There's a Hero in Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Hey guys. Finally updating after who knows how long. Sorry, final year has been majorly stressful, but I'm back in my game and here's the next chapter. I know that I'm taking forever to get to the actual plot, but don't worry, I'm getting there. These scenes may seem like filler, but they are actually important and provide some ironic implications. They are also there to establish who the characters are now, how much they have changed and how their relationships to each other have grown. So without further ado, on the story.

Chapter four:

By nightfall, the group had stopped as scheduled. They had been travelling for nearly four hours straight when Ino and Hinata finally agreed to let them rest. They worked quickly and efficiently, half of them pitching up three tents while the other half went to look for firewood and any available clean water. Hinata and Ino had kept their distance from everyone else, the latter pitching up their own separate tent while the former went to look for food.

When Naruto noticed the Hyuuga girl leave camp, he silently crept away to follow her, leaving Shikamaru and Lee to finish setting up the tent they were to share. Sakura smiled slightly as she saw him leave out of the corner of her eye. She knew he was trying to be slick about it, but he was about as inconspicuous as a bloody arm in a hospital. However, she just let him pass her without so much as a word; this was something he had to do on his own.

Meanwhile, Tenten walked absentmindedly through the foliage, her eyes darting left and right just to be safe. She knew they were safe for the meantime, but it wouldn't hurt to check the surrounding area. However, their protection wasn't the only thing on her mind as she dashed out into an open clearing. She was trying to avoid Neji as much as possible. Tenten hadn't talked to the Hyuuga prodigy since that night he told her to leave his room and as much as she wanted to see him, her pride just wouldn't let her. She knew she was being stubborn, but Shikamaru's words that day had stung her more than she cared to admit. Earlier you mentioned that Neji can't expect you to just drop everything for him; but the thing is: he doesn't. You do that all on your own, he doesn't ask for it. At those words, even though she knew it was purely out of spite, she couldn't stop the humiliation from filling her up. And she wouldn't let it happen again.

"Tenten-chan?"

Tenten whipped around, a kunai already out and in her hand, ready to strike down whoever had crept up on her. When she saw who it was, she signed in relief and tucked it in her holster.

"Kiba-kun, Choji-kun," she said with a wry smile.

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "What's up? You don't seem like yourself right now."

"Nothing important, just some things on my mind." She gave them each a once over. Kiba, built and rugged as ever, smiled toothily, the triangles on his cheeks crinkling with his eyes. He had a long stick with some string attached to the end in one hand and six or seven wriggling fish in the other. Choji, who had begun eating again, albeit a good healthy amount, was carrying large logs of wood that nobody but him or Sakura would have been able to carry on their own. Perched on the top of the pile sat three rabbits, tied and bleeding from a clean, painless death. Both shinobi had proud looks on their faces.

"Wow, good job guys. You got us some food really fast!" Tenten congratulated them, a genuine smile making its way onto her features.

Kiba puffed out his chest and Choji chuckled sheepishly with a blush. "Of course, I'm a hunter after all. I can catch anything," Kiba boasted.

"Whatever man, I was the one who got the game. All you did was fish," Choji snorted and Kiba scoffed in protest.

"Well, I probably could have caught double that! But you told me to man the fishing pole," Kiba retorted and Tenten laughed, a sound that seemed slightly foreign in the vast spaces of the clearing. And suddenly, all three felt a slight weight lift from their shoulders.

When the laughter died down, Kiba put down the fish and fishing pole and sat down on a large tree stump in the middle of the clearing. He motioned for his companions to follow suit and Tenten willingly complied, glad that her friends were there to take her mind off of things.

"So are you going to tell us what's really on your mind, or are you planning on lying again?" he asked. Or maybe not, Tenten thought and groaned.

"It's nothing really. There has just been a lot of stuff that has happened lately, and I really don't know how I should take it," Tenten answered with considerable truthfulness.

Choji dropped his logs with a loud thump and plopped down on the stump as well. "If you're referring to Hinata and Ino, I know what you mean. Ino scares me even more now."

Tenten giggled, but didn't correct him. They were partly correct in their assumption, but she didn't want to right them completely. After all, no one knew about her problems with Neji aside from Shikamaru and Sa-chan.

"What do you think really happened to them?" Kiba asked suddenly, stretching back to look up at the orange sky.

"Who knows," Tenten answered, falling backwards onto the stump so that she was lying on it with her feet dangling off the edge. She too looked up at the vast skies and began to wonder how big her world actually was. She felt small, almost insignificant; and she definitely felt that whatever she was going through right then would pale in comparison to whatever Ino and Hinata went through. She was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it like she usually would.

Choji's shoulders slumped and he looked towards the clearing's entrance. In the distance, he could make out the shape of his teammates and comrades, the friends who have been with him since his academy days. "I feel sorry for them, and I'm a little scared. They're both so cold now; it's as if their very heart and souls were sucked out of them."

Tenten couldn't help but agree.

Kiba sighed. "I think I feel more sorry for Naruto. Just when the idiot started to really see Hinata, she disappears and comes back with just about as much feelings as Sai."

"Well Shikamaru isn't much better," Choji muttered, and he whipped his head around as if expecting any of the aforementioned people to pop out and snap at them. "I know he'd never admit it, but he needed Ino way more than he let on."

Tenten's eyes widened. "Wow, I never thought you two noticed. Actually, I never realized you would actually care that much, to tell you the truth." She propped herself up onto her elbows and stared at the faces on either side of her.

"Of course we care. We're all friends, comrades. The one thing we want most of all is for our friends to be happy," Choji replied.

"And that includes you," Kiba added, turning his head to give her another one of his wolfish grins. Tenten grinned back.

"Thank you," she said genuinely; and suddenly, her eyes began to sting. She thought about everything; the pain she went through, the pain they all went through. She especially thought of the pain Ino and Hinata went through. And the tears fell. And they wouldn't stop.

"Thank you," she repeated through uncontrollable sobs. They said nothing, and the three continued to sit there, this time listening to Tenten's heartbreaking sobs fill the vast spaces of the clearing.

Naruto fought his way through the undergrowth of the forest, searching for Hinata. He knew she went this way, he could practically feel her. But suddenly, she vanished. He didn't want to panic, but having Hinata disappear once was bad enough. He didn't know what he'd do if she were to leave again.

After several more minutes of searching, desperation began to arise. He was well away from the camp by then, and Hinata was nowhere to be found. Where had she gone?

Suddenly, he could hear slight rustling in the bushes nearby and his eyes narrowed. Hinata?

"You would be wise to return to the camp, Neji," came the Hyuuga princess' cold voice. It almost came as a threat.

Naruto stepped closer to the voice, crouching down low so as to not be seen.

"Hinata-sama, if I may, I would like to know what happened to you over the past five months," was Neji's stoic reply.

Naruto craned his neck to try to see where the voices were coming from but he still couldn't see. Thinking quickly, he performed a couple of hand signals and in a small puff of smoke, he transformed into a medium sized boulder right in the middle of the bush he had been hiding in. And suddenly he could see them on the other side.

Over by the stream, Hinata sat leisurely on a fallen down log that acted as a bridge, her back to him. She let her feet dangle in the water, but she kept perfectly still, he eyes trained on the rush below her. Neji stood by the water's edge, his back to Naruto as well. He had his arms crossed in defiance.

"I have said so before, haven't I? That's really none of your business," Hinata retorted.

"It is my business when my sole purpose is to protect you."

Hinata rolled her eyes and Naruto suddenly realized that her byakugan was still on. Wasn't she wasting chakra by doing that? "Get a life, why don't you?" she snapped, almost sounding bored. "If you don't see what's in front of your face now, you may just lose it forever." With her cryptic message, Naruto almost shivered, feeling her pale eyes turn in his direction.

"I do not understand what you are trying to say, Hinata-sama. And in order for any of us to properly protect you or help in any way for this mission, we must know what we're up against," Neji continued to argue.

"I think you know exactly what I'm trying to say, Neji-nii-san," she spat sarcastically. "And trust me, you are better off not knowing." She turned back to look down at the river, and suddenly, with lightening fast reflexes, she thrust her long, slender hands down into the water and pulled out two wriggling fish, caught in between her fingers.

Smirking in satisfaction, she abruptly stood up and walked down the log, past Neji. "And just so you know, we don't need protection. Not anymore. We're different, stronger. You don't go through something like what we've gone through and stay the same. Hardships change you, and if you can't handle the change, then you might as well go home, because the only way we'd change back is if you can somehow turn back time."

With those final words, Hinata disappeared, running past Naruto-rock and into the jungle of trees. Neji spoke up. "What do you think?"

Changing back, Naruto sighed. "I think it's a load of bullshit. There has to be a way to make them see, to make them feel again. And I won't stop until it happens."

"So you noticed the truth about their eyes as well?"

Naruto nodded solemnly. He thought there was something funny with the way that Ino looked at him, as if she wasn't really looking at him. And then there was Hinata and her byakugan eternally activated. He could only put two and two together and assume that he was right.

"I promise you Neji, I'll find a way to make this right. And I never go back on my word."

Neji finally turned to him with a smirk. "And what will you do when that happens?"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion and then managed a sheepish smile. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see when it does." He turned around, ready to head back to camp when he suddenly stopped.

"It's true you know."

Neji gave him a puzzled look.

"You know what they say. You never know a good thing until it's gone. Don't make the same mistake I did. She might not always be waiting for you." And with that, he too disappeared into the wind, leaving Neji to mull over their words.

As night began to fall, the group sat around the adequately sized fire that Choji and Sasuke made. It was just the right size that it would not burn out too easily nor would it attract unwanted attention. The fish and rabbits were perched on sticks, cooking over the heat of the fire and the team stayed in solemn silence. The source of the lack of noise wasn't the cooking of the food or the coldness of the air. It was the fact that Ino and Hinata were gathered around their own little fire, a considerable distance away from the group, silently watching the slow process of their own fish cooking.

Sakura sighed, hoping that the weariness from travel would cause a slip up in her two friends' preferred isolation. She had barely been able to keep up with them, let alone hold a conversation. Once they left the village, Ino and Hinata were all full speed ahead with even Lee struggling to adjust to their pace. It made Sakura wonder just how important this mission was to them. And there was also the issue of their apparent and miraculous recoveries. Before they left, Tsunade made sure to update her on the two missing kunoichi's medical status. Ino should barely be able to walk a mile, let alone run fifty, especially with two broken legs just recently mended. Yet, Ino seemed perfectly fine, even to Sakura's medically trained eye; which begged the question, how had either of them managed to bounce back from severe, career threatening injuries?

"Sakura-san, you're not eating."

Sakura jerked her head back to look into Lee's concerned eyes.

"Oh sorry," Sakura smiled easily, giggling bashfully. Her mind raced for an excuse. "I was just thinking about a patient back home," she said, twiddling with her skewered fish. "He's having a really tough time, and he's become really attached to me; I feel a bit nervous leaving him alone."

This was true, though Inoue Kaito was hardly at the forefront of her thoughts.

"I am sure your patient is doing just fine Sakura-san," Lee replied kindly, flashing her a smile. Sakura could help but notice the blinding shine was still, inexplicably gone. "He is in good hands with Hokage-sama tending to him."

Sakura laughed, thinking about her sensei's last visit with Kaito. She knew he was permanently scarred for life after Tsunade nearly hurled his hospital bed out the window with him still in it. His terrified face wouldn't be one she'd likely forget. She also knew that her teacher hated to be insulted, no matter how unintentional it was, though Sakura was quite certain murder was an unwarranted response to being called 'frumpy'.

"What's so funny?" Lee asked her good-naturedly. Sakura didn't know what it was about Lee, but he was always so kind to her; he somehow always knew how to get her mind off of things. He hadn't gone about professing his youthful love to her for months now, but her heart secretly missed those awkward confessions, no matter how embarrassing they were.

"Nothing," she replied, before tearing her eyes away from Lee's questioning gaze. She looked around the campfire. Tenten and Shikamaru were having a quiet conversation directly opposite to her, their heads bowed low and knees turned to face each other in a show of privacy. To Sakura's complete satisfaction, Neji's blank stare was completely fixed on them, his expression weary. On her right, beside Lee, Sasuke and Naruto were eating quietly with occasional words passed between. It worried Sakura that her blonde best friend (the male one) was taking all of this rather quietly. On another note, she couldn't help but happily notice that Kiba, Shino and Choji seemed to be playing a rather pleasant game of twenty questions, not at all perturbed at the awkward air.

On the far side of the clearing, Ino and Hinata were silent, neither eating nor talking and not even blinking for that matter. It was a little unnerving to watch. And then Ino turned to face her.

"So how are you Lee-san?" Sakura asked quickly as she snapped her attention back to her sitting companion. "I haven't seen you around lately; how's training with Gai-sensei?" She knew that subject was taboo, but she'd regret it later. For now, she needed a distraction.

Lee's concerned smile brightened considerably and he immediately launched into a lengthy tirade about the wonders of his youthful sensei's teachings and beautiful training methods. Truth be told, Sakura firmly believed that beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and currently, she could see nothing beautiful about running one-legged around the perimeter of Konoha with a boulder strapped to your back. But still, Sakura laughed appropriately at Lee's exuberance. Yes, Lee sure knew how to get her mind off of things.

"And my last mission was exceptionally youthful with Gai-sensei's guidance! We ran for four days straight to Taro Island in the Sea Country to destroy one of Orochimaru's old illegal research facilities, but when we got there, it was completely empty. Therefore, as punishment for being unable to complete our mission, Gai-sensei and I swam across the sea all the way back home. It was a very fulfilling form of training, though I almost drowned once or twice." And at that, Sakura burst into fitful giggles, unable to resist Lee's infectious attitude. She could almost picture Lee sleep-swimming across the vast waves of the sea. But she knew Lee would never die from something like that; Sakura, herself, might but Lee was made of much tougher stuff.

"Lee-san, you will never cease to amaze me," she commented sincerely, and Lee blushed.

Orochimaru had been long since dead, of course, but Tsunade-sama wanted security. There was no telling who would fall in her old teammate's footsteps and she took the necessary precautions to ensure that no one would be defying the laws of mortality ever again. Just a week before Ino and Hinata's faithful mission, Sakura herself set out with Sasuke and Kiba to destroy one of those infernal labs in Ame.

Before Lee could say anymore, Sakura noticed a streak of blonde on the far side of the clearing. Ino stood, patting her bottom to relieve any dirt that would stick from sitting on the ground for so long before she muttered something quietly to Hinata. The Hyuuga nodded but didn't take her eyes off of the flickering fire while Ino stalked away into the trees. Sakura hesitated for a second. But she had to do it.

"Lee-san, gomen, but I'm not really that hungry. I'm going to go down by the river to wash up. Tell Ten-chan for me, okay?"

"Alright, Sakura-san," Lee saluted. As the pink-haired girl stood up, Lee began to strike up a conversation with his male teammate who sat on the other side of her. She could hear certain words like "youth" and "Tenten" but before she could fully take in what they were talking about, she was bolting through the foliage in the direction her blonde-haired best friend (this time, female) had taken.

It was dark and Sakura could barely see two feet in front of her. She was pushing her way through bushes and over tree roots rather ungracefully, and she was wholly glad that no one was there to watch her struggle. What kind of kunoichi would she be if she could not even walk through a forest properly, regardless if it was night or day?

By the time Sakura had managed to stumble into the open space by the rapid currents of the river, she had completely lost sight of her target. Ino was nowhere in sight.

"Well now what?" she sighed as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness. She looked left and right, trying desperately to feel the presence of any other life form around.

"You could go back," suggested a soft voice from behind her.

Sakura flipped around, soft pink hair flying and kunai suddenly at the ready. However, she lowered it upon seeing who it was.

"Ino?"

Ino shrugged with indifference. She was sitting on a boulder beneath a tree nonchalantly, as if she had been sitting there for decades. Her pale blue eyes shone in the moonlight and her cropped blonde hair fell down her back in soft waves. She sat there, still as a rock, lips set in a grim line.

Sakura gulped slightly, but forced her mouth open. "I've really missed you." Her voice wasn't nearly as strong as she intended it to be. It didn't matter though; Ino gave no indication that she had even heard her. Sakura shuffled on her feet, uncomfortable to say the least. She knew Ino wasn't staring at her, but the blankness in her eyes wasn't something she could readily get used to.

Taking a step forward, Sakura tried again. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but if you need anything, I'm here for you." She wanted so desperately to know what had happened, but she wouldn't pry. She knew that, if she asked, Ino would be out of the clearing before she could say "mission".

"It would be better for you not to know." At the sound of her voice, Sakura jumped. Not because it was different or because it scared her; rather it was because it was completely unexpected. Sakura hadn't anticipated a reaction. She assumed she'd be running her mouth dry trying to get out every single word she had wanted to say to Ino while she was gone. "I would rather not go back there ever again in my life. But stuff like this happens; this is our job. I would never be able to face the shame of backing down in the middle of a mission."

Sakura couldn't reply. She knew exactly what Ino was talking about; she'd probably feel the same way. But she wouldn't comment. There was no way for her to make Ino understand that she was familiar with her feelings, especially when hers were at a much smaller scale.

An eerie silence hung in the air, and the young medic was too afraid to break it. She didn't want to say anything that would jeopardize Ino's mood; she finally had her back and she wouldn't chase her away. One wrong word and all of this would be broken; she knew it was selfish, but she wanted to stay in the presence of her best friend for just a little bit longer.

"Did you know that a human being consists of four components?" Again, Sakura jumped. The blonde was complete apathetic, as if what she was saying was completely irrelevant and unimportant. But Sakura knew better; she wouldn't be speaking to her unless there was a reason for it.

"What do you mean?"

Ino's gaze snapped to her and Sakura shivered.

"Body, mind, heart and soul."

Sakura waited for a further explanation, but nothing came. As she opened her mouth to question her further, a soft rustle could be heard from behind. The rosette turned expectantly with her kunai out once again.

"Sakura," came Shikamaru's lazy drawl.

He appeared from the shadows as he always did, but he wasn't alone. Sasuke trailed after him.

"Err…" Sakura hesitated. She wanted to stay a bit longer with Ino, no matter how late it was. But when she turned back to the blonde, she was sitting on her rock quietly, facing forward in either intense concentration or complete tranquility. Either way, she did not look like she would be speaking to her again anytime soon.

"Tenten sent us to look for you," he explained when she turned back to face him. However, his dark eyes were fixed on the blonde beauty behind her.

"I could have found my way back to camp by myself, you know," she retorted, just a little bit miffed at getting interrupted. Shikamaru shrugged, only half paying attention.

"Yeah, well it's getting late and Tenten was getting worried," Sasuke explained. He eyed Ino briefly for a moment before turning his attention back to Sakura. "Shino and Lee are taking first watch, so you should get some sleep while you can."

Again, Sakura hesitated. Even if she went back, she probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyways. But Sasuke had a point; she didn't want to be the one to slow the others down.

"Ino, you should head back as well," Shikamaru called out to her. Sakura could tell that those weren't the first words Shika wanted to say to Ino after all this time, but whatever they were, they fell on dead lips. He himself probably didn't even know what they were.

She ignored them completely, staring fixedly at the water. She wasn't blinking and it hardly seemed like she was breathing as she sat there.

"Ino?" Sakura called, trying to get her attention. Again, she was ignored. The medic walked over to her cautiously, giving her ample time to jerk away if need be. But the blonde sat perfectly still, paying no heed to their very presence. It was as if she was in her own world, far away from their own little clearing.

Sakura extended a head slowly, but immediately retracted it when a sharp voice called out, "don't touch her."

Whipping around for the third time that day, Sakura (and the two boys) came face to face with the blank eyes of Hyuuga Hinata. The rosette immediately backed away.

"Hina-chan?"

Hinata visibly flinched once again at the nickname, but gave no other indication that she acknowledged them. She walked casually up to her blonde-haired partner and stopped just two feet away, again with her back facing them.

"Go back," she instructed coldly and quietly. "I'll stay with her."

No one moved.

"But Hi…" Sakura began to protest but Sasuke jerked her back.

"Let's just go," he urged her. The Uchiha prodigy knew all about secrets. Those two girls were entitled to some of their own, he reasoned to himself.

Sakura looked like she wanted to dispute again, but Sasuke merely shook his head. He left no room for arguments. Sighing in defeat, the young medic allowed Sasuke to pull her away, but not before shooting one last look at her missing best friends.

Shikamaru didn't immediately follow. He couldn't leave just yet. He could see that something was wrong with Ino, and no matter how many times he convinced himself that he'd stopped caring, he couldn't deny that he still did.

"Go back, Nara-san," Hinata repeated. This time, she turned around. Her glare was heated and no doubt scary, but Shikamaru wouldn't back down, even if the whole situation was troublesome.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked, both feet planted firmly on the ground.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with her," Hinata retorted, almost accusingly, as if Shikamaru was implying mental deficiencies. "Go back."

"I'm not leaving the two of you out here by yourselves," he argued. Hinata's eyes narrowed, her patience running thin.

"Go back," she repeated her mantra like a broken record. The lazy genius was about to retort once again when suddenly, the familiar feeling of his soul shifting in his body overcame him. Shikamaru had trained with Ino enough times to know she had entered his body, but he also knew she didn't direct her jutsu at him. In fact, she barely even looked at him. How had she done that without making a single movement?

Distantly, he could feel an uncomfortable tug on his legs as they turned him around and walked him back to camp. He could faintly register passing by Shino and Lee who both nodded to him in acknowledgement. He could vaguely hear Naruto's loud snores and Choji's deep breaths as he entered their shared tents. And he could abstractly recognize the uncomfortable fabric of his sleeping bag before everything went blank. In the morning, Shikamaru would discover that he couldn't remember a thing from last night.