A/N: Just random thoughts of NaruHina. Post war. Fluffy at the end!

D/C: I do not own NARUTO.

To Be Human

He had always been smiling, patting the backs of those who mourned and soothed them of their worries.

Forgiving his best friend, who had broken his spirt more than a handful of times, even tried to murder him. They reconciled after the battles. Although their hugs were fists to the face most of the time.

Helped the girl he loved come to terms with her feelings for his best friend, and comforted her when said best friend rejected her, yet again.

He said kind words, lifted the dampened moral of the Fire Country, and of the whole world, for that matter.

He restored peace, all by himself.

He tamed the beasts inside of him, and even was now on peaceful terms.

He carried the burden of being the Child of Prophecy, son of the Fourth Hokage and the former Nine-tails jinchūriki, student of the famous Jiraya and the mysterious Kakashi Hatake, and changed the lives of everyone around him.

But Hinata could see things the normal human eye couldn't.

Behind those bright blue eyes, he was crying; pleading.

He was helping them, hoping, but never requesting, to be comforted in return.

She wasn't surprised to see him there; on the bench just out side of her apartment. He had asked her to meet him there, to talk. She was surprised to see him smile and greet her loudly, a normal Naruto thing to do.

Why didn't he just cry?

Cry and scream and yell and say that fate was a cruel, evil bitch.

That's what she had done, as to grieve of the lost of her cousin, her best friend, protecter, her constant in life.

She wasn't surprised when she sat next to him, and began to listen to him tell her about something Sasuke had done to anger him in training today.

She stopped him, small thin hands placed on the cloth of his t-shirt. Her pink lips curled into a small, sad smile but her eyes filled with love.

"It's okay, you know..."

He didn't know what she meant. He asked her to clarify, only to have her stand, bringing him to stand too.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, ignoring the urge to blush and shy away from such intimate contact with the love of her life. He stood frozen, letting her fingers gently rub his back, the other set of fingers brushing softly in his golden mane.

"It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to be human and let your emotions come out."

It took a moment, a few moments actually, before his arms slowly moved around the far more feminine figure against him. He touched her softly at first, before something in him snapped and crushed her chest to his in a hard embrace.

She didn't see the emotions playing on his face, from shock to sadness and finally, pain.

His arms tightened their hold on her while she noticed his shoulders started shaking slightly. His breath deepened and he sucked in air to hold in the tears that flooded his eyes. His body relaxed and leaned into her, like she was somehow his anchor.

Seeing as he was finally letting go, Hinata maneuvered her way to sit on the bench again. Naruto was buried in her chest, sniffling as the swirl of emotion hit him like a ton of bricks.

"I can see it," she stated quietly, "The pain you're hiding. I should've gotten the courage to do this sooner, but I-...I'm here now. I see you as Naruto, the human; not just the son of Fourth or the savior of the world. You can be human with me." She then smiled at him wishfully. "Maybe...I can save you this time."

That must've done it. As blue and lavender clashed, the latter dropped while the former watered. It was like a dam of emotions breaking, crumbling down after years and years of building and hiding.

She wrapped her arms around him again and allowed him to cry on her. The agony of his cries caused her to cry for him, hands tightening into fist. To see him, the man she loved, in so much pain...It was unbearable to her.

It was minutes later when he felt he had released his bottled up emotions. His breathing calmed, and his arms loosened, much to her displeasure. He glanced up to her tear stricken face and just stared. He seemed to be thinking, mulling over his thoughts in that bright head of his. It was another five minutes of starring before he caught a lock of her long hair between his fingers, letting a few strands fall back down to her hips.

"You saved me long before this."

She smiled as he said those words, eyes lighting up and her gaze fell. He was referring to the war, she thought. He lifted up her chin, forcing her eyes to his again.

"I want to be human with you. Just you."

Her fingers brushed through his hair once more before nodding, the smiled on her lips mirroring his own.

Edited: 08/19/14