DO NOT WORRY! THIS IS SECRET OF THE WHIRLPOOL COUNTRY BY UZUMAKISAKURADRAGON. THE AUTHOR (ME) HAS TEMPORARILY(?) CHANGED THEIR NAME TO INFESTEDBYPURPLE. DO NOT WORRY.

A/N: I told myself I would rant, but... unfortnatley(sp?), I can't remember right now. Hmmmmm... what was it... I can't remember. Meh. Oh well. I'll remember later and repost this.

Other than that, all I have to say is the week after I posted the last chapter, I couldn't decide whether to start with Sakura or Naruto/Hinata, so that took a full WEEK of writing time out. Meh... I hate myself. /

Disclaimer: Naruto no es de mi. Il es de un senor Japanese.

READ AND REVIEW PLZ IF YOU DON'T HATE ME!

Chapter 11 – Solace

Solace. A safe haven. A retreat. Someone to confide in. A person you can tell your secrets. A person who will save you from your darkest hour. Tonight, he would be her solace.

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Sakura ran into her house and slammed the door to her room with her face buried in her hands.

"Sakura? Honey? What wrong?" her mother called from the other room. She got up and stood next to her daughter's door with her ear close to it. She could hear muffled sobs coming form the other side. She knocked. "Sakura? Whatever it is, you can-"

"Leave me alone!" she heard from the other side. Actually, Sakura did want to talk but now wasn't the best time and nor was her mother the best person to do that with.

Sakura's mother nodded in understanding, even if she knew her baby girl was hurting badly. Sometimes, teenagers just needed to get these things out of their systems. "If you want to talk, I'll listen." And she stepped away from the door.

Sakura clutched her pillow even tighter and continued to cry, if not harder than before. The boy she "loved" had just almost killed her. He was supposed to be her teammate!

'That certainly was not him.' she had convinced herself. Yet she could not get the image of his red eyes out of her head. Those eyes were so full of hatred and anger. It was haunting.

Then at the time when she needed him most, Naruto wasn't there. He was off on a trip and wouldn't be back for five years. She couldn't wait that long. No one could.

He was off with Hinata too. What had prompted him to take her? Sakura personally saw nothing interesting about the girl besides her lineage and bloodline. She wasn't pretty, loud or anything like herself. She was dark, weird and kept to herself nearly all the time.

This wasn't right. She was left all alone. Sasuke had changed, Naruto was gone and Kakashi-sensei was off doing S-ranked missions because of the shortage of able bodied shinobi, according to Tsunade. She had no one to go to who would understand.

These thoughts ran through her head as her sobs subside. They went down all the way and Sakura had effectively cried herself to sleep.

"Neh, Uzumaki-saaaaan, when are we going to stop? I'm really hungry."

The sun was lowering in the sky as the odd trio walked down the road. It had been three days since they had left Konoha and three days of Naruto jabbering away about this trip and what he hoped to do, but lots of complaining about why they weren't jumping through the trees to get there sooner. Plus that question he just kept on asking that would hopefully join him with his favorite thing: ramen.

"We'll stop in a few minutes. Just wait." The escort replied. She was a mysterious figure to both of the young ninjas, especially Hinata. She always wore a white mask and never let them see her face. She had a kind voice and gray streaked with a fiery red, like the remnant of a former glory.

A half hour later, they camped in a small clearing a good distance from the road they were traveling on that went south. The escort had started a fire and was currently skinning two rabbits she had found to cook them. There was no tent, just their sleeping bags to lie out under the stars.

Soon, dinner was ready and eaten, Naruto disappointed that he wasn't allowed again to eat some of the ramen he had packed. Later, the guide took watch and the kids climbed into their sleeping bags. Naruto fell asleep immediately but it wouldn't come so easy to Hinata. She tossed and turned, her mind running a mile a minute. At some point though, she fell into a fitful sleep.

"Don't mess up, Hinata. This is a very important meeting and we can't look bad." Her father towered over his six year old daughter. She played with the sleeve of her stiff formal kimono and looked down submissively.

"I w-won't, O-Outou-sama."

Hiashi left and resumed his place at the low table in the formal and elegant room around the corner

The cue came for her to appear. Hinata picked up the tray with shaking hands and slowly walked to the table. Her father stared at her with intense eyes.

Without warning, Hinata did the worst thing imaginable. She tripped over the long hem of her kimono.

The tray, the teapot, the cups and the girl all went flying forward. The scalding tea landed on the guest and Hiashi stood, his eyes literally burning with anger and fury. Hinata took one sorry look at her father and began to pick up the broken pieces of china as the tears began to build up. "I-I'm s-s-so sorr-ry Out-tout-s-sam-ma." Her voice wavered, filled with fear.

Hiashi went over and kicked his daughter so hard she flew backwards into the wall. She fell face first to the floor with her eyes clenched shut tightly in pain. "Worthless." he spat down at her. "You are of no further use to either me or the clan." He strode out of the room without a second thought or look.

Hinata curled into a tight ball, hugging her knees to her chest. The world around her faded into a black abyss. She floats.

"Worthless." That same voice echoed everywhere. "Totally and completely worthless. You are a failure and that is all you will ever be."

"No." Hinata whispered to herself. "I'm not worthless. I'm going to try harder." She propped her head on her knees. "You hear me?" she said with more confidence this time. "I'm going to get stronger."

A maniacal laughter filled he space, echoing off things she couldn't see. "Worthless!" The voice whispered. "Worthless, worthless, worthless…" It faded away.

Hinata looked ahead and saw two bright yellow spots of light getting bigger, almost as if something was coming towards her. She slowly uncurled, stood, and began to run towards them, trying to get out of this accursed place.

"Hey! Over here!" she called in her loudest voice. "Over here!"

The lights didn't get any larger faster like she had expected. Soon they stopped altogether, even if she was still running. A slit appeared in each light and Hinata stopped to gasp. A huge pair of cat-like eyes, filled with malice and rage, stared back at her. The rest of the face faded in from the infinite darkness.

A gargantuan deep purple cat was grinning at her with huge menacing teeth. A low growl came from deep in its throat, and at this point, Hinata was frozen and scared for her life. She tried to turn to run away form the thing, but her feet wouldn't let her. A glint came into its eyes. It opened its huge mouth just as she finally managed to turn, and released a deafening roar. She was startled enough and she accidentally did again what made this dream a nightmare.

She tripped.

She slowly opened her tearstained eyes and looked out eh window. 'Stars?' Sakura thought. She sat up and wearily rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. "How long have I been out?" she groaned. She looked to clock next to her bed. 10:49.

Sakura stood and looked outside again, but looked more closely this time now that her mind had cleared a bit. Although, something was out of place.

A person was sitting on one of the rooftops and looking at the moon.

As far as she could tell from where she was, they had a large, irregular object strapped to their back. Her curiosity got the better of her and she opened the window to jump out. The front door really wasn't an option, as her mother would be wondering where she was going and if she wanted to talk again.

Sakura stood on the windowsill and jumped to the rooftop across the street. She continued to slowly approach the person and the details slowly came into focus. Red hair. Black shirt and pants. Dark rings around his turquoise eyes. The Suna forhead protector. And the telltale kanji for 'love' tattooed on his forhead.

Gaara. Gaara of the Sand.

'What's he doing here?' Sakura hid behind a corner and peered around as soon as she got within 20 feet of the boy.

He felt someone's presence to his left. "I know you're hiding there. You can come out now." He hadn't moved a muscle.

She stepped out into the moonlight, uneasy about him. Last time they met, he had almost killed her. But that time, Gaara had been taken over by his bijuu, the one-tailed Shukaku. Now, he seemed calm and pensive and it definitely didn't seem like he would attack her anytime soon.

Sakura walked up the side of the roof and sat down next to him a few feet away on the beam, just to make sure. "Why are you up so late?" she asked.

Gaara paused and remembered her from a little over a month ago. "I should be asking you that."

She blinked. What did that mean? "Huh?"

"I have insomnia. I can never sleep."

"Why…Why not?"

"My bijuu. If I sleep, he is released, and will take revenge on this world until I wake up. You saw part of him in the forest."

Her eyes fell. "Oh." The silence drew out as Sakura couldn't think of anything else to say. He didn't seem like one for conversation.

"Why are you even speaking to me? I nearly killed you." Gaara said after a few minutes. He glanced sideways at her.

She didn't answer immediately. "You look under control now."

"I could lose it any second, you know. You're still not afraid?" He turned all the way to face her in astonishment.

"A kunochi risks her life every day for her village." Sakura said matter-of-factly. "How is this any different?"

He fell into silence and looked down with no answer to her question. This girl was unusual. No one ever talked to him out of their own free will outside his family and teachers. He turned back to looking at the moon and rested his head on his hands, puzzled, but a bit of gratitude came up from somewhere inside him to her.

"I'm-… just really curious but, when… when you aren't yourself, like you're insane, like how you were in the forest, what are you thinking? What… does losing your mind, so to speak, feel like?" The girl didn't take her eyes off the roof tiles.

Gaara again remained silent for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

This time, Sakura was the one who turned to face the other, tears welling up as she remembered the days past events. "My teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, is that way right now I think. You fought him in the forest too. He… He definitely wasn't himself today. He woke up from his coma in the hospital, lifted me up by the neck, told me to get out or he'd kill me." She shivered at the memory and a tear escaped by the corner of her eye. "But the thing is, I like him a lot and I want him to be well and sane." She looked up to the moon. "I don't know what to do, Gaara. I really don't. That's why."

Amidst all the bad feelings that he had for the world, Gaara couldn't help but feel sorry for this girl. She was hurting in a way he couldn't comprehend because it was love. And that was something he never truly had experienced. If he was going to make something out of his existence like that hyper Uzumaki boy, he would start now, he decided. He would start here with this girl.

Her eyes snapped open. She brought a shaky hand up to her forhead and felt that it had a thin layer of sweat. Hinata closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath but the tears betrayed her as she tried to keep control of herself. A low sob escaped her followed by others when the words came back that the father in her dream had said.

"Hinata-chan?" a groggy voice to her left asked. "Hey, what's wrong? What happened?" Naruto had woken from her cries.

"I h-had a nightm-mare." She tried to put a smile in her voice. "That's all."

"No its not." he stated. He sat up and moved to sit next to her on the grass. "A nightmare would just scare a person and not to the point that it would make them cry. This must have been really bad. Come on tell me."

She sat up too but kept her head down while he looked at her with an understanding expression. "It…It started w-with a memory I have of when I was s-six."

Naruto nodded. "Go on."

She told him the first part of her dream up until the part when it had turned for the worst. He in turn proved to be a good listener, as he had gone through some similar experiences. When she began to shiver and cry again, he moved to be next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. She was so wrapped up in her story that she didn't notice.

"He kicked me into the wall, called me worthless and said the clan didn't need me anymore. Then everything faded to black." She shuddered again "his voice echoed and said I was worthless over and over and then… and th-then th-there w-was that cat, that huge beast cat. It almost looked like...l-like…" she trailed off again and buried her face in his shoulder.

He brought his other arm around and hugged her, determined to stop her crying. Naruto had promised himself a while ago that he would only never cry again when he was happy. He never wanted other people to cry if he could help it. "Like what?" he whispered. "A monster?"

She could barely get the word past her lips. "A d-d-dem-mon-n."

The word struck hard and he stiffened even if the dream had nothing to do with him. "Shh, Hinata-chan, it was only a dream." He placed his chin on her head and rocked her back and forth until her cries ceased and she fell asleep. As he released his jacket from her stiff grip to wrap her back up in her sleeping bag, he made a decision.

If he was going to become Hokage, he might as well change the people of the village by being whatever they needed. And he would start here by being there for this girl. Being her solace tonight.

Finally, a day and a half later of walking, they came to a road that branched off from the main road. It was overgrown with weeds and strewn with rocks that threatened to twist your ankle if stepped on the wrong way. They followed the guide on it, winding through he trees until it ended at the ruins of a grand old house surrounded by a crumbling or non-existent plain white wall. She stopped walking and they did too.

"This is it?" Naruto's voice was full of disappointment. "This is where I'm going to become a master swordsman?"

The woman turned to him. "What, did you expect more?"

"Well yeah, I thought maybe a big house up in the mountains with a great view and stuff." He shrugged. "Not this, definitely not."

The woman smiled beneath her mask. "Don't let your eyes deceive you." She bent down and picked up something invisible. By the way she held it, it looked like a drop cloth. She gestured for them to walk under.

"I don't see anything." Naruto said, inferring the gesture the wrong way.

The Uzumaki sighed. "Walk under it."

"Under what?"

"This."

"That?"

"Yes."

"There's nothing there."

"Do it."

"Why?"

"You'll see why when you walk under."

"….I still don't see anything."

"Please Naruto-kun, j-just do as she says."

He took a deep breath and took a step forward. "Okay, but I still don't se anything." He ducked under the woman's arm and looked up. What he saw now was not at all what he had seen second ago.

First and foremost, the wall that blocked the rest of the complex was restored. Not new, but not old either. It was grand and neat, an obvious sign of wealth and hard work to keep it so.

"What did I tell you?" the Uzumaki said as she came under the invisible curtain after Hinata. She passed them and stopped at the small gate. "Come on, stop gawking. We haven't got all day." She pushed it open since there was no lock. Why would one anyways, if their home made it to look like something it wasn't?

They went through the gate into a brilliantly green garden with a very old sakura tree to their left and a large pond ten feet away from it, also on their left. On the right, there was a plain lawn lined with bushes of every shade of green around the edge and a stream that glimmered in the sunlight. Down the middle was a cobblestone path that they were walking on. On the other side was an enormous but still simple mansion. It had a wrap-around porch with sliding doors and a brown roof. It didn't go higher than two stories but it made up for that by sprawling in every direction and almost touching the walls on either side.

"So what do you think of it now?" asked the guide.

He didn't have an answer for her.

Inside was also simple and appealing. Hinata was comparing this house to the Hyuuga mansion back home. Many things were the same like the orderliness and cleanliness but this place seemed more open, more inviting, more… free. Perhaps she would like it here.

"This way." They followed the older woman down a corridor that branched off left from the large reception room after taking off their shoes at the door. The sunlight could be seen casting silhouettes on the traditional rice paper doors. About two thirds of the way down, she stopped at a sliding door on the right that looked like all the others in the hall.

"Take off your packs and be respectful." She ordered. The kids did as they were told and she spoke to the door. "Myuri-sama, I have returned. May we come in?"

A loud crash and a string of muttered curse came form the other side. It was a minute before they got a "yes" in response.

A raised platform big enough for two people to kneel on was on the other side of the door. The man that kneeled in the center of it was the oldest man that either of the young ninja had ever seen. He had absolutely no hair on his head, save for his bushy gray eyebrows and short beard that followed his jaw line. He wore a dark blue top that folded twice across his chest like most clan heads. His hands rested on his matching dark blue pants, covered in two lifetime's worth of wrinkles that also covered his face and every piece of visible skin. But the thing that was the most remarkable feature of this man was the fierce, wizened green eyes beneath the sagging brow.

Hinata immediately had a deep respect for this man. He had at least a hundred years behind him. Both she and Naruto kneeled on the two cushions in front of him and the guide stood in the corner behind them.

Uzumaki Myuri looked down on his students-to-be, studying them, but something was obviously nagging him. "Where is Kushina?" his voice was, like him, old and careful.

"Should I or should you?" the woman asked Naruto.

"I'll do it." He took a deep breath. "She's dead." He said. "My mom died when I was nine months old." Naruto looked down in memory.

"And how old are you now?"

"Thirteen."

Myuri nodded slowly. He turned to the girl who hadn't spoken yet. "And you are?"

"H-Hyuuga Hinata." She stuttered.

"Izumi, I assume Tsunade had a substitute for Kushina?"

"Yes. She let Naruto pick her himself."

He closed his eyes and fell silent. When he reopened them, he looked at Hinata and frowned. "This presents a problem. Please take them to their rooms."

The woman named Izumi bowed. "Yes, Myuri-sama." All three of them left the small room, picked up their packs and went down the hallway, back into the main room and down the right corridor.

"I'm sorry Hinata." She apologized when they were going through the reception room. "Myuri-sama is very logical and always thinks things through before he makes a decision. Being from another clan, one noble but powerful at that, complicates things a bit because back in the days when I was much younger like yourselves, we rarely let outsiders learn Kenbu-Do. We refused two and they nearly destroyed us. You, boy," Izumi looked at Naruto, "are the last one of this clan who has any hope of having children. The survival of this entire clan depends on you." She stopped walking.

"Choose any of these five rooms here. The ones on the right have a nice view of the garden and the ones on the left look out over the training grounds."

Hinata, much to Naruto's silent protest about the nightmare, chose the room farthest from his so as to reduce embarrassments that might happen between them. As soon as she went in though, she dropped her pack and curled up on the floor, since this room had a futon bed instead of a regular one.

She cried. Cried because she messed up for being here, for delaying the start, for the fear of being rejected and sent back to Konoha.

'Why do I always hold people back? Why do I always hold him back?'

Izumi went to Myuri's study where she knew he would be. "Uncle, please." She begged.

He sat at his desk with his head in his hands. "I know, but I don't know what she'll do once she learns. When she leaves, she might accidentally run into them and they'll force her to teach them. The teachings that have been passed down for hundreds of years will get out and be used for treachery."

"Yes I know but over the past five days of traveling with them, I learned that she really likes this boy from the looks she gives him but he's completely oblivious. He handpicked her. Therefore, he knows her well."

"That doesn't prove she won't betray us."

Izumi sighed. "I know. Btu she is shy and one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet. Plus, she is their heir to her clan and as respectful as you can get."

He kneaded his forehead with hi hands. "That makes it even worse, that she's the heir. I know that they Hyuugas have a unique fighting style which she probably has learned by now and this will mess up her clan's teachings. She will have to pass down her techniques to her children when she becomes head and this will mess those up badly. She might even teach them our style and then when that happens, we're done for."

"Just please, let her Myuri. I know she won't. Let us teach her." She begged.

"The only way I can see that our techniques won't get out if we teach her is if she marries Kushina's son. What was his name again?"

"Naruto."

"And you said Hinata likes him? A lot?"

He sighed. "I can only hope he develops and returns those feelings. Then they will stay in the family.

"But then again, she's the heir to another clan, a powerful one at that…" Myuri trailed off. "Goddamnit. This is so hard."

"Please." Izumi begged again. "Just please."

He shook his head. "I don't know I don't have an answer now. Let me sleep on it."

Naruto had his few things unpacked and was currently lying on his unrolled futon, resting from the eventful day. He was turning over the words exchanged in the meeting.

He didn't like the way that Myuri guy looked at Hinata. It was one he knew well because the villagers often gave it to him when he walked down the streets in Konohagakure. And he had also said she was a problem. 'Maybe she wasn't pretty enough or something.' He thought.

"Hey boy, it's not that." A familiar voice growled in his mind.

'Who asked for what you think?' Naruto said to the fox.

"I'm saying that men think more logically than if someone is pretty enough or not. That's one skill you need to learn, kit. How to think. And you need it badly." said the Kyuubi sarcastically.

Naruto rolled over onto his side. 'Then what? Why else would he say Hinata-chan is a problem?'

"Your mother was an Uzumaki. You, by blood, are an Uzumaki. That girl you brought is a Hyuuga. That's probably why. I really have got to teach you how to think otherwise you won't survive and neither will I…."

Naruto just tuned out the rest of Kyuubi's babbling and turned his attention to his empty stomach. 'Man I'm really hungry... where's the kitchen around here?' He stood up and exited the room. His bedroom was the farthest down the hall before it turned left and so he had to pass Hinata's room to get back to the main one where he could start his search. When he passed hers though, heard hard someone unsuccessfully trying to keep their sobs low. She was crying again, he realized.

Naruto completely forget about his food and went into her room. Hinata was curled up on the floor, crying. Her pack with the long black box attached to it was lying near the door on its side, apparently thrown down and forgotten.

"Hey, hey, Hinata-chan, what wrong? Was it that guy and him saying you're a problem?" he kneeled beside her and put a hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there.

She shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts. "I don't want to be a burden. I don't want to hold him back, I don't want to be a burden. Not a burden, not a burden…." She was repeating to herself, unknowing to the boy on her left.

"Hinata…" Naruto whispered, realizing she had a pain like his. She clearly needed someone to talk to. She clearly needed her solace to tell her everything was going to be alright.

A/N: You don't know how loooong I've waited to write the nightmare and its aftermath. Pay attention to those too. There are more to come and they have a HUGE meaning/impact later in the story other than developing those two.

YAY! Kyuubi-kun is no longer silent!