James: A one shot, short and simple. Even I can't screw this one up by being too lazy to finish. Sorry about that by the way... T-T Please don't hate me too much for it. Anyway, I do not own Naruto. Also, this fic is set roughly around the second year of the academy, by my thinking... enjoy.
It was a day that history would never remember, a moment that could have forever changed the lives of two lonely children, an event that was never given a chance.
It was the morning of October tenth, exactly nine years after the fall of the great and dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune. The second class of the day was half way over for the young shinobi hopefuls at the Konoha Academy and in Umino Iruka's class only one person was missing, and his absence, while not uncommon, was driving the poor teacher nearly mad with worry.
Usually Uzumaki Naruto, secretly Iruka's favorite (and worst) student, would have been waiting in the class room long before the school even opened on this day. The reason for this is that while most of the younger generation was taught that the Kyuubi had been killed by the Fourth Hokage so many years ago, the truth was that it was only sealed inside the body of Naruto and most of the older villagers knew this.
So, as people tend to do when faced with a reminder of their greatest fears, the villagers lashed out at poor Naruto, terrorizing and brutalizing the poor nine year old every day and especially on this day, the anniversary of the Kyuubi's sealing and the death of their beloved Hokage, and the anniversary of the poor boy's birth. So, out of self preservation, Naruto took to getting up much earlier than any villager on this day and breaking into his classroom to hide before class.
This year however, Naruto was nowhere to be found when Iruka entered his class room, and after several hours first out of then in class, Naruto was still a no-show and Iruka was beginning to fear for the worst, and he wasn't the only one. A young, timid, pale eyed, dark haired girl named Hyuuga Hinata had also noticed the young blonde's absence and her heart was filled with worry. It was a fairly well known secret that Hinata had a rather deep crush on the local pariah, and in fact nearly had to admit to herself that she was starting to become like a stalker with him.
She knew that she probably knew Naruto better than any other person alive and she also knew that she knew next to nothing about him. But she did know his habits and the fact that he was so late on October 10th of all days was a very bad sign. Twice she had used her family's special bloodline ability, Byakugan, to try and look for him. The byakugan is a very special ability, the user is granted three hundred and sixty degrees of x-ray vision but unfortunately, Hinata's range with the byakugan wasn't much, certainly not enough to find him.
Still, as the first half of lessons neared its end, she decided to try again. But before she could activate her bloodline's ability the door to the classroom slid open and a sudden silence filled the room. And there he was, Uzumaki Naruto, smiling his typical grin and looking very much the worse for wear. His clothes were torn, his left arm was held stiffly to his side, he was missing a shoe, there was a large bruise on his cheek that did little to hide his whisker like birthmarks, and a small bit of blood was trickling down from his hairline. Top it all off, he was covered in dirt and grime, except for his face and hands, which seemed to have been hastily washed. The entire classroom was petrified and Hinata wasn't sure if she was going to faint, cry, or burn up with anger at the faceless idea of whoever had done this to her crush.
Iruka, on the other hand, was sickened and had it not been for his shinobi training he would probably have vomited with the sight of Naruto coupled with his own burning rage. As the uncomfortable silence stretched on, Naruto's smile began to slip for a second and suddenly he let out a nervous chuckle, and raised his right hand to rub at the back of his head and wincing slightly as his fingers brushed a scabbed over lump hidden beneath his spiky blond hair. Then his joyless grin fell back into place, shining brighter than ever.
"Sorry I'm late, Iruka-sensei" he said, trying to sound cheerful. "I woke up late and then as I was leaving my apartment I, uhm... I fell down the stairs, see, and then I got chased by this really big dog and tripped, then I fell into some trashcans and-"
Naruto never got to finish his hastily thought up lies. Unable to bear hearing the selfless excuses that Naruto made up in defense of the villagers that beat him, Iruka silenced the boy with a raised hand and, with a sigh, the teacher told the boy to have a seat, already knowing from experience that the boy wouldn't, and practically couldn't, go to see a doctor about his injuries and that at least at a desk the boy could rest. Nodding, and immediately regretting it for the pain it brought, Naruto walked over to a desk in the far back of the class, trying hard and utterly failing to hide a painful looking limp. As he walked past her, Hinata did something that she had never been brave enough to do before: she activate her Byakugan and took a very close look at the boy. Almost a second later, her head fell to her desk, tears just beginning to form before unconsciousness claimed her, shutting her innocent mind down before it could become more scarred by what she saw than what it already was. You see, with her Byakugan activated she was able to see the injuries that Naruto could hide from the rest of the class. The three broken ribs, the dislocated shoulder, the skull fracture, the sprained knee and ankle, and the cracked shin, not to mention the countless scrapes and bruises. Naruto's whole body must have been one mass of pain! In fact, as she began to regain consciousness, Hinata's first thought was that it was a miracle of Kami that Naruto was even able to move, let alone put up such a carefree and happy mask. For the rest of the school day, Naruto slept off his injuries at his desk while Iruka rehearsed his complaints to one of Naruto's only supporters, the Third and current Hokage. Meanwhile, Hinata steeled herself, coming to a decision that she knew would change her life, and possibly Naruto's as well. Soon after she made her decision, the final bell of school rang.
Iruka wanted to inform the Hokage about what had happened to Naruto as quickly as possible, and so left the classroom before anyone else that day, using shunshin to disappear and "teleport" straight to the Hokage Mansion. Then, the rest of the class began filing out of the room; a few casting concerned and saddened glances at the still sleeping form of Naruto before turning their backs on the poor, unfortunate boy. Finally, it was just Hinata and the sleeping Naruto. Renewing her resolve, Hinata rose from her seat and made her way to the back of the classroom to stand beside the boy she admired so much. Watching him sleep, her heart almost faltered.
Like Iruka, she knew about the villager's hatred of him, though unlike her sensei she had no clue why he was hated so. Even still, she knew enough to know that it was the very same people that lived in the village she called home that had beaten the boy within an inch of his life that day, and she knew that his excuses at his entrance into class that day had been for those same pigs, not for himself. Even when they beat him, Naruto wanted nothing more than to protect the villagers of Konohagakure no Sato.
It was this selfless devotion, and personal strength that made Hinata love the boy, and today was to be the day she would tell him so. Gently and timidly, Hinata reached her hand out, hesitating only a second before placing it delicately on the boy's arm, shaking it lightly.
"A-ano... N-na-naruto-kun...?" she stuttered meekly.
The reaction was instantaneous. Naruto's head whipped up and he cringed away from the unexpected touch. For the briefest of seconds, Hinata saw the unveiled fear that Naruto had always kept hidden behind his usually smiling eyes. The moment Naruto saw that it was only Hinata the fear took cover behind his smile once more.
"Oh, heh, hey Hinata," he said, loud and cheerfully. "Is class over already? Wow, thanks for waking me. Man, it's late... I better get home!"
Hinata was so stunned by the fear she saw in Naruto's eyes (an emotion she had never seen in the boy before) and by his sudden, but much more familiar cheerfulness that she couldn't even bring herself to speak until she realized that Naruto was already up and walking away, the limp much less noticeable than before.
Watching as he walked away from her, Hinata almost lost her resolve and her heart began to break. Suddenly her mouth opens and words she didn't even know she was thinking came out.
"Stop it, Naruto!" she cried, her voice stronger than even she had ever thought possible. And stop he did, right in his tracks. An uncomfortable silence settled in as Hinata tried to come to terms with her outburst. Suddenly, Naruto turned around to face her and Hinata felt her face heat up, a blush coloring her cheeks as Naruto sent her an apologetic grin that looked too much like a grimace.
"Stop what, Hinata?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.
Finally, unable to bear the strain anymore, Hinata's composure broke and tears began to fall from her pale white eyes.
"Stop... st-stop pretending th-that n-n-nothing is wr-wrong..." she sobbed weakly as she tried to pull herself together. "St-stop hiding... I know... what's going on... N-Naruto-k-kun... p-please... y-you don't have to s-s-suffer al-l-lone..."
For a moment Naruto stood there, shocked at Hinata's words and even more shocked at her tears. Here she was, crying... but for what? Surely not for him, no one cried for him, right? With a shake of his head Naruto let his grinning mask fall, and the cold, hurt, hopeless look in his eyes stopped Hinata's sobs and tears, and very nearly her heart.
"You're wrong, Hinata..." muttered Naruto, darkly."I do have to suffer alone, because I am alone... just like a monster should be. You have no idea what's going on... neither did I, until today when a few of the villagers that had been drinking too much this morning decided to tell me the truth as well as give me a few broken bones...."
With great effort, Hinata drew in a shuddering breath, once again plucking up the courage to speak to this broken, beaten, beloved boy before her.
"What... what do you m-mean, N-naruto-kun?" she asked, cursing herself for stuttering so. "W-what truth are you t-talking about?"
Naruto sighed at her question before pinning her with a piercing, intense stare. For a moment he said nothing and only stared at her as if looking for something. Finally, he nodded his head and sighed once more.
"You really want to know...?" he said, sounding amazed that anyone would even care. "Alright, I'll tell you."
"You remember in class how Iruka taught us about the Fourth Hokage and how he destroyed the Kyuubi right," asked Naruto to which Hinata gave a tiny nod. "Well, it's a lie, a bold faced lie. The Kyuubi was never killed. Instead the Fourth sacrificed his own life to use a jutsu that sealed it away into a baby that had been born that day... me. He put that damn demon inside me and doomed me to this life of hell. Now I'm the living reminder of everyone's pain and loss.
"A reminder of the damn fox's sins and they hate me for it. But that's fine... I really don't care. Let the villagers hate me... let everyone hate me like I know they do! But I was born just to protect them, damn it... and I will keep trying to, even if all they do is kill me for my efforts! Every insult, every bit of vandalism, every beating... I'll forgive it all because I'm going to be Hokage someday and then everyone will recognize that I am not all bad and then I'll be able to protect them all... that is my dream, and if I start hating the villagers now, that dream will die. And if the villagers kill me?
"Well then that's that, I guess. It just means that I was never meant to have a dream... but knowing this... knowing that I am a demon who probably doesn't deserve to have a dream... I still keep trying. I told myself when I first met the Third Hokage that I would become very powerful and protect everyone in the village... and, see, I have this thing about going back on my word... I never do it. I guess you could call it my Nindo, my ninja way... I'm going to be Hokage, or I'll die trying, dattebayo!"
Hinata stood in shocked silence as her brain tried to process everything Naruto revealed to her. It was almost too much for the young girl. At first, the sadness in the young blonde's voice was almost overwhelming, and then, as he spoke of his resolve and his dream to become Hokage, Hinata began to feel her heart swell at the flickering hope that sprang from that earlier sadness. As the silence began to become awkward, Naruto opened his mouth to speak once more and he instantly had Hinata's full attention. The young girl waited with baited breath to hear what more the heroic boy in front of her had to say.
"So, now you know... I'm the cursed Kyuubi no Kitsune... and deep inside, I know it's the truth... I'm a demon and, since no one can love a demon, I have to live with my suffering all alone." he said tiredly. "But then, I've always been alone... hell, the only people who were even somewhat nice to me were Old Man Hokage, Iruka, the guy who owns Ichiraku Ramen, and his daughter. And out of them, I think only Hokage and Iruka ever knew the truth about me. Everyone else either didn't know me and treated me indifferently, or they knew or at least kinda knew and outright hated me. Now you know the truth as well, and you can hate me too. Really, go on, I won't mind. Hate me all you like."
What happened next is something that none could have expected. One minute Hinata was standing there, feeling the already cracked pieces of her poor heart being ground to dust by the boy's words, and the next she was right in front of him, arm extended, palm stinging, and there was an angry red mark suddenly standing out on his cheek.
Naruto, understanding that Hinata had slapped him almost immediately, just nodded, accepting her hatred of him. So of course, he was completely unprepared and completely baffled when a newly sobbing Hinata threw her arms around his middle and hugged him tightly, while calling him every bad name she could think of, which, albeit, weren't many.
"You idiot, Naruto!" she cried. "You stupid, sweet idiot... I could never hate you... ever!"
This was not something that Naruto was used to. Here was Hinata, the only girl in his class who did not openly hate him before, hugging him, soaking his tattered shirt with her tears, and telling him that she could never hate him. But that was impossible... almost everyone hated him. He must have heard her wrong or something and yet, a small part of him had finally found hope.
"W-what a-a-are y-you saying... H-hinat-ta?" stuttered Naruto meekly, blushing at the close contact.
"Naruto-kun..." said Hinata, pulling away and looking straight into the boy's bright blue eyes, her cheeks a new shade of crimson with a blush that she ignored. "I... I always admired you, Naruto because of how kind and how strong you were... but I never knew... that you suffered this much... and yet... you're still the kind person I admired... But now... knowing how much you've been through... I don't admire you anymore..."
Naruto sighed as he began to feel his hope dying. Hinata's next words however, shocked him to his core.
"I don't admire you anymore, Naruto-kun... because now I know... it's not admiration I feel," she said a little more timidly than before. "I-it's Love. I love you Naruto-kun."
It took Naruto a moment to understand what he was hearing, or at least it would have. Those words... that honest declaration of love, the first Naruto had ever heard in his life, would have no doubt sparked the most beautiful and love-filled relationship Konoha had, or ever would have seen. It would have been the salvation of both of them. Naruto would have very soon returned Hinata's feelings and with her by his side he would have known great joy in his life and with someone truly precious to protect, Naruto would have redoubled his efforts to become a great shinobi and the Hokage, no doubt earning that illustrious title someday.
As for Hinata, knowing that the man she loved, loved her in return, she would not have been so nervous anymore, and with his constant encouragement of her every endeavor, she would have strived harder than ever and would have become a great kunoichi, a female ninja, and would have made not only her father, but her entire clan proud.
Unfortunately, it was right then, as Naruto was working through his feelings that the ANBU black ops ninja that had been shadowing and watching over Naruto since his attack decided to act. He knew he had slipped up. Somehow one of the bums that attacked Naruto had told him something he was never meant to know and now the Hyuuga girl knew it too.
The ANBU knew that he had to do something to remedy the situation, so he did the most sensible thing that came to his mind. Running his hands through a complex series of hand seals, he carefully molded chakra into his fingertips when he was done, the ANBU shinobi shunshined into the room to stand beside the two very surprised would-be lovers.
Finally with his jutsu ready, the shinobi placed a hand on each child's head and cast his prepared jutsu with a whisper of, "Fuuin Jutsu: Kinen Joumae no Jutsu!"
Sleep came instantly for the two children as the jutsu shut their respective consciousnesses down in order to do its work. Placing Hinata in a sleeping position at her desk, the ANBU picked Naruto up and carried him back to the boy's apartment. The ANBU placed him on the bed and walked away, telling himself that, as far as anyone knew or ever would know, that day, that event, never happened.
And so it was that soon after, Naruto and Hinata would wake up with no memory of the day's events, and their lives would go on, with them blissfully unaware of the love that nearly was and the salvation that could have been.
The ANBU never included what he came to call "the incident" in any of his reports and never spoke of it. And now the only account of that blessed, cursed event is this letter, written by the man who was once the ANBU as he lay in his death bed.
Naruto, if you ever read this, please know that I am sorry. That was the first of many times that I failed you, as a guardian and as a sensei. As I lay dying it is my great hope that you will find this somehow and understand who it is you were always meant to be with.
Even now, Hinata loves you, the same as she did then. That love of hers was one thing my jutsu could not seal away. Go find her Naruto, find her, love her, and know her love in return...
By Kami above I pray that you can find happiness. My only hope for myself is that Minato-sensei, your father and the man you must have hated for so long for sealing the Kyuubi in you, can forgive me for what I have done to you, his beloved son.
Signed Hatake Kakashi, Copy Nin of Konoha and proud sensei to the man who will be the greatest Hokage ever.
P.S. If you need any tips on how to treat that Hinata girl of yours really well, I have taken the liberty of including directions to my stash of Icha Icha books. I'm sure your other sensei would feel honored if you used them, not that I think you need them. Anyway, good luck, Naruto-sama, and good bye.
James: Okay, about the jutsu Kakashi used... I made it up. I am not CERTAIN about that translation at ALL. It should read as "Sealing Technique: Memory Lock Technique" if it doesn't then I'm sorry. I used an internet english to japanese dictionary to translate it and I can never quite trust them... anyway, I hope you all enjoyed reading that. I'd say it isn't bad for an all nighter. If you would please be so kind to review and tell me what you think, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, special thanks to my little brother Zax for his great help with beta reading and editing.