Childhood

"Naruto-Ni-San!" Children's voices bubble over the park fence as Hinata walk's home. "One more game of Ninja? PLEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE?!"

"Guy's I told Grandma Yuki that I would have you back by sundown." Naruto laughs.

"But Narutooooo-Niiiii-Saaaaannnnn!" Hinata can hear the pout in one childs voice as she rounds the corner which brings her closer to the park entrance. "Just one more game?"

"Please?!"

"We love you!"

Hinata turns into the park entrance and leans against the fence. Naruto is surrounded by a rag-tag group of children, ranging from a two year old who clung to his leg to a few boys who looked to be almost old enough to graduate the Academy.

"But it won't be fair." Naruto explains to the kids. "I won't find you in time, seeing as I'm not allowed to use shadow clones. And then Grandma Yuki will kill me for having you out to late."

"But - but pleeeeaaaaassssseeeeeeee Naruto?" One five year old girl tug's on his jacket sleeve.

Naruto scratches his head and look's around the park, searching for a reason to get the kids to leave. "Hinata!" He see's the Hyuga leaning against the fence. "Come play Ninja with us!"

Hinata flushes red as she walk's over to the blond. "Hi Naruto."

Naruto grabs her around the shoulders, ignoring her. "Guy's, this is my friend Hinata. She's going to be on my team. Now we can ply one more game of Ninja."

One of the older boys regards her skeptically. "Isn't she a -"

"Don't even say it Nobu." Naruto cut's the kid off. "You want play Ninja? We're going to play a slightly more realistic version. In the field you have to assume that your enemy is three steps ahead of you. You're going to be genin soon. Don't forget that, ok? No scram you lot."

The children run off, all except for the youngest who is still clinging to Naruto's leg. "Sorry to drop you in this Hinata. It's just I was never going to get them to leave without one more game. This way we can wrap it up quickly."

Hinata nods. "It's ok. These kid's mean a lot to you huh?"

"Their from the orphanage that looked after me until I was five." Naruto explains. "A lot of them were made orphans by the war. I just don't want them to have the same childhood I had. I want them to know that the rest of the world isn't a harsh, cruel place. At least not for a while yet."

Hinata look's at him, seeing both the lonely, misunderstood child he was when they met, and the strong, caring man he has become. "How often do you do this?"

Naruto smiles as he pries the two year old off his leg. "Every Friday. Sometimes I get Sakura and Sasuke to come with me if they're not go busy. This is Mimi by the way." He holds up the two year old. "Can you go with Hinata for a while?" He speaks to the little girl. "She's really nice." The child gives a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. "Good girl."

Hinata smiles as she accepts Mimi off of Naruto. "Have they had enough time to hide yet?"

"Yup." Naruto stretches his arms. "Now I just need you to find them with your Byakugan and tell me where they are."

Damn, nearly 600 words. Inspired by the prompt from guest Reviewer Jadae. Their prompt was 'I know you've suffered, but I don't want you to hide. It's cold and loveless, but I wont let you be denighed.' from the song Undisclosed Desires by Muse. Actually, they wanted that to be something Hinata said but it ended up being more of a theme/motivation for Naruto's actions to me. This takes place maybe six months after the war. I'm not writing about Naruto or Hinata tomorrow. I love them, but it's like an all ramen diet, sometimes you just want something a little different.