THE MINGLED SQUAWKS OF CROWS FLYING OVERHEAD WRENCHED HIM FROM HIS THOUGHTS.
Naruto opened his eyes, all thoughts of the girl vanished back into mere memory. He had thought about her long and hard since his journey had began. Though she was not the only one. A few others often enter his mind, but never so suddenly. Never without warning or quite so often.
To be honest, he wasn't even sure why he had started to think about her so much. One day, after a particularly embarrassing screw up, she just popped into his mind, laughing. She was always laughing in his mind, or at least smiling. Though it wasn't her regular, vicious smile; openly proclaiming her sadistic nature. No, no. It was a softer, sweeter type of smile. The one he had barely recognized her with when she wore it. If she wore it. It was there and gone in a moment's notice. Like an elusive treasure from a far off fairy-tale.
The young man smiled to himself. Perhaps that was why he liked that smile. In real life, it was small, rare, and fleeting. But in his mind it could always be there, always be kind, and all because of him. Because he was the only one who knew how to unearth the dazzling gem from the shadowy depths. In his mind he could be selfish and the smile could be entirely for him. Only for him. And no one else could come close to giving her that smile. He liked that idea.
[Naruto]