Naruto: A Second Chance

Omake: Hime

Naruto groaned. "Man, this is so not fair!" His teammates cringed at his volume. "You should've tried harder, Kakashi-sensei!" Minato held down a chuckle.

"Look, I requested a C-rank mission for you, it's not my fault Hokage-sama decided not to give us one. Now no more complaining." Kakashi said in an attempt to make Naruto be quiet.

Naruto grumbled a quiet "whatever" before straying from the group. "I'm gonna go find something to do other than something boring. I'll see you at home, Kī."

Minato watched his son walk away silently.

- - - - -

Naruto found himself by the Academy next to that rickety, old swing, that swing he sat on in his lonesome. Other than Kurama and Kī, he really didn't have any friends, so whenever he felt down he would come here.

He swung for a moment, letting his mind go blank. Hey kit, does it bother you that much? Kurama asked him with some concern. Naruto shook his head. No. It just seems that nothing is really going my way lately.

Not that that was uncommon. It was just that, for a moment, he had forgotten what it felt like to be truly disappointed and alone. Now he painfully remembered.

He sat there on his swing, unaware of the eyes watching him secretly from above. His loving father with open arms. I'm sorry, Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

The voice was soft and light, a pleasurable twinkle in the dead silence of the early evening. Naruto raised his bowed head to see someone standing before him.

"Hi-Hinata-chan?"

He was genuinely surprised. No one had ever bothered to approach him on this swing before, and he felt that that would never change.

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously, dazedly. She was beautiful in front of the setting sun. Hinata flushed bright red. "I-I came to r-return some textbooks. I forgot t-to before gradua-tion." she twiddled her fingers.

Naruto watched Hinata, still somewhat dazed, while he tried to process her words. It was hard, he found himself entranced by her nervous habit that he found cute and endearing. He followed her fingers as they wrapped themselves around eachother tightly.

"Wh-why are you h-here? N-Naruto-kun?" Naruto snapped out of his daze and locked onto her kind gaze. Big mistake. He found himself sputtering.

"U-uh, I-- well, I-- you know-- I uh," Naruto bit his tongue in embarrassment and mentally glared at the Kyūbi for jeering at him. Hinata giggled some and Naruto found himself dumbstruck.

Hinata smiled sweetly. "I-It's okay, Naruto-kun. We all f-feel down s-sometimes." Naruto felt a smile work its way onto his face. He knew he should say something, but he didn't know what. What do you say to someone like Hinata?

His silence made her nervous again amd she shrank back some. "D-do y-you want me t-to leave y-you a-alone?" she took a small step back and began fiddling with her fingers again. Without thinking, Naruto shot his arm out.

He grabbed her hand. "No, wait!" Hinata immediately overheated at their contact. A light blush dusted Naruto's cheeks. He retracted his hand and looked away from Hinata's frozen form bashfully. "I-I mean, I'd like ya to stay. . ."

When he got no respone, he looked at her again. She was quivering. "Hinata-chan?" She didn't answer. Naruto became concerned and stood to see if she was okay, but that only put her over the edge.

She fainted.

"Hinata-chan!"

- - - - -

When Hinata woke up, she was still warm, and the night had officially come. The moon shone brightly against her ivory skin, and Naruto believed that if the moon were a person, it would Hinata.