He shivered as he pulled his covers closer around him, the girl across from him almost giggled at his attempts as she knew it was futile, but being possibly one of the nicest people alive, instead felt sorry for him.

"D-d-do you um…want t-to use my blanket."

While her stutter had increasingly gotten better over the course of the past year, she was still a very shy child. She unlike the boy had naturally pale skin and a short cut of hair that framed her round face. The boy seemed to be a sun-child that hadn't gotten any sun in year, however his skin wasn't as sickly pale as it had been the year before, his hair was still droopy and scratchy but it seemed to have gained some color.

"You shouldn't give me your blanket, you're the girl…" He trailed off at the end.

"But I umm… have 2-2 blank-kets and they're b-b-both thicker t-than yours…." She tried to persuade the boy and pushed the blanket out to him. "Because you're frail, you need it." The girl was frail as the boy said, but as she looked at his own thin form she knew even she was better off.

"Naruto, I-I'm-I am nat-turally s-small, you're actually th-thin." He snorted. "Hinata, I'm used to being like this, you're the guest I didn't want you to come here anyway, and it'd be cruel to make you the cold one." She threw the blanket onto him and turned over quickly as to avoid the stare she knew she'd get from the boy.

"I didn't want you to come…the place is disgusting." The boy muttered to himself and she pressed her head to the pillow underneath her head and pushed her back up against the pillow separating them. While some might think it's strange for a boy and girl to sleep together, they were more like brother and sister than anything.

She heard the boy seemingly resign himself to sleep as he pulled the blanket over himself and shuffle around in the bed.

He honestly didn't understand why she had given him the blanket, he wasn't lying when he said he was used to it. He muttered to himself slightly as he finally laid comfortable on his side and nudged his head into his pillow.

It then rang out suddenly a creaking floorboard that broke his sleep, he heard soft snores of Hinata lying next to him, and knew it wasn't her but then suddenly a violent red invaded his vision and smoke sifted into his nose. The creaks grew louder and there were more, probably several people running against the old floorboards.

He heard the snores stop even over the alarm and a shriek pierce the air, but it faded out too as he felt his heart slam against his ribcage the pounding ringing in his hears, it melded into the door that slammed open the screams, the smell of smoke poured into his nose.

It went in unison as he noticed it was his own self that was screaming, the girl next to him frantically trying to pull him away, he didn't move his heart pounding louder, faster. And the flames licked his vision, smoke filled his lungs and his sore throat from screaming burned more.

The red flames danced across his eyes and he saw the orange and yellow that twirled between, the blankets that kept him warm through the cold burned against his skin keeping him trapped in a cocoon of heat, the fire licked away at the wood as one of the volunteer caretakers lifted Hinata away and made a reach for him.

He didn't fight as the stranger arms pulled him up and away, the fire came closer and closer filling him with dread as it danced along the falling wreckage, waltzing faster and faster towards his dangling feet, he couldn't look away and then he felt the muscles around him encase him against the chest of the man and the shattering glass filled his vision.

They were only on the second story, so it made sense as to why the volunteer would jump out but. The arms constricted around him and he felt the teenager's knees curl up and he twisted to the side. Flames surrounded them, heat everywhere, the shrieking alarm was drowned out by screams.

They hit the ground with an oomph.

All he saw was black and he pulled Hinata closer.

The next thing he saw was white, white that filled his vision, his ears rung with a high pitched squeal that didn't seem to stop, when it cleared up he heard a steady beeping that cut through and he felt his heart that pounded vigorously. He still smelled the wisps of smoke, but he smelled anesthetic that mixed in a not so pleasant way.

But it wasn't because of that that he threw up.

He knew he was in a hospital but the only thing he wished for was for Hinata.

Is she ok?

Did she get hurt?

Did she survive?

Is she….even alive?

As the questions flooded into his head he felt a headache that came upon him and he groaned in pain as he held his head but tried to stutter out of bed but as he was halfway out a nurse came rushing into the room. He croaked out in protest as she pushed him back onto the bed, but he was pushed up anyway.

"Where's Hinata?" The nurse turned to him as he broke out in a fit of coughs that racked his body and suddenly he felt someone else next to him, smaller than the nurse by a-lot a small gentle hand that pushed against his forehead. "I'm right here Naruto, it's alright, no-one died, we're all ok, but your lungs are hurt so you should rest, ok."

"Thanks Hinata, thank you so much, I thought I lost you-" He was cut off as he broke out in more coughs. "You should get a drink of water." And then he noticed something he hadn't before, Hinata was confident in what she was saying, there wasn't a stutter in what she said.

And, this time when he woke up, he wasn't alone.

I thought I would go for a more serene description for the fire scene, I felt really sad while writing this, but the ending came out really nicely. I thought I could use the stutter in her voice as a sort of catalyst to show that he was getting over the mental block of him always being alone, if that makes any sense. Please review, it makes me really happy to hear your thoughts, and please tell me if I have any typos that I can go in and fix.

-S.E.C.