I know it took me like forever to update and I'm sorry. Things happened and I also wanted to wait until we get to know a bit more about the two, new Akatsuki. Sadly, still very little was revealed about them, so…

Anyway, I finally managed to finish this and so I'm submitting. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I hope you'll find this one worth waiting for and that you'll enjoy this one at least as much as the previous.

Without further to do:

Chapter #13: Learning to Live

Naruto awoke as sunrays hit his face. He sat up on his bed and yawning, stretched himself. As he scratched his head, still not totally conscious, he looked towards the window and saw Kiba still laying on his bed, with his back turned towards the "light" and Akamaru sleeping in his shadow.

The dog ninja snored loudly, annoying the blonde, but the whisker-marks managed to calm himself down and didn't do anything bad to his companion. Nor something he might've regretted later on.

The Kyuubi vessel looked to his left where Shino should be sleeping, but the bug user's bed was now empty. "He got up before Kiba did?" Naruto thought to himself surprised, but then just shrugged that off and went to the bathroom in the attempt to brush his teeth.

At that time Shino was walking through the streets of the Hidden Cloud village, already crowded, even though the hour was still rather early. The sun slowly began to appear over horizon and grey aura started to fade away.

The bug user walked right next to the small area where grass grew, surrounded with a low wall. On top of that wall sat Yugito, looking at the rising sun almost as its rays falling on her face brought her calm. The leaf-nin just threw her a quick glare and noticing that the kunoichi was ignoring him, he just moved forward.

But then Yugito called after him, with her eyes now closed, as she seemed to take incredible pleasure from the morning sun shining on her face: "You shouldn't walk through the streets of this village alone… after all, you're not a shinobi from it…" and in the next second she jumped down from the wall and landed right before the bug user: "Shino, was it?"

The boy merely nodded, still not saying a thing, which annoyed Yugito a little, yet she didn't show it: "How was your night?" she asked simply, but Shino could feel that she wasn't really interested in the answer.

"Why are you even asking?" he replied with a question calmly, as usual keeping his stone face. That sort of acting was probably one of those that annoyed Yugito the most. Through all her life she have seen cold glares or what's worse, glares that went right through her. In time she learned to accept that and just ignored people looking at her like that back. But in case of people like the leaf-nin that was now standing before her, she could never tell what was his opinion about her. The lack of that knowledge annoyed her to no end.

"Where's the blonde idiot?" she responded, ignoring the bug user's last question. "Don't tell me that dope is still sleeping? I'm suppose to take you to the Raikage first thing in the morning…"

"It BUGS you, doesn't it?" asked Shino with hands in his pockets. Yugito only threw him a confused glare as he continued: "The fact that you thought Naruto was the same as you and yet it turned out he's totally different…" and as a note of rage began to appear on the kunoichi's face, the leaf-nin added quickly, completely unlike himself: "He haven't told me, but I could tell that you were in some way connected with him… and I know you think differently, because Sabaku no Gaara also had a completely different point of view then him, before he meet Naruto…"

"Sabaku no Gaara?" the girl's eyebrow went up. "You mean the Sand's Kazekage? I wouldn't think the two knew one another…" and with that a tiny smirk appeared on her face. "But that matters not really… I know what it was for them in their villages… but there's some difference between me and that blonde… for you see, he still lacks this final thing that awaits you, when you're a Jinchuuriki…"

"I'm not gonna pretend I know what you speak off…" announced the bug user calmly. "I do not carry a demon inside me, so I can only imagine what you went through… but as you'll spend some time with Naruto, you'll see that he has a strange gift… and even you might get your hope in people back…" and with saying so, he continued walking, soon disappearing from the kunoichi's view.

"Only imagine?" Yugito repeated in her mind with a short laugh. "There's no way you can imagine something like that… coz even your worst nightmares can't compare…" and with that thought he looked at the sun, which raised a little. "It's something that one is born with and others have no chance at experiencing that… aren't those your words, Hana?"

---That time, elsewhere---

Naruto walked out of his room into the hallway as he stretched himself yet again, closing his eyes. At this time the door to the room across the hall opened with a slight noise and as the blonde opened his eyes, he saw Hinata coming out from the bathroom in her kimono.

The white-eyed girl froze instantly, unsure as to how react, giving the Kyuubi vessel to "look her over". She was wearing a yellow kimono, decorated with black palms at the bottom. A big, red ribbon was tied on her back and her hair was clipped in the traditional way.

Finally realizing that he's been staring at her for some time now, his face basically as red as the kunoichi's or maybe even more, he turned around with an embarrassed 'sorry' escaping his mouth. The Hyuuga heiress didn't reply, mostly due to the fact that she was both too excited and embarrassed as well. She just slowly walked over to the door leading to the room she shared with Kurenai and disappeared behind the frame soon after.

As he heard the door being shut, Naruto let out the air for the first time since he spotted Hinata entering the hallway. His blush didn't vanished at all as the sight he just saw kept appearing before his eyes, seeming more magnificent each time.

The blonde regained his posture only because of Kiba, who stick his head out the door to their room and noticing his friend standing stiff, he asked: "What the hell are you doing?" but noticing the color of his face, he had to hold himself back from laugher. He saw Hinata blush countless times, but for some reason seeing THAT Naruto mimicking her turned out to be one of the most hilarious sights he has even seen.

Some time later Shino arrived back and announced that Yugito is already waiting. Kurenai just took one sandwich him her and getting up from her seat, she stated: "There's no need for you guys to go with me really… the whole thing will probably take an hour or two, so if you want, you can go have some fun in the city, but don't overdo it…" and with that she went outside, where the Cloud kunoichi was suppose to wait for her.

"So we got a whole hour to ourselves!" announced Kiba with a big smile. "What do you guys wanna do?" and getting ahead of Naruto, he added quickly: "No, we won't go to eat ramen…"

At hearing that the blonde immediately lowered his hand and became a bit grim, making Hinata giggle slightly at the scene. Seeing no, other proposals, the dog ninja just stood up and slowly walked over towards the door with his dog following him: "Fine, you guys just do what you want, Akamaru and I will go for a walk. See you guys in an hour!" and with that he was gone, jumping from one roof onto another.

Naruto and Hinata looked questioningly on Shino, who simply stood up as well and headed towards their rooms without really saying anything. "Looks like it'll be just the two of us…" the blonde finally stated as he looked towards the Hyuuga heiress, but the moment he did so the scene from this morning appeared in his head again and instantly his face became red once more.

As he looked away, hoping that will stop his sudden, fast heart beating, he continued with a little shaking voice: "So… what would you say for some ramen, Hinata-chan?" he finally managed to spit out as for some reason he couldn't understand, he felt that he started sweating slightly.

"Sounds good…" replied the girl with a warm smile as she slowly stood up with the blonde following her tracks. At that time Yugito was walking down the streets, towards the gate. She was told that Kurenai will be escorted there, along with her subordinates, so the only thing kunoichi was suppose to do is to bring them down the mountains.

As she sat on a nearby rock and stared into space, Kiba and Akamaru went by. The blonde girl just looked to the sky to see the spinning figure of the dog ninja coming above her with a rover following its master.

"You loved animals too…" the kunoichi said to herself out loud. "But you did prefer cats… that black fur-ball of yours sure annoyed me…" and so she laughed to herself. "I wish I could go back to those days… to the way things were… even though they were just an illusion…"

Meanwhile Naruto and Hinata were leaving the ramen stand, after the blonde finished his twelve bowl of his favorite meal. The whisker-marks looked at the sun and after a short calculation, he turned towards his companion: "We still have some time, Hinata-chan… where do you wanna go now?"

"How about we just walk around the town?" purposed the white-eyed girl and after receiving a small nod from the Kyuubi vessel, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him behind her towards the wide alley with all sorts of shops located on both sides.

As the two went down the street, they made several stops before different stores. Naruto got really interested in weaponry the moment he noticed magnificent blades displace behind the window. First thing that caught him attention was a spectacular spear with a big blade on the end, which stick was surrounded with gold, thus making its design very unique.

Tens of swords awaited those who entered the shop, each made differently. Some had golden handles and strange runes on the blades, other were decorated with colorful jewels, there were even some made from the special mix on metals, in many cases about which Naruto didn't even heard about.

Hinata on the other hand wanted to visit almost every boutique in the alley. In most cases she only looked the dresses up and down before leaving the shop, but several times she tried something on, just to 'have some fun'.

The blonde patiently sat down, waiting for the Hyuuga heiress to finish changing into another kimono that she saw and instantly the event from this morning appeared before his eyes, making his face turn red yet again.

As time went on and the white-eyed girl was still in the changing room, Naruto managed to regain his posture once more, however he wasn't destined to keep it for too long. The moment his blush faded away and his heart stopped pounding, Hinata exited the changing room.

This time things certainly got 'worse' for the blonde the moment he saw the Hyuuga heiress in another kimono, this time a light blue one, decorated with silver snowflakes all over. A big, yellow ribbon could be seen tied behind her back.

And that sight turned out to be enough to make Naruto 'go wild'. In an instant his face turned completely red and he felt a nose bleed incoming. His collar started to be too tight and his heart began pounding as it wanted to escape his chest.

"So what do you think, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked the boy, who just sat there with his mouth wide open. She blushed slightly as she spun on her feet to show the entire outfit to her crush.

"Marvelous…" he replied quietly as he felt that he's starting to sweat. For a short while he said nothing more and then suddenly he realized something and began to talk a little too quickly: "Oh, you mean the kimono! It's great! You really look nice in it, Hinata-chan!"

The girl's blush deepened as she smiled to the Kyuubi vessel and then headed towards the changing room, disappearing in it a moment later. The whisker-marks still sat that almost as if he got glued to the chair. Finally, after some struggle, he managed to get up and swallowing his saliva loudly, he 'borrowed' a bottle of water from a nearest passer-by and drank it up.

While he apologized to the confused cloud-nin, Hinata exited the changing room in her usual clothes and smiling slightly under her nose she bought the dress she just tried on before the blonde even managed to turn around and notice her doing so.

As they both exited the store, with the Hyuuga heiress carrying a bag with her, Naruto spotted a small stand with ice cream and immediately dragged the kunoichi there and ordered some. Soon the two were walking down the alley, licking few, rainbow-colored balls.

They kept on walking, stopping by in a store from time to time. But as they went, Naruto noticed something: many of the people they were passing by threw them a cold glare. He was used to it and most likely he'd just ignore it if it wasn't for the fact that for the first time those glares wasn't for him. They were aimed at Hinata.

The white-eyed girl lowered her sight slightly as she noticing the blonde's realization. Her smile slowly faded away. For some reason she didn't bare to look at her crush. However the Kyuubi vessel seemed to sense that, because he suddenly said: "That's why Yugito wasn't right…"

Hinata raised her sight at the boy, a little surprise, but she still didn't say a thing. "It's not just the Jinchuuriki… everyone that's a little different… everyone that's special… we are all outcasts in the society. And it's just because people can't except that someone is different… it doesn't matter who we are, we are not like the rest and as such, we should be allowed to walk beside them…"

"This is how you felt all this time, didn't you Naruto-kun?" she finally manage to speak up, yet she still haven't raised her head to look at him. "This is the fate you, Gaara-san… even Yugito-san had to face…"

The blonde didn't response immediately as if he was thinking about the right reply. On the one hand he could tell her that she was right. But on the other, he didn't want to admit it. He knew that she understood his pain, at least to an extend, and admitting that she's right would be painful for her as well.

"When one receive such treatment, he also learns how to deal with it…" he finally replied, after a longer silence. "I fooled around to make people notice me… Gaara became a loner before he entered the Chuunin Selection Exam… and Yugito just repaid people with the same glares they threw at her… but if you ask me if any of this is a good way to fight a thing like that… I can't really answer that… and I don't think Gaara or Yugito could either… those things are personal and as such there's no general rules to those… but there's one thing that you have to do in order to be able to keep living… and that is accepting the fact that they look at you like that… and do what you can, to not see those glares ever again…"

"You had to take it for so long, Naruto-kun…" noticed the Hyuuga heiress with sadness in her voice. "I don't think I can even imagine how you felt all this time…"

"No, I suppose you can't…" nodded the blonde, suddenly crossing her way and looking deep into her eyes as she raised her head. "And I'm not gonna lie that it was easy… but now it is… coz I have someone to talk to about it…" and with that he gave her a warm smile.

The white-eyed girl blushed deeply, but she didn't turn away this time. She only smiled back and with a slight nod, she replied: "Of course you can, Naruto-kun…" and after a short moment of hesitation, she added: "That's what friends are for…"

"Yo guys!" they suddenly heard as Kiba landed in front of them along with Akamaru. "Sorry to interrupt your…" with this he hesitated a bit and threw a quick glare at each of the two. "… date…" and as he said the 'd' word both, other leaf-nins started to have a blushing contest, but the dog ninja only smirked and then continued: "But Kurenai-sensei wants us to meet her at the gate. We're leaving…" and with that he guided the two red-faced teens to their meeting place.

---That time, outside Kumo---

Hidan and Kakuzu were resting in the tree tops near the trail leading up the mountains, awaiting their target to show up. None of them even notice someone coming, until they both heard a voice all too familiar: "After what happened in the Sand I guess you Akatsuki became desperate to get the Jinchuuriki, since you two got send here…"

As they turned calmly in the direction the voice came from and stopped a certain blonde with long hair, made into dreadlocks. Kakuzu, who almost immediately looked away again, was the first to speak: "You came here to save the Kyuubi?"

"Nothing of the sort…" came a response as a big smile appeared on Kengo's face. "Neither Kyuubi nor six-tails interest me in any way… I just decided to drop by, see how things were going… by the way, with Sasori gone, what did you guys do? You didn't left another, empty spot like the time Orochimaru quit, did you?"

"Tobi took his place…" came a short response from Hidan, who was still observing the blonde with a suspicious glare. The dreadlocks burst out laughing at hearing that, but he soon calm himself down a bit and replied: "I feel sorry for Deidara then… boy, I'd sure hate to be stuck with him as my partner… maybe you fellows would like to turn her fate around?"

"What do you mean?" demanded Kakuzu simply, still not turning back towards Kengo. The former leaf-nin only smirked slightly before replying: "I'm done with him… I know that you probably don't care much, but just in case, we'll be waiting for 'saving' at the old meeting spot… the one in Rain Country… I guessed it'd be best to inform you two about that… after all…" but before he could finish, he was cut off by Kakuzu:

"You think this is a good joke, don't you?" he asked coldly, this time turning to face the blonde: "You expect me to believe that you'd came all this way just to tell us that you spared Sasori and inform us where he is?"

"Believe what you want…" responded Kengo a little annoyed. "But don't tell me you expected from me to fight you guys… you know very well, that among everyone, you're the one I'd like to fight the least… Hidan…"

The scythe user only narrowed his eyes at that, but said nothing. The blonde's eye twitched split second, but none of the two Akatsuki seemed to notice. "Do with what I told you what you desire…" the former leaf-nin concluded and with that he was gone.

"You think he spoke the truth?" asked Hidan with an emotionless voice, but his partner only narrowed his eyes: "Maybe… but right now we have other things to worry about… the Jinchuuriki… they're coming…"

---to be continued---

And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it. I can't think of anything more to say, so I guess that's a raw for me. But do 'tune' in next time for the big showdown with Akatsuki.

Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.