Okay, I finally found time out of my ever-consuming, soul-sucking existence to finally finish this damn story once and for all. Since it is the last chapter, it is also the longest. I didn't think that two chapters would be necessary, so I just did one long chapter instead. Problem!? ...Sorry, sorry, after working on the same story for so long, you tend to slowly lose your shit because it took way longer than you'd expected/wanted it to. Anyway, I hope you like this last chapter and I'll finally be able to move on with new stories.

The Demon's Contract

Chapter 25

For the first time in weeks, Hinata finally felt some peace even as she fell. Her body felt lighter and free, as if nothing could weigh her down anymore. Watching Madara die before her eyes had been more than enough to release her from that hell that she'd desperately tried to both pursue and escape simultaneously. Her indigo hair billowed softly around her face, her lavender eyes gazing into the starry sky serenely for a brief moment before closing them. She felt no fear, instead ready to embrace the ending that she'd been waiting for, knowing that it was only a matter of seconds before it would be all over.

"HINATA!"

The young woman's eyes snapped open just as Naruto grabbed her. Their eyes met briefly, an arrogant smirk plastered on the demon's face. He landed on the ground in a crouch a moment later with Hinata safely gathered in his arms. The impact of the landing had cracked the pavement under his feet.

Hinata gazed at the male, stunned. She didn't know what to say as she tearfully stared into his cerulean eyes.

"You're not allowed to die like that," he remarked sternly, though his smirk remained.

"Y-you're covered in blood," Hinata murmured worriedly, noticing his stained clothing.

Naruto snorted and rose to his feet, carrying her away from the mansion. "I'm fine. I just need a little more time to recover."

Hinata relaxed a bit, her apprehension waning. "I see..." she mused tiredly, resting against his chest. "Wait, are the others okay?" she added, fear evident in her voice.

"They're alive," he replied nonchalantly. "I didn't spend much time dealing with them because I had to get to you. But I did at least check to make sure they weren't dead. They should be waking up sometime in the near future..."

With a content sigh of relief, Hinata closed her eyes once again, weak from the blood loss. Her neck still seared painfully, and the wound in her abdomen was even more excruciating. Yet none of that seemed to matter to her, even as her blood dripped onto the ground as the demon carried her into the garden.

Naruto brought her over to one of the benches that had managed to survive the battle and carefully laid her down on it. He knelt down on the ground beside the bench, brushing her hair off her forehead. His eyes widened when he noticed that the marking he'd left on her neck had been completely burned away. He leaned over her and ever-so-lightly touched the tender spot, causing her to wince in pain. However, he was even more shocked to learn that she had been shot in the same exact area of the previous gun shot wound. Was that merely a coincidence?

Naruto said nothing as he pressed his hand against her injury to slow down the bleeding. Deep down, however, he knew that it was already too late. She'd lost too much blood, and although he had managed to save her last time, he did not have the ability to do it a second time. His heart clenched as he realized that dreaded fact.

"What are you waiting for?" Hinata asked with mild confusion. "We had a deal." She didn't understand what he was hesitating for. Surely he'd brought her to the garden to consume her soul, as agreed.

"Hinata-chan..." He brushed a lock of hair out of her face, unsure of what to do. Part of him still wanted her soul, he couldn't deny that. Even now its sweetness seemed to call to him, almost seductively. It was ready for the taking. However, he wasn't ready to say goodbye to her just yet. Not now, after everything that they had gone through. For the first time since he could remember, his life finally felt as though it meant something. And without Hinata, there was truly nothing left for him in such an empty existence.

"Naruto-kun," the young woman quietly spoke up, flinching in pain again as she felt more blood seeping from her wounds. Droplets sprinkled down onto the ground below, staining it crimson. "Time is...running out." That last part had required more effort. Her head was growing hazy and she was aware of her heartbeat gradually becoming slower. She closed her eyes, her breathing labored as she continued to succumb to her injuries.

The blond male cursed under his breath, bitter tears stinging his eyes as he reached down to cup her face in his hands. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, his body shaking with a mixture of grief and anger. This wasn't supposed to happen. He should've been happy that he was about to take the soul that he'd obsessively craving for the past several weeks. It didn't feel right anymore. However, it was clear she was going to die regardless of if he chose to take it or not, and he was at a complete loss as to what he wanted to do.

"Thank you," Hinata whispered as they gently broke the kiss, gazing up at him lovingly. "For everything." Her eyes began to slowly close once again, her mind fading out of consciousness.

"Hinata!" Naruto had no choice but to make his decision right then and there. A frenzied thought crossed his mind, and although he wasn't sure if it was even possible, there was nothing else that he could think of. He didn't have time to ponder on it and instead slipped his hand beneath her head and lifted her up slightly, lowering his lips to hers.

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"Are you guys okay?" Sasori had been able to leave his bedroom and stumbled across the unconscious group in the hallway after going downstairs to the main level. He nudged Tobi's masked face with his shoe, a stoic and slightly aloof expression on his face. Because he'd been on a higher floor than the others, his energy had not been depleted as harshly as theirs had. His arm was still in its sling, though the bandages wrapped around his arm had been reduced to a lighter wrapping.

"Ugh...I feel like I have a fucking hangover," Hidan grumbled, wincing as he grabbed hold of the side of his head. "What the hell happened?"

"Beats me, un," Deidara groaned, still sprawled on the floor with a dazed expression on his face.

Everyone was slowly coming to their senses, though their first thoughts were confused and disoriented. The deafening noises from earlier had stopped, leaving the mansion completely silent. It was both comforting and slightly unsettling. What exactly had happened?

The carpeted hallway was stained with a series of white, gooey puddles that seemed to be the only remains of the Zetsus. It looked as though that whatever Zetsus had tried to reach them during their helpless state had melted into the puddles. Whatever had been controlling them must've lost the ability to do so, reducing the white creatures into the mess.

"Are we dead?" Tobi asked loudly.

"We must be, because this is Hell," Sai deadpanned as he stared at the white goop that had ruined the floor. He imagined himself spraying the affected spots with cleaning chemicals, only to throw a match onto the lot and watch everything burn with a content smile on his face.

"My head hurts," Ino complained, curled up into a fetal position.

Neji scanned the hallway, feeling uneasy. Were they finally safe? Sasori had apparently deemed it safe enough to venture outside of his bedroom, so he supposed that he could take it as a sign that there were no more present dangers.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Sasuke gently helped her up into a sitting position.

The pinkette turned red in the face, giving him a brief, awkward nod. "I-I'm fine."

"It looks as though the threat is gone," Pain spoke up as he gazed outside through one of the windows. Although the property had been left severely damage, there was no sign of any impending disasters.

"So, are we finally out of the woods?" Deidara asked with a tired sigh. "Because I'm ready for a nap, un..."

"But you were just sleeping, dumbass," Hidan muttered under his breath.

"We're not in the woods! We're in the mansion!" Tobi pointed out gleefully.

The exhausted blond stared at him for a moment. "You don't say..."

"Yeah! I mean, unless Hinata-sama built a mansion in the middle of the woods, I'm pretty sure that we're not in the woods," the masked man remarked as if it was simple.

"Okay, enough of this already. What exactly is the deal with that Naruto guy?" Sasuke demanded as he let go of Sakura. He was back on the defensive, and what he had witnessed earlier was still not sitting well with him. The fact that everyone else seemed oblivious to it only annoyed him even further. "We all saw what he turned into. And that thing that he was fighting. He's like some kind of monster!"

"So?" Itachi retorted unexpectedly. "Whatever he is, it was a good thing that he was here. It's likely we would've died without his assistance."

"You're joking, right?" The younger male frowned. "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing happened because of him-"

"No, this didn't happen because of him," Konan gently intercepted. "If Madara was targeting both you and your brother, as well as Hinata-sama, then Naruto being here would not have made a difference. He would've tried to eliminate all three of you regardless. Us, as well."

As much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke couldn't deny that. They had all been pawns in Madara's sick little game. The man had always had a cruel, sadistic side that Sasuke had picked up on from an early age. He knew that his uncle was capable of such things, though he had pretended otherwise. "So, what do you plan on doing now, then? Knowing that he's not exactly...normal?"

Sakura shrugged slightly. "What difference does that make at this point? I think it's safe to assume that he doesn't have any plans to kill us. He would've already if he really wanted to. I'm not worried about him."

"Sure, he's scary. Really scary," Ino squeaked as she sweat-dropped. "But honestly, we could use the extra security. I'm just going to pretend like I didn't see anything strange and carry on in my life of blissful ignorance."

Sasori spoke up. "I had an impressive view of the spectacle from my bedroom window. It was unbelievable to say the least. But he's qualified for the job, to say the least."

"While we were running around, you were watching a fucking epic fight from your bedroom window? Damn, talk about having it easy, un," Deidara complained.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Ah, quit complaining. We got to kill those stupid white fuckers, which is a hell of a lot more exciting then just watching."

"Zetsus!" Tobi exclaimed.

Sai fell to his knees. "But the stains!"

"Shut up about the stains!" Hidan snapped.

Neji cast a pitying glance in Sai's direction. "I will take care of hiring a crew to clean this mess up-"

"No, this is my domain!" The young butler exclaimed, hugging the floor.

"Besides, how are we going to explain this to a cleaning company?" Sasori asked. "Say 'Hi, a bunch of white creatures attacked the mansion and now their gooey remains need to be attended to.'?"

Kisame snickered. "Don't forget out the damage outside, the giant hole in the wall, and the fact that all of your windows are probably shattered. Just explain that a giant fox and a Gedo statue were having a war outside near the garden."

Sakura sighed. "Well, that settles it. We repair the damage ourselves and get it cleaned up."

"Starting tomorrow," Ino mumbled, slumped up against Sai. "I'm done with life for the day. Too much weird, not enough ability to comprehend things."

"I'm sure that Hinata-sama won't mind, un," Deidara added, dozing off on the floor once again.

"Speaking of which, where are Naruto and Hinata anyway?" Tenten wondered, her voice laced with concern.

"Screwing in the coat closet?" Hidan quipped with a suggestive grin.

"No!" Ino, Tenten, and Sakura snapped back.

Tobi excitedly chimed in. "Oh! Maybe they're baking a cake!"

"The house got attacked and you think that they're baking a damn cake?" Deidara asked incredulously. "Did you fall out of a tree house or something as a child? Like really, un, what the hell is wrong with you?"

The masked man laughed. "Oh, funny how you mention that! There was this one time in bible camp when-"

"We don't need to hear any disturbing stories from you," Sai interjected. "I don't have quite enough bleach to clean both the mansion and everyone's minds."

"You went to a fucking bible camp?" Hidan snorted with laughter.

"How is falling out a tree house disturbing?" Jugo quietly wondered aloud.

"Well," Tobi began again, only to be interrupted by both Hidan and Deidara.

"Just shut the fuck up, Tobi," Hidan growled threateningly.

Deidara visibly shuddered. "Yeah, I already heard this story once. I'd rather not re-live the nightmare."

"That interesting, huh?" Kisame commented with a smirk.

"No, just...weird, un," Deidara replied, leaving it at that.

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Naruto pulled back slightly once he was finished, his breathing rapid and anxious. He gazed down at the young woman in his arms, whom remained unresponsive. "Hinata? Can you hear me?" He gave her a light shake, then brushed some hair out of her face, looking for any signs of life in her. His finger clumsily found its way to her neck, where he attempted to find a pulse and avoid the burned mark that Madara had left. Her dress was saturated with blood, and the ground had become painted in vibrant red droplets. "Hinata."

The indigo-haired girl displayed no reaction, laying completely still in the demon's hold. It looked as though she was simply sleeping peacefully, undeterred by the horror that had taken place only a short while ago. The pale moonlight subtly shone over her, slightly illuminating her delicate features.

Naruto's desperate attempt to save her had failed, and he hugged her body tighter against his chest. "Damn it," he choked out, shaking from with rage and grief. "Fucking-!"

It was then that Hinata suddenly let out a soft gasp and her eyes opened, stiffening in Naruto's arms. Disoriented, she gazed listlessly up at the sky, unaware of her wounds healing even as Naruto stared down at her in shock. The burn on her neck disappeared, leaving behind smooth, unmarked porcelain-like skin. The holes in her abdomen slowly repaired themselves, eliminating all traces of the injuries. Unlike before, not a single mark or scar had been left behind.

"Hinata," Naruto softly spoke up, worried about her silence and listlessness. "Are you okay?"

Hinata blinked, the male's voice catching her attention as she gradually regained her senses. She looked away from the sky, now staring up at the blond demon with surprise, seemingly confused. "Naruto-kun? What happened?"

Instead of answering, Naruto grinned victoriously and crashed his lips against hers, taking her completely off guard. He held her against his chest, refusing to let go. Apparently his crazy idea had worked after all. Interesting.

"W-what's going on?" she asked him, growing more puzzled. "What happened? I-I thought you were supposed to take my soul."

"I did," he told her. "There was no way around that, because you were just about dead anyway. But after I took it, I gave you something in return." Naruto smirked with a bit of arrogance.

Hinata gazed up at him, still perplexed. "Umm...what did you give me?"

"Well, I guess you can say that I transferred a small amount of my demonic powers into your body," he explained. "I didn't even know if it would work, but I had no other option."

"So, what does that mean, then?" she inquired, trying to process what he had just said. "I'm not a demon now, am I? I don't feel any different."

Naruto shook his head briefly. "No, not exactly. You don't have my abilities or anything, but I was able to sustain your life force. By consuming your soul and replacing it with some of my power, I was able to keep you from dying. As long as you have that in you, you can't get hurt or die as easily as you could before. Unless I die for some reason. Or so I'm guessing," he added that last part nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"You did that for me?" Hinata seemed genuinely shocked. She knew that he cared about her, but didn't realize just how deep his love for her had been. Evidently it had been more than she ever could have imagined.

"I wasn't ready to lose you," he stated after a moment of hesitation. "Without you, my life...well, it sucks without you. And I wasn't ready to end things with you so easily. I love you too much." This was weird for a demon to say. But it was undeniable that it was how he truly felt. Without Hinata, this world wasn't worth living in, in his opinion. And as weird as it was, it felt amazing at the same time.

The young woman smiled warmly at him. "I love you, too, Naruto-kun." She felt his lips against hers as he leaned down to kiss her, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. She thought that she'd been ready to die, and to finally end the pain and suffering that she'd been afflicted with. However, knowing that she could continue to live on beside Naruto was more than she ever could have hoped for.

"Hey, Hinata, are you out here!?" A loud bellow from Hidan rattled the peaceful setting. "HINATA!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Naruto yelled back, annoyed that they had been interrupted. "She's right here, you asshole!"

"The fuck did you just say!?" The silver-haired man shouted back. "I'll beat your fucking ass!"

The blond snorted in contempt. "Yeah? Try me, you dick! I guarantee your ass will be underground in about ten seconds if you don't shut the hell up!"

With the moment ruined, all Hinata could do was awkwardly listen as the two men continued to go off at each other. They really did remind her of bickering children sometimes.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'd like to apologize for my actions," Hinata said to Itachi and Sasuke once they'd gone back inside the damaged mansion. "I was mistaken when I accused you of-"

Itachi held up a hand to silence her, offering a friendly smile. "No need to. You were led to believe that because of Madara's actions. I know that you wouldn't have thought lightly of the situation regarding my brother and I. We were led to believe that your family was the cause of our problems, so at the end of the day, we were simply pitted against each other."

"So Madara is dead, right?" Sasuke demanded, getting right to it. "Actually dead this time around? I don't want to see him in another six months because you were too incompetent to finish the job correctly."

"Well, his body is still up on the roof if you want to see for yourself," Naruto snickered. "I must warn you though, his head isn't quite all there. And who the hell are you calling incompetent, you bastard!?"

The younger Uchiha shook his head with disgust. "No, I suppose I'll take your word for it. I just want to make sure that he's gone for good."

"Seeing how he's your relative, legally you are allowed to take possession of his body and have it buried where you want it," Neji pointed out. "Otherwise, we're simply going to burn it."

"Feel free to burn it," Itachi said passively. "We have no need or desire to do anything honorable with such a despicable human being."

Ino shrugged. "I don't know, he didn't seem to be human to me. What kind of person can stop bullets like that?"

"Well, whatever he was, we have no interest in his remains." Sasuke glanced over at Sakura. "I have more important things that I'm concerned with."

"Like scoring a date with Sakura!" Tobi announced, much to Sasuke's chagrin.

"Shut up," the raven-haired male snapped, though he didn't deny the comment.

Itachi smiled warmly at Hinata. "Anyway, it's been quite an interesting night for all of us. I don't think we'll have much to worry about from this point on. If anything, I think this experience made us just a little closer and more trusting of one another. If you don't mind, Hinata, I'd like to discuss some business with you during the week. But for now, I think some well needed rest is in order."

"Who has time for rest when there are messes to be cleaned? I will get this place clean again even if it kills me," Sai muttered as he pushed a cart full of various cleaners and chemicals past them. "If all else fails, I will burn the place down and start fresh," he added as he pictured the same scenario of himself from earlier.

"Please don't burn the mansion down, Sai," Hinata requested. "I will replace the rugs if necessary..."

"Yeah, so don't set the place on fire," Naruto deadpanned.

Ino laughed with a hint of embarrassment. "Uh, I won't let him. But just in case, I'll supervise..." she trailed off, following her frenzied boyfriend as he hurriedly sped off with the cart in pursuit of fighting the first of many stains.

"You should really just get some rest," Hinata tried to call after them, only for them to disappear around a corner and cause her to simply give up on the matter. Ino would drag Sai's butt to bed before long anyway.

Itachi gave Hinata a brief hug, oblivious to Naruto's territorial glower as he stood behind the older Uchiha. Sasuke stood in close proximity to Sakura, neither of them sure of what to say. Sakura was vaguely aware of Tenten dozing off on the couch next to Neji, her body slumped against his as he wrapped an arm around her. She wished that it was Sasuke and herself on that damn couch instead.

"So...I was wondering if you'd maybe want to...stop by tomorrow?" Sasuke spoke up with an uncertainty in his voice.

Sakura blushed a bit and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Uh, yeah. That would be nice. I'm free whenever...so just let me know." She wanted to lean in and plant a soft kiss on his cheek, but thought better of it. Instead, she offered him a small wave and went to turn around. However, she felt her wrist being grabbed, and looked up just as Sasuke leaned down to kiss her quickly on his lips. The gesture greatly shocked her to very core, but she happily returned the affection nonetheless.

"Damn, everyone's getting laid," Hidan complained under his breath. "I need to get out there and find myself some bitch to hook up with."

"Make sure to keep it classy, un," Deidara remarked sarcastically.

Sasori smirked thinly. "I don't think Hidan understand what 'classy' means."

"Hey, fuck you!" Hidan snapped indignantly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you think the others figured out what you are exactly?" Hinata asked once she was alone in her bedroom with Naruto. "Although I missed the entire thing, I heard that your fight was pretty intense. The destroyed property kind of made it even more obvious."

"If they did figure it out, none of them seem to care enough to bring it up. Or maybe they're all hoping that they just hallucinated the scenario. Or they're too afraid to mention it. Either way, none of them made any attempt to say shit about it," he added nonchalantly. "By the way, what exactly happened to you on the roof? Why were you looking as though you were about to commit suicide?"

Hinata sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed, clad in only a short, silky white nightgown. "Madara was making me see things and forcing me to move without any free will."

"What kind of things did you see?" he asked as he sat down beside her. He was dressed in a pair of black sweatpants, leaving his chiseled chest bare.

"Just some horrifying images that seemed realistic. But I was able to break free of it. It was because of you," she added with a light blush. "I heard you calling for me, and I guess something clicked in my head..."

Naruto, noticing that she seemed embarrassed, decided to change the subject. "Pain and Hidan removed that asshole's body and threw it in the furnace. And Sai nearly burned the roof off trying to sanitize it," Naruto recalled with a snicker.

Hinata turned to face him, smiling somewhat sheepishly. "So what happens now? Things didn't turn out as we had planned..."

"Well, I kind of like this job, to be honest with you. And there's no reason why you shouldn't continue to run your company, if you really think about it. You still have the rest of your life to go through, and I've already done anything that I could remotely give a damn about. I want to stay here with you and be by your side." Naruto wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He not-so-subtly peeked down at her cleavage, the low-cut neckline of her nightgown leaving minimal coverage. Some things never changed.

Hinata's face turned a light shade of pink, but she slowly moved her face closer to his. However, just as she was about to kiss him, Naruto beat her to it by suddenly crashing his lips against hers. He held her tightly against his chest, one of his hands behind her head to keep her in place. Hinata kissed him back feverishly, a pleasured moan escaping her lips. After a few seconds, they broke the kiss and softened their holds on one another. Getting comfortable, the two cuddled on the bed, with Hinata's head resting against Naruto's shoulder.

"So, now that Madara's gone, how should I celebrate this new chapter of my life? Or, our life, I should say," Hinata murmured, still blushing.

"Well, getting you drunk and convincing to you to have sex with me twenty times sounds like a fun way to celebrate," Naruto insinuated with a smirk.

"Rejected."

The blond male chuckled. "Alright, how about you take a break from all of this company bullshit and spend the day with me tomorrow, then. Just us."

Hinata smiled and snuggled against him. "Sounds good to me. I love you."

Naruto grinned. "I love you too." He leaned down and kissed her softly. "While we're out, I have to stop by the store because Deidara ran out of stuff to make ramen and he's too damn lazy to go to the store himself. Sorry, but I need my ramen."

"Of course you do."

Okay, that concludes my story once and for all. I had a tough time finding a way to end it to my liking, as I didn't want to drag it on unnecessarily, but I didn't want to end it too quickly either. Overall, I'm content with the finished product, though some may disagree. Hopefully most of you enjoyed it, and regardless, I am now free to work on the stories that I've been trying to start for some time now. I've been very busy lately so finding time to write is getting difficult, but I plan to have something out over the next 2 weeks. As I've said before, I have a NaruHina lemon compilation that I want to begin, as well as a HidaHina one-shot lemon at some point. Also, I have a multi-chaptered story that I am in the process of starting as well. I'll keep you posted for updates (as long as I don't forget or am just too plain lazy) and thanks for reading!