Chapter 1- Getting to Know each Other

This chapter is through Naruto's eyes. Also this chapter has a LOT of dialogue. It was hard finding different ways of saying "He said, she said" Please bare with me.

I woke up to the sun's sting on my eyes. At first I couldn't care less, but I sat up quickly as I remembered that we were at war. "Huh?" I looked around and realized that were weren't at war. In fact, we weren't at Konoha at all. I was in a cave of some sort. Outside I saw a pond and loads of grass.

I walked outside to see a lady sitting at the waters edge. I figured I should ask her where I was. "Excuse me…" I said walking closer to her. When the lady turned around, I was shocked to see it was Hinata! "H-Hinata! Where the hell are we? Konoha's in trouble!" She looked solemnly back to the water. "Now's not the time to be quiet! We need to get home!" I yelled angrily. Hinata brought her knees to her chest. "We won the war…you won the war." She said quietly. It took a few minutes to let that sink in. I almost thought I dreamt it. Finally I said "Yaa-hoo! I knew I could do it! I just wished I remembered!" while jumping up and down. I looked at Hinata. She wasn't as happy as I wanted her to be. In fact, she looked like she's been crying all night.

"Hinata…? Are you okay?" I asked while touching her shoulder. "We can't go back!" she cried out suddenly. I stood shocked. I couldn't have heard her right. "W-what did you say?" I stuttered. I had to be sure. Hinata hugged her knees tighter. "We're banned from Konoha!" she sobbed. I fell to the floor. I didn't want to believe her, but I knew Hinata wouldn't lie about something like that.

"Why are we…banned?" I asked in caution. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Hinata turned to me with heartbroken eyes. "Actually…you're banned." I stared at her, dumbfounded. Then I thought of something, "Why are you here then?" Hinata looked back to the water. "I didn't want you to be alone…" I was afraid of that answer. I sighed heavily. "Hinata! How could you! I don't want you to be banned because of me!" I looked away from her as I thought to myself. What could I have possibly done? Suddenly, Hinata began to speak, "Naruto…have you ever lost control of yourself?" she asked quietly. I feared where this was going. She turned to me. "I know you wouldn't do this on purpose…but you killed several Konoha ninjas." I stared at her in disbelief. That was what I was afraid of.

"I-I thought I had control of Kyuubi!" I said in anger. "I thought the Perverted Hermit taught me how to do that!" Hinata, once again looked to the waters edge. 'Stop doing that!" I screamed, frustrated. I couldn't believe I lost control of myself again! I saw that Hinata ignored me and continued to look at the water. It was starting to piss me off. "Stop it! What's so interesting about the water? We can't go home! I can't become Hokage!" she didn't budge. I was furious at this point. Before I knew it, I stormed over to her. "Hinata, are you listening?" I turned her around, "Will you stop-" her expression froze me to the bone. She looked so…emotionless. Usually Hinata was happy, or sad like any human. But this face she wore felt nothing.

"I tried Naruto…' she said silently. "I tried to save you. I tried to…help…" Tears were falling down her face, but she still had that deadpan expression. It was starting to scare me. "Naruto, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!' she cried. The expression was completely taken over by grief. She was bawling now. Fat tears rolled down her face like a waterfall. I felt ashamed. I couldn't stand knowing that this was my fault. "Hinata…" I said softly. She continued to cry. It pained me so much; I couldn't seem to control myself. I just started kissing her face. Wherever her tears fell, I kissed. But no matter where I kissed, something kept me from going to her lips. A part of me already felt weird for kissing her face, let alone her lips. But she didn't object, so I continued.

Finally, she stopped crying. I quickly moved back a few steps and looked in the opposite direction. I didn't want her to see my embarrassment. Since it was quiet, I took a quick glance at her. Her face was completely red. "I-I'm sorry…" I said quietly. Hinata just covered her face and blushed. It stayed quiet for a long time.

"Um…Naruto…" Hinata began softly. I was still too embarrassed to look in her direction, so I grunted my response instead. "I'm sorry for…ruining your dream…" she finished solemnly. I looked down. "You didn't ruin it, Hinata. I was an idiot to dream it." I said regretfully. I felt Hinata look up at me. "B-but you can't just give up!" she cried frantically. I turned sharply on her, "Why not? Everyone in Konoha hated me anyway! They would never recognize me as Hokage! I should've seen that from the start." I was ashamed with myself now more than anyone else. It was quiet once again. I felt the silence fill up my very being. It felt so familiar…just like in Konoha when all the adults called me a monster. I touched my stomach. It's true…Kyuubi lives in me.

"I've always admired you, Naruto…" I looked to see Hinata nervously twirling her fingers in the grass. "You always proved people wrong. And you always did it alone…" She continued. I stared at her. Has she been watching me? "You're so strong. Most people would fall on their own. But you, Naruto…you're not like them. You get back up." She looked at me and smiled. "I love that about you."

I felt my face burn. I stood up quickly and turned around so she wouldn't see. "Thank-you, Hinata…" I really did need to hear that. I started to walk back to the cave entrance. "Naruto!' I heard Hinata call after me. I turned to see her still smiling. "I know you'll achieve that dream. But this time, you won't be alone to do it." She stood up and walked to me. "I'll help you. You won't have to be alone, if you don't want to." I looked at her as though it was for the first time. "You, know? I used to think you were weird and creepy…" I started. Hinata looked at me in disbelief. I smiled as I continued, "Now I see that your not. In fact, you make a really great friend!" She was red in the face once again. I always wondered why she did that whenever I was near, but right now that didn't matter. Now I have a friend. "Hinata…I'm glad you didn't leave me like everyone else." That brought another smile to her face. She really was pretty when she smiled.

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"RASENGAN!" I aimed at the tree before me. It violently snapped in two. Then it obliterated like all the rest. I clenched my burning hand in triumph. At this point, I didn't want to go home. It felt different having no one pointing fingers at me. Maybe now I can get some real training done.

I looked around. It was getting dark. "Where's Hinata?" I asked aloud. She left a long time ago saying she was going to get some food. I was starting to wonder where she went. But mostly I was wondering why did I buy that excuse? There was plenty of fish in the pond right here! "Hinata!" I called out into the darkness. There was no answer. I was battling myself on what to do. Should I stay or go look for her? "Nah! Hinata can take care of herself!" I concluded. I tried to get back to my training, but it was starting to really bother me.

"Dammit, Hinata! Where'd you go?" I muttered. I looked out into the woods hoping she came out of it soon. Finally, Hinata came out the thickening darkness.
Immediately, I started to question her, "Where'd you go? And why'd you give me that bogus excuse!" Hinata looked down. I realized that she was holding a big bag. She saw me looking at it and began nervously playing with the handles (on the bag). "I didn't lie…" she said in her defense. To emphasize her point, she sat on the grass and opened the bag. It was full of snacks, bento boxes, instant ramen and many other foods. I picked up the ramen. "Where'd you get this?" I asked. She looked away. "I-I went to Konoha…and…" "YOU STOLE IT!" I screamed before she could finish. She began waving her hands frantically, "No! Some of the Genin helped me! Mostly Sakura…" I looked back to the food. "Sakura and the others know?" Hinata picked up a rice cake and nodded.

"How am I going to eat this?" I asked, getting of the subject. Hinata reached into the bag and picked out a pot. How much could this bag hold, anyway? "I'll start a fire. You can put the water in the pot." She concluded. She turned and went back into the cave. Instead of filling the pot, I looked at the water. Now I know why Hinata did that so much. It was calming, in a way. It made you forget anything bad that may have happened. As I looked into it, I ignored my reflection. Instead I thought of Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and the others, and Ichiraku ramen. I thought of all the good things that happened, and ignored the fact that I can't go back. Not for a while anyway.

"I'll be back…" I whispered defiantly. "I'll be back to be Hokage…" It was quiet beside Hinata making the fire. Suddenly I heard, "The fire's started." Hinata was right behind me! She came so quietly, I didn't even notice. "Don't scare me like that, Hinata!" I yelled. She looked down. She was always looking down. "I'm sorry." She said it so quietly, I almost didn't catch it. "Hinata…" I started while filling the pot with water, "Why do you always look down?" She continued to look down without saying a word. I stood up and headed for the cave, which now had a roaring fire. She followed silently.

She was quiet for so long, I figured she wasn't going to answer. So I put the water on the stove and pretended like I didn't ask. But suddenly, she began to speak, "Many people say it's because I'm shy." I watched her play with her hands nervously. She tried to look at everything but me. As I watched her, I thought about her response. I didn't think that it was a very good answer. "But why do YOU think you do it?" I asked instead. She looked up at me in shock. Then she stared at the boiling water. "I…never thought of it that way…I guess I do it because I'm a little afraid." I took the water off the heat and poured it into my ramen. I sat it on the side as I continued, "Afraid of what?" Hinata looked up at me and blushed. "Well…of what certain people think of me…"

I felt my hand tighten into a fist. "Who could possibly be so important that you have to impress them?" I asked, a little angrily. Hinata blushed harder. Suddenly I felt wrong. I decided that I had no right to get into her business. "Hinata, I'm so-" "It's a boy…" she interrupted. I listened to her as I picked up the ramen. She handed me some wooden chopsticks as she continued, "He's so kind to me. And even though I can't think of anything that I've done for him, he's always there to my rescue. He's so strong and brave. I want nothing more than to have him notice me."

I slurped the noodles nosily. (I'm sorry if this part is a little confusing.) As I listened to Hinata, I thought about how kind Iruka-sensei was to me. I definitely want to impress him. I thought about the Genin and the people of Konoha and how I have to prove myself to them. Lastly I thought of Sasuke. I can't lose to him.

I took another string of noodles. When I looked at Hinata, she was looking up, this time, at me. I looked into my steaming cup as I apologized. "I guess there are people that you want to impress, Hinata. I have them too…" She nodded and smiled.

Besides me slurping, it was deathly quiet once again. I asked pretty much everything I wanted to ask of Hinata, so I had nothing left to say. "Naruto, do you know why?" Hinata asked suddenly. I stopped eating. I had no idea what she was talking about. She quickly asked, "I mean, do you know why you lost control? Why did you kill members of Konoha?" Thought deeply as I tried to pull forth some memory of the war. I kept coming up blank. "I'm sorry…I can't remember." She nodded in understanding.

I looked out of the cave mouth to see that it was pitch black. I finished my Ramen and placed the empty cup on the side. "good-night, Hinata…" I yawned. Hinata looked outside as well. "Good-night Naruto." She responded, still looking outside. I layed down and closed my eyes. I wonder what she's looking at.