Almost is never enough - A NaruHina story

One last time.

Hinata opened slowly tried to open her eyes even though the heavy medication was drowsily keeping her eyes shut, only to find blinding lights shining brightly on her face, although it made it difficult for her to open her eyes but she forced herself to open. She felt a heavy weight presence on the right side of her bed. She knew she was in the hospital, and remembered the nightmare they both had to go through, she was more worried about Naruto even at that state. She hoped it was Naruto that was there with her in the room.

She tried to sit up, but the pain in her abdomen seem to weigh her down because of the sharp pain. She slightly pushed herself up and made herself comfortable on the stacked-up pillows, she looked around the room, and found no one else, she looked on the person sleeping her bedside, she found a black-haired guy cuddled up on his arms.

It was Sasuke.

Although she was glad Sasuke was there with her, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed as she couldn't find Naruto anywhere. She looked outside the open window beside her, it was still night and she could see city lights light up the horizon. She felt a small cold breeze hit her face, a small tear escaped her eyes and fell on her cheeks.

"Hey there sleepy head." She heard and turned towards the source of the voice.

"Sa-Sasuke... wher..."

"I had to kick out that bastard he was starting to smell really bad, he wouldn't leave your side until you woke up, he wanted to be there when you opened your eyes first, now that I think about it, I just sent him home a few hours ago, he'll be a big pain in the ass because he was not here... Ahh that guy gives me a headache just thinking about him." Sasuke cut her off.

Hinata left out a small smile, she knew how Naruto would indeed react.

"O-Oh Kiba was h-here? Um, Sasuke-kun, how long h-has its b-been since... y-you k-know..." she hesitated to speak up.

"Yeah, all our friends were here, they all went to take rest for the day, they'll be back tomorrow, now that you have woken up, they'll take a breather. Hina... are you sure? You just recovered... I don't know... maybe you should wait for Naruto, I already texted him..." Sasuke hesitated too.

"Sasuke-kun, p-please, I want to know... what h-happened."

"Well, Hina... it's been 3 days since the operation. Naruto, he called us as soon as you were admitted into the operation theater. He was really out of it, his clothes were covered completely in blood, your blood. We were all so worried. Although the operation was successful, you never woke up, the doctors didn't know why you couldn't wake up. Naruto actually started blaming it all on himself, your father blamed it all on him too, it was not a pretty sight. On the second day, Naruto wanted to find Toneri and beat him up, there was just no way to calm him down. Kiba had to punch him twice to clam him down. They were almost banned from the hospital. *sigh*. But you should know, Naruto doesn't know how to face you, he believes it that it's his fault and you know how stubborn he is to convince him otherwise. You should take rest Hina."

"It's not Naruto's fault, it's because of me... I was the one... its because of me..." Hinata cried and argued and tried to defend Naruto.

"Hina... calm down, I know it's not Naruto's fault, and I also know it was not yours either. Don't blame yourself for the cations of some homicidal maniac. Please just take rest and lie down. Naruto should be here any minute now." Sasuke placed a hand a hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down.

"Hinataaaa!!!" Naruto burst through the door and ran towards her.

"Naru..." Naruto didn't let her finish as he hugged her hardly as if she would disappear.

"Naruto! You idiot! She's still hurt, let her breathe for air at least." Sasuke scoffed.

"Oh um, I'm sorry Hina. I'm so sorry, I I-um, I'm so sorry. When you didn't wake up after the operation, I just... It's because of me, you... you..." Naruto had a very dark and gloomy aura around him completely different from a moment ago.

"Naru-to kun please, it's not anyone fault, I don't know why it happened, but lets just move past this. Please. I don't want you to blame yourself for this." Hinata held both Naruto's cheeks in her palms and smiled weakly at him.

Naruto just stood there, being thankful that she's finally awake. But he couldn't help but feel guilty and angry at himself. He faked a smile for Hinata's sake. They just stood there in complete silence; it was awkward to say the least. Hinata remembered something, the rainy day and their actions that she almost lost her virginity with the man she loved all her life... and the words he said, it was as if from a dream, she was not sure if Naruto really said it or if she was hallucinating. A small blush appeared on her face. She wanted to know, to ask him, but 

Sasuke saw how they looked at each other, they clearly had some stuff to talk about and he knew he was being a third wheel.

"I'll just go get some coffee since I'm awake already. You guys want anything?" Sasuke asked them trying to ease the tension.

"Teme, you! I told you I wanted to stay, and I wasn't here when Hinata woke up! You are going to pay for this!" Naruto was ready to pounce on Sasuke, but Hinata held his hand tightly not letting him go any further.

"It's okay Naruto kun, thank you for coming and you too Sasuke kun, you guys please don't fight. Thank you, Sasuke-kun I will have some food, whatever I'm allowed to eat, I feel like I haven't eaten in ages." Hinata smiled at the both of them.

Sasuke left them to sort out their awkwardness. After what seems like forever they broke the silence.

"So..." both of them started together.

"Um you go first." Hinata said shyly.

"Thanks, so um, do you want to talk about that day, you know before it all went down, I mean Hina do you have any regrets...? I'm sorry I should have not taken advantage of you like that." Naruto looked guilty.

"Naruto-kun please, you never took advantage, I m-mean, I wanted it to happen too, ya know... Do you, um, do you regret it?" Hinata joked, trying to cover up her blush, she already knew his answer but still wanted to tease him a bit.

Naruto was happy that he could still make her blush like that. He wanted to see it one last time.