A/N: I have no idea what brought this one. One minute I was writing an essay short-story for my English project next thing I know I'm typing up a fanfic. And then I had to put it aside for several weeks and actually do school work. And then here it is, 2:30 AM and I'm finishing this up. Gah, there's GOT to be something wrong with me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Note: Mostly about Hinata, but there is DeiHina, ItaSaku, and HidaTema.
Dedication: Cylinder, because she actually reviewed that other random one-shot I wrote even though she didn't like the pairings a lot. And because she's the direct reason I finished this at all. I LOVE YOU. (This is also because her fics ROCK MY DAMN SOCKS!!! XD)
Edit: Uh, I noticed that, after writing this at 2 AM, the tenses keep switching. I've fixed that now. And, uh, added a bit to it. Because I was NOT satisfied with it. :/
She was lost again, something that was happening more and more since she was forced to move. But it didn't really bother the girl, what bothered the girl was that her house was the uncomfortable place. She refused to call it her home, for home was were the heart is and never would she love that place. She was comfortable being lost, because being lost meant she didn't have to hear the excuses, the reasons, the lies that were told without a second thought. She didn't have to face the disappointment if there was no one around to disappoint her. That's why she stared these walks after all.
The girl was average looking; not extremely pretty like a model, but not hideous and ugly; she was just cute. She was short in height, and had long, black, straight hair, neon streaks streaming in it here and there, that was all piled atop her head in a messy bun. She possessed extremely light blue eyes, eyes that almost glowed white if they hit the light right, eyes that all her family had. Her nose was pierced with a silver stud and her ears dangled with one sliver hoop on the top of the right ear and two identical spike balls of black-and-blue on the bottom of either ear. She was dressed in jeans, black and white Converse High-Tops, a neon blue tank top, and a black and blue zipper, hooded jacket.
She walked on, a small smile on her face as she observed a house, which looked like any other house, but had a small child in the yard, chasing butterflies. The wind blew by softly, dragging with it the scents of someone grilling burgers, a smell that made her insides squirm with hunger. The girl quickened her pace a bit, for she wasn't going to get to eat for a while, and it wouldn't be something like burgers anyway. But it was still relaxing, just getting lost, and it always brought a smile to her usually blank and bored face.
So the girl walked and walked, sometimes noticing the more interesting names of the streets around her, not at all concerned with getting home. No one was waiting for her there anyway, since her older cousin had left for college and her parents hardly ever came back to the house to eat. Her younger sister was always at another friend's house, even on weekdays, so she didn't have to worry about her. Hanabi made friends fast.
She didn't even think she was in her neighborhood anymore, anyway, so she continued down the street she was on and rounded the corner. The wind brushing against her face again and making her shiver and smile sadly.
A park, small and well kept, with swings and a merry-go-round, along with a twisting, giant tree -that practically begged her to climb it- met her sight and her smile grew, growing brighter and happier with each step. The girl always took any chance she could to be childish and free, for at school and at the house she had to be mature, it was expected of her. At school there was A's to get, nothing below that, never, and at the house there were clothes to wash and, in the rare occasion that her parents would come to dinner, talks to be had. Odd, boring, stressful talks; talks that drove her to sneak out at night, just to get away from the oppressing feeling the house created. She was good at sneaking out by now; she'd been doing it for a little over seven months. Seven months spent being the new kid, the shunned know-it-all that no one wants to talk to, the freak with strange clothes and strange habits. Seven months of being alone.
The girl picked up her pace again, running full out toward the balance beam, a favorite of hers. The crunching of the dirt and grass underneath her feet was music to her ears and she swung herself onto the beam with ease, squaring her shoulders and lining her feet up so she wouldn't topple over and off the beam. She walked back and forth, swinging her arms and thinking of a song, any song, to sing while having such fun.
She found a song too, but just as the sound was bubbling from her lips the breeze dragged a sound to her ears, a small, reluctant, muffled sound of a sob. The girl froze, nearly losing her balance in surprise, before listening closer and scanning the adorable park more closely than she first had. She could hear the noise clearer now that she was actually paying attention, but the wind swirled around her and seemed to be purposely trying to confuse her, so she let her eyes do most of the work.
The yellow, cheerful slide, with the levels of platforms connecting to it, along with monkey bars and a bouncy, springy bridge. The swings, blue and faded slightly, but not creaky, rusty, or old, with a dot or two of bushes leading up to the merry-go-round, but not close enough to either, or big enough, for anyone to really hide there. The only thing left was the giant, twisted tree, filled with green –but not for much longer; it was almost fall- leaves that were alit with the setting sun.
The girl hopped off the beam and walked quietly towards to platforms, thinking the sobbing person might be under there. But the sound got softer and softer the closer she went, so she changed directions and peaked over the bushes. Nothing; which left only the tree as the sobbing person's hiding spot. Cautiously she walked up to the tree, slowly tilting her head back, taking in all the details she could. But she saw nothing but green and brown, and nothing moved or made a sound any more. The girl frowned before she caught a small sighting of blonde, bobbing out from behind the trunk of the tree about twenty-five feet up, and then she knew that was where the person was.
She grasped the tree branch that was just barely within her reach, nearly groaning with annoyance when she saw how far apart the large branches, branches that could bare her weight, were. She used all the knowledge and skill she had, skill that was from years upon years of gymnastics, to swing her body up and around that branch. She stood and repeated the process, catching barely there glimpses of the sobbing child, who could not be any older then eight or nine.
But she still didn't know what gender they were, and she continued to climb higher still, reaching for the branches that were just out of reach and trusting her arms to grab them when she was forced to jump around, not unlike a monkey. Soon she was right next to the boy, for the sobbing small blonde child was in fact a boy dressed in a orange and black t-shirt and jeans, but he was still too busy sobbing and shaking to notice her. She tilted her head to the side, wondering how she missed the bright orange shirt, before calling out, voice no louder than a whisper, "Hey, what's up, short stuff?"
The boy reacted violently, nearly sending himself barreling down the tree trunk, but she caught his arm as his head snaped up to show bright, shining blue eyes, rimmed with red, and tear tracks criss-crossing over his cheeks, cheeks that have three little whisker marks each. He gave out a startled yelp before attaching himself around her arm, only to pull away when he realized that there is a stranger, in a tree, talking to him. This thought nearly sent him off the branch again, and again she snagged his arm in time to keep him upright.
"Shh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, kiddo."
The adorable, sad little blonde boy pouted angrily at her, trying to mask his fear and distress, and snapped back in a wavering, breaking, rough little voice, "I'm not short and the only reason you scared me is because of that hideous mask you're wearing!"
The girl stared at the kid, dumbfounded, before nearly falling over laughing, because this little blonde, innocent looking kid was just too cute. He snaps back insults in his broken little voice, tears all over his face, in an outrageous bright orange shirt! –Not that her clothes are any less abrasive, she thought lazily, her clothes were just as startling in color, as was her eyes and hair.- She reached up with the hand that was not resting on his arm -she never knows when he'll try and fly again, after all- and ruffled his hair, smirking softly at him. "Not bad for someone your age; when you get older you could be a right terror. Now, really, what's up with this whole tree-crying-thing?" She received a weird look for that, he had called her ugly, and shouldn't she be mad? But she had been called much worse, had dished out much worse herself, and if a kid could snap back insults, he was on his way to being top notch-AOkay-whatever.
"I wasn't crying," The blonde child denied, even as he hastily wiped away the incriminating tear tracks, "I just had a bug fly in my eye." He stared up at her, trying to see if she was indeed as friendly as she seemed, as safe as she seemed. And she did, with her amused giggle-smile, twigs in her hair, brightly colored shirt, and to top it off she smelled almost like the tropical candles his mother burned back home, and it made him feel completely safe. So the blonde little boy gave in and trusted this bright nearly white-eyed, black-haired, pierced and giggle-smiling girl, and buckled, telling her the truth. So he started again, looking down at the ground as he did so.
"I was here earlier, some other kids my age and older were here too. I had been watching them and I wanted to play with them too, but they said no… Well, they did at first. But then their kite, the one they had been playing with, got caught in this tree. And all of them were too big to climb up on the branches, so they said I could play with them if I got it down. I just wanted to play with them! So I climbed the tree, right up to here, and shook the kite free… I almost fell too! But… I didn't know how to get down. When I told them they laughed and told me I was just being a scaredy-cat, and since they said they didn't play with scaredy-cats they left me here… And… I was just so scared, and all I want is to go home!"
The little boy's face crumbled before her eyes and he burst into fresh tears, clinging tightly to the arm that had held his. She sighed and tugged the little boy's head up to face her, gently wiping his tears away with her thumb.
"Shh, calm down, I can get you down from this tree. If you can get up a tree, you can get down; remember that." She swung her legs over the dropped down to the branch below his; her head just level with the branch. "Now do exactly as I say and trust me, okay? My name is Hinata, what's yours, squirt?"
He pouted at Hinata, the short, black-haired, nearly white-eyed girl, and grumbled back, "Naruto," before softly slipping his legs off to the side and reaching his arms out to stable himself. With Hinata's help he managed to get down off the tree, even if it was rather slow, frightening work for the little blonde kid. By the time Naruto's feet were firmly planted on the ground the sun was almost gone, nothing but a sliver left.
Hinata glanced at the boy whose head barely reached her mid arm and frowned, it was getting dark and she probably needed to get him home. The little twirp seemed to read her mind and grabbed her hand before breaking out in a run, yelling behind him wildly, "I gotta get home before someone worries; Momma's gonna be mad!"
Hinata smiled sadly and hoped that his mother would always care where he was and if he was okay, because her mother surely didn't, and neither did her father. They were much too busy with work to worry about their daughter; their shy, flesh and blood failure. So she raced along with him, easily keeping up with her longer legs, and they barreled down street after street –damn, this kid could run- until they stopped, panting, next to a bright blue mailbox.
Naruto's house looked almost the same as any other house, almost. The house was light blue, a lighter shade than the mailbox, with windowsills of white, the windows covered with creamy-brown curtains. Or, all of them except for two sills at the top; the second floor. One of them was bright orange –Naruto's room was what Hinata had to guess- and the other was black – his parent's room maybe?-.
Hinata let Naruto pull her forward again as he dashed up the drive way to the stairs, then up those to the front door. Just as they made it to the front door it swung open –inward, thank god, or it would have smacked them both in the face- and a boy Hinata's age with blonde hair pulled up into a pony-tail and bangs that covered on of his bright blue eyes raced out and straight into Hinata. Naruto, that little twerp, had leaped aside and left the startled girl in the path of the much taller boy.
The two toppled over the stairs and onto the grass, the blonde accidently pinning Hinata to the ground while Hinata accidently pinned his jacket and leg to the ground below her.
"What the fuck, un?!" He voice was smooth and surprised, but that was to be expected in a situation like this.
"Deidara? Deidara?!" The voice this time came from the house, the doorway to be exact, and was a female's voice. Naruto's mother, probably… "Oh god, NARUTO!"
"Ow, Momma, you're crushin' me!" Yep, his mother.
"Oh god, where were you? Do you know how late it is? How worried I've been?!"
"The park… I was stuck up in the tree… But, Momma, Hinata helped me down! She came and saved me!" Hinata imagined Naruto jumping around with his arms in the air, pointing at the tangled bodies to her. Not that she could see anything with heavy Deidara (that was his name, right?) on top of her, but whatever.
"What- Oh dear, Deidara, get off of her!" The sound of someone coming down the steps made their way to Hinata's ears and she tried tilting her head trying to get a glimpse at the woman.
"I would, yeah. But she's kinda on both my jacket and leg, un!" His voice was kind of muffled this time, and Hinata was suddenly aware that his face was squished into her neck. She could feel her face heat up, and she realized how wrong this all must look; talk about embarrassing!
"I told you to put your jacket on properly! Oh dear, I'm so sorry, my son never watches where he's going. Are you hurt?" And then she was the one on top of Deidara, staring at his familiar disgruntled, but curious -and attractive- face. That boy –Deidara, Deidara, get it right, Deidara- went to her school, she was sure of that. He had a group of friends that most avoided, they looked almost like a gang.
Then her arms were grasped and she was helped up by the tall, red-haired woman looking at her with the stormy grey eyes – eyes that neither of her sons had. The woman held a confidence about her, a roughness that spoke of a tomboy attitude, a no-shit policy, but the love in her eyes when she looked at her sons out-shown that twinge of sadness, that slightly bitter edge. Hinata knew her face was still pink, and that thought alone made her face heat up even more. It didn't help her self-confidence any that this woman was so pretty and nice, while Hinata herself was so plain and weird.
"Hon, are you okay?" The woman had to bend slightly to look into Hinata's eyes, "Oh, um… Hon?" Hinata shook her head back and forth to clear it of Deidara's rather distracting face before realizing what the woman had asked.
"Oh, um, I'm fine. It's not a problem; I fall down a lot anyway… Thank you for helping me up though…" Hinata took a quick look at Deidara –black t-shirt, ripped, faded slightly baggy jeans, and a pair of red Converse High-Tops on his feet. He was insanely attractive in an almost-cocky-but-cute way and he seemed to be staring at her with an odd expression, head tilted just a bit- before glancing back up at the sky. It was pitch black, stars littering the moonless sky. Hinata blew a puff of hair at her bangs, considering what would be the best way to go about finding her house again –she had a feeling she was screwed-.
"Good, I'm glad Deidara-kun didn't hurt you. He never looks before he leaps, too much like his father. I'm Kushina Uzumaki, and thank you for helping Naruto-kun." Kushina smiled at her and Hinata smiled back softly, still wondering absently how to get home. If she could find her way back to the pack maybe, just maybe, she could find her street and house again. Otherwise she'd have to call Hanabi and beg her to borrow her friend's computer, and then give her the directions. But that might bring up questions that should best be left unthought-of. Dammit.
"Uh, hello, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. It's not a problem, really," She shifted as she spoke, trying to remember if she had seen the street's name before –Dattebayo Road- but she wasn't sure. Kushina seemed to have picked up on Hinata's slight –read: damn big- problem, laughing softly at the shy, confused look that shown in the younger girl's eyes.
"You lost?"
"Uh, no… Well, maybe but I'll be fine, I get lost all the time. Really, it's nothing new…" Hinata trailed off, looking back and forth from one end of the street to the other, deciding that she definitely had to call Hanabi now. Gah, she needed to print out a map of her neighborhood – if she was even still in her neighborhood, that is.
Kushina smirked softly and tilted her head, looking at the girl once again, but this time at the tiny details. Like how her posture was perfectly straight, although her shoulder twitched every once in a while when somebody spoke to her directly. Or like how her clothes were oddly colored and a mixture of bright and dark, something the dark-blue-haired girl pulled off well and that went well with her shy attitude. But most importantly the red-head noticed that the girl looked lost and broken mentally, how she wouldn't meet her eyes head on for but a second, how when she stared at the three of them lined up her fist almost clenched in sadness-anger-something.
Kushina recognized that look al too well; she had worn it as a young girl as well. She remembered all too well the pain, the sadness, and the long mid-night walks where she learned how to dodge, punch, kick, fight because staying in the empty, hateful house was too much, the punches, the kicks hurt less then knowing no one was there. It didn't look like Hinata had gotten into too many fights, but it was evident she could hold her self together, probably even make it out alive if she was jumped by multiple people. But Kushina didn't want the adorable little girl in front of her to have to go through that, she'd do anything she could to help her out.
But she never got the chance, a hand reached out and grabbed Hinata's wrist before Kushina even finished her thoughts. A pale, male hand with a red ring on its index finger, one she recognized with no little amount of shock.
"Oi, you go to my school, right, un?"
Hinata blinked, startled, before nodding. Deidara only grinned more in response.
"Thought I recognized you. You're in my English and Math classes, un." He tilted his head and looked at his car quickly before grinning. "Stay for dinner then I'll give you a lift. You're too cute to wander around after dark by yourself, un."
The girl only had time to look mildly stunned and blush before she was dragged inside the welcoming, warm, much-loved house. She didn't fight the taller male much –or at all- anyway, he was a bit too cute to argue with.
Hinata pushed out of the doors of school and fought against the throng of people talking loudly to their peers about their plans for spring break. It had been eleven months since she moved her and she could probably count the number of weeks she had actually sat down and ate with her parents on one hand. It was utterly retarded.
Shouldering her way down the stairs, careful not to let anyone stick their foot out to trip up her beautiful silver knee-high Converse again, she sighed. Spring break and no plans, this was going to turn out to be utterly boring.
"Hinata-chan, Hinata-chan! Tobi is over here!" The childish voice dragged her out of her bored thoughts, the arm tugging on hers doing a nice, neat job of dragging her physical form as well. Hinata smiled, all previous gloomy thoughts gone as she was pulled out of school grounds and towards a café.
"Hello Tobi, has everyone already left for the café? Or are there more people still back at school?" The brown-haired, grey-and-red-eyed boy shook his head, his everywhere-spike of hair falling over his lone bandaged right eye.
"No, Tobi was the only one left back at school, Deidara-senpai went to go pick up Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun and bring them back to Kushina-chan while the others went to go grab the usual spot. Deidara-senpai asked Tobi if he could wait for Hinata-chan, so Tobi did!" Tobi locked his fingers through hers, swinging their hands back and forth in time to their steps. The café was at the end of the street, across an intersection; they didn't have much farther to walk.
Hinata giggled and muttered a soft 'thank you' to the over-enthusiastic boy. She loved having him around, his way of referring to himself in third-person and general bubbly personality made her feel free, younger. Much more like the kid she should have been; the teenager she should be now.
The bell hanging from the door went off when Tobi threw it open and the pair made their way towards a huge booth in the corner, a spot with ten other people there already.
"Hinata-chan, there you are! Wondering what the hell took you and Tobi so long," Temari yelled, jumping up to hug the girl quickly, passing her a glass of soda a second later. "Dr. Pepper, just like you crave," She added with a wink.
Temari was a tall, busty blonde with a no-shit attitude and rough exterior. She was loud and was the perfect counter-example for the phrase 'you can't do that, you're a girl'. Her boyfriend, Hidan, was exactly the kind of guy who Temari would typically hate, if he wasn't so sweet at random times. He didn't take shit any better than Temari did, he was stubborn, a very religious person, and argued with nearly everything that was said. He also cursed nearly every other word and was rather crude when he wanted to be, but had these random moments of unexplained subtle kindness that Temari loved. They were quite happy together and Temari was Hinata's best friend – or one of the two.
"Hina-chan!" Sakura cheered, ducking quickly under the table to hug the black-haired girl, before pushing her gently into her seat. "I didn't see you in the English hall, you get held after class in Government or something?" The smile on the girl's face was teasing, and her giggles floated about as she slipped under the table again to come up beside her ever-so-serious boyfriend.
Sakura was a short, although not as short as Hinata herself, pink-haired, green-eyed girl who lived on her impulsions and could punch, or fight in general, just as well as any boy around the table. She had a temper and a sharp tongue to match, lashing out at things that angered her and hugging those who held a place in her heart. Hinata herself had almost immediately gotten a place there three months ago, when they were first introduced, and had been her best friend –along with Temari- ever since. Her boyfriend was nearly the exact opposite of her, however. His name was Itachi and everything about him was serious, or at least at first glance. His face was nearly always calm, only amusement, slight annoyance, or extreme anger showed –although Sakura was sent a gentle look often enough that the look no longer startled Hinata to bits- and the last was very rare indeed. But once someone got past the calm, business like expression they found a guy who loved video-game violence, pranks, and loud music; just like his friends. Itachi and Sakura weren't exactly fairytale-perfect, her temper and his natural genius-ness got them into several heated arguments, but they preferred it that way. It was more real that way.
Other greetings came from around the table. Sasori -tall, red, chin-length hair and hazel eyes, serious expression, Deidara's best friend- nodded his head softly before returning to his sketch. Kakuzu –tall, brown, chin-length hair and glowing green eyes, bored but slightly amused expression, Hidan's sort-of best friend- smiled at her, before reengaging in a conversation with Zetsu –tall, short, green spiky hair, glowing yellow eyes and a dark tan on one side of his body, expression slightly interested but also bored, Tobi's best friend- who also smiled at her. Pein and Konan –tall with orange hair and grey, ringed eyes and multiple piercings and short with shoulder-length blue hair in a bun and blue eyes, both looking absolutely serious- uttered a soft hello before they once again began folding small paper flowers. Kisame –extremely tall, short, blue spiky hair, slightly narrow, grey-blue eyes, gill marking on his neck, amused grin on his face- leaned over to pat her on the head before waving over the waitress.
These people had come to become her friends, her family. Hinata relied on the girls for shopping, the rare gossiping, the backing-up of more and more common cat-fights; they were her sisters, even more so than her blood sister. The boys she relied on for a quick get away, intimidation, random hilarious rough-housing that came along with teenage boys, for cracking jokes to make me smile; they were her older brothers, brothers like Neji was suppose to be, but never was. Kushina was her mother, caring more and more about her since Hinata was quickly coming to spend more and more time over at the Uzumaki's house than her own. She had been there much more often this last two months since she had begun dating Deidara – something Kushina squealed at Hinata about and threatened Deidara about daily. Deidara often teased on the way back to her house that his mother loved her more than she did her own son, she threaten his life if he were to hurt Hinata enough that it was nearly true, too.
Hinata jumped slightly, being pulled out of her musings by a familiar, welcome arm draping it's self around her shoulders as its owner dropped into the seat next to hers. Deidara grinned at her, loving the way a light blush coated her cheeks as he did.
"Hey babe, un. You ordered for me, right?" He whispered softly in her ear, kissing her quickly on the cheek before leaning back comfortably in his seat – and bumping fists absent mindedly with Kisame too.
"Yes, a cheese-burger with lettuce and ketchup, right? Fries too."
"You're an angel, Hinata-chan, really. I'm dying of hunger here, un."
She may have started out lost, physically and mentally, but she wasn't at that moment. She had friends, a sort-of family that filled the space that had been previously empty in her heart. She had a guy who maybe loved her, who thought she was pretty and amazing in her Converse and studded-nose, her bright tanks and dark jeans. She had the weight taken off her shoulders by these people; they made school fun, helped her out at the house and let her goof off as she wished. They were there for her.
They also bought her a GPS install for her phone, so she never had to be lost again. So she could always find her way to them again, because they didn't want to let her go.
Hinata smiled at them all quietly, and thought, fleetingly, that she didn't want to let them go either.