Summoner!
Chapter 3...
Regrets!!
It had been half an hour since the two teams had left Konoha. Team alpha moved fast through the trees on one side of the path, while team Beta moved the other side. Nobody was talking as they hurried towards their destination, but most of them were worried about the blonde haired dope they were trying to find. None more it seemed than Hinata Hyuuga as her byakugan eyes scanned the area.
She was angry and disappointed in Jiraiya for losing the only boy she had ever like, liked… or dare she think it, loved, or loves. The boy had always been inspiration to her… he never gave up no matter how hard things became, and it made her heart flutter and dance. Hinata was not sure how she felt about him anymore, it had been just under three years since she had last seen him, and she had not even dated anybody before, but always found her thoughts, perverted or otherwise wondering to one Naruto Uzumaki.
He was a kind and light-hearted boy who always got the short end of the stick. However, he had never to her knowledge let it get him down, which made him a special individual in her book, and should too in anybodies. He has defeated greater foes and come out stronger for it, and still held his ideals strong, never letting anyone keep him down for too long, even after he lost his best friend to the evil snake freak Orochimaru and his Sound Village.
Naruto came out alive and could still grin stupidly. She new most of his smiles were to hide his pain… to make others feel better, but when he truly smiled, it was the most wonderful thing she has ever seen. In just one real smile, Naruto can shine the world with innocent caring, and love the likes most people could not imagine. He is special that she could tell without a doubt, and wished she had the guts to tell him how she feels about him, but she was too afraid of rejection.
Rejection… it was her life… her father had always rejected her for things she cannot change, such as her gentle and caring nature, or the fact she was kidnapped when she was four. Her father called her weak because a jounin from Cloud had taken her… but how could any child of four hope to fight a jounin.
However, she had gotten used to her fathers criticism but did not think she could take rejection from Naruto, even though she knew Naruto would never hurt her feelings on purpose.
“What’s on your mind Hinata?” asked Kurenai leaping along side her and startling the girl out of her thoughts. “Is it a certain bundle of energy?” she continued with a smirk.
Hinata looked down slightly with a thoughtful frown. “I… yeah… I w-want to tell him something, b-but what if he… what if he doesn’t accept me like that… or worse…” she trailed off her small voice sadly.
Kurenai sighed with an understanding smile. “Well if you don’t tell him… then you may always wonder what could have been,” she answered wisely. “Its better to have been rejected than to always ask yourself what if,” she said with a kind smile.
Hinata looked up at her in wonder. “B-but… it hurts… and I don’t want to make things more uncomfortable than they have been ever since I’ve known him. He just thinks I’m a weird girl with some stupid fainting illness or something.”
Kurenai chuckled lightly. “Well you’ve come along way since then,” she said trying to reassure her student. “He respects you Hinata, whether you respect yourself or not. He’s a nice good boy… and might I add extra cute.”
Hinata blushed with a small giggle. “H-he is, but he… he’s not the brightest person. He never notices most things and I don’t think he really knows how to act around people.”
“That’s true,” interrupted Iruka as he ran beside the two startling them to look at him. “But Naruto isn’t as stupid as he makes people think… I’ve seen him smart. I just think it’s a defence mechanism that he has trouble dropping he’s used it for so long. I’m sure if you tell him how you feel you will make him very happy just to know you’ve cared for so long, and he’ll wish he had paid more attention… you could have been best friends. You would have made him feel special just being around to help him.”
Hinata could not help but feel saddened by her old sensei’s words, was it true… could she have been that special to him? She could not know right now, but one thing was certain, she would have to find out… she would have to tell him how she has felt and hope he can find feelings for her too. She knows he has always like Sakura, but hoped maybe that crush had at least have lessened over time, and he could perhaps find some love for her too.
She gave a small smile to Iruka before speeding a little further ahead to continue searching for any potential threat. She would soon find out if she could have Naruto, and mostly she could not wait, but also she was still scared of rejection.
**
Sakura had watched Hinata from across the path as she had spoken with Kurenai. She could not hear what they said but knew the subject must have been the shy girls crush, or maybe love of Naruto. She knew how it felt to care about someone and not have those feelings returned. She felt sorry for Hinata… it was different for the Hyuuga since Naruto was unaware of her feelings for him, and nobody seemed to think it reasonable to tell the stupid boy.
She should have told him outright. However, she did not. It had not really been on her thoughts much, but Naruto had. She had analysed his behaviour… the way he acted and realised one important thing she had never thought possible. Naruto was lonely… he was always alone crying out for attention with his loudness, stupid pranks, and those bright orange clothes. He was alone… an orphan just like Sasuke, but while Sasuke got all of the attention he did not want, Naruto got scorned and hated.
Sasuke got treated as if he was a god just because of his damn eyes while Naruto and other orphans barely got anything if anything at all. It was depressing to think that one boy got so much affection when he neither wanted it nor deserved it while another who did got angry glares and spiteful scorn. She had discovered, or suspects the reason Naruto is despised and it tore at her inside to think of the way they treated an innocent boy… a hero even, and not just because of some stupid fox, but because he had saved the whole village of Konoha from Gaara destroying it.
Naruto had defeated a Jinchuriki to defend his home village and yet the people did not seem to care, but Sakura did. Naruto had defeated Gaara and saved her life in doing so, and she now understood that she should be grateful to Naruto, yet she had never even thanked him. It would have made him happy just knowing she was grateful.
“Was I really that bad a sensei?” asked Kakashi suddenly as he joined her in tree leaping.
She just looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Yes,” she simply replied making him flinch and enjoying the fact he did. “All you cared about was Sasuke’s progress… we both knew you were training him behind our backs, and at the time I didn’t care because I was just one of the teme’s fan girls. He knew too, I could see it every time he asked you for extra help, and you said no. it was in his eyes, but we didn’t care, and he just pretended it didn’t bother him. I bet he just thought the bastard deserved it more than him… but that’s not true, he deserved so much more than anyone gave him.”
Kakashi looked down at the branches they travelled over in shame remembering all of the times he just refused to teach Naruto a jutsu, or all the times he could have helped with the boys’ lack of taijutsu. “I-I can never make it up to him can I?” he asked in a shaky voice as he thought back to his old teammates, he had let his friend and sensei down.
“In my books you can’t,” she agreed with a hiss causing him to gulp. “But Naruto is Naruto. He doesn’t seem capable of holding a grudge for too long.”
“M-maybe he’ll let me teach him the Chidori?” he suggested hopefully wondering whether that would be enough to at least begin mending the bridge, he began knocking down as soon as they met.
“Maybe,” piped in Jiraiya as he joined in their conversation. “But where the hell do I start, he already knows how to summon and the Rasengan,” he told them sadly.
“His taijutsu always stunk,” said Kakashi with a light chuckle. “I should have taught him a style even if it meant handing him over to Gai every morning. He already wears orange and is loud so it couldn’t have been too bad.”
Sakura shuddered at the thought. “No, you did the world a favour by not sending him to them,” she answered quickly with a small laugh. “We don’t need Naruto crying about his flames of youth too.”
Jiraiya and Kakashi laughed at the thought while Shino up ahead rolled his eyes behind his glasses wondering why he had to be on a team with two idiot perverted sensei’s. He sighed; he supposed it could be worse and hoped they found Naruto soon because he did not want Naruto’s idiot sensei’s to rub off on him.
T.B.C…
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