Hello everyone, how's it going? Well, for all those who care here is another chapter from your's truly.

Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto

Chapter 2

Hinata looked at the writing on the first entry, and she could tell that Naruto didn't start writing in his new diary until much later. The penmanship looked much neater than the front cover, and she estimated that it was nearly three years before he actually got around to writing in his diary. It would seem that his attention span was about just as long as a boy as it was as a teen.

October 11th

'Jiji got me a diary for my fifth birthday, but I haven't really written anything for a few years now, but I don't really have anyone to play with or anything to do. I don't really write, so I will just see how it goes. Can't hurt can it?

I heard that people write about their hobbies and goals in journals like these, so I will just do that I guess.

Most of the time I play alone and don't really do anything besides prank those jerks that ignore me. That and eat lots of ramen. There's this new place called Ichiraku, and they have some of the best ramen out there. I don't have a whole lot of friends besides Jiji, but sometimes I get the feeling he visits me because he has to, not because he wants to. Well, I guess that's about it.'

Hinata sighed, not expecting such sadness to come from someone who was always so happy and upbeat. She looked at the next passage and gasped. It was on the same day as her birthday, what a weird coincidence.

December 27th

'I finally managed to ditch all those drunken idiots after I swiped that ham. Every year they think they can catch me when they leave the bars, and every year someone gets hurt because they trip on their own two feet. If it takes at least an ANBU to catch me when I pull a big prank, what makes those idiots think they have a shot? Sometimes I feel guilty about having to steal food, but the allowance from Jiji runs out at the end of the month… Hey! It's the holidays, I shouldn't feel too bad. Right now it's in the tub defrosting, ham sandwiches for a week! Then I guess it's back to ramen once I finally get a bit of spending money.

It's getting cold outside, and I overheard that it's supposed to snow tonight, guess I better go see if I can find another blanket somewhere. I hate the first few months of the year. It's always so cold, and my landlord always conveniently "forgets" to turn on my heat sometimes, so I freeze my butt off. It also sucks taking a shower, usually only have about three minutes of hot water if I'm lucky.

Usually around this time I feel lonely… especially when I see all those happy families walking around laughing and buying presents. Sometimes I wish Jiji would stop lying to me and just tell me who my parents were. He has such a bad poker face that sometimes I think he was never taught how to tell a convincing lie.

Well, it's late so I guess I'll just write whenever I feel like it next.'

Hinata looked at the blonde next to her and found a new sense of respect. She had known that his childhood was rough, but she never really knew how rough since he never talked about it. It was one of the few sore spots he had, and all the times she had managed to say a few words to him, it was certainly never about his childhood. She sighed and looked at the next passage.

May 13th

She stared at the date. She couldn't place her finger on it, but there was certainly something about that date that seemed important.

'Well, I'm in the hospital, again. I was walking down the street when I found these three older guys picking on a little girl. She had really pretty bluish hair and her eyes were really weird. They were really pale and didn't have any pupils, but it was a good weird, it was a really cute weird. Anyway, when I saw them picking on her I got mad and decided to try and stop them. Well, that didn't really do anything since they just beat the crap out of me while she just watched. I guess she was scared and couldn't move, but come on, at least go get help or something right? Anyway, I passed out soon after that and I woke up in this stupid hospital room. At least Jiji brought me my diary, so it isn't completely terrible. He told me that the girl was ok, so that's a plus… I thought that maybe if I helped her, we could be friends… but I guess I was wrong…'

The next sentence she couldn't make out due to splotches on the paper. She immediately recognized it as water damage, from tears. His tears.

'It's getting harder… Seeing everyone with friends and family when I don't have anyone… Whenever I try and make a new friend, they all get taken away by their parents, and I'm left there alone again. It hurts so much, and I don't think I can take it anymore… I don't think I can live like this anymore, so I'm going to try again.

If it works and this is found, know that I'm sorry for whatever I did. Goodbye.'

Hinata gasped and brought a hand to her mouth. She looked over to the blonde next to her and couldn't believe he was the same one who wrote those words. She had never known he had been in such a dark place as a child, and feelings of guilt and regret began bubbling up to the surface. She turned the page to read the next entry; she had to know if he went through with it.

June 10th

'Well, I guess that didn't work as well as I thought. I never knew I had ANBU watching me, but of course they had to show up right then instead of helping me whenever those crowds manage to catch me. Jiji said I'm on some kind of "watch" for my own good. He talked to me for a long time about why I did it, but he can't understand, no one can. Everyone is with their families in their nice warm houses, happy as could be. I'm going to have to be more careful now. Jiji said something about me joining the academy in a few months, so I guess I'll see how it goes before I decide anything.

I've spent a lot of time thinking, and I know how I can make life easier for myself. It's really simple; I just have to act like a bumbling idiot. If I act like an incompetent idiot then no one will suspect a thing, and people might leave me alone for once. I guess I'll just have to give it a try and see how things go.

I hope that at least I can make a new friend since there won't be any stupid parents to drag their kids away from me. Heck, I would even settle for someone just to sit next to without getting yelled at. Is one friend too much to ask for?'

Hinata closed the page and shut her eyes. She couldn't read anymore. It was making her sick to her stomach that she had just found out that Naruto's entire persona was an act, a front he put up to make people like him. She had always thought that she had a rough childhood, having a demeaning father and a hostile family is definitely not something anyone would wish for, but at the same time she had always had friends and at least a few people in her family that were nice to her.

Naruto on the other hand never had anyone. No friends, no family, no one to even take care of him. The fact that he had to fake his personality in hopes of at least being treated like a normal human being was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Now that she thought about it, it has probably been going on his entire life, having to be a different person to just survive, and now no one would ever know the real him. No one would ever be able to show him that there were people out there that cared about him. Sure, he made friends along the way, but those weren't his friends, those were the friends of the false bravado he always put up.

She always thought that they were similar in at least some regard, having come from less than ideal childhoods, but now she saw that those were just selfish thoughts, and there was nothing she could do about it now. It was too late; it was always too late for her.

She took a deep breath to steel her resolve and fight back the tears threatening to spill out. She would discover the real Naruto, no matter what it took.

END

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