Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
Forward: My first mentor/student thing, nothing romantic. Just a cute friendship / hurt/comfort thing. I just think these two characters are the sweetest characters and I could totally imagine this happening. I hope you like it!
It was the day of the big speech final and Hinata was panicking. She was supposed to stand in front of the class, show off a Ninja move, then go back to her seat. The most frustrating part was how easy it seemed. After all, it was just a quick and simple move. So why did she feel so overwhelmed? Why couldn't she breath right? Why was this so difficult? Shikamaru had just finished his shadow clone jutsu when Hinata was called upon.
"Hinata Hyuuga?" Iruka called out, looking around the room for where Hinata was. Slowly, Hinata raised her hand, blushing. Iruka smiled kindly at her, trying to comfort her and calm down her nerves. However, the act of kindness just caused her to freak out even more.
"Y-yes?" Hinata asked, not trusting herself to speak.
"It's your turn for the exam." Iruka stated patiently. Hinata gulped, realizing with panic that her legs weren't moving. It was as though they had turned to jelly before her and she no longer had any control over them.
"I c-can't." Hinata whispered in defeat. If standing was such a difficulty, there was no way she could do this exam without fainting in front of her entire cast.
"Hinata, if you don't do this exam then you're going to fail this class." Iruka reminded her, his voice more concerned then it was stern. It sounded as though he were disappointed in her, not angry. To Hinata, that was so much worse.
"I k-know." Hinata mumbled, looking down at her desk in shame. "I'm s-sorry." Iruka just nodded, letting it pass. The class whispered amongst itself, staring at Hinata in disdain and confusion. Most likely was that they were saying how weak and weird she was, which didn't help to improve her mood.
"If you're sure…" Iruka finished. "See me after class, Hinata. Next, Sakura Haruno." The rest of the class passed in a daze, as Hinata tried desperately to hold in tears. She had thought she was getting better with this! This had been her big chance to show everyone that she wasn't a coward anymore and that she had improved! But she couldn't show her classmates something that wasn't true, she realized. She was still the weak scaredy-cat that she had always been and now her whole class knew it. Why couldn't she just get over it? Finally, after not nearly enough time, the class ended and everyone left. They were all conversing in excitement over how well they did, but Hinata could hardly hear them. All she could hear was the thumping of her heart and she lost the ability to breath normally. As she moved forward to take a seat closer to Iruka and sat quietly awaiting further instruction, she felt more nervous with every passing moment. Iruka took no notice of her, instead choosing to organize his notes.
"Um…Iruka-sensai?" Hinata asked quietly, not sure what she was supposed to do. She'd never been asked to stay after class before, alone with the teacher. It was causing her to panic and she didn't like this at all.
"I'll be done in a minute, Hinata. Just wait a few minutes, okay?" Hinata nodded, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. Now she had spoken too soon and she was looking like an impatient immature child. Iruka probably hated her right now for being such a weak idiot. Could she do nothing right?
"Yes, sensei." Hinata mumbled, as she twiddled her fingers and traced patterns on her desk. She would be in so much trouble when she got home, she knew. And it was all her own fault. Her father hated her for being weak and now everyone else did too. If she got let out soon though, maybe her father would never need to know about this. She just wished that Iruka could work alittlefaster...finally when he was finished his work he sat in the desk beside her, causing her to take back her earlier wish that he would hurry up his cleaning. Could he go back to his cleaning again? Forever, maybe?
"Hinata." Iruka started, looking at her kindly. There was no anger in his eyes, no stern glare. Hinata was a fragile girl, one who had to be dealt with carefully. Harsh words would do no good on her, all they would do was lower her confidence even more.
"Yes?" Hinata asked, looking down at his feet. She couldn't do this, this was just too nerve-wrecking.
"Hinata, look at me." Iruka ordered softly but firmly. Hinata looked up to meet Iruka's eyes, which were very soft and understanding. "You're a great student and a tremendously talented ninja. I know you knew the material for your presentation today. What I can't understand is why you opted to fail rather then show us what you were capable of." Hinata sighed, willing herself to keep the eye contact no matter how hard it was. There he went, confiding his misplaced pride in her. Well, the pride he had had before. Now he was just disappointed that she had failed him and it was killing her.
"I…" Hinata took a deep breath, choosing her words carefully. "I d-didn't know the m-material that w-well, Sensei. Everyone else d-did so w-well. I didn't w-want to t-take away f-from that.". It was true, what she was saying. Everyone else had done an extraordinary job on their exams, showing off their skills to the class. But Hinata's skills were mediocre in comparison and she couldn't handle letting the class know that.
"Hinata…" Iruka started, his voice sounding so sad. Great, now she had upset the one person who had believed in her. What else could she do wrong? "That's not true. You are just as capable as your classmates, don't let anyone evertell you otherwise. I've seen your work in class and you have got a lot of talent. The only thing you're missing is confidence in yourself. If you were confident, you would blow everyone else out of the park." Hinata shook her head, touched by the kind words but still in denial. Iruka was so kind to her, as he was to everyone else. What he was really saying was that she needed to stop being weak, using his ability to flatter people in order to make his point. What he was saying wasn't true.
"T-thank you, S-sensei. B-but I t-thing you're overestimating m-me. I'm n-not as g-good as that." Hinata stuttered, looking down at her hands. She could hear Iruka sigh, being as he had obviously failed to get his message across to her. Gently, Iruka placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hinata, I want you to look at me, okay?" He asked once more, to which Hinata looked up in slight embarrassment. "And I want you to listen very carefully to me. You are notworthless and you are no less then any other person in this world. You are an incredibly talented ninja and you have a huge heart. You are a kind person and one of the sweetest most selfless people I have ever met. Listening to you believing yourself to be nothing is what I'm finding so frustrating, because I knowhow great you can be. You have so much potential, all you need is to believe in yourself. If you make that one crucial step, you could be one of the greatest ninja's ever, maybe even as great as the Sannin themselves." Hinata's eyes bugged at that. She was still denying what he had said, yet somehow her heart was lighter. Perhaps she didn't believe in herself yet, but at least someonebelieved in her. And that was already making her stronger for it.
"Yes, Sensei." Hinata whispered, noticing vaguely that a tear was trickling down her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't do the project." She added, looking back on the situation in regret.
"Don't be. We still have tomorrow to finish them up. You can go first thing tomorrow, alright?" Iruka asked, smiling kindly at her. Hinata nodded, knowing that no matter what she couldn't disappoint him after this talk. She couldn't bear it. "Good. Well, that's about it. Don't forget what I said, Hinata. Can you do that for me?" Hinata nodded.
"Thank you, Sensei." She added one last time before leaving the classroom. After this talk she suddenly felt more confident and less afraid. Not that she wasn't still terrified; but she had taken a step forward. And from that day on Hinata promised herself that she would do whatever she could to change and to become a stronger person. Iruka was the first person to ever tell her she was good at something and as long as she lived she promised herself that she would remember that. She would grow for him, for Naruto, and most importantly for herself. She was ready to start a journey that would last a lifetime.
Ending Note: Awwww! I can totally relate to Hinata, so I mainly based this fic after something that happened to me a while ago with my teacher (tweaking the personalities to make it in character with Naruto, obviously). I really like this chapter and I hope I made it realistic. Please review!