The dark clouds had hung over Konoha for a few hours, since daybreak, but only until late afternoon did the gentle pitter-patter of rain settled on the glass of Naruto's apartment.

Damn it.

He was going to drop by Iruka's house to eat since he had no money, but since his house was all the way across the town, and he wasn't keen on risking the weather, Naruto wasn't sure about making the jouney.

Konoha was almost always sunny, but when it rained, it could get bad fast. Then he remembered something as a drop of water landed on his nose.

The roof was leaking. Crap. Maybe he coud get to Iruka's before the rain got to bad. When he got to the street he noticed that the people where already clearing out. That wasn't cause for hope.

Naruto jumped onto a store sign, then onto the roof, where he jumped from roof to roof, finally coming to the street where Iruka's apartment was. With the agility of a ninja, Naruto slipped through the small entrance plaza and took a left, running up the stairs.

At the fifth floor he opened the door to a long hallway, and he came to the 58th room and knocked on the door. He knocked again. Then again. Thinking that he should have made sure Iruka would be at home before dropping by, Naruto cursed himself.

Damn. Iruka's not home and my place is probably flooded. I wish I could move out sooner.

After coming back from his two and a half year abscence he had earned enough money from missions with Jaraiya to buy a bigger and nicer apartment, but he wouldn't be able to move for another two weeks.

So I'm stuck. Now what do I do? Kakashi, Fuzzy-brows, Shikamaru, Shino...everyone is out on a mission. Maybe Granny can help me, he reasoned.

Following his entrance path, he headed towards the Hokage's Tower, but the rain had started to begin to pound, and the wind was blowing hard against him. Something hard hit him on the head. At first he thought he was under attack, but then he remembered where he was, and when another one of those things hit him, he was able to grab it. It was cold and hard, and when Naruto looked at it, he groaned.

Hail. And it's big. This is gonna get ugly.

The pattering of rain grew to the dull thunk of hard ice. I need to get to shelter. And fast.

But he was still no-where near the Hokage's Tower. So where is some form of cover? Maybe I can wait this hail out.

Aside from some closed stores, there wasn't anyplace to hide, and with the wind picking up, visiblity was dropping rapidly. Midway through a jump that was higher than Naruto thought he should jump all sign of the ground below vanished.

Unable to do anything but pray, Naruto headed back to the ground.

Instead of landing safely, his foot caught the side of a slanted roof, his inertia carrying him forward. He landed with a dull thud he knew no-one would hear, but the surface he hit was smooth and polished.

Crap.

Unbalanced, he was helpless as his body skipped on the ground and finally skidded to a painful stop. Not knowing where he was, he gropped around for something familiar, but with the dense rain and hail, he could only see a few feet in front of him. yet over the roar of the storm, Naruto thought he heard footsteps. The sound faded as soon as he became aware of it.

"Hello? Can someone help me?" he called out. Somewhere, he couldn't tell where exactly, there was a whimper.

He swung his arms in circles, slow enough to be safe from the unseen, but he only felt the walls. Stepping out away from the walls, Naruto fell pray to the changeing wind, and a hard burst of rain smashed into his eyes. It stung like hell, and blinded him temporarily. He shouted in pain and frustration.

This wasn't his day.

Then he heard another whimper. Maybe he hadn't heard the first one in his head. Judging where it may have come from, Naruto lunged forward, grabbing at air.

But by sheer luck, his hands felt something which he grabbed with earnest, yet his lunge brought him and his prey falling somewhere, and it landed with a soft thud and a soft "Uff!".

Where-ever he had landed, it was warm, and whatever he had brought down, it smelled nice.

Really nice.

With a deep regret, he rolled off of it, but didn't move after. His eyes still hurt and so did the vast majority of his body. Wood moved, and then the howl of the weather was dimmed, but not totally cut off. Slowly, the world came back into view.

He sat up on his elbows and looked to where he had heard movement. Hinata stood holding onto the handle of the sliding door, her knuckles white, terror in her face. "Naruto-kun..." she muttered, then fainted.

Dashing with all the spped of a ninja, Naruto caught Hinata just in time, then laid her gently onto the floor.

Her lavender eyes opened after a few moments, and she looked at Naruto. He had his eyes closed, and his nose was moving. NARUTO IS SMELLING ME!!! she screamed to herself before she fainted again.

Wow. Hinata smells really nice. Better than Sakura. He took a few moments to smell her hair. With the Fox's powers giving him a nose more sensitive to smell, he reaized how overpowering the smell of lavender was up close. But it was a good overpowering. Reluctantly he set her down.

Hinata woke up again in a matter of minutes, Naruto leaning against the wall, looking absent-mindedly past the wall, listening to the storm. When he heard her move, he looked over to her, then smiled wide.

"Uh, Hinata, do you mind if I... I mean, I don' have any place to go, so... do you mind if I stay here?... Just until the storm blows over, of course." How much Hinata wanted to jump over and hug him tight and tell him not to go. But she couldn't she wasn't that kind of girl. She could only nod.

After a few minutes of akward silnce, Naruto struck up a conversation that Hinata participated in with only sparse, one word interjections. Finally the conversation came to the Chunnin Exams.

"So what's Hanabi like? I may have to face her, you know."

"Well," Hinata realized that if she kept her voice down low, she lost her stutter, but she was barely audible, "she is strong. Like Neji during our exams. He was... he was strong."

"Hey, so where you, Hinata" Naruto pointed out. Hinata didn't realize he was shuffling closer to her.

"But he beat me so easily. Even for you, it wasn't easy."

"Hinata..." she jumped as he put a hand on her shoulder. How had he gotten so close?!

"You were strong. Your were one of the strongest people I saw out there. Just because you lost doesn't mean your weak."

"I... Naruto-kun...But..."

"But nothing, Hinata. You lost. So what? You went out there after losing and you trained hard, and you got so much better. Remember that gaint wasp that you took down? I don't think I could have done that without the Rasengan, and that's not my jutsu. You took your weakness and made something completely new that complimented your needs perfectly. That took effort and skill that few have. Not to mention determination.

"So," he began to poke her playfully in the ribs with each word, "Don't. Say. That. You. Aren't. Strong!" The girl recoiled, laughing madly.

"Stop- HAHA!- Stop it, Naruto- k-kuHAHA! Stop! That tickles!" But he didn't. He kept poking, until she hit him back. Even though it was playful, her Gentle Fist sent him flying back into the wall. He collapsed and didn't move.

"Naruto-kun! Are you alright?!" she rushed over to his side, "Naruto-kun! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

As his powerfu hands grabbed her shoulders she squelled in suprise. "Naruto! Put me down!" He did, then rolled over right on top of her. Her face went deep red as he loked her in the eyes. "Naruto-kun..." There was silence for a moment. Desperate to get away, Hinata shot for some sort of safety. "The rain, Naruto-kun. It's stopped."

"I don't care. I've found a reason to stay a bit longer." Then his lips came down on hers.

I hope you like it. Its fluff, pure and simple. Gonna do a rewrite soon. Its two am, so I'm not in my Sunday best writing suit.