Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 39-Finale

-Hinata's POV-

I was stirred from my sleep by Sai in the middle of the night. It was my turn to keep watch while the others slept. With a nod as I rubbed my eyes and untangled my limbs from in between Naruto and Ino, I climbed out of the tent and let him take my place so he could rest.

We're somewhere around the halfway point in between Konoha and Oto, camping in the forest rather than by the road where we might be more vulnerable. Our vans had run out of fuel and since we were using a backroad rather than the main freeway, there weren't any abandoned cars for us to use. So, we set up camp for the night and would be setting out on foot in the morning until we could find new vehicles.

I thought it was cold inside the tent, but the icy air stung my cheeks as I took a seat a yard or so away from it. It was lightly snowing and I covered my mouth with a big yawn before wrapping my arms around my torso and surveying the area.

Staying at that house for over a week had spoiled us. Having to adjust to being on alert at all times, even in the middle of the night, wasn't easy.

Despite being utterly exhausted, a serene feeling came over me as I looked out at the softly falling snowflakes. For the first time in months, I thought about my mother's favorite saying: "When the war is over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.". Perhaps this is what she meant.

The world was in chaos at present and everyone I knew was either missing, dead, or fighting to survive. Still, as I looked around, I couldn't help but smile at my calm setting. From here, you couldn't even tell all the craziness was going on in the cities. It'd be easy to forget about it and be distracted by nature.

I thought about my sister and my tranquility faded. If she wasn't at this house Matsuri had given us the coordinates to, I had no idea where to look next. There was my house, obviously, but Madara would never be dumb enough to hide from the authorities in his own home. The police weren't searching for him now, though, so it was worth a try just in case.

Then I thought about how our group has been split in three. Since they'd left us a message, I had to trust that Sasuke and Sakura were alive and on their way to our meeting place in Konoha: the college.

Kiba and the others, though, none of us had a clue what happened to them. They could've been captured or even killed. I prayed that neither of those were the case and that they'd simply run into some trouble, overcome it, and had returned to the house to receive our message so they could join us in Konoha.

Someone was snoring softly inside the tent and I had a hunch it was either Naruto or Konohamaru. My heart warmed at the thought of the blonde man.

After taking the next step the other day, things have been comfortable and smooth sailing between us. I was, naturally, overcome with embarrassment the morning after when I woke up naked in his arms and realized there was even some blood on the sheets from what we'd done. He handled everything with ease when he woke up and his casual demeanor helped me get a grip on my anxiety.

I wanted to spend time thinking about his proposal of remaining together once this was all over, if it does ever end, and getting a place together, but couldn't bring myself to focus on it when so many of our friends and my sister were in danger. Without question, I knew he'd understand so I tried not to worry about it too much.

A couple hours passed and I headed back into the tent, waking Ino so she could switch me places. The blond girl grumbled under her breath as she got up, making a few of the others stir, and I fell into her spot in between Shikamaru and Sai. I was too exhausted to try and move anyone over so I could sleep by Naruto and fell asleep immediately anyway.