Hey readers. It's been a long while. This is just an experimental story. I haven't written in a long time, so I'm really rusty. I haven't written because I've been busy, and lately I just lost the desire to do so because life has, in short, just been hell. I'll spare you my life story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story. Basically, Naruto gets completely fed up with stuff after a battle with Sasuke, but Hinata saves him from himself. I don't own Naruto. R&R please! Love it or hate it, it doesn't matter, just please take a few minutes to review. Without any further ado, I present this story.

The story begins with Hinata. She was taking a walk to kill time (and to think about a certain somebody). When she got to the training field, she heard Naruto's voice. She hid among the trees to avoid detection as she tried to listen more closely to what her crush was saying.

"Do it. Just end it, please."

Hinata gasped. 'N-Naruto? Do what? End w-what, exactly?' After she heard that, she again heard Naruto pleading.

"Please end it; I can't stand suffering like this anymore."

Hinata gasped in both shock and horror, but what shocked her even more was the voice that responded, sounding exactly like Naruto. She looked from behind the tree and saw that Naruto had created a shadow clone and was begging it to kill him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Hinata was even more horrified to see that the kunai had something dripping off of the end. 'Is that poison? H-he intends to k-kill himself?! N-no, I can't let you do that, Naruto! I still have to tell you that I love you!'

"Throw it now."

"Alright. But what will you tell your friends in the village? What will you tell Neji? What will you tell Sakura? What will you tell Choji, Shikamaru, Pervy Sage, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, or Grandma Tsunade? What will you tell Hinata?"

Hinata gasped. "I'll tell them nothing. They don't need to suffer just because I am."

"But your death will in fact cause them anguish."

"That doesn't matter. As long as my friends and the one I hold dear are safe, that's all that matters."

"So what about her?"

"Who?"

"Hinata. You're not gonna tell her?" Hinata froze.

"No. She doesn't need to know that I love her."

'W-what? H-he loves me? He does! He loves me!' Hinata would have jumped for joy if not for Naruto's next words.

"She probably wouldn't care. Not to mention her family would frown greatly upon it." Hinata had felt a twinge in her heart at Naruto's words.

"Throw it now."

"Okay, then." the shadow clone replied as he pulled his arm back to throw the poison tipped kunai. As the clone's arm drew back further in slow motion (or so it seemed), Hinata's eyes widened as slowly as the clone's arm moved.

Just as the kunai was released in Naruto's direction, he closed his eyes and thought 'Hinata... I'm sorry... please forgive me... I wanted to be with you, but I never could...' The next thing he knew, he heard a clang, which caused his eyes to shoot open. He saw his kunai fall to the ground along with the single shuriken that diverted it.As soon as Naruto saw this, his eyes turned red with pupil slits as he snarled. He then leapt into the air toward the direction that the shuriken came from as he threw his arm back with a Rasengan formed in his hand. He saw the figure of Hinata starting to flee in the distance, but was currently unaware of her identity due to his emotional state.

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her shuriken strike Naruto's kunai. Her relief was short-lived, however. For a moment after she sighed in relief, she heard Naruto's bloodthirsty snarl and saw the change in his eyes, along with the claws, fangs, etc. Then, she noticed he started to charge in her direction. 'Naruto...' she thought in a horrified manner as she started to run.

Naruto landed about 10 feet behind Hinata. The sound of his feet touching ground so close startled Hinata, which caused her to stumble slightly, then falling down. (sounds crappy, I know, but that's the only thing that really came to me at the time)After she fell, she rolled over, but caught herself on her forearms as she turned back to look at Naruto (again, I apologize for the lousy details). "N-Naruto..."

Naruto, or rather the beast of instinct that currently overwhelmed him at the time, had every intention of striking the person that dared to spy on him, even as he landed right behind them, without so much as a second thought. He even moved to start thrusting the Rasengan into the torso of the intruder. However, as soon as the witness turned their head and Naruto got a good look at their face, he froze. The Rasengan was about a foot and a half from Hinata. He then noticed her saying his name, with such fear that it was overwhelming. The Rasengan dissipated almost instantly, though his physical features remained unaltered. He then noticed Hinata's attempt to get his attention again, slightly more forceful than before.

Hinata saw Naruto freeze, which allowed her to breathe a bit easier. Then, the Rasengan disappeared, which caused most of her fear to vanish. Naruto still had a sense of himself. But he still wasn't completely himself, and was dangerous right then. One way or another, it was up to Hinata to quell the beast inside Naruto. "Naruto." He still made no movement. That was a good sign, as opposed to what could have transpired. "Naruto!"

After hearing her voice a second time, Naruto had found himself again, but was struggling to contain his emotion. Then he heard Hinata once more. His eyes turned back to their regular cerulean color with regular pupils, his fingernails and teeth returning to their original length. "H-Hinata..." He saw both relief and fear in her face. "Hinata... what are you doing here?"

"I... I was going for a walk, when I... when I heard you out here."

"I see... what all did you hear?"

"N-Naruto... did you really intend to d-die?"

"I do."

"But... but Naruto..."

"Nothing is going to change my mind."

"W-why, Naruto?"

"What all did you hear?"

"I... heard ev-everything."

"I see..."

"Is it true? Do you really...?"

"Love you? Yes. I do."

"Yet you were n-never going to tell me?"

"I wasn't going to, no."

"W-why? Did you not think I would feel the same?"

"That's partly true. That, as well as what your family would do."

"That doesn't matter!"

"Why... why would you throw that away?"

"Because I love you, N-Naruto. Why would you throw your life away and not let me know how you feel?"

"Because your family..."

"Stop." Hinata interrupted him. "That's not why. It's a concern, but that's not the main reason. Now, tell me why."

"It's because... I've been so scared that you would reject me, and I wouldn't be able to handle it... not after the other day..."

Hinata looked at Naruto questioningly. "Wh-what happened?"

Naruto wiped his eyes, trying to prevent tears from falling. "I... I don't wanna talk about it."

Hinata suddenly got very worried about Naruto's well being and wasn't about to leave him by himself. "N-Naruto... please... please tell me... I want to help you..."

"I know." Naruto then took a deep shuddering breath and said "It happened after I got back from my last mission for Granny Tsunade." Hinata remained silent and attentive. "You know how I disappeared for a short while after that?"

Well, that's all for this chapter, so tell me what you guys thought. Like I said, it's been a loooong time, and I need to know just how bad my writing has suffered lol. I will probably only put notes on the last update I have on this story as well as this. Flame if you like, just tell me what you do or don't like about it. I don't want to sound rude here, but please do NOT flame saying the characters in this story are too emotional, or anything of the like. You should know to expect that in my stories (if you've read my work before), since I am a guy that feels, my characters tend to do the same. And they are also out of character to some extent. Hell, that's kinda the point with fanfiction. Anyways, that's all I have to rant about (for now) lol. Much love. Peace!

dogboy1214