A/N: PAIRING DISCLAIMER. Naruto is eleven years old. Did you snog your soulmate when you were eleven years old? Any emerging sexual tensions you read into the story at this point are speculative, and not a guarantee of NaruHina, NaruSaku, ecetera as the final outcome. So please, read and enjoy. I always hate getting turned off from a perfectly good fic because of the pairing. I'll not lie—I love NaruHina and Hinata will be an important character, but I might let Naruto date other characters as it suits the story. So yes, if you see an opportunity that will advance character development, feel free to suggest it.

At the very least, I'm not above doling out fanservice. *lecherous grin*

KitsuneMan

Chapter Three: Awakening III

Naruto knew that school today was going to end just as badly as the last two.

Third time's the charm my ass. More like if it happened once, and happened twice, it was going to happen again. He could not wait to face his classmates' cold stares. He thought he'd made a good exit from the room yesterday, but it was hard to keep up the smile. He'd actually been so close to tears that he'd forgotten to pick up his overdue stipend check from Iruka and gone straight home to sleep. He hadn't even been able to concentrate enough to bring out the wall-sticking "catra" power when he tried to train on the way to his apartment. He had a nice bruise on his back from where he'd tried running up a tree and blasted himself into the dirt.

I sure showed that tree, though, Naruto thought. The tree had a two-foot crater of splintered wood now.

Naruto's pessimistic prediction only seemed to come true when he walked into the elementary division to find everyone whispering and gossiping as he moved down the hallway. He could practically feel their eyes drilling holes into his back.

Naruto spotted a shock of pink hair standing outside an open locker near his classroom. He took a deep breath. Memories of Sakura laughing cheerfully at a friend's joke or giggling while playing tag with a bunch of people on the playground played out in his mind's eye. Naruto's heart ached. Okay, so Sakura was kind of mean to him, but so was everyone else. Naruto knew that he still thought Sakura was cool and smart and popular—pretty much everything he had ever wanted for himself.

Naruto remembered Iruka's lecture from the other day.

"You're the little brother I never had, Naruto," Iruka admitted. "I hate to see you in this state. Just keep trying and be yourself, and you'll make more friends." Iruka smiled and rubbed Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto put his doom and gloom behind him, just like he did every day. He was hurt, but he couldn't give in. Ninja did not give in! Naruto took a deep breath to prepare himself. He walked up to Sakura, who had her back turned, and turned his smile to maximum. He tapped her on the shoulder.

"HEY, SA~KU~RA!" he sang loudly. "What's up?"

Ino suddenly materialized beside him and slammed him into the lockers. "Now is not the time you freak!" She practically shouted into his ear, grasping his jacket's collar. His hearing was ringing when she backed up.

"Huh?" Naruto said dumbly, still in shock.

Sakura turned to glower at him then, tears in her eyes. Naruto noticed that she was wearing mascara, because it was starting to run down her cheeks. "Go away, Naruto," she said. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with genuine concern. "What's wrong, can I help?"

"No you can not help, you freak!" Ino shrieked. "Some jerk just trashed Sakura's locker. All her books are shredded." Ino narrowed her eyes. "As a matter of fact, I bet it was you!" She hissed. "You'd just love to pay her back after she embarrassed you like that yesterday, wouldn't you?"

"Embarrassed me?" Naruto squeaked, then winced internally. Ninja did not squeak.

Sakura sighed and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Let him go, Ino. He's too stupid to take a hint to drop dead, let alone break into my locker. My parents can just buy me new books. Let's get to class."

Naruto blinked, then grinned. Did Sakura tell Ino to let him go? It sounded like Sakura had just stood up for him, like a friend! Naruto got excited. "I knew you liked me Sakura-chan! I'll help you in any way I can!"

Sakura suddenly whirled around and glared. Her red-stained eyes and smeared makeup was not very attractive at all. "No, I just have better things to do today. From now on, you're just below my notice. If you really like me, then don't ever talk to me again. That's the only way someone like you can help."

Ino banged Naruto one last time into the locker for good measure, then followed Sakura into the classroom. The homeroom bell rang, and more people started filing by, giving him covert glances of either pity or disgust as they brushed past him. Finally, a girl with blackish-blue hair darted through the door and it swung shut, leaving Naruto alone in the hallway to push back the familiar sting of rejection.

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Naruto sat on a toilet in the handicapped stall of the boy's bathroom after lunch, his legs pulled up to his chest and his chin on his knees. He could hear his classmates outside, but Naruto didn't care that he was missing recess. Playing by yourself wasn't much fun, anyway.

There has to be something I can do, Naruto thought. Even if I'm not her boyfriend or even a regular friend, I just don't want to see her cry! The dripping mascara stood out strongly in his mind. She'd probably put a lot of time into making it perfect. Sakura-chan needs to stay pretty.

Maybe it would be good if he caught the person who'd ripped up her books. If Naruto could protect her books, Sakura would have to notice him. Naruto decided he needed to invent a fingerprint-tracking jutsu or something. He glared really hard at the handle of the stall door, trying to see if he could trigger some sort of ninja infra-vision, but only got a bad headache. He went back to his earlier objective-- trying to control his "catra."

Come forth, ninja power! Naruto silently cried as he flung his arm forward and focused on sticking it to the stall door. It took hold, and Naruto slapped his other palm down next to it. So far, so good.

Naruto took a steadying breath and placed one foot underneath the first hand. The handicapped stall was bigger than the others, but it still wasn't a lot of room to train in. The goal was to get all four limbs off the ground and stay there as long as possible. He lifted his last foot off the floor.

Steady, steady, Naruto thought as sweat began to bead on his brow. He could feel the balance of catra starting to build up in one hand. Even it out…

The hand glowed brilliantly blue, then exploded from the door. Naruto was flung to the side and crashed against the bathroom wall. He lost pressure in the other limbs and dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

That's enough for the moment, maybe, Naruto thought ruefully, rubbing his bottom. He'd held on for fifteen full seconds, a new record. The bell was probably going to ring soon, anyway. He needed to head back to class or he'd get lectured by Mizuki again. Naruto stretched and walked out of the boy's bathroom, feeling a lot better than when he'd walked in. He half turned as he sensed something approaching from his right.

WHAM! Naruto collided with a small, dark blur that was running down the empty hallway.

"Hey!" Naruto yelped. He bent over to help pick the girl up. "I'm sorry, are you okay?"

The girl bit her lip but didn't take his hand. If anything, she seemed to curl into an even smaller ball on the floor.

"I mean, you should have been the one watching because you were running, but then I should have seen you 'cause I'm I ninja, and…hey, are you sure you're alright?"

The girl nodded so slightly that Naruto thought he might have imagined it.

"Then take my hand and let me help you up."

Hesitantly, the girl reached forward and took Naruto's hand in her own. Naruto gasped. Her grip was gentle and her hand was so soft and warm. So this is what a girl feels like, Naruto thought. Instead of helping her up, he impulsively turned her palm over to examine the long, delicate fingers more closely. He traced his own digit over her lifeline.

"Hey, you've got some calluses, you know? Do you like to hit things?" Naruto asked. He looked back at the girl and caught her eyes for the first time. They were a really, really pale lavender. Like dusk light on the snow, Naruto thought. An awkward silence passed between them, and the pink flush on the girl's cheeks turned an even more furious red.

"Umm, right." Naruto laughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "Up we go!" He pulled the girl rather roughly to her feet. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! What's yours? What class are you in?"

The girl's lips seemed to move, but almost no sound came out of them.

"Mizuki's class?" Naruto repeated incredulously. "No way! I'm in Mizuki's class too! How come I've never seen you before?"

The girl blushed even worse, and turned away to hide her eyes under her bangs. The hand Naruto wasn't holding started twitching subtly, as if it wanted to poke something. Naruto realized belatedly that he might be making her uncomfortable.

Well if she wasn't so shy and dark and weird, Naruto thought. He let go of her hand as the bell rang and students started to come back into the building. He felt kind of sad doing that…he'd wanted to hold it longer and pretend that it was Sakura-chan's.

"Do you want to go back to class with me?" Naruto asked, studying the fur trim on her oversized beige coat.

The girl nodded.

"Okay then." Naruto turned and started walking down the hall. The girl darted around a few other students to catch up. They walked in silence until they reached the door. Naruto was about to walk in when something grabbed him by the back of his jacket and pulled him into the corridor again. He looked at the girl behind him in surprise. For someone so frail looking, she was pretty strong.

"Are you really going to be a ninja, Naruto-kun?" She asked, audibly for the first time. There was an odd gleam in her pearly lavender eyes that Naruto didn't quite understand. Naruto nodded slightly, unsure if she was just making fun of him too, or was going to turn him in to Mizuki and the principal.

"Yeah," he said. "The best ninja ever!"

"That's good," the girl replied. She gave him a small but honest smile and ducked past him into the room. Naruto stood stunned in the hallway for a few moments as more people walked past him into class. Naruto suddenly realized that Mizuki was already in there and he was going to be the last one to arrive.

The classroom was normally a little noisy after recess, but today it was totally mute. Naruto thought that was strange, but he just headed to his seat. He noted that the dark, weird girl sat by a window in the last row. The classroom continued to be silent, and even Mizuki wasn't starting the lesson.

After a few moments Naruto got impatient and asked loudly what was going on. Everyone seemed to glare at him, and Naruto finally noticed the graffiti on the board.

Oh. That's not very nice, Naruto thought as Sakura got up and ran out of the room.

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Sakura sniffled to herself and shivered as she walked home from Ino's house after dinner. It was getting dark, and even though the evening breeze still carried the fading warmth of late summer, Sakura felt cold.

Today had been the worst day of her life. First her books were torn up, and then someone wrote all of those horrible things about her on the board. To top it all off, her father came to school and very publicly chewed out the principal for letting someone pull that kind of mischief on his baby.

How embarrassing! How mortifying!

This is SO not good for the Popularity Index, Sakura mentally sighed. She'd gotten a boost yesterday by humiliating the Uzumaki trash and amusing Sasuke, but had immediately been taken down again by this stupid "Shadow" person.

Sakura pulled the note out of her pocket again and uncrumpled it.

"I am always watching," It read, "I know what you do. It is wrong and I will pay you back. I am always in your Shadow."

Sakura shivered. That was just creepy. The note had been in her pocket when she left class—even creepier. She hadn't shown it to anyone but Ino. Ino thought it might be a precursor to something much worse, but Sakura managed to convince her to keep it secret. She didn't want to get pulled out of school. Sasuke and Popularity Index aside, Sakura really loved to learn. Academics were her life, and she hoped to become a doctor someday. Getting transferred to the public system was not the way to make it to a top med school.

No. Sakura couldn't figure out how the note got slipped into her pocket, but she wasn't going to let some wannabe stalker keep her from class.

A sudden gust of wind sent a few leaves from the trees lining the street swirling to the ground. Despite herself, Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. Oh, now I've talked myself into paranoia, she thought. She quickened her pace.

I'm fine, I'm safe, I'm fine, I'm safe.

The lingering colors of sunset had finally faded from the sky as Sakura rounded the last corner, a few steps away from her own palatial house in the upscale suburb. Ahead, one of the streetlights flickered on with a low buzz. The dim orange glow revealed a small figure in a black cloak crouched impassively across the street. There was no face under the hood, only deep, endless shadows. The figure's gloved hands curled and uncurled, revealing the grim glint of a knife. Sakura's mind froze. The figure stared back emotionlessly. Sakura's heart raced as she fumbled in her bag for her cell phone, trying to press 911 on speed dial. She broke eye contact to find the phone.

Her fingers closed around the cool protective metal casing on her iPhone. Got it!

Sakura looked back up again. The figure was gone. It was just an empty suburban street in front of her. A door creaked open to her side, and Sakura jumped, settling instinctively into a fighting crouch she must have picked up on T.V. One of her neighbors stepped out and walked to the curb with a bag of trash. They waved cheerily. Sakura waved numbly back.

She waited until her neighbor had returned inside, then fled up the street and up the steps of her porch and into her house. She slammed the door behind her and sank to the cool marble floor.

Just my imagination, she chucked weakly.

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Naruto limped slowly through the gates of Konoha Academy and made his feeble way towards the elementary division. As he neared the building of TORTURE and DOOM, he was surprised to find a small, dark haired girl in an oversized beige coat standing on the steps outside the doors.

Naruto stopped in front of her. "Hinata, right?" He asked. The girl turned cherry red and nodded hesitantly, her index fingers poking together nervously.

Naruto grinned, and pumped a fist in the air for victory. "Yes!" He cried. "Ninja information training, success!"

Hinata looked up, slightly confused.

"You never told me your name yesterday," Naruto explained. "But being the super-awesome ninja that I am, I found it out. It's training for my newest jutsu." Naruto nodded sagely. Actually, Mizuki had called on her to help erase the board after Sakura had fled the room. He still didn't know her last name.

"M--mmn," Hinata murmered, looking away. "You're limping, Naruto-kun," she pointed out. "Are you alright?"

"Eheheheh." Naruto laughed in embarrassment. "I think I twisted my ankle training on the way to school." Since Naruto was having more luck exploding off of surfaces with a catra overload rather than sticking to them, he'd decided to try intentionally repelling himself to jump higher. The results had been spectacular, but painful. Too bad he hadn't planned how to land first.

Hinata looked up again with interest. "Information gathering?" She asked.

"No. Something even more awesome." Naruto nodded to himself. He bent closer and whispered to her confidentially. "It's super secret."

Hinata flushed cherry red again, and Naruto thought he saw steam blow out of her ears.

"Uh-umm. Ano," She stuttered. "I've…I've a-always ad…ad…"

Whatever she was going to say, Naruto never found out. A burly student from another class decided they were blocking the door too long and pushed Naruto out of the way. He bumped into Hinata and they went tumbling off the steps into the bushes. Naruto flung one hand out in front of him and barely kept himself from crushing the smaller girl.

They stared into each other's eyes in shock for a moment, then Naruto broke the tension with a low chortle. "We have got to stop doing this," he said.

"H-huh?" Hinata squeaked.

"Falling on top of each other," Naruto replied, as if it was obvious. Not seeing comprehension in Hinata's expression, Naruto sighed. "Nevermind." He stood up and brushed himself off. He offered a hand to Hinata. "Need a hand?"

This time, Hinata did giggle. She took Naruto's hand, and he steadied her as she picked herself off the ground. She still turned her patented shade of red as Naruto picked a leaf out of her hair and awkwardly dusted the back of her coat.

"There we go!" Naruto cried. "Let's get to class, ne?" He grabbed Hinata's hand (It was so soft! If only it were Sakura-chan's!) and dragged her out from behind the bushes.

Into Kiba.

Kiba stared at Naruto pulling a flushed and panting Hinata out of a bush, hair ruffled. His dog yipped playfully in circles at his heels.

"Naruto," Kiba gaped. "What are you doing to Hinata?"

Hinata blushed again, and Naruto frowned. "None of your business, Kiba." He retorted.

"Oh really," Kiba growled. "Couldn't get Sakura, so now you're molesting poor Hinata?"

Hinata looked shocked, but couldn't manage to speak. Naruto was indignant. "Of course not!" He shot back. "What are you, a pervert?"

"No, but I know you are," Kiba spat.

"A-ano…" Hinata finally said, trying to defuse the situation. "Class is going to s-start s-soon."

Naruto looked back at Hinata. "That's right, Hinata-chan! Let's go!" He stormed past Kiba, still dragging Hinata. Hinata winced at how tight his grip clenched.

Kiba made to follow, but was held back by Akamaru, still yipping on his leash. "GET BACK HERE!" He shouted, tying Akamaru up outside. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT HINATA!" Akamaru barked his agreement.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, NARUTOOO!"

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"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto chirped, bounding up to her desk in the back of the room. Sakura wasn't in class today—Naruto hoped she was okay—but Hinata seemed like a nice person. She maybe even believed in ninja! "Do you want to eat lunch together?"

Hinata paused for a moment, then nodded silently. "Awesome!" Naruto cried. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her seat, leading her to the door. He didn't seem to notice the glares he was getting from his classmates, Kiba in particular.

The walk to the cafeteria was pretty one-sided. Naruto gushed about ninja weaponry, while Hinata listened quietly. Naruto kept waiting for her to say something, but she never did.

Better than, "Ninja aren't real, loser!" a small part of Naruto thought, as he explained the finer points of wielding a fuma shuriken.

Finally, Naruto broke as they got in line to get their food. He turned to Hinata.

"Why don't you say something, Hinata? What do you like to do?"

Hinata twiddled her fingers. "U-ummm…" She stalled. "I...I like to press flowers and m-make medicinal c-creams." She said.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Really?" He said. "That's awesome, 'cause I seem to get hurt a lot lately." Stupid catra control.

"I-I can bring you s-some t-tomorrow if you like." Hinata replied, with a warm smile. Naruto felt fuzzy inside.

The rest of the trip through the food line was spent in comfortable silence. Normally Naruto hated silence-- it reminded him too much of sitting alone in his apartment or on the playground-- but with Hinata there it didn't feel like he needed to fill up the space with empty words. It was kind of strange.

Naruto felt a small leap in his throat as they made for an empty table in the already crowded cafeteria. This was going to be the first time he ever shared a meal with anyone other than Iruka or the Old Man.

He sat down with Hinata and surveyed his food. Today was garlic mashed potatoes with steamed veggies, and an apple on the side. Healthy stuff. Bleh. He made a face at Hinata, and she giggled.

"You can't always eat ramen, Naruto-kun," she said with a knowing smile.

"Yes I can!" Naruto pouted. "It's way tastier!" How did Hinata know he liked ramen anyway? Probably because he was always ranting about it in class. It was his second favorite thing to talk about, besides being a ninja.

Speaking of ninja, ninja did not use forks!

Naruto glanced around furtively, checking to make sure a teacher wasn't watching. He carefully picked up his dented fork between his thumb and forefinger and held it at arms length, like something smelly. Hinata watched curiously. He dropped it on the ground and nudged it under the table with his foot.

"Ninja do not use forks," he explained to Hinata. He pulled a set of wooden chopsticks out from his pocket and snapped them in half with a satisfying crack. He rubbed them together to get rid of splinters.

"Itadakimasu!" he chanted, grinning, as his chopsticks dove for the starchy white mush.

They never made it. A hand clamped down on Naruto's shoulder. Kiba's head came to rest by Naruto's ear.

"Yo, Naruto!" Kiba said. Naruto wrinked his nose at Kiba's dog breath. "What are these things?" He plucked the chopsticks out of Naruto's hand, clicking them together experimentally.

"Chopsticks." Naruto said curtly, making a swipe to get them back. Kiba pulled them out of his reach. "I need them to eat," he said.

"What happened to your fork?" asked another boy, who sauntered up to stand behind Kiba.

Kiba laughed. "Naruto is too good for forks," he said.

Yet another classmate who Naruto vaguely recognized nodded sagely at Kiba's side. "Probably another ninja thing," he said. Three more boys materialized.

"Naruto," Kiba said, "We'd like to have a word with you outside."

"Whaaaat?" protested Naruto. "Don't be such a jerk. Me and Hinata were just—" Naruto began.

Kiba slammed his palms down on the table. Naruto and Hinata's trays jumped. Naruto steadied Hinata's milk carton before it could tip over.

"You, me, outside. Now." Kiba growled. The boys gathered around him glared menacingly.

Naruto glanced around the cafeteria. People at other tables were looking now, too. Naruto thought he saw a third grader preparing to fling a fork full of mash potatoes at him. That would be bad. His eyes flicked to Hinata. Not that Naruto was against food fights (Not at all—he vividly remembered starting the most epic food battle ever in second grade. There were still spaghetti stains on the ceiling) but he didn't want his first friend to get caught in one. Would she stop talking to him?

Hinata nodded slightly. She could see the trouble too, it seemed. It's okay, her eyes seemed to say. Naruto sighed and took a large bite of his apple before picking up his tray and heading to the trash can. Yet another day without lunch. He sent Kiba a dirty look. Kiba sneered back.

Hinata rose to go with him, but the other boys waved her back down. Hinata looked at Naruto questioningly, but Naruto only shrugged in response.

"S'okay, Hinata," Naruto said. "I can take care of this." He gave her his best grin.

Hinata looked wounded. "I-If I'm c-c-c-c-causing you t-trouble…" She stuttered nearly incoherently.

Naruto's gasped. "Oh, no, Hinata! I—" He was cut off again as Kiba shoved him roughly in the back.

"Don't worry, Hinata baby." Kiba said, "The guys and I will keep this loser from bothering you. This is between men. You just eat your lunch." Kiba flashed her a winning smile, but it looked more arrogant and condescending to Naruto.

Hinata crumpled in on herself. Naruto tried to protest and apologize more, but suddenly he was being swept out of the building onto the near-empty playground. They steered him towards the tree with the swing set where Naruto first learned about "catra." That seemed like ages ago.

Kiba pushed him again, shaking him out of his thoughts. Naruto stumbled on a clump of grass. He looked up to find himself surrounded in a semi-circle by his classmates, the wall to his back.

"Okay," Naruto said with false cheer, gauging possible escape routes. There were none. "We gonna play dodgeball or something?"

One of the boys in the circle snickered. "Something like that, maybe," he said, scooping up a rock and tossing it in the air. "Depends. How well can a ninja dodge?" The other boys laughed.

Kiba waved them off. "We don't like you bothering Hinata," Kiba said bluntly.

Naruto shook his head. "I wasn't bothering her. She agreed to eat lunch with me." Naruto hoped he hadn't been bothering her. "YOU'RE the one who bothered US," he pointed out.

Kiba let out a short bark of a laugh. "Bothering you?" Kiba guffawed. "That's priceless, coming from the class reject. Hinata's just too nice to turn anyone down, even a loser like you." Kiba sneered. "She's lucky she's got guys like us to look out for her," he said smugly.

Naruto gaped at the boys around him, nodding in chorus. "So what are you guys, then, her secret service?" he asked. Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kiba. "It's not like you're her boyfriend."

Kiba flushed. "Y-yeah!" He shouted, "But neither are you! I saw you trying to molest her this morning!"

"Molest her?!?" Naruto shouted back. "We're eleven. I already told you it was an accident, you pervert!"

"It didn't look like an accident to me!" Kiba retorted.

"That's why you're a pervert! You didn't even see what happened!" Naruto looked to the boys around him imploringly. "Why are you people even following this guy? Can I go back to lunch now?"

A boy on Naruto's right laughed, closing in. "No chance in hell. We've stood by while you harassed Sakura, but Hinata is crossing the line." He pushed Naruto. "This was a long time coming anyway."

Oh shit, was Naruto's only thought as two more boys suddenly grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. Kiba cracked his knuckles. "Promise you'll stay away from Hinata," he said.

"Why should I?" Naruto spat. All he wanted was a friend! Why was that so hard?

"Wrong answer!" Kiba smiled wickedly. He struck out with a low body blow that knocked the wind from Naruto's chest.

"Oomph," Naruto sputtered. He bit back a louder cry of pain. That was new, he wondered with wide eyes. Usually people just ignored or taunted him. This was the first time he'd actually been struck.

Kiba shook out his hand. "Damn, man. You got a gut of steel, give you that. Ninja training, huh?" He smiled even more viciously. "You can be my training post. I need to work on my kick." He backed up a few steps and let his right leg fly.

Naruto lunged forward and to the side, pulling one of the boys pinning his arms into the path of the kick. It hit the kid squarely in the back. Naruto used the shock and the remaining two bullies closed in. Naruto slid low beneath one, knocking him off balance with a quick chop to the back of the knee as he skid by.

"U-Zu!" Naruto shouted, kicking the other kid in the groin while still laying on the ground.

"Ma-Ki!" Naruto, still prone, did a spin to do a break-dancer proud, swiping the feet out from under the boys who'd been pinning his arms. He pushed up and flipped backwards with astounding acrobatic grace, landing on his feet just as Kiba came to his senses and rushed the blond reject in a blind rage.

"Naruto Rendan!" Naruto cried as he drop-kicked Kiba's shoulder. Kiba went crashing into the dirt, spitting up blades of grass.

Woah. Naruto thought, looking from his hands to the six groaning bodies around him. Naruto Rendan? Naruto had tried to learn some basic katas before, using a yellowing karate poster he'd found in a dumpster outside a dojo, but he had no idea he could do that.

"AAAAAAARRRGGHHH!" Naruto's head snapped up. Kiba launched himself at Naruto and tackled the smaller boy to the ground. "YOU IDIOT!" Kiba roared. He pounded Naruto in the jaw, snapping the kid's head to the side and sending his mind reeling. "THAT FUCKING HURT!" Kiba growled.

"You…p'nchd…first…" Naruto mumbled deliriously. Kiba's got a good right hook.

Kiba struck him again. And again.

Suddenly Kiba was being pulled back, delicate fingers pulling insistently on his fur-lined hoodie with surprising strength. "K-Kiba-kun, stop! Stop!" Someone cried. Naruto squinted up at his savior.

Oh, hey, Hinata-chan, he mentally giggled. Hinata-chaaaaaaaaan.

"Kiba-kun, that's enough!" Hinata yelled. "W-what are you doing!?" Kiba finally got off of Naruto. He wiped at a few specks of blood on the red tattoos on his cheeks.

"Protecting you," he said, staring at her blankly. Naruto took the reprieve to push himself into a sitting position.

"P-p-p-protecting me?" Hinata recoiled. "B-by b-beating up on Naruto-kun?"

"He was molesting you," Kiba whined. "He's playing you for Sakura. It's for your own good, Hinata. Me an' the boys are here for you."

Hinata looked frozen. She glanced around at her other classmates who had gotten back on their feet, their eyes on Naruto in utter hatred. Her mouth worked silently. She seemed to be debating something, half caught between running and hitting Kiba herself. Finally, she steeled her nerves and forced her fidgeting hands into fists at her side. "Did it ever occur to you," she said quietly, "that I might have wanted to eat lunch with Naruto?" Hinata looked at Naruto, pale eyes unreadable. "Maybe I don't mind being played," she whispered.

Kiba stared at Hinata incredulously. Naruto felt something flop in his stomach. Her words didn't really process well in his brain. He was sure he was concussed.

One of the boys, standing behind Naruto, snorted. "So…are you Ninja-boy's whore now?"

That processed in Naruto's brain. Nobody insulted his friend. A dam broke somewhere within Naruto, flooding him with primal rage and power. He snarled and whirled to strike out at the fool, gut him with sharpened, claw-like nails.

His swipe hit air, instead. Naruto found himself running away from the boys, pulled behind Hinata. He let out an indignant squawk of protest as the rage and power faded back below the surface of his normal energy. The red haze that seemed to hover over his skin dissipated. He stared at the back of Hinata's head as she sprinted back to the school building.

"O-oi!" Naruto cried. Hinata was pretty strong. "Where are we going?"

Hinata squeaked and dropped Naruto's hand, skidding to a stop. She fidgeted.

"A-ano, your head…the h-health c-center…" she mumbled, looking away as Naruto peered around her to see her face. "G-Gomen! Naruto-kun!" She burst out, blushing profusely.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, then gingerly poked at his jaw. It was sore, but not life threatening. In fact, it hardly felt like there was a bruise. He tasted blood on his lip, but it didn't seem like there was a cut. Maybe Kiba didn't hit him that hard, after all.

"S'okay, Hinata-chan," he said. "It doesn't seem to be that bad. You don't have nothin' to apologize for."

Hinata hung her head and started twiddling her index fingers. "B-but, if I'd f-followed sooner…Naruto-kun!" She cried. "They hurt you!"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, but I got 'em back pretty good!" He said. He savored mental replay of his awesome taijutsu moves. "I call it the 'Naruto Rendan,' my ultimate ninja combo!" Naruto pointed his finger in the air and struck a pose for emphasis.

Hinata hiccupped as she tried to giggle and sob at the same time. That made Naruto laugh, and Hinata hiccupped harder. She turned to run away in embarrassment, but Naruto caught her sleeve and held her back.

"C'mon, Hinata-chan." Naruto smiled. "Let's go to the health center together. They can look at my cheek, and get you something for your hiccups." He winked.

Hinata nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Un." She agreed.

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A/N: I was going to hold this off until I finish the next chapter, but "whateva." I don't think I really want to change anything. And a lot of you said you wanted to see Hinata. Here she is!

PZldfn and GravityTheWizard—Thanks for answering the feedback questions. I'd actually conceived this years ago as a lighthearted, campy crossover between Naruto and Spiderman. *draws diagram of an ovum labeled 'Naruto' and 'Spiderman' on the…well, you get the idea*

Stories rarely gestate as planned. When I actually started plotting it out seriously, Spiderman disappeared and the fic got rather dark rather quickly. So I'm glad I'm not heading into a miscarriage by trying to keep it on a level I wouldn't be embarrassed to let my mom read, while still letting the characters develop and mutate in my mental uterus as they please.

I want my baby to be an enjoyable action-adventure romp, with enough drama and serious exploration of character to grow into a mature and memorable fanfiction. Maybe even inspire other writers to spawn baby fanfictions of their own. Regardless, I'll shut up with the pregnancy references. I thought it was more creative than talking about my muse. Perhaps not. ^.^;;;