Prologue – The day isn't over

Summary – Naruto's feeling down and he needs someone to protect him from himself.

Author notes – that Naruto does not belong to her and that she does not make any economic benefit from this fanfic.

Author's notes – It's a relatively cliché idea, noted, but I thought that it would be interesting to put it in such a way that he hated the pain that other's were facing, instead of his own pain. Hope it's not too bad. First Naruto fanfic. You might also want to note that in the other chapter, it's slight KakaNaru.

---

It was one of those days, he noticed, when you felt that everything was going to go wrong. When he could feel the burden of the hate, which he normally ignored, upon his mind. When he wanted to explode because of the pain that others were experiencing, although not for him, but because he could not help. When he could sense that his body just wanted to run away and hide, and avoid trying to put up with the taunting. When he could, no, would have simply broken down and cried, to try to comfort himself, to delude himself once more. Yes, Naruto noticed that it was one of those days.

It would happen every so often, once in a while, he would feel like that. Down. He would have tried to bravely put on a front and told Iruka-sensei that he was fine, thank you for asking, nope, he wasn't feeling sad or having a fever, and would then promptly ask Iruka-sensei to eat ramen with him, just as an afterthought, to fool his sensei. All the while with a smile plastered on his face. Man, he was good, could you believe that he hadn't gotten lock-jaw even once with all that incessant smiling and grinning. Nope, he didn't think you would.

Today, he didn't have to. Iruka-sensei was out of Konoha, presumably somewhere in wave country for a mission of sorts. He felt slightly less secure, by that fact. Iruka-sensei was the only person he could turn to at times like these. He may not have known Naruto's pain, but he was still there for him. And today, he wasn't around.

Naruto sat down in a random tree, just watching, too distracted by his own thoughts to be loud and cheery like he usually was. He sniffed softly, eyes narrowed and sad. He hated it, hated how he could not help others they all could help him. He cared deeply for others, but he couldn't do anything for them, not at all.

Naruto was bothered by that. The old Baa-san, Tsunade, was being unusually snappy, and each day, she seemed to get older and older, her face more weary. Naruto could see the pressure she was under, to have to keep the village safe, and he worried for her. Secondly, he had known that many of the villagers hated him, for he was the one who contained the Kyuubi, but now, some had even started to ignore and spite Iruka-sensei for being nice to him, the first person to really care for him. Through all this, he was losing faith in himself.

Naturally, that unnerved him. His faith and urge to become the Rokudaime, future Hokage, was the one unfailing driving force behind his constant training and improvement. But, of late, he felt unmotivated and felt inertia overcoming his willpower. At times, he would just sit there and not move, staring dazedly at the door, not caring if he was wasting time.

He closed his eyes and let out a small sigh of discontent with himself, allowing a small tear to make its journey down his cheek, unseen. Naruto wanted a hug, as ridiculous as it may seem. He wanted someone to protect him, to comfort him and hide him from all his fears and worries. But there was no one, not now, just when he needed it.

Naruto did not know how long he had sat there, and did not care, did not bother to care. He just...sat. After a while, he finally noted that it wasn't a very good place to sit, considering he was about to fall asleep, and that meant that he would either wake up to an angry bird pecking sadistically (he wouldn't put it past them) at his face, or a really sore back. Neither of which he preferred.

And he still needed a hug. It would make him feel wanted, if nothing else. Not the Jiraiya type of hug, where he would grab Naruto in a head-lock and ruffle his hair. Not the concerned hug that Iruka-sensei would give him when he knew something was wrong. Not the Tsunade Baa-san hug, like a older sis (really old, he added) who was protective of her pesky younger brother. Not the friendly, bashful hug he would sometimes receive from Hinata, when she gathered enough courage to do so.

Not any of those.

He wanted it to make him feel as if he mattered to someone, that the person cared immensely for him, that he was someone the other treasured and could not lose. But he did not know what it would really feel like, he did not know what he was looking for.

He did not know. So he hung his head and dragged himself back to his 'house'. Where he had some sense of false security, nonetheless, it was still something he could hide in, be it a rubbish dump, a cardboard box, concrete walls or a grand palace. It was a house, functioning as one, served well as one. But a house could not give him a hug, it could not.

Strange, wasn't it, that he was the one who need the hug, when others needed it more. Naruto was not an idiot, one day, he would become Hokage, and then he could protect those he loved and cared for. But that was not this day. Today was the day he would put aside all pretense of strength and allow himself to just wish, for once. Today he would feel as if he was weak, and had let down everyone who knew him.

But today wasn't over, not when the sky was still up. Not until it came crashing down. Not just yet.