Hinata woke up to see Naruto still sleeping, she looked at him. She gently touched him as he opened his eyes, he was still breathing. She watched the look in his eyes as he gave a concerned look, he was a little pale as she grabbed his head and kissed it. Hinata could see that he was dozing off and trying to keep awake at the same time, it was getting harder to do so.

"H-Hinata..." he replied in a hushed voice, Hinata begged him not to move. "I-I feel so tired..."

"I know, Naruto. Everyone is still here..."

Naruto looked at her. "I'm sorry I put you through all this, you'll always have this pain no matter what happens..." Tears slid down his cheek as Hinata wiped them away.

"Naruto, it might be hard the first few months...But I promised myself that I wouldn't always be sad over this...You wouldn't want me too."

Naruto gasped in pain as he closed his eyes. "I would always feel the physical strain of this thing...It's a lot worse now.."

Tsunade came over to check on him as she walked over to his bed. She checked his blood pressure, it was barely where it should be and she knew what was going to happen next as she checked his heart. It was beating slow but not sluggish as of yet, she sat in the next chair as she waited like the others. Everyone wasn't going to leave until they finished mourning.

Naruto began to cough as he closed his eyes and opened them again to see everyone else. He was began eating ramen to ease the pain of the physical strain he would feel from the disease, he ate it slowly and stopped eating after reaching half-way down in the bowl and putting it on the nightstand. He was too weak to eat anymore and got up slowly and looked out the window.

"Hinata..." He spoke slowly. "I want to give you somethin', it would mean a lot if you kept it..."

Naruto reached for his head band and gave it to Hinata, she couldn't believe he was giving her the thing that ensured his identity as a ninja. He smiled as he laid back in his bed and continued to think about things as he watched his surroundings carefully, there wasn't much time left.

The rose had lost another petal. It was on it's last one as the rose began to lose life, it wouldn't be a rose anymore after the last one fell. Naruto was that rose.

He winced. He was in a lot of pain as he sat back in his bed, the pain was ensuring that everything inside would fail and things would shut down one by one as time went on. His heart began to beat more sluggish as it slowed down, Naruto knew where this was going and he knew what the next few minutes would bring for him as he waited. He called to Hinata.

"H-Hinata..." He gasped. "...Promise...me that you'll always love me..."

Another sluggish beat after another, Naruto began to close his eyes.

"Promise me...You'll stay strong for me and for everyone...else..."

His barely eyes barely opened as He and Hinata shared their last kiss that they would share together, Hinata felt his chest seeing that he was breathing more slowly and with less feeling now. His heart began to to slow down with the sluggish tempo and it began to beat less and less with Naruto closing his eyes. He said one last thing: "H-H-Hinata...I...I love y...you..."

Hinata felt his heart beating. It beated five more times before it reached the last one and it finally didn't beat anymore. Naruto was still breathing, as Hinata didn't hear anymore. She saw him still like he had just went sleep and he would wake up later, he wasn't going to wake up again. He was dead. The rose lost it's last petal and it had fell to the floor, the rose had reached it's final stages and now was gone. Naruto was gone.

Hinata didn't want to believe it. "N-Naruto, please wake up...Naruto...No, you can't be...You're not dead, you're not..."

She stopped. It was true, he had just died. She let out a shrill cry as she grabbed Naruto and her tears went on his clothes, she grabbed him tight and wished she could never let go of him and everyone knew what had happened and and Tsunade took his pulse. Nothing. He was no longer alive, Iruka also began to cry again as he looked at Naruto.

"This can't be...This isn't what it looks like..." Iruka stammered. "...The kid can't die...There's no one like him..."

"Naruto..." Hinata cuddled him closely as she stroked his chin. Tears ran down her face. "Why did you have to go? I love you too much to let this happen..."

Kakashi came over to Hinata. He wiped away tears as he cried. "Hinata, he's in a better place now where pain won't harm him...He's in heaven now."

Hinata hung her head down as Naruto head rested comfortably in her arms. Even hearing about the place where he went to made her sad even more as she began to shake as she fainted to the floor and Neji picked her up as she opened her eyes slowly and looked over at Naruto. She got out of his arms and hugged Naruto and refused to move away from his bed.

"Hinata, we have to get ready for the funeral..." Neji slowly pried her away. "...Let's go..."

"Ok..." Tears streamed down her face as the two walked away. "I just don't want to leave him.."

They walked home as Hiashi opened the door and saw his grieving daughter walk past him. Hanabi also began crying as the two hugged each other. Hanabi considered Naruto as her big brother and enjoyed seeing how happy her sister was with him, she didn't expect things to happen so suddenly and now Naruto's absence would greatly effect how things went.

Hiashi took Hinata aside and closed the screen door, she choked back tears as she whimpered and looked at her father. He decided that it was time for her to hear about her mother, she looked up as she watched her father as he began explaining what happen.

"Seeing you cry over your loss reminds me about your mother, Hinata. " Hinata looked up. "She was a strong and wonderful woman...I look at you and I see her.."

Hinata smiled as she wiped her tears. "You always say that, I like to hear stories about her...Wait, How did she die?"

Hiashi's face changed, he looked up. "Well, when you were young...She got very frail and sick...almost like Naruto." He paused. "That didn't slow her down, she lived almost two years with that sickness and she still was able to take care of you..."

Hinata smiled again. "She's just like Naruto, did she like to flower press?"

"The two of you are alike, she used to flower press so much that she needed a closet full to keep them all..." Hiashi laughed. "She handed down one of her best talents to you..."

Hinata smiled, she felt so much better hearing about her mother that she realized that she had to be happy for Naruto. She got up and hugged Hiashi as he smiled, she was going to get through this and she had all the support she needed with her. She went into her room and got ready for the funeral, she would be doing most of the eulogizing for him.

X X X

Everyone passed to put flowers on Naruto's casket as the dirge played on in memory of Naruto. She had just read a small part of the book with poems that described Naruto best, it left everyone in tears as she went describe how she lost her first love and how it would be harder to find a second one.

No one knew...

How he felt inside, there was always a sadness...

It wasn't like a small cut or because he had a bad day, he was an outcast...

One that was misunderstood...

He wanted one wish and that was his dream of being Hokage...

His energy, endless. His way to inspire others, endless.

If only they saw, if only he was here right now.

Maybe you would see it too...

I just wanted to say how much I loved him too

Now he's gone and he won't come back and now...

No one knew...

Everyone clapped as Hinata took her seat. She had never seen herself speak so clearly, she just kept thinking about Naruto and it made her have the courage to speak and touch hundreds of people. They were ready to move Naruto to where his shrine was going to be, everyone walked along side the casket as it was carried out into the streets.

People on the sidewalks mourned for Naruto as everyone walked past. They reached the final resting place and everyone payed their last tributes to the hyperactive ninja, Hinata looked at him as he put her fingers through his hair. She hugged him as tears began to hit Naruto's face.

"Goodbye Naruto, I always love you no matter what..." She paused. "Thanks for being there for me..." She kissed him on the cheek as she put a rose in his hands as the casket closed.

He was carefully lowered into the chamber as they closed the door and locked it. The wind began to blow as she closed her eyes, she could feel Naruto's response as the wind blew harder.

She began walking home as a rose had been blown into her hands, she looked closely at it and looked up at the sky. This had to be Naruto's doing, he said that he would give her rose the last time but he never got to it. This time, Hinata had recieved the rose. It was sign.

'Naruto...' She smiled and hugged the rose, she was going to plant it in her garden.

She looked back at the shrine and back at the sky. Naruto was going to be around no matter what happened.

Hinata caught a second rose, she smiled at it and knew Naruto was trying to tell her something. He wasn't gone, he was just trying to say that he was always going to be with her.

The wind died and Hinata continued walking home, she didn't know what to do with the other rose and decided to care for it in her windowsill. She ran up to her room and gently planted the rose in the soil and watered it. Now, Naruto would always be in that garden.

She looked at the rose carefully, it hadn't bloomed all the way. One day it would bloom and it would have a life, Hinata made sure that she would take care of that life like she did with Naruto's and treasure it with courage.

That's the end of the story and chapter 10, please R&R.