Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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Naruto watched the girl out of the corner of his eye. She was studying the paper on her desk carefully and chewing on her pencil eraser. Her white eyes slowly drifted over to his staring ones. She smiled gently and the blond whipped his head back to his test, blushing profusely. Hinata giggled and circled an answer on the sheet, then got up to turn it in.
He quickly finished, not even caring what answers he put. He ran out, backpack bouncing on his back, looking around for the girl and smoothing down his orange t-shirt. She was nowhere to be seen. He sighed miserably and shuffled towards his locker. He stuffed everything he had, grabbed his lunch, and locked the door back. Naruto squeaked when he saw someone leaning against the row, arms over his chest.
"Hey, Naruto," Sasuke said, coming to stand in front of the boy.
"Y-yes, Sasuke?" he whimpered. The raven slammed his hands against the lockers, caging Naruto like a rat. The blond cringed against the cold metal.
"You were looking at my girl again." Sasuke was leaning closer to Naruto's face. He felt his hot breath on his face.
"I'm s-sorry!" he said. He tried to duck away from the angry teen, but was grabbed by the collar of his shirt. People in the hallways started to stare and whisper. Some started to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Naruto cast a terrified glance to every person that gathered, but he got no pity. Nobody cared for the blond. He went limp, hoping that with his body being relaxed, the raven might take it as a sign of defeat.
He was spun around to face Sasuke. He expected the punch that came, but that didn't make it hurt any less. He stumbled a bit, holding his bruising face. Sasuke took a step forward and violently shoved him to the floor. As he started to stand up, the blond collapsed again due to a foot being forcefully dug into his back. A hand buried itself in his messy hair and wrenched his head painfully up.
"Why don't you fight back, pussy?" Sasuke hissed. "You think you would've learned something from the other times."
"Sasuke! What are you doing?"
Her voice was like a breath of fresh air. Naruto practically cried with relief when his face was back on the cool linoleum. Hinata's high heels clicked into view. The blond didn't expect her to crouch down and found himself staring up her skirt. His face turned a very interesting shade of crimson. She helped him to his feet and then looked at Sasuke with hands on her hips.
"He was staring at you again, Hina," the raven griped, "He's a creep and you know it."
Hinata poked his chest angrily. "You're being more of creep by beating him up! We are high schoolers, Sasuke, not children fighting over the last cookie."
Naruto shifted from foot to foot, feeling awkward. Hinata was so nice sticking up for him, but he hated when this led to her arguing with her boyfriend. That just increased Sasuke's fury at him. The crowd was dispersing bit by bit, though some people still hung around to see if the couple would duke it out. Since the attention was now on them, he tried backing slowly away. The blunette spotted him, however. As she took a step towards him, Naruto broke out into a run.
He pushed through the crowds people in the halls getting ready to leave school for the day and go home. He pushed through the double doors leading out into the street. He pushed himself to get home, all the while ignoring the cries of the girl he loved behind him.
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Naruto burst through the back door of the Jinchuriki Orphanage. A redhead named Gaara looked up from his position on the wood floor where he did his homework. The blond locked the door and hid under the staircase, praying to God Hinata lost her way and gave up. He heard the front doors open and cursed himself for not locking them, too.
"Hi! Welcome to Jinchuriki Orphanage." Yugito, a former orphan and owner of the house, had answered the door. "You're a little young to adopt someone. Are you one of Fuu's friends?"
"Actually, I'm looking for Naruto. Is he here?"
Gaara stared at Naruto intensively. The blond shook his head and put his pointer finger in front of his lips. The boy stood up and Naruto watched, horrified, as he whispered in Yugito's ear. The woman then came over to the staircase and crouched down in front of the terrified teen.
"Naruto, you have a visitor," she said, amused. Her expression turned worried when she noticed the bruise on his cheek. "What happened to your face?"
He shook his head adamantly. "I'm not coming out."
"What happened to your face, Naruto?" Yugito repeated.
"It's nothing. Just tell her to go." He could see Hinata staring at them and his face heated up. His caretaker looked between the two and smiled. She stood and offered her hand to the cowering boy. He reluctantly took it, regret forming when she led him to Hinata, and then left the two alone. They stood in silence while the girl floundered for something to say.
"I dumped him," she said eventually, "He was a jerk for always beating you up like that."
"I shouldn't have looked at you like that." He shouldn't have looked at her at all.
She took his hands in his. "This is not your fault. Sasuke is just a jealous ass. It's not like he could stop everyone from looking at me."
Naruto relished the feel of her hands. They were soft and smooth, no evidence that she had worked a day in her life.
"Hey, why don't I take you out for ice cream? My treat," she said, smiling radiantly. He just nodded, dumbfounded.
Hinata led the way down Leaf Street to the only ice cream store in town. It being right after school, it was packed. They ordered a Cheery Cherry Sundae and sat down to wait. It wasn't long before things went awry.
"Well, lookie here, boys," Sasuke crowed, two boys, Juugo and Suigetsu, trailing behind him. "If it isn't my old girlfriend."
"Piss off, duck-butt. I'm on a date," Hinata said, laying her hand on top of Naruto's. He blushed fiercely. Sasuke glared at Naruto, but replaced it with a sardonic smile. He gripped the blonds shoulder painfully, making him wince.
"Do you mind if I go talk to him outside for a moment?"
The blunette stood and put her face dangerously close to Sasuke's. "Just leave him alone."
"Get out of my face, bitch!" the raven shrieked, slapping Hinata. She fell back in her chair, looking close to tears.
Something snapped in Naruto then. It was like a switch had been turned on and now he could fight back. And he did. He launched himself at the offender, aiming for his face. People in the store started screaming when Sasuke's head hit the tile. Punches rained down on the pale teens face, earning him a broken nose and a split lip. Juugo and Suigetsu combined were just barely enough to pull Naruto off.
"Don't you ever touch Hinata again. Don't you dare!" he shouted, struggling to free himself from his captors. They dumped him out onto the street and stood guard by the door to make sure he wouldn't come back in to torment their leader. Hinata rushed out seconds later and hugged Naruto gratefully.
"Oh, god. You are the bravest, sweetest boy alive," she cried. He blushed, muttering that it was nothing. They walked back to the orphanage together and when they got there, stood outside holding hands.
"You really live here?" she asked, staring up at the building.
He nodded. "My entire life. My parents were killed when I was a baby."
"Oh." They stood quietly. The sun was setting behind her head, giving her a fiery halo. He was almost blinded by the beautiful sight.
She kissed him on the lips. "Thank you for what you did back there. I've never had a boy stand up for me like that."
"Well…He shouldn't have disrespected you like that," Naruto said shyly. His mouth was tingling from where her lips touched it.
"I always knew you were different." Hinata kissed him again and bid him a good night and sweet dreams. The lovesick teen offered to take her home, but she declined, saying she had to run some errands for her mom. He watched her retreating figure, paying close attention to her swaying hips.
'Do I…have a girlfriend now?'
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This was originally supposed to be an Aengus challenge type thing, but I'm not sure it came out that way….Uzumaki-Ricky requested this. You like? Review!