Hinata stared at the pair of naked feet, seemingly bodiless. She gave a startled yelp and moved back as the feet were replaced by the upside down body of a young boy with shocking golden hair. It reminded her of the rising sun, those slightly unruly locks standing haywire around his roundish face. Hinata stood a little spellbound as the cheery Naruto took in the timid girl standing with her hands clasped tightly in front of her.
"Hey", he smiled at her.
Hinata felt her mouth drop open slightly and a rush of air leave it in a low keen. Naruto frowned as no other sound seemed forthcoming. Hinata was feeling a little strangled with the effort of having to speak to a strange boy hanging upside down on a tree near the academy training grounds. She had been determined to go out and train by herself since her father had seemed so disappointed with her progress of late. She had gotten up at the crack of dawn, dressed herself and rushed out to arrive at the grounds before anyone else could be there to observe her futile efforts at training. Her heart raced as though someone had caught her in the act of stealing. She hadn't anticipated this unexpected barrier to her training. Naruto pouted at the unresponsive girl. At least she hadn't made fun of him yet, but she did seem a little scared. It made him angry for some reason. He dropped like a rock to the ground, letting go of his feet hooked around the low hanging tree branch. Hinata squealed and rushed forward, her arms half held out as if to catch him but Naruto had managed to land on his hands and roll safely onto his back. Hinata unluckily tripped over him and landed face down, half on top of him.
A burst of leering and laughter rang out from behind them. A group of four older boys approached the pair on the ground, surrounding them. They were civilians but mean bullies, always picking on weaker kids for fun. Naruto had taken a detour into the training grounds to avoid them. He knew them all too well.
"Hey look, blondie's got a girlfriend."
Hinata cried out softly, as one of the boys crouched down, and pulled Hinata's head up by her hair.
"Leave her alone", yelled Naruto swatting the boy's hand away. He pushed Hinata off him gently and stood up, standing over her.
"Loser, who do you think you're talking to? Now hand it over", said the bully.
Hinata was a bit frightened. She stood up tentatively, wondering what these boys were after.
"Will you leave if I do?" replied Naruto sparing a glance at Hinata who was up, wincing and rubbing at her bruised elbows.
The boys looked at each other and snickered.
"Yea sure, sure."
Hesitantly, Naruto loosened the frog pouch at his waist, it jingled a little. It had just enough money for two bowls of Ramen. His stomach growled a little with the thought of his lost breakfast.
Hinata twisted her hands together unable to bear the injustice being meted out. If only she could do or say something to help. She hailed from one of the most prestigious clans in the village, her father constantly lectured her about how she as the future head of the family must be strong and capable. But no matter how much she was groomed and how much she practiced, when it came to the test, her courage failed her every time.

"Please, let him go!"

Her soft voice exclaimed next to Naruto. Hinata was breathing hard and she was staring rather intently at the ground, her hands balled into fists. She looked up tentatively at the lack of response from their aggressors.

No one had heard her at all.

That wasn't true, for Naruto did hear and he gave her a lopsided grin, his blue eyes sparkling with good humor. Normally, he would have put up a fight. He could take a beating if it meant he could have a hot meal for the day. He'd gotten good at running away. He looked at the girl with the large lavender eyes who looked at him with silent sympathy and trust. Today he couldn't just run away and leave her to their mercy. He had someone to protect.
Naruto palmed the rock he had surreptitiously picked up from the ground as he stood up. He made a show of looking into the purse to see how much money was in there and slipped in the rock, tying it closed again.
"Hey! Stop wasting our time and hand it over." said the bully harshly.
Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand, missing the surprised blush on her face, as he backed away from the tree.
"Don't even think of running away runt", threatened the boy again.
"I'm not trying to run away all right", Naruto replied, still fumbling with the straps around his waist single handedly, as he continued to stumble backwards anxiously. The boys snickered at his obvious fright and at how tightly he was holding on to Hinata.
"Well you better, or I ain't holding back on that beating you're gonna get. You don't want this little girly to get hurt too do you?"
"Aw man, and I really wanted to teach him a lesson this time..", said another boy. More threats and insults followed as the other boys chimed in. One of them seemed to have hit upon some new idea about how to torture Naruto, all the rest were huddled around him, trading whispers.
"Can you run ?" Naruto whispered at Hinata.
She nodded silently.
"All right then get ready to go, okay?"
There was another nod in response.
The group of bullies advanced upon the pair, done with their plotting.
"Here", yelled Naruto, whipping off the pouch with ease now.
He took a hold of the straps and started swinging it around in circles above his head.
"What..?"
Before they could react, he whirled around and threw it unerringly at the academy office building some distance away. There was a pregnant pause followed by a loud crash with the sound of glass shattering.
"Heh, how did he hit it from this far away!", said a stunned voice.
Naruto did not wait to hear any more.
"Go!" he urged, pulling the startled Hinata after him towards the academy.
"Hey stop!"
The bullies followed immediately but they hadn't gone far when the sleepy atmosphere was pierced by alarms ringing in the courtyard as the ninja academy defenses sprung to life with the perceived threat.
Hinata and Naruto did not stop running until they were in sight of the gates to the academy building. Looking back they saw the bullies had been forced to back away without the money or any chance of retribution as it would be impossible to give chase without the risk of being caught and questioned.
Within the academy building, Iruka sensei looked at the frog shaped object sitting among the large stack of test papers that was knocked clear off his desk by the flying projectile. Thankfully his reflexes were good enough to duck under his desk before that repulsive thing hit it. He was in early today to finish grading them.
He looked out the window morosely.
"Naruto!", he yelled down exasperated.
A blond head looked up rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Beside him, a black haired Hyuga girl raised her hands to press her forefingers together anxiously, only to realize Naruto hadn't let go of her yet. The two kids stood there awkwardly, red eared and rosy cheeked. He spotted a group of boys disappearing rapidly out of the academy grounds in the distance. Iruka sighed and turned away, tossing the frog shaped thing back out the window.