Seen Through the Windows

by Malakas

Naruto just defeated Pain. As he returns to the village he has a lot on his mind including achieving world peace and saving his best friend. However, without an exact or logical reason, he needs to see the girl who almost sacrificed her life for him.

4. Hana

"Hail and Farewell"

(Part Two)

Prologue:

---

"Oh, oh, what the hell is this?" she asked while grabbing the pamphlet her best friend was holding.

"Leiko! You're so rude! You know how much I hate it when you sneak up on me." Leiko casually waved her off as she usually does when she became intent upon something. In response, Sachi snorted but silently trailed behind her friend as the two students emerged from the hall, and trotted down the stairs. Protective gazes of the three past village leaders, majestically carved into the mountain, watched them as they walked through the courtyard.

"What is this garbage, Sachi?"

"No-nothing. Oneechan had it in her book. It—"

"You mean the one she carries around with her, the one written by one of the Legendary Sannin? What was his name? The perverted one."

"Where did you hear that? He's—"

"He's a pervert. According to Kaachan, it's common knowledge to stay away from ninjas like him."

"Could you please stop interrupting me!" Sachi squealed finally at her limit. She thrust her skinny arms down to the sides of her plaid skirt. Leiko, not the least bit phased, turned her playful auburn eyes on her. Although her mirth was condescending, Sachi was satisfied by her merciful silence.

"Thank you," she said with as much dignity as she could muster (beyond that of an eleven year old). "Anyway, his name is Jiraiya-sama and he writes the Icha Icha series.

"You know the name of the series?" she mocked while feigning shock. "Sachi, you read that!"

"What? No! This morning this pamphlet fell out of her book and there's a poem, er, I mean a puzzle in it."

"Here, let me see:

I am a desideratum

My essence is used on women, my names given to children

And the men have no chance without me

Potential lovers whisper sweet words

While they cruelly pull away my layers

Happiness, Attention, and Forgiveness can be yours

It's only price: my life.

What am I?

The two girls exited the campus and steadily climbed the grassy hill towards their next class.

"So what do you think it is?"

"I don't know, I mean I don't care. It's all just girly—"

"Come on," Sachi whined. "I've been trying to figure this out all day."

Leiko thrust her hands up in frustration. "What's the big deal?"

"It's a contest. The Fire Country's Official Theatre Troupe is going to perform a play next month, and according to the pamphlet it is about one of Konoha's greatest legends. Only the first three people who correctly guess the legend get exclusive tickets to opening night!"

"Eh," her friend replied in boredom. Then her eyes lit up as if the answer just popped into her head. With a suspicious grin, she narrowed her eyes and bent her head close to Sachi's red-flushed ears. "It sounds like something Hinata would write."

Sachi exclaimed in mild disgust. Usually, she could ignore her friend's stupid comments but with all her energy spent on guessing the riddle of the legend, her patience was running out. "I was serious, Leiko. I really want to go to this."

She then almost tripped over a hidden branch in the wild grass. Her friend caught her before Sachi's face planted into the dirt, which helped to smother some of her anger. "You don't even know her. Just because she's quiet and shy—"

"You mean dark and broody," her friend interrupted again.

"—doesn't mean that she's…never mind." As quickly as her anger dissipated it came back again. This time, however, Sachi kept it in knowing that her friend would just laugh it off.

"I swear, Leiko, I don't even know why I'm friends with you."

"It's because I'm not a threat to you, Sachi," she retorted casually as if informing her friend of the weather today.

On the surface, Leiko's statement seemed wrong, if not condescending. She was bigger than Sachi, and not just taller but bulkier as well. Even some of the older boys cowered from her. One would think that her physical prowess alone would be intimidating enough, but add her iron will coupled with an unflinching wit, and it becomes obvious why she had so few friends.

Sachi smiled because she knew something that nobody else in the world knew. Leiko is right for she was not a threat to her. Unlike herself, with her long jet-black hair and matching obsidian eyes, most other girls considered Sachi the real threat, not Leiko. Especially since her body started blooming early, girls like Hayashi Yoi and Yamanaka Ino rarely gave her a moment's peace. They would barrage her with questions, slyly asking about her interests, all the while, looking for a weakness.

'All this for a boy,' she thought again for the hundredth time. Even the shy ones like Haruno Sakura gave her queer looks while gossiping behind her back.

Only Leiko, with her big hands, constant teasing, carefree attitude, and innocent auburn eyes could be considered her true friend. Not only did she never seem to care about looks, but she always defended her from Yoi and Ino, telling them to go away or worse if an adult was not around.

Sachi smirked with a sidelong glance at Leiko. There was something disarming about her friend's mismatched and well used clothes, confident gait, and her autumn-colored hair, chopped short.

She looked ahead and frowned again for even their close friendship could not stop the girl from being upset when Leiko teased Hinata.

'We're alike in many ways,' she thought when she saw the tiny girl, with lavender hair, wearing a black kimono, looking terrified at the apex of the hill.

Sachi then got a brilliant idea. 'I'll ask Hinata! I bet she would know what legend it is.' Unfortunately, her friend had the same idea. Before she could even greet Hinata, Leiko grabbed the pamphlet out of her hands, thrust it out to the shocked girl, and commanded her to read it.

It came as no surprise to Sachi that Leiko's actions had the opposite effect. Hinata cowered from the apparent demonic charm and was trying to ward it off with incoherent mumbles.

"Please, Hinata," Sachi interjected kindly before the mumbles became worse. "Can you read it and tell me what legend it is?"

"U-um, su-sure, Sach—"

"We gotta go," Leiko said. Both girls followed her gaze and saw what she was looking at. Down into the ravine, a dozen girls were congregating in the ample shade of a Banyan tree. Most were talking with their assigned trio of peers, but more than a few were blowing on the dandelion heads, spreading the pollen in the strong wind. Amongst the cheerful students, one person was succinctly bringing order. Middle aged, sporting shoulder-length hair the color of dried blood, with a stocky but tight build, anyone she talked to quickly sat down by the tree.

"Bara-sensei is going to punish me again. Let's go!" Leiko then sprinted down the hill, not caring about branches hiding in the tall grass. Sachi and Hinata soon followed, albeit more cautiously.

Amidst the adrenaline fueled-run, Sachi glanced back at the Hyuuga princess. Hinata met her gaze and then quickly looked back down at the pamphlet again. With her pupil-less eyes, Sachi could not tell if Hinata's face held recognition or resignation.

---

Chapter 4: Hana

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it." ~ Samuel Langhorne Clemens

---

"It's too damn early!" one shinobi silently cursed the inconsiderate client who needed a team of ninjas this early in the morning. In his current state, which he felt was barely above cognizance, his torpid thoughts kept returning to his true love; her soft doughy pillows and her always-accepting embrace.

'What I wouldn't do to be back in bed,' he thought, wishing he could curl back into a ball under his warmest comforter. Usually, he would not need the heavy blanket during this time of the year, but it became uncharacteristically cold in the wee hours of the morning, which was also when he got home. Not thinking that he could be any more miserable, he groaned when he realized that it was only a few hours ago.

Fighting the sudden need to cry, as well as the ensuing and less extreme urge to complain, he instead distracted himself by glancing at his comrades. His two teammates looked just as tired as he did, and despite his Sensei's fashionable sunglasses, he could see deep circles around his eyes.

He then remembered his life's dream of one day being the Hokage, the most powerful leader of the Konoha ninja village, and forced maturity upon himself like a heavy winter cloak.

That seemed to do the trick because he suddenly realized where he was, and no amount of exhaustion would keep him from smiling. Trash littered the square and those that were properly disposed of, threatened to break its meager receptacles. Although the crisp-fresh air permeated his clothes, the ninja's mouth involuntarily watered, remembering the myriad of tasty treats that he ate not too long ago.

'Wow,' he thought as he looked around. 'I guess I was not the only one having fun last night.' He said the latter thought to himself when he saw a pile of broken glass near one of the café's.

Emerging from an alleyway to the gate, he was surprised to see a welcome face walking along a perpendicular path towards him. His team must have noticed too for they all stopped and stared.

Konohamaru has always been one for little details. Ever since his rival showed him his girl, Konohamaru became obsessed and has spent his life attempting to create the most beautiful female specimen alive. He thought that he could just think of a sexy female and automatically he would turn into her. The fledgling artist could not have been more wrong.

During the first few sparring matches with his senpai, Konohamaru's girls were…well to put it kindly unattractive, if not downright inhuman. It infuriated him how his rival's signature blond-bombshell was so perfect, so much so that it shames him knowing that he was actually attracted to her at one point. Konohamaru quickly learned that he would not only have to work hard, but also be creative, in his epic struggle of humanistic art.

So he studied people. Not just women and their bodies, but men and their reactions. Back then, he was a child, not even a pre-teen, while forging into new territory without the convenient guidance of a sensei. Needless to say, it was not easy and he honestly felt that he spent more time running away from his subjects than actually studying them. However, three years of diligence does pay off.

In his first match with his rival after a two and a half year hiatus, Konohamaru knew he had the perfect woman, so beautiful in fact that no man could resist her. He became sorely disappointed that he could get his rival to even blink at her. Keeping his feelings in check, lest he lose the match, Konohamaru studied his rival's perfect transformation, every intricate detail from her eyes, to her pose, to the subtle way she graced the wind with her hands, all to find the secret to his technique. Konohamaru promised himself that one day he would create a girl that could defeat his rival.

Excusing himself from his team while getting permission for a few minutes pause before their mission, Konohamaru proceeded to intercept Uzumaki Naruto. He could not help but think how perfect an attack would be.

'He's not paying attention to anything,' Konohamaru surmised while mentally leafing through his considerable arsenal of naked women. Looking at him, Konohamaru immediately noticed his older all-but-blood brother's demeanor. Aside from the obvious orange and black jumpsuit, infamous blond hair, and crystal blue eyes, the young ninja could tell by his friend's hunched shoulders and low cast gaze that something was deeply troubling him.

"Hi, Oniichan!" he greeted Naruto. Konohamaru was glad that he said a salutation and not the word Henge, which would have transformed him into an attractive woman. It was too early in the morning to lose another match.

"Oh, good morning, Konohamaru." Despite the greeting, he could tell that Naruto kept his gaze averted.

Tactless, he just blurted out, "Why are you out here at the crack of dawn?"

"Nothing, can't a guy just go for a walk!"

Surprised by the defensive reaction, the younger shinobi raised his arms up in a gesture of peace. However, he might as well have just done hand stands for as sudden as the anger came, it dispelled like a candle being snuffed by the wind. Konohamaru noticed that his older brother stared intently at some broken glass close to the nearby café.

"Are you okay, Oniichan?"

"Yeah, I honestly just couldn't sleep so I might as well get an early start on my training."

"Oh, okay, well I'll just go too. I've got a very important mission to get to, you know?"

"Sure, Squirt."

Konohamaru did not take more than a few steps before he heard Naruto's voice call out for him.

"Thanks, Konohamaru."

"Huh?"

"For last night, I saw you cover for me."

Konohamaru laughed. "Don't worry about it. Actually, I had so much more fun last night with all the attention. I still don't understand why you wanted to avoid everyone."

A trio of chicks chirped loudly for their mother. The youngest of the three, a baby with a tuff of grey feathers the consistency of mottled fur, cried the loudest because he was hungry. While his two siblings were already fed, he had to wait while his mother foraged for more food.

Konohamaru imagined the hungry chicks and the mother on her mission, while he distracted himself when Naruto did not reply to the obviously leading statement. The silence hung thickly in the air, and it was not until the mother bird returned that he decided to change the subject.

"Did Hinata-oneechan find you? She searched all throughout the festival, and I didn't see either of you once I got off the stage."

His words must have struck a chord for Konohamaru saw Naruto's face blanch, and for the first time since that morning, his older brother actually looked him in the eyes.

'Oh,' Konohamaru thought looking into his crestfallen irises, 'I picked the wrong topic.'

He was about to excuse himself in order spare himself another excruciating round of awkward silence. Surprisingly,, Naruto replied to him.

"Yes, she did."

"Are you okay, Oniichan?"

He heard Naruto chuckle a little, a desperate attempt at levity when something ponderous was weighing him down. "Honestly, no, not really. But look, um, you should head back because your team is waiting for you, and I know how important your D-rank missions are to you."

Both boys smiled to each other, a mocking shadow of the usual playful nature between the two.

"Are you going to see her today?"

"Hopefully," Naruto answered too quickly.

"That bad?"

Naruto's solemn nod spoke volumes.

"Don't worry. You're the only one in Konoha who seemed not to know how much she cared for you, and now that you do, everything will be alright."

However confident his words, it seemed to have no effect on his brother.

"What are you going to do when you see her?"

"Um, honestly I do not know." Despite the situation, Naruto still rubbed his hair while smirking sheepishly.

"You seriously do not have a plan?" Konohamaru teased while raising his voice.

"What?" He said matching his rival's volume. "I just thought…you know…that I would just see how it goes..."

"Seriously?" he retorted again as if Naruto just said that he would see Hinata in nothing but his birthday suit.

"Yeah, and?" The two rivals stared at each other in a sudden contest of concentration, each one using their most intense glare to get the other to break. This time, it was Naruto who was the lesser, and who snorted a mild chuckle. Almost instantly, the tension evaporated and both boys laughed hardily, disturbing the tranquility of the morning.

The mother bird returned to her chicks with more food, and the shrill and excited squeaks transitioned the day from unholy daybreak to, "it's still too early morning." Some elderly townsfolk took their usual walks, undeterred by the time or their age, and in their wisdom, enjoyed the serenity before the boisterous younglings awoke. The more entrepreneurial shopkeepers arrived at their establishments to begin preparing for yet another work day.

As rays pierced the clouds, they lit up Naruto's wild and currently unkempt hair, barely adding anymore brightness to its usual color. Although looking in the direction of the sun, it did not blind him.

Naruto said, "I think Closet Pervert wants to go already."

Referring to his sensei as a closet pervert brought another bought of laughter from Konohamaru. Naruto's nickname for Ebisu was earned because the elite ninja still will not openly admit that he was perverted enough to lose to Naruto's Harem no Jutsu.

The younger replied, "I know he wants to go. I can practically feel his stare at my back. However, the fact that he has not said anything shows how much respect he has for you, Oniichan."

"Still, you should go."

"You're right." He started walking away, then thought of something, and turned. "Everything will be alright. Just don't screw up this time around. Oh, and when you do I can meet you tonight for ramen if you like."

Konohamaru then waved and ran back to his team and pretended not to hear the intense lecture from his sensei.

Hope rekindled, Naruto walked away from his brother and the oasis of sunlight which brightened his spirits all the way to the training grounds.

-/-

Training ground number three was an ancient location where at least four generations of Konoha ninjas trained, and one would barely even know. Aside from the three vertical punching logs and well-beaten clearing, it was surrounded by Konoha's vast forests, making it an ideal location not just for physical training but mental clearing as well. The quiet had a soothing effect on the soul and more than one ninja forsook their day's rigorous training to listen to the river's run as it bisected its way through the landscape.

This is what Naruto did since he could not concentrate enough to train. Surely, he did make a sincere attempt upon improving his techniques, and he did go through the required motions, but without his will and sincere effort, he might as well have run in circles for all the good it would do him. Instead, he sat upon the river bank with his pants rolled up to his knees, and allowed his legs to be gently pulled by the river's destinuous current.

Naruto watched the clouds as they nonchalantly dominated the sky. 'What's so great about them?" he idly wondered, thinking about his friend, and self-proclaimed cloud-reading expert Shikamaru. Thinking about him and his friends brought up a smorgasbord of emotions, but once they ran its course, they left Naruto with only an intense sense of loneliness. He was alienated from his friends, and even though he felt justified in the reason for his bitterness towards them, it was all too surreal.

Just as the river's run inevitably collects into a lake on the opposite side of the country, Naruto's thoughts always drift back to the deep reservoir of Hinata. His truest friend, she was also the only one who received his entire pent-up wrath. Thinking about her made his heart jump up to his throat, and the only thing he could feel and hear was his heartbeat, as if his body wanted to make sure that it was still there.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion behind him in the woods. Worries evaporated, he considered himself a fool for not figuring it out sooner. Of course she was hiding in the trees! Hinata used to spy on him all the time, so it makes sense that she would gauge him from afar before finally confronting him.

He stood up and scanned the verdant boundary, keeping his smile in check despite the excitement that was building within him. What would he say? What would he do? He thought about calling out to her and letting her know that she had been caught, so she should just come out already. Instead, he listened to his mischievous spirit and waited for her to emerge when she was ready.

Finally, the rustling became obvious and Naruto knew that she was ready to see him. When she finally did come into the clearing, the anxious boy had to squint twice and then look down. It was not a shy girl, but a surprised rabbit that stared at Naruto.

Turning his back on the unwanted but relieved animal, he began to realize just how alone he really was. He never thought his mood could get any lower, but allowing himself to hope only made the disappointment that much more devastating.

He stared back into the moving river, wondering where the current could take him. It could not be any more precarious than the current he was currently swept up in now. For the next few eternities, he watched the color of the water change from almost transparent, to bright aquamarine, and now to melancholy orange. When the sun was way beyond its zenith and the only thing keeping him there was raw hope, he finally heard someone entering from the dirt road.

The dejected shinobi listlessly got up to greet the person while thinking about finding Konohamaru and eating dinner. When the traveler turned the bend, Naruto became momentarily blinded by the sun's setting rays. As his vision cleared, he needed to rub his eyes again just in case he was looking at a mirage.

'Hinata?' he silently mouthed, gaping at her openly. He knew that he should make himself look presentable, or at least seem busy, but all he could do was dumbly stare at her.

Once the immediate shock wore off, he noticed that she was wearing her usual lavender outfit, although it seemed a little wearied, as if she just got back from a lengthy mission. Also, with the absence of pupils, the dark rings contrasted sharply with her eyes, almost giving the effect that she was wearing eye-shadow. However, if she was tired, she definitely did not show it. The Hyuuga princess' gait was confident and strong, as what would be expected of a member of one Konoha's royal houses, and one would wonder if she was just going to pass by and ignore the common boy with his muddy feet and dirty trousers.

By the time she did stop in front of him, Naruto was so surprised that he became trapped in paralysis. Hesitating at first, he mumbled incoherently as all his words and thoughts fought their way out of his mouth.

As a child, Hinata was the only one who never called Naruto "loser" or "stupid" after one of his myriad pranks or annoying outbursts. Although Hinata rarely ever spoke to him, and the few times she did barely lasted more than a word, even he knew that she treated him differently from the rest of his classmates. Unfortunately, Naruto's youthful-over-the-top exuberance blinded him from understanding her shyness and hesitation, and from taking the steps to know the girl behind her handicap.

He was too nervous to catch on to the irony of the situation.

Naruto was on the verge of panic. Before he lost his rapidly failing resolve, he thrust out his hand. Waiting through the awkward pause, Naruto looked up to see Hinata making a mildly disgusted face. Quickly, Naruto glanced at his palm to make sure he was holding a flower and not some boyish charm such as a dead bee or a frog.

"It's from Konohamaru," Naruto said with a divine moment of clarity.

Suddenly, the flower was gone from his hand, and as the girl perched it over her ear, Naruto could have sworn that Hinata transformed into a whole new woman. She smiled from ear to ear and even blushed.

Unfortunately, she became gloomy again once Naruto told her that Konohamaru left on a mission, and then she wordlessly walked away to the three logs and began punching them.

Naruto dumbly watched her with a hopelessly confused face. He must have been staring at her for a long time for the back of Hinata's head said, "Isn't this why you asked me to come to the training grounds, or was it for something else?"

Rebuked, he turned away to work on his own jutsu.

'What could I work on,' he asked himself rhetorically. What didn't he already try today? Naruto was in peak physical condition, but then again Guy-sensei, the ultimate work-out ninja, would beg to differ. He also already attempted Sennin-mode, but the more his body became tranquil, the louder his heart beat in his ears.

Automatically, he put his hands together and started the seal for the Kage Bunshin technique.

"Kage—" he started but stalled in the eerie silence. He looked up and saw Hinata standing frozen with her curled fists by her side. Even though her back faced him, Naruto got the feeling that she was watching his every move.

He did not know why but some instinct told him not to use his clones, and with a loud sigh of acquiescence he turned away again.

Oddly, it was not until he heard Hinata take up her rhythmic punching routine that he knew what he was going to attempt: to make a Rasengan with just one hand. It was a ludicrous idea, and the thought rarely ever made it into his consciousness. With all the problems with Akatsuki, the organization hunting him and murdering his friends; Sasuke, his former best friend who he needed to save; and the need to become more powerful to protect all that he held sacred, the thought rarely ever skirted his consciousness. Only during those long nights, out in the open sky with his team, did he mildly fantasize about using the Rasengan as it was meant to. Just like Kakashi and Jiraiya.

Just like his father.

It was definitely not for pragmatic reasons for Naruto had way more than enough chakra to compensate for having to use clones. Tack on the fact that he surpassed all his predecessors by completing the impossible task of harmonizing the Rasengan with his inherent Fuuton nature, most people would easily count their blessings and move on. But then again, Naruto was not like most people. Maybe it was just the right time for him to finish the training, or maybe it was due to a certain enigmatic woman alongside him, but before Naruto knew it, he had already started condensing chakra into his palm.

The sun hid behind the tall Evergreens, and miniscule orbs littered the dying sky, unlike the tiny one spiraling in Naruto's palm. Triumphant, he would have jumped and hollered in pure glee had he the energy left to do so. Instead, he beamed wearily and reveled in the bittersweet moment. He could not help but remember the painful trials of learning the Rasengan with Jiraiya, his master who he sorely missed.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto croaked, surprised by the hoarseness in his voice. Of course, she ignored him. He held out his palm anyway not allowing the the spinning ball, over the crater of his flesh, to dissipate until she had at least glanced his way.

The moment turned into seconds, and the seconds ticked by while his cheeks flushed. A spectrum of emotions coursed through him, first longing, then embarrassment, sadness, and even shame. He was not prepared, however, as the last two emotions of hope and determination took him.

Before he realized what he was doing, he had already started infusing wind chakra into his Rasengan. Treading on very dangerous water, Naruto instantly knew that he should stop doing this. Mixing nature manipulation and shape manipulation was a whole other level of difficulty. Even the Yondaime Hokage, scourge of Iwa-nin armies because of his Flying Thunder God Technique, a space-time jutsu which literally allowed him to teleport anywhere he placed his seal on, could not harmonize the two parallel chakras. He originally created the Rasengan as a first step towards the even higher goal of perfect unification of ultimate space manipulation (Rasengan) and highest level of nature manipulation. Unfortunately, the genius Hokage deemed the enterprise as impossible. Naruto, with his uncanny ability to use his strengths to defeat any obstacle, surpassed his father's jutsu by using two clones – one to hold the form together and the other to infuse the wind chakra.

Now, he knew that he was just being reckless. Not even using his left hand to help keep the dense hurricane contained, it would only be a matter of time before it would be released. Similar to mixing oil and water together but at a critically explosive velocity, he struggled at the edge of control. Yet, as the ever increasing high-pitched whine of swirling chakra started harmonizing, Naruto knew that he would see this attempt through to the end.

Leaves rustled and the wind howled, enslaved by the mini hurricane in his palm. All the energy in the area was moving, and it was at this time when Naruto's universe froze. Between the blurred razor-thin blades of wind chakra, twin moons regarded him and with their gravity, they pulled on Naruto's heartstrings.

'She noticed me.' That was the last thought he had.

-/-

Naruto woke up to soft caresses along his forearm. Smelling the intimately familiar scent of the antiseptic medicine, its poignancy lifted the fog from his brain. His body told him that he was wet, soaked actually, and judging by the way Hinata's damp hair clung to her face and neck, she probably jumped into the river to save him.

Her eyes regarded him coolly, almost dispassionately, and Naruto was at a loss for words. He openly stared up at her not knowing what to do. Usually, Naruto could feel the warmth, a willingness to help, a friend's special trust, from just looking at her face. Unfortunately, it dawned on him that he could not see any emotion, not even anger. She never spoke, nor moved, and her soft breaths hinted at the voice which he so desperately wanted to hear.

With a loud sigh, Naruto realized that he was staring at the product of his own actions. Guilt riddled him, and was he any less of a man, he would have looked away to avoid the product of his simultaneous destruction and creation.

"Will it heal?" Naruto heard her soft voice for only the second time that day.

Looking more intently into her eyes for a sliver of hope, Naruto immediately remembered Hinata's listless body trembling in the darkness. Thoughts flashed to her whaling pleas and the feel of her heartbeat behind her chest.

"Yeah?" He answered unsure of himself, wondering if he could heal the damage he inflicted upon her.

"Good."

Hinata is not a cruel person, which is why her following actions were all the more pernicious. She gingerly placed his arm upon his stomach. Then, silently and with an unmerciful measure of delicacy, she removed his head from her lap and placed it against his folded jacket. So shocked was he by her kindness, that all he could do was stare as Hinata walked away.

'I guess she was talking about my arm,' Naruto thought as he inspected her work. His arm was not too bad, he realized, and one good night's rest would take care of the wound. He could have gotten up and gone home, or even caught the dinner rush at Ichiraku Ramen with Konohamaru. Instead, he decided to lay there and think about Hinata. He listened to the river's rush again, and wondered how he got caught up in all of this. Naruto contemplated his friend for so long that over time the swaying verdant canopy above him turned into a moving black veil, blocking the stars and containing him in darkness.

It was not until the sun rose that he finally had a reason to get up. Ignoring the healing warmth of the sun, he smiled brightly on the walk home to change his clothes, freshen up, and eat something before he came back here again. Through the thick mist of his tired thoughts, he remembered something important; something that gave him hope and guarded him from despair.

'She's still wearing the flower.'

-/-/-

A few days passed without incident. Despite Hinata's abrupt departure, she came back each day to the training grounds, and worked diligintly on her jutsu. The two never spoke about the incident at the river, nor the one at the festival. Instead, Naruto gave her space which unexpectedly helped to scab over the wounds, and eventually, the two settled into a comfortable, if not silent, routine.

This was fine at first. However, Naruto could not help his playful nature. Literally breaking the unspoken truce, he attempted to break the ice with some jokes about the weather or small-talk concerning training routines. Although Hinata did not ignore him completely, her dispassionate expression conveyed all she had to say.

As per their routine, Naruto trained near Hinata. Today, he was practicing to become one with nature, a prerequisite to Sennin mode. Sitting still, he did his best to calm his body. First, he relaxed his muscles. Then, he focused on controlling his breathing. Naruto knew it was a process to slow his breathing so he spent a great deal of time gradually using less and less breaths. The next step involved slowing his heartbeat. Once the body becomes used to needing less air, the heart typically follows suit.

However, as Naruto focused on his heart, it would not calm. In fact, the more concentration he gave it, the louder it became. In these circumstances, the trick would be to find the rhythm of his heartbeats and listen to its cycle. Once the melody was figured out, he could listen to it and sort of lull his body to rest. Yet, there seemed to be no pattern to it. It was loud and obtuse, and gradually the cacophony reverberated throughout his body. Similar to being locked in a tight room with a deaf and dumb drummer, the sound started to overwhelm him.

Finally, Naruto could not take it anymore, and opened his eyes. Just as the scenery rushed back into his vision, the dissonance mercifully faded from his ears. He was momentarily surprised, however, to hear the rhythm of his pounding heartbeat outside his meditation.

Lub-Dub, Lub, Lub, Dub-Dub, Thump, Dub.

Naruto followed the sounds to its source.

Punch-Kick, Double-Punch, Kick, Jump, Land, Kick.

Naruto watched Hinata train from behind, taking in every detail from the deliberate forcefulness of her punches, to the quick kicks, followed by the subtle landing of her feet. He marveled at her hair and how wind or the chakra or maybe even some feminine secret swept it beautifully to match her fighting set. It never once swirled around her face to blind her, or got caught around her arm. Instead, it moved exactly where it needed to, counteracting perfectly with the momentum of the strikes.

'Maybe they teach this at the academy,' Naruto wondered.

When Hinata did a round-house kick and landed to face Naruto, the peeping tom immediately closed his eyes. Switching to his auditory sense, he now listened to her movements, imagining her arms and legs through the sounds they were making. Anticipating the turn, Naruto opened his eyes when it seemed like she was facing away from him.

When he opened them, he saw Hinata facing him, arms folded squarely around her chest, with a stern look on her face.

Childishly, Naruto closed his eyes anyway while unsuccessfully stifling his simper.

When Hinata spoke, he imagined her moving lips.

"Are you going to train or are you going to peep at me all day?"

Even though Naruto knew he was in trouble, his smile still widened. "I was only looking at you because I knew you were watching me," he fibbed.

"Wha-what, I mean, Na-naruto-kun, ho-how did you know?"

"I didn't, but I do now." Usually, Naruto would have worn his largest and widest grin in triumphant mocking of his victory. This time, however, he only smiled sheepishly in a cute but humble manner, as a peace offering.

He was not surprised when Hinata turned around again. He could not help but keep grinning, however, because one her Byakugan was activated, and two, because her cheeks were tomato red.

When evening usurped day, and the two left their training ground, Naruto carelessly asked Hinata if she wanted to grab some ramen. And just like the day, all of his progress with Hinata dissolved, just as the sun's last glimmer of hope fades into the night.

Naruto watched in slow motion as Hinata's smile vanished into her stony frown. He then saw her feign an excuse while protectively holding her arms.

"No, um, Naruto-kun, ah, I-I-I not hunger, I mean…"

He then heard Hinata's stomach rumble, which Naruto hoped was a result of nervousness and hopefully not from inadvertently fasting the entire day.

"…no thank you."

Before, he could reply, she escaped without saying goodbye.

-/-/-/-

Konohamaru walked along the dirt path towards the training ground. He finally had the day off to see his older siblings. It had been awhile, about half a week, since he talked to Naruto the morning after the festival, and hoped that everything was okay between Hinata and him.

After turning the bend, he punched the red bark of the Sugi Tree for good luck, and then smiled as he saw a young woman with long lavender hair and a purple jumpsuit sift through her a small backpack.

Upon seeing his older sister and her ensuing simper of recognition, he ran over to her and gave her a big hug.

"It's been awhile. How are you, Oneechan?"

"I'm okay."

"That's good." He then sat next to her on the big rock which was lounging in the shade. "Where's Naruto-oniichan?"

"Oh, he should be here already," she replied, "but obviously he's running a little late."

"Good, so I have some time," he said more to himself than to Hinata.

"For what, Konohamaru?"

"I just want to know how you are really doing, Oneechan." Grinning, Konohamaru countered her bewildered face and almost trembling lip with his hopefully disarming smile.

"Well, uh, I already told you—"

"You don't have to say anything, I understand. Naruto-oniichan told me—"

"He told you what happened?"

"No. I mean he only told me that he hurt you."

"Oh…"

As soon as the color flushed from her face, it evaporated, leaving a listless and well practiced doppelganger in its stead. Konohamaru noticed that she was gazing in the distance again, but since Hyuuga do not have pupils, his best guess was that Hinata was watching the leaves or petals on the ground.

"Can I offer you some advice, Oneechan?"

He saw her momentarily hesitate, and then breathe out signaling her acquiescence. "Sure."

"I know he hurt you and I'm not excusing his actions. However, have you considered why he did?"

"Because he thought I betrayed him…"

Konohamaru barely heard her whisper in the light breeze.

"Yes, that and?"

Konohamaru let the wind talk for awhile. He knew that opening wounds was not kind, and doing it do others was painful. For a long time he cringed whenever someone talked about either his murdered grandfather or uncle. But, his sensei taught him that some wounds needed to be opened to heal properly. He could never forget the lesson, or the pain, for he learned it when his sensei snapped his dislocated finger back into place.

"Oneechan, I mean why you specifically—"

"Yes, why me?" Hinata's soft but quick words cut through the wind. "Konohamaru, what are you trying to say?"

Konohamaru cringed from her venomous but understandable response. He chose his next words carefully.

"What I mean is I don't think this was the first time he's been hurt. We all know how the villagers treated him while growing up."

Not hearing any whispers in the wind, Konohamaru took this as a sign to continue. "And did he take any action against them? What about his best friend, Sasuke? Ebisu-sensei told me that he almost killed Naruto-oniichan."

Konohamaru saw Hinata clench her fist on her pants. Unbeknownst to him, he struck a very deep nerve.

"Konohamaru—"

"Yet, this is the first time I've ever known him to show any real anger towards anyone in Konoha," he blurted out quickly before his lost his chance to say what he needed to say. "Oneechan, do you understand yet?"

"Please, Konohamaru, that's enough."

"What I'm trying to say is that I think the reason why he treated you like that is—"

"Please! I know what you're trying to say…but that's enough. I don't want to hear it anymore."

"I'm sorry, Oneechan. I-I just wanted to help."

"I know…"

The two friends sat there for an indeterminable amount of time. Konohamaru stared at his toes, thinking that he was incredibly stupid for butting himself into their business. Instead of doing good, all he managed to accomplish was to resurface old wounds, and make his older sister mad at him.

'Maybe I should just take a step back,' he thought echoing his sensei's current lesson that he selectively chose to ignore. Always trying to emulate Naruto, Konohamaru wanted to be the hero and the leader, and would assert himself during missions. Ebisu has told him many times that he needed to consider the team's dynamic and welfare before his own selfish needs.

Legs swinging and lost in thought, Konohamaru started getting used to the silence. While reflecting on personal improvements for his next mission, he felt a nudge.

He looked up to see a sympathetic smile on Hinata's face.

"And just when did you become so smart," she teased. "You're nothing like Naruto-kun."

"Actually, I am," Konohamaru beamed back at her. "I'm just not stupid like him."

The two friends laughed. Abrupt, but desperately needed, they laughed to ease away the tension. It would have worked too had they not heard another voice.

"I heard that," Naruto said. Konohamaru, despite being caught, giggled anyway.

Joining in on their private joviality, he said, "Don't let him fool you, Hinata. This kid is actually a genius."

"That's right," the genius said triumphant. "I'm awesome!"

"Yup, who would have thought that within this young ninja, lies not only the power to defeat very powerful enemies, but to control them too with perverted ninjitsu."

"I bet Jiraiya-jiji said the same thing about you once too."

Naruto's ears turned red and both brothers stared each other down, but in the end he guffawed and soon his infectious chuckle spread to both boys. Even Hinata could not suppress a smile.

The laughter died down to be replaced with the sound of a strong breeze filling through the trees. As an afterthought, Naruto said, "But seriously, Hinata, this kid is a genius. Besides learning the Kage Bunshin and the Rasengan, he even defeated one of Pein's bodies."

Hinata tensed slightly. Most probably Naruto did not notice, but Konohamaru saw her eyes shift to the ground. Konohamaru knew that most of the Konoha shinobi did not like hearing how he, a mere kid, killed one of Pein's bodies. He often wondered himself how men and women, scores of ninjas of elite status and fame, were defeated by one of Pein's vile clones, and yet he managed to singlehandedly destroy one. Most of them, the men especially, congratulated him to his face but when they thought he was not looking, the prideful ninjas either murmured to each other or gave him cold stares. Konohamaru wondered if Hinata was the former or the latter.

He looked up when he felt a soft pat on his leg.

"I'm proud of you," she said with a sincere smile of pure admiration.

He must not have noticed how long he was staring, with a wide open mouth, for Naruto said, "Wow. I tell the kid that he's a genius and he doesn't care. But have Hinata pat his leg and he blushes." In actuality, Konohamaru was not blushing but his brother's words somehow made it true.

Cheeks red, he did his best to work his way though the embarrassment.

"So, Hi-hinata Onii, er, I mean Oneechan and Oniichan, what are you guys doing today?"

Naruto smirked, then answered, "We're training together. With my speed and Hinata's Byakugan, we're going to simulate a hunt and capture mission."

"Cool, sounds like fun, how are you guys doing it?"

"Well, I'll be the enemy ninja. I just captured some valuable intelligence and am returning to my village. Hinata is the pursuer hot on my tail. She will be the one to catch up and, um…" Naruto cleared his throat, "capture me, preferably without killing or maiming me."

"I'll do my best," Hinata chimed in solemnly which made Naruto swallow and Konohamaru laugh.

"So, let me get this straight," Konohamaru said once he calmed himself. "You're going to run away and do your best not to be found?" He waited for Naruto's affirmation which seemed silly in its boasting cleverness. "And I assume you're also going to get a head start?"

"Obviously!"

"So you two are playing hide-and-go-seek?" Konohamaru smiled lasciviously. Judging by Hinata's small chuckle and his brother's red face, it was Naruto who came up with the training exercise.

"Hey! It's a good training exercise. I hear Hinata's Byakugan is almost as good as Neji's and it's not everyday you get…" Naruto trailed off because his younger brother could not possibly hear his explanation over his own roaring laughter.

"Would you like to join us, Konohamaru?"

"I would love to, Oneechan, but my team has a real mission today." In Konohamaru's mind there was almost nothing as sweet as making fun of Naruto.

"Okay, Squirt, well you'll be missing out. Have fun chasing dogs around the village."

"It's a cat this time, thank you very much." It was Naruto's turn to grin while Konohamaru blushed again. Before he could react, Naruto wisely retreated, wishing him luck in his important mission. The two brothers warmly bid each other farewell, which is to say they glared at each other while tossing insults back and forth until Naruto turned the bend, punched the Sugi tree for good luck, and fled into the forest.

Satisfied with the outcome of the verbal duel, Konohamaru then plopped down next to his sister.

"Oneechan?" He asked. "If what Naruto-oniichan said is true about your range, you know being as a good as Neji-san's range, a Jounin, then why aren't you out on more missions.

"Interesting," she replied not saying anything but just looking down at him. Konohamaru blurted out a "what" to ward of the blush which almost showed again.

"You never got the chance to answer my question. Since when did you become so perceptive?" She nudged him again for good measure.

The younger brother looked away to give himself time to think. How could he tell her that his skill derived from his passion of turning into the most gorgeous and sexy woman possible? He trusted Hinata implicitly, but because she was a girl, his male instincts told him to avoid telling her the truth.

"Oneechan," Konohamaru quickly created a lie, "compared to Naruto-oniichan, anyone seems smart." He then laughed nervously, gauging to see if she believed him. Fortunately, other than a slight narrowing of her eyes, she let the matter pass and instead changed the subject.

"Due to Kurenai-sensei's pregnancy, Team Eight has all but split and each of us has been training and doing missions with our own clans. Kiba-kun has been doing missions with his okaasan and oneechan, while Shino-kun mostly trains with his otoosan."

"Well what about you?"

Konohamaru saw Hinata smile a little, not a happy one, but the kind one shows in pain but wants to express bravery instead.

"It's a little complicated with my family, Konohamaru, but I train anyway. A ninja must always be ready right?"

"Right!"

Through the mass of lazy clouds, sunlight filtered to graze upon the strands of Hinata's hair, caressing her with its ever-warming touch. She was thankful for the gift because despite the heat, she still felt like shivering. Almost subconsciously, her hand touched the flower behind her ear for reassurance.

"It's noon already?" Konohamaru yelled staring up at the sun above him. "Oneechan I gotta go."

He then got up and was about to bolt away, when he heard his sister calling for him.

"Yeah?"

Hinata smiled warmly. "Thank you for the flower."

"What flower?"

"Silly, this one here." She then gently removed it and placed it in her palm.

"Oh, that one. It's very pretty and I was wondering how you got it, but I didn't give it to you. Who gave you that idea?"

"Naruto-kun told me…" she said barely above a whisper but nobody could hear it in the wind.

"Sorry, Oneechan," Konohamaru said sympathetically. He was really anxious and literally hopping from one foot to the other. "I'm late and Ebisu-sensei is seriously going to kill me this time." He gave Hinata one last smile and then ran away as fast as possible.

When the sun hid behind the clouds, Hinata did not shiver. Instead, she clenched her fists and abruptly stood up. If she did not instinctively place the flower back over her ear, she would have crushed it in her trembling fists. But then again, at this point, she would have hardly cared.

"Byakugan!"

-/-/-/-/-

"It's not true!" Sachi whined to her friend. "It's not the legend of the Symbiotic Insects."

"It is!" Leiko shot back. "Read this line here."

"I have. Many times! And I'm telling you that it's talking about the legend of the Careful Concubine."

"No, it's not." She then turned to the quiet girl. "Who's right, Hinata? Sachi or me?"

"I-uh-well-um-I-don't—"

"Come on, Hinata, it's obvious I'm right."

"What's going on here?" asked their annoyed sensei. Not only were they late for class, but they were also not working on their exercises!

"Bara-sensei, Sachi's wrong. It's not the Careful Concubine, but she won't believe me. I'm just trying to help her win some stupid cont—"

"It's not stupid and it is the Careful Concubine!"

"Enough, both of you!" said Kiken Bara, a shrewd and wily veteran of the Third Ninja War. The sensei had a delicate commission, for she had to train young girls to become Kunoichi, female ninjas, and their formative training was a unique supplement different from the boys. She was like a rose, beautiful and deceptively delicate on the outside, but full of deadly thorns if one did not know how to handle her. Knowing full well the bickering of little girls, especially these two little girls, she decided to show her thorns.

"Enough!" she roared, reminiscent of her time as a platoon leader. Suddenly, it became silent as all of the class' attention was trained on her. "What are you arguing about? Sachi, care to answer?" After a moment's pause she swiveled her head dramatically to the right. "Well, Leiko?" asked the sensei. Neither girl spoke from the harsh rebuke. Maybe she should have been more delicate.

"Fine," she said rubbing the ridge of her nose, "Hinata, tell me what they're talking about."

-/-

'The Legend of the Undying Flower,' Hinata reminisced about the Kunoichi class early in her academy days. Hinata jumped from branch to branch through the wild untraveled forests outside Konoha. With its picturesque and unspoiled beauty coupled with the songs of the Bush Warbler birds, it would have been a blessed thing to experience.

Hinata could see the pack of flying birds above her and more. From the scurrying of squirrels on a tree far to the right, countless worms and other insects in the soil below her, and even a deadly snake only three branches ahead of her, she could view and contemplate them all at the same time. The catch was that Hinata could see them only in gray.

Her Byakugan gave her the gift to see virtually everything all around her, but its price were the colors, vibrant and beautiful. One of her clansmen once described it as watching the world through the eyes of the spirits. In truth, with practice the various shades of gray conveyed almost as much information as a full spectrum of colors, and its strengths and advantages far outweigh any aesthetic weakness. However, what currently bothered Hinata was not the hindered appreciation of the scenery, but the fact that she did see color, or at least she thought she did.

Naruto was still too far ahead of her Byakugan's range, and yet the sloppy trail he left for her to follow lit up her vision like a sun-streaked yellow, haphazardly placed on every branch he jumped, every leaf he brushed by, and even throughout the air that he breathed; tiny wisps dotting the breeze.

'His eyes are blue too,' Hinata thought trying to remember if his eyes were still the color of the summer sky even while her vision was filled with gray. The thought of them instinctively brought her hand back up to the flower.

'Strong and healthy,' she thought surprised that it lived this long.

And yes, it had color too.

-/-

"The Legend of the Undying Flower is a story I heard when I was your age," the sensei told her students. "Sachi, did your oneechan tell you the story?"

"No, I never heard of that one."

"It's not surprising. Classical literature is not taught at the academy, and typically only hobbyists and members of the elite Konoha clans actually learn them."

Bara then checked the time and saw a great teaching opportunity. "The others are doing their exercises, unlike you three, so instead of allowing you to keep goofing off; I'm going to share with you the story of The Undying Flower."

"Why!," Leiko said rolling her eyes. "I'm a shinobi! I don't need to hear stupid stories about mythological flowers. I should be learning about poisons and remedies, not things that don't exist!"

The sensei sighed audibly. Leiko was one of those foolhardy ninjas who wanted to do all the so-called fun training like the boys. 'Well soon enough,' she thought to herself. 'You'll be training with them, going to missions with them, and maybe, although I pray not, one day even dying along side them.'

"Enough!" she said using more thorns than tact. "You'll learn all those things soon enough, Ojou-chan. However, until then, you will learn the lessons I teach you, and if I hear that disrespectful tone again I will make you write a scroll's length on the importance of folklore for reconnaissance missions."

The sensei then turned to encompass all three girls in front of her. "Stories and legends tell a lot about a village's culture. This is important for infiltration missions where it is vital to blend in with the people. Even you young and untrained girls would immediately know an outsider if they did not know who Senju Hashirama-sama or Senju Tobirama-sama was, or even how Konoha was founded.

"Furthermore, blending is vital to reconnaissance or even infiltration missions where you have to garner information from the people you're trying to blend in with. You'll learn all this later but let me tell you one important thing."

She then looked straight at Leiko and said, "Listening is vital to intelligence gathering. Listening is so important that it can be as effective as any man-made toxin ever was. The way a person talks or the way he interprets ideas or concepts lets you know if he is intelligent, kind, quick to anger, perceptive or dumb, or even if he's watching you.

"Do you understand?" Two of the girls uniformly said yes while Leiko murmured something under her breath. Bara let the rude act go, and was honestly just happy that Leiko would be subdued for the time being.

The sensei then glanced at her watch again. "Now look what you girls made me do. I've rambled on for too long. Okay, well I'll have to make this quick then." She sat down on the grass, cross-legged, in front of the girls. For dramatic effect, she plucked a Dandelion from the ground, or at least she thought it was, but it was actually just a common weed. Annoyed, but trying to look dignifying, she casually tossed the strand away.

'At least one of the girls found that amusing,' she thought, looking to Sachi's angelic smile.

"Sachi, the truth is your contest is misleading. The Undying Flower is not a native story of Konoha, for each of the five major ninja villages claim this story as their own. Once, I almost blew my team's cover once near Sunagakure when I became outraged to hear the story of the Undying Flower as one of "their" most popular legends! In fact, after all my travels, it seems each country has at least a few variations of it.

"Anyway, back before the five great elemental countries were founded, there were numerous tribes and villages. It was a time of chaos because peace and war reigned throughout the land, and while one village was prosperous and happy, another not too far away from them could have the longest and bloodiest war in their history.

"There was a nomadic tribe who called themselves the Tekioo. Unlike warring tribes such as the Uchiha and the Senju who captured territory and then had to defend it against other tribes, the Tekioo utilized adaptation. They stayed in a place so long as it had ample food, shelter, and most importantly peace. Mountains, forests, oceans, deserts, it did not matter as long as they were not bothered with war.

"There was a girl, Sachi I will call her in honor of you, for nobody remembers her name and it was always fun to make one up. Sachi-san was a young lady probably around the same age as your oneechan. She was one of the unfortunate ones, of her generation, who lived in an age of strife where fighting was at no end. Every time they moved, they were harassed by raiders and they had no choice but to quickly learn to defend themselves with trained warriors.

"Now, can you girls guess why Sachi-san was so famous?"

"Was it because she could talk to animals and spirits?" asked the dark haired girl.

Leiko answered, "I bet it's because she was a better fighter than all the men!"

"Actually," Bara replied, "it's because of how happy she was. You see it was during this time that she was in love—"

"Yuck! I cannot believe that this is a love story…I mean…" Leiko's outburst wavered under the gaze of her sensei, "…I'm sorry."

"As I was saying, during this time of strife it was virtually impossible to see anyone so carefree. Her lover was a tribesman just like her, and after meeting they were inseparable. In fact, their happiness was so contagious even the elders, constantly focusing on keeping their tribe safe, could not help but smile in their presence.

"And just like Sachi-san, nobody knows the man's name. Why don't we give him a name?"

"Oh oh, how about Sasuke!"

"That's stupid, Sachi, if you're going to use a name like Sasuke then why don't you just name him Naruto," Leiko said to her friend.

"Excuse me, but Sasuke is not Naruto. Sasuke is smart, handsome, and dreamy whereas Naruto is stupid, gross, and most of all annoying!"

"Um-um, I-I don't th-think that Na-na-naruto is such a bad…" the quiet, almost all but forgotten girl, said.

"Sasuke or Naruto, I don't care. Just give him a name so we can get this story over with!" her friend yelled back frustrated.

"Enough!" The sensei forgot just how tiresome young female bickering can be. "I'll name him after someone from my generation. I'll call him Minato. Now where was I? Oh yes, Sachi-san and Minato. They had a secret location that nobody else could find and rarely anyone knew about. People in the Wind country will tell you that it was an oasis perilously far from civilization, and I heard some villagers in the water country say that the lover's paradise was actually an uncharted island somewhere in the sea.

"As for us, the people of Konoha say that it was a secluded meadow hidden in a valley protected by ancient trees and tall mountains. It was in this special spot where Sachi-san and Minato could escape the constant strife and battles. However, neither one would forsake their duties to their clan.

"During their last night together, Minato told Sachi-san that he was going to war. The Tekioo tribe did their best to avoid open and constant battle, but these raiders were notoriously persistent, and the elders thought it better to set-up permanent fortifications rather than be vulnerable on the move."

"She cried didn't she, Sensei," Leiko said accusingly. "All the girls in these old stories cry."

"Actually, no." Their teacher then paused and surveyed the beautiful hills and flowers around them.

"Minato plucked a flower from the ground and gave it to her. 'To help you remember,' was all he said to her. 'To help you remember.' Then he kissed her and…well Sachi-san would always remember the way Minato looked as he disappeared behind the trees."

"How romantic."

"Are you kidding me, Sachi? He left her with a flower. A flower! At the very least, he could have given her something useful like a letter or even a promise to return."

"Wow, Leiko, a letter or a promise? I didn't know you were quite the romantic," the sensei said with a big catlike grin.

Behind a red face, Leiko managed to stammer, "Well, n-no, what I mean is something that would live longer than a few days. According to you he plucked the flower right there in front of her."

"Very astute, Leiko. Listening and paying attention is how you can catch inconsistencies which will throw a person off guard and will lead to more information. However, for now, just keep what you said in mind.

"The next few years were hard for everyone in the clan. The few men, who remained, mostly the elderly or the boys, were on guard duty or were training for war. The women, aching for their loved ones, worked diligently to provide food for the tribe, took care of the wounded, and generally kept the village going. Anytime it became really tough, Sachi-san would go back home and gaze longingly at her flower.

"One night, an elite group of warriors snuck in past the sentries. As I already mentioned, back in that time, wars were fought out in the open and armies were easy to spot, which would mean more time to prepare for battle. However, this time they were caught unawares as these shadow warriors came in the silence of night. Needless to say, chaos ensued. Huts burned, children and soldiers were cleaved alike, and in the confusion and aftermath, the tribesmen realized that their women were taken. The lucky ones were overlooked or too heavily defended. Sachi-san was not one of the lucky ones."

The sensei told that part somberly just as it was told to her when she was a child. And just like her predecessors, she also paused before going on. Hinata was quiet. It was hard to read her reaction, but her pupil-less eyes did momentarily go large before looking off into the distance as if reliving some personal tragedy. After Sachi's audible gasp, she reflexively reached for her friend's hand. Leiko's other hand was clenched in a fist and threatened to pound a hole in the ground.

"A few days later," Bara continued gravely, "Tekioo's pursuing party caught up to the raiders. Lead by their experienced scouts, unparalleled in skill for their knowledge of their environment, they overtook the raiders and laid a trap for them."

"Good!" Leiko yelled while slapping her hands together in triumph.

"Indeed. The raiders were annihilated and the women were rescued but not before…it was the hardest time for the village. The elders bolstered their borders, even recalling some of their soldiers back home to take care of their loved ones. However, it did not end the crying in the night, nor the silent tears in the day. More than a few took their lives adding to the tragedy of the already grief stricken village."

"What happened to Minato?" the dark haired girl asked with tears in her obsidian eyes.

"Minato did not come back. Some stories say that he could not be found. One village in the Wind Country said that Minato in fact did get the message to return home, but his company was far and stuck behind the worst sand storm ever seen. After one week and with no sign of it getting better, he braved the storm only to never be seen again. Interestingly, some people have claimed to see him still braving the worst sand storms, trying to reach his love.

"Anyway, Sachi-san did not cry. In fact, if someone did not know her before the war, they would not think anything amiss. She helped as much as any woman in her village did, never missing any of her chores, and often doing more to make up for the other families' losses. It was obvious, however, to the other villagers that something was wrong because she never laughed again, whereas when Minato was home, everyone in the village could hear her ringing light-hearted humor. Furthermore, she spoke only when spoken to, and smiled just enough for others to let her be. Most of all her free time was spent in her room in front of her flower."

"Why, sensei?"

"Good question, Sachi. Maybe it reminded her of better times. Maybe it reminded her of Minato. Her friends spent time with her, either sitting with her or inviting her to do other activities. Sachi-san never pushed them away or was ever rude to them, but their actions did not change anything. At the end of the day, or whenever she had free time, she returned to her vigil. In fact, people found her asleep by the flower.

"That's stupid!" shouted her student, annoyed.

"Tell me this, Leiko," she said, attempting to curtail her sudden fury, "have you or your family ever been stricken with tragedy so awful that nothing seems to make it better? No? And you want to be a Kunoichi!" Bara roared, ignoring the concerned faces of all her students. "Do you understand that once you're a shinobi that you WILL see tragedy and horrors equal or worse to what Sachi-san and her village experienced! And you want to go out there, and just like all the boys, pound all our enemies into dust!"

The sensei was seething. Her heart-shaped face was flushed a rose red and despite the mellow weather, sweat poured down her ruddy neck. A veteran of at least a dozen major engagements at the Iwa Theater of War, Bara lost a husband, brother, and countless other friends and comrades.

The sensei struggled to keep her breathing under control. She rarely loss her temper and the last time was years ago when some drunk tried to blame the 4th Hokage for the death of his parents.

'If it were not for Yondaime – Minato – then I would be dead right now instead of instructing, no preparing, young girls for a hard life,' she thought allowing his vital memory to calm her.

She then looked at her three students and was not surprised that even Leiko looked scared.

"Oh wow, well look at how much time has passed," she said completely embarrassed, "it's about time for you children to head home. I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Wait, sensei," said a quiet plea. She then turned around and was surprised to see who was talking to her.

"Please, we would like to hear the rest of the story," Leiko said, followed by synchronized head bobs from both Sachi and Hinata.

Their teacher, shocked in amazement by their unanimous gestures, was uncharacteristically speechless. Fortunately, she was spared further humiliation when she realized who she was and then quickly put up her prickly guard.

"Well," she said pointedly, pretending like nothing happened, "listen carefully for this is a very important lesson I am about to teach you. No matter and I repeat no matter, what happens to you, life goes on. Do you understand me? Strife, love, war, death, all of it can happen and yet life will still move forward.

"This is something Sachi-san came to realize. The war ended, soldiers came home, and lives continued. Gradually, she decreased her vigils until finally all she needed was a mere glance at her flower, and it was enough to keep her going. Many years Sachi-san waited for her lover to return to her. Scouting parties were dispatched to find the loved ones who were still missing, but there was no sign of Minato."

"What did she do, Sensei?"

"Sachi, remember what I said earlier about life moving on? Although her heart was broken she kept living. It was a time of peace and just like in the spring, happiness and good-feeling flourished throughout the village. Eventually, Sachi-san got married and lived a happy and long life with many children.

"And, Leiko coming back to the point you brought up earlier, when she passed away, her children buried her with her flower, the same one her lover gave to her a lifetime ago."

Bara then nonchalantly clapped her hands together and said, "The end."

"Se-sensei?"

"Yes, Leiko?"

"Is-is that it? I mean no offense but that's kind of…well not the ending I was expecting."

"Yeah," her friend backed her up, "after all the trouble I thought the story would be more…um…"

"Satisfying?"

"I guess."

"Here's another lesson. Sometimes legends, stories, whatever, do not have proper endings. Just as there are many variations of the story throughout our world, there are ten times many more interpretations. When I was younger, half the fun was discussing what the story meant."

"I don't get it. You said that Minato never came home, but the flower survived?"

"Yes, Leiko."

"Wait, so Minato gave Sachi-san a flower before he left her, but somehow, even though the flower miraculously lived all those long years, he essentially died?"

"Again, yes Leiko."

"Sensei, then what's the point of the stupid flower?"

"You tell me," she replied evenly.

-/-

"True love," Hinata whispered fiercely against the wind rushing against her face. Of course, at the time she was too shy to answer her sensei's question, but she always thought the Legend of the Undying Flower meant true love. When she was younger, she imagined Sachi-san's lover coming back to her, and then the two living a long and happy life together. Of course, although she would be too embarrassed to admit it to anyone, she sometimes fantasized Naruto giving her a flower.

'A flower like the one I'm wearing,' she thought as her heart constricted. Almost immediately, she gritted her teeth and shook the disturbing thoughts away.

Finally, Naruto was just within rage of her Byakugan. She called out to him to get him to stop, and it was not until after that she realized her folly. Naruto instead of heeding her command took it as a warning and ran even faster.

This chase, this fool's game, continued all day until finally Hinata saw him start to slow. Emotions already boiling, the thought of Naruto slowing down should have given her some relief, but it only served to make her angrier because she thought that he might be giving her a chance to catch up.

"He better not be slowing down on my behalf,' she thought. She knew that she was not fast enough to truly catch him, probably nobody in Konoha was, and in Hinata's mind she imagined Naruto laughing and thinking that this was a great game.

Her enmity blinded her though, for her eyes saw something else. Instead of smiles, there was instead determination etched on his sweaty face. In place of laughs, heavy panting escaped from his mouth, and Hinata should have registered the obvious signs of exertion.

Hinata half expected Naruto to stop and say something stupid to her like, you caught me Hinata! Yet, he still fruitlessly kept going despite the fact that she was only a few meters behind him. She could have yelled, could have demanded him to stop, said the game was over, but she was too angry by then.

She reached out her hand and seized Naruto's wrist. His ensuing scream immediately made her flinch, but at least he finally stopped running.

Naruto then turned around, crimson colored with exhaustion, barely registering his pursuer with glassy eyes.

"You caught me, Hinata," he slurred.

Then with a slight chuckle and a smirk, Naruto fainted.

-/-/-/-/-/-

"Sleep, he needs sleep," Hinata thought as she stared into the flames. The dancing orange and maroon sprites mocked her, their frenetic intensity serving to remind her of her chaotic day. She chased Naruto for hours through bogs, forests, rivers, and finally up into the mountains.

'How could I have known,' Hinata thought feeling ashamed, betrayed, and angry all at the same time. Her face was devoid of emotion however, a practice honed recently, but the reflection of the fire danced in her pale lavender eyes.

She felt like this now, but not before; not when Naruto fainted. All Hinata felt then was intense worry mixed with determination, so much so, that every molecule in her body went into action. She carried his dead-weight all the way to a meager clearing, and then quickly found timber and wood to start a fire. She even gingerly treated and dressed his wound, the same one he recklessly received a few days ago, but now it seems an infection has spread up his forearm, causing Naruto intense pain.

'I bet it's why he could not sleep and get better,' she reasoned, all the while praying to the spirits that Naruto would be okay. If not, Hinata knew that she would bring Naruto to a hospital, and carry him if need be.

By the time she finished setting up the camp, the moonless night surrounded her. The wind died down and the only sounds she heard were the soft splintering of burning wood. Well, that and her heartbeat thumping in her ears.

Hinata cradled Naruto's head, resting it on her bent knees. She placed Naruto's arms across his middle, and held onto his bandaged arm, justifying her actions by telling herself that the injury needed to be attended to more closely. Furthermore, although she did not want to admit it, her touch was the only thing that stopped his thrashing and groaning.

It was not long until her finger started tracing circles along his wrist. She could not help herself, for the the only thing that mattered to her was taking care of the boy who broke her heart. The fire cast shadows on his skin, making it seem as if he was responding to her healing touch. His feverish groans which echoed earlier while she gathered supplies, turned to soft snores as she watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

Hinata studied Naruto's serene face, tracing the length of his jawline. Her gaze lazily zigzagged through the whisker marks upon his cheeks, to his cute-button nose, and then up along his ridge to his hair. Hinata noticed how Naruto's wild and spiky hair, just seemed to conform and naturally fall upon her lap.

When her eyes lingered on Naruto's eyelids, she remembered their sky-blue intensity and the way it used to make her heart thump wildly and mouth stammer with each passing glance. For one night, those same eyes looked upon her with kindness and compassion.

'I think he…actually liked being with me,' she thought to herself recalling the bitterly repressed memory of the rice fields. Sudden tears pooled in her eyes when she remembered how those same irides looked at her with nothing but hatred and contempt.

"I am not weak," she whispered to herself, "I will not cry."

To steady herself, she fled to the other side of the fire, putting it between her and Naruto, ignoring his groans and unconscious thrashes. Hinata then drew her legs inward and held them for warmth and protection. She repeated her mantra of, "I am not weak, I will not cry," until the words were forgotten, the lips stopped moving, and her eyelids succumbed to the lull of the dancing flames.

-/-

"No, Naruto, don't come after me."

"Wait, Okaasan, please wait," he yelled. He crawled on useless legs towards her. It has seemed an eternity that Naruto found himself trapped in the tunnel. Fiery red hair was its ever-moving light source, and between the strands, twin sapphires bore into him. Only a few meters in front of him, they did not illuminate the cave as much as they cast shadows along the walls; shadows that always eluded his guiding hands but haunted him nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Okaasan," Naruto yelled to her. He did not know why, but it seemed that as far as he could remember, he has been trying to catch up to her, to fix a terrible wrong that drove her away.

Deep in his heart, Naruto knew that he must make amends because he hurt her. This chase continued, much as the same as usual, deeper into the tunnel. It was directionless, neither sloping up nor down, turning, or giving an indication of any change whatsoever. If it were not for Naruto's hands which guided him upon the rocky wall, he would have sworn that he was walking through nothing.

After calling after his mother for the umpteenth time, smoke assaulted his face. Burning his eyes and almost choking him, he starting crawling to avoid passing out.

"Naruto, please," his okaasan called out to him again, "you cannot follow me." Her plea fell on deaf ears for Naruto's legendary stubbornness would never let him stop. Even blinded and choking, he would fix his wrongs.

On he crawled, his belly on the hard floor, barely moving at all, his mother's image burned in his mind.

Amidst his coughs, he heard a soft voice say to him, "It's okay Naruto. Everything will be okay." Focusing on her words, Naruto found a much needed reprieve from the smoke. As if time stood still, he dared to open his eyes to have one last look at her. Sad, forlorn eyes watched him while a chaotic mass of fiery hair waved all around her. He started to say something, some kind of apology, but nothing came out as something grabbed him from behind.

Whoosh!

Naruto suddenly found himself flying backwards through the tunnel. He would have been terrified at being taken back into the darkness but the shock of it all paralyzed him. Whereas his chase after his mother was long and arduous, his flight was brief and expedient. Just as he realized that two cool appendages held onto him, he started to feel a sensation which he did not feel in a really long time: elevation.

Backwards Naruto flew, backwards and always higher. Faint light illuminated the walls around him, and just as he exited the mouth, he took one last glance at the dark entrance of the cave in which he was lost in. Wondrous sights dominated his underused sight, so much so, that even the shadows of the moonlit trees seemed bright and clear.

Overcome with all the visual stimuli which were previously robbed from him, Naruto oddly mumbled to himself, "It's going to rain," even though there was not a single cloud in the dotted sky.

Twin appendages laid him to rest on top of a grassy knoll along the river bank. Too comfortable to move, Naruto traced the receding arms back to its source. Up they went, above the canopy, and even beyond the stars, back to the giant moon which now dominated the heavens. Golden it was, almost like a pale sun, and it stared down at Naruto, watching him and protecting him.

Curiously, the moon came closer, and Naruto could not help but notice that as it did so, it also seemed to expand, covering the fragile sky in a type of gloaming. Naruto knew that he should have been scared of the growing spectacle, but strangely, he felt at peace. His lingering suspicions melted away as he heard the moon speak, its melodic rhythm lulling him into a much needed slumber. Over and over he heard it again, barely registering its words and just allowing them to further hypnotize him.

'I am not weak…' Naruto's body melted into the grass around him. He still saw the moon even with his eyes closed.

'I will not…'

Naruto finally found rest, not noticing the rain drops which lightly pelted his face.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Naruto woke up to the smell of scented flowers. Growing up, he became accustomed to wiping away the unruly strands from his eyes, but he was surprised when what he touched was not the coarse, wild, and oily hair that was his. Instead, it was smooth, light, and, for lack of a better term, orderly.

He opened his eyes to see a girl with a porcelain complexion with full lips sleeping peacefully next to him. Reluctantly letting go of her hand, Naruto reached up to brush back the strands of hair from her face. As his fingers lightly grazed her cheek, Hinata's eyes shot open.

"I, uh, um, well, it's not…" Naruto stammered incoherently spouting nonsensical sentences. Fully awake with adrenaline racing through his body, he tried to seem busy by packing up. It did not take long however to realize that he was trying to break a nonexistent camp, so once he took a deep breath, he turned back to his companion who was still sitting by campfire.

"…good morning, Hinata." As expected, her reply was just her usual solemn stare which Naruto guessed was a mixture of loathing and interest.

"I guess we should head back. Training exercise complete!" he said, with a big overconfident grin. Yet, it seemed even Mother Nature was teasing him as the stillness of the forest only made his awkward stance even more ridiculous. Hinata's glare only made things worse.

"I, uh, we should get going then, thank you, Hinata." Naruto then did an elaborate sweep of the nonexistent campsite, one more time, and turned to walk away.

"Naruto-kun, wait." He dreaded to look at her.

"You lied to me." Naruto turned around. What he saw made his blood freeze. Hinata was standing now with her arm outstretched toward him. In the palm of her hand, like a maiden in a precarious tower, was the flower he gave her.

"You told me Konohamaru gave me this flower." Naruto could not speak, could not even look at her face. He shamefully stared at some uninteresting clump of dirt, dug-up by some animal.

"I thought you hated, liars, Naruto-kun." Naruto visibly winced as she just threw back the words that he so vehemently spat in her face, not too long ago.

"But that's besides the point…" He heard Hinata whisper more to herself than to him.

"Naruto-kun, why did you give this flower to me?" Suddenly, the pile of dirt became very interesting to Naruto, and he could see it in a whole new light. It was moist and fresh, and judging by its shape, it could have held some treasure, or also equally true, it could have just been a pile of crap. He saw stems in the mound and wondered if there were petals in there too.

"It's just a flower, Hinata," he whispered delicately.

"Please, Naruto-kun," Hinata said almost sweetly, pitifully. "It's important. I need to know."

"Just cause…" he answered like a six year old. Reluctantly, he moved his attention away from the dirt to the girl who he hurt and who saved him more than once. "I mean I just had to give it to you. I'm sorry that I lied, but you needed to have the flower."

This seemed to take her aback as she digested Naruto's explanation.

"That's it then? There's nothing more to it than that?" After a few moments pause, she continued, "So why did you lie about the flower? Did you think that I was just going to throw it back at your face, or even tear it up in front of you?"

Naruto felt the heat in her voice. He could not help but notice how her left hand trembled, tightly in a fist. It was then that he realized that Hinata seemed perilously close to doing the same with her fight hand. Before he knew it, he had tentatively reached over to her, no towards the flower.

"Oh I see, you want to save the flower. You do not want me to hurt it. I do not understand you, Naruto-kun. You care more about this flower than you do me. Do you want it? You can rescue it from me if you like."

"No, Hinata, you must have it."

"So you'd rather me destroy your precious flower rather than take it back?

"No, you don't understand."

"I understand that you lied to me in order to keep this flower. I understand you care more about it than you do me and are actually trying to protect it from me, as if I was some kind of monster." Naruto heard her voice crack.

"Please, Hinata, I'm begging—"

"The way I begged you to listen to me? I wasn't lying then but you did not believe me and hurt me anyway. You said yourself that it's just a flower. But I'm not the cruel kind of person that you think I am—"

"Hinata, I never said—"

"You never had to. Your actions told me…you never even apologized…" Naruto watched her whimper and then turn away. Collecting herself, she turned around as if nothing happened.

"Here. You can take the flower back…"

"Hinata, I cannot. I already told you—"

"…or I can keep it but you already know what I am going to do with it."

The interesting pile of dirt crumbled, quickly followed by a curious ant-head poking out and then digging back into the earth. Naruto knew that he had nothing else to say, no other way to convince her. He sighed audibly and then turned around.

"You're right, Hinata, it's just a flower. Keep it," he said with deep resignation. With that he walked away from the meadow, from thing he needed to protect, and the girl he never wanted to leave again.

Crunch!

Naruto stopped walking long enough to wait for the echo to finish spreading his failure. Putting his left foot forward, he dared not to look back else Hinata would see him crying.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Ahhhhh," Naruto yawned, deep and hardy, into the bright morning, shamelessly being as loud as possible. After his first restful night of sleep in what seemed to be forever, he woke up full of energy, and surprisingly, with clear head. Despite the fact that it was at least a good hour until dawn, Naruto wanted, no needed, to act, to do, to accomplish. What exactly, he did not know, and in fact, it did not come to him until after a morning run through the brisk air.

Unfortunately, once he knew what he had to do, the thought consumed him. Twice he had to sprint back to his room because he forgot something; the first a shirt not soaked in fresh sweat, and second, his right sandal.

Naruto wished that he had someone who could give him advice. He was not good with words, and anything that had to do with women was completely alien to him. In his heart, he knew that he had to apologize, but how? How could he portray the depth of his sorrow so that she would believe him?

He considered buying her a present such as a bouquet of whatever or some candies, but his gut told him that the presents would only make things worse. Even so, he still perused the aisles at the 24-hour convenient store for desperate ideas. After his third round, he discerned that it was well after sunrise, and that he better leave, unless he wanted to apologize for being late as well!

Paying for two deluxe instant-ramens, he instantly grabbed his change and flew out the door. Outside, he did not realize that store owner, hoping to improve the troubled boy's day, gave him some free Onigiri, and Naruto thoughtlessly stuffed it into his pocket with his change.

In his haste, he also forgot to buy hot water and a thermos, and it was well in the afternoon before the two could eat lunch.

Now, he casually held the foam cup while his gaze lingered on his sun-burnt toes. It was very hot today and both friends shared the sparse area of shade under a withered tree, whose naked brown branches made up for its lack of leaves.

"Thank you for lunch," he heard Hinata say delicately.

"Yeah, it only took four hours to heat up," he replied absently but unable to keep the sourness out of his voice. Thankfully, Hinata came up with the idea to use the cold river water, and leave the ramen cups in the blistering sun until it was at least warm.

"Well, I wasn't very hungry before," she said a little more cheerfully. "The extra training helped to work-up my appetite."

Naruto scoffed. "If only I was a Katon type like Sasuke, I could have heated up the water instantly…" he trailed off knowing that he just brought up a taboo and unresolved topic between them. Thoughts of him yelling at Hinata, her crying on the floor, and then her subsequent stony mask - always back to the haunting mask - flashed through him. He had to audibly release his breath and then release the pressure in his curled fist.

"Hinata?" he said trying to sound confident before his resolve would crumble.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm sorry," he blurted out hopelessly.

"It's okay, really Naruto-kun it's o—"

"No!" he almost yelled while he turned and locked his eyes with Hinata. "No, it's not," he repeated again softly. "I hurt you, Hinata, and you cannot know just how much I wish that I could undo the pain I caused you. You have never been anything but good to me and…"

Naruto gently touched her hand.

"…I consider you my closest friend."

At first, Naruto felt Hinata's soft hand tighten, and then pull away. She turned away from him, and he could not help but inhale the subtle scent of pressed-flowers as her hair hit his face.

"I'm sorry, not just for that night, but for all of this. I should have apologized right away and not waited for the right time, no matter how stupid I could have sounded. I don't have much time and I wasted most of it already."

Well, that was it. He had nothing pertinent left to say and the prolonged silence only bolstered his fears that he may have been too late to fix their friendship.

Naruto removed his hands from her shoulders, a little embarrassed in the fact that he unconsciously put them there. If he let his hands linger for just another moment, he would have realized that the only thing keeping Hinata together was his firm touch.

Instead, he missed the slight trembles in her back, and it was not until he heard her sniffles, that he knew something was wrong.

"Hina—" Naruto was surprised when she threw herself into his arms.

He was momentarily stunned as Hinata cried into his shirt. He held her on his chest; arms wrapped around her shoulders, and cradled her as a parent would a child.

Naruto wished he could do something to ease her pain, and would have given anything to know the right thing to do in this situation. He heard girls cry before as Sakura seemed to always cry. However, this was the first time a girl actually cried on him, and despite it being his fault, she did not recoil from him. Instead, she melted into Naruto as if he was her salvation from her pain, but then she cried even harder! This paradox unsettled Naruto deeply, and he did not know what to do. In the end, he resigned himself to just hold her, letting her exert all the pain he caused her, and in the aftermath Naruto vowed to take care of what was left.

It was the right thing to do.

It got worse before it got better. Hinata cried all her sorrow out, including ones not related to Naruto. It did not help that his patient and comforting arms held her as if encouraging her actions.

When she was all cried out, and all that was left was reflexive trembling, Hinata found herself exhausted. Honestly never feeling as comfortable as she did in Naruto's arms, she fell into a deep and comfortable sleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

'I think the reason why Naruto treated you like that…'

"Was what?" Hinata called out. She was next to her younger brother on the rock they sat on a not to long ago. She absentmindedly remembered this conversation because there was something important she was trying to tell him, but only that time she would not listen. Now all she wanted in the world was to hear his explanation. She turned her head, but when Konohamaru spoke, the wind blew so hard that it carried his words away.

"What?" She asked again, but the wind blew harder and this time it took him with it. Swiftly, he rode and Hinata followed, calling out for him, wanting him to stay.

She blindly ran until he faded from her vision and the wind engulfed her.

Hinata woke up to the serene sounds of singing Nightingales, and the gentle warmth of the summer air. She then sat up and marveled at the verdant field encompassing her. Its grass was so bright that even the sleepy orange sun paled in comparison. Green protectors surrounded her, the ancient evergreens sheltering her from intruders and enemies. In the heavens, the faint stars gleamed, welcoming her back to their secret paradise.

Hinata closed her eyes, perfectly content with her seemingly reawakened sense of serenity. Exactly, how long she sat on the grassy knoll she would not have cared to say.

It was not until the fickle wind blew strands of her hair across her face that she realized something was odd. First, her hair was chestnut-brown instead of eggplant-colored. Second, her clothing was ancient, belonging to a woman of a nomadic tribe, not a Kunoichi.

And then another soul awakened within her, and Hinata instinctively knew that this paradise did not truly belong to her. This opened another perspective, and she watched her graceful body from the view of the stars as well as from within her own body. The disorientation lasted but a few moments which were quickly replaced with questions about why she was here.

Looking around again, she thought, 'this must be the special place Sachi-san and her lover had before the war'. Thoughts of her lost love and the brutality of the war overwhelmed her, and suddenly, Hinata remembered that this was somehow wrong. She looked down to her shaking hands with their sinewy texture to see the brittle bone underneath. It was not just her hands, but her entire body felt ponderous and frail.

Raw memories flooded her emotions to the point that she screamed. Paralyzed by the weight of the foreign body, she desperately tried to move, to escape the paradise she was trapped in. The wind, once a gentle breeze, buffeted the deceptively-stable evergreen protectors perilously close towards Sachi, scattering the grass while howling into her ears.

And she was afraid because Sachi knew she would sit here, paralyzed by her memories and stuck in this field with no hope of escape. Sachi would endure, just like before, with a stoic mask and no hope for a bright future.

Alone. Always alone.

-/-

At first, Sachi thought the sensation along her spine was another trick of the cruel wind. Then when it happened again, she carefully turned her head, hoping against hope that she did not imagine the touch.

When she felt a firm squeeze on her hand, she gasped, sucking in multiple breaths as if she had not properly breathed in a very long time. Relief flooded every pore of her being, and once she collected herself she looked up to the bright stars and realized that her oasis was peaceful again.

'No not my oasis,' Sachi realized, 'but our oasis.' Tentatively, she trailed the length of his strong forearm up to the face of her rescuer. Angular it was, with etched hard lines from a lifetime of fighting. She placed her hand upon the left side of his cheek, and was surprised at how soft it was. That, and his chocolate colored eyes watched her with compassion.

Sachi knew at once that this man was not the one she married, the one who was the father to her children. However, he was a friend, a lover once, and very dear to her, and in some ways, more so than even her own husband.

She did not know how long they stayed there, hand-in-hand, for the night never fully conquered their little paradise. Yet, the night did come, a hard lesson she learned long ago, and if it was not evident in the sky, then she knew the truth in her heart.

"I'm glad you remembered," was the only thing he said as he gently let go of her hand and stood up to look plaintively at the guardians behind him.

He never said goodbye and farewell, but he never had to, for Sachi instinctively knew that her friend had found peace through her own happiness, and could now go back to the world from which he belonged.

Even so, she could not bear to watch him leave her again. She looked down again and was amazed to see, in the palm of her hand (the one that held his), a flower. Immediately, Sachi felt a wave of tranquility wash over her, and she would have been content in its presence had she not had a burning need to know something.

He almost vanished between the thick foliage of the protectors when she called out to him one more time.

"Why, why did you give me the flower? Please, I must know."

When he turned around, the face was not that of her lover. The hard angular lines softened considerably, and his chocolate eyes turned bright blue but no less compassionate. Naruto then smiled, that one special smile, playful and mischievous, warming and comforting, and reserved solely for her.

"Hinata…" he said smilingly, and the reminder of her name – her true name – washed away her other sense of self. Her hair became longer, finer, and again became the familiar shade of royal-purple. The skin around her hands lost its dark tan, and its sinewy texture released his hold on the fingers, becoming again silky and healthy.

She looked down to the flower and could not help but notice a bright blue-shimmer, the color and magnificence of an ocean wave rushing towards the shore. There was something intimately familiar about its glint, and automatically, she brought her gaze back to the twin oceans of Naruto's eyes.

"…You are the flower."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Hinata woke up to a pleasant sensation grazing along her arm. She waited a few moments, and felt something trace a warm line from her temple, around and behind her ear, down to her right shoulder, and ending in the middle of her back.

Opening her eyes, she saw Naruto's pupils widen as he watched her. She followed his gaze as his hand traced the length of her hair again.

Seeing that she awoke, Naruto stopped his caressing while his hand was on her ear. Smiling sheepishly, he asked her, "Hiya, Hinata. How are you feeling?"

She just looked at him with owl-like eyes as if she were an injured and captured animal.

"Here," he said sweetly. "You must be hungry. Unfortunately," Naruto pointed to her feet with his eyes, "your ramen spilled while you were crying, but luckily I found this."

Hinata's eyes never left his. He then brought the smashed rice ball to her mouth and pressed it upon her lips. When she did not bite, Naruto tore off a piece – remembering to remove the lint from his pocket - and brought it back to her lips.

Her eyes followed his fingers as they reached towards her mouth again. With no other reaction in her face, she still dutifully accepted the small clump of rice. He then repeated feeding her. Naruto noticed that as his fingers brought the rice to her lips, her gaze would switch from his eyes to his fingers. Then as he retracted his hand, she would return her lingering stare back up to his eyes. Secretly, he relished in this act and fully concentrated on gently feeding her.

When the rice was done and Naruto had nothing else to do except look into her pale eyes, he started to feel uncomfortable.

He spoke, "Um, Hinata I—"

"You care about me don't you," Hinata cut him off.

Surprised by her very uncharacteristic frankness, Naruto stammered, "O-Of, of, course, a, Hinata. I care about you a lot. As I said, you're my—"

"Then don't hurt me anymore."

Naruto watched her stony face, and how for the last week, it shut him out.

Hinata blinked.

And just like that, her mask crumbled. "Please, Naruto-kun, don't ever hurt me again," she confessed. Hinata then broke her hold over him and turned her face back into his shirt.

"I prom—"

"Please, Naruto-kun," she quickly spoke while bolting upright. "Don't make promises you…" she trailed off thinking it ludicrous that she would even have to tell him.

"I promise that I will not hurt you again, Hinata," Naruto replied sincerely.

"Okay, Naruto-kun," she said tentatively but quickly, fighting the familiar control she placed on herself for too long. "I forgive you."

"Really, Hinata?"

She then nodded her affirmation, too astonished for words, and was honestly surprised at how easy it was to forgive him. Just as a great weight lifted from her soul, Naruto added more to her body by giving her an almost bone-crushing hug. She did not mind, however, and really did not want him to let go.

After his pure glee subsided, Naruto instantly let go of Hinata, afraid that he might have hurt her.

"Thanks," he said after the fact. Hinata pulled her hair behind her ear and shyly smiled at him.

The two friends, their painful encounter put behind them, talked shoulder to shoulder for the rest of the day. Neither one could stop smiling while myriads of smiles, laughter, gesture, winks, and most of all, glances were passed between the two. Of course, Naruto could not stop talking. Hinata smiled, dutifully listening and content that her grief over him had passed.

"Hey, Hinata?" Naruto asked as the moon rose.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"You don't suppose, that you might be up for, um…" he rubbed his stomach exaggerating its emptiness. When she did not respond, he added sheepishly, "…some ramen at Ichiraku's with me? Would ya?"

"Didn't we just have ramen earlier today?"

"Yes, but yours kind of spilled…" Naruto became flabbergasted as Hinata was already running away from him.

'She's fast,' he thought while he dumbly let her get away again.

He then turned around to fetch his jacket, and clean up any lingering trash, when he heard a commotion behind him. Assuming, it was just a rabbit, he ignored it and took his time.

Konohamaru would never forget the story Hinata told him about how his older brother screamed like a girl because he thought that she was a talking bunny.

"Are you coming?"

Once he got his breathing back under control, he caught up to Hinata and immediately noticed something important.

"The Flower!" he bellowed to her. "You're still wearing it! I cannot believe it! I swear I thought you destroyed it!"

Hinata let Naruto's excitement taper off before she spoke again.

"I told you what I would do with it if you left it with me," she said coyly. "Didn't I, Naruto-kun?"

The two friends silently walked along the dirty trail. Hinata smelled, more than saw, the flowers dotting the bushes and shrubs inside the untamed forest. Usually, she would take the time mentally catalog the different types and mark their location, but she ignored the pretty plants, because they meant nothing to her. She had her flower, and Hinata could feel it, not perched above her ear, but inside her heart. Deep inside, she would do her best to never lose it again.

"I'm glad you remembered," Naruto replied serenely.

Some kind of soft sound resembling the word "what" must have escaped her lips, for Naruto suddenly stopped walking and turned to her. She looked deeply in his eyes trying to find some hidden meaning behind his words.

When she could not find anything, despite Naruto's unfathomable seriousness, she turned and punched the Sugi tree for good luck. Looking back one last time, into the verdant foliage of their picturesque training ground, she just now realized how beautiful it was, almost like an oasis all their own.

"So do I, Naruto-kun" she replied evenly, while lovingly touching the healthy flower upon her ear.

"So do I."

---

Author's Notes:

Wow, well what could I say about the last 7ish months? I should probably start with a big THANK YOU! I'm really glad you enjoyed my story and I hope my latest chapter did not disappoint. I really want to mention everybody who gave me reviews, but honestly it is almost 7am here and I have been awake since 3am with a cold. I want to get this chapter up so you guys could enjoy, but I read all your reviews many times, and I will remember you if you reviewed before. Please know that I sincerely do appreciate you reading my chapter, and any forthcoming reviews, comments, words, whatever, mean the world to me.

Just a few words regarding the response to Chapter 3:

More than a few, including my new Beta Reader, thought Chapter 3's plot a little unbelievable if not weak. With that said, I concur and I will do my best to build better chapters in the future. I have come to realize that not all my audience is caught up with Naruto (like my Beta Reader) so I have give enough background so that they do not get lost and lose interest. I guess all authors walk a fine line between over-explaining the obvious and not explaining enough, and I'm the type that likes to keep my readers guessing :P

This may sound a little perverse, but I'm glad if you cried reading Chapter 3. It was meant to be emotional, and tears (or even any emotional response) meant I did my job properly. So thank you

Chapter 4 Notes:

I purposely did not describe Hinata's flower because I thought it would lose its symbolism. Interestingly, I would love to hear what type of flower my readers imagined in their head. Maybe, one day, I'll describe the flower I imagined while writing this chapter.

Originally, Chapter 4 was meant to be short, and my nickname for it was "Shorty." However, I am extremely happy with how this one turned out. I hate boring and obvious forgiveness/reconciliation stories, and I tried to almost deflect it with the introduction of the flower.

Chapter 5:

Part of why Chapter 4 took so long was I had to find the reason for writing. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I ignored it several times because I kept thinking it a waste of time. Fortunately (or unfortunately :P) I needed to keep writing. Chapter 5 will definitely not take as long, I'm aiming for a month, but please know that it takes time, so if it's not out, it means that I'm still diligently working on it.

Oh, and I have a life too so that gets in the way

If Chapter 4 was the reconciliation to the latter part of Chapter 3, then Chapter 5 finishes what the former part of Chapter 3 started. Keep in mind, however, that not everything will be answered right away, and I'm actually saving a lot of it for future chapters.

Oh, and I'm not drawing this story out, but in fact, I've known how I wanted it to end for almost a year now. It will be an arduous but extremely rewarding journey to get there.

Thanks again and I look forward to your comments,

Malakas.