{The Adventures of Naruto and Hinata}

Lavender

The sun was slowly slipping under the horizon, staining the sky all sorts of fiery colors.

Birds chirped their evening song and children laughed and played while they still had their chance before the sun disappeared completely and the stars took its place in the sky above.

Pale lavender eyes that looked like miniature moons roamed the reflection of the water nearby, watching the day light fade more and more.

Sniffles were heard from the owner of the lavender eyes and tears spilled slowly down their chin. Small hands tightened and loosened over and over on the chain of the swing they were sitting on.

A little girl, no older than 7 years old, sat alone in a playground. She bore soft, beautifully pale and clear skin. Her short midnight blue locks complimented her complexion near perfectly. Bangs framed her small face nicely and she, overall, was a very adorable girl.

You may be asking, 'Why is she crying?', right? Well, let's leave it to a certain someone to answer that question for you.

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Today wasn't the best day for a certain 7 year old little boy.

He had to go grocery shopping earlier that day, since he was running unhealthily low on food, but every stall or store denied him any service and yelled at him to 'GET OUT OF THEIR SIGHT, LITTLE BRAT!'.

The boy sighed. That's how it always was. The adults always yelled at him because of the littlest things for whatever reason and proceeded to call him horrible names, families taught their kids to stay away from him and to hate him, and even the shinobi in passing wouldn't bother to help him when he was in a tight spot.

He hated how they always treated him like this and no one ever bothered to explain why.

Kicking a small rock that was in the way of the path he was walking, it made a small 'plunk!' sound as it hit the river that ran parallel to the trail.

His eyes burned as tears slowly built up behind them. He wanted to, he wanted to cry, to let it all out. To release all the pain that's been stacking up over the years. But he tries his darndest to hold the tears back. He won't give the people that luxury of seeing him so vulnerable. He won't let them see him weak like this. It doesn't matter anyway, because he was going to make everyone respect him one day. After he fulfills his dream, everyone will have to look up to him. He'll make sure of it.

The soft sound of sniffling breaks him out of his thoughts.

He looks around for the source and eventually follows where he thinks the sound is coming from.

The sniffles lead him to a small playground. It was empty for the most part, except for a little girl that looks around his age on the swings. Hiccups and small tremors escape the girl again and he walks over to help her.

"Hey girl! Are you okay?" He asks as he stops in front of her.

She hesitates, but only for a short while because she finally looks up at him and his breathe catches.

Her face is small and she still has baby fat on her cheeks. Pupil-less lavender eyes peer into his ocean blue ones. They look like moons, he realizes. She's a healthy pale and it definitely fits her well. She looks so fragile sitting there looking at him, and he swears he's seen her somewhere before. 'She's kinda cute', he thinks to himself.

"I-I'm f-fine." She softly says, looking down at her feet again, only this time with slightly red cheeks. She presses her pointer fingers together in a shy manner and it only proves his earlier thought to be true.

"Then why were you crying?" He says bluntly.

A small 'eep' escapes her mouth as if she's been caught red-handed.

"I-uh-I..." She stutters.

"Actually," he interrupts, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I probably shouldn't have stuck my nose into your business like that y'know, I'm sorry." He says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

He got up from his crouch in front of her and sat in the swing beside her, swaying his legs back and forth in order to start swinging slightly. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes with nothing but the squeak of a metal chain filling the air before he spoke up again.

"Y'know, I don't know if this will help much, but when I'm sad, I think about all the things I wanna do in the future. I think about how I'm going to be starting the ninja academy soon and how I want to be the strongest ninja in the village and be respected by everyone. I don't know how I'm gonna do it... but I wanna become Hokage y'know!" He said enthusiastically, turning to face the girl with a blinding smile on his face that rivaled the sun.

The blush on her cheeks deepened and she was at a loss for words. Not only at the beautiful smile he showed her, but also at his words.

Getting over her initial shock, she smiled softly back at him with a blush still peppering her cheeks.

He looked at her smile and realized how nice it was. He was about to say something when someone interrupted the moment.

"HINATA-SAMA!"

That was her cousin, Neji. He must've been looking for her ever since she ran off.

Standing up from her seat, she faced the sun-kissed blond boy in front of her.

"I-I h-have to go n-now, but... t-thank you. F-for the-uh- for the a-advice." She stuttered out.

Before he could respond, she was already rounding the corner of the wall surrounding the playground and disappearing from sight.

He sat there for a few moments and came to a decision. He would find her and make her smile like that again. Now, Uzumaki Naruto has one more goal to accomplish in the future.

Determination burned in his eyes as he stood up and began his walk back 'home'.

(Because that desolate, lonely place will never truly be his home)

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As she walked back to the clan compound with her cousin, she realized something.

Hyuga Hinata may or may not be falling in love with the leaf village's pariah and resident prankster, Uzumaki Naruto.