn't have to be like that…"

"What time?" Hinata blurted out. It was killing her to see her love was battering his ego to dust, and she felt she had to stop it somehow. Naruto smiled at her, although it still only conveyed the boy's final resignation to a cruel fate.

"When you said you loved me."

By those words, Hinata couldn't bare the sight of her Naruto in such a state any more. So she leapt on top of him, pinning the boy to the ground, and kissed him passionately. Naruto was completely stunned at first by this incredibly bold move from the usually so shy and timid Hyuga. But he soon gave into the feeling, returning the kiss. Much like the first time in Konoha, the two lost themselves to each other, until everything around them had turned into a grey mist, and they were alone in their private realm of love. After almost ten minutes, Hinata slowly took her lips from Naruto's, and gazed deep into the boy's eyes.

"D-don't say such things," she whispered "d-don't say that you're a m-monster, or not meant f-for love. Y-you are kind and gentle and w-worry about others, a monster would never do that, r-right? A-and I-I… will a-always… l-love you…"

She kissed him again, and thus they past their day in each others arms enjoying each others warmth, not even noticing the hunger clawing their insides, until the sun began to set. They ate what food they had which didn't need cooking; Hinata still afraid that fire might draw the attention of any pursuers on their trail. Hinata knew that their food was very sparse, yet this one time, they should eat themselves full, as it was probably the last real meal they would have in a while. They finished eating and cleaned up whatever trace they had left of their passing, before cuddling up in each others arms, and drifted of to sleep.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"We can't go back, right?" Naruto whispered.

"N-no, if we did, Father w-would want to k-kill you…"

"They couldn't do that; Tsunade-obaachan wouldn't let them."

"B-but then they w-would grind Konoha to dust to g-get to you. A l-lot of people w-would die because of us." Naruto sighed.

"So, what are we going to do now?" he asked after a few minutes.

The two lovers lay in the same spot as they had fallen asleep in, and watched through the trees the sky which had once again begun to light up. They still held each other close, perhaps afraid that the world would shatter if they were to let go. This early morning had been spent in silence up till Hinata's open pondering had brought them back to the cruel world in which they were.

"W-well, Shizune-san said we c-could go to Sunagakure…" Naruto thought this over.

"That sounds okay" he decided, and tried to get up. The lavender eyed girl's firm grip around his body made that impossible though. She smiled shyly at him.

"L-let's stay like this…j-just a little longer." Naruto looked a bit puzzled but didn't object.

"Sure, it's not like we're in a hurry…" Suddenly, a rustling in the nearby bushes startled the two into jumping up in a defensive stance. Naruto took place in front of the timid Hinata, who had begun to fear the worst.

'Oh no, we shouldn't have stayed here for so long!' she mentally berated herself 'It must be a search party Father sent after us, if they find us now, they'll probably kill Naruto-kun on sight!'

The bushes rustled louder now, indicating that whatever was making the noise it was coming closer. And without warning, the bloated head of a huge toad emerged, causing Hinata to call out in surprise, and was son followed by the rest of its body, on which sat a white haired man in around his fifties. The Hyuga girl had a distinct feeling of recognition, but her blonde lover erased all doubts when he lowered his stance and broke into a huge grin.

"Ero-sennin!" he called out, waving at the newly arrived toad-hermit.

"Naruto? What are you doing out here?"

"Ah, well it's like this, first, me and Hinata… mmph?" Hinata blushingly put her hand over Naruto's mouth.

"U-um, what N-naruto-kun is t-trying to say is that Tsunade-sama h-has sent us on a mission." Naruto, in a rare moment of insight, nodded his head.

"Myeah, a miphion!" he confirmed behind Hinata's hand.

"Oh?" the white haired man said, only slightly suspicious, before he broke out into a huge grin "So Naruto, I see you've finally hooked up a girl, eh?" The girl in question yelped and leapt away from the blonde nin, staring at the ground with small wisps of steam pouring out of her ears. Naruto, on the other hand, smiled one of his very rare, genuine smiles, the one where always were present a hint of sadness.

"Yeah, it kinda just… happened, I guess" he said. Hinata jerked her face from the ground and placed her pale eyes on the boy.

"N-naruto-kun…" she whispered. Jiraiya looked slightly stunned at first but his puzzled countenance rapidly changed back into an even bigger grin, shortly followed by bellowing laughter.

"HAHAHA…you know, haha, I was joking, but from the look of it, you two aren't." He glanced at Hinata who was still doing a good impression of a tomato and laughed some more. "You two are really cute together; just don't do anything I would do, if you know what I mean" the toad hermit hinted with a wink. Both Naruto and Hinata looked puzzled by that comment. Jiraiya grinned and urged his toad on.

"Well, I'll see you two when you get back, I have to go and talk to Tsunade now. See ya!" With that he disappeared into the forest. Hinata looked after the quite eccentric man until he could no longer be seen, and then turned back to Naruto.

"N-naruto-kun, what d-did he mean with that c-comment, 'don't do anything I would'?" she asked.

"Dunno, but Ero-sennin always say stuff like that." He shrugged. "Maybe we should get going?" Hinata didn't find any reason not to, so a few minutes later they were on their way through the deep forest of the Fire country.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The birds were singing outside the Hokage's office. A window had been left open to allow for a gentle breeze to pass through. The warm huff of air barely even disturbed the ever growing piles of forms and letters lying on Tsunade's desk. Tsunade herself was struggling with one of the mission requests in front of her. For some reason, she found it incredibly hard to concentrate.

'It's too damn quiet.' She heaved a sigh of resignation and slumped back into her chair and took a peak at her watch. She sighed again. At this time of day Naruto should have been inside her office and causing hell. Sighing a third time, she grabbed for her always present sake bottle.

"Yo, Tsunade!" The sound had come through the open office window and it almost made the blonde Hokage drop her precious bottle. She quickly found herself though and instantly recognised the voice.

"Jiraiya? Dammit, don't sneak up on people like that!" she barked. The toad hermit raised an eyebrow.

'That's strange; I've never been able to sneak up on her before, she's always been so alert, something must really be bothering her…' The middle aged man jumped through the open window and went to stand in front of the desk. Tsunade poured herself a cup of her favourite liquor.

"So how come you're back already?" she asked and took a sip "I thought you were going to keep track on Akatsuki?"

"I did, but I lost track on them in the south, they just disappeared without leaving a trace. So I decided I might as well come back and give Naruto that training he's been after..." By the mentioning of the blonde boy's name, Tsunade's face saddened noticeably. Not noticeable enough for Jiraya though.

"But since you've sent him and that Hyuga girl on a mission I guess I can wait until they get back," he continued "I could use a break anyway."

"Mission? What mission?" Tsunade said quizzically. Jiraiya looked somewhat confused.

"You sent them on a mission, right? At least that's what they told me when I met them in the forest." The blonde woman raised an eyebrow.

'So that's it, good thinking you two - don't trust anyone. Must've been Hinata though, Naruto is as trusting as a puppy dog.' She smiled inwardly but then heaved another sad sigh.

"They won't be back" she said and once again bringing the white cup to her lips. The white haired sannin looked quizzically at her.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"What I said, they won't be coming back." The Hokage downed the remaining sake in one gulp and after she had poured herself another, began to retell the events of the previous two days. Jiraiya stood silent during the whole narration, though he shook from anger when Tsunade told of what the jounin had found inside the Hyuga dungeons and his eyes moistened as she retold the farewell at the Konoha gate.

"And that's how it is" Tsunade concluded, with another gulp of sake. Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully.

"I really missed a lot didn't I?" he said after a while "And this is really troublesome."

"I say," the blonde woman agreed "I had to choose between civil war and destroying two kids' lives…"

"That's not what I meant," Jiraiya interrupted "this means Naruto is out there somewhere, unprotected, and with the Akatsuki on his tail!" he slammed his fist in the table to make his point clear to the increasingly drunk woman. And it worked, the tipsy Hokage immediately sobered up at the revelation that the Akatsuki might be hounding after Naruto this very minute.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

"Yup," Jiraiya said and went over to the window "it seams my time off has been cancelled." Tsunade stood up.

"Where are you going?" she called out at him.

"Well, you said Shizune tipped them about going to the Sand, right? I'm just gonna trail them and see to it that they get there safely. See ya!" He jumped outside and soon disappeared among the rooftops.

The Hokage sighed and went to fetch another of her white bottles.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The landscape gradually changed from green and lush forests to brown and barren cliffs. After having dashed and leapt for several hours, two shinobi in their lower teens now stood at the edge of the country of the Wind, a white-hot wasteland consisting almost solely by shifting dunes of sand. Over this country the sun shone so unmercifully that the air itself seemed to boil, blurring everything in an infernal haze.

"I-I think w-we should rest for a while, N-naruto-kun" Hinata proposed and wiped the sweat of her forehead, even at the country's edge reigned an unholy heat. The orange clad nin nodded.

"Yeah, I think so too, Hinata. I'm getting kinda hungry too by the way."

They found a spot under a small tree which gave them some shade and took out some of the food. From the semi-serious state he had been in when he woke up, Naruto had gradually returned to his standard personality, and was now loudly wining over why Shizune 'didn't pack any instant ramen, dattebayo!' Hinata found it quite odd that the blonde shifted personalities in this way, but decided not to comment on it. After all, since she was going to be with him for quite some time, she reckoned she would find out soon enough anyway.

After a one and a half hours break, during which they ate and took a small siesta, the two shinobi prepared themselves for entering the hellish desert. In their backpack they found a map of the Wind country from Shizune with a red ring around a large area some ten miles across with a small text message that said: 'Somewhere here'. Naruto and Hinata exchanged glances.

"It's not very specific" Naruto said bluntly.

"N-no…" Hinata agreed. Naruto took another peak at the map and shrugged.

"Meh, might as well try it out. We'll probably have no problem finding that village once we're in the area" he said confidently and put the sheet of paper back into the backpack which he swung up over his shoulder. "Okay, let's go!" he exclaimed with great anticipation as they took their first steps into the blazing hell of dust and wind.

The first couple of hours were completely uneventful. The foxy boy and his short haired companion moved swiftly through the desert. Well, as swiftly as can be expected on ground which tends to move below your feet, not to mention through such an unholy heat. Nevertheless, they moved forward in the general direction of the place marked out on the map.

However, a most treacherous property of any desert, especially those composed entirely by sand and dunes, is that there are no landmarks whatsoever. And when a huge spotlight of a couple of million terawatts fries the very earth, even the best navigational sense will be thrown into disarray. Unfortunately, neither Hinata nor Naruto had that great sense of location to begin with. Therefore, after another few hours, they were forced to admit to themselves that they were lost.

It was now mid afternoon and Hinata in particular was struggling against the exhaustion which threatened to overpower her, all the time falling behind her blonde companion. Naruto, with his as always nearly endless stamina, seemed to come along much better; he would however always wait up for Hinata whenever she had problem keeping up. As the white hot sun continued to fire its ultraviolet rays at them, the timid Hyuga girl finally gave in and collapsed to the ground with a small groan.

"Hinata!" Naruto leapt to her side and turned her onto her back.

"N-naruto… it's so hot…" she responded in a whisper.

Naruto began to panic. What if she died here? It would be entirely his fault! He frantically began to search for the water flask in the backpack. Once he found it, Naruto gently lifted the blue haired girl's head and put the open bottle to her lips. Hinata drank several mouthfuls before her thirst had been quenched and she was refreshed. She put her lavender eyes on the blue ones keeping careful watch over her.

"Are you okay now, Hinata?" the owner of the sky blue eyes asked.

"Um, y-yes, I am" she answered while a blush once again crept over her cheeks.

"You sure?" Naruto inquired, seemingly not entirely convinced. Hinata's blush deepened.

"Y-yes, I'm all o-okay now" she said and gave the blonde a reassuring smile. 'Naruto-kun worries over me so much…' she thought blissfully.

"Okay…um," the girl's smile made Naruto blush as well "here, I'll help you up" he offered her his hand and pulled her up. When she stood, Hinata momentarily lost her balance and fell into Naruto's arms.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out, her eyes wide in horror.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…!" he quickly apologised, although he wasn't entirely sure what he had done.

"Look behind you!"

Naruto spun around with Hinata still in his protective embrace and beheld a most terrifying sight. By the near horizon a dark cloud was growing swiftly and rapidly approaching them. The blonde nin soon realised that this was no ordinary storm with rain and thunder though, for instead of water, this cloud seemed to carry a huge load of dust and sand.

"What's that!?" he called out as the strong winds driving the cloud reached them and began to howl like a pack of wolves.

"It's a sandstorm, Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled over the steadily increasing wind.

'You gotta be kidding me…' Naruto thought in resignation. Somehow it seemed to him that the two of them had been cursed by bad luck.

Suddenly the entirety of the storm fell upon them with all of its elemental fury, blurring out everything with grey dust and painfully lashed at them with wind and sand. The two teens tried in vain to block out the sand which began to fill their mouths and noses, threatening to suffocate them. Naruto and Hinata grabbed hold of each other so as to not lose the other in the storm.

'Please…' Hinata prayed to any kami who would listen 'please don't let us die here…'

Yet her prayers seemed to go unheeded, for if anything, the sandstorm only intensified. Eventually the two lovers fell to the ground, the boy over the girl so as to give her what protection he could. And there they lay, awaiting their seemingly unavoidable demise.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The moon shone cold and bright over the country of the Wind, causing the sea of sand below it to glow eerily. A lonely wind sighed through the desert as three dark shapes moved swiftly over the pearly white sand. Where they moved, they barely left a footprint and all the animals of the night wisely moved well out of their way. The three were clad in heavy coats to fend of the night and wind's biting chill, a well as bandages and cloth which kept the sand out. As they reached one of the higher sand dunes, the trio momentarily stopped.

"Everything looks clear in this area" one said to his two companions. The other two nodded.

"We should go back to Suna then" another, female this time, voice said.

"Wait, what's that?" the third said and pointed. The others followed where his finger pointed and saw a shadow lying at the base of the dune.

"Dunno," the female said and pulled forth her kunai "let's check it out shall we?" Her companions nodded and they all nimbly leapt down to where the shadows lay. As they came closer they were all able to discern the shapes of two people lying half buried in the sand, unmoving.

"Must've been caught in that storm earlier" the first sand nin commented.

"Pity," the other male said "that girl looks kinda nice, a bit young perhaps but still…" The female whacked him over the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"For being a perv on duty again" the female said casually and went down on her knees to get a better look at the bodies.

"Anyways these kids aren't dead" she continued "just unconscious." The first one brought an axe from somewhere under his clothing.

"Not for long they won't" he said.

"No can do, Ryou" the female said "these are leaf nin, we're allies, remember?" The one called Ryou didn't lower his axe. He had never really liked the elders' decision to ally with the weak Konoha.

"They'd never miss one or two, Himawari" he said coldly. Himawari narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm team leader, and I say we shall honour this alliance" she stated firmly "you got a problem with my leadership then take it up with Gaara." By the mentioning of the fear inspiring soon-to-be Kazekage, Ryou flinched noticeably.

"I…I don't have no problem with it…" he grumbled and hid his axe away under his coat.

"Good," Himawari said and then turned her attention to the third party-member "Hayabusa, help me carry these two" she instructed as she heaved the blue haired girl over her shoulder.

"Yes ma'am" Hayabusa said and went to pick up the blonde kid. Soon the trio once again dashed away over the moonlit sand, as always leaving with only a faint whisper in the wind to tell of their passing.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

To be continued…

AN: Not too much tragedy in this chapter, I can only take so much myself, so I decided to make a little lighter one which I hope came out all right. I'm not really sure about the NaruHina interaction though, any criticism or suggestions are welcome.

And, in response to Demon of Konoha's review, I got this idea for my first omake, hope you like it.

OMAKE: What ever happened to Akatsuki?

"That's not what I meant," Jiraiya interrupted "this means Naruto is out there somewhere, unprotected, and with the Akatsuki on his tail!" he slammed his fist in the table to make his point clear to the increasingly drunk woman. Tsunade barely flinched though. Instead she opened one of her desk drawers and produced a small postcard.

"I think you'll find that the Akatsuki won't be very dangerous for quite some time" she said and handed the card to her old team-mate. Jiraiya took the postcard and began to read on its backside.

Sunny greetings from Hawaii!

We've taken our annual organisation trip to Hawaii this year, so unfortunately we won't be able to terrorize you for a few months. Hope this doesn't cause any inconvenience for you. Please tell Naruto-kun that we haven't forgotten about him and will come after him as soon as our vacation has ended.

Sincerely yours,

Uchiha Itachi and Akatsuki

PS: If you run into my little brother, show him this card and tell him I'm much closer to reviving our clan than he ever will, HAHA!

U I and A

After he finished reading the quite… unusual letter, Jiraiya flipped it to look at the picture. It showed Itachi sitting on the beach in the company of three scantily clad women in their early twenties and wearing a smug grin. A bit to the left one could see Kisame using his Samehada sword as a surfing board. Back on the beach sat Sasori and Deidera, the former building elaborate sand castles, and the later entertaining himself by blowing them up. A few others could also be seen, like a very plant like member who seemed content with working on his tan (or perhaps photosynthesis), and below a palm tree stood the shadowy leader, his face obscured by the tree's shade. All the Akatsuki present wore bathing shorts with the Akatsuki pattern of red clouds on them.

Jiraiya stared at the photo for several minutes, not quite sure of what disturbed him the most, the very fact that the obscure organisation would send a letter, or the eccentric nature of said letter. Eventually Jiraiya came to a conclusion.

"Er, I think I'll be trailing those kids anyway" he said a bit uncertainly and shuddered as he took one final look at the postcard "but first I think I need a drink…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AN: Okay what did you think? That's my first omake so I understand if you think it didn't come out too good.

Anyways, see you next update!

Ausir