NaruHina Hanakai

CHAPTER 20

"What, what just happened?" Naruto asked to no one in particular, one minute he was chatting with Hinata telling her thanks for saying she loved him and then returning her gesture and the next minute she was crying and ran away from him.

"You are an idiot, that's what" Kurama scoffed. "I mean come on Kid, think for once! she just confessed her feelings for you and you just straight out rejected her, and now you are standing here wondering what the hell happened?!" It had been a while since Kurama was this angry with his, he could feel his rage from their shared space but Naruto still had no idea the hell was happening. First he some how managed to make Hinata cry and now he pissed off Kurama.

"Huh, how did I reject her? My friend just told me she cares for me and I said the same, whats wrong with that? Could it be she doesn't want to be like family to me? But if that's the case wouldn't she have said so, she wouldn't have run off crying like that. Ugh!" Pulling his hair in frustration because he was honestly at a loss to what just happened. Remembering the hurt on her face Naruto felt hopeless. "Kurama please, help me understand, why do I feel this way, why does it hurt knowing she is crying right now and I am the reason for it? I have never begged for anything before but I am now.....what is going on?"

Sighing Kurama decided it was truly time he helped this kid figure all this out, he had never seen the brat looking so lost before and he couldn't stand by and not do anything knowing he could help. "Fine kid, lets go home and then we will talk"

"Alright, but shouldn't go after Hinata first to make sure she's alright"? Naruto wasn't sure what to do, he was at a lost for the first time in his life. He had hurt her that much he knew, but how he had done so was still unclear.

"No for now it's best to give her time, until you can fully understand yourself let her be, its better that way for you both" Never had Kurama been so gentle with him and that made it all the worse. He felt as if his chest was about to explode, he clutched it in hopes of easing the discomfort but it didn't help. Nothing, he thought would help but to know that she was alright. He wanted to ignore Kurama and go to her now but if there is even the slightest chance that doing that now would hurt her more, he couldn't take it, so instead he turned around and made his way home.

Arriving back at his apartment, Naruto wasted no time in going to his shared mind space with Kurama so that he could help him make sense of this all. He stood there at a loss just looking at the Kyuubi waiting for him to speak. "Before anything else, I want to ask you a question Naruto and I want you to think about it before answering."

"Alright, what's the question?"

"What do you think of Hinata?"

This wasn't what Naruto thought they would be doing, he thought Kurama would just tell him what he needed to know so that he could fix this. He was about to protest but thought better of it. No one knew what he was feeling more than Kurama and if he was asking him this question instead of telling him the answer it must mean this was important. He trusted Kurama to not play around at a time like this and to truly help him understand. So, with that in mind Naruto did what was asked and he thought about his answer.

What does he think of Hinata? Well, she was kind, the most thoughtful person he knew, she was strong and smart, funny and gentle. He trusts her with his most private thoughts and memories, he knows she wouldn't judge him and so he can be vulnerable with her. But all this is what he knows already, so is there more?

"Yes, there is more, think about it some more. How about this, when you see her how do you feel?"

"Well, she is always glowing, so she makes me feel brighter if that makes sense and I think she is beautiful, her smile makes me want to smile. I like, I like seeing her happy." Happy that made him stop short, all it did was to remind him that she was now crying and he couldn't help but hate himself a little for it. "What does this have to do with what's happening now? I need to fix this, I need to see her smile again, I can't have her crying while I am here wasting time. You said you would help me understand, I still don't understand."