Chapter 2

Coping

Hinata lay asleep in her bed, tears staining her pale cheeks as she clutched a large fox plushy. The fox plushy was about the same size as her. She had won it at last year's Kyuubi festival. The stuffed animal reminded her of Naruto. How exactly? A few years ago, she had overheard her father and the third Hokage talking about Naruto's condition. They'd never said he held the fox aloud, but from what they said, she only had to put two and two together to figure it out.

Last night, once Hinata had gotten back to her room, she cried herself to sleep, clutching the over-sized stuffed animal. All day yesterday, she, for the most part, held her emotions back like a good Hyuga should. However, once she got back to her room, she let it all out. Hinata finally woke up when someone knocked on her bedroom door.

"Neechan, it's time for breakfast."

"Go away Hanabi. I'm not hungry," Hinata replied to her baby sister.

"But..."

"I said go away!" Hinata yelled.

Outside of Hinata's room Hanabi stood at the door. Hinata had never yelled at her before, not for anything.

"I told you your sister would not leave her room."

Hanabi turned around to see her father standing almost directly behind her. "She yelled at me..."

Hiashi sighed. He really wasn't sure what to say to her. 'That's the way things are' just didn't sound right. "Come, Hanabi. Breakfast is about to be served." The only thing Hiashi knew to do right now was to give Hinata space. Hiashi knew his daughter would sort things out herself. If she could take the amount of abuse she has over the years from her family, she could deal with this. That was at least what he thought.

Hanabi and Hiashi made their way to the dining room. The food was being brought out just as they were about to sit down. The elders were all seated at the large table. There were three spots at the head of the table open. Those spots were reserved for the head of the family and his daughters. The fact was, the elders never ate breakfast with the head of the family. That was unless they wanted to speak to him about something important. Hiashi had a feeling for once in a great many years he would lose his temper.

"Hanabi, eat in the other room. It seems the elders have something to talk to me about."

"Yes, Father," Hanabi replied. She answered without question because she knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. Hanabi grabbed her plate and walked into the other room.

Hiashi sat down at in his seat at the head of the table. "Now, tell me, why are you all here?" Hiashi noticed several elders were eating while a majority weren't. From that he could tell a majority were wanting to talk while the others were just there because they had to be. Hiashi picked up his cup of tea and took a sip.

One of the elders cleared his throat before speaking. "We have come here to talk about your eldest daughter."

"Alright, what about her?" Hiashi asked calmly.

"The majority of us find her current state unacceptable and unfitting of an heiress of the Hyuga clan."

Hiashi remained silent, his grip on the tea cup tightening.

"We also believe her crush on the now deceased Naruto Uzumaki to be completely unacceptable. The fact that she had fallen for that cursed child means she is not suited for being a leader of this clan. Also, her timid nature..."

The tea cup shattered in Hiashi's hand and the entire room instantly stopped whatever they were doing or saying. Hiashi slowly removed the pieces of cup off himself and onto the table while wiping up the mess. The elders all remained unmoving and silent as he did this. Hiashi glared at the man named Toshi, who had been speaking.

"The majority of you in this room that are with Toshi are a disgrace to this clan. My daughter is who she is, or more so who we made her by doing nothing but berating her for not being the best at everything. None of you will speak of her as if she is a lower creature because of it." Hiashi's voice began to grow louder as he talked. "My eldest daughter is not subject to your rules, but mine alone. My daughter will like who she wishes and date who she wants regardless of your opinion of them. Of course, that's as long as I approve of them. Now if you speak ill of Naruto Uzumaki again, I will inform Tsunade Senju and let her do as she pleases. He is a hero of this village, who was instrumental in our fight not long ago during the Chuunin exams. Tomorrow he will be honored as such at his funeral. All of you disgrace yourselves and our clan for speaking about one who gave everything for this village and never asked for anything other then some respect in return. Also, if you refer to him as a 'cursed child' again, I will crush you. This will be the only warning I will be giving you. Am I understood?" Hiashi received no reply. "Good. Now get out of my sight."

The majority of the elders left. They were all shocked at Hiashi's outburst. The last time he raised his voice like that and lost his temper was when his wife had died.

A branch member walked into the room just as the elders exited.

"Hiashi-sama, Neji's teammate, Tenten, has just arrived at the compound."

"Very well. Have her wait in my study. I'll be there shortly."

"As you wish." The branch member exited the room.

"If you will excuse me." The remaining elders nodded. Hiashi stood up and walked out of the room. In the next room, he saw his youngest daughter eating. "Hanabi, if you wish to eavesdrop, try to do so without being noticed," Hiashi said as he walked by her.

Hanabi's face reddened a little. The fact was, she had been eavesdropping. She had only just gone back to her food once the talking was over. Even without his Byakugan activated, her father had noticed her.

Hiashi walked swiftly down the hallway towards his office. He was sure Tenten was already waiting for him. He walked into to his office to see Tenten was indeed already there. Hiashi said nothing as he made his way to his desk. "Now, Tenten, why exactly are you here this early in the morning?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that Neji will be let out of the hospital soon."

"Excellent." He was glad his nephew would be getting out of the hospital soon. Out of the three that were hospitalized, he and Chouji had been the worst off. "I take it you've told him the current state of things?"

"I have," she replied. "How's Hinata doing today?" Tenten was quite concerned about Hinata, as she wasn't exactly taking it well yesterday.

"My eldest daughter has currently locked herself inside of her room. I honestly don't know what to do other then let her have the time alone. Izumi was always the one who knew what to say during times like this." Hiashi talked causally with Tenten, which was unlike him.

"Well, she'll come out when she's ready, I'm sure," Tenten replied. "I'll take my leave. I'm supposed to get Neji some food, seeing as the hospital food will probably kill him." Tenten was, of course using that as an excuse to bring Neji food. Tenten then stood up, bowed, and walked out of the room.

Hiashi leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, a multitude of thoughts rushing through his mind. "Tomorrow certainly isn't going to be any better than today," he mumbled to himself.

….

Kakashi Hatake was currently entering his second bar of the day. You would think it would only be his first, considering what time of the day it was. However, ever since Naruto was classified as KIA, he had gone drinking. Even before Naruto was put on the list of Killed In Action, he had been doing light drinking and completely neglecting his duties. Currently, though, he was just getting completely hammered.

Kakashi had just sat down after getting a bottle of sake from the bartender. "Here's to another failure," he said, chugging half the bottle in one go. Kakashi was in the west side of Konoha, where the really crummy bars were located. Of course, he didn't care about that at all right now. "Another toast to my latest batch of failures," he said aloud, chugging the rest of the bottle.

"Kami, you look like hell, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up to see Kurenai Yuhi standing in front of him. "Well, well, if it isn't the extremely sexy Kurenai Yuhi. Come, sit, have a drink with me," he said, pointing to the chair.

"Sorry, Kakashi, but I'm here to get you home."

"Now why would you want to do that?" Kakashi asked as he looked into the sake bottle, seeing if there was anything left to drink. Kakashi threw the sake bottle behind him once he realized there was nothing left to drink in it.

"Because I was the one who drew the short straw and was assigned to drag your drunken ass back home, that's why." The fact was, she volunteered to go, instead of sending a squad after him. She figured she could get him home without starting a fight with him, like the last time something like this happened.

"Ooooohhhh is that all?" he asked. "I'm surprised they didn't send an ANBU squad like last time." Kakashi was referring to the day after the Kyuubi attack thirteen years ago, when he went on a similar drinking marathon.

"Yes, well, we figured if we sent one person, we could convince you to go back home without starting a fight and destroying the bar this time."

"Alright I'll go home quietly, but you have to have a drink with me first." Kakashi just didn't care enough to start a fight over the whole thing. Last time, he was younger and allowed his temper and depression to get the best of him, so he started a fight with the ones who tried to get him home the last time.

"So, one drink and you'll go home quietly?"

"Well, you'll have to escort me of course. You know don't want me to just hit another bar on the way home and all." The amount of alcohol was obviously effecting him right now, as he normally never acted this way.

Kurenai sighed. "Fine, as long as you keep your word."

"Of course, of course, it's not everyday someone gets to have a drink with the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha."

Kurenai sat down and raised her hand, telling the bar tender to bring them each a drink. The two quickly drank the alcohol and left. Kakashi did exactly what he had said. One drink, and they were out of the bar. The two walked down the street, neither of them saying anything. Soon enough, they arrived at Kakashi's house. About halfway home, Kakashi had about tripped on himself, so Kurenai had to help him the rest of the way. The two made their way inside of Kakashi's home, and Kurenai helped Kakashi onto the couch.

"Well, Kakashi, I guess I'll be going now," she said, turning away.

Kakashi grabbed her wrist gently. "Would you mind staying for a little while?" he asked. "Right now I could use the company."

Kurenai looked at him. Kakashi looked utterly pathetic. She found herself unable to say no to him right now. She sat down next to him on the couch.

"It's funny. Every time I try and get close to someone, they end up dying on me."

"That's not true, Kakashi. What about Gai, Asuma, and Iruka?"

"To be honest with you, I only know them because of my profession. I don't know them as well as you think. Why do you think I always ignore Gai? Other then the fact he's just weird." Kakashi decided, in his drunken state, to tell Kurenai about the people he actually had gotten close to. "I had finally gotten to like Obito, and even considered him my friend. About an hour after that, he died. Rin, my other teammate, I had finally opened up to and asked out on a date. We were supposed to have it after she came back from her mission. Well...she came back, just in a body bag. My sensei as well." Kakashi thought about that for a moment. "Well, he didn't die right after I got close to him, and I considered him a friend and father figure, but he died all the same. Even his son. I tried to not get close to Naruto in the beginning, but after the Chuunin exams, I made an attempt and his teammate decides to kill him. Sasuke probably killed him with the jutsu I taught him." Kakashi thought about what he had just said about Sasuke. "Is that some kind of irony?"

"Wait...Naruto is..." Everything Kakashi had said just left Kurenai's mind as she fixated on what he had said about Naruto's parentage.

"Yep...Naruto Namikaze. Do keep that to yourself until tomorrow. You know, Kurenai, I had always wanted to get to know you better, but like I said, everyone I get to know well tends to die. I'm just a cursed individual, that's all." Kakashi began to sway until he fell to the side his head landing on Kurenai's lap.

Kurenai looked down at the passed-out Jounin. She figured the alcohol finally hit home. Kurenai felt sorry for Kakashi. She really did. He'd gone through so much in his life. She had never seen him like this before. To her and the rest of the village, Kakashi was one of the very best. He had no weakness, at least that's how he was seen by most. However, right now that was certainly not the case. Kakashi was only human, and that was truly showing right now. 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay until he sobers up,' Kurenai thought. Kurenai ran her fingers through Kakashi's spiky hair.

….

Shikamaru sat at the table with his father. The two ate in silence. Temari had spent the night at the Nara estate when Shikamaru's mother insisted. The two of them hit it off right away. They were so alike, it was scary. It certainly scared Shikamaru and his father.

Shikaku put his fork down. "I admit, she's quite the looker, son. However, couldn't you have at least found someone that didn't act exactly like your mother?"

"What are you talking about? She just followed me home. We aren't going out. Not to mention, she's way more trouble then she's worth and she's just as bossy as mom," Shikamaru said in an annoyed tone.

'He says that now, but that's exactly how it starts. It's always the bossy ones that we Nara men have to fall for. I mean, seriously, if we didn't, we'd probably die from starvation because we're too lazy to cook,' Shikaku thought. He knew there would be a little difficulty dating a ninja from another nation, as it has only ended in disaster for people in the past.

Temari and Yoshino came into the room, giggling about something, most likely at Shikamaru's expense. Yoshino sat down at the table next to her husband, while Temari sat next to Shikamaru.

"Having fun, are we?" Shikamaru asked while sipping his tea.

"You have no idea," she replied. "You were a really cute kid."

Shikamaru glared at his mother. "Don't give me that look, Shikamaru. You could have actually made the attempt to stop me from showing her. What did you think all the laughing was about?"

"Embarrassing childhood stories," Temari chimed.

"It's official, I'm in hell," Shikamaru mumbled.

With Naruto

Naruto had finally woken up. "I wonder what time it is."

"It's noon," the old man said, appearing right beside the bed.

Naruto jumped out of bed, landing on his feet. He doubled over in pain seconds later. "What the hell is wrong with you, old man!" Naruto yelled as he stood back up.

"Well, last time I checked, I didn't find anything," he replied. "Anyhow, come, it's time to eat." the old man turned and walked out of the room.

Naruto grumbled as he made his way out of the room. "Damn old man, scaring me when I'm still half asleep..." Naruto walked into the dining room of the old man's house to find a woman that looked to be in her early twenties, sitting at the table with the old man. She had long, dark green hair and eyes of the same color. She was quite the looker."I thought you lived alone, old man," Naruto commented as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Oh, I do, it's just Asami here comes by from time to time to keep me company."

Naruto sighed as he sat down at the table. "So, old man, you ever going to open your eyes or tell me who you are?"

"All things come to those who wait Naruto."

"I'll take that as a no..." Naruto sighed again and ate the meal that was in front of him.

Back in Konoha

Ino walked down the street with Sakura. The two were walking to the hospital to pick up Chouji, as he had been cleared to leave for a few hours. Ino looked over at her friend. Sakura was...well, she had done a complete one-eighty from yesterday. Sakura seemed like a fully functional person instead of being completely unresponsive like she was yesterday. Pulling two extremes like that in the span of twenty four hours was, for the lack of a better word, unhealthy, and Ino knew it. She knew Sakura would be put under watch and taken off active duty until Inoichi cleared her. With all that in mind, Sakura would probably be off active duty for at least six months.

They arrived in front of the hospital and saw Chouji waiting in a wheelchair. The doctors probably didn't want Chouji walking yet. Ino had to admit, Chouji looked pretty thin, probably because he didn't get to eat as much as he wanted. Not to mention, hospital food was pretty bad. Ino walked into the hospital, got behind Chouji's wheelchair, and pushed it without saying a single word.

"Ino, I can do this myself."

"Shut up and just let me," Ino scolded. Ino felt rather worthless right now. She felt as if she couldn't do anything right because of recent events. "So where do you guys want to eat lunch?"

"I want BBQ," Chouji replied.

Ino, of course, knew that's what he was going to say.

"That sounds good," Sakura replied.

Chouji had heard of how Sakura reacted yesterday. He turned his head and looked at Ino, asking an unspoken question. Ino understood what he was asking and shook her head. The unspoken question was 'is Sakura alright?' Ino, of course, answered by shaking her head, saying 'no', she wasn't alright. Ino pushed Chouji slowly to their destination. Almost half an hour passed by the time they arrived at the BBQ restaurant. They walked in to see Shikamaru and the sand Kunoichi, Temari sitting at a table.

Shikamaru noticed Ino, Sakura, and Chouji coming up to the table. "Hey, Chouji, how are you feeling?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hungry," he replied simply.

"Well, you do look pretty thin," he said looking at how thin his friend was.

Ino pulled Chouji up to the side of the table, while she and Sakura sat down on the other side of the booth from Temari and Shikamaru.

"So...what's she doing here?" Ino asked.

"She won't stop following me," Shikamaru replied in an annoyed tone.

"I've got nothing better to do right now than annoy your lazy ass," she retorted. "Not to mention, you probably like the attention from someone like myself."

Shikamaru grumbled in annoyance. He was a verbal punching bag during breakfast this morning at his home.

"So, where's Hinata?" Ino asked.

"Temari and I ran into Tenten a little earlier. She told us Hinata had locked herself in her room, but that was this morning."

"Oh...I see." Ino replied.

….

Hinata sat in Neji's hospital room, after she had finally decided to leave her room. Tenten had left shortly before she had arrived. Nothing had been said between the two cousins since Hinata had arrived.

Neji looked over at Hinata who just looked plain lost. "Do you really think he's dead Hinata?" What Neji had said grabbed Hinata's attention. "Naruto beat both myself and Gaara in the same day. Do you really think Sasuke, of all people, could have killed him when Gaara and I couldn't?" Neji's tone was dead serious. He believed Naruto was still alive, as his mind couldn't understand how Sasuke could have killed Naruto. "Tell me, Hinata."

Hinata couldn't meet his gaze. She just stared at the floor. "I don't know..."

"If you don't know, then just don't believe he's dead. Just believe he will come back someday once he's ready."

"But Tsunade said..."

"She said they couldn't find a body." Neji sighed. "Hinata, you told me once you believed in Naruto. Just believe in him now."

Hinata looked into Neji's eyes. She saw no hesitation in them. He truly believed that Naruto was still alive. "I want to believe that Naruto's still alive," she mumbled.

"Then 'believe it', as Naruto would say."

Hinata smiled a bit. She wasn't sure if Neji was right or not, but she really wanted to believe Naruto was still alive, and she was grateful for his words.

The door to the hospital room opened, and Tenten walked in with a late lunch for both Neji and herself. She walked over and set down the food on the table, not even noticing Hinata was in the room. Tenten looked over, finally noticing Hinata's presence in the room. "Oh, Hinata! I didn't realize you were here. I thought you were still locked in your room. Feeling better now, I take it?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

"Well, you might as well eat with us. I brought more than enough for three people." Tenten handed Hinata and Neji some food.

The trio sat in silence as they ate the lunch Tenten had brought.

….

Tsunade had just recently arrived in her office. She noticed Shizune was kind enough to take care of things until she arrived today, she had spent last night at Jiraiya's place. Tsunade was honestly amazed he hadn't tried to take advantage of her last night. Speaking of Jiraiya, he currently sat onw one of the many window sills in the Hokage's office, just staring out over the village. He truly looked miserable right now. Well, both of them were quite miserable. Tsunade looked up at the clock. It was already two in the afternoon. Tsunade stood up from the chair and walked over to the window Jiraiya was at.

"It seems it's rather mixed on how well Naruto's friends are taking this all," Jiraiya finally spoke.

"Yeah, some are of the opinion he's still alive, while some are sure he's dead, and the rest just don't know what to think. I'm sure Sakura thinks Naruto's dead, from her reaction yesterday. I think Hinata's on the fence about what she believes. I doubt either Neji or Gaara think he's dead. The others, I'm not really all that sure about." Just then, they saw a good amount of Naruto's friends walking down the street. Tsunade payed special attention to Sakura's state. "It seems Sakura pulled a one eighty from yesterday."

"Well, right now, she doesn't have a team so you can have her see Inoichi until he clears her for active duty," Jiraiya stated. "Not to mention, you should train her, Hinata, and Ino to be medics. I mean, that would probably be the wisest course of action right now."

Tsunade sighed sitting down next to Jiraiya. "You're probably right."

"He was so young..." Jiraiya said suddenly. Then he put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.

"I know...far younger than both his parents." Tsunade had said she didn't believe anyone to be dead until she saw a body. However, that was only for the sake of Naruto's friends. She and Jiraiya were veterans. They had lost more then their fair share of friends over the years and it was much easier for them to accept that someone was dead. Now, just because they had gone through it so many times, didn't mean it was any easier for them to deal with.

The two sat there in complete silence.

….

Kiba and Shino were walking down the street. The mood of the village right now seemed rather depressing. Kiba had just been let out of the hospital this morning and had spent most of his day at his clan's compound. He had only left about thirty minutes ago to meet up with Shino.

"So, how was Hinata last time you saw her?" Kiba asked, concerned about his teammate.

"Last time I saw her, she wasn't taking it too badly," Shino replied. "I honestly have my doubts he's dead."

"If the Hokage says he's dead, he's dead. I'm not going to keep myself up at night wondering," Kiba stated. What Kiba said was rather cold-hearted, but that's just how he was raised. Kiba had actually grown to like Naruto more after he lost to him in the prelims, albeit it was a rather odd method. The fact that Naruto beat Neji in the third part of the exams meant Kiba just didn't stand a chance, and in Kiba's family, strength was respected.

"I'll be going now Kiba. I need time to think about things."

"Yeah, same here Shino. I'll see you whenever."

The two members of team eight parted ways and headed towards their homes.

With Naruto

Naruto sat with the old man on the front porch of the old man's home. He hadn't noticed before, but the house was up on a small hill making it higher than the other buildings.

"You were saying yesterday about making a promise to someone. May I ask who that person was?" the old man suddenly spoke.

"Her name was Sakura. She was on my Gennin team," Naruto replied.

"Oh, a girl I see. Did you have feelings for this girl?"

"I thought I did. I wasn't sure what those feelings really were. Well...I'm still not sure what those feelings were. I just know she would never love me. I finally understood that when she begged me to bring Sasuke back."

"I see."

"So, did Asami leave?" Naruto asked.

"She did. Asami comes around every so often to check up on me. Of course, the children of this small village come around often and ask me to do tricks."

"Yeah, that thing you did yesterday." Naruto was truly curious as to how the old man did that. That reason among others was what was keeping him around. Naruto really wanted to know how and why.

"I do that and many more things. I'm sure if you stick around you'll see what those things are. So, Naruto what will you do if you ever see Sasuke again?"

Naruto looked down at the ground in front of him. "I don't know. Right now I just don't know what I'll do. He tried to kill me, he really did. But I've never broken a promise before."

"Then don't. Be a man of your word to the very end."

"Why should I trust you old man?"

The old man thought about that for a moment before responding. "Hmm...now that I think about it, I guess there is no reason you should trust me. However, if I was going to try something, I would have done it long before now. Then again it's really up to you to decide what you wish to believe."

"I really don't know what to believe anymore."

"I suppose that's understandable."

The two sat in silence as they watched the families in the small village go about their daily lives. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what it was like to have a family. He had never really had one himself, so he had always been curious about what it was like. The old man sensed Naruto's longing for what he was seeing in the village before them.

"Let me ask you, Naruto. Is there anyone back where you live that would miss you?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"If they thought you were dead, would you be missed?"

Naruto had to think about that for a moment. Naruto thought that question was odd, but answered it anyhow. "Well, I guess there would be a few people who would miss me. I mean, there probably wouldn't be a huge turnout at my funeral if that's what your asking.

The old man stood up. "Well then, let's go."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'let's go'?"

The old man smiled. "Why, to see your funeral, of course!"

A/N So whatcha think?

I hope I didn't mess up too badly on this chapter.

Please review.

Btw it was really cool so many actually reviewed the last chapter.