Chapter 6: Starved For Love

"Okay Jiraiya-sensei, I understand," Nia stood at the village gates and waved as she was now headed on her solo mission, "I'll be careful, I promise. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, and don't forget that conversation we had. I'm trusting you'll do the right thing and try to hide yourself if you spot any Akatsuki member or anything, kay?" The sannin reminded her as she nodded.

When she did leave, her mind immediately began to wander. She thought about her role as this supposed, "Guardian", why she needed to keep her profile low. She also thought about the group that left sometime before her. Had they found Itachi? Had they maybe even found Sasuke? Were they okay?

Hah, I need to hurry with this mission and come back before Naruto gets back before me and completely flips out about how I went on another solo mission. I'd never be able to hear the end of it...

Watching as some squirrels seemed to be fighting not too far from her, Nia sweatdropped as she thought about a event from over a year ago.

Geez, we used to fight all the time too... it could be over small things or really big things... but, now that I think about it... I still remember that time I practically almost left him. That was one of the biggest fights we ever had! It happened back when we were with Jiraiya-sensei though sometime before we were gonna get to Konoha.

~FLASHBACK~

"Curly Brow, there's always something wrong with you and I'm so sick of it! I'm tired of having to deal with you!" Naruto yelled in annoyance as he and Nia were in a room at an inn, "It's not my fault everyone sees you the way they do! Grow some thick skin and deal with the way you look! It's so annoying having to listen to your negativity! You're always crying and I don't like having to be around you when you do that all the time! Like you might as well just leave at this point cause you're too overbearing for me! Be sad somewhere else, ya know! Give me a break!"

Suddenly, Nia's heart broke into tiny little pieces and when it did, she unzipped her bag and began stuffing the clothes she hanged in the closet into her bag aggressively. To others, it would be seen as if she was beating the bag to death.

"What're you doing?" The genin noticed this.

Nia zipped her bag and stood, "You told me you're sick of listening to my concerns, you have no desire to comfort me, I irritate you, and you practically don't care about me so I've packed my bag and I'm leaving, Naruto!"

"Hold on, you can't just leave!" The blonde got up and ran to the door, completely blocking it.

"Move." Nia attempted to get pass him but with no luck.

"No, I can't do that."

"Didn't you just tell me to be sad somewhere else and to give you a break?!"

"Sure, but I didn't think you would really try to leave me, Curly Brow. Here why don't I just hold you and we can let go of this argument?"

The kunoichi furrowed her eyebrows, "You think a simple hug from you would make me forgive you of everything you said just now?"

Naruto winked and held his arms out for her, "Isn't that always how it goes? We argue, you get angry or upset, I say sorry, offer you a hug, and you come running straight in my arms, and everything is all better between us, ya know?"

"You wish it was that easy after what you just said, don't you?!"

"It is that eas- GUAH!" Naruto was interrupted with a hard slap from Nia.

Immediately, he stumbled to his knees with one hand holding the wall to balance himself and the other hand rubbing his cheek as a throbbing red print of Nia's hand covered the left side of his face.

"You can be such a douchebag sometimes, Naruto!" The girl then stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Once she made it outside, she stomped around, many people taking notice of her ominous attitude and choosing to stay away from her.

"WHO'RE YOU LAUGHING AT?!" She hollered at a group of guys as she heard them making fun of her appearance, "IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY, SAY IT TO MY FACE!"

Closing their mouths as they knew they were caught, the group walked along, while Nia just shook her head and continued on her way.

That's what I thought!

Suddenly however, someone had threw a ball at the back of her head roughly, causing her to throw her hand over the area and turn to see who done it. Of course, no one seemed to be in the area. Seeing as it was night also, no children were outside which meant someone in their late teens to maybe even middle aged had to have attacked her then scurried away before she could deal with them.

But this was normal for Nia. She was used to being abused in one form or another. Verbally abused mostly but other times, physically as well. She was always getting unwanted attention. Always the target for mistreatment and ostracism.

"Curly Brow!" Naruto came running to her and grabbed her by the arm, turning her around aggressively, "What the hell was that for?! That slap didn't feel good, ya know?!"

"Neither did your words!" The girl shot back.

"Why do you always have a damn attitude with me?!"

"The only reason I get an attitude is cause you never understand how I feel," Nia retaliated as her and Naruto were out in the streets in a small village, "You always just tell me to grow some thick skin and you always keep complaining about how I get upset over the same old, same old and that really hurts my feelings! You always pretend like you want to make me feel better or care about anything I say, when in reality, you don't give a damn about me! You just find me annoying!"

The kunoichi placed her hand over her heart, "I'm tired of no one caring about me and I just wanna be left alone! You make me feel bad sometimes, Naruto."

Naruto only responded, "Curly Brow, I... I mean, I don't... I don't try to make you feel bad; I just want to see you more happy. You're so depressed and lonely and it hurts me badly to see and even imagine how hurt you feel! You feel like you were born to be treated badly, abused, ignored, laughed at, and shunned. You feel like no one cares about you or loves you. You feel all alone and-"

"There you go again pretending you care!" The girl argued, "Just admit it already! You accept literally everyone EXCEPT for me!"

"That's not true," The blonde denied.

"Yeah it is!" Nia turned then began walking away.

Naruto frowned, "Where the heck are you going now?!"

"Don't worry about it! Just stay away from me!"

In a hurry, the genin jumped over the girl's head and landed in front of her.

"Oh my god!" She groaned, "Get the hell out of my way!"

"Why're you being so mean and hard to deal with all of a sudden?!" Naruto replied, "You were getting nicer and nicer to me, ya know! What happened?!"

"What difference does it make if I'm kind or a bitch?! You still don't think I matter and it's not like I'll get treated any better either way! If I'm kind, I'm treated like shit! If I'm mean, I'm treated like shit! If I'm kind, nothing I do or say matters to anyone! If I'm mean, nothing I do or say matters to anyone! Seriously, does me being kind change how you view me?!"

"I mean-"

"No, so shut up!" The girl answered for him.

"Hold on! You didn't even let me answer!"

Nia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Naruto... just step aside!"

"No! I don't want you to leave me!"

"What the hell are you even talking about?! I told you to stop acting like you care about me! I told you I'm done with everything! I'm sick and tired of feeling worthless and feeling like I don't deserve to go on. I'm tired of feeling like I should've never been born! GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

With that, Nia shoved Naruto by the shoulder, "You can do whatever you want and hog all the training sessions to yourself because I don't give a damn anymore! I was a damn idiot for not going with Akihiko when I had the chance! At least he cared about me and thought I was beautiful! You couldn't care less about-"

"ARGH! SHUT UP!" The boy finally lost his temper and roughly grabbed Nia by the wrist and forced her to look at him, "DAMMIT, I NEVER DEALT WITH SOMEONE AS FRUSTRATING AS YOU! YOU PISS ME OFF SO MUCH, I CAN'T STAND IT, YA KNOW!"

"THEN LET GO OF ME ALREADY! YOU IRRITATE ME TOO! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nia was furious as well.

"I SAID NO!"

"WELL, I SAID YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!

"YES!"

"NOOO!" Naruto grasped Nia's shoulder, "I don't want you to go! Listen, I'll shoulder all that hatred and pain you feel inside! Just stay here with me! I'll bear all of it!"

"That's not possible, Naruto. You can't just do that! Bearing all of someone's pain... it doesn't make sense. I'll still feel the pain inside my heart. It won't go away by just supposedly handing it to you."

"Curly Brow, what can I do to make you feel better?! I'll do anything to make you feel better, I swear! Just name it!"

"Naruto, just... ugh, leave it alone. I just wanna be by myself. Let me leave now," Nia pleaded.

Naruto shook his head, "Curly Brow, you're not alone, okay? You just need to learn how to love yourself. That's all, ya know?"

"Suuure, cause loving myself is gonna get other people to treat me better, make them think I'm not hideous, and keep me from being harassed, abused, and laughed at! Hooray!" Nia wiggled her fingers.

"Curly Brow..." The boy frowned and opened his arms, "You're still hurting so badly, come here."

"I don't wanna be hugged, I wanna leave."

"Don't be like that. Just come here, okay? I'll hold you close to me."

"Thanks, but no thanks," The girl rejected him and crossed her arms.

Feeling the sting of this, the ninja only responded, "I don't get it... why do you hate me so much? I try so hard to be nice to you and-"

"Just stop talking... I never said I hate you."

"Well, why do you act like you do all the time?!"

"Because sometimes you infuriate me or I'm just having a bad day and accidentally give you an attitude!"

"Okay so what is it that I do or say that makes you angry?" Naruto questioned.

"For one, you never understand the way I feel! Two, you always hog up the training sessions! Three, I always feel like you're the one who actually hates me! Four, you always give me the wrong idea when it comes to how you feel toward me and lastly-

"Wait what do you mean by I give you the wrong idea about how I feel toward you?"

The kunoichi refused to answer, "Have a good life. I'm out of here."

"Curly Brow, would you quit messing around?!"

"I'm not messing around, Naruto! I'm leaving for real! See?! You never take what I say seriously!"

"Listen, I care about you and I'm sorry I hurt your feelings really bad. I shouldn't have made the comment that I did. I was very insensitive, I'm sorry, ya know?"

"No," Nia shook her head, "What you said earlier proved that you don't care about me nor understand how I feel. Naruto, even though I'm really hesitant and distrustful towards people in general, I still do believe you're a good person, but with everything that I've experienced with others, I'm sure deep down you either hate me, feel sorry for me, or don't care at all about me. I mean like we tried to get along, but we always keep end up fighting! "

"But Curly Brow, we can set our differences aside! I've seen you be kind, but you just put up this facade that you're really rude and mean when you're actually a complete sweetheart inside—a complete softy! I'm sure that that's only because everyone messes with you and it's just your way to protect yourself! Even I can see that and I totally get that!"

The young woman could only keep her eyes to the ground awkwardly.

"Curly Brow, if I didn't care then why am I standing here? I can't just let you leave feeling all miserable inside. You got issues, but I still want you to stay with me and I don't care what anyone says about you or how many arguments we get in, I still wanna hold you close to me, but you won't let me!"

"Geez, quit being so cheesy," Nia's cheeks became a bit rosy as she still looked away from the genin, "And stop saying you wanna hold me close to you. You know you're lying..."

"But it is true! You're so vulnerable and it makes me wanna protect you and hold you in my arms so you feel safe and cared for!"

"N-Naruto, stop!" This only flustered the girl, "See, this is what I'm talking about! You always say or do things that give me the wrong idea and I'm sick of it! Stop saying things you don't mean! Then let me guess: now that you've made me feel warm inside, you're gonna talk about how pretty Sakura is?"

"Sakura? She has nothing to do with this conversation."

"She always has something to do with every moment we have! Like that time we were by the fire and you were asking me about what kinda guy I like! That whole time you kept holding my hand, getting super close to me, touching my thigh, rubbing my lower back, playing with my hair, complimenting me and practically just flirting with me then all of a sudden you were all like, "Oh Sakura deserves everything for being so pretty! Pretty girls deserve the world!" Seriously! That pissed me off! I was getting my hopes up then BAM! You totally made me feel like a serious idiot! I felt played!"

Naruto tilted his head, "I don't know what you just said cause you were talking so fast, but I think you just basically said how you want to be in my arms right now or something."

"HUH?! That's not what I was saying! You heard completely wro-" Nia then just stopped herself and breathed heavily instead. Her heart ached as tears brimmed her eyes and a lump grew in her throat causing her voice to tremble, "Y-You know w-what? Just f-forget it. I'm d-done try-trying... I feel s-so unlo-unloved and a-alone. Just l-leave me alone!"

With that, she lifted her shirt just above her eyes and walked around the blonde, sobbing to herself as she did so.

"CURLY BROW!" Naruto looked over his shoulder before going after her, "Curly Brow, come on! I'm sorry, ya know! I really care about you, okay?!"

The kunoichi only kept walking. Naruto pulled her arm.

"Just calm down... I don't take your feelings lightly. Let me protect you, kay?" He told her gently, "You're overbearing, but-"

"STOP TOUCHING ME!" Nia yanked her arm away, "I told you already! I'm done!"

Again, the blonde grasped her forearm. Frustrated, Nia attempted to push the genin away with her other arm, only for him to grab ahold of that arm as well.

"CUT IT OUT ALREADY, DAMMIT!" Naruto raised his voice again as he and Nia got into a struggle.

"YOU CUT IT OUT! YOU JUST CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND THE FACT THAT I ACT THE WAY I DO CAUSE I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME! YOU ARE SO NAIVE!"

Seconds later, realizing what she just admitted, Nia panicked and immediately looked away. Meanwhile, Naruto's hold on her lightened as he just stared at her in shock.

"Hold on," He tried to wrap his mind around the whole thing, "Did you just say... you want me to love you?"

Finding her opportunity, Nia yanked her arms away again and once more tried to run away from the boy. It didn't work though as he simply summoned a few shadow clones and had them appear in front of her and restrain her before making them bring her back over to him.

"LET GO ALREADY!" She thrashed around as the clones did their best to keep her from escaping.

"Curly Brow, what did you just say to me?" Naruto approached her.

"I didn't say anything so let me go!" Nia refused to answer.

"Guys, bring her here," The original ordered as the clones did as told.

With a slight push, they made Nia bump into their master as he himself then wrapped his arms around her, trying his best to calm her down.

"Naruto, let go of me! I don't wanna be hugged by you! I'm pissed! I'm really mad at you!"

"I don't care if you're mad! I'm gonna keep holding you like this until you calm down!"

"UGH! JUST LET ME LEAAAAVE!" Nia tried to untangle his fingers from one another then pushed against his chest.

"I TOLD YOU I CARE ABOUT YOU SO STOP IT NOW! YOU'RE ANNOYING THE HELL OUT OF ME!"

"GREAT! NICE TO KNOW!" The kunoichi was still drowned in her sorrow.

She bit her wobbling bottom lip, trying hopelessly to keep the tears in her eyes from falling out. After all, Nia had always been so self-conscious when she cried but now as she felt her chest tightened, she just gave way to the enormity of her sorrow. She sobbed into her hands and the tears dripped between her fingers, raining down onto the parched soil beneath her.

Her breathing was ragged, gasping and the strength left her legs. She sank to her knees not caring about the the grit that dug into her knees. She was noisy, but at that moment that didn't matter to her. She only wanted to cry her pain away until she no longer could—until she would feel empty.

One second passed.Two seconds passed.Three seconds passed. Guilt was eating and pestering Naruto. A fire burned in his mind and throat. Remorse hit him hard! Immediately, he got onto a knee and attempted to comfort the young girl.

"Curly Brow... damn... I'm sorry. I take back everything I said, okay? Just come on, don't cry like that... please..."

Not listening, Nia continued to weep. Afraid of getting pushed away by her yet wanting to make her feel better, the blonde embraced her as Nia couldn't find any strength in her to just push away from him.

"You guys, I saw a small cave not too far from here. Gather some firewood and get a fire started cause we'll have to spend the night in there since the innkeeper totally kicked Curly Brow and I out of there due to overhearing our argument. Take her bag too," The original gave orders to his clones as they obediently did as told.

Meanwhile, he would focus on getting Nia to come along with him but now she was resisting again.

"Stay away from me..." She weakly and slowly spoke. It sounded as if it were hollow and completely filled with hopelessness, "I don't think... I wanna talk to you anymore."

Naruto lowered his eyes, having felt Nia really was sick of him at this point.

"Curly Brow..." His voice ached, "You're not serious... about leaving my side, are you? I really didn't meant to hurt you this bad. C'mon... I want you to stay by me... seriously. I'm sorry, ya know?"

Silently, the girl softly pushed the blonde away and rose to her feet.

"No, you can just focus on your precious pretty Sakura."

"What? You're bringing up Sakura again?" The genin stood up also, "I don't get it. Are you... jealous of her?"

Nia turned her back toward him and crossed her arms, "Shut up."

"Curly Brow, you haven't even met her yet so why're you acting like you have a problem with her?"

"I don't have a problem with her, I have a problem with how you view her as opposed to me!"

"I don't get it, what's that supposed to mean?"

Nia turned back around and rested a hand on her heart, "I want you to think I'm pretty, Naruto! I want you to think I'm cute just like how you think Sakura is. Why don't you find me attractive? What is it about my face that you don't like? Is it my nose? My eyes? My head shape? My hair? WHAT?!"

"Wait, so all I gotta do is call you pretty then you'll stop crying and run right back into my arms again?! In that case, fine—I think you're pretty. Now stop crying and let me hug you."

"Just forget about it," The girl walked away again, "I give up. It's hopeless..."

"But I called you pretty!"

"Sure, but you didn't mean it! You're so insincere!"

"Curly Brow, just give me some time to talk to you, okay?" The ninja rested his hand on her shoulder, "There's a small cave just ahead. My clones already prepared a little fire. We can talk in there."

"Great, does that cave sap chakra too?"

Naruto chuckled, "No. We'll be just fine."

Hesitantly, Nia finally complied and followed the boy as they eventually made it to the cave some minutes later. When they entered, Nia sat away from him, still choosing to sulk over what happened.

"Curly Brow, talk to me..." Naruto persisted, "Let's talk this out now, okay?"

The kunoichi said nothing as she only blankly stared at the fire and listened to it burn the wood. She sat there, dominated by a profound sadness, fatigue engraved on her worn face. She warmed her shivering hands against the crackling fire in front of her.

"You know, I don't take pleasure in hurting your feelings or making you cry..."

Again, Nia stayed silent.

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. He hated being ignored.

"Damn it, why won't you say something?! I know you can hear me! We can't fix this problem if you refuse to communicate. Here, let's talk about this: What the heck did you mean by when you said you act the way you do cause you want me to love you? Seriously, what was that supposed to mean?"

"Why don't you try to figure that out for yourself?!" The girl snapped, "You're so naive, it's irritating! It's not hard to put the pieces together, Naruto!"

"Well maybe if you stopped being so damn vague, you and I could get somewhere with all this crap! Listen, just come here," Naruto spread his legs a bit and tapped on the open space between them, "Nia, if you care anything at all about me and this friendship then sit right here and let's talk. If you don't, then... I'm just gonna tell Pervy Sage that we need to bring you back to your village and you'll have to deal with-"

"OKAAAAY!" The girl groaned and went over to the boy, sitting in the open space of his legs awkwardly while he only brought her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, "There! Now what do you want?"

"Just tell me how I can make you feel better? I didn't mean to hurt you. I just got irritated cause I don't like seeing you all sad and depressed. I mean seriously, how many times do I have to tell you you can't truly change the way you look? Maybe if you were filthy stinking rich or had some awesome jutsu to permanently change your facial features, but you don't have either so you can't do much except accept yourself."

"That doesn't help, Naruto. Out of billions and billions of people I could've been, I was born as this... creature-looking thing. Everywhere I look, everyone looks normal or good-looking. Like you're normal, the people in this village are normal... why did I have to be born so different? And don't try to tell me to quit complaining cause someone has it worse. It doesn't change the fact I feel unhappy."

"Maybe if you just stop putting your entire worth on your appearance, you'll start to feel good about yourself?"

Nia sighed, "That's so easy for you to say—you're a guy. People can overlook your appearance if there are other aspects of you that can compensate for that. But never mind all that, I just wanna talk about what you said... you really hurt my feelings when you said what you said. It really did make me feel like I can't tell you anything anymore and that if I ever feel upset about anything, I should never ever talk to you about it."

"I'm sorry..." The blonde apologized again, "I sorta just... blurted it out without thinking about how it would make you feel."

Nia lowered her eyes, frowned, and leaned a bit more back in order to make herself feel better.

"No... you're right. I'm depressing as heck. I don't blame you for wanting to get away from someone so negative—especially when you're so full of life. Negative and positive don't mix... neither does darkness and light."

"I mean you are overbearing sometimes, but I've dealt with super depressed people before. Actually, a lot. I'm used to it, ya know?"

"Hm? Really?" Nia raised a brow and looked over her shoulder to see the ninja nod.

"Yeah, but even though I do think other people had it way worse than you, you're still the one who's the most hurt I think by what goes on in your life. No one ever really leaves you alone, you're constantly being laughed at, abused, completely ignored, and just completely harassed a lot. It kinda makes me feel bad for y-"

"No, shut up!" Nia pushed herself away from the blonde, "Don't ever say that to me! I hate when someone says that to me or about me! It makes me angry, so stop!"

"But, I didn't mean it in the way you think. I just mean I wanna hold you and keep you safe!" Naruto tried to explain.

Awkwardly, Nia turned away from him and flushed in the face.

"Stop saying that to me..." She whispered as she placed her hands on her heart and looked down.

Naruto tilted his head trying to see why she was being strange. When she turned away from him again, he sighed heavily.

"I don't get it, you don't want me to hold you? I thought you liked it?"

"Erm... you're serious about all that? Weren't you joking?" The girl looked over her shoulder.

"No, I wasn't. Now how about you? You haven't answered my question: Do you like being in my arms, Curly Brow? Do I make you feel better?"

Nia's blush only deepened, "All I know is that... I wanna feel better and that I do feel the need to have you hold me and tell me you care. That all I wanna hear. I want you to accept me..."

"Of course I do, but erm... does that mean you'll finally admit that you feel lonely?" Naruto pestered, "Seriously, you shouldn't feel ashamed or like you're not independent by saying you're lonely and just acknowledging it. A lot of people feel lonely. If you keep lying to yourself, it won't make you feel any better, Curly Brow."

"But if I do," This made the girl emotional again, "It makes me feel like I'm weak and that I need other people to make me happy."

"But it doesn't mean that. Anyone who says they don't need anyone is a liar. You can't survive with a healthy mind if you have zero interaction with anyone. Some people need more socialization than others... you sound like you need a lot more, but now I'm not really sure if you're lonely in a friend-wise way or in the romantic sense. Since you're so stuck on your appearance, I gonna go ahead and think you're more concerned about being lonely romantically cause who the heck cares about what they look like when it comes to making friends? You probably just want a boyfriend or something right now, right?"

"Stop assuming things, Naruto..." The kunoichi mumbled.

"Curly Brow, it's totally true, isn't it? You want a relationship, huh? You don't have to feel ashamed and like you don't deserve it. Who doesn't wanna be with anyone their whole life? You're not needy, weak, or dependent for wanting that, ya know? It's okay... you can't help but desire that just like everyone else. I don't know who made you feel like you're wrong for wanting to be loved in that way..."

"Stop, Naruto..." Nia lowered her head as a dark shadow covered over her eyes, "You're making me feel bad. I'm not admitting to anything like that. It makes me feel weak and like I need a guy to make me happy, which isn't true. I just want to be a wife and a mother when I grow up—it's my biggest dream: the biggest dream I've had my entire life. I want it more than anything else in the world, even more than being better than Jiraiya-sensei at writing books. Yet... when I look at my reflection... I see that that life has been robbed from me... and it crushes my soul..."

Naruto stayed silent and lowered his eyes as Nia continued talking:

"To be honest, I just feel like... I'm nothing all the time. I feel like I have no purpose on this planet and I'm not even trying to be depressing or like annoying or to just feel bad for myself. This is just... how I feel. I can't push that feeling away no matter how hard I try. I just... don't know what to do. I don't wanna be angry nor sad anymore but I just feel completely hopeless. Like nothing doesn't matter. It's hard for me to feel anything, it's hard for me to smile or laugh. I'm just at that point where I don't want to exist and before you freak out, I don't mean like I'm gonna go jump off a cliff right now. I just mean that I wanna disappear or turn back time to prevent myself from being born at all."

"I'm telling you: the only reason you're feeling that way is cause you've placed your ENTIRE worth and value on your appearance and what others think of it! You need to stop doing that and appreciate all the other good things about you then you'll finally be able to care about yourself and not be so sad! You'll probably even stop caring about what others think of you and then someone might eventually fall for you, ya know?"

"Naruto, I get what you're saying, but just cause a girl gets confidence or loves herself doesn't mean a guy is gonna like her if she's not pretty. The only thing that matters about a girl is her looks. I mean seriously, why do you like Sakura?"

"Erm..."

"Exactly!" The kunoichi crossed her arms, "Cause she's pretty and that's it! If I were to love myself and was as confident as you, would you wanna be with me?"

Feeling like the blonde took too long to answer, Nia rolled her eyes and pouted, "That's what I thought! Point proven."

"Oh come on, Curly Brow. You're acting like you're some wildebeest, ya know? Trust me, I've seen way worse! There's this kid I know named Konohamaru and you should've seen when he tried to attempt the sexy jutsu the first time! The girl... or shemale looking thing he turned into was horrendous!"

Hearing this, Nia cracked a smile then laughed.

"Oh my gosh, that's so mean. You didn't have to call his first attempt at trying to transform into a woman, a shemale," She giggled some more.

Naruto gasped and turned the girl around by the shoulder, "No way! Curly Brow, you're laughing!"

"Huh?!" The girl covered her hand over her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry you had to see me smile and hear my ugly laugh."

"No, no, I don't hate it or anything! Do it again! I like it! You're adorable when you laugh at something I say, ya know?" The blonde leaned forward, "You still think I'm funny, huh?"

Nia nodded and smiled, "Yeah... I think you're funny."

Pleased with the compliment, Naruto grinned and pointed, "Now how about you say something else? Curly Brow, it's your turn! Say you care about me. I don't think I ever heard you say it to me yet. I always say it to you, so now I wanna hear you say it, ya know?"

"But that's-"

"Say: I care about you, Naruto and I want you to protect me and hold me in your arms," He instructed the kunoichi as this made her heart pound and steam pour out of her heated face.

"H-Hold on! D-Don't you think that's a l-little-"

"Tell me, Curly Brow. I wanna hear you say it."

"Okay, okay," The girl gave in and shyly gazed deeply in the blonde's eyes then said, "I admit it: I... I care about you, Naruto and.... and I w-want you to p-protect me and... and erm..."

Nia's nerves got the best of her and shut her down. Wanting to hear her finish the sentence, Naruto brushed his finger against her cheek.

"Say you wanna be in my arms, Curly Brow..." He mumbled, wanting desperately to be told that.

The dark-haired girl nearly died just getting the words out. She was embarrassed.

"I... I wanna be... I wanna be in your arms, N-Naruto..." She finally said as the boy slid his back down the wall.

"Haah... my heart skipped a beat just now, ya know?" His face was entirely red as he rested his hand on his heart.

Nia only thought cynically, "No, that's not true. Your heart didn't skip a beat, Naruto. I bet you just have a heart murmur or something."

"What?!" He sat upright and tightly grasped the girl's hand again, "I'm not lying! It really did, Curly Brow! You made my heart skip a beat!"

"No I didn't! That's not... that's not possible!"

"Curly Brow, stop. Don't make me wish it hadn't."

"I'm sorry," Nia apologized, snuggling herself against the blonde again for comfort, "Can you keep holding me then? I wanna be held by you. Please?"

"Sure, but erm... I wanna hear you say you only wanna stay in my arms and no one else's first."

"Um... okay. I wanna... I wanna stay in your arms and no one else's."

"And now say I'm the only one who can protect you and not that Akihiko guy."

"You're the only one who can protect me and not Akihiko," Nia repeated.

Naruto grinned sheepishly then hugged her, "Curly Brow, say you wanna stay with me and that you don't want me to let you go, ya know?"

"I... I wanna stay with you and I don't want you to let me go, Naruto." The girl blushed and clenched onto the back of Naruto's jacket.

"Now tell me you feel better when I'm around and that I make you feel happy."

"I feel better when you're around and you make me feel happy."

Saying that, she held tighter onto the guy, "Naruto, I'm sorry for smacking you and for being mean. I just want you to hold me, okay? Please don't let go."

"Of course not. I'll hold you as long as you need me to hold you, but hey... are you still mad at me?"

Lightly pulling away but still keeping her hands to his chest, Nia answered, "Kinda... but I'm happy you're making an honest effort to make me feel better though I got annoyed with how persistent you were in chasing after me when I was trying to leave..."

The blonde dropped his shoulders, "Oh maaan, are you serious...? You're still sad too then I take it?"

"I just... don't know how to feel better. I want to feel better, Naruto and not feel so alone and uncared for."

"I'd never thought I'd really have to do this, but you leave me with no choice, Curly Brow..." Naruto inched closer to the girl and cupped her cheeks in his hands, "Pervy Sage told me that if you and I were to get into a super serious argument like this and you were trying to leave... I should give you... the "friendly" kiss, ya know?"

"THE WHAT?!"

"The friendly kiss, ya know?" He repeated, "The kiss between friends... to show you deeply care for them. But it has to be with the gender you're personally attracted to."

"Naruto, that sounds like a bunch of bullcrap. A kiss is always romantic. Lemme guess, he also told you there's a such thing as friendly sex?"

"Ah! He told me that too! Though I don't think I'm ready for all that and don't have experience, if you prefer the friendly sex then I don't mind doing that with you if it'll make you feel better and get you to stay with me."

"KYAAA! I DON'T WANNA DO EITHER ONE RIGHT NOW, NARUTO! I'D DIE!" Nia shrieked with utter embarrassment.

"You sure? I'd do anything to make you stop crying, Curly Brow!"

"Yes, I'm sure!" The girl snuggled back up to the ninja, "Here, just keep holding me. I won't resist anymore, alright?"

"Y-Yeah..." Naruto nodded as he would proceed to let Nia cuddle up to him for the night until they were able to get along with one again and sleep till morning.

~FLASHBACK ENDS~

Nia stared into the sky as a subtle wind blew through her hair. She then looked ahead and walked once more—a sigh having escaped her lips.

Love? Was that what I wanted? To love and be loved in return? To finally feel love for myself? But it was more than that too... I wanted to be happy... with myself, but... I wanted to have someone care about me in a special way at the same time. Not in a friend way, not in a family way, but in a romantic way—like everyone else desires. I wanted to hold someone's hand, tell them about my day, be held close to that person, be told I'm loved, be told I'm beautiful, be told I meant the world to them... I wanted to laugh with someone, joke around with someone, make a guy feel lucky to be with me and to make him feel like the happiest guy ever...

Nia clenched the straps of her backpack.

I wanted acceptance and to feel desired. My desires weren't ever different from the average person. After all, most people look to settle down eventually. I just happen to be one of those people also... even if I felt wrong for admitting it and felt ashamed for ever thinking I was even decent enough to be loved. I deserved to be loved the second I was conceived and... I should've never allowed anyone to tell me I was too hideous to love and that I'd be alone for the rest of my life. That's not true... there's always someone for everyone... and no matter how anyone looks, they still are deserving of being loved in whatever sense they prefer.

I only wish... I would've known this sooner... then again... Most people are starved for love in some way or form anyway, right? I know I was...

****
A/N - Okay, so I decided since Wattpad kept catfishing you guys with these false chapter notifications, I'd surprise you with an actual ready-to-go chapter. Next chapter will once more correlate with the actual show in some parts.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please comment and vote and have a great day ❤️

QOTD:

1. Fave Part?

2. Fave Line?

3. What do you think was NaruNia's worst fight?