Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, you'd know.

Love and Shinobi

She couldn't help it. She loved him. Not that she didn't want to love him, but her father didn't want her to. She never told him, but he knew. He just didn't know how strongly she felt about him. The signs were everywhere. She had written his name on her notebook about a hundred times, just "Uzumaki Naruto" over and over again. She was always staring at him. But perhaps the biggest indicator was how her lavender eyes, trademarks of the Hyuuga clan, seemed too light up when he was mentioned.

She loved him, oh yes, but it didn't seem as though he loved her. The blond, spiky-haired, orange-clad shinobi certainly didn't seem to know how she felt. He was totally oblivious to everything around him (or at least he wasn't 7 years ago), and he treated her more like a friend than anything else. But she wanted to be more than that. His blockheadedness just made her love him more.

"Hinata," said her father, Hyuuga Hiashi.

"Father!" said Hinata, her thoughts interrupted. "I was just-"

"Thinking about that Uzumaki boy," said Hiashi. It wasn't a question.

"Father…"

"Hinata, you must stop thinking about this boy. As the heir to the Hyuuga clan, you owe it to our family to-"

"Father, I can't stop thinking about him." She said in her quiet manner.

Hiashi's lavender eyes, so like Hinata's, but so much colder, bore holes into her. "Can't, or don't want to? Hinata, I refuse to let you associate with him. He is the lowest of trash, he is not fit to clean the muck off our sandals, he is-"

"Father, I love him!" she half shouted

Even as she said it, she couldn't believe it. 'D-did I just s-say that?' she thought to herself. She felt relieved. Finally, she admitted it.

She just admitted it to the wrong person.

"YOU WHAT?!" shouted Hiashi, face turning from pale to angry read rather quickly.

"I-I love him…"

"WENCH! HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING!" Hiashi stormed.

"It's t-true…" Hinata insisted.

Hiashi just stood their, fuming, then said, "Leave."

Hinata felt rooted to the spot. "Leave? Father, what do you-?"

"Leave. Get out of my house. From this moment on, I have only one daughter."

Tears welled up in the Hyuga's-well ex-Hyuga's-eyes. The young kunoichi turned and ran, crying, her long, dark-blue hair flowing out behind her.

'Disowned…' she thought in anguish. It was the ultimate dishonor. To be stripped of your clan name and title and be left alone was worse than death and, in most cases, was followed by it. Not from other people, or ninja, for, although you were mostly ignored, you weren't hated. No, they died by their own hand. She wasn't even Hyuuga Hinata anymore, just… Hinata.

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"AHHH, it's good to be back!"

The male shinobi was grinning his goofy grin, showing off the whisker marks on his face, still a blockhead, but he had matured. He had grown, so he no longer had his customary orange pants and jacket, but a new outfit. Hs pants were still orange, with his kunai pouch on the left leg, but his shirt was black on his arms and shoulder. His sandals were now black instead of blue. His hair had gotten a little longer, but retained the spiky style it always had. He reached up to adjust his ninja headband, the tails of which flapped in the wind. He lifted his head to greet the massive village gates that met his blue eyes.

"So, Ero-sennin, how's it feel to be back?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Kid, I've been coming and going for years. After coming back the 15th time, it loses its glamour. And, for the thousandth time, don't call me Ero-sennin!"

Despite what he said, the 58 year old author of Make-Out Paradise was glad he was back in Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, if only to get away from Naruto. Hr was a good kid, but the 19-year-old shinobi was just annoying. It was all "new jutsu", and "train me", and "quit looking at women for two seconds", but as time went on, less of the last.

"Well, I can't wait to get home!" said Naruto. I'll finally be able to see Hinata again. I wonder how she is…"

'Not again,' thought Jiraiya thought. When the kid wasn't talking about training, he was talking about this Hinata girl. It was aggravating. Teasing him about it had stopped being fun ages ago, so he couldn't do anything but wait it out. Jiraiya told him to shut up on several occasions, but he just kept talking, nonstop.

"Well, kid, I told you that once we got to the gate, our ways would part. Good luck." And with that, the Toad Sage was gone.

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"More miso-ramen, old man!"

Once inside the gates, Naruto wasted no time in going to Ichiraku's for some miso-ramen. This was his hang out, his lunch place, his fortress of solitude.

Well, it was.

"NARUTO!" shouted a female voice.

Naruto turned, and out of no where a dark red something came at him and latched onto him.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, you want to let me go? I can't breath."

"Oh, sorry, Naruto," said Sakura. His former teammate let go. The pink-haired kunoichi had grown considerably. Naruto had to work hard not to stare, and the Kyuubi wasn't helping much. The nine-tailed fox demon sealed inside him was flooding his body with hormones, and Naruto did not appreciate it.

"It's great to see you again, Naruto!"

It's good to see you, too, Sakura-chan. So," said Naruto, "how is Tsunade-baa-chan?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. He may have been older, but he was still an idiot. Referring to Lord Hokage as "granny Tsunade", honestly.

"If you mean Lord Hokage," said Sakura testily, "she's fine."

"That's good."

For a while, they sat talking, until Naruto asked "Have you seen Hinata-chan anywhere? I wanted to talk to her."

'That's weird, Sakura thought. The old Naruto had had a huge crush on Sakura when they were genin. He expected to talk for hours, and then Naruto would beg her not to leave. Now it looked like he was bursting to get away. Not that she was complaining. She always hated his attitude toward her. She was just surprised.

"No, I haven't, not for days, actually. Why, what is it?"

"It's private."

"Well, try the Huuga household, she's probably their."

Naruto was gone in an orange blur, saying over his sholder, "Thanks, Sakura!"

Sakura sat their, bewildered.'What was that i about?'

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With the speed Naruto was moving towards the Hyuuga compound, you would have thought that there was a fire. Turns out there was… just not at the Hyuuga house.

No, this fire was within the young shinobi, burning within him, egging him on. He had waited 7 years to tell this girl how he felt. He felt like an idiot for not realizing it before he left. He loved this girl, the shy one, the girl who was always in the shadows, the girl with the lavender eyes…

Of course, being an idiot, he didn't realize that she felt the same way, even though she practically stalked him. Whenever he was around him, she watched him. Whenever he fought or trained (inside Konoha, of course), she watched him. Even when he was at Ichiraku's, his favorite ramen restaurant, eating like the wind, she watched him.

No, he was unaware of her watching. He assumed she was just a weird girl. But her mysterious tendencies were just part of the reason he loved her.

He finally made it to the Hyuuga clan household. He knocked on the door and waited. Finally, a servant came to the door. "Hello," said the servant. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for Hinata," said Naruto. "Is she here?"

The servant's face paled, and, painfully, he practically whispered "…There is no one here by that name." And with that, he slammed the door in Naruto's face.

'What the hell was that about!? thought Naruto. 'I know she lives here! And this guy says there is no Hinata there? What's the deal? He didn't even say she didn't live there anymore but he made it sound like there never was a Hinata there. What gives?!'

Naruto decided to go to the place that the genin used to train. It was a little different than when he left. He visited the place where he and his teammates became shinobi. Kakashi, their old sensei, put them through a lot to get their title, even if it was just the title of genin. Kakashi always did play hard ball.

The nine-tailed fox inside him had given his senses a boost, and thanks to his training, they were even more acute. Because of this he heard the gentle sobbing in the distance. Concerned, he followed the sound to the cliff where he first summoned Gamabunta, the giant toad. There he saw a woman. She was just standing there, crying.

'Wow,' thought Naruto, i 'she's beautiful.'

Naruto was about to go up to her and say something, but he heard her say, "I'm sorry, Father…" And then she jumped.

Naruto did it without thinking. He jumped after her. Straitening his body, so he was more stream-lined, he delved deep within himself and confronted the nine-tailed fox. 'O.k., you stupid fox, give me your power!

He felt the fox's chakrafill him. It surrounded him, forming a red chakra tail and ears. Grabbing the woman, who had fallen unconscious, with his right arm, he extended the chakra claw enveloping his left arm, grabbed the cliff ledge, and with one yank, pulled them both out of the crevice.

Once back on the ground, Naruto placed her on the grass. Naruto couldn't help but think he had seen her before. Then, he realized who it was.

It was Hinata. But it wasn't the Hinata he remembered. She had grown, from the small, shy girl he knew, to the beautiful, 19-year-old woman before him. Naruto tried to ease the rush of emotions he felt by releasing the fox's chakra. It didn't work

He leaned in close to her, Hinata still unconscious, and felt her light breathing. 'Good, she's still alive.' His brain told him to pull back, but his back wouldn't straiten. He just couldn't stop staring at her. Her pale lips were parted slightly, and he couldn't look away. Naruto found himself leaning toward her…

Hinata had to pick that time to wake up.

"N-naruto-kun…"

Hinata's voice turned out to be the thing to bring Naruto back to reality. "Hinata! I'm sorry! I was trying to see if you were breathing, I swear!" That wasn't a lie, exactly.

"I-it's o.k., Naruto-kun…" said Hinata.

Hinata sat up, and hugged her knees. They sat there for about 5 minutes until Naruto said "So, Hinata-chan, you wanna tell me why you jumped off that cliff?"

Suddenly, Hinata launched herself at Naruto, thrust herself into his chest, and started crying. Naruto wasn't sure what to do. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He realized Hinata was in pain, and had to be supportive, but he wasn't sure how to be supportive. So, in the end, he just held her, and tried to say comforting things.

Finally, after 20 minutes, Hinata stopped crying, and when Naruto asked again, and she told him –through tears- that her father had disowned her.

Naruto was shocked. The strange occurrence at the Hyuuga clan house suddenly made sense. "Why would he do that?"

"I…I fell I love"

"You fell in love? That's reason for disownment?!"

"I-it wasn't that I f-fell in love. It was wh-who I fell in love with."

"Why would that matter?"

"My f-father says that he is b-beneath us s-socially."

"The whole clan system is stupid. Now you risk disownment for love? That's ridiculous."

Hinata lay in Naruto's arms, enjoying the feeling of his embrace. He had saved her life… Just as she thought no-one cared about her, Naruto had saved her. Maybe he… No, she wouldn't get her hopes up. Still, he had saved her, and she owed him the truth.

"N-naruto-kun, I have something t-to tell you something…" she said softly.

"What is it, Hinata-chan?" said Naruto, just as softly.

'It's now or never' she thought. "I…I love you"

Naruto was shocked. She loved him! It was unbelievable! 7 years he obsessed about her, and never once did he think she felt the same.

Naruto looked down at her, eyes full of longing, and lifted her chin so she was looking at him. He smiled at her, and kissed her.

Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and deepened the kiss, making it more passionate. She felt Naruto put his arms around her, pulling her close. She had dreamed of this moment for so long, she found herself wondering if she hadn't died. But no, this felt too real. She was alive, and in her loves arms.

They broke the kiss, and Naruto said, with as much passion as he could muster, said, "I love you, too."

Hinata was happier than she had ever been. Finally, she had what she always wanted. Someone to love her for real, not to use her power, or to keep her power suppressed. Someone who would love her for her, not what she can do.

"Hinata-chan, do you have a place to stay?"

"No," said Hinata, surprised when she didn't stutter.

"Well, you can stay with me. If you want," he added hastily.

Hinata looked at him, kissed him again, and said, "Thank you, Naruto-kun. I'd love to."

They walked from the training ground, hand in hand, happy they had finally found each other.

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Well, their you go! My first fanfic. Depending onthe reviews I get, I may post more chapters. So, R&R