(A/N) This is my first ever Naruto fanfiction, and I just joined the site on 3/22/08. So, I thought I'd start out with something small. Pleeeeeease R&R! Tell me what you think! Here is my short but sweet naruhina oneshot.

3/24/08 - I decided to edit this story and end it in more detail, as suggested by Mystic4 Gohan. I think it made the story even better. Please R&R.

3/25/08 - I have also decided to continue this story into a serial fic, also suggested by Mystic for Gohan, but it won't be here. This will remain a one-shot. I have set up the sequel/continuation as a separate story called "Bonds of Youki". So, if you want to know what happens next, click on my profile and check it out. The first chapter is already up. Thanks for reading.

Secret Admirer

10 Years A.K. (After Kyuubi Attack)

As the sun set, Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha dodging death glares in search of food. He had just said goodbye to his academy buddies Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba. Gamakachi was flat, meaning he had no money and he had already used up his free meal passes at the Ichiraku ramen stand. The old man and his daughter Ayame were kind and the only people who would do business with him without cheating him.

He decided he would go to the place he hated the most to get his overdue welfare check, the bank. The Hokage would deposit a certain amount of money in Naruto's account as a welfare plan for orphans. He hated the bankers because they cheated him the most saying 'sorry, no money has been deposited in your account' with a smirk on their face. They were most assuredly lying because the Third was never late in his payments. If they couldn't kill him, they would definitely make sure he was dirt poor. He was about to change his mind when he suddenly realized he was already there.

'Well, here goes nothing.' he thought.

At the same time…

Hinata was waiting in line at the bank to check her rather large account thanks to being the Hyuuga clan heir. Her mind was doing back flips while she debated her course of action. 'I have to stop being so shy all the time. All I can do when Naruto comes around is hide or faint. He probably thinks I hate him because I avoid him so much. Next time I see him, I have to speak up and let him know I'm there. Maybe I should try being his friend first and then tell him later. That's better than not doing anything at all. I have to try to be more like Naruto-kun.' She thought.

Hinata was drawn from her thoughts when something spiky and yellow crossed her field of vision. 'Naruto-kun!' She gasped mentally. 'All right, calm down Hinata, this is your chance. Hinata said to herself. 'I want to change my self and I'll start by being Naruto-kun's friend!' She reassured herself.

'Well, here goes nothing.' she thought.

At the Bank…

"H-Hey Naruto-kun." Hinata said to Naruto as she switched lines and walked over to him. She noticed he looked very sad until he noticed her and then put on his mask of cheerfulness. 'I will not stutter, I will not stutter', she repeated over and over again to herself. "Hey, you're um… Hinata right?" Naruto said. Her face beamed when he remembered her name. "So, what's up?" He asked.

"W-Well, I saw your transformation and h-heard what Iruka-sensei said last week and… I-I thought m-maybe we could train together."

Flashback…

'Alright, well now begin your midterm test. This test will demonstrate how far you have come with a basic ninjutsu skill, the transformation jutsu. Alright, next up is Uzamaki Naruto.'

'Transform!' Naruto shouted after summoning a large amount of chakra. When the smoke cleared, there was a very contorted but comical looking Third Hokage in Naruto's place. The entire classroom busted into laughter. Iruka was furious.

'How dare you make a mockery of Lord Hokage like that, have you no respect!' Naruto undid the transformation and started laughing.

'What's so funny!? ' Iruka said.

'You should see the look on your face!' Naruto replied.

End Flashback

"Yeah, did you see the look on Iruka-sensei's face, it was priceless!"

"Y-Yes, I did." Hinata said, while blushing a little. "I h-heard you say you wanted to b-become Hokage."

"Yeah, I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever!" Naruto replied loudly and got a few snickers from other customers.

"W-Well, I heard someone say that you h-have to learn a thousand jutsu to become Hokage." Hinata said, and watched Naruto's reaction. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. Hinata giggled at his expression.

"I-I was thinking… m-maybe if we trained together… you could do it faster. I can help you with your control and you can help me with my taijutsu so we can get stronger together; because I want to help you become Hokage!" Hinata said with enthusiasm.

Naruto's mouth dropped and his eyes widened even more. She wanted to help him?

"Really? You want to help me become Hokage?" Hinata nodded her head sharply and made a reassuring sound. Naruto's face beamed with a real smile, not like the fake one he put on earlier. "That's great Hinata! We'll start tomorrow alright?"

"Hai!" Hinata responded. "Actually, s-since I don't have to go home till later… I-I was thinking m-maybe we could have d-dinner together and talk about the things we need to work on." Hinata's curfew was late, around ten o'clock. Since her father, Hiashi, had basically given up on her, he didn't care what she did as long as she was back by ten. As Hinata said this it was Naruto's turn in line.

"And how my I help you." the banker said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I want to see how much money I have in my account and take some out."

"Name?"

"Naruto Uzamaki"

"Let me see." the banker said, again with slight sarcasm. He went to look at the account list. It was situated on a desk behind him so the customers couldn't see it. Hinata noticed the other customers giving Naruto what could only be described as death glares. So she activated her Byakugan and the glares disappeared. "Well, it doesn't seem there's been a deposit recently into your account. You maintain a balance of fifty ryou." the banker said. 'Peanuts' Naruto thought. 'And if she's anything like Sakura, she'll make me pay for dinner.'

Because Hinata still had her Byakugan activated, she caught the bankers lie. "Um, excuse me sir, but doesn't it say Naruto has five hundred ryou?" Then the banker noticed the veins around her eyes and went back to the book. 'Great, a Hyuuga; my lucky day.' he thought.

"Oh, yes how silly of me, it does say that. I must have confused you with another Uzamaki." the banker said smugly.

"I'm the only Uzamaki in the village." Naruto mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Hinata to hear. "I'll take one hundred ryou."

Then Hinata realized it. Even to the untrained eye, it was blatant the banker was cheating him. 'He lied! He was trying to keep Naruto from getting his money, but why!' She remembered everyone who was mean to him. She remembered Sakura, the banker, all the villagers who glared at him. 'Why is everyone being so cruel to my Naruto-kun?' She shouted mentally. Then she chuckled inwardly. She had just gone from to shy to speak to 'mother hen' in a minute flat! Naruto has that kind of effect on people. What a change! Hinata was feeling very confident now but also very annoyed and confused. Naruto had always been nice to everyone he met. Besides the pranks, which never hurt anyone by the way, he was a good kid. Then she noticed the banker was still standing there, glaring down at Naruto. She glared directly in his eyes with Byakugan.

"Oh yes, the money, right away." He said nervously, and hurried to another room.

Naruto was puzzled at the change of demeanor in the banker and looked at Hinata. 'Whoa, she looks scary!' he thought. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan but an annoyed expression remained on her face. To Naruto, it just made her look cute. 'Actually, she is kind of cute', Naruto thought. He was interrupted from his physical assessment of Hinata when the banker returned with the money. Hinata activated her Byakugan briefly to count it.

"Well, here you go; is there anything else?" the banker asked reluctantly.

"Yes, what is your interest rate here?" Hinata asked.

"Um, five percent." He answered, taken back that a ten-year-old new what interest was. Of course, being the heir to the richest clan in Konoha, it was expected you know how to manage your money.

"What's an interest rate?" Naruto asked.

"In a savings account, it's the amount of money you get based on how long you leave your money in the bank. The larger the amounts of money you keep in the bank and the longer you keep it there, the more interest you get. The interest rate tells you how much money you get extra from the amount you already have. I'm sure the kind gentleman here explained this." Hinata said without stuttering as she looked at the banker, her soft voice dripping with sarcasm. The banker scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

Naruto gave the banker a quizzical look before looking back at Hinata. "When you take money out of your account it's called a withdrawal, and when you put money in it's called a deposit." Naruto nodded as he absorbed the information.

Hinata gave Naruto a small smile. "Are you ready Naruto-kun?"

"Yep" As the two academy students left the bank, the banker huffed to himself. He had just been caught red-handed by a ten-year-old.

Hinata smiled at herself, she had just made the biggest change of her entire life. And she was never going back.

On the way to the ramen stand…

They had only spent a few minutes in the bank and the sun had just set.

"Where would you like to eat Naruto-kun?" Hinata was the first to break the ice.

"There's an old man who owns a stand that serves the best ramen!"

"I'll cover the dinner for tonight Naruto-kun."

"No, I'll pay as thanks for helping me out back there. By the way, what was that weird thing you did with your eyes; it made him jump out of his skin!"

"It's my kekkei genkai (bloodline trait) the Byakugan. I'll tell you about it while we eat." As they were walking towards the stand Hinata again noticed the death glares everyone was giving Naruto. "This isn't the first time that's happened, right?" She said softly.

"No." Naruto answered flatly as he stared at the ground. "Why is everyone so cruel to you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked softly.

"I don't know; they just are. It's been this way ever since I can remember. I've gotten used to it." Naruto said with sad smile.

"No one should ever get used to being treated like that! He was tricking you out of your own money!" Hinata replied worriedly.

"It's alright Hinata, I've had worse…" Naruto trailed off.

"Worse?" Hinata asked wide eyed. "Please tell me." She said quietly.

"Trust me Hinata, you don't want to know." He replied in a low whisper.

Hinata stopped walking and put her hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked into Hinata's kind eyes. "W-We're training partners, so I w-want us to get to know each other better and b-become friends. I don't want there to be any secrets between us. Please, tell me." Hinata quietly pleaded.

"Okay." Naruto told Hinata all of the things he went through from as far back as he could remember. The worse of which were the 'birthday beatings' as Naruto called them, which included a non-lethal stoning. Tears flowed out of Hinata's wide eyes as Naruto told her all the horrible things that had been done to him. When Naruto finished Hinata hugged him and cried into his shirt. She wanted to be with Naruto more than ever now. She wanted to protect him. Hinata would never think the same about the villagers again.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun; I never knew you went through all that." Hinata said as she sobbed quietly in his arms.

"Hinata, please don't cry." Naruto said as he hugged her back.

"They shouldn't be treating you like this!" Hinata interjected.

"Why do you care so much?" Naruto retorted softly.

"Because, I admirer you a lot Naruto. Even though I'm the heir, I'm probably the weakest Hyuuga clan member. No matter how hard I try, I always mess things up. I often consider just giving up, but when I see you, I don't want to be a quitter anymore. You always work your hardest, try your best, and never give up. You inspirer me to be more like you Naruto-kun. And that's why, no matter what anyone else says, I think you're a great person and I want to be you friend."

Naruto was shocked to say the least. Someone actually wanted to be like him? Naruto's eyes widened and a single tear raced down his whisker-marked cheek. He hugged Hinata and rested his chin on her shoulder. Hinata did the same while blushing.

"Thank-you, Hinata-chan."

Calling her 'chan' caused Hinata to blush even more. The rest of the way to the ramen stand was spent in a comfortable silence.

At the ramen stand...

After meeting, talking, and embracing for about an hour, Naruto and Hinata already had a strong bond of friendship. Hinata was beaming with confidence and her stutter vanished because she had finally confessed her admiration to Naruto. She still blushed fervently, but she was working on that. Naruto had a toothy smile plastered on his face because someone had finally accepted him.

After meeting at the bank, they had finally reached Ichiraku's. "Hey Naruto, welcome back!" Ayame greeted as Naruto and Hinata seated themselves.

"Hi, Ayame-chan. Where's the old man?" Naruto asked.

"I'm right here." the old man answered, coming from the back of the shop. "So, who's your cute friend here?" he asked smiling at Hinata. She returned the smile with a blush. "This is my best friend, Hinata-chan." Naruto said proudly. "Nice to meet you, Hinata." he said.

"Nice to meet you too, sir." she responded. "Well Hinata, here's our menu; what would you like?"

"Um... I would like one miso ramen please." she said after scanning the menu. "Yea! I'll have three bowls of that too!" Naruto added enthusiastically. "Alright, coming right up!" Ayame said.

While they were waiting for the ramen, Naruto glanced over at Hinata, who was getting some training scrolls out of her pack. For the first time in his life, Naruto actually sat quietly and studied her. He noticed her smooth, dark bluish hair and her soft, pale skin on her small, delicate hands as she reached in her pack for a scroll. He suddenly had an urge to hold her hand. "Wow. She's really pretty. Even prettier than Sakura." Naruto thought. Then he thought about what Hinata had said earlier.

Flashback...

"I admirer you a lot Naruto." Hinata said as she hugged him. "Even though I'm the heir, I'm probably the weakest Hyuuga clan member. No matter how hard I try, I always mess things up. I often consider just giving up, but when I see you, I don't want to be a quitter anymore. You always work your hardest, try your best, and never give up. You inspirer me to be more like you Naruto-kun. And that's why, no matter what anyone else says, I think you're a great person and I want to be you friend."

End Flashback

"She actually likes me too." Naruto thought. Not realizing he was staring at her, Naruto was brought from his thoughts when Hinata spoke.

"Um... Naruto-kun?" she said. Naruto looked to Hinata to see her blushing heavily. Then his hand felt warm. He looked down and saw his hand wrapped around hers. He had unconsciously grabbed Hinata's hand when thinking about her. When he realized what he did, he quickly but gently released her hand from his.

"Um... Sorry Hina-chan. I didn't know I was um..." he said quickly while blushing. "Her hands are so soft." he thought.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a shy smile. "Naruto-kun! He was holding my hand! Does that mean... he likes me!?" Hinata thought with glee.

"Hey, what are those?" Naruto asked, motioning to the scrolls.

"They're training scrolls. If we want to train to get stronger, we first have to know how to train." Hinata replied.

"Alright then, lets get to it!" Naruto said. "Right!" Hinata agreed.

While they were eating, they discussed their strengths and weaknesses, and chakra control. Because Naruto wasn't allowed in the library and didn't pay attention in class, he didn't even know what chakra was. Hinata would sneak some scrolls from her family library to help teach Naruto, and he in turn would help her practice her Jyuuken by sparring. From then on, Naruto relied on Hinata to re-teach everything he learned in class in simpler terms. It was the perfect partnership, which would later become friendship and maybe even more.

As Naruto and Hinata went their separate ways after eating, Hinata smiled at her self. She felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was no longer a "secret admirer".