The original Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story concept and any original characters contained within are mine.

---

A six year old Naruto decides that there are two kinds of people in the world: Those with families, and those without. Will a girl crying in the rain force him to re-evaluate his ideas?

---

Three kinds

---

Naruto stepped out of his apartment and descended the stairs, a scowl marking his fox-like face. He thought it was raining out. That was both a blessing and a curse, he decided. If it was raining out, then there wouldn't be anybody in the street who would be mean to him. That was always nice.

But if it was raining out, then he'd have to walk down to the food store in the rain. And that was cold and wet. Looking back towards his apartment, he wondered if he really needed to buy some more food, right this instant.

Then his stomach rumbled, and he decided that it was better to be wet and full than dry and hungry. Opening the front door of his apartment building, he stepped out into the street, shivering as the rain began steadily soaking his clothes. Walking down the street, he made a mental note to buy an umbrella with his next monthly allowance.

The rain began lancing down more heavily, droplets of water shattering on contact with the sidewalk and splashing his pant legs. By the time he was back home, his clothes would be soaked – he'd have to put them in the dryer straightaway. And take a warm bath, as well. He didn't want to come down with a cold, he'd never get to be Hokage if he was sick all the time.

A sniff caught his ears and he looked around. Was he sick already? No, he hadn't been sniffing. It must have been somebody else…

Finally, his eyes found a small girl wearing a gray, hooded jacket sitting against a wall. Her legs were tucked up against her chest, and she had wrapped her arms around her legs, burying her face in her knees. As Naruto walked up to her, she sniffed again, softly.

He tapped her with his foot, poking her side with his toe. She didn't respond, so he poked her again, harder this time. "Hey. What's your name?" he asked her, trying to get her to respond.

Finally she withdrew from her shell, turning to look at him. Startled, Naruto forgot what he was going to say. The girl's eyes were pure white, no hint of an iris or pupil anywhere. The girl sniffed and rubbed her eyes, then looked back at him.

"Um…Hinata.?"

This was disconcerting for Naruto. He'd have thought that somebody with white eyes would be blind, but she was looking at him straight on. That was a little odd. He didn't quite know what was going on with that.

And another thing that was strange…you'd think that with eyes which were blank, you wouldn't be able to convey any emotion. At least, that's what Naruto thought. But here was this girl sitting in front of him, and her eyes were somehow the saddest thing that Naruto had ever seen. Sadder than that baby rabbit he had once found who died from a fox attack.

"Um…" he started, searching for a thread of what he had meant to tell her. "It's raining out".

The girl nodded slowly. A raindrop dripped down her face. Or was it a tear? Naruto couldn't quite tell.

"So why are you out here, sitting alone? Go home to your family." He commanded. Yeah, that sounded about right. Startled, the girl simply stared at him with those sad white eyes. He prodded her with his toe again, trying to start her moving. "Go on", he encouraged. "You can go home and your mom will make you some hot chocolate and give you warm, dry clothes to wear."

Hinata stood up, still sniffing slightly. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, then smiled bravely at Naruto. He smiled back at her, sharing a moment of human connection. She walked past him and he turned to watch her, looking over his shoulder. As she turned a corner and passed out of his sight, he resumed his jaunt towards the store, feeling happy inside. That was the sort of thing a Hokage would do, he decided. Tell crying little girls to go home to their parents who love them, that was exactly the sort of thing a leader had to do.

Naruto would make a perfect Hokage already, he decided.

---

Naruto exited the store with his arms considerably fuller and his frog purse considerably emptier. He'd gotten the ramen he needed, but he'd also stocked up on hot chocolate mix. And marshmallows. You can't have hot chocolate without marshmallows, Naruto reasoned. The little ones, the ones that get all melty and gooey when they get warm.

The rain hadn't let up at all while he was in the store. If anything, Naruto decided that it had gotten heavier. He stumbled home, precariously balancing all of his purchases, the bag being piled high as it was. Naruto was of the opinion that he had bought enough things to warrant two bags to carry it, but the cashier at the 24-hour mart had stoically packed everything into one bag, forcing Naruto into the funny little balancing act he was playing now.

A sniff echoed through the streets, muffled by the sound of the marshmallow bag falling to the ground. As Naruto picked the bag up, the sound he had heard percolated through his brain.

A sniff.

Was he sick, now? He mentally checked himself. Nope, he felt fine. So he wasn't sniffing.

Wait…A memory was surfacing. Hadn't he met that sniffing, white-eyes girl around here? Was she still here? What was her name, again? Hinata. That was it. Naruto was positive that he had sent her home to her family and hot chocolate and dry clothes.

Placing the bag of marshmallows delicately on top of the pile, Naruto rounded the corner that the white-eyes girl had taken, and tripped over her. The bag fell to the ground, spilling its contents all over the sidewalk. The girl started and pulled her legs tighter against her chest, hopelessly trying to prevent the accident after it happened.

"I- I'm sorry! I didn't know you were coming!"

Naruto picked himself up off the ground, waving away her attempts to help him up. He sat next to her, unconsciously mimicking her position.

"Are you okay?" she asked him cautiously, unsure if he was mad at her or not. He nodded.

"Yeah. Just skinned my knee, is all. Nothing that doesn't happen when I train. Don't worry about it." He informed her. They sat silently for a few moments, the rain dripping down on them.

"You should go home." Hinata said eventually. "Your mother will be worried about you."

Naruto sighed softly. "I've decided that there are two kinds of people in the world. Those with family, and those without." He spoke with gravity that seemed alien, coming from a six year old. "I'm part of that second group." He informed Hinata. "So I can stay out here for as long as I like, and nobody will care."

"You, however," he continued. "Are most definitely part of the first group. So shouldn't you be heading home, instead of me?"

A tear most definitely dripped down Hinata's face, and Naruto felt a pang of sadness for making her cry. He opened his mouth to apologize but she spoke first, beating him to it.

"I think there are actually three kinds of people." She said softly. "Those without family, like you. Those with family, like most of the people here. And those with family who don't want them. Like me." She added unnecessarily.

Naruto took a moment to think about that.

"What do you mean, family that doesn't want you? They're family. Of course they want you. They're your family." To Naruto, a family not wanting their child was a concept entirely bizarre and impossible.

Hinata nodded, the motion shaking loose thousands of droplets of water from her hood, placing Hinata momentarily in the middle of her own private rainbow. "My father is always telling me that I'm a disgrace to my house. My cousin Neji is stronger than I am, but he's part of the branch house, so he's somehow less important that I am. I don't know. All I understand is that my father hates me."

Naruto looked at her, but she was staring at her knees and oblivious to his attention. "Hey…" he said quietly. "Let's get out of the rain. If you don't want to go home right now, you can come with me."

Hinata nodded and stood up, gathering Naruto's long-since spilled groceries. The bag was soaked and obviously useless, so the pair of children simply picked up the food and carried it in their arms.

---

Naruto fumbled for the key in his pocket, precariously balancing his half of the purchases with one arm. Finally he leaned against the wall and used it as a supporting plane, then concentrated fully on finding his apartment key. Producing it with a flourish, he unlocked the door and stumbled inside, vainly attempting to keep his food together. As Hinata stepped inside behind him, the door swung shut and Naruto lost control of the pile. He tossed the ramen blocks towards the couch and turned just in time to catch the bags of marshmallows that Hinata was in imminent danger of dropping.

He smiled at her lightly, and she smiled back, her cheeks dimpling inside her cavernous hood on her jacket.

"Come on in to the kitchen, I'll get some water boiling. Do you want some ramen or something?"

She followed him into the kitchen and sat in one of the two open chairs at the table, waving away Naruto's constant offers of food. Her jacket dripped water on the floor as she sat there.

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed. "Here, take your jacket off. I'll put it on the heater or something. Get it to dry out a bit." He ignored her protests, and she began unzipping her coat.

As Naruto placed it near the space heater, he ran through his mental list of things he thought a good host should do. Let's see…She was sitting, he'd offered her food, he was boiling water for drinks, her coat was drying… That was it, he thought. A Hokage should be able to be a good host, he had decided. So now was an excellent time to practice.

A small whistle echoed through the kitchen, and Naruto turned off the burner, allowing the water to cool slightly before setting it on a hot pad. He rummaged through his cupboards for a moment before finally emerging with two mugs. One was white with cartoon pandas on it, the other was blue with stars on it. He offered the blue one to Hinata, and she took it, cupping it in her hands gratefully.

"Do you want marshmallows or something?" Naruto asked, pouring handfuls of marshmallows into his own mug. "They're good. I got the small ones, so they'll get melty and gooey and nice. You can have as many as you want."

Hinata quietly picked out eight marshmallows and dropped them into her cup. Naruto withheld judgment on this maneuver, though it was clear that he didn't understand the motivation behind refusing marshmallows. He handed a packet of cocoa mix to Hinata, and she neatly tore it open and poured the contents into her mug while Naruto did the same. Finally, Naruto poured a quantity of boiling water into each mug before setting the kettle.

He relaxed for a moment, waiting for his marshmallows to melt. The steam swirled up around Hinata's face, smelling like chocolate and goodness. Naruto swirled his mug, then slammed it back on the table, droplets of water splashing out. "Spoons!" he exclaimed. "I'm such an idiot! We need spoons, right? To stir the chocolate."

He jumped up and dug through his silverware drawer, finally finding two reasonably sized spoons. He breathed on one and rubbed it with his shirt, giving it a furtive polish. Hinata giggled at his antics, and he handed the cleaner spoon to her, keeping the one he had breathed on for himself.

"I've never had anybody be nice to me like this." Hinata commented idly, sipping her chocolate. Naruto nodded, sucking on a mass of sugar. Hinata sighed, savoring the warmth of the drink.

"Could I stay here?" Hinata asked suddenly. Naruto blinked at her, uncomprehending.

"What? You mean, stay here with me? In my apartment?"

Hinata nodded. "I…I don't want to go back to my family. Maybe if I run away, then they'll get another child, one who's stronger and more worth the family name." She stared into her drink, unwilling to look Naruto in the eye.

The boy leaned forward, resting his head in his hands while he thought.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," he concluded finally. "Running away isn't the way to solve your problems," Naruto informed Hinata. "After all, if I ran away from the village because everybody hates me, I'd never become Hokage."

Hinata silently absorbed Naruto's tirade. She took another drink from her chocolate, feeling the warmth spread through her body.

"Instead," Naruto continued, "What you need to do is go and confront the problem."

Hinata blinked. "You mean, go and talk to my dad?" she questioned. Naruto nodded, and Hinata shivered, thinking about her father. "I don't think I can do that…" she whispered. "My dad is really scary sometimes, and I don't want to try and make him more angry than he normally is at me."

Naruto thought for a minute. "Then maybe you could try the opposite!" he suggested brightly. White eyes met his blue ones, questioningly. "I mean, you could try and become as strong as he wants you to. And think that you can do it, instead of being so sad that you aren't."

Hinata nodded, considering the proposal. "O-okay…" she said. She took another drink from her hot chocolate, finishing it off. Pushing her chair back from the table, she stood up and began to get her coat.

"Hey…"

She stopped, looked at Naruto. His eyes were downcast, focused entirely on his now-empty mug. "You don't have to go right now. If you don't want to, I mean." He looked at her now, his eyes slightly sad. She smiled at him, and he smiled tentatively back.

Hinata sat back down at the table, and Naruto made her some more hot chocolate. This time, he added what he felt was a decent amount of marshmallows to her mug.

"Um…Are you sure that you can fit any of the drink in there, now?" Hinata asked nervously. Naruto beamed at her.

"Sure you can! The trick is to put the marshmallows in first, see? And then, the water just fills in the cracks! I learned that trick about a year ago." He filled her mug and mixed in the cocoa powder, then handed it to her. She accepted it gratefully, eyes closed as she smelled the drink.

Okay, Naruto decided. He'd had enough of being Hokage. Now, it was time to be a six year old again.

"Let's go watch tv!" he exclaimed. Hinata followed him curiously to the couch. Naruto shoved a pile of magazines off one end to make room for his guest, then flopped down and began flipping through channels. Hinata sat at one corner of the stuffed piece of furniture, looking for a coaster on which to place her drink. Not seeing one, she carefully fit her mug inside a circle previously stained on the table in front of her.

"Oh, look! It's Ultraman! I love this show!"

Slowly, Hinata relaxed, leaning more and more over until she was eventually lying against her host. Naruto was too engrossed in the adventures of Ultraman to notice.

The hours passed. Ultraman became Rurouni Kenshin, which Naruto was technically too young to watch, but Hinata promised not to tell anybody. Then Uchyuu-Hito came on, and Naruto got up to make popcorn. He returned with two slightly burnt bags of popcorn, and handed one to Hinata with a smile. They watched Astroboy for a while, making jokes about the poor fighting animation.

"If I was Astroboy, I'd just use my rockets and BOOM! Hit him right where it hurts!" Naruto illustrated his imagined beating of the bad guy by smacking his fist into his palm, and Hinata laughed.

"I think Astroboy is a little too polite to do something like that," she informed him.

Slowly, Hinata's eyes drooped shut and the almost empty bag of popcorn fell from her hands and spilled on the floor. Naruto adjusted himself so she would be more comfortable, then set his popcorn neatly next to his long-forgotten mug of hot-chocolate. He liked having a friend, he decided. If this was what a sleepover was like, he'd have to have them more often.

---

He woke with a cramp in his neck from sleeping on the couch. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he trod on spilled popcorn as he got up, trying to figure out why he had been sleeping in such a bizarre place.

Opening the fridge to get some almost, but not quite, spoiled milk, a note taped to the door caught his eye.

-Naruto:

I didn't want to wake you, so I let myself out. I'm going to go home, and I'll do my best to be strong, just like my father wants me to. But just between you and me…I'm doing it for myself and for you. Not for my family.

-Hinata

Naruto smiled for a moment, glad that she was facing the problem. He was about to put the note back on the fridge when a postscript at the bottom caught his eye.

P.S. I had fun staying over at your house. If it's okay with you, I'd like to come back some time.

Naruto's smile grew wider. Looking out the window, he could tell that it was raining heavily. But in all honesty, Naruto knew that he just didn't care.

owari

---

Author's note: Oh my god…blarg. This was hard to write….I was supposed to have it done like three days ago, and I was going to stay up and finish it, but then I realized that not only did I have to get up in the morning, half of what I had written was crap…so I slept. And wrote more. And eventually recycled the crappy scene into something not crap. And now it's finished.

This story is completely dedicated to Fireblazie, who is one of the excellent writers on She also said some of the nicest things about me that I've ever heard.

I appear to be incapable of writing about Naruto in the current timeline. Except for A Working Knot…but even that goes into the future. Oh well. If you guys like it, I don't care.

I realize that Naruto seems extremely mature for a six-year old in the beginning, and when he gives hot chocolate to Hinata. I rationalize it as he's trying to act like the Hokage would. He gets tired of it after a bit.

Ultraman is a japanese kid's show. I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's cool. Rurouni Kenshin is for kids 13 and up, which Naruto isn't. Hence, he's not supposed to watch it. Uchyuu-Hito is a weird show about a blue guy with a spike on his head who can stretch his neck. That's really all I know. I assume you know who Astroboy is.

Side note: Anybody know where I can find archives of scanlated One Piece manga? I want to write a story about it, but I don't know enough about the characters and events yet. If you recommend IRC, you should also point me towards a site that tells me how to use it, being as how I've never done it before. Thanks in advance for anybody who can help!

Baby Naruto is cute. So is baby Hinata.

Like? Dislike? Sound off, guys.