Hinata shivered a little as she sat hunched before the gate to the old Inari temple. Naruto had wanted to show her his secret hiding place, just in case those bullies came back and along the way it had started to rain. It was a small unnoticeable shrine, the old timber walls and sloping roof very ordinary and without embellishment. Inari had once been worshipped by the local farmers, however very few visited it now. The rain was coming down a little harder but the sun still shone through bright and undeterred in its progress through the sky.
"Kitsune no yomeiri (foxes wedding)", Hinata whispered, thinking of the little folk tales her mother had always enjoyed retelling countless times in her fanciful way. It almost made it seem like Kitsune and Goddesses lived amongst them even to this day. Although Kitsune were historically infamous as troublemakers through the ages, all foxes weren't bad, her mother had said. "There are also some good ones like the white nine tailed foxes that serve as the goddess Inari's divine messengers. If you should meet one some day little Hinata do not be afraid, for they are the forebringers of good fortune."
Little Hinata had laughed with her mother unsure whether she should really be afraid or not.
People hurried past oblivious to the shrine sheltered by thick shrubbery, as the rain came down harder. A large plop across her nose broke her out of her reverie. Naruto shifted uncomfortably next to her. She realized she had been talking to herself again and blushed at her own strangeness. Why couldn't she be more normal around people?
"Ano, I'm sorry I was talking..to myself again."
"You're afraid of Kitsune?", he said without meeting her eyes.
He'd been called a fox, owing to the strange birth marks on his cheeks, and many other names as well but somehow he felt a little short of breath, afraid that Hinata might say the same to him. Hinata was oblivious to the fact that her absent minded words were affecting Naruto. She was slow to answer and before she could Naruto jumped up all of a sudden agitated.
"Oww", he yelled unnecessarily loudly in irritation as he bumped his head on a dislodged beam of the low roof. Immediately, he slumped back down unceremoniously next to her. Hinata looked at him, astounded by his strange behavior.
"Ano..", she faltered.
He huffed and turned away, blatantly ignoring her. Did she make him angry somehow ? She was being a rather dull conversationalist. She never could think of the right words to say at the right time. Her father had always admonished her for being indecisive and slow in answering to him. She was only trying to weigh her words carefully so as not to displease him with the wrong answer yet it only served to make him angry. Her mother had said, a lady listens well and answers softly. Maybe she had been wrong.
She bent her head, her eyes tearing up just a little at how unfair everything was, she never knew what she did wrong. Moreover, a person like her just didn't have it in her to make any friends after all. She felt a hesitant poke at her forehead. Naruto sat there with his finger to her head.
"You crying?", he asked quietly.
Hinata shook her head.
"Are you sad ?"
Hinata nodded.
He'd been observing her listless march to the training grounds before and she was starting to get the same listless look now.
"Why?"
"Because I don't know why everyone hates me..no it's because I'm so weak and stupid and I'll never.."
She stopped hastily, sure she'd said too much.
"No you're not." Naruto poked harder.
Naruto's finger refused to move from it's spot on her head.
"That's everything everyone's ever told me, that I'm weak and stupid but I know I'm not going to be that way forever", he said bluntly.
"Ah that came out wrong"
He scratched his head with his free hand.
"What I mean is I'll work hard and prove them all wrong, then they won't laugh at me ever again. You see?"
She nodded around the finger on her forehead.
"Besides you're a Hyuga, I've seen what they can do. Well I wish you would try walking in my shoes for a change."
"I can't" , she replied seriously.
"Why not?"
"You don't have any", she said pointing at his bare feet.
"Oh"
He laughed out raucously at her little joke and Hinata pinked a little with pleasure.
He grinned that mischievous grin again.
"Ah look here", he said wiggling his finger still planted on her forehead.
He observed her cross eyed look and grinned some more.
"It's stuck", he shrugged nonchalantly.
"Surely, it isn't", she replied timidly.
"Really, it is"
He pushed at her gently. Hinata shifted back to get away from him.
"Nice try, but nope still stuck", he persisted.
Hinata tried to push away from him catching at the door to the shrine. She stumbled as the door came open silently, her hand grabbing at thin air. She looked back at Naruto in alarm but Naruto had been quick to follow her and now both seemed to be drawn in together, tumbling into the dark chamber of the inner shrine. 'Rolling down these steps to the bottom is going to hurt' is what Hinata remembered thinking last, watching the receding light from the doorway. A silent hiss of the wind stirring old leaves around the disused shrine was the only sound heard as the doors swung shut behind them. A moment later all was darkness again.