Disclaimer: For the sixth time, I do not own Naruto. If I did Kakashi would be all mine and Naruto and Hinata would already be a couple. Sigh. Naruto wa baka desu. (Naruto is stupid.)

The Princess and the Rogue – His and her fairytale

I love Kakashi – normal

I love Asuma – Kurenai thinking (italics)

I love Kurenai – Asuma thinking (bold)

I love Hinata – Naruto thinking (bold with italics)

Note: This is one of those chapters authors put in to either build suspense on what happens to the main character or to simply annoy readers while keeping them in suspense. Anyways, I did say another pairing in the fic is Naruhina and I haven't delivered that yet. So please read… I will update ASAP. I always do. :-P P.S I'm sorry if that flashback scene is a little corny.

Chapter 6 – Meanwhile

To all of Asuma's teammates, they assumed that he had safely gotten over the wall and priding himself over his triumph by now and would be expecting him back soon. Meanwhile…

Somewhere in the deep grove of trees, someone was watching him. He probably did not notice since he was lying on the grass carelessly talking to himself.

"My… Asuma onii-chan's been away for about a day and he hasn't come back yet… I bet he's already gotten over the wall. I've walked around the wall about twice for the past day and I haven't seen him at all. I didn't see his dead body yet… so I'm guessing he's on the other side doing who knows what. I hope he's found some treasure over there… Maybe he's found a huge hoard of ramen! That would be wonderful!" Naruto wondered out loud.

The watcher, keenly gazing at Naruto was amused by that comment, although she was not surprised from her morning hours of watching him, she laughed almost silently in the trees. Doing this, she was caught off guard a startled Naruto who was right in front of her. A small movement in the trees had alerted him of her presence. A little girl about his age stood before him. Her hair was a peculiar shade of violet-blue and her eyes were a curious pearly light pink colour. She was clutching her basket; his sudden appearance must have startled her.

"Oh, hello! You must be one of the village girls! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! What are you doing here?" he said, with a friendly smile.

"Ano…" muttered the shy little girl; a blush was quickly forming on her cheeks. She obviously didn't want to tell him that she had been watching him since he first arrived, admiring his cheery personality. Looking at him, he was still smiling, waiting for her reply.

"Are you feeling okay? You seem to be a bit red in the face… I once saw Iruka sensei go all red like that 'cause he was talking to a girl. It was funny teasing him after that. Iruka sensei was my teacher in the ninja academy before we got banished from Konoha. Damn stupid Hokage. I'll beat him one day and I'll be Hokage and we'll go back home!"

Hinata smiled. This is exactly why she liked Naruto from the beginning.

"Anyways, miss you still haven't told me your name."

"I-I'm Hinata." she said shyly.

"Hinata, that's a pretty name! Oi, Hinata, why were you hiding in the trees?"

Hinata was hoping that he would forget about this question.

"Ano… I wa-was… looking for some herbs for medicine."

"You really shouldn't stutter so much Hinata, people might take advantage of you if they think you're afraid."

The number of times she's heard that from her grandmother… she meant well but she couldn't help it. The number of times she's been called worthless by… It had left the girl deeply scarred. A lump had risen in her throat. She had dropped her basket.

"Sorry Naruto-kun." She looked down as she said it.

"I didn't say that to make you feel bad… Hey! Don't cry!" The boy was nervous as he saw tiny tears form in her eyes. What do I do? What do I do? Why didn't they teach us how to handle crying maidens in the ninja academy? Naruto was looking around him nervously as if there was something out there that could help him.

Flashback…

Naruto was walking down the streets of Konoha after an afternoon of mischief in the academy. Iruka, tired from trying to keep Naruto in detention was walking with him. This morning, the boy had found a nice amount of money on the road and decided to treat his sensei to a meal of… ramen! Naruto had always wanted to do this since the day Iruka sensei treated him to his first bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's but felt bad afterwards for Iruka was always to one to pay. This time, he would be the one treating!

Miso ramen… pork ramen… Naruto was thinking of all the flavours he wanted. Suddenly, he saw a little girl with a man and a woman who Naruto figured was her mum and dad. Naruto stopped and stared at them for a moment. The mother and father were at first yelling at each other until they heard their daughter crying. They stopped, with sorry looks on their faces.

"Hari-chan, Hari-chan, don't cry." said the mother as she bent down and comforted her child.

"Everything's okay Hari-chan," said the father, and he put one of his hands on his wife's shoulder. "Look mummy and I aren't fighting anymore. It was a stupid fight wasn't it Hotaru?"

Hotaru, the mother nodded in agreement, but the girl was still crying.

"I know what would cheer you up," said the father, smiling. "Bear hug!"

The father lifted her little daughter into his arms and held onto her tight as he reached for his wife. All three were embraced in a tight hug. Hari-chan started to laugh.

Naruto stared. Iruka, who was behind Naruto watched him with a sympathetic smile.

"Naruto, we should get going or there aren't going to be any seats left at the ramen stand."

Naruto turned around and ran after Iruka, who was waiting for him. An awkward silence befell them.

"Iruka sensei… Why did the girl's parents hug her?"

"Because being hugged by someone makes you feel better if you're sad like that girl."

By now, Naruto was looking at the ground. Iruka knew how he felt. He went through the same thing when he was about his age. Avoiding the awkward contact of a hug, Iruka patted the boy on the back. Surprised, Naruto looked up and smiled…

End of Flashback…

Naruto was searching his brains for an idea of what to do. Impulsively, he grabbed Hinata in a tight embrace. Hinata, who had barely started crying abruptly stopped, as she was surprised at Naruto's gesture. Blushing, she let Naruto hug her, unaware that both of them were being watched by two people. But to her, it didn't matter. To Naruto, he was simply clueless of how his small gesture made one of her many small wishes come true. Finally, Hinata broke their embrace as she stepped back. Looking away, she blushed. Naruto, realizing what he just did blushed as well.

"Ano… Sorry 'bout that Hinata-chan. I didn't know what to do and… I remember this thing that happened with Iruka sensei and he said that hugging someone makes them feel better and… and…" Both of them had foolish grins on their faces and both knew that their small problem had been solved. Naruto began to laugh and surely, Hinata joined in with him with her own quiet bit of laughter.

In one of the inn's rooms, Kakashi and Genma were having tea while playing shogi. (Genma, who had nothing to do, decided to replace Asuma as Kakashi's shogi partner for today.)

For a moment, both of them looked out the window to see Naruto breaking from a hug with a young lady with violet-blue hair.

"I wonder what happened to Sakura… Naruto was always crazy about that girl when he was in the village…" wondered Kakashi aloud.

"Who knows." replied Genma, as he made his move on the board. Without mentioning the topic for the time being, they continued their game.

Outside, Hinata and Naruto finished their little laughing fit.

"Hey Hinata, wanna play a game or something?"

"Okay."

Both of them began a game of tag and eventually many of the village children who took a break during the afternoon, joined in and soon the laughter of children could be heard all over the village. For Hinata, it was one of the best days of her life. To Naruto, he was happy to have a new friend. It had been a satisfying day.

By the end of the day, their game of tag had subsided and Hinata and Naruto were saying their last goodbyes, both of them promising that they will see each other again the next day.

It'll be sad when we leave this town… I've never made a friend like that so quickly. Maybe Asuma onii-chan would want to stay a little longer… I wonder when he'll be back from the other side of the wall… I wonder what he found there. Naruto was soon lost in his thoughts as he saw Hinata disappear into the woods.

Meanwhile, in a hut near the grove of trees where Hinata and Naruto stood, was the old soothsayer.

"I guess I made a pretty bad deal for myself with that young man… My little granddaughter met that Naruto kid on her own. Good for you Hinata! Oh well… it was partly my fault that that young lady inside is stuck in there…"

TBC…