I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Kishimoto-san does. If he gave me the Naruto franchise, THEN I'D OWN NARUTO!

Don't sue meh. (￣▽￣)ノ

The Alphabet with NaruHina!

V is for Violent

Winter.

The trees were barren of all their beautiful green and cherry blossoms. Snow had yet to fall these days. It was gloomy out, and so cold that frost grew on windows from the early morning dew. The sun would rise and warm the back of Naruto's neck midday but a cold breeze would remind him of the upcoming winter season. There were a lot more people out and about due to the Rinne Festivel being held downtown this year. School was about to end and winter break would soon be enjoyed by the student body. Exams week was coming up and it put everybody into terrible moods.

But not Uzumaki Naruto.

He had fallen victim to a pattern, he noticed. He was happy to go to school and hang out with his friends. Choji and Shikamaru were different to say the least. Naruto felt included in everything they did as s group. Choji hosted meals at his family's hotpot restaurant. Shikamaru regularly invited Naruto over for video games or watching tv.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to come over Shikamaru?" Naruto found himself saying one day.

"Yeah? Why'd you'd ask something like that?"

"Well..my dad has those rumors going on about him and the Akatsuki.." Shikamaru vehemently sighs and stops to turn towards the blonde boy.

"Look. My parents don't bother with stupid rumors and nor do I. Gossip is stupid and such a drag." He then kept walking on.

Naruto stood in one spot, contemplating on what to do. "You comin' or what?" Shikamaru throws over his shoulder.

Naruto chuckles and quickly catches up to him.

There was also his time spent with Hinata, moments Naruto was beginning to cherish the most. He couldn't lie to himself anymore; he liked her. And not in a friendly way no, it was much more than that. She made him nervous still due to the fact that he never knew when he might screw everything up like he did at the Leaf Academy. But there were also moments where he couldn't stop himself from staring at her. She was beautiful and took the very life out of a room every time she walked in. Naruto realized something one day. He loved her eyes. They were perfect, bright and shined like the full moon.

But alas, it was not meant to be. Naruto wasn't ready to admit anything to her in fear of her rejecting him or worse; making her feel strange. He felt strange for just liking her and seeing her within that light. Naruto wanted it to feel right, to feel as though it were normal, but everytime he looked at Hinata he'd remember the things he did to her. The moments he made her cry. The moments he made her hate herself. His chest would constrict at the memories but her smile would make him feel better.

It was the first day of exams and school was devoid of energy. Naruto was at his locker when Hinata and Mitsuko approached him in what seemed like a heated conversation.

"I just don't get why you care Mitsuko," Hinata exasperatedly sighs. "It's been a year and he's moved on. Why are you so hung up on him?"

"I am not hung up on him!" Mitsuko snaps. "I wanted to be serious and he swore up and down that wasn't what he wanted but now he decides he wants a relationship?! It's un-fucking fair and the fact that you aren't as outraged as me proves that you're on his side!"

"I am on nobody's side!" Hinata replies exasperatedly.

Naruto cleared his throat. The pair look at him and finally realize where they've ended up. Hinata fully turns away from Mitsuko and greets him. "Ohayō, Naruto-kun."

"Ohayō.." Naruto glanced between the two. The tension was so thick he was sure to suffocate. "Are you guys nervous for exams?" He asks in order to distract himself from the ever growing tension.

"I think that our study group last night should help us pass today. Maybe we-"

"Hinata!" Mitsuko hissed. "We were in the middle of a conversation!"

Naruto saw an expression he had yet to ever see on Hinata. Irritation. Hinata sighs and slowly replies, "Mitsuko..I am ending the conversation. Please, let it go."

Mitsuko slammed her fist into the nearby lockers. A few students jumped and looked in their direction but most didn't pay them a single second thought. "I cannot believe you right now! I get he's your cousin-"

Hinata turns and her look must have been one to kill because Mitsuko's next words die in her throat. "Tch..! Fine!" Mitsuko then storms off, her face beat red.

"Gomen..sometimes she can be too much." Hinata murmurs. The first bell rings.

Naruto leads the way towards homeroom with his arms behind his head. He scratched his neck in thought. "What's even up with her?" He asks

"You know Mitsuko..always upset at something." Hinata murmurs more towards herself than him.

"I mean yeah but..this seems like more, ya know?"

Hinata stops a ways away from the entrance of class 1-7. "Listen Naruto..if I tell you this, you have to promise to keep it between us."

Naruto nods. "I promise."

Hinata then began to detail all about how Mitsuko had a raging crush on her cousin Neji who knew and thus a "thing" was formed. Once Neji started college though, things changed and Mitsuko was hung up on him. Mitsuko was going through a jealous induced rage now that Neji had a girlfriend after promising her that she'd be his.

"Oh..I didn't realize Neji got around like that." Naruto quietly adds. The second bell rings and he's brought back into reality when Hinata grabs his hand and sprints into homeroom.

••••

"You have to tell me a secret now too." Hinata suddenly says at lunch.

Naruto slurps his cup of ramen down. It was just the two of them occupying the usual lunch spot. Mitsuko was still upset, Choji was busy cramming, and Shikamaru said something about taking a nap and avoiding more work. "A secret?" Naruto echoes.

Hinata hums in acknowledgment. "I realized after telling you a secret, you never told me one in exchange."

"It's..a custom Mitsuko and I did when we were young.." She quietly adds.

Naruto thinks for a moment. He didn't really have any secrets to begin with. He glanced at Hinata who was looking at him expectedly. "Um.."

"Well..I guess my secret would be that I don't like to be around people much. Everyone kinda pisses me off one way or another so I prefer taking care of the garden or stocking at Konoha Market."

"Oh..I'm sorry. I didn't realize you.."

"No no no!" Naruto quickly interjects. Hinata had looked so defeated that it immediately pulled at his heart strings. "You're different Hinata. Everything about you is different,"

"I like your snacks, especially your onigiri. You help me with the garden sometimes too and nobody ever wants to work on it since I took over. You're nice, and I wish everybody was like you in some sort of way."

"Naruto.." Hinata was flush at the face. "Your words are too kind. Arigatō."

"Heh, it's the least I can do. We're friends, ya know?" Naruto cheekily replies.

Hinata nods, her smile reaching her eyes and dazzling the blonde boy. A pleasant silence fell upon them as they finished eating their meals.

••••

It was after school now. Naruto had just parted with Hinata and was on his way to tend to the school garden. The ground was sure to freeze overnight and he had yet to put any preventatives down. Worse case scenario, he would have to take clippings and start over using ceramic pots instead.

Glass crunched at his feet.

What the?

There were sounds coming from the shed. Naruto quietly crept up and looked through the ajar door. It was Mitsuko! She was with two guys, both who looked older than high school students.

"You sly little fox. You really thought Orochimaru wouldn't notice his files out of place?" The male with glasses states. He seemed to be in charge because the second, bigger guy then shouts,

"You're a fuckin thief!" His massive violent hands gripped the front of Mitsuko's dress.

"Now now Jirōbō. We wouldn't want to hurt Mitsuko's pretty little face, now would we?" He grabs her face in one hand. "Now..give me that smile I love and maybe I'll convince Orochimaru to go easy on you, yeah?"

The male with glasses doubles over in pain. Mitsuko attempts to punch Jirōbō but he quickly catches and restrains her. The glasses guy adjusted himself. "Tch..!"

Naruto doesn't hesitate a second longer. Just as the guy with glasses raised his fist back, he grabs for his elbow and trips him. Before he could get up, Naruto quickly punches him square in the nose and knocks him out. "Kabuto?" Jirōbō calls. He shoved Mitsuko to the side and squares up against the blonde.

Naruto stays light on his toes. Jirōbō was sloppy and not paying attention to his movements properly. Naruto dodged punch after punch until his moment came in the form of Mitsuko smacking the orange haired man with a plank, knocking him out cold.

Naruto turns to Kabuto who was still picking himself up. "You..you're the Uzumaki brat."

"And what of it? If you ever step foot near Mitsuko again; I'll fucking kill you."

"Tch..!"

"You may have your little body guard with you today Mitsuko, but best believe that Orochimaru will make you pay..!" Kabuto dusts himself off. He kicks at Jirōbō and commands the man to take him home. Naruto watched as their figures slowly became black dots that he could no longer distinguish.

"You okay?" He gives Mitsuko a once over.

"I didn't ask for you to butt in." She states as she looks for her discarded school bag. Naruto decides to help and finds it stuffed into an oversized pot.

"Yeah well, be glad I did." He dangles her bag in front of her.

Mitsuko snatched her bag with a scoff. "I don't need your help! Let alone from a guy like you."

Naruto didn't know where it came from. Maybe his fight left him with a bunch of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He spins on his feet, his jaw set and his brow furrowed. Mitsuko had some nerve to be ungrateful. She could've been beat to a pulp or worse; dead!

"Oi. I didn't have to sit here and take a beating for you. You've had your ass on your shoulders all day over some stupid boy that nobody gives a shit about and Hinata may have to deal with it all day but I won't."

Naruto walks out of the shed and began cleaning up the broken glass. "You wanna go deal with those guys? Fine, be my guest. But I'm not gonna save you this time."

Naruto continued cleaning up the shed. Only a single pot was busted along with the window. He taped the window up and closed the shed. His mood for gardening was over and his hands stung from his splitting knuckles. Naruto was about to leave when he noticed Mitsuko standing on the side of the shed. She was fingering some sort of engraving that appeared to be fading.

"My sister used to be president of the gardening club. I heard it was abandoned when I got to Konoha High." She moves aside and allows Naruto to see the engraving more clearly.

"Minori?" Naruto reads aloud. Mitsuko tensed at the name. She looked up at him and back down towards her phone.

"Take me home please." She quietly asks.

Naruto sighs and tells her to come on. They rode on his moped in silence. Mitsuko didn't live far, in fact she was in the same spot from years ago. A big housing complex that was enclosed by a white picket fence. Mitsuko hops off and waits as Naruto locked his vehicle up. She then leads them past the gate and towards a big stone grey house.

"We used to own the whole thing but Okaa-san decided it was too big and split the house."

It was modern and rather large. The living room was fully accented white and decorated with several family pictures all over the walls. Naruto didn't have time to fully soak it all in before he was pushed into another room. "Sit." Mitsuko sits across from him on the ground. "And don't touch anything."

I'm in a girl's room..alone!

Naruto felt his face warm at the thought. Her bedroom smelled like flowers and vanilla. Again, he couldn't fully soak in the new environment when a cotton pad of stinging solution was pressed to his hand. Naruto hissed and tried to reel his hand back but Mitsuko was quick to grab him.

She quietly worked on patching his hand up. It was a bit awkward but Naruto didn't mind at all. "You hurt us—me real bad when we were kids." Mitsuko suddenly says.

"I don't always mean what I say when I get upset, it's just temporary emotions, ya know."

Naruto silently nods in agreement. She continues, "I guess..a part of me wants to protect myself still. To protect Hinata."

"Anger gives me strength. It protects me so that I never have to feel how you made me feel ever again."

She finished wrapping his hand and sat back on her knees. Naruto inspects her work and smiles to himself. He understood Mitsuko more than she could possibly ever know. He bullied her for the same reasons. Anger. Fear. Naruto no longer wanted to be alone. He thought the bullying would keep him in Sasuke's good graces. Finally, finally he was being accepted by his peers.

I should've just been myself. I should've been nice to Hinata, Mitsuko too. Maybe then things could be different.

But things were not different. He did what he did, said what he said, and there was no taking it back. He looks up and the two watch each other before Naruto eventually spoke. "Gomenasai."

"I can't go back and undo any of the horrible stuff I put you through Mitsuko. But I can promise to be better. I am better."

"..How can I believe you now. How do I know you aren't just scheming against us like before." She quietly asks.

"Because I never go back on my word." She looked up at him then and for the first time, she smiled.

"That cheesy line might work on Hinata but it won't on me." Mitsuko laughs and jumps to her feet. She stretched and adds, "Look..Hinata trusts you and I trust her. So I guess..I'll try. I'll also be better."

"Okay. I can agree with that."

"And if you break Hina-chan's heart, make no mistake Uzumaki; I will break my entire foot up your ass!" Mitsuko raised her fist in a mock punch to which Naruto held his hands up to shield himself away.

"I won't, I won't!" He yells.

"You better. Your little crush on her is so obvious it hurts. Ask her out already."

Naruto felt his face flush a deep crimson. His ears stung and burned a bright red. He wanted to deny the claims but with the way Mitsuko was looking at him, he knew there was no point. He hung his head and murmured, "What if she doesn't like me back.."

"Baka-"

"Okaerinasai." A taller and older version of Mitsuko poked her head through the door. She was middle age, her dark hair that was beginning to fade gray pulled into a low ponytail, and a mole present over her left eyebrow. Her wired glasses clutched the bridge of her nose and gave her the appearance of a historian.

"Oh?" She opened the door fully and looked between the pair. She stares very hard at Naruto having recognized him immediately. Naruto fidgets under her gaze.

"Come down for dinner soon, Mitsuko."

"Y-yes..Okaa-san." Mitsuko stutters. Her mother squints but remains silent before closing the door and leaving to the kitchen.

"Well..that totally wasn't awkward."

four more chapters! can i just say, this was my favorite and personally my best chapter so far. chef kisses all around. naruto and mitsuko's heart to heart was long overdue. thanks for reading! please R&R. what did you think of the chapter? i would appreciate the feedback.

happy holidays!

background facts;

naruto is super apologetic for being a terrible child and has yet to ever issue mitsuko a proper apology. this chapter marked an important moment of character development for the both of them. we get knowledge as to why mitsuko is the way she is, and we see how these characters have the chance at building a friendship by starting fresh.

also…kabuto? orochimaru? like ive stated previously, there are secrets in the "little big city". mitsuko's sister is missing, and now she has run ins with two characters who sre notorious for fucking shit up.

in case you were confused, that was mitsuko's mother peeking into her room. considering her door was closed and she was alone with naruto, she was quite suspicious.

much love,,