So, I was asked if I would like to participate in a yearly event about NaruHina. It's called Naru Hina Fluffy Day and it seemed fun, so I agreed. I don't know what to expect, seeing as this is different than how I normally create a story. I still hope you guys like it, though. But before I can start, disclaimer is bugging me, so I'm going to throw him out. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ENYTHING OF THE SERIES! Hmm… guess I threw it too hard… oh well, here goes nothing.

Ps. This takes place before the first episode of 'Naruto', I guess about half a year before the genin exams.

How to cure a fox

Hinata looked around the market, searching for the right ingredients for dinner. Normally someone from the branch house would do the errands, but she decided to become more independent by learning how to cook. Her father allowed her to go, but only because he was starting to lose hope in raising her as successor of the tribe. This thought made her feel down. It seemed like ever since her mother died she could only disappoint father.

It was when she had just bought the last ingredient that she heard a voice "Hey, watch out!" She barely had time to turn around before she was run over by someone. "Who are… never mind, come here!" Hinata only saw a blonde mop of hair before she was roughly pulled into a dark alley. "Come back here, Uzumaki!" could be heard over the rooftops. After a while it went quiet, leaving only the usual market noises to be heard.

"Pff, they're gone" the hands released her, giving her the chance to turn around. But when she did, she wished she hadn't, for behind her stood her livelong crush. When he looked at her she started blushing like crazy. "Oh hey, I know you! We're in the same class, right?" "U-uhm, yes… I-I'm Hyuuga H-Hinata." She looked down, missing the flushed look on her crush's face. "Oh, cool. Well, I guess I should go before they find me. I'm going to beat my record, believe it!" but before he could even make a first step he fell forward, taking Hinata with him.

Even while lying on the ground Hinata felt faint. Uzumaki Naruto was lying ON TOP OF HER! "Ah, sorry Hinata." For some reason he sounded kind of weak, which confused Hinata. In all the time she had known Naruto he spoke with a strong, confident voice, never sounding like he did now. "N-Naruto-kun, a-are you alright?" She REALLY tried to ignore the fact he was still on top of her. When she noticed him trying to sit up she tried to help him, only to pull back her hands directly afterwards. He was burning up!

"I'm fine, just a bit tired from running for so long" he tried to excuse himself, but Hinata wouldn't have any of it. "No you're not!" Naruto looked up, shocked by his classmate's sudden growth in confidence. When what Hinata had said caught up with her she shrunk back "I-I mean uhm… You're k-kind of b-burning up" she started fiddling with her thumbs. Naruto just looked at her as if she was crazy. He placed his hand on his forehead before exclaiming "No I'm not."

"Uhm, it d-doesn't work that way. Y-you can't feel it yourself." Hinata explained, hoping not to insult the blonde. "Oh. So what should I do?" He looked at her with expectation. Hinata thought about an answer "W-well, you should…" she looked at him. He was looking more flushed by the minute. She knew that Naruto had nobody that could take care of him and the villagers wouldn't help him either. She wasn't blind, she saw how everybody avoided him and for some odd reason even seemed to hate him. She threw one look at her shopping bag. Making her mind up she looked back at Naruto. "Were do you live?"

Hinata couldn't believe someone could actually life in such a place. How was the building even standing? When she asked where Naruto lived he tried to convince her she didn't have to come with him. She almost caved in, afraid she would intrude. But in the end she didn't, because if she didn't help him, who would? And she was glad she did, for during the walk Naruto only got worse, even having to stop to throw up one time. Now she was supporting him as he couldn't walk straight anymore. "Naruto-kun, we're here" if the situation wasn't so dire she would congratulate herself for not stuttering. She noticed the orange loving ninja starting to doze off.

"Naruto-kun, wake up. I need to know where your apartment is." He briefly opened his eyes and responded sleepily "Upstairs, there's 'demon' written on 't. Can't miss 't" before the shy Kunoichi-in-training could ask what he meant with that, he closed his eyes again. She would ask later, the most important thing was getting him to bed right now. After struggling to get his upstairs she searched for the door. Just like he said, there was 'demon' written on the door amongst other things. It was horrible, who would do something like this!? She shook her head, that would come later, right now she had to get inside.

It was then that she remembered. She forgot to ask him for the keys! Her crush was half asleep now, but she really needed the keys. "Naruto-kun, do you know where your key is?" she almost missed his reply "'m pocket". She should have known he couldn't get it himself, so with a huge blush she started to awkwardly search for the key. Of course, it was in the last pocket she searched. She opened the door to a catastrophe. Trash and cloths were everywhere. She REALLY tried to ignore the sight of boxers lying under the table. She walked with Naruto (or more like dragged him) to a room which she hoped was the sleeping room. Lucky for her it was.

His bedroom was even more of a mess, but she ignored it for the sake of helping the sick boy. With great difficulty she placed him on the bed, stretching her muscles afterward. She would definitely feel this tomorrow. While she walked back into the living room she ran through the things she needed to do. First she would need a tile of water and a cloth. Searching in the cabinets she found a bowl. That would do. She also saw a bucket somewhere, she would probably need it.

With the stuff in her arms she walked back to the bedroom. After putting the bucket next to Naruto's bed she placed the moist cloth on his forehead. He moaned a bit, but didn't show any signs of waking up. Deciding he needed his rest she walked back to the kitchen. Once again searching the cabinets, this time for food, she found some things she could use for dinner. There wasn't enough to make a decent meal, but if she combined it with some of her own ingredients she could miss she could make some soup.

When she was done with that she checked on Naruto, changing the cloth. Hinata bit her lip. He didn't look like he would wake up soon. He needed his rest, but he also needed some food. Making up her mind, deciding she could at least do something while she waited for him to wake up, so she searched for some cleaning stuff. When she got everything she needed she took one last look at the room and started cleaning.

It was when she was almost done that she heard groaning in the bedroom. Figuring that Naruto was waking up she filled a bowl with soup and walk to her awaking classmate. "What… who?" "It is me, Naruto-kun. Would you like to eat something?" Naruto looked up, seeing Hinata standing next to him with a bowl of soup. "I… guess." Satisfied with the answer Hinata sat down and decided to feed him (he didn't look like he could hold the spoon), blowing the soup before moving the spoon to his mouth.

After a while Naruto spoke up, startling Hinata in the process. "Why 're you helpin' me?" "Why wouldn't I? You're sick, so you needed help." Wow, it really was easier talking to him. Maybe she could finally tell him that she l- "Nobody wants to help a demon." Hinata couldn't believe her ears. When cleaning the graffiti of the front door she had seen different insults, 'demon' being the most prominent one, but she had never thought that the blonde let those insults get to him. "You are not a demon! Don't believe what others are saying, because you are…" She took a deep breath "you are the sweetest, strongest person I know and you're the person who is going to be the best hokage ever." Hinata turned her head, not able to look Naruto in the eye. "A demon can't be loved. I- I love you, therefore you can't be a demon!" she ended, whispering the first part. Naruto stared at her for a while, cloudy eyes telling her that he hadn't completely followed what she had said. It wasn't long before a smile started to form on his face. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata blushed at the suffix, but Naruto had fallen asleep again. She smiled down at him, until she noticed that it was darker in the room than before. Looking outside the window she noticed the sun setting. 'Oh no, I'm going to be late! Father is going to be so mad!' She hurried out of the apartment, but not before catching her stuff and leaving a note telling Naruto that there was leftover soup in the fridge. After that she ran to the Hyuuga estate as fast as she could.

Hinata's father hadn't been mad, he'd been furious, grounding her for a month. Because of this the girl couldn't check up on Naruto the entire weekend, leaving her in the dark about his health. But it was finally Monday, meaning she would see him again (if he didn't decide to skip today). She entered the classroom and sat on her usual spot. It was almost time for the lesson to start and Naruto had still not arrived. It was when Iruka-sensei started taking attendance that the blonde stormed in.

"Yes! Right on time!" "No, you're too late!" the chuunin reprimanded, somehow getting a giant head while doing so. "Ack, Iruka-sensei!" seriously, it was creepy when he did that. "You're lucky I haven't started the lesson yet. Go sit down and be on time next time." He continued, rubbing his temple while his head became a normal size again. He really wanted to punish the kid, making sure that he got the message, but he was happy that the blonde even showed up somewhat on time in the first place.

Hinata was glad that Naruto looked as energetic as ever. She tried to make eye contact, to figure out how much Naruto could remember when he was sick. But no such luck, he looked at her for a second but he didn't show any recognition whatsoever. Hinata sighted, it didn't matter that much. As long as he felt better, that was most important.

The day went on as usual. Lessons, some pranks courtesy of Naruto, some scolding from Iruka and then the continuation of the lesson. Throughout the entire day Hinata hadn't had the opportunity to talk to Naruto and in the end she even decided against it. If he didn't remember than she would only embarrass herself by trying to explain. So at the end of the day she walked out of the classroom with her spirits dampened. Which was the reason for why she jolted when she heard the loud voice.

"Oi, Hinata, wait up a sec!" She turned around, seeing her crush running towards her. "N-Naruto-k-kun" Why was she stuttering again!? It went so well the other day! "Hey, I wanted to talk to you 'bout something." Naruto said, rubbing his neck. "Where you the one that helped me when I got sick?" Not trusting her voice at the moment Hinata just nodded. "Really?! I can't really remember anything after running into you to be honest. But I guess you're the one that made that soup and cleaned everything up, right?" She again answered by nodding. "I just wanted to say thank you, you really helped me out that day! Well, I guess I'll see you around. Bye!" And with that he ran away to whatever prank he had planned that day. It was only when he rounded the corner that she found her voice again. And so, with a small smile on her lips she whispered her answer.

"You're welcome."

So… that wasn't actually that bad (if you forget that writer block midway). This is actually way bigger that I had planned it out to be. I mean come on IT'S 3 PAGES! I actually planned 1,5 or maybe 2. I really hope you guys like it as much as I do, because this is the first time writing a story from a scratch. Normally I have at least a storyline that I made and refined to work with.

But I got to go, my sister is bugging the cat again, trying to, and I quote "use pounce to capture Simba (our cat) before he uses charm to escape"… I regret introducing her to anime. I'm going to save him, so peace out!

x-elmsvuur-x