He stopped on hearing a sniffle, then investigated.
There was a little girl with familiar blue-black hair, sitting with her back to a tree. She'd buried her face in her knees and was trying to be quiet, but the occasional sniffle or sob would escape.
Naruto blinked and considered what sort of actions to take, but remembering what came later in life - and particularly certain revelations MUCH later - decided he really didn't have a choice.
She was worthless. Garbage. A failure. Weak.
Her father had told her this for several years now.
It would have been better that she was never born. She wouldn't be such a disappointment to anyone. She wouldn't be in the way.
She was unloved, unneeded, useless.
Why were the gods so cruel as to bring her into this world?
"Don't cry."
That was right, she was a Hyuga and she was supposed to be a warrior born. A Hyuga shouldn't be out here by herself crying.
"Don't cry, err, little girl."
Hinata startled as she realized she wasn't alone after all. When she raised her head, all she could see was a blur at first.
"Oh hockey-puck, let me clean you up some."
Whoever it was, he gently used a piece of cloth to wipe away tears and running nose.
"There you go," said the young boy, pressing the cloth into her hands. "Much cuter."
Cute? went the thought into the young girl's head. She couldn't be cute. Look at all the much prettier girls in the class she was in.
The blond boy sat back on his heels next to her and gave her a very concerned look. "Can you tell me what's wrong? Sometimes that kinda thing helps."
Hinata knew this was wrong. She couldn't let an outsider see her like this. She couldn't show how weak she was. It was shameful.
So burying her failure head on his shoulder, crying her worthless eyes out, holding onto the boy as her garbage body was wracked with sobbing was just absolutely positively the wrong thing to do.
After some amount of time though, she noticed she was being held and she was feeling better somehow.
"It's okay," said the boy, clumsily patting her on the back. "You're not worthless to ME."
Hinata's eyes snapped all the way open. Had she been revealing her shame to this stranger? With some reluctance, she pushed herself out of the grip and looked at him anew. It was that boy that so many of the teachers hated. The blond boy with the foxy grin who was such a poor student.
"I -" said Hinata, wondering how to take this boy insisting she wasn't a failure.
"Hey, I'll be your friend," tried Naruto. "That means you're important to me, how's that?"
"I'm so sorry," said Hinata, fleeing.
"Well, that didn't go well at all," mused Naruto as the girl fled back towards the Hyuga compound. She still had his hankerchief, he had slobber and snot and tears decorating one shoulder of his shirt, and Hinata had gone running off.
No, this hadn't gone well.
Seeing all of those who'd died before him alive again, he couldn't help but have it move his heart. Especially her, knowing what he'd know later on. Except that now he'd apparently blown THAT too.
"Just great," grumbled Naruto, as he went back to avoidance training and physical conditioning. Oh, and he had to find alternate food sources. Jiraiya-sensei and many others had repeatedly thrown his dependence on ramen as a reason he hadn't grown to the extent that Lee or some of the others had. He'd had more than enough jokes about his being so short compared to everyone else.
Which meant he had to be a better cook, because he sure couldn't eat out as much. Not with all the overly exaggerated prices that were charged him by all the people who hated him for being a demon fox.
First though, he'd head back home and he'd change his shirt.
Sakura was heartbroken.
Sasuke Uchiha was so cool and tragic and handsome and everything. She was only one of several girls who flocked to their school's "prince."
Unfortunately, that had backfired BIG TIME.
Now everyone agreed that it had to have been one of them who'd done it and screwed up all of their chances.
Naruto? No, Naruto couldn't have pulled it off. That would be silly. No, it HAD to be one of the really skilled ninja students.
"Uhm, Sasuke-kun," began Sakura, trying yet again to indicate her innocence.
"Don't care, go away," said Sasuke, not even looking at her. "You annoy me."
Acting as if slapped, Sakura turned her attention back to her classwork as she had the past few days.
She was aware that Naruto had abruptly stopped asking her out. Was she so spurned now that even the other pariahs weren't associating with her?
A terribly shy girl watched out of the corner of her eyes, tapping two fingers together and trying to look just about anywhere except directly at a certain boy.
There was that boy from last night. One of her classmates. Now that she wasn't embarassed, crying, and emotionally in turmoil (at least more than usual) she could see him clearly. That she'd been right as to his identity last night. The least impressive, loudest, stubbornest, student in class. Naruto Uzumaki.
Twice she almost approached him to give him back his hankerchief. Now washed, of course. Least she could do.
Of course, her nerve had failed. He'd probably reveal the whole thing was a prank or joke and he really did see her as useless.
Still, he had seemed honest.
So maybe he bore watching, and that was a Hyuga clan specialty.
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(Posted Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:26)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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