Sanctuary

Chapter three: Loneliness

Hinata woke to the smell of ramen. Opening her eyes she looked around. 'I'm on the couch in Naruto's living room...was everything just a dream?'

"I never made any ramen, how? Wait a minute..." Hinata heard running water on the other room, which lead her to one conclusion. She gasped standing up.

"N-Naruto's back?" she stood looking around, the once clean room was now strewn with five ramen bowls, a dusty traveler's pack, and an orange and black jacket.

As she sat back down Hinata noticed a still warm bowl on the table in front of her. 'Did he make this for me?' As if on cue, her stomach growled rather loudly. Grabbing the bowl and chopsticks she slowly ate, letting her mind wonder. 'If he's in the shower...' Hinata blushed deeply at the thought of how his body would look after so many years of intense training. The inner chibi Hinata needed to stuff her nose with tissue at the thought.

Shaking her head Hinata stood and collected the other used bowls, and began washing them as the shower turned off. As she finished up and walked back to the couch, Naruto walked into the living room in black pants with an orange stripe, a tight fitting black tee that showed his defined muscles and a towel

still on his head, as he scrubbed his hair dry.

"Hey, Hinata, you feeling better?" he asked approaching her. "O-oh, yes, thank you Naruto, for your hospitality, I really appreciate it." Hinata said bowing. Naruto was now blushing slightly. "You don't need to act like that. What more did I do than help out a friend in need?" Naruto said simply holding both ends of the towel as it hung around his neck.

Hinata smiled softly, as she sat back down on the couch. "Hey do you know who cleaned my apartment? It's actually cleaner than when I left, actually it's a lot cleaner than when I left." He sat on the arm of the couch smiling. "Yeah, I cleaned it yesterday, I-I hope you don't mind that I intruded" Hinata said, looking away from the blonde.

Seeing her nervousness Naruto flashed his typical grin at her, "Nah, I don't mind at all! This place looks better than it has in years!" Hinata returned his smile with one of her own. 'I like it when Hinata smiles, it's like it

brightens up the room.' he thought to himself.

"How long was I out?" Hinata asked looking at the wall clock, which read 2:30pm "About an hour or so." Hinata sighed in relief 'I thought it was much later than 2:30.'

"Hey, Hinata not that I'm not happy to see you, but why were you at my house while I was away?" Naruto asked curiously. 'Because anything that reminds me of you can distract me from my home life and create a sanctuary where I know for the time being, I'll be safe.' Hinata thought instantly.

"Well, ummm, you see, I..." she couldn't say it like that. Not yet, she couldn't. Hinata sighed deeply "When you left, I never got to say good bye to you, and it hurt. You're one of my precious people you know." she said softly. Naruto sat in surprised silence, but noticing that she was about to continue he stayed quiet.

"After you left, Kiba and Hana his sister took a few of their clan and went on an S rank clan mission in a small village on the other side of sand. They're training a clan similar to theirs. He's been gone for a year and a half."

"What? Kiba's been gone THAT long?" Hinata simply nodded and continued with her story. "Shino and his father went off in search of a beetle even rarer than the bikochu. It was said to be extinct, but there have been sightings of it on another continent all together."

"Shino's gone too? But what about Kurenai sensei? She can't have gone too, right?" The look in Hinata's eyes confirmed that she was in fact the lone member of her group left in the village. "Kurenai Sensei left over 10 months ago, I haven't heard from her since the third week of her trip. She went to

care for her ill parents."

"Hinata, I know all too well how it feels to miss your teammates." Naruto said knowingly. "But why my house?" he asked feeling slightly honored that of all places she would run to, it would be his.

"Well, you know how my father... well, he doesn't treat me that well. Ever since Kurenai left, he's become more physically abusive towards me. He calls it extra training." Naruto gaped at this information, 'who would want to hurt kind beautiful Hinata? D-did I just call her beautiful?'

"This was the only place I knew he wouldn't look for me. Yesterday I snuck out of the compound and ended up here. I don't know why I even tried opening the door, I never tried to before, but when it opened, the place just looked so dusty and sad, so I cleaned the place up and fell asleep here on the couch.

When I woke up this morning I ran home, but my father, he was drinking again and..." she trailed off placing her hand on her swollen bruised cheek.

Naruto was outraged. Gently he pulled her hand away from her face, soaking in the purple blemish that stained her porcelain skin. "He did this to you?"

Naruto said. It was more of a statement than a question really. "This isn't so bad Naruto he's done worse than this." Hinata's voice sounded defeated as she sullenly looked away. "Extra training he calls it. It usually ends up with me in the hospital with broken bones, stitches and chakra depletion." 'And those are the easier sessions'

"Hinata has it always been like this for you? What about your mother, why doesn't she put a stop to this?" Naruto asked looking at the broken girl before him. "My mother," her voice cracked. "My mother died almost 12 years ago." she said touching her headband that rested around her neck. "This is all I have left of her. The emotional abuse started when she got sick, and the physical abuse started when she passed away after giving birth to Hanabi. But it got worse when he married his second wife Mikoto."

'Poor Hinata, her home life must be hell.' Naruto thought. Although they were from different backgrounds, they both struggled growing up. Hinata looked out the window. The sun was setting. "The sun will be down soon, I should head home." Naruto stood up as well. "I'll walk you Hinata." Hesitantly Hinata agreed as they both left the apartment.

The walk to the Hyuga compound was a silent one but one of complete understanding. Once the complex was in sight, Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the heiress's sudden gasp. Naruto looked over and was shocked to see Hinata pale as a ghost and trembling.

"Oh no!"

On top of the wall was her father's "personal guard" Kazeru, and he had seen Naruto and Hinata together.

"N-Naruto I c-can walk the rest of the way by myself, I-I have to go!" 'Please Naruto, please don't follow me, I don't want you to see what's going to happen.' Hinata thought as she ran to the compound. A sinking feeling was all she felt, knowing something bad was going to happen, and knowing how it was completely unavoidable. However, unknown to her Naruto felt the same way, dread filling his heart as the frightened girl ran.

The next chapter gets really dark for Hinata, I'm warning you guys ahead of time. But remember things are darkest before the dawn, and oh, is that dawn coming.

Thanks for the reviews, and pointing out some of my mistakes, that's how I learn! Till' next time.