When I was writing this one, there was a lot to change because I lost my passion for writing for about 3 weeks and became lazy when it came to my writing style, so it barely had any scenes or accurate representations of the characters, so I opted for writing the base first and then editing the base to be how I like it later and as it turns out, that was a really good idea and the only reason this chapter is even written right now.
Honestly, the positive reviews and comments yall post on my stories really makes me so happy and motivates me to write for you guys! So, thank you to all my precious readers because without any of you, I definitely wouldn't be where I am today. You guys actually really helped to improve my mental health and I'm happier than I ever remember being! So thank you so much again for all the positivity.
And, once again, i dont like this chapter, it's probably my least favorite, and spent all day stressing about it.
(I'm getting my second covid vaccination shot later today and i'm scared of having to move my arm for fear of it hurting like a b-)
And without further ado!
~Enjoy~
~Sunday. 1:27 PM~
Hinata Hyuga's mind had been on overdrive for the better part of the weekend.
From the upcoming exam for school, Sakura's volleyball practice game yesterday she had forgotten about and had yet to ask how it went, the fast approaching skating competition next month, her chance encounter with Naruto, the extent of his injuries and her never ending curiosity on how he got them.
And then there were his strange features, his reluctance to look her in the eye whenever he was awake and the wary, slightly distrusting gazes he gave her when he thought she wasn't looking, all of it was a lot to handle for the 17 year old and it was only a matter of time before she probably went crazy from all the questions and scenarios floating around in her head.
Sighing in minor exhaustion and taking a bite out of the sweet cinnamon bun resting between her pale fingers, making them stickier and stickier by the second, her body exploded with joy and satisfaction as her favorite food consisting of mainly cinnamon and sugar melted on her tongue.
Eyes closing in pleasure, she temporarily forgot about her guest currently sitting on the couch on the other side of the apartment's living space. Who, at the moment, was staring at the bandages covering nearly every square inch of his body while basically drowning in the spare blue t-shirt Hinata had stored for whenever her cousin wanted to hide from his slightly overbearing girlfriend.
It was a habit of Neji Hyuga's to crash at her place sometimes. Though, Hinata suspected that it was partly for his own peace of mind and making sure that the young woman was taking care of herself properly rather than escaping from his significant other as he always says it is.
Opening her lavender eyes again, the Hyuga's mood suddenly dampened, causing her to look at the polished wood of the dining table she was sitting at. Placing the cinnamon treat back down on the napkin in front of her, Hinata sighed quietly as she heard Naruto lay back down, most likely to get more rest in order for his injuries to heal properly as nine orange-tinted yellow fox tails spilled out from under the blanket and onto the hard floor,
Slender index fingers, sticky with frosting (NOT THAT KIND OF FROSTING, PERVERTS), rose up to the front of the 17 year old's chest and began to push themselves together in a shy manner. Hinata had thought she'd gotten rid of this strange habit of hers a while ago, but she guessed it liked to make appearances every now and again when her mind was being heavily weighed down upon.
She had millions of questions that popped up whenever she actually had time to think. But the main ones kept draining her mental energy exponentially whenever she tried to figure it out on her own.
Where had Naruto come from?
Could he be considered human?
What was he capable of?
All of it just kept buzzing in her head like annoying little flies that every time you pushed them away they just kept coming back more persistently than before.
Peeling lavender orbs away from the polished wooden piece of furniture, Hinata watched Naruto with curious yet cautious eyes, unsure of how to go about asking her ever lasting questions.
Humming in hesitation, the teen bit her lip before finally speaking what was on her mind.
"Ano... Naruto-san...?"
Body tensing and orange-ish yellow vulpine ears twitching at the sudden noise, the said blond sat up on the couch and turned his head to meet her gaze with anxious blue eyes.
"I-uh-I've been wondering...uhmm." Fists clenching as she took a chance and glanced up at her guest, her resolve weakened slightly before strengthening again, if only a little.
"W-where did you come from? Don't you have to go back..at some...point...?" She trailed off as pure terror glistened in the fox man's eyes. Hinata could've sworn she'd even seen him stop breathing.
Naruto seemed rather far away now, like he wasn't all here. Was that a bad question to ask?
'Of course it was, moron. You startled him. But... what could he have possibly been through for him to look that frightened at the very question of his home?' Red flags lifted and loud alarms blared within Hinata's brain as she observed the blond man's reaction.
'That cannot be a good sign.'
(It was just like the other day. When she asked where he came from...)
She had to change the subject, and quick, because it was becoming more and more obvious that the man was about to completely shut down if he hadn't already, and Hinata couldn't let that happen. Not only would that be bad for her, she had no idea how to handle things like this, it would most likely be bad for Naruto as well. Seeing as he is the one that is in the process of shutting down.
"I-I'm really sorry! Please, just...f-forget I ever said that!" The young woman basically pleaded, however, her words failed to force the man out of his unnervingly lifeless daze.
Biting her bottom lip as she beat herself up for her mistake, Hinata rose from her seat and moved swiftly towards the couch as the fact that Naruto was not breathing became more apparent.
Lowering herself in front of the man and calling out his name worriedly, the girl considered hitting his back in order for his lungs to remember their need for oxygen.
Making a final decision, Hinata raised her hand before roughly patting the blond between his shoulder blades, not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to startle.
Naruto took a sharp breathe in as his lungs greedily tried to gather air back into his system. Very briefly, Hinata thought that it would be alright. That Naruto was ok now and that she had helped him to an extent. But she was quickly corrected.
Something that the woman didn't take into account was the fact that when she hit him, he wouldn't be snapped out of his lifeless daze like she wanted, but rather, transported into a different type of panic.
A more physical one by the looks of it.
Back tensing and straightening, the kitsune teen no longer saw Hinata there with him (not like he did since he froze up, anyway), instead, he saw the red haired doctor that he despised with a passion but never dared try anything to.
Fists tightening to the point where his nails dug through the bandages wrapped around his palms and into his skin, Naruto was quick to press his back as far into the couch as possible, pulling his legs up to his chest in a way of protecting what ever he could from what he knew was coming. Ears dropping down in fearful anticipation and tails coming around to wrap themselves around his torso as extra protection and a weak attempt at comforting himself, the young man proceeded to watch as the doctor came closer and closer, the click clack of shoes hitting the concrete echoing ominously in his mind.
He was no longer in Hinata Hyuga's little apartment anymore. Now, he was there. Back where he started. Back where he never wanted to be again.
And this time he had no way of getting out.
On the outside of Naruto's mind, away from the suffering, Hinata frowned deeply as she reached out to the terrified man before stopping herself just shy of his shoulder.
Lowering her hand and bringing it up to her chest, a whole cacophony of thoughts barged into her head, all battling with each other over which was was the best course of action.
Should she stay and wait until he broke out of whatever frightening trance he was in? Should she try to break him out of it herself? Should she leave him on his own and wait until he was calmed down enough for her to ask if he was alright? Should she just leave him alone for the rest of the day? She couldn't decide.
'I... I should probably give him some space. He needs a bit of time to calm down again and come back from whatever memory he's in... but, what if he needs me? I'll just have to stay close enough where I can still hear him but far enough where he can have some space.'
Deciding that that was the best option, Hinata reached down and carefully, warily tugged the blanket that had long since been discarded onto the floor back up and over the man's body as he cowered further from what Hinata could only deduce as herself.
(Or some cruel representation of her)
Taking a quiet and slow step back with her hands up where the blond could clearly see them, the teen continued back up until the backs of her knees hit the coffee table, only then did she dare to turn around and hurry back to the only part of the dining table that was out of sight from the couch.
Wringing her hands together as she proceeded to sit down in the kitchen chair as soundlessly as she could, Hinata couldn't help but find it painful to see Naruto like that. Even if she had only known him for a collective 2 days, she had always been told she was empathetic, being able to feel what others felt to some extent. And seeing her guest, her injured guest like that, terrified, not breathing and then breathing way too hard, eyes wide with horror and tails wrapped around his body as if they were his own personal shields, the high schooler couldn't help but worry immensely for the blond.
But alas, and much to her displeasure, along with the slowly increasing anxiety for the young kitsune, Hinata's mind didn't stop bombarding her with questions that had no known answers. In fact, Naruto's reaction only added fuel to the fire.
Taking a deep, shaky breathe in, the blue haired girl rested her head in her arms as she berated herself for the fact that she couldn't nor did she know how to help get her roommate/guest out of whatever memory that was plaguing his mind right now.
She did it again.
She had messed up.
She always messed up.
That's just the kind of person she was.
HEsaid so.
Though it seemed like an eternity, Naruto had fallen asleep shortly after breaking out of his 'episode', tails still wrapped around himself but ears now a little perkier compared to how they rested flat on his head not even 20 minutes ago.
The blond hadn't been in that blatantly panicked state for long, 4 minutes at most, before slipping back into the lifeless daze once more.
Hinata's worry spiked when she heard his struggles stop. She had been careful to go as slow and as unsubtle as possible when turning the corner to the living room, attempting to let him know that it was just her and no one else. What she didn't think she would find was a spaced out Naruto with his arms still at his sides, fists still clenched and legs still tucked in but his eyes now holding an empty dullness in them, as if he had simply shut down his ability to feel.
Hinata hadn't tried approaching him, wouldn't dare, but she was relieved to see that he was at least breathing this time. And, after 6 minutes of waiting, he eventually fell into a well needed slumber and with great reluctance, she wandered off to her bedroom in order to release a bit of her pent up restlessness.
Sighing heavily as she softly closed the door, the young woman went over to where her phone lay abandoned on her bed. Picking up the device and opening it, she saw that she had two unread messages from Sakura, two from Kiba, one from her father and another from Neji.
Going to her messages app, she decided to read Sakura's texts first, intending to take this opportunity to ask how her game went.
-Hey Hinata! Hope you're doing ok! I was worried since you never texted me whether you got home safe or not, txt me when you're free- Sakura3
-Just wanted to let you know that everyone's planning on getting together next Wednesday after Sasuke-kun's baseball game! You wanna come?- Sakura 3
Smiling slightly at the pink haired teen's unnecessary worry for her, Hinata texted back.
-Sorry I couldn't reply for a while Sakura-san, I've been busier than I thought I would be this weekend, and I'm sorry I didn't text you. Sorry I missed your practice game too, I hope it went well! And yes, I'm fine and I'll have to get back to you on the invitation. I'm sorry.-Hinata^~^
Swiping away from Sakura's contacts and switching over to Kiba's, she saw it was a video of his dog, Akamaru, rolling in the mud and Kiba voicing his displeasure clearly. Giggling a bit at her friend's antics, Hinata sent a simple laughing emoji and read the second text sent by the brunette boy.
-Hope you got home safe, Hinata! -Kiba(*-*)
Quickly typing out 'yes' and sending it, she moved on to her father's message which was the same as the other two, to which she replied accordingly.
Swiping over to her cousin's text, which was sent an hour ago, Hinata clutched her phone harder as she scanned over the words sent.
Eyes widening a great deal and heart racing as she kept reading the message again and again, Hinata couldn't believe how bad her cousin's timing always was.
-I'll be there at 2, Uncle's being strange again- Neji
'Oh no oh no oh no oh no' played over and over in her head like a chant as she looked at the time, 1:55 pm. She had approximately 5 minutes to hide Naruto in a safe place and make it seem as if she was the only one there.
Turning off her phone and throwing it back into her bed, Hinata raced into the living room in all her pajama clad, indigo haired glory. Laying her pale lavender eyes on the still sleeping form of the blond kitsune, the girl sucked in a deep breathe and steeled herself for what was to come.
Walking noiselessly over to the young man, Hinata reached out hesitantly and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Wake up, Naruto-s-" she never got to finish as blue eyes snapped open, scaring her as tails and clawed finger nails lashed out wildly at her, making her to fall to the floor on her butt while Naruto tucked himself back into the corner of the couch, ocean orbs moving frantically around the room before finally calming enough where he could recognize the girl sitting down on the hard wood 5 feet away, looking at him with a shaken expression plastered on her face.
Fear gripped his heart fiercely as he realized what he did, causing him to make an attempt at willing himself to be smaller and inevitably regaining (much to his temporary displeasure) the girl's attention.
Quickly rising to her feet, the Hyuga teen knew immediately what he was trying to do, having done it herself many times before.
(Bullies had the power to make one want to disappear on the spot, after all)
"N-Naruto-san! Please don't do that! I'm fine! I promise!" She pleaded, desperately trying to make him understand faster in order for her to hide him with enough time to spare so that she could clean up.
Reaching out to him once more, Hinata tried to comfort him in anyway she could think of, but sadly, the only way she thought of at that moment was comfort through physical contact, which wasn't something ideal when dealing with someone like Naruto.
The second she raised her hand, the kitsune halted his movements in preparation for what he thought would happen.
(What did the people he was with do to him?!)
Stopping her actions completely, the Hyuga girl bit her lip, body flooding with uncertainty.
'What do I do? I need to hurry. It's already 3 minutes to 2:00.'
"Naruto-san, please just... uhmmm... you need to hide, a-and soon...! My cousin's coming over in a couple minutes, he does this a lot, and I'm guessing you don't want to be found considering your... s-situation, so please come with me."
The blond didn't move, instead, he only looked at her with even more distrust than she remembered, which she had to admit hurt.
"P-please, Naruto-san!
Seeing the pleading look in her eyes and the worry behind them had the kitsune slowly unfurling his tails from around his body and hoping what little luck he had left would come into play.
Trusting others... wasn't usually something he would do nowadays. Even him semi-trusting Hinata all those years ago was one of the only times he went by pure gut feeling when approaching someone.
(Not to mention he hadn't known what it really meant to be picky when choosing who to trust back then. He should've known better.)
So, for him to, essentially, place his life in someone who he didn't know he could quite trust yet's hands, it was a big deal.
Nodding hesitantly at the blue haired teen, the blond shimmied towards the edge of the couch, intent on standing up and following Hinata to wherever she claimed she was going to hide him.
Well, that would've happened if the knocking sound that suddenly resonated throughout the apartment, originating from the front door, hadn't cut off his actions.
Crap.
He's early.
Hope y'all enjoyed this one! (i really hope yall did, I hate this chapter with a burning passion)
Some of you must be asking, "why is Naruto acting this way when he was acting like his canon self in chapter 1?" Well, I actually have a plan for that! I have a plan for all the big things and even the small things many overlook! So the reason Naruto is acting like this will make plenty of sense once I get to that topic in later chapters! But that'll take a while, so sit back and enjoy chaos unfold further!
Also, approaching someone in the middle of a panic attack/flashback and attempting to touch them is NEVER a good idea. Take it from me, it makes the person suffering very uncomfortable and ends up making the situation worse, not better. So Hinata did a no-no by attempting to touch him.
Now onto the recs ;)
Naruto story recommendations:
{Because I Love You - Chasing After You by The Flare Blade on
My own summary: Hiruzen decides to send Team 8 along with Team 7 for the Land of Waves mission. Things progress from there.
My thoughts: I haven't read it all yet, it's long, but the first few chapters really pull you in with what Hinata is both experiencing and thinking and it also goes into depth of what Naruto's thinking as well.
Parings: Sasusaku and Naruhina
Status: Ongoing}
|Under the Orange Jumpsuit by juniorstxrk on Archive of our own
My own summary: Naruto has an eating disorder and Konoha's never really been known for its A+ mental health care system.
My thoughts: it's not really sad but Naruto's frustration at basically the world is really easy to feel as you read. It also makes me really mad how they're going about trying to "make him better".
Pairings: none
Status: Ongoing|
[like mother, like son by snickerdoobles on Archive of our own
My own summary: Naruto has chakra chains, Iruka's a mother hen and Kakashi is freaking out, all while the Hokage remains oblivious to it all.
My thoughts: really funny and exactly what I personally was looking for in a fanfic.
Pairings: none
Status: Ongoing]
(A Tale of Three Brothers by UnwInked on
My own summary: Sasuke finds his mother's journal, adopts Naruto as his younger brother, they become police officers and Itachi is trying to remember if his mother was ever pregnant a third time because he has no idea how this blond kid is an Uchiha.
My thoughts: it's hilarious, pure crack, short and Itachi is so confused.
Pairings: none
Status: Ongoing)
