Thanks to everyone who has either read, enjoyed, favorite-d, subscribed or reviewed!

PLUS you should read Back 2 December because she is really cool, and check out Inuyonas… cuz he's hilarious.

-x-

The camera wasn't very expensive and only managed to catch blurry, out-of-focus or far too dark images, but Naruto didn't mind. It wasn't like anyone else cared about what he took photos of. A few rowdy tattooed guys started chanting something along the lines of 'deer day'. Naruto recognized the nickname as one of Shikamaru's most impressive signature moves.

The Deer Day move looked impossible. Shikamaru had actually first accomplished it on accident; at one of his later shows, when he was about fourteen, his board had slipped from one of the jumps and he used his hands to steady himself in a handstand position. His board continued to ride along, grinding down a pole, so he ran awkwardly after it on the palms of his hands then jumped back onto it almost effortlessly when he reached it again. The move was caught on camera, and everyone had thought it was done on purpose.

He did it so lackadaisically that everyone started calling him lazy, and 'Deer Day' came about as an abbreviation for lackadaisical, since it was far too long to chant, and the meaning of his first name.

Shikamaru was panting atop one of the giant ramps, downing a bottle of water fetched for him by his closest friend Chouji. Asuma was on the phone, holding one finger in his ear and gazing somberly at the sky, which resembled a deep black lacquer sprinkled with gleaming stars. He squinted his eyes furiously, rubbing the side of his face with a droopy, worn-out expression.

Even clueless Naruto could tell something was up.

He switched the camera's mode to recording and turned the lens up to the stands to see if he could catch some of the conversation, even though he was on the other side of the park. Asuma seemed to dismiss the person on the phone momentarily, quickly craning his neck to get a good look at Shikamaru, whose knees seemed as if they were about ready to collapse underneath him at any moment. Not from exhaustion, but judging from the frantic look in his eyes, fear.

The manager glowered at nothing in particular, covering his mouth to muster a few more instructions into the mouthpiece of his mobile and snapped it shut. He slowly turned with his hands on hips to report to Shikamaru.

Sasuke was watching them, too, and soon Sakura's gaze followed theirs. "What's going on?" she asked, having to raise her voice due to the massive uproar.

She was wearing a simple pale pink t-shirt with skinny jeans and casual flip-flops. The night was warm and humid, so her jacket hung around her waist tied bulbously at the front. Sasuke was in a similar outfit, baggy jeans and loose black cotton shirt, so the two of them didn't attract as much attention as Naruto's signature bright orange suspenders and long-sleeved top with bare feet.

Sasuke either didn't hear or ignored her, so Naruto cupped his hands over his mouth to answer and overrule the roar of the crowd. "Dunno, looks like they're in trouble over there!" he yelled.

Sakura's owlish green eyes were filled with concern. Shikamaru and his friend glanced worriedly at each other, beginning to pack away their things at an alarming speed. The crowd started booing them, obviously dissatisfied with the unfinished performance.

Sakura lifted one hand to cover the fierce shine of the park streetlights and rested the other on her hip to examine the scene. She couldn't exactly see any palpable danger. "What makes you think that?" she cried back.

As if to answer her question, the entire crowd suddenly started jumping and shouting like children at a carnival. Naruto was pushed and shoved into his friends, who thrust him back. They were all cheering someone on, but the group was too far away to see just who it was. Shikamaru and Chouji started edging away from the right side of the slanted jump, Chouji gripping onto Asuma's arm and screaming his head off. Shikamaru's face grew pale and Asuma's grew red from anger.

They seemed to be freaking out about nothing from his point of view, swarms of shaven and dyed heads blocking his line of vision. The crowd inched forward, space clearing as the taller men filed past imperiously. Then Naruto saw what the fuss was about.

He only managed to catch a glimpse before someone larger than him pushed through. The ramp started rocking, back and forth, faster and faster as each fleeting second flew past. Someone, with gleaming slicked back grey hair and no shirt, was rocking the ramp that Shikamaru, Chouji and Asuma were perched upon.

Even the blond could see that if they fell they would probably die.

Naruto started yelling vulgarities but his cries went unheard over the screaming of the almost ravenous crowd. They were cheering on some maniac that was trying to kill Shikamaru and his friends! What kind of support was that?

A few others started joining in on the rocking when Sasuke swore as he disappeared through the crowd. He seemed to dodge and dance through them with ease as if he had done it a million times before. Knowing that guy, though, he probably had.

Sakura noticed and called out his name, running after him desperately. It wasn't as easy for her to get through, but her small frame allowed for more flexibility through limbs and chains. She just hoped he wasn't going to get hurt as she caught up to him, trailing at his heels.

They soon slipped out of sight. Naruto was about to begrudgingly trudge after his friends when his sleeve got caught on something. His head snapped back to see what it was, but too many pierced bodies were in the way.

A prickly woman in revealing leather attire pushed him out of the way into the chest of a large muscular beast, who punched him for some reason square in the jaw, and soon he was being trampled by swarms of cleated boots. His arched back collided with the hard concrete path out of the way of the grass, pulsating from the impact. Whatever was caught on his sleeve wasn't letting go even after being pulled downwards, to his dismay, and he found it impossible to move away from the snag.

His head was throbbing, though he had no idea why, but his answer was soon revealed as warm crimson liquid dripped over his eyes. He tried to sit up when something sharp and cold pierced his right arm, but he couldn't see what it was since his head was soon kicked down by a black sneaker.

His heartbeat accelerated, body writhing uncontrollably to get some room. His vision was blurred by his own blood, stinging as tears began welling in his eyes. The air around him was becoming harder to suck in and his nose was knocked back through his skull by yet another shoe. It burned his entire face and head, growing hot as he soon realized he wasn't getting out until the crowd passed through.

Inclining his head desperately to see behind him, he saw that there were still many more people to come, none of them eager or willing to help Naruto to his feet. He gasped for air, and in return he got the imprint of a shoe on his face. His lips separated in preparation to scream, but nothing but an inaudible squeak escaped. A salty mixture of tears and blood flooded the blonde's tongue, causing him to splutter and gag and ultimately lose more air.

Did nobody see him? Wasn't anyone going to help him out of there? Was he really being trampled?

His eyes grew wide as he remembered something Sakura had told him from the paper a few weeks before – how a grown man at a rock concert was trampled to death after falling over in the mosh pit. The crowds at Shikamaru's shows were the kind of people that he assumed had ancestors who created mosh pits… recklessness was in their blood, no doubt.

A thousand needles pricked his skin and clamped his throat shut as another boot squished his stomach flat, leaving him winded on the ground. Naruto was overcome with fear, a large lump forming in his throat and eventually cutting all sources of air from his lungs. He couldn't scream; nobody would hear him and his voice refused to obey. No air was getting into his lungs. His entire chest caught fire, begging for oxygen. Whitish-grey blotches resembling droplets of rain sprouted in his eyes, blocking out everything around him. He couldn't see.

This is it. I'm going to die.

Naruto's entire body grew numb. He felt as if the claws of a thousand eagles were scratching his throat. Was that what everyone felt before they died?

He could still feel the unbearable burning sensation in his chest that commanded oxygen enter his lungs or he would die. He tried to open his eyes, but they had jammed themselves shut.

The overwrought screams of the crowd were still loud in Naruto's ears, but he hardly noticed them over the loud thump of blood pumping in his eardrums. He thought he heard a siren in the distance.

The blonde's head felt like it was being beaten with a crow bar. Every inch of his brain was screaming with the worst headache he had ever endured in his lifetime. Was there a chainsaw decussating his skull in half?

He was pretty sure his entire body and mind were about to go into shutdown when something soft brushed against his lips. He barely felt it, but the sudden warmth through all the coldness of death made him jump. He felt his body rise and fall, and suddenly his throat felt extremely hot and parched.

Something was pumping on his chest, and soon air flooded his lungs. It was igneous and scorched his dry throat, but he didn't care. It was such a relief that his entire mind went blank. All he could focus on was the fact that he was breathing, and he was breathing, and he was breathing… and breathing too much hurt.

His lungs felt like they were going to explode like a balloon with too much air, and yet they continued to greedily consume all the oxygen in the general vicinity. The air was far too warm, though – like the air that seeped from an oven when it has been cooking for a fair amount of time. It was like drawing in fire but, if fire kept him alive, he had to deal with it.

Naruto's eyelids broke apart and an unbearably bright light stained his vision. Everything around him was invisible in the brightness.

Somebody was repeating over and over how incredibly sorry they were. The voice was soft and nearly imperceptible, though it comforted him a little. Naruto's chest heaved as his lungs fought to capture any and all morsels of air around him. The air was no longer hot and unusable; somehow it was now freezing cold and smelled stale and artificial. Still, it was air again, not fire.

The illumination of the streetlight seemed to intensify, and his hands were writhing. Something soft and comforting quickly grasped hold of them and held them together, almost like silk enveloping his fingers.

What was going on? He couldn't tell. It remained that way for what seemed hours, until finally he was picked up in something stiffly long and hard. The silk was still wrapped around his fingers, and he could no longer hear the yells of a crazy crowd. Instead, there was the siren ringing in his ears and the heaving of his chest. Had his lungs not yet been filled? They were still clinging to every bit of air around them.

He was scared. He had no idea what was going on, and everything around him had suddenly gotten brighter so he still couldn't see. He couldn't even tell whether his eyes were open or closed.

Naruto tried to yell but he could only feel himself screaming, not hear it. He felt his arms and legs start flailing again, probably because he was shocked and panicking. He felt himself being held down by something coarse and hard. The unpleasant tang of blood and tears still lingered in his mouth. It seemed that his eyes weren't working at all.

Did blind people only see light?

He almost started thinking he was in a dream. That his body was still resting in the Pose of Epic Proportions in his fluoro green beanbag with chocolate wrappers scattered around him. Perhaps Sakura had been right when she said that candy before bed gave people nightmares; perhaps he was in the middle of a nightmare and he would wake up again soon.

Soon enough it was proved to be reality, however, when he heard someone whisper in his ear. He knew that his own imagination could not have created something so divine, so majestically beautiful; so perfect. "I-It's okay, I'm h-here," it crooned.

He now knew that the silk enveloping his hand must have belonged to the angelic voice. The heat that surrounded his ear so pleasantly when the being spoke was no illusion. The tingles that ran up and down his spine when her sweet breath tickled his face were not pretend. He was actually going through hell, his body had just suffered intense shock, and there was an angel at his side that was telling him he was going to go to heaven and it would be okay.

That was his perception of the current situation, anyway.

So he stopped screaming, even though he was frightened and confused, and focused on the beautiful voice to keep him together until he passed.

-x-

Even though everything around her was still, there was something eerie about being in the hospital that made Hinata feel sick. Hospitals were where people died all the time, where families experienced the worst pain imaginable – loneliness.

The hospital was where she had seen her mother for the last time.

And there she was sitting beside a complete stranger, whose life she had endangered simply by grasping the edge of his bright orange sleeve, timorously holding his hand and telling him he was going to be okay out of culpability. The ambulance ride was where he had stopped screaming, though she could tell by the way he sucked and blew as if it were a chore and shivered uncontrollably that he was still panicking on the inside.

She had sensed him calming down the moment she spoke to him, resorting to keeping a one-sided conversation until she was sure she could leave. The doctors and nurses had assumed that Hinata knew the blond boy and let her stay with him, even though she really didn't want to.

The last time she had been at the hospital, she had lost her mother. Even though she didn't know this boy, if she lost him at the hospital too she couldn't live with herself. She wanted to run away from him and continue living her life as usual with the assumption that he had made it out okay.

But it was her responsibility to stay. She felt compelled to remain at his side, as a sort of apology for risking his life. Her heart was heavy with guilt and she had already cried multiple times at the thought of killing someone on accident, even if he were a begrudged stranger that had got her arrested. She knew that if she left her conscience would forever be burdened.

She had much more control over herself after sitting with him for a while. Her hand still cupped and stroked his gently. She had tried to let go of him to go to the bathroom once before, but he had her in a death grip. The second her hand flinched away, he started crying and begging for the angel to come back, tugging mercilessly at her heart strings. She had stared at him for a while, processing the information, before deciding that it would be best for his sanity and her integrity if she stayed and paid her debt to the boy.

If it meant so much to him that she stayed, so be it. That's what her mother would have done.

Her shoulder was sore from leaning forward and holding onto his hand. She couldn't sit on his bed, and the chairs were nailed to the floor, making it impossible for her to scoot closer to him to get more comfortable.

The discomfort subsided as she soon lost herself in her thoughts. The nurses had wiped away all the blood and now his restless face was clear; there was a large cut in his forehead from when he fell down.

Agony. Fear. Pain. Those were the clearest emotions moping dismally across his features. Looking deeper she saw something like peace, but only when she spoke to him.

It was hard for Hinata to believe that she was still there next to him. She didn't even really know why she was. Her father and the Akatsuki would be worried sick about her. She would probably be grounded for life when the search party her father had no doubt assembled located her.

"Excuse me, ma'am." A nurse briefly rested her hand on Hinata's shoulder, smiling sweetly down onto the two of them. She scurried to the end of the blond boy's bed to pick up a folder tucked into a slot hanging from some metal bars, flipping through it until she reached the desired page. "Would you mind answering a few questions?"

Hinata gulped, glanced down at the sleeping boy, and nodded. "Of course, b-but I d-don't know if I can answer m-much." She forced her eyes to close. Damn that annoying stutter.

The nurse furrowed her eyebrows momentarily, wiping away the concerned look with the flash of a fake smile. "What is his name?"

Hinata froze. She had no clue what his name was. "I'm n-not sure…" Do. Not. Stutter. Hinata.

She gave her a strange look, checking something in the folder before sighing and folding her arms. "What is your relationship with him?"

"We just met," she replied bluntly. Would she have to leave?

"I see…" The nurse scribbled down some information then left in a hurry, not bothering to tell Hinata what was going on. She remembered what Kurenai had told her about having a sleepover to get away from her father, reaching for her mobile phone, when a croaky voice stopped her.

"You…" Hinata gasped when the rough, sweaty hand she had been holding for hours grabbed her wrist. She looked into the eyes of the blond boy for the first time.

Ocean blue eyes, the most mesmerizing she had ever seen next to Kurenai. Not many people had features like that and were native to Konoha, it just wasn't normal. He had to be a foreigner.

He smiled ever so slightly, lips tugging softly at the sides to reveal very yellow, very unhealthy teeth. Hinata examined her hand, which had picked up dirt from the boy. He obviously wasn't the hygienic type.

The smile eventually grew faint, no doubt from his emotional and physical fatigue. "…you are an angel."

Hinata's heart stopped. Everything seemed to stop with it; the world was no longer in motion.

You are… an angel. That was what he had said. Only one person had ever called her an angel, and that was her mother. Her mother had called her an angel right before she died from lung cancer in the hospital bed thirty-nine on the third floor, room twenty-seven.

She had called her an angel. This boy had called her an angel. This total alien, whom she had been arrested by and nearly killed, called her an angel.

Her entire body was frozen. She wasn't thinking anymore. She wasn't breathing anymore. She couldn't feel anymore. The beeping noise from the stranger's heart rate machine had disappeared. No longer could she hear the scuffling of clothes as nurses ran up and down hallways. The only thing that Hinata could process was the endless flow of emotionless tears dampening her cheeks and sliding down her neck.

The blond boy frowned feebly. "Angels shouldn't… cry…"

His right arm twitched as if he were trying to move but found he was too weak. Hinata was still jammed into place, mouth ajar and salty tears continuing to flow profusely from her eyes. She didn't even know it was possible for someone to cry so much without making a sound. Her heart felt like it was being dragged down by weights through her stomach.

She wasn't seeing, either. Nothing at all was going on in Hinata's mind. She felt like a blank piece of paper.

Until something brushed against her cheek. She gasped, only just realizing that she needed to breathe again as the soft touch of the blond boy's hand woke her up from her brief coma.

"Angels shouldn't cry," he repeated sternly.

She nodded weakly, but the tears continued to pour. She started choking on her own breath, hiccups startling her and making her gasp again. She showed him, this complete stranger, the ugliest cry she could possibly have mustered while grunting as a reply to everything he said to her.

"You have pretty eyes." Grunt, snort, sniffle.

"Stay here, please, angel?" Sniffle, snort, grunt, nod.

"I want my friends to see that I met an angel." Snort, sniffle, grunt. She nodded again, taking deep breaths to control herself.

She didn't even know the boy. Why was she getting all riled up over nothing? This meant nothing to her. The boy meant nothing to her. And yet, there she was, bawling as if she had just seen her mother die all over again.

She scolded herself inwardly. Stop acting a fool! Pull yourself together, Hinata! Hyuga's never show weakness…

But this was so much like the first time…

Hinata's throat suddenly cleared. She gripped the hand of the blond stranger tightly with a reassuring smile. "I'll be sure t-to see them."

The stranger's eyes closed again. "Sweeto… speedos."

-x-

The stranger with the raven hair didn't speak at all. Neither did the other one, but it was obvious that she really wanted to ask Hinata some questions. They had arrived after a couple of minutes when the only two contacts on Naruto's phone had been called.

That was his name – Naruto.

The one with the pink hair, whom had introduced herself and the other guy on first sight, had freaked out over him being in hospital, arriving with the biggest gift basket Hinata had ever seen. It was filled with all kinds of candy bars and, strangely, ramen in a cup. She seemed like the kind of girl Hinata wouldn't want to mess with even if she were a bodybuilder and had a posse of bike riders. Her name was Sakura… something.

The other boy lent against the wall with his legs crossed in the chair on the opposite side of Naruto's bed. He hadn't said a word, simply closed his eyes and rested his feet on Naruto's stomach. He looked like a rebel, the kind of person Hinata would be grounded for simply looking at. A mellow air surrounded him, yet at the same time he looked deeply troubled and mirthless. Especially since he had earrings in the upper parts of his ears. Hiashi would freak out if Hinata or Neji ever got something like that done.

She didn't remember his first name, but Uchiha was enough to make her decide she would act like the perfect citizen around him… even if he didn't seem like one at all himself.

She still held Naruto's hand – that was what Sakura was staring so curiously at. She didn't seem jealous, just confused. Hinata was debating whether or not she should explain when her thigh began vibrating.

The raven-haired Uchiha and Sakura both snapped their heads up in alarm, glancing from Hinata to her pocket. Hinata gulped, wondering why they seemed so startled over nothing, sliding her phone from her pocket and flipping it open in a flash.

It wasn't very expensive – her father had insisted upon getting her a top-of-the-line mobile phone for her birthday, which she had sort of pleaded against, begging for something 'normal'. It was all she wanted to be. Normal.

She flickered her gaze from Naruto to her phone before checking her caller ID. It was, thankfully, Kurenai, and not her father. Her heartbeat, which had accelerated unintentionally, settled down a bit. "Hello, Hinata speaking," she answered politely, in her most official tone. Even though it was Kurenai her father would kill her if she didn't respond correctly when answering the phone.

Kurenai sounded as if she had been running a marathon. "Hinata, for goodness sakes where in the world are you?" she pressed breathlessly. "I need your whereabouts at once – Hiashi already thinks you are at my place so you needn't worry about him scolding you, but I still need to know where you are so I can pick you up and bring you home!" She took a moment to catch her breath.

Hinata gulped. "I-I'm at the hospital, with – "

"The what! Are you okay? Did somebody hurt you? It was those reckless Akatsuki morons, wasn't it? Oh, I'm going to kick their asses so hard they'll crap from their mouth!"

Hinata blushed at Kurenai's sudden outburst. She jumped, standing to her feet and causing the two other visitors to stare at her again. She scuttled out of the room after excusing herself, calming Kurenai down. "I'm fine, I'm here for… a friend," she hesitantly explained.

Kurenai was silent on the other line, making Hinata sweat. "Who?" she suddenly asked.

"Er, you don't know him," she answered hurriedly.

"Him?" Kurenai almost shouted, muttering obscenities. "That's it, I'm coming over there!"

The line was cut off, leaving a baffled, blushing Hinata clutching to her phone as she slid in a dazed manner with her back against the wall to the floor.

-x-

Hey, hope you liked it and thanks for reading!

If anyone actually cares, sorry for the wait school started up again for me… lots of work, even though I'm only in second year of High School and I haven't seen anything yet compared to year 12.