This was written because a freshman at my sister's school asked about it and she passed it on to me. This is for her.
Crush
Hinata doesn't have much of a social life, but she was still pressured by the girls to explain herself when it became obvious that she didn't like Sasuke. What was wrong with her, they demanded to know, that she couldn't see how perfect and beautiful and dark and heartthrobbing and… and… and absolutely wonderful he was? It was then that she admitted that she liked Naruto.
The girls could understand inexplicable tastes – or at least that weird people had them – and were satisfied that she didn't find Sasuke wanting (because if she did they'd have to punish her, even though her family was scary, and her cousin might have to come to her rescue and – actually, that tempted some), and relieved at the same time (but only a very little, because Hinata was never very good at getting up the nerve to fight) that she wasn't going to be competition for him. So they let her alone.
Hinata didn't lie to them. She does like Naruto. But it's a platonic liking, because he reminds her of him. Naruto is strong the same way, is driven the same way, is a loner the same way, although she doesn't think he realizes it yet. Naruto isn't very good at being introspective, or at noticing others, which makes her feel better, because she'd hate to lead him on without meaning it. But he doesn't notice her pretended infatuation, and it's enough to get her left alone, so she keeps up the game.
Sometimes she can't help but imagine that Naruto is him, and then she stammers a little and finds herself taking his words to heart. For example: fighting Neji during the chuunin exam. She knew it was Naruto shouting words of encouragement to her, she put his name to it, but her heart heard a different voice and saw a different face. It felt like he was with her again, and so she stood up and had courage and kept on standing up.
She hasn't seen him in a while. It's been a very long time, actually, and she's not sure that she remembers him right. She knows he must have changed a lot since the time they played together, awkwardly, under the eyes of their parents. They were related distantly, the respective heirs of their families, and so despite the age difference they were expected to grow near each other. His duties made that difficult, but they managed. She is glad they did. His younger brother never entered the picture until those girls, those silly, immature little girls who were her age yet so much younger, decided that he was their prize.
Really, how was Hinata to explain to them that the reason she didn't like Sasuke was because every time she looked at him, all she saw was that he wasn't Itachi? Much better to stick with Naruto, who looked nothing like him but could make her feel warm and fuzzy with remembrance. It wasn't like either of them knew.
ende
.:finding your likeness in someone else :.