Becoming

Part 23

 Naruto was startled awake to the sound of a scream. Whose it was, he had no idea, he just knew he had to get there in case someone was in trouble. And maybe it was then that he noticed the change in himself, but he paid it no mind. He ran, unknowingly waking Hinata up. With a hit to her shoulder as he swung around, he burst from the room and flew to the location which the scream came from. Upon arrival, however, he found it to be a non serious issue. It was either the girl who screamed in her fun with her friends, or the woman frightened by her husband. EIther way, Naruto was just happy nothing had happened to anyone that caused injury.

Walking back to Hinata's room, Naruto found himself pondering his reaction. It had been pure instinct and the desire to save someone from suffering that had driven him to leave Hinata's side. He didn't know the last time he had been desperate to save someone. Usually he was the one ending the life, the one with the power to control the person's future. Naruto shook his head, deciding he didn't want to think any more of it. He wouldn't be staying in Konoha long. It would be best to forget such feelings.

Naruto slowly pushed the door to Hinata's room open, head down, now wondering how long he'd been asleep. Glancing up revealed the rudely awakened Hinata, who seemed to be looking around in confusion.

"Hinata! You're awake," Naruto said, letting a smile creep onto his face. He let out a relieved breath and sat at the edge of her bed, feeling her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"As well as I can be," Hinata answered honestly. She brought a hand to her head, which must have been causing her some awful pain, and furrowed her brows. "How long have I been asleep, and where did you just go?"

"Oh? You were awake when I left?" Naruto questioned, now running his hand through her hair, absently trying to brush it down and untangle it.

"Yeah," Hinata said, cheeks flushing. "You hit me when you ran out." Naruto's face showed his horror and Hinata hastened to comfort him, assuring him that she needed to wake up anyway.

"You liar," Naruto replied with a grumble. "Shizune said to let you sleep for as long as you could. I'm so sorry. It was nothing anyway. I heard a scream and assumed someone was in danger." Hinata giggled.

"Don't apologize when you were trying to help someone. You cared enough to go and try to help someone, and that makes me happy." She grabbed the hand not trying to untangle and rip out all of her hair, and squeezed it. Naruto smiled at her before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

"You should sleep now. I've got to go see how long we've been sleeping and see if I can start training again. I'll try to be here when you wake up again, all right?"

"Okay," Hinata whispered, already feeling the drowsiness overtake her. "Thank you, Naruto." The blond gave the hand gripping his a squeeze, and with a pat on the hand, stood.

"Good night, Hinata." And she knew no more.

As soon as her breathing evened out and Naruto was sure she was asleep, he slipped out of the room and sank to the floor, gripping his left wrist. He yanked his sleeve back to reveal red, angry, swollen veins, a rash covering his skin. He grit his teeth at the pain he felt, watching it spreading further to his hand. Glooves would have to be added to his wardrobe. Naruto mentally calculated how long it would be before whatever plagued him covered his whole body. At the pace it'd gone, it would be another few months. So he only had a few months left. Naruto sighed and pushed himself off the floor, stuffing his hands in his pockets as soon as the pain lessened a bit. He met Sasuke at the door, along with Shizune.

"She woke up for a bit. How long were we sleeping?" Naruto inquired.

"Oh good! You slept two whole days. Must have needed the sleep, so we didn't wake you," Shizune said with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go check on her." Naruto nodded and walked off without a word to Sasuke, who was taking his turn guarding the place.

"Hey, Naruto! Where are you going?" Sasuke called after him, careful not to leave his position. Naruto turned and stared at Sasuke tiredly.

"I'm going to do some research."

I'm soooooo sorry it took so long to update!!!!! Thank you soooo much for being patient and waiting for me to update! I had some issues writing this part, and needed to not think of it for a while to get better ideas. I haven't written anything for a while, so this part probably wasn't well done. Sorry about that. I also hadn't been feeling well and was a bit busy, so I had a hard time updating. But hopefully now my updates will be regular again. Thanks a bunch for being patient with me again! Love you all and thanks so much for reading. Hope you enjoyed.