Oi, more NaruHina drabble from me n-n;;; I just love rain… It's raining now… Happy Birthday Tensai-san!!!!!

A/N: Naruto and Hinata are 17… ::SPOILERS:: slightly mentioned but… they are a big part of Naruto… ;;; sorry if you can't read it now…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and/or its characters.

He always liked the rain. When he was younger, he used to sit out in it and cry. The rain, he felt, was his first friend. The first one to acknowledge his existence. Whenever he was sad, the rain would come, help comfort, and calm him. And the best thing was that the adults couldn't take the rain away from him. It would always be there for him. He savored that thought.

Sandaime used to find him many times sitting outside of the Academy, on his swing, while it poured. The old man would always frown and scold the boy for not having an umbrella:

"You'll get sick if you continue to stay out here like this." The Third told the boy as he stopped next to him.

The boy would stop swinging and look away, trying to dry his eyes before the old man would notice. "Just a little longer, ojisan."

The old man's face would always soften as he stood next to the young boy, his umbrella shielding them both. He would then sigh, "What happened this time?"

It became routine. Konoha, being in the country of fire, did not have a lot of rainy days, so Naruto learned to cherish them.

Then he began to make friends. Great, life-long friends that made him feel less lonely. His need to cry lessened greatly, but he still had his moments. Like when Sasuke never came back or when Sakura went after him or even when Sandaime was killed. The only reason he got away with it was because in the rain, his tears only looked like raindrops sliding down his face.

And so here he was again, walking in the rain. Only this time, he had an umbrella and wasn't crying. He was walking with a bag of groceries in his arms towards his apartment, cursing the gusty wind that threatened to blow his umbrella away. As he walked, he heard a faint sound.

Crying? He thought to himself. Who would be crazy enough (except for him) to be out here in weather like this… crying no less??? As he walked farther down the way, near the forest, the sound got louder… not that it was very loud to begin with. Due to Kyuubi, he could hear a pin drop miles away if he wanted to.

The whimpering sounded as if it were coming from a female… a human female. The fact that someone else was crying made his heart ache a bit. Plus the fact that this girl sounded as if she was in real emotional pain. He wanted to help her… no one deserved to be in pain.

He stopped when he found the person. 'Especially not her.' He thought as he looked at the fragile looking young woman that sat at his feet, hugging her knees tightly to her chest.

"Hinata?"

Her sobs stopped immediately and her body stiffened. Slowly, she turned to face him, her white eyes slightly pink and her face tearstained. Tears still flowed lightly from her eyes, mixing with the raindrops that sprinkled on her face. Her eyes were widened with fear… and …shame? He couldn't really tell. Her emotions were always hard for him to read.

"N-N-Naruto-kun…." she said very softly, almost soft enough where he couldn't hear it. But he could and he heard the disappointment in her voice. "I-I-I was-" but she didn't finish. She looked away from him. She knew that she couldn't lie to him… let alone talk to/with him. She wasn't on his radar… She was probably wailing so loud that he thought an animal was being tortured in the woods and went to check it out. Yep, that was probably why he was here. Then he saw her there and felt sorry for her.

Sensing the tense atmosphere in the air, Naruto decided to break it. "Oi Hinata, why are you out here in the rain? You'll get soaked and get sick." He said, placing his groceries to the side, sitting down next to her and placing his umbrella over both of their heads.

Of course she was already soaked, but who was she to reject his kindness. After all, it wasn't everyday that the one you admire shares his umbrella with you… right? "J-j-just a little l-longer, N-Naruto-kun…please…" she trailed off with her face turned away from him.

He gazed forward, deeper into the forest, his blue eyes glazed over with a reserved look, "Hinata, why are you crying?"

She cringed. She had hoped that, well, the denseness that he was infamous for would make him not notice her bawling and merely think it was the rain. She was wrong. "I-I… e-e-etoo…" she then grew silent. She didn't want him to see her like this. Not now… not ever. She had once said that she couldn't show an unsightly scene in front of the person she admired who had finally looked at her. But look at her now and look what she was doing. She knew he thought she was weak.

"Ya know, I used to stay out in the rain all of the time when I was younger because of the villagers' hatred of me. Raindrops can't hide tears, Hinata." He felt her stiffen next to him. "Was it your family?" he asked her softly, knowing that Hinata had next to no self confidence and he didn't want to break whatever she had left.

She down towards the ground below, tears still flowing freely even when she willed them away, "N-n-not my family… my clan."

He waited for her to continue and, after a few minutes, she did. "T-t-they feel that it is not in t-the clan's b-best interest to marry me off into a strong clan… as a bargaining chip. They wish for me to renounce my headship to my younger sister and basically disown me… only with kinder words and terms…"

"Wouldn't it be better to get away from a clan that would do that to their own heiress?" Naruto thought that it was in her best interest to get away from Hyuuga and quickly. All they did was cause her pain and suffering… something someone as kind as Hinata should never have to experience. The only one that seemed to be good from that lot besides Hinata was Neji, after Naruto knocked some sense into his thick skull.

"I..I can't do it." She snuck a peek at the blonde shinobi, who didn't notice, before casting her eyes down again. Only this time, her cheeks were extremely red and hot. "…T-t-there's already someone that h-has my l-l-l-love…"

Naruto felt his heart sink a little. Why you ask? Well it's really simple: Naruto began to like Hinata more than a friend. He didn't lie when he said he liked people like her. In fact he found he liked people like her more than he ever expected, but, alas, Naruto has no luck with women. Look at his track record… Haruno Sakura… and that was it. But he would grin and bear it… just for her. Only for her.

"He must be a lucky guy then." He grinned foxily at her before standing up, umbrella still in hand, and brushing himself off. He then offers her his hand, "Well none of this is going to get solved by just sitting out here, let's go somewhere dry." He scratched his head nervously, "Besides, I'm kinda hungry."

She looked up at him a little surprised, but then smiled at him, "Okay…." She then took his hand and lifted herself up. They both looked at each other, then away.

He lifted his hand to her face and gently wiped away her remaining tears, refusing to look at her shocked face (and almost poking her in the eye). He then pulled his hand away and placed it by his side, the soft feeling of her skin still lingered. "I don't like it when people cry… especially when they're people I care about. So try not to cry anymore, okay Hinata?"

She couldn't find her voice… it was too much… it was like a dream coming true. Naruto said she was a person he cared about. He wiped away her tears!!! She wanted to faint, but doing that in front of Naruto-kun would seem like a weakness and he may take back his words…. Wait… Naruto-kun never took back his words; that was his (and her) way of the ninja. She sniffled a bit more, wiped her eyes for good measure, then gave him a small, shy smile, her blush still on her cheeks, "H-h-hai."

He smiled back at her, but this time his eyes were open. She saw something she never noticed before… 'Naruto-kun has such beautiful blue eyes…' She blushed even more when she realized she was staring and looked away again. She may never get used to being around him…

"Well I'm up for ramen, Ichiraku sound good to you?" the foxy shinobi asked her.

She then looked down at herself… her clothes were soaked and mud covered most of her pants and the back of her coat which she was sitting on… she wasn't fit to be seen! She looked up at him as he expectantly waited for her answer, ready to tell him that she was no properly dressed, but the words never left her mouth. For the second time in her life, Hinata adopted Naruto's 'aw screw it' attitude and nodded her head to accept his invitation.

"Great!" he nearly shouted as he linked arms with the surprised young woman next to him and dragged her to his favorite ramen stand. "And when we get there, you can tell me about this guy you like..." 'so I can kick his ass!!!'

Hinata nearly died… She tried to stammer out a protest, but her voice failed her again. She knew that she would have to tell him one day. And this was Naruto-kun, he would never hurt her intentionally. "H-hai Naruto-kun…"

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Well it took me a while… sorry for the delay… ;;; happy belated birthday, Tensai-san! ;P Fluff! and his groceries were forgotten about.

-minimerc