A/N: Hey Sky here! Second chapter, please review and give me suggestions, it makes everything worthwhile… Plus it makes chapters come out faster ;) So basically it's a win-win situation for everyone :D Please enjoy it!

I don't own Naruto in any way; all it's character belong to Kishimoto.

"Uh…" Naruto said. He sighed and slowly released his jutsu, seeing that it had been rendered useless.

The girl gasped.

"Y-You're t-that thief I've heard about!" She quietly said.

"Yeah, yeah, don't praise me, end of story I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He said with a small grin on his face. "But the point is I have no business with you or any of the Hyugga's, so I'll just leave."

"But t-then why a-are you here?" She softly asked.

"I was only using your room as a place to hide." He said.

"Oh…"

Naruto did not want to socialize any more so he slowly unhinged the window.

Meanwhile, thoughts raced through Hinata's mind. She wasn't sure whether she should tell the authorities or not, but after all, like he said, he had no business with them and he had done her no harm.

Hinata wiped away some tears, sick of her life. She was always being verbally abused by her family for being a failure, and was always outdone by her sister, Hanabi. Her life was just one big mess that grew bigger with each day. But suddenly, a crazy idea popped into her mind.

"N-No! I'm the Hyugga heiress, I couldn't possibly do that!" She thought, trying to discard that idea.

But she was sick of being the Hyugga heiress. Everyone expected so much of her, and when she didn't live up to people's expectations, she was reprimanded for it and it made her life a living hell. She never complained and always tried harder, but inside she was actually a very sad person. Maybe she should try. She took a deep breath before stepping forward, not believing that she was going to do what she was about to do.

"Um… C-Can I ask you s-something?" She squeaked as Naruto turned around to the sound of her voice.

"Please make it quick, and no personal questions." Naruto said, rushed. Eventually the pursuers would note that they had been fooled and would retrace their steps.

"I um… I was wondering if… uh… If you could maybe use a partner?" She finally squeaked.

Naruto stood frozen on the spot, taken completely by surprise. He must have heard wrong.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He asked.

"I thought… I t-thought maybe you could use an e-extra p-pair of hands..." Hinata said, looking at the floor.

Naruto only stared at her.

"What's your name?" He said, his voice suddenly not having much emotion.

"H-Hinata H-Hyugga." She said.

"Alright Hinata, look, you'll have a good life, then you'll marry someone nice, you'll have a family and then you'll live happily ever after." He said. "However, the kind of life I carry out is not befitting of you."

"I-I'm not weak, I can t-take it!" She said, feeling tears spring into her eyes.

He looked at her for a few seconds, holding on to his answer as he shook his head. He quickly climbed out of the window, giving her one more glance before sliding down the house, leaving a now crying Hinata behind him. It had been her only chance she had had to have genuine freedom from her miserable life, and it had just gone down the drain. She quickly ran to her window and looked down as Naruto ran away, leaving no trace of his appearance behind him. The sun was now setting.

"I'm not useless…" She sobbed, putting her hands to her face.

But then a second crazy idea popped into her head. If she was so sick of her life, why not run away herself? If she could really take it, then she should be able to survive on her own! So she quickly gathered some scrolls, a few kunai and shuriken, and jumped out of the window, landing softly on the grass. She put a face of confidence on and quickly ran silently, making sure of making no noise. She didn't stop until she was in the forest, far enough from her home. She bit her lip in celebration that she was now free, she would no longer have to put up with the pressure of being the heiress, she would no longer have to endure grueling training sessions, and she would no longer be reprimanded for doing things wrong. She could do whatever she wanted now, she was her own boss.

But suddenly she heard rustling in the leaves. Not normal animal rustling, it was something bigger. She quickly activated her byakugan and scanned the area.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto ran through the trees, many thoughts running through his mind. For one, he needed to gain some distance away from his pursuers until he was "safe" and on the other hand, he couldn't stop thinking of that girl. Although he really didn't care about much people, he did feel a little sorry for her. He had never felt sorry for anyone in his life though. He quickly shook that thought off and focused on his main problem before hearing a yell. A girl's yell, high-pitched and obviously crying for help, but it was immediately shushed. Naruto stopped on one of the branches and looked back as birds scattered out of the forest. It sounded like Hinata.

He stood still on the spot. If she was in danger, it was his fault for including her into his mess. But then that would mean he'd have to confront the bounty-hunters, and he didn't really want to kill another person today. Naruto tightened the grip in his hand as he cursed himself and ran back towards where he had heard the yell. After a while he suddenly stopped, sensing that there were people hidden in the bushes. He slowly started to take out his ninjato before some kunai were hurled at him, which he easily dodged as he landed on the soft grass. Ten or so kunai were stuck on the branch he had been.

"Naruto Uzumaki eh?" A man said, coming out of the shadows as his chuckle bellowed through the darkening day.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, focusing his sight on how many goons there were. "Where is she?" He asked.

"Right here." Another man said, holding an unconscious Hinata in front of him, tied in ropes and a blade in front of her neck, threatening to take away her life.

These bounty-hunters knew Naruto all too well. They must have somehow seen Naruto and Hinata talking, and must have taken her somehow. Naruto unsheathed his ninjato and put it in front of him. He knew he shouldn't have stayed there too long.

"Now, now, let's not get hasty here." The first man said as suddenly the rest of his men came out of the shadows, each carrying a katana or a knife. "We have the advantage here, with more men and a hostage-"

"-And she gets it unless you turn yourself in." Another finished.

Naruto narrowed his eyes once more, but this time in concentration, his whole mind focused on how to save both himself and Hinata. He closed his eyes and focused his chakra before opening them once more.

"Shunshin no jutsu!" He said as he used the body flicker technique.

The man that was holding Hinata tried to slash his knife across her neck, but was quickly intercepted by Naruto, who grabbed hold of her and slashed his blade across the bounty hunter's body. A gash was now on his body as the blow made him lose his balance and fall through the trees, yelling.

Naruto groaned as he carried Hinata through the forest, trying to run away. Using the body flicker technique too much dropped his chakra levels, and jumping from tree to tree carrying an unconscious girl really didn't help as the pursuers tried to close in on him. One even threw a kunai at him, that Naruto didn't dodge completely as it slashed across his arm before hitting a tree. Naruto groaned once more, cursing himself for getting into such a mess. He needed to lose them somehow, and fast before his chakra level went to zero. Finally an idea popped into his head.

He took out the last three poisonous smoke bombs he had and took out some caltrops. He threw the caltrops behind him, making his pursuers stop, and almost simultaneously threw the smoke bombs. He heard the men coughing as the leader told them to regroup instead of going through the smoke.

"Yeah, wise idea, one whiff of that and you're dead." Naruto thought.

He quickly changed his direction before jumping as fast as he could, and after a while his muscles screamed that they could go no more. He jumped to the ground and set Hinata down before plopping himself on to the cold grass. He could go no more since his chakra was dangerously low. Trying any jutsu right now would make Naruto's chakra go to zero immediately and he would inevitably die. He looked at the unconscious Hinata, gritting his teeth and silently thanking her for getting him into a huge mess he would have rather avoided. He slowly sat up and put his back to a tree as he focused on his arm's gash. It was dripping blood down his clothes and staining the ground as it dripped. Naruto sighed as he took out a scroll that held band-aids and other basic medical things sealed inside. He quickly bit his thumb and ran his thumb's blood across it as the materials appeared in a puff of smoke. He quickly treated himself before sealing everything back into the scroll and putting it back in his pouch. He cut off Hinata's ropes and sat back into a crossed-leg position, standing guard at the now darkened night, before remembering the other useful scrolls he had. He took out the scroll that held a tent in it, and summoned it as a tent appeared in a puff of smoke. He slowly picked Hinata up and put her inside before walking back out.

He only sighed, slightly annoyed at Hinata. If it weren't for his pursuers, he would ship her back to the Hyugga compound. As far as he was concerned, he worked solo. But then again, Hyugga's were great scanners, being able to see everything with their byakugan, and that was definitely a spot Naruto was weak at. He had received numerous injuries before from not being able to tell where the enemy was, and although he had gotten better at it, there were often times when he would guess wrong. Who knew, maybe the next time would cost him his life?

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata woke up with a small headache. She moaned as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"W-What happened…?" She thought, her eyes half closed. Her whole body ached to be exact.

Suddenly memories rushed back at her. She had been in the forest when a man had come out of the bushes and knocked her unconscious after binding her with ropes. She had been no match for the man, and she couldn't remember much after that. She looked around, recognizing the place she was resting in as a tent. She looked down at her body only to see she had no ropes tying her together.

"What's going on?" She thought once more, slightly nervous.

For all she knew she could still be taken hostage. Maybe she was being held hostage for a ransom. That thought instantly made Hinata a little sad as she was pretty sure that her father would not pay one penny for her return, and would probably be a blessing to him. She slowly crawled over to the flaps of what worked as a door to the tent, and opened it only so she could see who was there. There was a small fire that was being tended with a stick by a blonde boy. The same one who had been in her room.

She gasped quietly, hoping that Naruto hadn't heard her, and although he hadn't turned around, he had heard her.

"Awake already?" Naruto said, poking at the fire. "Well it's about time."

He turned towards her and gave her a small grin. As he had turned his wound on his arm was visible, where it was strapped by some cloth that had a red stain on it.

Hinata, knowing that she had been discovered, slowly walking out of the tent. It was a cold night and she gingerly got close to the fire.

"Um… W-What h-happened?" She asked, not looking at him.

"You kinda got kidnapped by the baddies, I was forced to either turn myself in or you would get killed, neither happened, and here I am." He said, giving almost no details. His story hadn't really helped Hinata in the slightest bit.

Naruto only laughed at Hinata's expression, a mixture of both confusion and relief.

Hinata looked back at the fire, knowing that after tonight she'd have to go back to her hell of a life.

"Anyways, I put some thought into it, and who knows; maybe going solo isn't exactly the best idea." He mumbled as he rubbed his hands together. "So… I guess you can accompany me… For now!" He finished, raising his finger at the last part.

Hinata looked up, her mouth open in surprise. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"But on one condition." Naruto said. "You have to follow my orders alright?"

Hinata nodded as Naruto's grin turned into a small smile as he once more rubbed his hands together. He suddenly walked into the tent and took out something before coming out.

"Here, this should keep you warm." He said, throwing her a cloak.

She gingerly put it on, feeling much warmer by second.

"You should get sleeping; we're traveling to the village hidden in the sand tomorrow, so you'll need plenty of rest." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded, although she was a tad-bit worried. She had never traveled away from her home, much less to another country, but she hung unto the cloak and went back into the tent, lying down.

Her last thought before she went to sleep were:

I have a second chance.

A/N: Sky here! I hope that wasn't too bad, I hope you enjoyed it and please review if you want chapters to come out faster. Oh and, I love CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not flaming. If you want to flame, just send me a message ;)