Hinata was so afraid that everything was just a dream.
That one day she would wake up and be back in that house. That they would be waiting for her, dragging her into that cage that she so feared.
It was nights like those where she stayed awake, unable to relax. Her heart would palliate with anxiety as her mouth dried up, afraid that when she woke up the next morning, they would be back.
But Naruto was never more than a few feet away from her, asking her if she was okay. She would murmur a reply, and Naruto would roll over and go to sleep, and she would listen to his soft breathing.
The girl with eyes of stone…
Often, she rose earlier than the other two. Considering her previous living quarters, it was a habit engrained within her from a very young age, and even within this abode did her body sweat at the prospect of morning. It was always the mornings that it happened. It was always the-
Hinata turned and screamed at the intruder she spotted just outside the door. In an instant, Naruto roared awake and a herd of Kage Bunshin descended on the shadowy individual.
It turned out to be Anko.
To say the least, Naruto was not the least bit pleased to see her there.
"You crazy lady! Get the fuck out of my house!" Naruto screeched.
Anko pouted.
"Aren't you happy to see me?"
"No! You're fucking disgusting!"
"Oh come on, it wasn't what it looked like."
"Then why were people shitting in our house?" Naruto screeched yet again.
Anko could only roll her eyes.
"You have kage bunshin. It couldn't have been that bad."
Just then, Iruka walked in, immediately drawing out several kunai at the sight of Anko.
"Anko," he growled with a voice low and steady. "What the hell are you doing in our house?"
"Come on Iruka-kun. Aren't you glad to see me?"
"No. Kindly get out."
"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad."
"Anko, it took three days to clean up. Three. Days."
-Flashback-
"Oh sweet Jesus! Is that shit on the floor?" Iruka screamed.
"Hey Iruka-kun," Anko winked.
-End Flashback-
"It was just a prank," Anko whined.
Naruto immediately expressed what he thought about her prank with a long string of explicit diatribe. Iruka failed to scold Naruto for his language.
Hinata could only feel relieved.
She cherished every single day that they were together, because one day, they would leave her in the blink of an eye.
Even for a short moment, she wanted to be happy.
{[+]}
"Naruto, no pranks. No casting genjutsu on other people, no harem jutsu, stop picking fights with Sasuke and making fun of his name."
Naruto pouted.
"But calling him Sas-gay is really therapeutic." Naruto grinned. "Ne, Hinata?"
Hinata could only give a small smile and she watched as Naruto and Iruka returned to their daily banter. It felt so good to be beside them, yet it felt so wrong…
"…nata? Hinata?"
"Huh?"
"Are you alright today?"
"I'm fine," she whispered back.
Naruto could only grin.
"That's good. We haven't done a welcome party for you yet."
"A-Ano...a…Party?"
"A party! To welcome you into the family! We never got to celebrate because of all the shit that happened afterwards, but we can make a really good one!"
"Language," Iruka scolded. "Why can't you be more like Hinata?"
"Well excuse me!"
The two returned to their daily bantering amongst Naruto's outbursts of "We'll make it the best party ever!" while he made all sorts of crazy suggestions. Every now and then, he turned towards her and proclaimed her as princess, while Hinata felt so distant that it hurt.
A party…huh?
Her father never threw a party for her after her mother's death. He never acknowledged her; he never even publicly acknowledged her birth date. Even Hanabi got a soft, stern "happy birthday" on her days in the breakfast table, but never Hinata.
She relinquished everyone after her mother's death. Uncle Hizashi deceased because she was powerless; the brother she used to have detested her now because she killed his father, and Hanabi despised her because she was so pathetic. So no one even cared or knew when her date was. She never deserved a celebration.
So why were these people treating her so nicely?
The warmth inside of her could only beat unbearably quickly now, like a heart on overload, as she walked among these people. They smiled at her, grinned at her, and made her feel like she was accepted.
Why? Why would anyone accept her?
Warmth spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She wiped at it frantically with her sleeves, but…
"Hinata?"
She tried to stop the guttural sounds coming out her throat.
"A-Ano…*sob*…. I don't even know w-why I'm c-c-crying *sob* but I…*sob*…I…"
She tried to hide her face, hide herself from these people that would leave her…but Naruto grabbed her wrists and…
He was so soft. Warm. He smelled so nice.
"Don't hide that face. It's a beautiful face."
"I-I-I'm not beautiful…"
Naruto's voice was so gentle.
"You're not alone anymore Hinata. You're our family now, ne?"
"I…I…*sob*…"
"We won't be alone anymore."
For some reason, Hinata couldn't make anything intelligent come out of her throat after this. The whole experience was just too surreal. It was just that…
Ah, she was so pathetic.
Clinging on to these two people and never wanting to let go.
{[+]}
"You know, Naruto is really similar to you. Iruka too. Most of us are."
Hinata looked up at Anko with surprise, whose face was unusually somber.
"At some point of our lives, we were all alone. Iruka's parents died, Naruto is hated by almost everyone, and there's a reason why they live in a ramen shop. They don't like to talk about it very much, but the execution a few months ago was very public."
Anko took a big gulp from her sake bottle.
"…I used to have a teacher. He meant everything to me, but he left me and betrayed me, he left me for dead. And you're probably like that too. You'll go through life and question every relationship that you have."
At this, Anko slammed the sake bottle on the table.
"But you know what? Somewhere out there, there are a group of people that you will find. They will pick you up from the hole in the ground, and you'll be afraid of grabbing their hand. However, if you grab their hand, and they pull you up, you'll see that the world isn't just the hairy ass stuck in your eyes. You'll see that shit gets better."
Her voice trailed off, but the words lingered, and suddenly, Hinata felt like talking too.
"…I used to have a dream," Hinata said. Anko perked up and fell silent. "In a house where nobody liked me and almost everybody wanted me dead, I used to think about Naruto a lot. I wanted…I wanted him to kill me, because if I was going to die, I wanted my suffering to end by the boy who came to my fifth birthday party."
"…But now what?"
"…I don't know. But I don't want them to leave me. I want to stop being so pathetic...!" Hinata grasped an illusionary object. "I want to…I want to get stronger!"
And Anko laughed, her sake spilling all over the place. She slapped Hinata's back good-naturedly as she shoved a bottle of alcohol into Hinata's hands.
"That's the spirit! If life gives you lemons, eat them and shit rainbows! Make it better! Win that boyfriend of yours!"
Hinata spluttered and blushed, but was cut off by Anko's grin, by which she found herself smiling back.
"I don't usually teach brats, but if you want, I'll make an exception for you as payment for hiring male prostitutes to shit in your house." Anko paused. "Oh yeah, tell Naruto that you know about his fuzzy tenant. He's afraid you'll leave him if you find out about his status, so shatter that illusion."
"I won't ever leave him…!"
"See? You're not the only one scared of being alone."
Hinata was speechless for a while, but then she smiled at the revelation. Glancing at the sake bottle in her hands, Hinata impulsively took a sip.
Anko would later be screamed at by Naruto, Iruka and Kurenai respectively.
{[+]}
A/N: A longer than usual chapter. Exploring Hinata's growth as a character and the dynamics between everyone as a whole. Anko will play an important role, as will Kurenai. So will Iruka, and eventually Kakashi.
The Uzumaki will make a cameo appearance soon.
Thanks to Bombraider, Moonlight Phoenix, RamenKnight, Kanrei, Roboguy, and the Anonymous for the reviews!
Uh…R&R? Tell me what you think? .