Okay everyone, here's the deal. Not only do I not own Naruto, I ALSO don't own the words of advice that are given near the end of this little one-shot. They come from a song I know only as "Grandfather Says," though I don't know who wrote it. We used that song in an Order of the Arrow show this past summer, and when I heard it again today, I got all inspired. w00t for Boy Scouts. I know that I'm not the best writer in the world, so if you flame me, I really won't care. I doubt that there will ever be a sequal to this, but who knows. I might get all inspired again.
The sun rose over the eastern horizon, just like it always had. It's golden beams reflected off the water in the hot springs and the windows of the office buildings. Few people are awake, as it is still early in the morning. The few who were awake were bleary-eyed and wishing very much that they were back home in their nice, warm beds for at least a few more hours. They wandered the streets of their home village, on their way to or from their jobs as stone layers, office workers, bankers, and, of course, ninjas.
Thus were the mornings of Konohagakure no Sato.
One man, though, was not at all tired or dreading his work for the day. That man woke with an attitude that was foreign to many. He very much enjoyed being awake to see the sun rise over the gardens he worked so hard to keep green and plentiful, and to watch the sunlight dry the fresh dew on the grass and chase away the shadows that abounded in the twilight. He slowly sauntered down one of the halls, using his cane for support, enjoying the peace and serenity he loved each and every morning. His white eyes crinkled in the corners in a smile when he rounded the side of the building and saw the birds flying around the private training areas, searching for breakfast.
Yes, indeed, Hyuuga Kisho was very much at home during the early morning, when even the head of the house, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, still rested.
It soon became apparent to Kisho, however, that he was not the only person enjoying the beauty that the Hyuuga estate offered in the dawn light. As he slowly hiked across the center of the training grounds, he found many of the training dummies scratched and torn, the marks identifying the locations of the human body's chakra points barely visible after the abuse they had received. Above the training grounds, atop the roof of the storage shed used to house the weapons, dummies, and other equipment, was his granddaughter, Hyuuga Hinata. He smiled his old man smile again, happy to see that it was her. Her presence amidst the wrecked punching bags, posts, and dummies made him very proud of his, yes, he would admit it, once terrible ninja of a granddaughter. She had improved a huge amount recently, and her accomplishments had not gone unnoticed by the clan elders. They disapproved of her new technique, the Shugohakke Rokujyuu Yonshou, but that made no difference to Kisho. So it didn't eliminate the weakness that was the one blind spot in the otherwise perfect bubble of vision the Byuukugan offered, like the Kaiten did. So what? The Hyuuga's ultimate defense, the Hakkeshou Kaiten, was much more difficult to learn, and much more dangerous to the user, than Hinata's technique. Kisho thought that the "Guardian of Eight Divination Seals: Sixty-four Strikes" defense Hinata came up with fit her perfectly.
She was not so lost in thought, however, to overlook his presence. She turned her head slightly to give him a warm smile.
"Care to join me, Grandfather?" she asked from her perch on the roof.
"I would, indeed, but I'm afraid I don't climb as well as I used to." He gave a small laugh and pointed to his left, to a clear spot on the ground that looked especially green and soft. "Why don't you come down and sit in the grass with me?"
She did as he suggested. They both sat in the grass, drinking in the sunlight and enjoying the peace around them that they knew would not last once the rest of the house woke.
After a short silence, the elderly Hyuuga looked around them again. "Hinata, you certainly have been training yourself very hard recently. I am very proud of you."
Happiness bubbled in her chest at those words. It was not very often she was complemented by someone other than Kurinai-sensei or her teammates, Kiba and Shino. Or Naruto, she thought with a blush.
"Thank you, Kisho-Jiisan."
"You remind me very much of my daughter, Hinata-chan. In her youth, she was not the most… promising fighter. Then, quite suddenly, the time came where I could find her almost nowhere else than the training grounds. She improved herself and her skills at an astonishing pace."
"You speak of mother."
"Indeed, I do." He gave her another kind smile. "Do you know why she worked so hard?"
"No, Kisho-Jiisan. I… didn't really know her long enough to ask her such questions."
"I shall tell you, then. It was quite a change in her personality, you know." He became aware of the butterflies who were fluttering about in their first flight of the morning. "She bloomed from a small, shy, timid little girl into a powerful, passionate, beautiful warrior before my very eyes. And, for the longest time, she refused to tell me why she pushed herself so hard every day." He paused for a moment, raising his hand into the air, and soon a white butterfly with gold patterns in it's wings landed on his finger. He looked at it with a pleased expression, and it flapped it's wings and flew away again. "Do you know what she finally told me?"
"No, I don't. What did she say?" she asked in a voice that told she was highly interested.
"She told me that she worked so hard every day so that she could prove herself to the one she loved. She refused to be weak in his eyes. She wanted him to notice her."
"Is… is that so?" she asked timidly.
"That is so. Tell me, Hinata-chan. Why do you train so diligently?"
"I… I, uh…" The look in her eyes told the old man the whole story.
"I see. So you are more like my daughter than I first realized." He gazed into the sky again. "Hinata-chan, you must not be afraid to do what is right in your heart. Your mother… she did not act as soon as she could have, and as a result, she only had a few special years with your father before her death. Had she confronted her feelings sooner, several years would have been added to her happiness with Hiashi-sama." His eyes nearly shouted his sadness at thinking of his daughter's short time on earth. "Please do not make the same mistake your mother did."
"Kisho-Jiisan… I don't think I'm strong enough. Speaking to him is too difficult. I… I cannot." Fear and sadness filled her eyes. "And… what if he… rejects me? I don't think I could cope with that." Tears threatened to run from her eyes. "Grandfather, why does life have to be so difficult sometimes?"
Kisho sighed and moved so he was sitting in front of his granddaughter, instead of next to her. "Hinata, in life, there is sadness as well as joy. Loosing, as well as winning. Falling, as well as standing. Hunger, as well as plenty. Bad, as well as good." Her head tilted to the side a bit as she tried to understand what her grandfather was trying to tell her. "I do not tell you this to make you despair, but to teach you reality. To teach you that life is a journey sometimes walked in light, sometimes in shadow." He saw now that the sun had risen a little higher in the sky, and that the shadows from the trees and buildings had receded a bit.
"Hinata, you did not ask to be born, but you are here. You have weaknesses, as well as strengths. You have both because, in life, there are two of everything. Within you is the will to win, as well as the willingness to loose. The heart to feel compassion, as well as the smallness to be arrogant. Within you is the way to face life, as well as the fear to turn away from it."
Hinata was still unsure of what her grandfather was trying to teach her. "Grandfather," she asked, "How can I find the strength?"
"Life can give you strength. It can come from facing the storms of life, from knowing loss, from feeling sadness and heartache. From falling into the depths of grief. You must stand up in the storm. You must face the wind and the cold in the darkness. When the storm blows hard, you must stand firm, for it is not trying to knock you down, it is really trying to teach you to be strong."
"The storms of life…" Her father. Her cousin, before Naruto-kun changed him.
…Naruto-kun…
"Being strong means taking one more step towards the top of the hill, no matter how weary you may be. It means letting the tears flow though the grief. It means to keep looking for the answer, though the darkness of despair is all around you. It means to cling to hope for one more heartbeat, for one more sunrise. Each step, no matter how difficult, is one more step closer to the top of the hill. To keep hope alive for one more heartbeat at a time leads to the light of the next sunrise, and the promise of a new day."
Hinata knew that Kisho was right, but was still unsure if she could face this particular storm.
"The weakest step towards the top of the hill, toward the sunrise, toward hope, is stronger than the fiercest storm."
She was silent for several minutes after that last word of advice from her grandfather. Many, many thoughts swam through her mind as she sat and thought about her grandfathers wise words. Then, after deciding once and for all what she must do, stood and faced the sunrise. Kisho grasped his cane and slowly made his way to his feet as well. When he had risen, she turned unexpectedly and hugged him.
"Arigatou, Kisho-Jiisan." She gave him a determined nod and smile and took off running towards the estate's southern gates.
In a much messier, much less cared for, much less expensive training area across town, a young man with wild blonde hair, blue eyes, and bleeding knuckles sipped from a water bottle as he rested next to the post he had just spent the last half hour punching. He looked at his hands and laughed. "Guess that's why Fuzzy Brows wears those bandages all the time." He pulled up his sleeve and checked the time. "Well, break's over! Back to work." He did some leg stretches and a short set of warm-up exorcizes before starting his daily morning run around Konoha. He leapt from tree to tree, dropped to the ground to sprint, and jumped back up into the trees again at random intervals. He checked his watch again mid-hurdle over a branch before a very unexpected collision took place.
Naruto crashed into a tree.
A very soft and warm tree.
With a jacket. And dark hair.
Wait a minute…
He landed in a heap on the ground, Hinata landing only slightly more gracefully than him. He shook his head to try to clear away the stars and get the ringing out of his ears. When he figured out exactly what, or rather, who it was that he hit, he was immediately on his feet, helping her get to hers.
"Jeez, Hinata, are you alright?"
"H…Hai, Naruto-kun. Daijobu."
"What are you doing out here so early, Hinata? It's gotta be like six thirty in the morning!"
"I was t-training, Naruto-kun. On my family's training grounds." She couldn't help but blush because of the attention she was getting from Naruto.
"Really? That's awesome! I didn't know anyone else got up this early just to work up a sweat!" He laughed for a minute and finished dusting himself off. Then he realized something.
"Ne, ne, Hinata? Isn't the Hyuuga place way across town? What are you doing all the way out here? I'm sure they've got a much nicer place than the crap hole I train in."
Here we go, Hinata. It's now or never. Gulp.
"Actually, N-Naruto-kun… I knew you trained out here in the mornings… and I… uh…" She looked away a bit and blushed again.
She's kinda cute when she does that… He thought. What? Where did THAT come from? He considered it for a minute. Well, it's not like it's not true. He gave a mental shrug.
Hinata poured every ounce of courage into her next words. "Naruto-kun… Doyouwanttogogetbreakfastwithme?"
The Kyuubi boy could only stare in confusion. "Could you say that again, but slower?" He laughed lightly to try to make her feel a little less embarrassed. It worked.
"Do… would you… like to go get some breakfast with me?" There. I've stood in the storm. Now how will the wind blow?
Naruto's eyes filled with excitement. "You mean… like a date?"
Of course, she wasn't looking at him. She was much more interested in her shoes, and did not see what his eyes were saying. "Gomen ne, Naruto-kun, I didn't mean-"
"That sounds awesome!" He interrupted her.
Her eyes snapped up to his in an instant. "R…really?"
"Yeah! I know a great place, too. Some of the best breakfast in town. Of course, Ichiraku's isn't open this early, or I'd say we go there. This place is good too, though. Come on, it's this way!" With that, he turned and started walking away. She, however, was rooted in place. She saw nothing else around her than his joyful face telling her that he'd want to go on a date with her, and heard nothing else than his excited voice. It wasn't until he turned and called her name that she snapped out of her musings.
"You coming?" He held out his hand to her.
She took it.