Hi, this is Drunkdragon12888 with another installment ahead! There is a bit of Naruhina fluff for you Naruhina fans.

I do not own Naruto. Please read and review.

Chapter 3: Letting go of Your Pains

'Kuso, kuso, kuso, kuso, KUSO!!!' Naruto mentally screamed. He was leaping from rooftop to rooftop towards the Team 7 training area, his silent tears slowly meandering their way down his cheeks. When he got there, Naruto immediately did what Rock Lee did best: beating the crap out of training stumps.

After an hour of doing what Rock Lee did best, he sat down and took a look at the block of wood. It had dents here and there, but there were also imprints of blood. He took a look at his hands. They were bleeding, though it had stopped and already healed, thanks to the help of the Kyuubi within him. Feeling too tired to feel sad, he began to walk home

He passed by his current sensei, Kakashi. He was seen kissing Kurenai, Hinata's sensei. Had he been paying more attention to the fact that Kakashi was KISSING Kurenai, he would have realized that his mouthpiece was off. But he saw something else. 'Man, everyone here has someone who they can love and others who love them back. I'm the only one who isn't loved by anyone. Sure, I have friends, but they only see me as a friend. I feel so... so alone.' He continued to walk to his apartment.

The Next Day

The sun was shining through the thin curtains in our favorite shinobi's room. From the sun's position, it was about nine in the morning. Rolling over, Naruto attempted to keep the sun away from his eyes. To his dismay, he fell off of the bed for a rather rude awakening. 'Kuso, it's the same thing every morning: the sun mocks me with its stupid little rays of light and I fall off of the bed. It's so damn painful and its not the best way I would like to wake up. Except today, it just hurts so much more.' He thought. Sure, it hurt to wake up every morning like this, but it hurt more when he remembered what he saw yesterday.

"I really need to talk to Sasuke about this." He proceeded to leave his room without completing his morning ritual of eating a breakfast of ramen. He slowly ambled to his team's training area. His teammates and he have come up with a ritual of meeting at the training spot everyday unless they were unable to do so. There they would train, hang out, etc. Sometimes, Neji's team and the other Rookie Nine would meet there too. When he got closer, he heard a few voices.

"Sasuke-kun, do you think something happened to Naruto?" A girl said.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm very sure that he can take care of himself." Sasuke answered.

"I know that, but it's not like him to arrive this late. If he keeps this up, he'll be later than Kakashi-sensei!" A poof was heard.

"Actually, he is already later than me." Kakashi had actually arrived earlier than one of his students. What a miracle. At this point, Naruto had just appeared through the clearing. His head was toward the ground and his hands were in his pockets. He did not greet them in any manner. Nor did he realize that Kakashi had arrived at the training area before him. They immediately knew something was wrong.

Naruto just kept walking until he was standing next to his team and sensei. After that, he just took a seat on the ground, still staring down. Sakura turned to Sasuke. He nodded and she knelt down next to him.

"Ohayo, Naruto."

"Ohayo, Sakura." The entire group immediately noticed how he failed to say chan at the end of her name. Something definitely wasn't right. Sakura, however, thought that it wasn't the best time to address it yet.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Naruto?"

"What do you want, Sakura?" She was taken back. Since when has Naruto been able to see through her words? He had gotten smarter over the years, but this was the first time he had seen through one of her plies to get him to talk about something.

"What's wrong, Naruto? You're not being loud and noisy, you have failed to greet us, which you have been doing everyday for the last several years, AND you arrived later than Kakashi-sensei! What's wrong? You can tell us. You can tell all of us." She said pleadingly.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Naruto yelled. "Just leave me alone." And with that, Naruto disappeared, just like an ANBU squad would: leaving a small poof of smoke. Everyone was surprised. Even though the ANBU squads would often disappear like that, only the most elite could. When had Naruto become this good? And what caused him to be so moody?

"I don't like the look of this." Sakura said.

"Neither do I. What should we do?" Sasuke replied.

"I say we find Hinata and let her comfort him. It's obvious that he won't talk to any of us. Plus she does like him and all. Maybe he might just finally realize her." Sakura suggested. Kakashi, however, had other thoughts running through his head.

'Crap. Since when had Naruto been able to do that? And at such a young age too. His seal may be weakening, possibly due to his emotional state. This is not good. I better tell Hokage-sama about this.' With that he disappeared, much like Naruto did earlier, leaving the concerned genin.

Later That Day

Hinata was climbing the steps to Naruto's apartment, her cheeks a deep scarlet. Had it gotten any deeper, one would have thought that she had gotten sunburned. 'Oh... My... God...' were the only thoughts going on in her head. 'I am walking to Naruto-kun's apartment. I am going to go talk to Naruto-kun in his apartment. I will be alone, in Naruto-kun's apartment, talking to Naruto-kun. What am I going to do and how am I going to do this?'

Flashback

"Hinata! Hinata!" Hinata turned around to see Sakura and Sasuke running after her. "We need... to talk... to you," Sakura began trying to catch her breath.

"It's... about Naruto," Sasuke finished for her. Hinata's eyes snapped open and she began to stain her cheeks with crimson. She began her trademark motion: the twiddling of her index fingers.

"He seems to be upset about something. We tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't talk to us. Then he just ran off. He's probably at his apartment. You have to do something! He's probably angry at us, so we need you to intercede for us."

"Well... um... a..." Hinata was at a loss of words. It was her perfect chance to tell Naruto that she loved him with all her heart.

"Please, we need your help. We don't want Naruto to kill himself."

"...Ok. I'll do it."

End Flashback

'He needs you, girl. Just go in and help him.' Hinata was standing at the door. She knocked. She knocked again. She turned the doorknob, which, to her surprise, was unlocked. She entered and found the room VERY clean. She swore that she saw that some of the tiles twinkled in the sunlight, much like Gai's and Rock Lee's teeth.

"Naruto-kun? Are you there?" Hinata got no answer. She heard some sobbing coming from the bedroom. She opened the door and found Naruto huddled sitting on his bed with tears rolling down his whiskered cheeks. He heard the door open and turned around and saw her. She blushed and hid behind the doorframe, letting a bit of her blushing face peek out.

"Hinata? What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?" he asked politely. 'Why does she always hide behind something when she sees me? Is she afraid of me? She probably is.'

"Sakura and Sasuke asked me to come here, Naruto-kun. Plus your door was unlocked." Her voice was barely audible. "Is something wrong? You were crying back there, weren't you? And why is your house so clean? It's cleaner than mine." She approached him and took a seat on his bed next to Naruto. 'Oh my God, I am alone in Naruto-kun's apartment talking to Naruto-kun on Naruto-kun's bed! What should I do? Should I hug him? Should I-,'

"It's just that... I was so angry that I had to let off steam. I would have gone out to train, but I didn't want to get confronted by Sasuke and Sakura. So I just cleaned my apartment multiple times." There was a long pause before he answered her other question. "I've grown up without my parents. And everyone in town hated me. I grew up as an unloved, unwanted child." Hinata was shocked. She knew that the people disliked Naruto until after his first Chuunin exam, but to grow up without the love of parents. To grow up without the love from anybody for the fifteen years of his painful life. Of course, he didn't know that she loved him, but still! It was just too damn harsh to watch the boy that she secretly loved to go through this.

"I really loved Sakura. I really did. She never paid any attention to me, but I still loved her. And when I saw Sasuke, my best friend, kiss her at the movie theater and take her love away from me, I just broke down. I'm happy for them that they have each other, but... it just hurt so much. I couldn't take it anymore. I don't know what it feels like to be loved. I've only know hurt and rejection..." Hinata was crying now. She was still unsure what to do, but she did what came to her mind first.

She hugged him. Not a friendly hug, but a genuine hug. Her head was on his shoulder. He took a look at her face. She wasn't blushing this time.

Naruto could not believe this. A girl, who he only knew on the level of a friend, was hugging him like a lover would. The tears began to work up again. "It's ok, Naruto-kun. It's ok. Just pour out all of your sorrows onto me." Naruto just let the tears flow, being hugged by his secret admirer but still clueless.

"I'll tell them how I feel tomorrow. Arigatou, Hinata." 'Why does it feel so good to be hugged by her? Could this be what it feels like to be loved? I'll have to thank her for this later.'

So the problem is solved! Naruto is no longer a moody boy and Hinata may have been able to make him realize her! But how will he thank her? Tune in next time for chapter four: Yes! Back to Work!