so here's chapter two of my Naruto fic. as a heads up, I will be skipping several scenes shown in the anime because I don't plan to make this an epic fic length fic. it'll be pretty short and there will be major gaps in the timeline.

and so, we continue on with the adventures of Naruto and his new friend, Hyuuga Hanabi.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

the song thing in the italics is from the book "Holes" by Louis Sachar.

Speech:

"Blah" normal

'Blah' thoughts

thats all for now

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Chapter 2

It was a cloudy day. The sun was nearly completely blocked out and the clouds looked gray and threatening. The telltale smells of a coming rain storm were apparent. This suited Naruto just fine. He didn't feel very excited or happy, even when he had passed the Genin selection exams. He absentmindedly picked at his hitai-ate (sp?) as he mused over last nights events...

Flashback

"You're the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi!"

End Flashback

Mizuki's face and voice were still clear and his voice still rang in Naruto's head. The malicious sadistic smile Mizuki had made when he revealed the village secret was deeply etched in Naruto's mind.

Naruto sniffed and continued to watch the grass do nothing whatsoever. Soon, he buried his head in his arms. The sanctuary the tree provided comforted him to some small extent. If only...

"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs,

"The bark on the tree was just a little bit softer."

While the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely,

He cries to the moon,

"If only, if only."

Naruto let out a big sigh and closed his eyes, feeling the rays of light pass him by.

'If only, if only...'

"Naruto? Are you crying?"

Naruto snapped his head up to see who had inquired whether he had been allowing salty water to leak from his eyes. How dare they suggest he had been doing a girl's job! (No offense to you girls out there. I just believe that the naive Naruto's mentality would suggest that females would do this sort of thing. I respect the female sex, oh believe you me. I'm frightened.)

'Wait a minute...Blunt as a steel shot-put? Must be-'

"Hanabi-chan? What are you doing here? And I wasn't crying!"

Indeed, it was Hanabi. She was wearing a similar outfit to the one Naruto had first seen her in. She was in a plain gray yukata with dark gray pants and a bluish gray sash and thonged sandals. Hanabi walked over to where Naruto was sitting and plopped down next to him. She didn't know why, but she felt freer than she felt at any other time to do childish things and have not a single care.

"I just came back from training in the field behind the Hokage monument with Otou-sama. I thought I might buy something to eat but saw you. You looked sad."

"Heh, well, it doesn't take a genius or super-eyes to figure out I was sad. But I'm fine now, see?"

Naruto mustered up his best grin. It was half real, half fake. He was happy to see that Hanabi hadn't forgotten him but still a little miffed about the incident.

"Naruto-niichan, you're a terrible liar, do you know that? You don't have to lie to me. I'm your friend."

Hanabi copied Naruto's current position and wrapped her arms around her legs. She looked at the morbid sky twist and turn at the will of the wind. As a cloud passed by, it began to rain. First a light sprinkle then an all out deluge. All the better, Hanabi loved the rain. It was one of the ways she still felt like a kid her own age and not get in any trouble for being a delinquent.

But for once, Hanabi didn't feel like running around in the rain. She felt too compelled by the aura of sadness and loneliness that surrounded her new friend.

"Naruto-niichan...-"

"I passed my Genin selection exam..."

Hanabi blinked at this. This was wonderful news! How could Naruto be so sad about it?

"I see you're wondering why I'm sad if I passed the exam, huh?"

Hanabi blinked again.

"Wah..how did you-?"

"I told you, didn't I? You don't need super-eyes to read things about people."

Naruto gave a wary, half-smile in Hanabi's direction. In that moment, Hanabi saw rather than sensed a presence within Naruto's eyes. It intrigued her and stirred the curiousity only a small child could possess.

'Byakugan.'

As she activated her bloodline and dived into Naruto's eyes which were all but open windows to her. She dived in and caught sight of the presence she had seen.

She was mentally scarred from that point on.

Her mind mentally screamed from what she was seeing. A myriad of bloody, hellish nightmares were flung at her. Visions of massacres, emotions running high, bloodlust and bloodthirstiness. The enjoyment of watching another life suffer and scream in agony as they breathed their last, ragged breath. Diving in face first on a downed body and tearing it apart and swallowing the flesh of the victim. Visions of a different world with gruesome monsters, battles fought on different planes of existance.

All the while, she heard laughing but couldn't distinguish it either as her own voice or of the creature laughing at her. Her mental self fell to the "ground", eyes blank and breathing hard. The laughter increased in magnitude and the creature dived in at her. All she could think of was,

'I'm going to die...someone..help...please...'

"Hanabi-chan! Hanabi-chan! Wake up!"

She felt a foreign object smack her across the face and she returned to the physical plane. As soon as she opened her eyes she began to cry and grabbed onto the nearest object to her, said object being Naruto.

Naruto didn't know what to do but hug Hanabi back. He knew, somehow, that Hanabi had seen within and saw the deadly secret that lay within Naruto's body and soul. Naruto grew saddened again when he thought this.

'I guess she'll leave me now. I guess it was still nice to have a friend, if only for a few days.'

Hanabi was still shaking when she let go of Naruto and looked up into his eyes. The laughter was still ringing in her ears and that awful grin she had seen...

"Na...Naruto-niichan..? Wh-what was that?"

"Hanabi-chan, please, don't tell anyone what you saw, no matter what, please don't tell anyone!"

Hanabi squinted her eyes a little at this.

"B-but...why?"

Naruto looked away from the little girl he treasured greatly ashamedly. He began to shake a little too, and not from the cold.

"It's because...I'm afraid, Hanabi-chan...I'm so afraid of what's going on with me and what secret I hold. It's driving me crazy!"

Naruto made to run away as fast as he could and not look back but his pants got snagged by something. Unwillingly he turned around to look at what had stopped him and saw little Hanabi holding his leg and using chakra to hold herself in place and looking up at him with a pleading look.

"Naruto-niichan...Nii-chan! Don't run away! Please."

Naruto looked down at the girl with a mixture of love and sadness and allowed himself to be pulled down back under the tree. He rested with his back to it and Hanabi walked around and sat at the opposite end behind Naruto and hugged her knees.

There was silence for a long time, both people out in the rain watching the droplets perform the deadly dance and dive. It was a while before anyone spoke.

"...At the Genin selection exams, I actually failed. I did my best but couldn't do the bunshin no jutsu."

Hanabi had to retort after this. She snorted and said,

"Nii-chan, you really couldn't do a bunshin no jutsu?"

"Quiet, squirt!"

Both of them laughed a little at this, both feeling a little at ease again. Naruto continued.

"After Iruka-sensei failed me, Mizuki-sensei came up to me and said a load of bull about stuff. Then he said that there was a special way I could pass the test and still become a Genin, even after I failed. I jumped at the chance to become a real Genin, a real ninja. He said that there was a special shrine that held a special scroll, the Scroll of Sealing."

At this, Hanabi gave a light gasp. She had heard of the legendary scroll full of forbidden techniques that the previous Hokage had left behind. Naruto continued, undaunted.

"Mizuki-sensei said that if I learned a technique from the scroll, I could be passed and become a Genin. So I went to the place at night and took the scroll from the shrine. I spent hours trying to learn one of the techniques written on the scroll. Iruka-sensei found me after I had learned a technique from the scroll but was attacked by Mizuki. Mizuki only told me about the scroll so I would take it and it would be easier to steal from then on. Iruka-sensei told me to run and I did, but not before Mizuki revealed something to me. He told me why everyone hates me, why everyone avoids me like I have a really bad sickness..."

"...Nii-chan-?"

"The monster, Kyuubi, was sealed inside of me at birth."

Hanabi froze up at this. Time seemed to slow down and everything seemed to disappear except for her and Naruto, circling in a vast void of nothingness. She couldn't move and could barely think.

'Nii-chan...Naruto-niichan has the Kyuubi sealed in him? But...but that's not fair! Why!'

The nothingness shattered and subsided when Naruto spoke again.

"You can leave if you want to, Hanabi-chan. I know you don't want to be friends with the demon of Konoha. I won't bother you again."

Naruto left it at that and stared out at the darkened road, obviously expecting Hanabi to leave him at the tree and never talk to him again. Hanabi slowly stood up and brushed the dead grass off her clothing. Naruto never looked behind him and heard footsteps, presumably walking away. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the tree. Until he felt pressure on his left side and reopened his eyes.

Hanabi was sitting next to him, cuddled up and using his arm as a pillow while looking at the road as well. She looked contented.

"Ha-Hanabi-chan? What are you doing? I thought you were going to leave?"

As if to prove him wrong, Hanabi snuggled closer and closed her eyes, sighing in content.

"I won't leave you, nii-chan. You're my best friend."

She looked back up at him and stared him straight in the eye.

"Friends always stay by friends."

Hanabi grabbed Naruto with surprising strength and pulled him into the rain with her. She closed her eyes and began to laugh while dancing in the rain, an implied invitation to Naruto to join her in the small act of freedom and simple pleasure. Naruto gladly accepted the invitation and joined her. He didn't feel foolish in the least.

If only, if only, the moon speaks no reply;

Reflecting the sun and all that's gone by.

Be strong my weary wolf, turn around boldly.

Fly high, my baby bird,

My angel, my only...

end Chapter 2

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and that's chapter two for you. some dramatic angst stuck in there.

reviews will be appreciated greatly, onegai?