Disclaimer: don't own Naruto characters, but I do own the story plot.

0.0 ... 0.0 ... 0.0

Hello, please read the author's note at the bottom.

0.0 ...0.0 ... 0.0

"There are times when tears aren't enough to satisfy the sadness inside.

There are times when you can't face destiny head on.

But there are times . . . when one single gesture from someone can save you from depression.

When one single caress, one small smile . . . can save you."

~Yoru no Chandra

"Naruto, what on earth do you think you're doing?" Sakura asked as she pulled the thin blade from his grasp.

Naruto slowly looked up, but his dull eyes looked toward the window, not sparing a second acknowledging her. 'Those eyes . . . ' Sakura thought as she smiled at him,' his eyes are no longer the same . . . they are no longer filled with mirth, jolliness, or mischief. Oh, Naruto what happened to you? You won't talk to any of us . . . won't tell us what bothers you, what we can do to help.'

"Sakura," Sasuke called from the doorway to the hospital room Naruto was staying at.

The pink-haired kunoichi turned and slowly walked toward her boyfriend. She hugged him and he did the same. When they separated Sasuke moved and the people behind him came forward. Sakura also moved and allowed the other ninjas to enter the room.

"How is he?" Hinata asked as she walked toward the blond-haired boy resting in the white bed. He was staring to the window, but he clearly wasn't paying attention to what was going on outside or inside.

Sakura took Sasuke's hand and walked to the other side of the bed, across from Hinata and sadly said," He tried to slice his wrist again. I don't know where he got the small blade from though . . . I just got here a few seconds before you guys."

Hinata sighed softly and boldly brought her slim hand over Naruto's longish hair and stroked it.

In front of the bed stood the remaining ninjas. They had all come to visit him again. From Negi's group to Hinata's, to Ino's and even the young Kazekage, Gaara, and his siblings. This was their second time coming here together since they found Naruto heavily wounded just a few yards outside the village's boundaries. Immediately he was brought here to the hospital. That was almost two weeks ago and Naruto still hadn't said a word, had not even acknowledged their presence when they came to visit. No one knew what happened or how he got there, after all he'd been missing for a little over two years now, but they were worried nonetheless. Naruto had tried to slice his wrist on more than one occasion. The nurses had stopped his bleeding the first time since no one had been there to stop him and ever since then there was some one watching over him.

"Naruto," Ino said softly, " look we brought you ramen, yum."

No response came from Naruto at this obvious bait.

Sighing deeply Ino took the bowl of ramen and put it in the table next to him, maybe he'd get hungry and eat it later.

After that no one said anything for a long time, but watched Naruto who didn't look away from the window. Almost an hour later the tension in the room got to them and the ninjas began to talk. They talked about everything that was going on and about nothing. They tried to get Naruto to talk also but he said nothing. Finally, for some, the time for visits to leave came and they all said their good-byes to the silent Naruto . . . all but one, that is. Hinata remained, she said her quiet goodbyes to her friends and told them she would stay a while longer. The other ninjas solemnly nodded their heads and departed.

Naruto brought the silver slim knife to his wrist and would have cut it open if Sakura hadn't taken it away from him. Without any physical reaction Naruto turned and stared at the window already losing himself to his thoughts. He was successful for about a minute until noises from the door to his room cut through his thoughts. All of them again. Naruto tried to concentrate again to ignore them, but soft footsteps distracted him again. The owner of the footsteps asked something and Sakura answered. He didn't catch everything that was said, but he did catch bits and pieces.

" . . . His wrist again . . . don't know . . . the small blade . . . got here . . . before you guys."

Naruto inwardly smirked. Yeah, he had tried to cut his wrist again while the blade had come from the food the nurses had tried to make him eat earlier that day, they'd failed, but he hadn't. He'd taken the blade away without their notice, but when he thought he could get away with it, finally, Sakura had come out of no where and taken it away, leaving him frustrated to say the least.

A small and gentle hand brought Naruto out of his thoughts, again, but this time he didn't mind been disturbed. He was sure it was the owner of the soft steps he'd heard just a few moments ago. He was sure it was the white-eyed girl, Hinata. She'd done this a few times already so he kind-off had come to expect it and he wouldn't have stopped her even if he'd wanted to. After all he refused to acknowledge their presence. Why should he? They hadn't done anything for him in his time of need so why should he give them the courtesy they hadn't earned?

Another voice penetrated his mind, but he, like all the times before ignored it. Slowly, Naruto focused his unwavering eyes at the object he'd been staring at, the window. Within seconds he was back in his own thoughts and time passed quickly for him after that. A few times he thought he heard his unwanted visitors talking, but he mostly ignored them until he noticed from the corner of his eyes that they were leaving. 'Finally,' he thought as he released an unnoticeable sigh.

"Naruto? " Hinata called as she walked back towards the bed. This was the first time she stayed behind and she didn't know what to do.

'Damn . . . ' Naruto thought as he was forced to continue staring at the window and the dark sky behind it.

"Naruto why won't you talk?" . . . Nothing. "I know that the others have asked you that question a lot, but I would like it if you would talk to me about it . . . please Naruto?" Hinata sighed as she reached for his hand.

The contact almost made Naruto turn and look at the Hinata, but he was able to catch himself before he turned, however he wasn't able to hide the look of surprise that crossed his face.

Hinata noticed the surprised look and smiled. He wasn't completely gone as the others had thought, but that meant he'd been ignoring them this whole time. If-if he had reacted to the touch of her hand to his, then what would make him talk or look at her? Maybe if she . . .

Moments later the soft hands left his but only to come to his face. This time he wasn't caught by surprise.

Hinata hands lay on his cheeks, trying to get him to look at her but he'd composed himself and gone back to ignoring her. She let her hands fall to the side of the bed. It hadn't worked. What was she to do now . . .?

Meanwhile, Naruto's natural curiosity was getting to him. He couldn't see her, but he found himself wandering what she was thinking. Closing his eyes, Naruto wished she would leave like all the others and leave him be. He was strong enough to leave tonight and hopefully never see this wretched village again. Opening his eyes again, Naruto was completely caught off guard when Hinata gently kissed his loose fist.

"Naruto," Hinata said with a smile as Naruto for the first time since he'd been here looked at her.

Naruto's mouth hung a little open. Frankly, he didn't know what to do. From what he could remember, Hinata had never seemed interested in him, so why was she kissing his right hand so gently, like he mattered to her.

"Naruto . . . thank you for finally looking at me . . . don't look away from me," Hinata said as her hand reached for his face just before he would have looked away.

"Naruto what happened? What can I do to help you?" Hinata asked sadly as Naruto moved his pupils away from her. She could keep his face facing her, but he had still found a way to look away from her. Tears formed in her eyes as she lowered her face. It hurt her to see him like this because he had never been this way when he'd lived here, what had happened to him!

Naruto turned back to look at her. She was crying and it didn't sit well with him. Taking a deep breath, Naruto lifted Hinata's face with his hand and murmured, "Why do you cry?"

Hinata's face showed her shock as she stared at him, unable to make a single coherent word. He'd finally talked, finally after such a long time, he talked and she was the first person to hear his deep, raspy voice. Deep down, under her masked emotions and her shock, she was truly happy.

"Hinata . . . answer my question . . . " Naruto said quietly and watched as she immediately tried to do what he'd asked.

"Naruto . . . I-I . . . I was crying because you wouldn't talk to me and because-because you wouldn't look at me even and . . ."

Naruto's lips slowly formed into a small smile. So it was his fault, was it? He hadn't thought his actions would have affected her; after all it had no affect on the others. Slowly, with the small smile still in place, Naruto asked, "And?"

Hinata's pale face flushed a rosy red as she murmured the last part of her confession," . . . I was embarrassed . . ."

"Why?" Naruto asked grinning.

"Because I thought that you . . . weren't paying attention when I, ugh, kissed your hand."

After finally finishing her answer to Naruto's first question Hinata hesitantly looked up to see his face and couldn't believe what she saw. Naruto was glaring daggers at her. That wasn't what she was expecting and she would have looked down if Naruto's hand hadn't gripped her chin a second after she'd looked up.

"What made you think I wasn't noticing?" Naruto wasn't happy, how could a young, healthy, teenage male not notice her?

Confusion immediately clouded Hinata's face, but she simply said, "You looked away."

" . . ." Naruto didn't know what to say as he stared at her and let go of her chin. He shouldn't have lost control of his temper like that, his training had taught him better than that. Sighing, Naruto was the one who looked down this time. This burst of temper from him had reminded him what he had to do this night. If he'd been training for the past few weeks instead of laying in bed like an injured idiot he wouldn't have lost his temper, heck he wouldn't have succumbed into talking to Hinata in the first place.

"Naruto . . ." Hinata inquired as she gracefully stood.

Hinata's soft voice and movements beside him brought Naruto out of his thoughts. He had to leave . . . now.

Hinata silently observed as Naruto came out of his thoughts and for the love of everything that was good she didn't know what happened next. One minute Naruto was sitting there and the next he was gone. "Naruto?"

An almost silent rustling sound next to the window signaled Hinata were he was. Turning she was greeted with a half nude blond ninja. Immediately Hinata turned many different and interesting shades of red before facing the opposite direction of where Naruto was. Unfortunately for her peace of mind, she hadn't been fast enough turning around and had gotten a sinfully delicious eye full of broad shoulders, lean and sexy back along with just a hint of tight buns.

Minutes later Hinata decided that he was most likely decently dressed by now and turned to watch him again. Yep, he was definitely dressed all right. In the torn, but clean black attire he'd worn when he'd been found. "Naruto?" She asked again while she moved closer to him. She didn't like this . . .

"What?" Naruto asked as he examined the outside, quickly determining which roots were safe to take.

"What are you doing . . . you should be in bed . . . Naruto, what are you doing?" Hinata exclaimed as she raced toward the blond ninja, gripping his arm as she tried to stop him from jumping to the street below.

"Let me go." Naruto ordered as he turned to look at the pale-eyed beauty that was desperately trying to stop him.

"No-no . . . Naruto please don't-don't go . . . please!" Hinata screamed as Naruto's hands easily took hold of hers and released their hold on his arm.

Naruto signed as he held her hands. She was crying and it saddened him to know he was the one who'd made her cry. As he faced her, Naruto's hold on her hands softened. "Hinata, I can't remain here."

"Why? Tell me why?" She was trembling now and she knew she had no strength to stop his leaving. She feared he'd leave again and she would not be able to stop him and at the end she would never see him again. It would be like before though now it would probably be forever. However this time she would not cry in silence, no now she would fight as much as she could to keep him here, with her.

" . . . I don't belong here. I have a place were people care for me and actually value what I have to say . . . My sensei is a very wise person who wants me to be great and my friends don't just disregard me because all the older people do. I have a family there . . . in that place where I belong, Hinata."

Hinata's heart broke . . . A family . . . that meant a wife and children, right? How selfish she'd been by trying to keep him here when there was a family waiting for him where ever it was that he called home now, nevertheless her heart broke a little bit more.

Naruto, oblivious of the things going through the young woman in front of him, continued to talk. " There are many more people who actually care about me. Not like here. Every one scorned me and, in a way made me act the fool. Everyone judged me before they knew me. No one cared without proof that I was worth his or her time and, then, it always took a lot of their precious proof for them to even consider me. That is why I can't stay here, in this place where no good comes my way and, Hinata, I'm not sorry. There's no comparison between this place and that."

" . . . Naruto, I understand and I now know I wouldn't have the heart to stop you, I'm sorry I was just selfish, I guess . . . " Hinata's face was now looking down because she couldn't bear to see him go-go back to his wife and adopted family. Silently, just before Naruto would have jumped out the window Hinata said," Say hi to your family for me, Naruto. And tell your wife she was really lucky in marrying you..."

Naruto almost lost his balance as he stood in the window. Had he heard right? "Hinata, you want me to say hi to my 'wife' on your behalf?" He must have just heard wrong . . . yeah, that's right, right?

A bit louder than before and this time looking at him, Hinata said, "Yes, I know it'll seem weird to your wife, but could you do that for me?" It was true; he was married. His question had cleared it. Even though she didn't show it, Hinata was at that moment flooded by pure unadulterated sadness.

"Sure," Naruto said as he, once again, stood facing Hinata. "There's just one problem Hinata . . . I don't have one."

"Excuse me?" Hinata asked bewildered, but warmly shocked.

"I don't have a wife." Naruto repeated as he observed her. She seemed happy with his admission. "After all, I'm not of age, remember? I just turned eighteen."

"Oh . . ."

"Well I have to go, it's been nice knowing you, I guess, but I don't want to remain here any longer . . .bye" Naruto turned and would have left if, Hinata, once again, wasn't gripping his battered shirt.

"Wait." Hinata said and waited for Naruto to turn and look at her before she continued. When he did one small phrase crossed Hinata's mind, 'oh, boy, he's annoyed'. "Naruto I want to go with you, please. I don't want to stay here either . . . Knowing that I'll never see you again; I don't want to stay in this village. Please, let me go with you . . . I want to be by your side." By now Hinata's face resembled a Sakura flower. She had almost declared her feelings for him.

Naruto was stumped. He didn't know what to do. He could leave her here and let her suffer, but that was cruel. However, on the other hand he could take her with him and have everyone here and at home think he'd kidnapped her or had taken her with him because he loved her and vise versa . . . Well that wasn't at all a bad idea, Naruto thought.

Heck, what was the point in thinking about it anyway? He couldn't leave her here if she was truly suffering. Sighing Naruto gave caution to the wind and nodded to her. His sensei had said his kindness would get him into trouble, he just had never imagined it to be this kind.

Hinata's eyes sparkled as she threw herself towards Naruto and hugged him. Seconds later she heard a monotonous " lets go" from Naruto and she flushed as she let him go. She would be with him now and she would not have to worry about anyone tearing them apart, after all they wouldn't be found.

Smiling up at the young man she had admired from afar for a long time, Hinata felt the weight of the past here without him leave her as she jumped out of the window, behind him. She wouldn't be sad anymore.

Naruto, for his part, was very conscious of the young woman that would be a part of his life from now on. As he picked and scanned the roads that would work best for their escape, Naruto slowed enough so that Hinata could be by his side. Once she was, Naruto grabbed her hand and continued out of the village that way. Hinata's face a soft pink all the way out of there.

The end.

0.0 ... 0.0 ... 0.0

Hello, this be Yoru no Chandra;

Ugh, I know I'm in trouble with you all b/c I haven't updated, but I've been hard at work while I was Internet deprived. I've changed and spell checked the story a bit, but I don't know if I have everything in perfect order. For those of you that have read this before you'll note that I changed Hinata's bold move and toned it down. Why? Well I read this thing and it got me thinking. Hinata really was out of her character in that scene I wrote so I rewrote it. And, well, I think that what would have been mildly embarrassing for most people, would have been a really bold move for her b/c of her shyness. Yeah, yeah, I know people grow up and lose some of their teen shyness and awkwardness, but people don't really change that much unless something really traumatic or important happens, especially if they still live where they grew up.

Also I deleted any mention of suicide b/c it didn't make sense when he was planning to leave. However, I did keep the mention of his cutting his wrist. Why? It's part of the story, a big part, and I have another use for it. Hehe, suffice it to say, that in this newer version he is not trying to kill himself when he mutilates his body. What he is doing, well, it will be explained later on in the story.

Jane,

Yoru no Chandra.