Raven and Lilly

11

They looked up to see another pool of water. As everyone dived in and went through to the other side, Hinata felt a hand on her waist that stopped her.

She immediately backflipped away, her byakugan activating on its own.

"Toneri." She whispered as she remembered him from the other night.

•

"Hinata!" Naruto's voice echoed through the cave. His eyes hardened when he saw Toneri in front of Hinata.

"Rasengan!" The sound of violent air hit Hinata's ears.

Naruto...

"Don't you dare touch Hinata!" The blonde jinchuriki was furious.

How dare this man try to take his Hinata.

His Hinata...

Huh, maybe he did fall in love with her after all.

But didn't he still love Sakura? She was the love of his life, right? Even after she had rejected him from their academy days and had plotted a whole scheme to go with his best friend after he had proposed to her?

No. It was clear to Naruto. Very clear.

Hinata was the girl he had fallen in love with. Her gentle but fierce personality, her beautiful soul, her gorgeous smile...

Yes. Naruto was sure he was in love with Hinata Hyuga, and his heart had realized it even before his mind had.

"You will never be able to touch me, fool." Toneri didn't even seem to care. He stood there, acting like he almost hadn't been hit by the strongest shinobi on the planet.

"Why you...!" Naruto raged and threw a barrage of rasen-shuriken at him.

Toneri dodged all of them with ease and jumped back a distance from them.

"I will be back for you later Hime. And then, I will take you with me no matter what." He warned the kunoichi.

Naruto panted and looked at Hinata who was in tears.

"Why are you crying, Lily?" Lily. The nickname Naruto had given Hinata as their friendship had started to grow and they had become close friends.

"Hanabi... maybe he did have Hanabi after all! I should have gone with him! I'm such a bad sister!" Hinata was having a breakdown.

Naruto was shocked. The only time he had seen Hinata cry was when Neji died in the war and at his funeral.

"Oh Hina..." Naruto ran over and enveloped Hinata in a hug.

Hinata cried in his shirt. She needed to stop crying. She was a shinobi for god sake! And shinobi don't show emotions...

"Naruto, he has my Sister, my life! I can't do this anymore! I have to with Toneri or else I'll never know if he really has Hanabi or not." Hinata stood up and wiped her eyes, determination shining in her eyes.

"No! You can't! I won't let you go with Toneri! I'll come with you Hinata! You can't do it alone! He'll hurt you! I know it!" A dead look entered Hinata's eyes.

"You think I'm not strong enough? Well, I'll show you Naruto Uzumaki, that while you were with Sakura, I was out training to become stronger, and I have. Sasuke taught me many things, and I'm not about to let them go to waste." Hinata snapped.

She knew Naruto didn't say directly that she was weak, but it was one of her deepest insecurities.

Being considered weak or not strong enough. Just not enough.