Disclaimer: See chapter 1, I'm pretty sure it's there... if not well let me know :-)
AN: I'm sorry for the long wait! I never intended for things to go this slow but well lots of things happened lately. Anyways I hope you guys won't be disappointed. Kurai, thanks for digging through the story and fix all my errors, You're amamzing! And to everyone who actually read this, I mean wow! I never expected to get more than 2 or 3 reviews tops! You guys are amazing too!
Oh yeah before I forget, since there was a bit confusion about the earlier chapter... no one knows exactly what's up with Naruto, all that's been said so far were assumptions, rumours, and old women's talk :-) Hope that clears things up. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Just a mere servant boy?
He didn't dare pass. The gates were as far as he would, or could go. A few years ago, he had tried to get past them too.
It had been a lovely day and as usual he wanted to go out and play. He saw Hinata leaving and followed her, like he used to do all the time. She was going to that place again… According to Nana it was called school.
He had been so excited about the thought of a whole lot of other children to play with, that he'd followed her onto the school yard.
It was huge! He looked around in awe. There were so many children, that he didn't know where to go.
"Hinata!" he yelled excitedly over the yard when he spotted her walking timidly towards several big doors.
Hearing his voice made her stop in her tracks and she turned with a shocked expression towards him. "Naruto…" she whispered and carefully moved in his direction.
"I'm going to school too!" he cried out excitedly. "Now we can play together all day long!"
Hinata smiled at him but before she could respond to him, she was roughly pushed out of the way and hit her head against the wall knocking her out cold.
"Hinata!" Naruto called out too shocked to react right away. "What did you do to her!" he yelled angrily at the boy who was currently towering dangerously over him.
"What's a mere servant boy like you doing here?" the boy asked.
He tried to shake Hinata awake but she wasn't responding to him. Without thinking, Naruto launched himself at the boy. "How dare you hurt Hinata!" he yelled out enraged.
To his great dismay, the other boy actually knew how to fight. Naruto had never learned that. All he knew was that it hurt when you got hit or kicked. Several other guys were cheering the fight on.
Not long after he started the fight, the other boy got the upper hand and was currently trying to fuse his face with the stones on the floor. In the meantime Hinata had regained her consciousness while Naruto seemed to be losing it.
She shook her head trying to get rid of the hurt and then noticed Naruto on the floor, with Fey on top off him, currently beating the living day lights out of him.
"You won't… get away… with this." Naruto managed to groan out painfully. "I'll make you pay… for what you did… to Hinata!" he growled.
Fey laughed out loud. "You? You're going to make me pay? Don't make me laugh!" he said and started to laugh. His buddies joined in, also laughing. "Did you hear guys? This silly servant boy thinks he can take me! I guess that means we'll have to teach him a lesson." he said and smirked down at a by now bloody looking Naruto.
"Stop!" a voice suddenly screamed.
Everyone fell silent and looked in the direction where the voice came from. Hinata had thrown herself between his cronies and the fighting duo. "Don't hurt him!"
Naruto saw that tears were streaming down her little face, and when she noticed that everyone was staring at her ever since her outburst, she only got more nervous. That Fey guy would pay for making Hinata cry.
Fey got up from his place on top of Naruto and stalked over to Hinata. "You don't want me to hurt that little servant boy?" he asked threatening. Hinata could only gulp and nod.
"Stay away from her!" Naruto yelled at Fey but all he got was that annoying smirk. Slowly a red light started to emit from Naruto and some of Fey's buddies noticed the strange light and started to cringe away slowly.
Fey on the other hand noticed nothing of the sort. He grabbed Hinata by her jacket and hauled her up to his eye level. "And who might you be little girl?"
When Fey noticed that Hinata wasn't going to reply to him any time soon he threw her away. "Don't put your nose where it doesn't belong!" he yelled at her before stalking off with his cronies right behind him.
In the meantime Naruto had managed to get up just in time to catch Hinata, before she was smashed against the wall again. He caught the full blow and everything turned black, the red light vanishing with the world around him.
Naruto shook his head as his gaze landed on that same yard. Ever since that day he'd given up the idea of going to school. However, it never stopped him from following Hinata.
He still found that whole school thing highly intriguing. He noticed that when some of the teacher's took their students outside, that it wasn't to play. No, they taught them how to fight. Ever since that day that Naruto had gotten in trouble at the school with that Fey boy, he'd wanted to learn how to fight.
"What are you doing here?" a voice from behind him asked suspiciously. "Don't think even for a second that they let demons like you in there."
Naruto sighed and turned around to face Nana. "Why not? I'm just like all the others…" he told her sadly.
Nana only laughed. "You are nothing more than a low servant boy, so start acting like one." she spat and handed him a bag filled with groceries. "Bring them back to the manor and after that go outside and stay there until I call you." With that she turned on her heel and left Naruto to do what she told him to do.
After he delivered the groceries to the cook, Naruto wandered back into the forest not sure what to do next. It was no use to go back to the school and see if Hinata was already done for the day. Besides him, there were no other kids around that he could play with, or if there were kids, he wasn't allowed to play with them for some reason.
All he really wanted was a friend. Someone to keep him company when he was lonely. Why didn't anyone want to play with him?
Sighing he sat down against a tall tree. It seemed like even the day was mocking him. The sun was shining so brightly it hurt his eyes. The way he felt, it would've been more appropriate if it had been raining like there was no tomorrow.
Next to him he heard something rustle in the bushes. Cautiously he turned around to see who wanted to scold him for slacking of this time. He was surprised when he didn't find a person there, but a tiny bird.
It held its head to one side and looked at him with big eyes, as if it was trying to ask him why he was so sad.
Naruto smiled a tiny sad smile. "Hello there, I see I'm not the only one who's lonely eh?" he asked the little bird.
He was a little surprised when the bird chose to sit down on his shoulder, but at the same time it gave him some form of comfort. At least not everything hated him.
Sometimes when he was feeling as lonely as he had been feeling today, he'd run into an animal which was only happy to keep him company. That is, after he learned that you weren't supposed to hug them too tightly, they didn't like that much.
With the bird on his shoulder he made his way back to the village. He bumped into a woman who was currently doing her groceries and made her spill all her stuff on the floor.
When he bent down to pick it up for her she started to hit him with her purse. "Don't you dare steal my stuff you little demon! And don't touch my food! I don't want to end up the same way the Uzumaki's did after meeting with you!" she yelled in hysterics.
The woman snatched everything away and made a run for it.
"I was only trying to help…" Naruto said softly. He smiled sadly back at the bird, which flew back down on his shoulder, after leaving its spot because of the force from the crash.
Naruto shrugged sadly and continued to wander around the town aimlessly. What did that woman mean when she was talking about the Uzumaki's? He'd never even heard of that thing… So how was he supposed to be responsible for whatever that had happened to it? He'd have to ask Nana about it… Maybe she knew what the woman had been talking about.
With his mind set, he made his way back to the manor, bird still purged on his shoulders.
"Nana, Nana!" he yelled as he rushed inside, going from one room to the next until he spotted her doing the laundry.
She turned around to give him an annoyed look. "What do you want this time? Can't you see I'm actually trying to do my job?" she snapped at him and went back to doing the laundry.
"What's an Uzumaki?" he asked her with the innocence only a child could muster.
She dropped her laundry and looked at him with big eyes. "What did you say?" she asked too shocked to bring out anything else. Her face looked ghostly white, and Naruto wondered whether or not she was getting sick.
"Are you alright Nana?" he asked her and tried to put his hand on her forehead to feel her temperature, the way she used to do when he was little.
She on the other hand, smacked his hand away with irritation clearly edged in her face. "Don't do that." she snapped at him after she'd regained her composure.
"What's an Uzumaki?" Naruto asked her again, now that she seemed to be alright again.
"Don't say that name." she told him dangerously. "You, of all people, shouldn't say their name…" she continued in the same tone.
Not understanding her at all he pressed on. "What's an Uzumaki?" he asked.
This time Nana stayed quiet but instead slapped him across his face. "I told you to stop saying that name." she hissed out dangerously. "You should know the answer to that question better than I do." With that said, she got up and walked away, leaving Naruto to stare after her, his hand still pressed against his now burning cheek.
"Naruto-kun?" a soft voice sounded from behind him. "What's wrong?" it asked softly.
"Hinata…" he said and turned around trying to cheer up for her. "Nothing's wrong, I was just thinking about something." he told her sheepishly. "But look what I found!" he said, and pointed excitedly towards his left shoulder.
Hinata followed the direction he was pointing in with her eyes but saw nothing. She turned her questioning gaze back to him.
Naruto who had been looking as well didn't understand it. The bird had been there only moments ago. Then he remembered the slap Nana had given him across the face. "It must have gotten scared." he thought silently.
Instead he decided to tell Hinata about the bird he'd found earlier that day and how it had even come to sit on his shoulder.
Naruto couldn't tell whether or not she believed his story about the bird, but she kept smiling at him, never losing her attention for even a single moment. At least she listened to him…
The next few days he returned to the same tree in the forest. He hoped the little bird would show up again so that he could proof to Hinata that he hadn't been lying, but no matter how long he stayed there, it didn't come back.
With a heavy sigh he gave up on it eventually. Who knew, maybe one day when they were both feeling lonely again, they'd meet up again and if so, he would finally be able to show Hinata that he hadn't been lying.
The next day Nana told him that he was supposed to go to Hiashi's office. He knocked on the door the moment he got there and barged right in after wards, not even waiting for Hiashi's reply.
Hiashi looked up from his work and when he noticed Naruto looking at him expectantly he put his work down. "Naruto, sit down." he told the boy.
"Now that you're 6 years old, I think it's time for you to take up a new responsibility." he started off seriously.
"I can finally become a guard and learn how to fight then?" Naruto asked excitedly jumping up and down in his chair.
Hiashi hid a smile. "No not quite. It's something far more important than that." he told him and Naruto's face lit up like a candle in a dark room.
"Really? What then? What do I have to do!" he cried out, not being able to hold his excitement.
"I want you, to take care of Hinata. You are going to make sure she gets to school in time, doesn't forget her training lessons, and everything else that's important. You're also responsible for picking her up after school and returning her home safely. Do you understand all that?" Hiashi asked Naruto.
"Yes sir!" he said excitedly and actually managed to sound polite at the same time. "But," Hiashi interrupted his excited ranting. "don't ever let me find out that you gave her a reason to cry. You're supposed to protect her. That's the most important part, you hear?" he asked and pinned Naruto down with a hard gaze.
Naruto nodded quickly and jumped up. "I'm going to start right away!" he yelled and rushed out of the door.
His first trial of his new job didn't keep him waiting for long.
That night he woke up hearing several strange sounds emitting from Hinata's room. Taking his new job very seriously, he got up and snuck over to her room.
He knew he wasn't allowed in her room other than when she invited him inside but who knew? Maybe she was in danger!
Carefully Naruto opened the door and looked around. He saw a small quivering ball in Hinata's bed. What was going on here?
He walked over to her bed and poked the quivering ball with his finger.
"Eep!"
The sound came so suddenly that Naruto pulled his finger away as if it had bitten him and he tumbled backwards, landing roughly on his behind.
"Hinata? Are you alright?" he whispered into the darkness while he rubbed his sore behind.
He saw some hair and two eyes poke above the blanket. "Na.. Naruto-kun?" she whispered quietly into the darkness.
"Yeah, it's me." he whispered back. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" he asked but the moment she was going to reply to him another lightning flash flashed through the window, which made Hinata duck back under her covers, quivering once more.
Naruto looked around clueless. "What's wrong?" he asked her not understanding why she was hiding under her blankets.
"C…Can't you h… hear that?" she asked shaking all over.
"Hear what?" he asked her still confused.
"That!" she cried silently when another round of thunder came, flashing dangerously through her room.
Naruto looked at her questioningly. "What's there to be afraid of?" he asked her gently.
"People… die from it." she whispered eventually.
That shocked Naruto. So that's why she was afraid of it, but that still didn't make sense to him. "Hinata… Why would people die from thunder?" he asked her confused. "It's nothing to be afraid of. Don't you know that the thunder only comes out when someone's lost his way? It's there to guide people, and even animals. It protects them!"
Naruto was so serious that Hinata was left with no choice but to believe him. "But…" she started hesitantly.
"But what?" he asked her wondering why this got her so upset. He moved over towards her bed and sat down next to her.
"The last time... last time it… it took my mother away!" she cried out suddenly and buried her face in her hands.
That had Naruto stumped. She thought the lighting took her mother away? "Hina-chan… Listen to me. The lightning it… it only guides spirits up there." he told her pointing towards the sky. "The lighting makes a crack in the sky and when it does, it signals the lost spirits where they're supposed to go now. That's why it flashes so brightly. Other wise they would stay lost for ever and ever. At least that's what I think happens." he finished all of a sudden shyly.
Hinata looked at him surprised. "You… you really think so?" she asked still sniffing.
"Of course." he said with a grin.
A single tear trailed its way down her cheek and Naruto caught it. He held his finger up and held it up for Hinata's face.
"Make a wish." he told her as he moved his finger with her tear on it, in front of her mouth.
"Why?" she said looking surprised at him.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you, that every tear you spill is a dream you've either forgotten, or given up on?" he asked her with a small smile. "If you make a wish on a tear and send it of to the wind, it'll come true. Maybe not right away, but I'm sure it will happen someday." he told her firmly.
Hinata smiled at him through her tears. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she blew her tear away, sending it on a journey, hoping that one day it would return to her.
He smiled sheepishly at her, not really knowing what to do now.
Hinata on the other hand gave him a bright grateful smile and, before he knew it, hugged him briefly. "Thank you." she whispered and lay back down.
"Eh yeah, no problem!" he said trying to hide the blush that was making its way to his cheeks. Good thing it was dark.
"Good night, Hina-chan." he whispered and went back to his own room.
"Has it been found yet?" a voice in a dark room asked to the person who'd just walked in.
The person walked across the room and kneeled down before the man, who was hidden behind a screen. He placed both hands on the floor and bend his head down as well. "I'm sorry sir, but we haven't been able to find a trace of it yet."
The man behind the screen was anything but pleased with the news. "It's been 6 years… and still you haven't been able to find anything!" he asked dangerously.
The man before him cowered. "I'm sorry Daimyo-sama! Please forgive me! We'll find it next time, I'm positive!" he begged.
"You're Toroi right?" the man asked.
"No sir it's…-" but he got interrupted.
"Toroi it is. You don't want to be used for my next experiment do you?"
The man visibly paled. He clearly remembered the last experiment of the Daimyo and he definitely did not want to be a part of the next one. He hadn't been able to sleep for weeks! The screaming of the Daimyo's last experiment had haunted him for weeks on end.
The Daimyo was pleased with the man's reaction. The promise of intense pain could often be worse than actually living through the torture itself. The mind was a powerful thing, especially if it was used against you.
"No! Please don't, I beg of you. I'll find it I swear, just give me some more time…" the man begged for his life.
"Fine, but Toroi…?" the Daimyo interrupted him as he heaved a great sigh of relief. When the man looked back up at his lord he continued. "Don't disappoint me again." he said by way of threat.
The man bowed back down several times and then rushed out of the dark chamber. His life had just been prolonged… but for how long? He rushed back to his men and sent them back out to find it… his very life depended on it.
AN: Hope everyone enjoyed this. Thank you for reading :-) and well lots of reviews are so stimulating to write more :-)