chapter 1
T'was a calm and peacful night, the entire leaf village lay at peace. All, exept the Knuckle-headed ninja himself, Naruto. He was covered in sweat, tangled in the blankets, moving in sharp, quick spasms as though he was ill. Indeed he was, but not by any virus. The poor ninja, had no love to his life for 18 years, and now he subcontiously yearned it. Each night, he would dream of a young maiden, but every morning he would wake, and have no clue as to who it was. He knew her, naruto could tell that much, but the real question that killed him, was whom?
The nightmares always left him in a depressed and angry mood, but he always had something up his sleeve that could make him happy so his friends couldn't see him hurt. Strangely enough, it wasn't ramen. He always liked to take a nice hot shower using a light smelling lavender shampoo and lotion. Afterwards, he'd use his leaf cologne Sakura had shown him how to make so he could smell just like his father, as Grandma Tsunade told him. Then, Naruto would put on his new clothes he'd bought since his old pair had been ripped in training. He now wore a blue T-shirt saying, " A Fight for Peace, A Fight for Understanding," and faded black jeans, since it was still spring.
Yet this morning was different, he'd spilled his ramen on his shirt, so he had to settle for his plain orange one, then found he was out of his cologne, so now he smelled purely of lavender, which wasn't so bad, but ever since Sasuke came back to the village he'd use every chance he'd gotten to tease the poor blonde ninja, and this would be one of them. What was worse was that his old friend Hinata had been avoiding him for 2 years, and this time he'd caught a glimps of her using her kekkei genkai so she could avoid him completely!
" Flowerboy! what's wrong?" Sasuke asked, still joking about his lavender scent.
" It's nothing.... just having a bad day I guess..." Naruto scratched his head.
" I know my old team-mate well enough to know that it's more than a bad day for you. You usually pick yourself back up again if something bad happened, but now you're just plain moping. So tell me," sasuke said sitting down next to Naruo on the hill looking down upon the village.
Naruto explained to Sasuke not caring that his friend didn't look interested. He didn't respond for a while, so Naruto asumed his friend didn't care about his problems and was just staring blankly at the clouds. This asumption made NAruto jump when Sasuke finally spoke.
" Crap, that does sound like a bad day. But if you've been feeling this way for a while, why haven't you told us? Sakura and I can help you. She can help you find some more attractive clothes to wear, and I can help you with the way you talk, and the way you act," he said.
" How exactly is thast going to help me?" Naruto asked looking at his friend in a confused manor.
" Simple, you need someone to help you out, like I have Sakura. You know I need someone because I will be going blind because of these dang Mangekyo eyes, and you need someone for your emotions, and to keep the fox in check," Sasuke reasoned.
" Is that the only reason you married Sakura? So you can have someone be your seeing eye dog?" Naruto asked heating up.
" No. She knew me well enough, and acepted me when no one else did a year ago. I'd loved her, and knew she would be the one to stay by my side when I could no longer see, and no longer be a ninja," He said solumnly.
" Naruto, you're repressing the fact that you're hurting inside. Everyone else got married, Sakura and I, Neji and Tenten, Kiba and, well, I haven't learned her name yet... Shino and some other chick he'd met on a mission, Shikamaru and Temari, Ino and Choji, even Konahamaru's dating! Look, you want someone to love you, not like Sakura, and I, as comrades, but as a mate, if you catch what I mean," Sasuke muttered.
"Oh yeah! that would explain my dream! now that I know what it means, I can-" sudenly a flashback hit naruto in the face splitting his head in two
^^^
Pain stood above Naruto, rchakra receivers all over his body. Naruto was as good as dead at the moment, he'd failed.
" I've avoided and Vital spots, kept them shallow," Pain said," but you will no longer be able to move on your own."
" COME ON LAD!" Naruto heard Ma say, " No! You mustn't listen to him! You're the Child of Prophecy! The savior of this world! You are not allowed to lose! Jiraiya and Pa risked their lives for you, believing in you! If you give up I won't forgive you!"
Suddenly Ma was flying backwards knocking her out cold. Pain used his Rinnegan to move her. With his arm outstreched, he said, " Loudmouthed frog."
" Hey!" Naruto yelled. Pain turned to him.
" It's time we were on our way..." he said, then turned his hand to Naruto to use his Rinnigan on him. Suddenly from behind Pain, Naruto saw Hinata soaring torwards them. From the shocked look on Naruto's face, Pain could tell something was behind him. He glanced back, seeing the woman poised to hit him, and dodged. She made a large crater where he was previosly standing.
" Reinforcements, eh..." Pain asked. Hinata turned glaring at him and said, " I won't let you hurt Naruto!"
" Why did you come here?! Run! You can't win..." Naruto shouted to her.
" I know..." she said, receiving a shocked look from Naruto, " I'm just being selfish..."
" What are you talking about?! Why expose yourself to this?!" he shouted fearing for her to die in his battle. Hinata did not answer for a second.
Finally she said, " I'm here because I want to be." Again she got a shocked look from him.
"... I used to be such a crybaby, always giving up before even starting.
" I took the wrong path so many times... But you, you helped me find my way and take the corect path, Naruto." Naruto just stared at her, taking in what she was saying.
" I always chased after you, wanting to catch up... wanting to walk toghether with you forever...
" I want to be at you side, always... You changed me, Naruto! Your smiling face saved me! And that's why I'm not afraid to die, defending you!" Pain glared at the two, unamused.
"Because, I-"
" Naruto! NARUTO WAKE UP!"
Naruto woke suddenly staring up at a white celing.
