Living with the Consequences Ch 2

Several hours later, Naruto was awoken by a strange feeling coming from his chest, and from the top of his head. Opening his eyes, he realized that Hinata was lying on the ground next to him, scratching his ears.

She hadn't yet noticed he was awake, and was just staring off into space, clearly lost in thought about something. Still, Naruto took the moment to study his host.

She was only a couple months younger than him, if he remembered her birthday correctly, and he could tell that if he were still human she would be just a bit shorter than him.

'She's grown her hair out…' he thought to himself, as he continued to look at her. Her jacket had changed as well, the fur-lined tan one from her youth replaced with a lavender-sleeved purple one.

Naruto was about to ask her something, when she suddenly turned her head, looking off into the woods. He noticed that her Byakugan was active, and let his question die before it was spoken.

"Who is it?" he asked instead.

"It's just Sakura-san. Hokage-sama probably sent her out here to give you a check-up," Hinata replied, as she stood up.

Though he was slightly disappointed in the fact that Hinata wasn't scratching his ears anymore, Naruto stood up as well, and tried to prepare himself for the meeting ahead.

Xxxxxxxxxx

When Haruno Sakura was called to the Hokage's office that day, the thought of Naruto being back never even crossed her mind as a reason. She was the Hokage's apprentice, after all, and was called there a lot more than the average chunin. She was also, more times than not, the preferred med-nin for the rest of her age group, as they all knew that she would do a good job, and not really sugar-coat anything when she told them how bad they were injured.

Naturally, then, she was completely floored when Tsunade told her that Naruto was back, and almost didn't hear the rest of the discussion about how he was different. Being told about the Kyuubi was both a shock and an eye-opener, as it explained a great many things about the blond on her team, and also left some questions.

Questions that were immediately forgotten about when Tsunade dropped the rest of the situation on her; about Naruto not being human anymore. It took her almost fifteen minutes to regain enough of her composure to even consider listening to whatever else her master was saying, and a good half-hour before she was able to do anything about it.

"Go check up on him," she was told, as her master pulled out a map. "He's staying here at the moment, and I would like for you to go do a full scan on him. I know that veterinary medicine isn't your specialty, but do the best you can. Also, don't tell anyone where he is. Hinata and her team already know, but try not to spread it around any further than that if you can help it."

So here she was; belting her way through the woods to one of Konoha's least-used areas, to go perform a medical procedure she wasn't really qualified for, on one of her best friends.

Finding the cabin wasn't all that difficult, and she immediately noticed that her presence was known.

"Hello, Hinata-san," Sakura said, as she jumped out of the last tree. She stopped a few feet from them, and looked down at the fox. "Naruto…"

"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied quietly, while he looked away from her.

The image of Naruto looking like he did, while turning away from her, and the self-loathing in his voice tore at Sakura's heartstrings, and she dropped to her knees in front of him, turning his head to face her. She didn't say anything; just knelt there looking him in the face, holding an entire conversation with the fox before her.

Sakura's emerald green eyes stayed locked with his crystal blue for almost a minute, until Sakura dropped her head to his shoulder and hugged him. Naruto was clearly taken by surprise at the action, as he was expecting her to hit him.

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto stammered out.

"I'm not going to hit you, Naruto," she replied, as she pulled back from the hug, and stood up. "I'm just glad you're back. Anyway, shishou sent me out here to do a check-up on Naruto, so we might as well get it over with."

Hinata led the others inside the cabin, and over to the rickety table. Sakura took one look at it and just shook her head, before shoving it across the room, where it promptly hit the wall and exploded into splinters.

"Wow….shishou really went all out for you two…" Sakura muttered sarcastically, while she unsealed a large exam table from a scroll she was carrying. She also went about unsealing some other equipment, and before long the small cabin was getting to be quite crowded.

"Alright, Naruto, up on the table," she told the fox. Once he was there, she began to fill him in on all the things he missed while he was gone while she did her tests. She told him about all his friends' promotions, and how Gaara was now Kazekage.

By the time she was finished, it was starting to get dark, and Naruto was barely awake, exhausted from the emotional day, even with the nap. He fell asleep on the floor while Sakura sealed up her equipment, and the pink-haired medic departed with a quiet word to her fellow chunin.

Hinata, who had been cleaning out the bedroom while Naruto got his exam, just sat down next to him, and resumed rubbing his ears, until she too fell asleep.

Xxxxxxxx

Despite his tiredness from the night before, Naruto woke shortly after dawn, and found himself in a rather peculiar situation. He was curled up in front of what remained of a couch, and Hinata was curled up next to him, as if she had been using him to keep warm during the night.

He found himself strangely unable to move away from her, which confused him even further. He knew he was able to; he just couldn't find the will to actually do it.

'She looks so peaceful while she sleeps…'

His thoughts were cut short, though, as Hinata chose that moment to wake up.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," she yawned, as she sat up and stretched. "Did you sleep ok?"

"I slept fine," the vulpine ninja replied, "You?"

Hinata didn't bother to pause in her stretches, and said, "It was alright. Once the bathroom is clean I was planning on going shopping for some of the things we need. Is there anything special you require?"

"Not really," he replied, "just…no, never mind."

This of course piqued Hinata's interest, as Naruto sounded almost embarrassed about whatever it was that he wasn't telling her, and to her knowledge he had never been embarrassed about anything in his life.

"What is it Naruto? You can tell me," Hinata told him, trying to coax out whatever it was he was hiding.

She then proceeded to watch him silently argue with himself for several minutes, until he seemingly made up his mind, and began to speak.

"I need…..damn I don't want to say this….but I need…a bowl."

Hinata had to smile about that. All that debating over needing a bowl? How silly.

"Naruto, you don't need to hide things like that," she said, the smile obvious in her voice.

Naruto then looked away from her, clearly still embarrassed about his request.

"Not just any bowl though. It needs sides, and…and little grippy things on the bottom so it won't slide across the floor…." He added, his voice trailing off at the end, full of unidentifiable emotions.

The smile immediately faded from Hinata's face, as she realized why he hadn't wanted to ask her about the bowl. She was also starting to see just how much the changes had affected him, how depressed he had become.

"Okay," she replied softly, "Anything special you want on it? I'm sure I can find one with little ramen bowls on it or something…."

"No, I don't want any decorations. Just…just plain. I don't want to draw attention to it any more than I have to."

It clicked right then, just how depressed he was. Everything in his life had changed; she'd thought she'd realized how bad it was, but it hit her that she really had no idea. All of Naruto's hopes and dreams were gone now, forever destroyed by one act of impatience and thoughtlessness. Even his ultimate goal, becoming Hokage, one of the lowest bases of his drive, was just…..gone.

It wasn't just that though. Even the things people take for granted weren't possible for him anymore. He couldn't feed himself like he used to, he couldn't use bathrooms anymore, hell, he couldn't even open doors for himself anymore.

If he didn't want to go kill something and eat it raw, someone else had to prepare his food, and then he had to eat it off the floor like an animal. Someone would always have to let him in and out so that he could do his…business…outside….like an animal.

It went even deeper than that too. Not only had Naruto lost just about all of his independence, something he had prized about himself his whole life, but the things that the adults had said to him when he was a child, the hateful things they had said to him, it felt like they were coming true; that he was just a monster, just a demon.

Hinata crouched down in front of Naruto, "Naruto, look at me. I know what you're thinking, an-"

"How in the hell could you possibly know what I'm thinking?" he yelled back at her, startling her so bad she fell on her backside. "You have absolutely no fucking idea what I'm feeling right now, so don't try and pretend that you do! I ruined my entire goddamned life! There's no fucking way you understand what that feels like!"

As his wildly unstable chakra began to flair around them, he got to his feet, and continued to yell. "You think I wanted this? To look just like the demon they always said I was? To be the embodiment of their loss? All my life I struggled. I fought for everything I had, and was given nothing.

I was finally starting to think things were turning around for me too. I had finished Ero-sennin's training, and would be coming home soon, but I made one mistake, just one, and everything was taken away from me! Everything I had worked for, had fought for, had cried and bled for, was gone, just like that!"

His chakra stopped flaring at that point, as he realized that Hinata was still sprawled out on the floor, tears silently falling down her face.

"Don't look at me like that," he said, in a much quieter tone, though the biting anger was still present, "I don't want your pity. I don't know why you agreed to look after me, but if it's because you feel sorry for me I want you to leave right now. Seeing the pity on Sakura-chan's face was bad enough. Hell, what am I saying? I should be happy that you all don't hate me….."

Having come to the end of his rant, Naruto turned away from the Hyuuga, and was just about to go sulk in a corner when his sensitive ears picked up a whisper from behind him.

"I will never hate you, Naruto-kun. I don't care what you do or have done, I don't think I could ever hate you, and don't call yourself things like that. I know what the villagers used to call you. I've known for a long time, almost as long as I can remember, and you aren't any of those things. So what if you changed on the outside? It's on the inside that really matters, and you haven't changed there at all.

I know that you grew up all alone, and I will always regret that I never approached you when we were little, but I'm here now, and I want to help you. I want to help you, but I can only do that if you are willing to help yourself."

"I….. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to yell at you like-"

"It's ok, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, interrupting him. "Everything in your life has changed, and you are still coming to terms with that. Just know that even though I don't know how you feel, I will always be here if you want to talk, ok?"

Naruto just nodded, not yet ready to face her yet.

"Ok, will you be okay while I run in to the village to get the things we need?"

Naruto just nodded again, this time adding, "Yeah, I'll be alright."

Hinata then gathered up the things she would need, and headed off to the village, leaving Naruto alone in the abandoned cabin.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Naruto once again wandered the halls of his mind, having come here after falling asleep again while Hinata was gone.

'Kaa-san, Tou-san, I wish I could talk to you again…last time was so short, and I have all kinds of things I want to ask you,' he thought, as he wandered closer and closer to where the Kyuubi used to be. 'I just yelled at one of my best friends, and I don't know what to do.'

He was suddenly thrown into wakefulness at that point, as something had registered to his senses, making him wake up. He looked for several minutes, but was unable to find anything.

Lying back down in a patch of sunlight inside the cabin, he returned to his thoughts, and to his mindscape. The water, or whatever it was, had gotten deeper since….then, and was now almost up to his chest, though on a human it would probably be somewhere around their knees.

The room that housed the Kyuubi was different too. The immense gates, which had once contained the strength and fury of one of the most powerful creatures in existence, were now open. Not only that, but they were bent and twisted, mangled almost beyond recognition.

For the first time he wandered into the area that had been behind the bars.

'It's pretty dark back here…no wonder Kyuubi was always so angry. If this is all I was able to see for fifty-whatever years I'd be angry too.'

When he finished his exploration, he was quite surprised at what he found. Or rather, what he didn't find. The room was square-ish, and apart from the water on the floor, it was absolutely empty. There wasn't even a dry spot to curl up in.

'Part of me can't believe I'm thinking this, but I think I should apologize to him if I ever get a chance to. Being trapped in here, unable to see or hear or feel the outside world…hell, unable to be dry, for that long must have really sucked…especially since Kyuubi is fire-natured.'

At that point he was once again drawn out of his mindscape by a noise, though this time he was able to discern the source of the interruption as being his current care-taker returning with food, based on what he could smell.

Taking a quick glance out the window, he also determined that a fair amount of time had passed while she was gone, possibly several hours.

"Sorry I was gone so long, Naruto-kun. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to get everything," she apologized, as she unloaded the bags she had brought. "Shino-kun is going to stop by later on to see if there are any insect problems here, and Kiba-kun said he would come by tomorrow to see how you were doing. He also said he wanted to apologize to you for something, though he wouldn't say what it was."

As soon as she pulled the next item out of the bag, though, she felt Naruto stiffen up and heard him start to growl. She set the item on the counter and turned to see what he was growling at, only to see that he had backed away from her, his tail was all puffed up, and he was growling at her!

She immediately panicked, for as Naruto continued to growl, she could feel his chakra respond to his emotions, and began to whip her head around trying to figure out what she had done to make him angry.

It was after a few moments of this that her gaze settled on the last thing she had removed from her shopping bags.

On the counter sat a small bag of premium dog food.

The gears in her mind began turning at a frantic pace, trying to find a quick way to calm him down. Unfortunately, he didn't give her that much time.

"What the hell?" he growled out, "I thought you actually cared, though I suppose I should've known better. Why would anyone care about me? Just because I look like an animal doesn't mean I have to eat like on-" he abruptly cut himself off, as Hinata had collapsed where she stood, and was now curled up in the corner of the kitchen on the floor, and was sobbing uncontrollably.

He turned away from her after a few moments to try and calm himself, and by extension his chakra, but he slammed his face into a set of legs. He quickly looked up to see who they belonged to, as he hadn't even the slightest idea they were approaching, let alone standing right behind him, and found himself under the intense gaze of Aburame Shino.

A very angry Aburame Shino.

Who was buzzing. Loudly.

And glaring.

At him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, while I am not certain as to the exact events that have led to the current situation, the fact remains that my teammate is currently crying, and you seem to be at fault. However, logic dictates that I may be incorrect, so I am withholding myself from murdering you where you stand until I hear your side of the story. The sooner I hear an appropriate response the more likely they are to find your body."

Naruto wasn't sure how he could tell that Shino was glaring at him, since almost all of his face was covered, but damn it was effective, and that was before he added the noise from his hive, which was actually starting to gather around him.

Still, his anger wouldn't let him back down that easily, so he hopped up to the counter, grabbed the offending animal food in his jaws, and whipped it as hard as he could at Shino's face.

Shino didn't even flinch, as his insects caught the projectile, and then let it fall to the floor in front of him.

"She expects me to eat that."

"Naruto, that is Akamaru's dog food, purchased specifically for Akamaru. It is a common occurrence amongst those teamed with Inuzuka to keep some on hand in case their canine companions become hungry."

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"I see that you are beginning to grasp the magnitude of the mistake you have made. Even my intellect is failing to quantify the size of ass you have just made of yourself, and over a simple misunderstanding no less."

Silence reigned for a few minutes then while Shino decided on his next course of action, and Naruto just stared depressedly at the floor.

"There is a clearing one mile east of here with a hollow tree near the center of it. You will wait for me there. Go, now."

Naruto made no gesture of confirmation; he just slunk his way out of the room, eyes, ears, and head hung low, and his tail dragging on the floor. Once he was gone, Shino sat down next to Hinata, who was still sobbing, and pulled her into a hug.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Naruto couldn't think. Hadn't been able to since Shino pointed out just who the dog food was for. The only thought he was able to form was how massively he had just fucked up. Because that's what it boiled down to.

He had acted on impulse, again.

He had acted without thinking, again.

He had Fucked Up, again.

No, that wasn't right….. not even first capitals could adequately describe the pit of shit he was in. He had FUCKED UP. He jumped to conclusions and threw her efforts right back in her face. What's worse is he basically said she was insulting him by trying. She, who was braving the wrath of both her father and her clan to help him, not because she had been asked, but because she wanted to.

Because she cared.

About him.

AN: before all of you hina fans kill me, remember that naruto is depressed and lashing out at the people around him. his whole life has been turned upside down and thrown every way you can think of.

also, what do you think of shino? im finding him to be a very interesting character to write. his ability to insult people is astounding, especially in this kind of situation where the person being insulted realizes that they've done something wrong. all of his intelligence picking you apart slowly, methodically, painfully, and backed by cold hard logic. *shudders*

for those of you who think hinata is ooc, i can see where youre coming from. just try to remember that, because naruto is depressed, she is too, though not anywhere near as much. he also threw some pretty heavy insults at her, and coming from the man she loves, they carry even more weight.

next chapter is the fallout. id give a date for when it will be out, but i dont know it. ill post it soon as its done tho.

oh, and i upped the rating for all the language in this chap. im not sure if its needed, but i prefer to err on the side of caution