Bruises

Hinata didn't know how it had happened exactly. It seemed so surreal. Like it had all been a bad dream but it hadn't been. It had been the cold reality that had washed down on her like a wave of dark water. She didn't know exactly how she had gotten here. It had started when her father had gotten home. He had been mad. Furious to be more exact. Everyone noticed but nobody dared to confront him. He just stormed to his office and no one dared to disturb him after that. It became late and everybody went to bed. She didn't know how late it had been exactly but she knew it was past midnight when a member of the branch house had awakened her.

"Your father wants to speak with you. He says it's urgent." The woman sounded scared.

"O-Okay, you can g-go to sleep its l-late. I'll g-go talk to h-him."

The woman nodded and left while she got dressed and made her way to her father's study. She knocked on the door.

"F-Father? You c-called for me?"

The door opened with a swing and her father stared down at her furiously.

"It's you. You did this! This is all your fault!" He screamed. He had been drinking, she could smell it, his breath spread the stench of liquor. There were numerous empty bottles on his desk and she was afraid. Her father had never been like this.

"W-what d-did I-I do?"

"WHAT DID I DO?!" He screamed. "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO ASK ME THAT?! YOU DID NOTHING! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO! YOUR EXISTENCE DID THIS! YOU HAVE HARMED THE HYUUGA FOR THE LAST TIME! I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR EXISTENCE ANY MORE! WE WERE GOING TO BIND OUR CLAN WITH ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS CLAN IN THE FIRE NATION! BUT THEY REFUSED OUR OFFER! THEY DIDN'T SAY WHY BUT IT WAS SO OBVIOUS THAT IT WAS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE HYUUGA WILL SOON HAVE A WEAK AND FRAGILE HEIR! YOU ARE DESTROYING THIS CLAN WITH YOUR PATHETIC EXISTENCE! YOU ARE WEAK AND PATHETIC AND YOU WILL NEVER BE A GOOD SHINOBI! YOU ARE ALWAYS IN THE WAY AND I WISH THAT YOU WERE NEVER BORN!"

His words cut deeper than anything else and they kept echoing in her mind long after he said it. He had been right she had always thought. He had been right about everything.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BECOME HEIR OF THE HYUUGA CLAN! YOU WILL FIGHT ME AND PROVE THAT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF THE HYUUGA NAME!"

"B-But f-father I-I don't w-want to f-fight you." She said weekly. The thought of fighting her father scared her. Not because he was a Jounin-level shinobi but because the thought of hurting someone close to her scared her most of all.

He hit her in the face. Hard. She let herself fall to the floor. She wasn't going to fight him. She couldn't hurt him, she just couldn't. He could hurt her though, and he did. He hit her, he kicked her, he picked her up and he threw her and Hinata was too scared to fight back. He kept repeating that it was her fault and that she was pathetic and useless and that she was a disgrace that didn't deserve to live. She couldn't protect herself because she was convinced that she deserved this. That he was right. She was useless and pathetic and she deserved to be punished for her existence.

After a while he stopped. He realized that he had won and grabbed her with her hair. She winced and pain and he pulled her through the hallway. She had a deep cut in her right ankle and it left a trail of blood. When he reached the front door he opened it with a swing and looked outside. It was raining incredible hard. He let go of Hinata's hair and threw her out.

"You don't belong here. I don't want to see you ever again. If you come back I'll kill you." His voice was cold, serious and calm. He had lost his angry voice from before but to Hinata this sounded even scarier. He slammed the door closed and she was left alone in the cold, in the rain.

That's where she was now. Two hours after her father slammed the door closed. She was in front of her house trying desperately to get up. Tears still rolling down her face another sign to show how weak she really was. She didn't know how it got this far but she knew that it did and that there was no turning back for her. She finally managed to stand up. She was still sobbing and trembling from fear. She turned toward her house and stared at it until she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hinata is that you?"

She recognized that voice. She knew all to well. She quickly wiped her tears and turned around.

"N-Naruto-kun, what a-are you doing here?" She said, trying to sound normal and cheerful.

"I couldn't sleep so I was taking a walk. Hinata are you okay?"

She looked confused and then remembered the bruises. "O-Oh you m-mean m-my face. I j-just h-had a little a-accident we h-had in a s-sparring match i-it's nothing."

"You sure?" He asked. "It looks pretty serious." He gripped her upper arms in a comforting manner but she winced in pain. He looked down at her arms confused and she panicked. She tried to pull her arms away but he grabbed her right wrist and pulled up her sleeve.

Their was a short silence while his eyes began to ran over the bruises on her arms. They couldn't have been from more then an few hours ago.

"Hinata who did this to you?" His voice sounded angry, slightly panicked but she knew he wasn't angry at her.

"I-I told y-you it w-was just a…"

"Don't even try to tell me this was just a sparring accident! Hinata tell me what happened! Tell me who did this!"

"I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun I h-have to g-get home." She panicked and quickly pulled her arm free walking past him.

"Hinata you live here tell me what happened!"

He reached out for her again but she pulled her arm away before he could grab it firmly and made a run for it.

She ran as fast as she could but she could hear his footsteps close behind. The splashing sound when he stepped into puddles on the road.

"Hinata stop! Come back!"

"L-Leave me a-alone!"

She couldn't run anymore. She was tired and worn down from the beating from her father. Her ankle hurt. She pushed herself harder but he tackled her to the ground.

They both slid over the road while he tried desperately to try to hold the girl down who was still trying to escape with all her power. He pinned her to the ground but she refused to be held down.

"Tell me what happened!"

"I told y-you it was n-nothing!"

She desperately tried to push him of off her but he struggled to keep her still.

"That's bullshit! Tell me who did this?!"

"Nobody!"

Her struggles became more furious and Naruto could tell even with all the rain that she was crying.

"Come on you can come with me, I'll help you."

"N-No I d-don't want t-to! I'm f-fine!"

He knew he couldn't do anything in the state she was in now and he was forced to hit a pressure point in her neck to make her pass out. Her body became limp and the struggling stopped. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She was soaked, beaten and her now closed eyes were red and puffy from crying.

He sighed. "Don't worry Hinata I'm going to help you. It's going to be fine. Nobody's going to hurt you now."

Naruto kicked the door of his apartment open. He couldn't use his hands to open it because he was still holding the unconscious Hyuuga. He had tried to take her home first. He had knocked on the door and her father had opened.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a friend of Hinata's…" He wanted to continue but her father had interrupted him.

"She doesn't live here anymore. Just leave her somewhere." Then he slammed the door shut in front of him and left Naruto and the unconscious girl in the pouring rain. He had than carried her home.

He laid the girl down on his couch. He quickly got some towels to dry her off but it was soon made clear to him that he would have to take them off to get her dry. Her clothes were soaked, so was she probably. He blushed at the thought but he knew it was necessary. He first took of her jacket and threw it into a corner. It hadn't been easy because it sticked to her because it was wet from the rain. He then took of her shirt, pants and shoes. He winced in pain and agony. Her body was covered in bruises and cuts.

"Oh Hinata, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me help you? Who did this to you?"

He picked her up and brought her to his bed after quickly drying her of. He made sure she was nice and warm before returning to the living to throw her clothes in the washing machine. He then returned to Hinata with a first aid kit and started treating her wounds.

He didn't know who did it yet. Or why. He couldn't imagine that someone would want to hurt someone as sweet as Hinata. What possible reason could this person have had? He didn't know what had happened but he could see that this person hadn't been holding back. She took quite a beating. It made him mad. It made him furious but at the same time he had to control himself on several occasions to burst into tears. This couldn't be happening. Not to someone as sweet and innocent as her. She didn't deserve something like this and why didn't her family help her? He had known they had some issues but it couldn't be this bad. She always seemed so happy. She never complained about it. She never told him about it. Why? Why didn't she let him help her? Why didn't she tell him? He should've been there. Should've protected her.

The world was filled with injustice. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for her. He wanted to make it all right. It just seemed so wrong. Doing good things wasn't rewarded with good things happening to you. Bad things happened to good people every day. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right at all. He wished good things only happened to good people and bad things only happened to bad people. He hoped it for her. Then she would be safe from this kind of suffering. She was a good person. Then why? Why was this happening to her?

A tear fell from his eye and splashed on her exposed tummy. It wasn't fair at all. He wished the world was fair even if it was just to protect people like her. Where was the justice? She deserved better than this. She was so sweet and kind. She was always helping people and even though she was shy everybody liked her. She tried to improve herself just like him and now something awful had happened to her and she didn't want to tell him what. But he made another promise that night. He promised himself that he would make sure that Hinata was going to be fine and that he would find out who did this. He was going to make sure history did not repeat itself. It was a promise of a lifetime.

Hinata woke up the next day. She was warm and dry and even though her body still ached when she moved it felt better then she thought they would.

She quickly sat up when she noticed these things and in a flash all the memories of last night washed through her body. Like despair had slapped her right in the face. She looked around and noticed that she was sleeping in an unfamiliar bedroom. It looked slightly messy but it was obvious someone had tried to clean it recently. The furniture looked cheap but still the room had something homey and comforting. She was lying under the thick covers of a double bed and she was dressed in what seemed to be a way to large T-shirt and pants.

She gasped when she realized that she was sleeping in Naruto's house, in Naruto's room, in Naruto's bed, in Naruto's clothes.

She quickly jumped out of the bed and frantically searched for her clothes. Naruto was nowhere to be seen and she wanted to leave before he noticed that she was awake. She didn't want to explain to him what happened. She didn't want him to waste his time on her. He shouldn't be worried about her. He had way more important stuff to worry about.

When she couldn't find her clothes she decided to give up and just leave without them. She slowly opened the door of the bedroom and looked around. Naruto was nowhere to be seen. She could see the front door of the small apartment and made a dash for it. Her fingers slightly grazed the doorknob of the front door when she felt someone grab her hand.

She looked around to see Naruto lying in the couch. She hadn't seen him because the back of the couch had pointed in the direction of the bedroom door.

"Hinata, what are you doing?"

"I'm s-so s-so-sorry Na-Naruto-kun. I d-didn't m-mean to c-cause you t-trouble. I-If I c-can have my c-clothes I-I'll just l-leave."

He stood up and walked to her without releasing her hand. "First of all. You never cause trouble for me because you are my friend and I'm here for you. Second of all your clothes are still in the dryer and last you're not going anywhere until I know what happened."

She looked down at the floor.

"Now sit down in the kitchen I'll make us some tea."

Hinata wanted to run out of the room anyway but there was something in the way he was looking at her that made it impossible. So she just sighed and sat down at the small kitchen table while Naruto made some tea.

"I'm sorry that I can't make you breakfast but I'm not a great chef and the only thing I have is some tea. I really need to go shopping." He took two white mugs from the closet and continued. "Yesterday I just took you home. You were really soaked so I had to change your clothes. I didn't do anything inappropriate I swear but you were really soaked and I had to treat your wounds. Do they still hurt a lot?"

"I-It's okay. T-They still h-hurt a l-little but it will h-heal."

He nodded and then looked at her. She hadn't seen him with that look often. He looked serious, dead serious. He looked straight at her and it was almost impossible for her to look away. It was almost if he was trying to look right into her head. Like he tried to read her mind through her eyes.

"Hinata please tell me. What happened?"

"I… I… It's o-okay. I-its n-nothing for y-you to worry a-about."

"Hinata but I am. I am worried about you. Please tell me what happened. I want to help you." His voice sounded begging.

"You d-don't need t-to help m-me N-Naruto-kun. I d-don't want to be a-a burden to you."

"Hinata like I told you before. You are never a burden to me. Please, I want to help you. You are my friend and I need to know who hurt you so bad."

Hinata sighed while Naruto sat next to her at the table. He poured her some tea and she slowly nipped it. Then she slowly opened her mouth and began talking. She told him what happened while tears ran over her cheeks. He wrapped his arm around her and let her cry in his chest while he whispered in her ear. "It's okay Hinata-chan, from now on I'm going to take care of you. It's going to be alright. I'm here now and no one's going to hurt you. The promise of a lifetime."

Something I made at 1 in the morning. I just got a sudden burst of inspiration. Damn and I was just comfortable in my bed -.- But anyway I hope everybody likes it. I might do a sequel or I might not. I don't think I will but if something pops up and I have the energy to write it and upload it. I'm so tired lately I think I'm dying DX. I just feel physically tired all day while, to be honest, I do nothing.

Anyways… so maybe a second chapter maybe not.

Kisses, hugs and cookies (they are not homemade I'm too tired. They come out of a box) for my lovely readers and reviewers from Kaina-chan.