Chp. 3- The Uzumaki House

Naruto stared at the ceiling, trying to rack his brain into some sort of inspiration that would result in his missing rent payments being paid up. As usual, he got nothing. He thought he heard Jiraiya's door open again, so he wasn't surprised when there was a knock on his door. He glared at his door and stomped on over, fully expecting to give Jiraiya a thorough berating…

"Dammit Jiraiya, I told you I was…!"

He instantly froze and his eyes widened until they threatened to fall out of his skull. Hinata stood in his door way, her fingers nervously mashing together, a small sheepish smile and deep blush on her face.

"Hi…Hinata-chan? What are you…?"

"I-I wanted to see you, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto nervously muttered, "You…you shouldn't be here, you need to leave…" he tried to close the door but Hinata surprised her self when she put her foot in the doorway, keeping it open by a bit. "Please, N-Naruto, I just want to…"

"Help? Well, there's nothing you can do…"

"Then can I at least know why?"

"Hn, why would you care…nobody else does…"

He managed to push Hinata's foot out of the door and closed it again. He made to walk away before Hinata's voice stopped him dead in his tracks. "It doesn't m-matter to me what everybody else thinks. I-I think you're a wonderful guy…but you seem so lost…please, won't you at least let me in your home?"

Naruto stood there for a good ten or twenty seconds, his brain arguing with itself wildly. In the end he sighed and turned back to his door…

Hinata gave up after about ten seconds. She turned to walk away until the sound of his door opening made her whip back around, her heart lightening a little bit. Naruto looked at her with a weak smile and said. "Come on in…" Hinata bowed graciously and followed him inside, closing the door behind them.

She turned to look at his apartment and fought back a gasp. It was…nice. Nice was an understatement, it was beautiful, all things considered. It was easily as big as her own place, and seem to be kept up just as well. Oh sure, his bedroom was a mess, but when she thought about it, so was hers. There was no way Naruto could've bought this place on his own; it was way too comfortable…

"N-Naruto-kun…how did you…"

"It's a long story Hinata-chan, and I have a guess that you're not leaving until I tell it to you. Make yourself comfortable, kick off your shoes, have a seat, the whole nine yards. I'm gonna go change quickly…" Naruto disappeared into his bedroom and Hinata sat on the couch, her eyes falling on a photo on the table…

Naruto flopped onto his unmade bed and sighed heavily. His head was ringing with a thousand questions. "Why the hell did you let her in? Why did she follow you home? Does she really care enough to want to help? What makes her so special?" Naruto shrugged and threw off his shirt, putting on a plain, white t-shirt and going back out to see Hinata.

Hinata heard his door open and her eyes shot up just in time to see Naruto turn into the kitchen area. "You want something to drink? Soda? Water?" Hinata shook her head and he nodded, turning into the fridge to get something for himself. Hinata finally let a fierce blush enter her face quickly. Naruto's shirt was very form fitting, and she was quite enthralled with his physique. "He has to work out…nobody gets that on their own…" One thought led to another, and her train of thought eventually landed on her, ripping off his shirt, laying hot kisses on the firm chest underneath…

"GAH! Where on earth did that come from? I'm in his apartment, for god's sake! I can't be thinking this stuff now! But that damn shirt and his damn ripped physique aren't helping much…"

Naruto eventually emerged and sat down next to her, a bottle of water in his hand. He noticed she was still holding the small picture she had found on the table. He smiled and took it from her, saying, "I remember this…Hinata, do you know who this is?"

She took a look at the photo and saw what appeared to be a much younger Naruto with a grown man. He had dark tanned skin and a scar across his nose. His smile was warm, almost fatherly.

"Is he… is he y-your father?"

"Of sorts… he was my foster father for sixteen years."

Hinata's heart dropped and iced over. So her fears were justified…Naruto lived alone. His voice brought her back to reality.

"Iruka was a good man… he was the only person I ever considered as family… maybe because he was the only one who wanted to be family to me… he would always take me out for ramen on weekends. He taught me manners, discipline, everything a father would do…and he gave me this…"

Naruto reached under the table and pulled out a book, much like an album of sorts. She opened it and on the first page she found a picture of a different family, at least it seemed different.

The man in it had spiky blonde hair, much like Naruto's, and his crystal blue eyes as well. His face seemed slightly narrower though, and he didn't have the whisker marks either. The woman in his arms had fiery red hair, and two green eyes that seemed to be alight with some fire inside. Her face was more round, more like Naruto's. She had the same tan quality on her skin that Naruto seemed to, and on her face…the whisker marks.

Hinata then noticed the bundle in the woman's arms. It had short blonde hair and big blue eyes, and tiny whisker marks on each cheek…

"Iruka gave me this album when I turned 16. These are my real parents, I checked so myself. I was about two months old when it happened…Iruka told me everything…"

"Naruto-kun, I…I didn't know…"

"They had left me with a friend of my mother's while they went out for dinner one night. I was asleep when it happened, but I can remember my babysitter answering the phone and getting all hysterical about something. I woke and started crying, she came in and instantly took me to the hospital…mom and dad had been attacked coming home from dinner…some thugs tried to rob them…dad tried to protect her…they were both pronounced dead at the hospital…"

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"After that I was immediately placed in an orphanage. One week later Iruka, an old college friend of my father's, came in and adopted me as his own, after hearing about the accident. Dad was a part of the police force, and apparently he was responsible for putting the thugs' boss in prison. Their plan was to execute him and his whole family for revenge. I was given the name Uzumaki for protection, and Iruka and I never looked back from that moment on…until he revealed my true bloodline to me one year ago."

He gestured around his apartment. "Iruka told me that my parents lived here once. They had left it up for sale when I was born. I bought it for a pretty decent price, the landlord was friends with dad…I cleaned it up, furnished it again…and I've never looked back."

Hinata stared at him, numb and absolutely dumbstruck. "I know a lot of the older folks think I'm some sort of street rat or thug…"

"But…b-but if they saw you here, living in this place…you could prove them wrong, right! You could show them you're not a thug…"

"Hinata-chan…I can't just do that. I want to prove to people that I can make it on my own, and not have to depend off of charity of others all the time. I'm going to prove to them that I can become somebody on my own…I don't need their pity and I don't care about their dislike of me."

Hinata felt on the verge of tears. She couldn't comprehend how one person could endure so much…and he was only 17! She felt such sympathy for him, but then she noticed something that filled her with awe. Those eyes of his…the hurt was out and clear now, but something else was with it…fire. Determination, resolve of iron. He seemed almost godly in that respect.

And in a way, his story reminded Hinata of herself…her own issues with her father…having to move away to get away from his neglect and indifference…starting her own life with Neji's help.

Naruto closed the book and plopped it on the table, leaning forward and placing his face in his hands. "I've tried to be strong…but sometimes…it just hurts…I hate it so much…" She noticed a slight tremor in his body, and the next thing she did came purely from her newfound desire to comfort him any way she could.

She scooted closer to him and pulled his face out of his hands, making him look directly at her. "Y-you shouldn't hold back those tears, Naruto-kun. I-it's only going to hurt more if you do." She then leaned in and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him as tightly as she could.

Her warm, gentle touch dissolved what was left of Naruto's resolve. He instantly crumpled into a pile, sobbing out all the pain from the past 16 years. He hugged her back as tight as he could, afraid she would disappear if he let go. Hinata gently laid his head in her lap and soothingly whispered into his ear, lightly running a hand through his blonde hair, caressing his cheek gently. Anybody looking would've seen Hinata in a whole new light then. She seemed almost motherly…or in this case…like a loving wife comforting her distressed husband.

Naruto must've thought so, Hinata's actions seemed to calm him after a while and after he had cried his eyes dry, he allowed himself to relax even more as Hinata softly whispered in his ear. He hadn't even realized it when he fell asleep…

A/N: Awww, Hinata is motherly here! Or like a wife, you decide. I know this chappie was kinda angsty and sad, but I promise the comedy and fluff is coming, very soon too! review if you wish and stay tuned fofr my next chappie, "Get a Job!"