Five times Naruto saw into Hinata's soul and the one time someone told her to let it shine through.

i.

She's sitting on the bench, just hours before the worst day in Sakura's life, hands extended and cupped, like she's holding something. She is made from pastels and stained glass that only exists in the most beautiful places on the earth. Her hair is luminescent against the moonlight as she hums a nameless tune, one that thrums like a breathing child in the eye of a storm.

He walks up, a stumbling mass of failure that no one will look at and sees her there. He is on his way to meet Sakura-chan, whom finally allowed him to have dinner with her and he is walking on a cloud. His only reason for stopping is that tune – the song that he hears in the dead of night when he thinks hard on that warmth he felt as an infant. He turns to see the ghost-eyed girl, the one with the eyes that see more than he could ever see but look soulless. He breathes in her air of shallow graves and whispers of things that burn.

" What is that tune you're humming?" He asks thinly, urgency for an answer so he can leave in his voice.

She looks up at him and blushes a fierce red before whispering dreamily, " My m-mother used to si-sing it, it was meant to call down the sta-sta-stars."

He gives her hands an odd look and wonders, " So what are you doing with your hands?"

Her blush lights up like a sign in one of the big cities he's never seen, " I-I-I was w-w-waiting for a star. Stu-Stupid, ne?"

There is a silence before he speaks up, his eyes looking at her face, not her hands, searching for something she doesn't think he'll find, " Nah, that's not stupid."

He marches away, feeling heavier than before, and thinks that girl is weirder than ever. But she's right, and in some way deep inside him he wonders what kind of person she really is.

She watches him walk away and folds her hands closer to her chest.

She did not catch the star, but she was with one more beautiful than all the ones in the heaven. And oh he doesn't know how bright he shines.

" Naruto-kun," She calls out and he stops, tilting his head back to face her as she continues, " Konoha will see you shine! I promise." Her smile is a thousand lights dazzling him.

He wants to say something but she turns and darts away into the trees.

As he sits with Sakura at Ichiraku staring at the bowl he considers whether silver or gold would look better on Sakura's finger and how a diamond would look against her eyes, but all he can see when he closes his own eyes is a child with tan skin, blonde hair, and the most beautiful (soulless) eyes.

ii.

Their mission after the Bikochu bug is to give up. That's how Naruto sees it; it's a sign that he is not supposed to find Sasuke, that Sakura is not supposed to see his onyx eyes ever again, and that Kakashi will lose his prized student. He mopes around the village and stumbles into a training ground that is not theirs – is not Team Seven's – because it would hurt far too much to breathe there.

(Naruto hates oh so many things.)

It has been hours on end and he is still alone. Still staring at the same spot and wondering if he hadn't farted then maybe he would have Sasuke here, on their training ground, and they would be punching each other until they bleed on the inside. But he did. And they aren't. And he feels so bad for ruining the mission.

Just as he moves to stand and slump back to his apartment, and not cry because he doesn't cry, Hinata emerges from the trees (and there's an inkling that the trees and her have some kind of affair occurring). She says nothing and sits beside him, face flushed. He turns to study her and asks, " Why are you here?" The question comes out cruel and angry.

" You are giving up." He is more surprised by the fact that she read him so easily than the fact that she didn't stutter.

He sags his shoulders and hisses out a sigh, " I should. I ruined the mission you guys worked so hard on. Especially you." He looks up at her with pathetic eyes and she smiles.

" I did something greater than what we set out to do, Naruto-kun." It was the wrong thing to say, or so she figures when Naruto snaps, " There is nothing greater than getting the Teme back!"

Hinata flinches and buries herself in her jacket, but keeps talking, " Naruto-kun, tell me, would you kill a friend to bring back Sasuke-san."

Naruto looks appalled, " Of course not!"

She looks back at him, " So protecting people is more important."

He stops for a moment and thinks, before saying, " I want to protect everyone. Including Sasuke." He puffs out his chest and proudly proclaims, " When I'm Hokage, everyone will be safe!"

Hinata is happy that he is happy, happy that he will smile and bring Death upon everyone who dares hurt Naruto's loved ones because he is a protector. But Naruto is not realistic, he wants things that will not come and she does not want him to hurt when they do not, so she hurts him herself, " Naruto-kun, what about the people on missions? Will they be safe?"

He never thought past being a hero, past being loved, but when Naruto has love of his friends, Hinata has done nothing past yearn for love from the family that doesn't look at her. Naruto has found love in the ninja of the village and Hinata is still searching. So Hinata opens his eyes, and in doing so Naruto sees into Hinata for the second time – he sees her warm eyes and her pale skin and how she glows when she's telling him the harsh truth and trying to help him. He sees how far she will go for people she has come to care for, he sees a bit of himself in her.

Naruto sees the piece of Hinata that he has shaped, but he does not see his mark.

" Not everyone is safe. Not everyone will be. When you become Hokage-sama, Naruto-kun, you will need to sacrifice people. It is the ninja way." She spoke softly, her voice barely trilling over the wind.

He growls out a curse, " Well it's stupid!"

" Then you call your life stupid."

Naruto feels anger bubble up over and out and instead of hitting a girl (let alone one who catches stars and dreams beyond the bridges in the sky) he storms off and away.

(Naruto hates oh so many things.)

It is only a week, four days, three hours, and ten minutes later that he realizes she said when he became Hokage. Not if.

(Hinata believes and he cannot muster up the hate any longer.)

iii.

No one has told Naruto that they love him. Not Iruka or Kakashi or Sakura or Old Man Sarutobi or Tsunade or Jiraiya or anyone. He never knew what love felt like, but he thinks the warmth he feels when he sees Sakura is close enough, but somehow that doesn't feel like how it used to. Not since he had dinner with her at Ichiraku all those years ago. So he pretends he knows love and runs through life wondering if love was as warm and kind as everyone says.

So when Hinata swoops down, an angel with broken wings, and speaks with a tone that flies higher than anything and uses words that make him feel like he's burning inside, he calls out to tell her to get away! Because he doesn't know love, but he knows that he does not want Pein to touch Hinata.

And he gets his wish.

Pein does not make contact with her; he does not think her a threat until she breaks his supposedly unbreakable bonds. He merely lifts a hand and has Hinata soaring through the sky and Naruto's heart breaks because Hinata wasn't meant to fly that way. She surely wasn't meant to be slammed down into the ground with a sickening crunch and when she is Naruto feels something bubble up inside of him that begs to be let go.

But Hinata stands up, she stumbles and falls but does not surrender, she looks at Pein and there is a threat in her eyes, against the man who dare hurt the man she loves. She charges. And in a split second something happens – Hinata is left, bereft of chakra and strength, and broken against the ground and something snaps when Pein merely tells him it was necessary.

Nothing is necessary when it comes to a Hinata who catches dreams and stars and becomes something beautiful when she tells the truth.

And that thing that was begging to be let go? That angry burning feeling that crushed his lungs? Yeah, it breaks free. It breaks free and he's not human anymore, but before he can submit to the pain, the violence, the killkillkill urge he thinks on Love.

So now he knows, love is not a kind and beautiful thing, it is a cruel and angry being that gives and takes at whim. Naruto thinks he hates love, but there's something in the magic of catching stars and facing truths that makes him rethink his idea.

The sound of Hinata's short but sure breaths beside him makes it easier as well.

iv.

She doesn't catch stars anymore – not that she's sure she ever got one anyway, after all, the dreams aren't in Technicolor anymore and her bridges smell of ash and the vague idea that she may have cried during the burning. She sits at the bench with Sakura and they talk about anything and everything but the ideas and notions of love.

Sometimes Sakura doesn't come and Hinata wishes she had that same courage.

Tonight Sakura does not show, Hinata waits and wonders and decides maybe tomorrow night she won't come either. But tonight something different happens; the space next to her is occupied by a boy with long brown hair and eyes like hers.

He does not approach her normally, he will talk, he will be kind and cordial, but he has never been a true brother no matter what she may call him. Tonight he is different.

Tonight he speaks with kindness rather than ice, " Hinata-sama, you ought to tell Uzumaki how you feel about him."

She does not look at him when she responds, " Neji-niisan you know I can't. Do not torment me with this, onegai." She does not stutter with him, she has no reason to stutter around the man she calls (but does not believe is) brother.

" Hinata-sama, I am looking out for your wellbeing, that is my task. You appear to be happiest with Uzumaki." There is a truth in those words that she does not want to find.

" Such as with you and Tenten-neesan?" It is a low blow, but Hinata feels low.

" Yes." She didn't expect a dull answer, but she didn't expect a simple one either. And this answer is both, " You are an heiress Hinata-sama; you are the betterment of people, do not hide it with cowardly actions."

He stands up and begins to walk, whispering as he goes, " He is at Training Ground Seven."

She is on her way before he finishes his sentence. There is no time to think about what she should say when she gets there because he is already talking; muttering to the shadows dancing along the ground.

" –you know it's my fault people die, Ojii-san. I may not shove the kunai into their throats and watch them bleed like Akatsuki," the name is spat on the ground but there is respect in it – of power and the courage to defy all to gain what they want, "do, but if I wasn't a container it wouldn't happen. Maybe giving up and just offing myself would help."

She tells him the truth before he can speak any more words of surrender, " But then who would save Sasuke-san?"

His head snaps up and he looks at her with violet eyes as she sits down beside him.

" Hinata-chan…" He says softly.

She smiles over at him, " Naruto-kun, there's not a person in this village who is more determined than you to save Sasuke-san; even Sakura-kun was ready to give up when you told her not to."

" But if I'm gone then Sasuke may come back."

" You are a fool then Naruto-kun." She says and the pungent smell of truth filters out of her mouth, because Naruto has no idea how loved he is. So yes, Naruto is a fool, but she is in love with him, so she is in love with a fool and so be it.

He does not see the truth and turns with angry eyes and asks, " And you're any better?"

She smiles fondly, " No I am not. But Naruto-kun, you are the reason Sasuke-san is trying to run." She hushes him when he opens his mouth, " But you are also the reason he is going to return. It is your body he desires, a corpse beneath a bloody sword, but when he arrives, I promise you Naruto-kun, he will stay. Whether it is your words or Sakura-kun's green eyes that plead for him, we will not know. But he will stay for Team Seven.

" For all his bravado, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-san is still a boy without a family. You are all he has left." She thinks she'd like to stand up and leave him in the moonlight to think on things, but she doesn't, and when Naruto leans forward and presses a chaste kiss on her lips she thinks this tastes a lot like hello.

[[finally]]

Months later, when Sasuke has returned, Hinata sees Naruto talking to Neji and smiles at his face. They have not defined what they are, because she doesn't know if they are something, but she has defined how she feels, and Love has always felt like falling to her so it's nothing new when her stomach drops when she sees his blue eyes.

Naruto spots her and doesn't miss a beat in running up to her, wrapping her in his arms, and kissing her delirious. He rests his forehead on her own and whispers, in the middle of Konoha's square, " I see you Hinata-chan. You're beautiful; you're bright and shining like the sun." He looks apologetic, " I'm sorry I didn't see you before."

And it feels like the sun is shining out of her soul when she replies, " You see me now, Naruto-kun, that is all that matters."

And he never wanted to look away.

And now I am done. FEAR ME.

~AU.