Title: Born of Fire: The First Dance

Claimer/Author: This story is written by and belongs to Emmy Kay.

Pairing: Hinata, Naruto

Summary: Humor/Romance. As children, Hinata Hyuuga meets Naruto Uzumaki at a dance.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.

Note: I think this story can stand by itself, but was originally an orphaned part of "Born of Fire." I couldn't find a way to fit into the regular part of the story but liked the idea too much to throw away.

Tonight was the big annual event of Mrs. Hyuuga's beloved Konoha's Children's Home: a charity ball that also included many of the children themselves.

There was a breathless giddiness about the whole evening. Her mother radiated great joy all week prior - it was one of the few times her father had deigned to join her in her "do-gooding." Hanabi had been ensconced with a trusted babysitter and Hinata had been alone with both her parents for the first time she could remember in years. Her mother had designed the dress specifically for her – a simple white dress with purple ribbons on the bottom and shoulders, matching the ribbons wound through her short black hair.

Hinata had never been to an event like this before. Her mother had told her all about it, to help her understand what was going to happen. They would go to the biggest room of the fanciest hotel in town. There would be dining, talking with other adults (her mother called it "luring the sheep to fleecing"), and dancing to the small ensemble that always offered their time.

Hinata was asked to "be good" during this time. This made her worried. Hinata was a reasonable eater, but she was no good at talking to unknown adults and the idea of a lot of strange children made her nervous. As for the dancing, Hinata had been taking lessons for a year now, but mostly with other girls. Because there were so few boys in the class, all the girls had to take turns leading. Hinata was not great at leading because she was too shy and nervous to tell someone what to do, but she took her turn like everyone else. Miss Kurenai insisted.

The actual dinner was not so bad, but Hinata could not help herself from becoming more and more quiet as the evening went on. Her mother introduced her around, but slowly, Hinata edged away from the conversations and toward the safety of a clump of potted palms. She had seen the palms in the middle of a conversation with a lady who had overpowering perfume and pinched her cheeks like she was testing for doneness. That was one conversation too many.

The palms looked immeasurably friendlier than that lady, even with their spiky leaves and scratchy bark. As for all those other ladies with their sharp fingers and sharper eyes and clouds of scent, Hinata didn't want to say. She had been brought up better than that.

As the plants were in in a nicely shady corner of the room, no one could see her slipping away. Even better, it was a part of the room no one was in. Hinata liked plants - she could see the safety in those potted plants right away. She edged over, keeping an eye out for her mother. Nobody had noticed her disappearance yet. As she had sought refuge deeper in the palms, she ran into something unexpectedly solid. She let out a brief "eek!" and whipped around to stare at a pale face surrounded by a bush of bright yellow hair and startled blue eyes. They were practically the same height - which was impressive because she was one of the shortest kids in her class at school.

"You following me?" asked the boy, eyes starting to narrow.

"N-n-no!" stuttered Hinata, shaking her head.

"Then what're you doing here?" the little blond boy whispered. His whisper seemed louder than other people's whispers. It was then that she noticed he was wearing a suit that was a little worn around the wrist and elbows, though he seemed uncomfortable in it. He kept grabbing his collar or tugging at the bottom of his jacket.

"Hiding," the girl whispered back.

"Me too."

"Why?"

He stuck out his chin, pugnacious. "Nothing."

Hinata retreated at his sudden, loud reply. Should she leave? She looked behind her, and the worry in her face translated to the boy.

"You going?" he asked, frowning.

She couldn't tell whether he was happy or upset that she might leave - she only knew that he was inordinately loud. Well, she wasn't going to give up her spot. All those pinchy-fingered ladies out there were much more worrisome than talking to this boy, stranger though he was. She squared her shoulders and shook her head.

After a moment, he relented. "I can't go out there either. Brother Iruka is out there, looking to make sure I don't mess this up." He paused. "He's been warning me for the last week to 'not yell, Naruto' and 'to think before you leap, Naruto' and 'don't put your elbows on the table.' He's scary - really, really scary - like ghosts and - and closet monsters and - and - broccoli - if you don't listen good." He shuddered.

"Brother Iruka? What's a monk doing here?" wondered Hinata. She didn't think her mother had invited any men of the cloth.

"Nah. He's just my big brother. At the Home. He makes sure I go to school and stuff."

"Oh." It all made sense, now. This was one of the boys from the Home, one of the boys her mother had talked to her about, and how she should talk to them, try to be friendly. "I"m Hinata," she said, timidly.

The boy laughed nervously and grabbed his collar so hard that his clip-on tie dropped off. "Oh yeah, Brother Iruka said I should try to use some manners. I'm Naruto - " and he thrust his hand out forcefully, nearly jabbing Hinata in the stomach.

After a moment of being startled, Hinata shook it, feeling quite grown up.

"I've never seen you before at the Home. What're you doing here?"

Hinata pointed out between the fronds of the potted plant to a slender lady in an adult version of the dress she was wearing. "My mom brought me. But I just can't go out there."

"Why not?"

"Because," she said, "I can't."

"That's dumb."

She flushed and looked down. She didn't want to seem dumb in front of anybody. She saw that she had already scuffed the toes of her shiny new shoes against each other in nervousness. She had been so proud of these shoes. She noticed then that Naruto's shoes didn't seem very new at all and felt a flash of shame. This dance was to raise money for him and kids like him.

"Sorry," Naruto's mobile face showed dismay at her reaction. "I didn't mean to call you dumb. I mean that it's dumb to not dance because you don't know how. You've got to go out there no matter what. You've always got to show 'em what you're made of!"

"I just can't. It would be embarrassing."

"Nah," he scoffed. "You can't be embarrassed by not knowing something. You've just got to get out there and do it."

"But - but - you're hiding here, too," she pointed out.

"Naruto!" called someone right behind Hinata. She turned her head, catching sight of a youngish man with dark hair up in a ponytail, his hands on his hips, dressed in what even she could tell was an old-fashioned dinner jacket. He was also wearing an expression of distinct displeasure.

"Oh, crud!" swore Naruto. "It's Brother Iruka!" Then, before Hinata could really figure out what was happening, Naruto grabbed her hand and dragged her out from behind the potted plant and towards the main crush of people.

Naruto hesitated just a moment at the near edge of the dance floor, and then looked back. Hinata looked too. Brother Iruka seemed very determined to catch the two of them. In a voice that carried just far enough with a hint of threat, he asked, "Naruto - what're you doing? You let that girl go!"

With a renewed pressure on her arm, Naruto pulled Hinata behind with him into the very center of the room, deep into the safety of the dancers. Whereupon the music changed from the uptempo popular song that was playing to something much slower. And many of the dancers abandoned the floor.

The two children stood there, blinking at their change in circumstance. It almost seemed as if a spotlight shone down on them and only them. Hinata wanted to shrink inside her shoes. She saw her mother's face just beyond somebody's arm. Her mother was looking! Even worse, her father was really looking! At her! And he was frowning at the blond boy next to her. What kind of trouble was she going to get into now?

"Naruto!" hissed Brother Iruka from the side of the dancing area. "Get back here. Now!"

With a gulp, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hands. "We gotta do something. C'mon. Dance!"

"Do you know how?"

"No. Can't be hard, though. We'll just move around in a circle. That's all dancing is, right?"

Naruto began to actively sweat when Brother Iruka took a step onto the floor, calling, "Naruto!"

Hinata thought about her mother's excitement, and then hiding behind the palms. She thought about her new clothes and Naruto's worn suit and shoes. She had to do something. She couldn't let them down. An image of Miss Kurenai came to her, the calm way she spoke and the grace with which she demonstrated a step and how she would say, "Spines straight! Chins up!"

Resolutely, Hinata straightened her posture and lifted her head. She moved her hands, leaving one in Naruto's hand, putting his other hand on her shoulder. She placed her free hand on his back. She hoped it wouldn't matter that she was being the boy right now, because the actual boy didn't know what to do. That had never happened before in Miss Kurenai's class. A girl never led a boy.

"I'm going to step with my left foot - you start with your right foot going backwards," she murmured. "Counting the beat, 1-2-3. Follow me."

They stepped together, and as they turned, Hinata saw that Brother Iruka had stepped back to watch, looking concerned, his arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto's feet were trying to cross over each other, and he seemed on the verge of tripping every other step. Miss Kurenai would have corrected that right away.

"You'll want to make a box with your feet," Hinata tried to explain in between the counting.

"A box? With my feet? What am I supposed to do? Fold paper with my toes?"

Hinata had never thought those instructions were weird until right then. She almost lost count as the laugh burst out of her. "Never mind. Just keep following. But don't cross your legs." Her soft voice continued to direct, whispering steps as needed, and when he was too stiff or behind the beat, she swiftly moved to cover any mistakes he made.

"You're a really good dancer," Naruto said, but it wasn't a compliment. It was an accusation. "You said you don't know how to dance."

"I said I can't dance – not in front of all these people, not that I didn't know how. But now, with you, I think I can." She peeked up at him between her lashes. "If you think you can."

"Humph. Like there's anything I can't do," Naruto answered, mulish.

After the third time they passed Brother Iruka, he had the beginnings of a smile on his face, and he didn't seem so scary anymore.

When the music stopped, she pulled away and then dropped into a little curtsy. "Thank you for the dance." Then she raised her head and smiled.

He returned the smile, his eyes lighting up. "That wasn't so bad. Maybe I should learn how to dance." He hesitated, then plunged forward. "Hey, Hinata, you want to dance with me? Again?"

"Now?" she looked around as Iruka and her parents closed in.

"Not now - but later, if I learned how, I mean? If I promised to learn?"

"Yes, Naruto, I would." Hinata smiled, sweet and mild as warm milk and cookies.

The moment was gone as Hinata's mother's stepped up and took Hinata in her arms. "You did wonderfully, Hinata. I'm so proud of you."

"I'm glad taking those lessons finally paid off," her father muttered.

"Mommy, Daddy, this is Naruto - "

"Yes, yes, Hinata," said her father, not bothering to glance at the boy.

Her mother stopped to look at Naruto closely. "Hello. What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, uh, Mrs - uh, ma'am."

Then she smiled, the same smile Hinata had given him. "Nice to meet you, Naruto Uzumaki -"

"We should go," interrupted Hinata's father, glancing at his watch.

Hinata turned and gave Naruto an apologetic look as she was swept away by her parents. "Bye, Naruto," she said. Over her shoulder, Hinata could see Brother Iruka returning the tie to Naruto, and then affectionately ruffling Naruto's hair. Brother Iruka didn't look scary at all here - he looked sort of...nice.

Naruto waved his tie towards her as she left. "See you soon, Hinata!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"You shut up before I make you!"

Long accustomed to young boys and their fights, Iruka burst out of his office and into the auditorium/gym of the Home, a yell about to erupt from his throat. Naruto and Sasuke were standing, facing each other, their fists at the ready. That was nothing new. It was a single new touch to the image that made Iruka halt, his eyes widening. Wrapped around Sasuke's waist was one of the big aprons from the institutional kitchen, sort of like a skirt.

The boys turned to him, voices filling his ears with accusations.

"It's his turn to be the girl this time!"

"It's your turn, loser!"

"I was the girl twice already, you crud! I need to learn how to lead!"

As the radio played loudly in the background, Iruka put two and two and two together.

He turned away for a moment to hide a huge grin. That charity ball certainly made an impression, and on the least likely of the boys. Recovering, he clapped his hands. "C'mon, boys. I know Miss Kurenai's first visit was really fun, but there's no need to fight. There's plenty of time to switch before she comes back next week. Now, let's start practicing again. Spines straight! Chins up!"

Inspired by a single scene from the tv show Mad About You, with maybe a touch of influence from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

A little bit of an apology for those waiting for an update to "Born of Fire." Sorry that it's been so long.