Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape or form, or anything related to it, I just love it to bits. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Welcome to my first fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it. I really like the NaruHina pairing, and although I've been reading fanfic for years, I never got around to writing any until now. The idea and inspiration for the fic is actually from Shawny Wong's fic One Small Step (Which, incidentally, you should totally go and read right now). I really wanted to run with the idea of Hinata and Naruto making friends while still in the academy, and how that might change things, but I intend to go in a different direction than they took. I don't intend to have too much action in this, because I'm terrible at writing action scenes and I know it, and I also don't know how long this will go on for, because I tend to write without much in the way of an outline. But hopefully there's somebody out there who might like this. So without further ado, here's my story:

Chapter One

Hyuuga Hinata watched from afar. The blond boy sat on the swing, alone. Every time she and her mother walked past the playground he was there. He was always sitting by himself, trying to swing. He didn't quite seem to have the hang of it, and could never gain much speed, so he always ended up rocking gently, feet scraping the ground and head hung low. There was never anyone to push him. Even though the park was usually packed with children and their parents, whenever the boy was there the park would be empty.

The first time she had seen him she had asked her mother where his parents were, but she had just given the boy a dirty look and hurried both of them away, telling Hinata not to talk to him. Hinata didn't understand. It was the same look she had been given when she'd been caught stealing chocolate candy from the kitchens. Had the boy been very naughty? Maybe he had to stay there until he was good. But day after day, week after week, he was still there by himself. Surely no-one could be that naughty, could they? It made her feel ever so sorry for him that she just wanted to go and play on the swings with him, so that just for once he might have someone else to play with.

On this day she was by herself. Her mother and she had gone to buy supplies for the Academy, where she was starting in less than a week. She had been fitted for some new clothes, and the nice man at the weapon shop had tested her with shuriken and kunai in order to make some practice ones that were ideally balanced for her (her father had insisted that they would be better for her training than buying regular discount blunted weapons). Then they had been for a nice meal at one of Konoha's more upscale restaurants before buying her a new copy of every book and scroll on the Academy's syllabus. Then her mother had announced that she had some more shopping to do and that, since the Hyuuga compound was only ten minutes walk away and it was a lovely sunny day, it would be ok for her to walk home by herself, as long as she didn't stop at all.

She had intended to follow that rule right up until the moment she had seen the boy on the swing. He was staring at the ground and dragging his feet, just like normal. His yellow-blond hair stuck out wildly in all directions. It looked like he had never brushed it, and then after it had never been brushed he had been dragged backwards through a hedge. He was wearing a ragged black t-shirt with an odd spiral emblem on it, and shorts that looked far too big for him. Even from a distance she could see that he was bare-footed.

She watched him from the behind a small hedgerow running parallel to the path, hoping that he hadn't seen her yet. She had never been very good around other children, partly because she'd very rarely left the Hyuuga compound as a child, and then only to visit other noble families. In fact she hadn't played with any other since her uncle died and Neji stopped coming to see her, the last time they had visited another family Uchiha Sasuke had mostly ignored her to follow his big brother around begging him to show them some jutsu. She was too nervous to go out and speak to the boy on the swing, but if she tried to leave he might see her, and then he might try and speak to her, and she'd get in trouble if her mother saw her. So for a few minutes she crouched behind the bush until the silence was shattered.

"Did you want to go on the swing?" For a minute she didn't understand where the voice was coming from, until she realized that the boy himself was talking to her. She didn't react, staying hidden behind the bush. She squeezed her eyes closed, hoping that the maybe she'd made a mistake, and the boy was actually talking to someone else, not that there was anyone else there to talk to.

There was a slight breeze, and she felt a presence in front of her. She tentatively cracked one eye slightly open. There was a large pink blur with yellow hair a few inches from her face. She could feel someone's breath on her face. Blushing, she opened her eyes. The boy was right there, crouching down on four hands in front of her, so close that she swore she could feel warmth radiating from his skin, although it might just have been her own blushing cheeks. His wide blue eyes scrutinized her, and she noticed that he had odd whisker-like birthmarks on both cheeks. There was a strange expression on his face. It was almost like he was trying to glare at her, but couldn't quite muster up the hatred necessary to do it. She withered under his gaze none-the-less.

"I asked if you wanted to go on the swing, because I can leave if you don't want me there." He said. This was it. This was her chance. She could tell him that she would love to use the swing, but he didn't have to leave. She had wanted to play with him, and here was a golden opportunity that might never be repeated. Her mother wasn't here, so she didn't need to worry about that. The people at home weren't expecting her to come back until her mother did. She could play on the swings for a while and no-one would ever know about it. And there wouldn't really be any harm in it, would there? It wasn't like he could be dangerous; he only looked about her age.

And yet, she couldn't quite muster up the courage. She couldn't even make eye contact. Somewhere in the back of her mind was a little voice saying that her mother knew what was best for her, and that she didn't like or trust this boy and Hinata shouldn't either. And she would be in so much trouble if she was discovered any way. Even worse, now that the moment came she couldn't face her own nerves, which were screaming at her to run in the other direction. She struggled for what seemed like an age, before realising that the boy was still giving her a weird look. The balance tipped in her mind. She had always been shy and timid, and now would be no exception.

She shook her head, and immediately regretted it. The expression on his face looked dejected, but he quickly covered it up. The boy straightened up, and stuck his hands in his pockets. He trudged back over to the swing, shoulders slumped. Hinata shakily got to her feet and dusted herself off. She left with one glance backwards at the boy, who was again slowly swinging, staring at the ground.

Uzumaki Naruto counted blades of grass. He had reached three hundred and ten when he was distracted by a growing realization that he was being watched from behind a hedge. It was probably one of the other village kids. None of them would ever come into the park when he was there, but sometimes they would wait outside the fence until he left. If he hadn't been feeling annoyed he would probably just have left and let them have the swing, instead of going to see who it was. The last time he'd gone to speak to one of the children the boy's father had chased him down the road with his dog snapping at Naruto's heels. He didn't see any adults around though, so he chanced it.

He was a little surprised to see that it was that weird girl with no pupils who always walked past with her mother. He had seen her staring at him before. She was just like the others. None of them would come near him, especially if their parents were there too. Even the children in the Konoha Orphanage wouldn't speak to him if they could possibly avoid it. Maybe that was why he spent all his time at the park. Whenever he tried to talk to them they would pretend they couldn't hear him, or run out of the room, or sometimes shout at him to shut up.

The girl claimed she didn't want the swing, but he was sure it was just an excuse for her to leave. None of them ever wanted to be near him. Perhaps she thought that it would be bad enough just sitting on the swing he was sat on. Still, he thought, maybe he should just have moved, at least then someone would have got to have fun on it. For a second he had been sure, absolutely convinced, that she was going to come and swing with him, and perhaps they could talk to each other, or play ninja tag, or whatever else it was that friends did with each other. But his hopes were dashed.

Naruto was confident that his luck was about to change though. He would definitely make some friends soon; there was no way he couldn't. He was entering the Academy in less than a week. Only that morning the Orphanage Director, himself a retired ninja of some renown, had given him a small amount of money from the village, with instructions to buy the equipment he would need. Some books, sparring pads, kunai and shuriken and holsters to keep them in. He knew that he should muster the courage to actually go into the shopping district before all the shops closed, but he didn't really feel like moving yet.

After a few more moments counting grass, Naruto nimbly leaped off the swing, landing lightly on his bare feet. His sandals had been thrown onto the roof of the orphanage. He knew who'd done it, but he couldn't prove anything, and there was no way that Director Hozuki would believe his word over that of another orphan there. Hozuki was one of the only people that Naruto could remember who had ever treated him nicely at all, but even that had limits.

He trudged towards the centre of the village. The streets were packed with people going about their daily business, but he found that he always had plenty of room to walk, no-one would come near him. He stared at the ground, hands in his pockets, avoiding looking at anyone or anything.

He didn't notice the woman coming the other way until he'd already bumped into her. He was knocked backwards and to the ground, landing painfully on his behind. He looked up. A cruel-looking woman with eyes without pupils looked down at him with an expression of disgust evident on her face. It was the mother of the girl he had just seen.

"Watch where you walk, you piece of trash." She sneered, coldly. She went to walk on until Naruto, in a moment of utter madness, spoke. Naruto realised that if he told this woman about her daughter at the park, she might take the girl there. That would be a nice thing to do, wouldn't it? And he was sure that doing nice things would get people to be friends with you. Well, he supposed it was, although it wasn't as though he had any way to be sure. Still, what could it hurt to try?

"Umm…" He started. She looked back, disbelief written on her features. It was clear that she had never entertained the notion that someone like Naruto might talk to her. She was frozen to the spot, glaring daggers at him. Naruto, missing all of the warning signs, boldly continued talking. "Umm…" Ok, so continued talking might have been an exaggeration.

"If you have something to say to me then spit it out." The woman went on. "And it had better be an apology for running into me." Naruto cringed. This woman was scary.

"Well… it's not that." He started. "Umm… I think your daughter wanted to go the park." At the very mention of her daughter the woman's face creased in fury, and Naruto knew he had made a big mistake.

"You'd better not have gone anywhere near her, you stupid demon-child!" Naruto flinched. He was burning with shame. He wanted to turn and run, but he soldiered on, desperate to fix the mistake.

"No. That is…well she was watching me when I was on the swing, and I asked if she wanted me to go away so she could use it, but she said no and then left, but I think that she really did want to use it but just was trying to be nice." He paused for breath. The furious expression on her face had been replaced with another somewhere between abject horror and homicidal rage, and he knew that he had only made things worse.

Damn. He thought. Why is it that I only ever make things worse? I was just trying to be nice. Stupid lady, why couldn't she just have ignored me like everyone else?

"If I find that you even so much as looked at Hinata, you'll be out of this village before you can blink, boy." She yelled. "And if you ever talk to her, you won't just be out of here, I'll kill you myself." She strode past him, looking imperiously into the distance.

Naruto sat where he'd fallen in the road. No-one stopped to help him. No-one even appeared to notice him. His cheeks were burning, and his eyes welled up. He wanted to just disappear, to never have to walk down this road or any other ever again. To never see or be seen by anyone in case he somehow offended them.

After a few minutes he got back to his feet, and continued toward the shops. He entered the first bookshop he found, looking for the Academy's basic textbook. There was a row of new copies neatly lined up. Not surprising, it must be in great demand at this time of year. Naruto grabbed one, and took it to the counter, where a young man was engrossed in a book. The instant he saw Naruto, his eyes became cold.

"Whaddaya want, kid?" He asked. Naruto placed the book on the counter.

"Um. How much is this?" He asked. The man took a look at it.

"Oh, that's five hund…I mean one thousand…five hundred ryo. Yeah, 1500 in total." Naruto was shocked. That was more than half his total grant from the director. He took out his small money packet. He'd been hoping to have enough left over to get some ramen at Ichiraku's. He didn't like the man there very much, but he was the only shopkeeper who didn't look at him with those cold eyes, and his daughter was the person he liked most in the whole village. Whenever he was there she would always sit and talk to him, and he had a suspicion that she added extras to his ramen whenever her father wasn't looking. Didn't look like that would happen tonight though. He pulled out a crumpled 2000 ryo note and handed it to the shopkeeper, who put it away and gave him some change.

Naruto was outside of the shop before he thought to count it. There was only two hundred ryo in his hand. He went back inside. The shopkeeper glared at him.

"The hell'd you want now?" He asked.

"Ummm…I don't think you gave me enough change." Naruto said.

"What? Sure I did."

"I only have two hundred ryo here, it should have been five hundred." Naruto told him.

"Well, I gave you five hundred, you musta lost some." The man sneered. Naruto didn't see how he could possibly have lost any in the space of less than a minute.

"No, you definitely didn't." He replied adamantly, rage and frustration building within him. The man's eyes narrowed even further, they were almost shut.

"You calling me a liar, stupid brat?" He asked. Something in tone, in his sneer, in his hateful expression, made Naruto snap. He started screaming at the man.

"Yeah I'm calling you a liar you dumbass idiot!" He yelled. Everyone in the shop and most of the people passing by were looking by now. "Now give me the rest of my money or….or….or I'll burn down your shop and rip up every book here!" It might not have been the smartest thing to say, but Naruto wasn't in the mood to consider that.

"That's it kid, you're outta here." The man said. He reached over the counter, grabbed handful of Naruto's t-shirt and threw him bodily through the door and into the street. Naruto landed badly, grazing an elbow and a knee and dropping his new book (at least he hadn't taken the shrink-wrap off, but the spine was still pretty dented).

"And don't ever come back!" The man yelled. For a couple of minutes he did nothing but sit in the road screaming every curse in his six-year-old vocabulary at the shopkeeper, who ignored him.

It wasn't until he began to calm down that he saw the people around him. They were all staring at him with eyes full of undisguised hatred. They were whispering amongst themselves, and he kept hearing snatches of it.

"A complete monster…"

"Should have been put down…"

"Do you think he's dangerous?"

"…not surprising considering who he is though…"

"…can't believe the Hokage lets him…"

His cheeks were burning. He got to his feet, and tore away down the street, bowling past people as fast as he could. Knowing his luck the Orphanage would hear about this. They'd probably heard already. Whenever he did anything at all someone would complain to Director Hozuki, which usually ended with Naruto getting an earful.

He didn't really feel like going back to the orphanage yet, and he definitely didn't feel like going shopping any more. There was only one thing to be done.

There was a little place, just inside a grove of trees near the east gate, where the branches of several trees twisted together in such a way as to form what was almost a natural platform. It was easily strong enough to support his weight, and when he was on it he was completely invisible to people passing below. The canopy provided a decent windbreak and the climb required stepping on branches too small to support the weight of an adult. It was his favourite place. Once he had stayed there for five days straight before his food ran out and he got hungry. No-one had missed him while he was gone. Most didn't seem to have noticed. He went there now and, after checking that no-one was watching, climbed into the tree.

He liked this place even more than the swings, but he still went there more often just because there was always the chance that this time there might be someone to play with. He was nothing if not persistent. Still, there wasn't much chance of that happening today. Everyone had probably already been warned that he was on a rampage or something, and to keep their children indoors. He sighed and stretched out, taking the wrapping off his now battered textbook.

He knew that the language was fairly basic, but he was still having trouble reading it. It wasn't like he had much practice reading. The orphanage had some books, but every time he ever tried to get one it would turn out that that was just the book that someone else had wanted to read at that moment. Eventually he had given up and never got into the habit of reading anything. He gamely struggled through the introduction, but pretty soon gave up, fell back and went to sleep.

A/N: So there it it, the first chapter of what I hope will be many. A lot of NaruHina fics, if they mention Hinata's mother at all, make her a kind and compassionate woman to contrast with Hiashi's forceful and somewhat overbearing personality. I wanted to go a different route. If that bothers you, then remember that these encounters are told from Naruto's six-year-old perspective, and aren't necessarily representative of reality, they're just how he sees things. As for Naruto being, well, a bit emo here: I always imagined that the Naruto we actually meet at the beginning of the series was only as happy and well-adjusted as he was becuase he did have SOME form of friendship at the academy. Flashbacks show him getting on well with Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba, and he clearly had some form of distant regard for Sasuke. This is before he had ANYONE to socialise with, and so he's a lot more somber and morose.