She sat in her corner of class and looked for him just as she did every day. Hinata watched for the little boy she'd become so enamored by. The feelings in her heart would scream to be let out, to be told, but all she ever did was watch her love.

He'd been silent at first, trying to settle into the routine of the academy. His grades had been poor but he still worked hard. And soon, he started to talk, and he never quit.

He wasn't annoying so much as noisy. He had an almost instinctive grasp that he could become whatever he wanted. So he chose nothing less than the leader of the village, the Hokage.

So Hinata waited and watched for the loud and confident blond, but he didn't show up. Nor did he appear the next day, or even a day after that. It would be many days, many months, and many years before she laid eyes on him and his cute little whisker marks again.

XXX

Naruto did his best to get up that morning. He woke up, and though he didn't feel good he got up and got dressed. He even grabbed the kunai he'd found several days earlier, The seven year old boy poured his cereal ate his breakfast and stumbled out the door. His mind was focused on getting to the academy. He never even wondered why he wasn't feeling well. Fevers made his mind foggy, and in that fog, he started in the wrong direction.

He didn't notice the glares sent his way, and he kept walking. He kept walking until the sight of the gates of Konoha were passing him by. The people watching the gates should have stopped him, but they knew he was the demon. And if he wanted to leave, not a person in the village would complain. So they let him keep walking.

And he walked. He walked until his stupor lifted enough for him to realize he was in a forest. He collapsed.

He would wake up several days later, starving.

He would cry at first not knowing where he was. Then he would hunt and eat, but never be full. He would slowly forget what he was and who he was and the forest would become his home. But not even the deepest darkness would drive the remnants of his dream away, the dream to be Hokage, and many years later, when he would finally be found. Hokage would be the only word he would remember.