Story By: Imadecookies

Beta: Quest

"But love is blind and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit;

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush

To see me thus transformed to a boy."

– William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), The Merchant of Venice, Act II Scene 6

Chapter 1 – Her Necklace

The morning sun peeked brightly through the large trees in the hidden leaf village. The cool summer breeze began to leave with the night, promising a very hot afternoon for the residents of the fire country. Shopkeepers set out the signs they were now open or got busy to be open soon, once the rest of the residents of the village got up to go about their lives.

Naruto walked down the street of Konoha; his hands in his pockets, his eyes still full of sleep and head still groggy… he actually staggered every few steps. The only time he got up in the mornings was the train or for a mission, as far as he remembered his training was in the late afternoon today and he had no mission. Why the hell was he up so early? A distant memory of the old lady who calls her self the Hokage came to mind, yelling at him to be at her office before dawn; he didn't remember why. He looked up at the sun, it was clearly after dawn, and he was late…again…that probably wasn't a good thing. He was too tired to really think about the consequences, and they weren't anything he hadn't dealt with before. She would probably just yell some more.

His favorite ramen shop was just opening on his right. He had to fight the urge to stop for a quick second breakfast, he really was late enough, but then again maybe he should do it just to show that old bat that he did not do mornings that served no purpose. He could show her that yelling at him to be at her office at such an ungodly hour was something he wouldn't be doing again soon.

His body took hold over him with a deep long yawn. It made his head spin a little bit and the urge to turn around and go back to bed was becoming too strong for him to fight. He opened his eyes all too aware of the bright morning sun, he let his eyes wonder at to get used to the bright light. His eyes stopped wandering when he saw a familiar figure with long blue black hair and a flawless pale face standing besides a shop.

The girl was dressed in a light blue sweater and dark pants. Not something he normally saw her wear but a nice change from her usual outfits. She seemed to be deciding to buy something and spoke to the shop keeper with such a sweet and polite smile. Lack of sleep and the crazy bat of a village leader left his mind and a large smile spread across his face. Naruto walked a little faster to where she stood; after all he couldn't very well ignore her once he saw her. He just had to say a hello, they were friends after all, and he said hi to all his friends when he saw them in the mornings. Except Sasuke…sometimes even he wouldn't speak to Sasuke in the mornings. Apparently the Uchiha were worse at mornings then he and Sakura combined.

"Morning, Hinata!" He called to her.

He saw her turn and smile sheepishly at him. She wasn't as weird and timid as she was before but for some reason she was still oddly shy. At least she didn't faint when he came near; she was certainly much easier to talk to this way. Her eyes met his and there was that ever so small blush across her flawless pale cheeks.

"Good morning, Naruto." She said with a smile.

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked making conversation. He knew he should just say hello, goodbye and leave, but that would be rude and Naruto never liked to be rude on purpose.

"Buying some rice; a servant had an accident in the house this morning, so I came to get some while they cleaned it up."

"Sounds pretty messy"

"It was, but its useless crying over spilled rice." She blushed at her sad attempt of a joke, but Naruto chuckled.

After that they were both left in an awkward silence Naruto looked around trying not to look at her so obviously but seemed to be failing because for some reason he kept going back to her. Hinata however was very distracted counting the money to give the nice woman to pay for her rice.

"What are you doing up so early? Do you have training this morning? I thought Sakura said you all training in the evenings?"

He was surprised she would know that, then again it was never a secret when Team 7 was in the training grounds. Sometimes the entire ground shook, once Naruto even had to sit through a lecture of how the city was not built to withstand earthquakes. Pushing the thought aside of how or why Hinata knew of his personal schedules, he answered her question.

"Nope, I have a meeting with the old lady. She said it was something important…must be for dragging us all there before the crack of dawn."

"But it's after dawn," Hinata said pointing out the obvious and Naruto gave a smile. He was well aware of that fact by now.

"Yes it is." Naruto said with the same stupid grin on his face he for some reason couldn't get rid of.

"I better get home and give this to the servants." Hinata said, making a move to leave the stand.

"Yeah I better go too, I'm late and granny will be pissed."

"Oh, then you should hurry then!" Her eyes widened a little but he only smiled back with a wave.

As he walked away he couldn't help the urge to look back behind him to see if by slim chance she was watching him. But no she wasn't, she was walking back the opposite way with her rice in her bag.

A servant ran out to meet her and thanked her for the rice. They didn't have much time before morning training was done and everyone was going to come in for breakfast. Knowing that; she went to her room to change into her regular outfit, after breakfast Kiba and Shino would be expecting her to help with their training. Then after that she had some small duties to do in the Hokage Tower; Tsunade said something about getting her filing sorted out. As she walked through the main house she walked by Neji training with her father. He saw him sneak a peek at her and then a small smile. She returned it along with a small wave in his direction.

Neji's small gestures of acknowledgement were so subtle even she missed them sometimes, but when she did catch them they always made her smile. It meant he respected her now, saw her as an equal and fellow shinobi; he no longer saw her as worthless or a mistake as she knew he did before. He was kind to her now and at times even so much as protective of her. She didn't know why or how, but he changed so much over the years. She liked the new Neji, he was so much better to be around then the hateful, vengeful, young boy he was before. She even found a new friendship in Ten-ten thanks to her cousin's drastic change in character, something she didn't realize she needed until it was in her life. With the help of the weapons mistress, Hinata had come out of her shell. Slowly she had learned to become comfortable in her own skin, not confident as Sakura or Ino, but comfortable enough to hold her own in a conversation in a room full of people and everyone noticed.

Everyone noticed how Hyuuga Hinata wasn't that shy weird girl who sat in the corner and hid behind her jacket. Everyone noticed that she talked more and laughed more and no long stuttered when spoken too. Everyone except for a certain blond haired, blue eyed, non-observant hyper active ninja. The very same one who had unknowingly pushed her to become this person, to reach inside herself and see who she really was, never made any indication he even noticed her much less her drastic change.

In her room she stripped off her blue sweater to get her mesh shirt on over her black one. She found her pants had some how found themselves to under the bed. Her ninja wear was not her street wear; it was more flexible and comfortable. Sure it didn't do much for her figure with all that binding but she was never one to show off any part of her before. She had worn that big bulky jacket for this exact reason; but summer in the fire country and a sweater was a death trap so she had learned to go with out the sweater once Ten-Ten showed her how she used bandages around her chest along side her bra. Combing her hair Hinata heard her father, sister, and cousin come in from their morning session.

She would never dare disobey her father; she would never dare disobey her clan. She knew it was her duty to follow out what her clan and father wanted for her. What they planned for her. Her life was pre-decided, and she had come to terms with that over the years. She did not have her life, she was free to do as she pleased now but soon it would end and she would have to step into the shoes that were expected of her.

In her childish days she longed for her childhood crush, she fantasized of him. His eyes, his smile, his hair, she would see him training and she would dream of him wrapping those arms around her. Even today those dreams would make her blush. But that was when she believed she had a life of her own. When she believed she could become her own ninja… when she believed so much.

Now, years later, she accepted the truth. She was a Hyuuga, and not just any Hyuuga she was the heiress. She was the future heir to the clan, one day the clan would be in her hands. She knew the man on her side would not be the man her child like heart yearned for, the man she saved her love for, it would be a man she didn't choose. It would be a man they saw fit to stand by the side of the future head of the Hyuuga clan. It would not be him.

When she came to this realization she had to let go of Naruto. It would never happen, no matter how much she dreamed of him one day looking at her as more than a friend. It would never happen, her life did not consist of that romance from the novels her friends read, her life was not her own to live; it was an honor and a curse all at once, but her family pride weighed over her personal happiness, or at least that's what she had been groomed to believe, and she did without question. So, years ago, a few years after he returned from his training; she let him go. It was easier then she thought to suppress those feelings. She was older, more mature now so of course it was easier. Her future was not with Naruto and it never would be.

Although still, in the moments when she was alone, her mind would wander back to his blond hair and bright blue eyes. She would remember that smile and his always so positive attitude. In her thoughts and memories of their small little moments she would begin to would wonder if in some other world they lived in and she wasn't Hyuuga Hinta, they could be together. Would she have a chance? Would he ever have noticed her? Would he ever look her way? Those questions always went unanswered; because Hinata never wanted to look deep enough into it to answer those questions. She knew it would only resurface everything she spent years trying to suppress.

With one last look in the mirror she headed out of her room to meet her family for breakfast. She was a bit late as usual, but Neji and her father were so deep in conversation that they didn't even notice her. She slipped away again to help bring out the breakfast and tea.

"Hinata," Her father voiced when she entered the room. "How late were you training last night? You weren't in when I went to bed."

"I probably got in just after you went to bed, Father." True last night she was in very late, later then she expected. Her training took hold of her and before she knew it the entire village had retired for the night.

"Hinata it isn't very appropriate for a girl…you, for that matter, to be training so late at night alone."

She knew her father never liked it, but he still allowed it. She knew he figured the more training she got the better since she was so far behind still. She didn't respond to his comment, she knew from his tone that it did not ask for a response.

"You've trained at night too long Hinata, who knows what you are doing."

She had to blush, was her father making improper insinuations? She was embarrassed and offended at the same time. Her blush probably wasn't helping her though, it probably made her seem more guilty the innocent.

"Father I assure you I do nothing but train. I train by myself, and if there is anyone else with me it's Kurenai-sensei or Sakura or Ten-Ten…"

"None the less Hinata, last night was the last night you come home after I've gone to bed." He cut her off. His tone said this was the end of the discussion. There would be no arguing after this but she couldn't just let it go. At night it was her time, her time to be free, if she didn't have that then, then what was she supposed to do?

"You will go back to training in the mornings with the rest of us." Her father finished her thoughts for her and that all too familiar feeling of despair began to sink in.

Hinata didn't like this at all. At night was her time, when she could be alone. The morning training sessions were all about her sister and Neji. If she did switch to the morning with them her father would just insist she was a failure even though she knew she had grown so much.

"I will train with her at night." Neji voiced. Hinata snuck a curious glance at her cousin. How strange for Neji to offer to help her. There was a long silence; her father seemed to be thinking this over.

"Hinata you can continue to train at night as long as Neji is with you." His harsh voice broke the silence unexpectedly. It wasn't a bad choice; she could still train at night like she wanted which would help her increase her byakugan. Only Neji would be with her…that wasn't too bad. It could be a lot worse. Hopefully their Hyuuga genius/ prodigy would not make her feel like a squashed bug all over again.

"Yes father."

They ate in complete silence.

Sakura tapped her foot outside Tsunade's door, Naruto was late again! He was going to be in trouble. How many times had she and Tsunade warned him of being late! And still he was late? As much as he had grown up, his childish antics still made her so upset.

She heard footsteps then she saw the tall lean body and the bright blond hair. Where she was annoyed before; seeing that day dream like expression on his face just made her all out mad. Didn't he take anything seriously? The Hokage demanding you be at her office first thing at dawn was not something to be taken lightly!

"Naruto! You're late again!" She scolded him when he was next to her.

"Stop screaming like a banshee Sakura, its too early." The voice next to her almost made her jump. Sasuke had been so quiet she had completely forgotten he was there, had he fallen asleep?

"I do not scream like a banshee!" Sakura rounded on the handsome Uchiha instantly yelling louder then before. Sasuke visibly winced at the pitch of her voice which, of course, only made her more upset. She knew he was doing it on purpose, stupid bastard.

"Good morning, Sakura. Good morning, Bastard." Naruto said ignoring Sakura's screaming. He had to agree with Sasuke; Sakura should really let down on the constant screaming.

The three of them entered the large office. Naruto was still too sleepy to think of any sort of comeback being sent his way on his laziness, especially while looking drowsy and annoyed at the same time. Sakura was annoyed at his laziness, and still pissed off at Sasuke's comment, so she was quietly fuming. Sasuke, not wanting to be here in the first place, zoned out and thought about going back to bed when he got home.

Unlike she had predicted however, Tsunade didn't yell at him when they walked in the door together. She acknowledged his presence and announced they would now begin. Kakashi was already there, which was very unusual for him. Had they really been that late? Good lord Naruto was later then Kakashi! She would have to remember to throw this in his face later on.

"Good. You all made it," She started staring at the four of them. No one made a sound, instead waiting for instructions patiently. "You three have a rescue mission."

"Rescue?" Sakura repeated, it wasn't unusual to be put on a rescue mission, but it was unusual for three jounin (Sasuke had yet to take the exams) to be put on this sort of mission. It must be someone important…someone really important.

"Who are we rescuing?" Naruto asked.

"Her name is Ria Kato." Tsunade said grabbing a file and handing it to Kakashi. Kato…the name was familiar in her head but she couldn't really place it. "She is the only daughter of a very heavy investor to Konoha," Tsunade continued and Sakura remembered the name now. She had met the man once, he was very nice.

"Apparently they took her from her home, probably to get some ransom money from Mr. Kato."

"Does he know who did it?" Kakashi asked handing the folder down to Sasuke, who didn't even bother to open it, and passed it to Sakura. She made a mental note to yell at Sasuke about this later too.

"His name is Baton, or at least that's what he goes by. He had a long history of dirty dealings but some how has managed to stay under the radar enough to keep from being arrested."

"Why did he go after Mr. Kato?" Sakura asked looked at the picture of the pretty girl. She was young, probably no older then twelve. She had long dark hair and a bright sweet smile with eyes that reminded Sakura of chocolate.

"She is the last heir to the Kato Clan. She holds all the clan's fortune in her name for being her father's only child."

"With that kind of title I can see how she'd be such ransom" Kakashi voiced in from his form in the back of the room.

"So does this Baton guy just want the money in return for the girl?" Sakura asked now handing the folder to Naruto after she had memorized it.

"Perhaps, but Mr. Kato is a proud man and refuses to give in to such things. So he has asked and paid quite a sum of money to put my best team on the job to get his daughter back safely."

"With that much money he couldn't handle it himself?" Sasuke scoffed, everyone ignored him. Sasuke was a bastard after all, something they had accepted long ago. Tsunade made a face saying she agreed completely with the last Uchiha, but her hands were tied.

"Here is a map Mr. Kato's personal body guards created based on the information they gathered. Also there is another part of this mission. Along with just rescuing the girl…you will be her body guards."

"You mean we have to stay with her in her village?" Sakura asked surprised. It wasn't really a surprise for someone to ask a Shinobi to be a body guard but it was usually mentioned at the beginning of the mission.

"No. Mr. Kato believes it will not be safe in their home for his daughter to return." Tsunade answered.

"What are you saying?" Naruto asked, though Sakura could already pretty much guessed.

"Ria is to stay in Konoha, under your supervision."

"All of us?" Naruto asked; clearly not happy about this.

"You can take shifts if you want, but you will each be paid for your services. It's more of a ground mission really."

"For how long?" Kakashi asked.

"Mr. Kato would like the honor of bringing down Baton and his minions on his own, so he has paid a pretty penny to keep his daughter safe."

"There must be a personal grudge." Kakashi mused nodding. Cleary he was not happy about this in the least, but he was not going to voice any opinion on it either. He would just conveniently be impossible to find once his "shift" was to begin. He had never been a good baby sitter.

"You three clear on your mission?" Tsunade voiced in the suddenly silent room. No shinobi was a fan of babysitting, she knew this well. But they couldn't very well refuse this mission either.

"Rescue her and protect her." Sakura answered.

"You leave immediately, and take this," Tsunade reached to get something on her desk and handed it out. Naruto reached for it. "Supposedly the girl will not trust you if you don't have it."

Sakura peered over Naruto shoulder to the small object. It was a necklace, a real silver one from what she could see. It was a small silver cat, it had painted black eyes and a red bow tie. It couldn't be any bigger then her finger nail.

When they walked back into the morning sun Sakura turned to tell Naruto not to be late on meeting them at the gate, but he was already walking away.

Almost an hour later Naruto walked back down the streets toward the Konoha gates to meet his team for their mission. He looked at the necklace in his hand. It was pretty; girly. Would Hinata like something like that? Should he think of getting her a necklace? Would she like it? Or would she reject it? But then again, he couldn't imagine Hinata rejecting anything. She was too nice for that.

He shook his head. Why was he suddenly thinking about Hinata, any why was he suddenly thinking about getting her a necklace? The wheels in his head turned for an answer; Hinata was a girl and he didn't know much about girls. Yeah, Hinata was a nice girl who no doubt liked nice things…he could think about her and it wouldn't mean anything. Why did it have to mean anything? She was a friend, an important friend, a good friend. Why was he suddenly starting to get really hot? Did the weather just get worse? He should have been watching where he was going because just as the thought left his head that someone bumped into him and the necklace went flying.

"Hinata?"

"Naruto?"

They said in unison and looked at each other, Hinata had caught herself and was standing, but Naruto was sitting on the ground staring up at her. She handed him her hand and he gratefully took it, blushing a bit at the embarrassment. It would have been so much cooler if he didn't just fall on his butt in front of her. Wait, why did he care about looking cool in front of her? He blushed again and rubbed his face. What was happening to him? Why did he care so much?

"Oh no!" He said when he realized he was whipping the dirt off his pants with both his free hands.

"What's wrong?" She asked so kindly.

"I lost it!"

"Lost what?"

"A necklace."

"A necklace?"

"Can you help me find it?"

"Okay, what did it look like?"

"It was a small silver cat, with a red bow tie and black eyes." Naruto was ready to crawl on all fours when he stopped at the sound of Hinata triggering her byakugan.

"Here." She said bending down and picking up the small cat that was by his foot. He felt a bit sheepish at it being by his foot and all, but it was so small how was he able to see it in the first place.

"Thanks Hinata." He said with a smile and ran off where he was sure the rest of them were waiting for him.

Again Sakura yelled at him. Sasuke was already there looking out the gates, and Kakashi was reading his beloved porn while leaning against that same gate. How long had they been there? Was it already after an hour?

"It's about time, Naruto! You're getting as bad as Kakashi." His pink haired companion called to him; annoyed at his tardiness.

"That's a low blow, Sakura." Naruto teased her and she smiled back at him.

Obviously annoyed at the insults being directed to him, Kakashi moved before the two of them and coughed.

"No matter, your here now so lets get going."

In a flash they were off in the trees racing to rescue their damsel in distress.

Hinata watched Naruto run off toward the Konoha gates. She wondered who the necklace was for. Was it for a girl? Unexpectedly she felt her heart sink. Was it really for a girl? Some girl he met? Who could it be? Was it someone she knew? Her brain racked with names and faces of the girls in the village who just might have given him a second glance.

When she could think of no one she figured it may be someone from another village. A girl he met on mission who didn't know anything about him; a girl who would smile stupidly when he saw her and run to hug him. Suddenly Hinata hated that girl and she had no idea why.

"Hinata? What's wrong?" She snapped out of her thoughts and saw Neji starring at her a big confused. As nice as he was now, he really never understood girls, or even her for that matter. Ten-ten and she had many laughs about the Hyuuga genius being completely clueless when it came to women.

"Nothing."

"Weren't you going to training?"

"Yes."

"I'll walk you." It sounded more of a command then he intended, or so she wanted to believe.

"Okay."

With Neji beside her she saw people looking at them and young girls whispered and giggling. She blushed a bit, she was sure they already looked like a Hyuuga Clan couple in the streets. And with Neji's reputation people probably already thought they were engaged or even married. She ducked her head, and looked at her feet walking along the ground.

"Hinata, your father has named you heir to the clan. You shouldn't walk with your head down."

"Yeah…" she half heartedly agreed with him forcing her self to at least look eyelevel with everything.

"Um…Neji…" She started. She saw him turn to look at her from the corner of her eye. "Thank you, for what you said to my father this morning."

"I know how important it is for you to train. If your do best at night then I will be happy to assist you in it."

Sometimes Neji was more of a Hyuuga then she could ever wish to be. He was proud of his name. She always wondered how, despite him being from the branch house, he was more proud then she was and she was the damn heir.

"Thank you Neji." She smiled to him once she heard Kiba and Shino training. He nodded to her and she was off before she heard him say anything.

Her team mates were already hard into training; they greeted her like always and told her they would help her next. She loved her team mates, if it wasn't for their help, she probably wouldn't be where she was today. She probably wouldn't have grown up so much if it wasn't for the two of them. If only they could tell her how to follow her true heart and tell her father what she really felt of being heir.

Later that afternoon she joined Ten-ten for lunch. She met up with her while Ten-Ten was doing some grocery shopping. For some reason even though she was so hungry she couldn't get her mind of that necklace she helped Naruto find.

"I don't think I've ever seen you look so far into space. What's going on?" Ten-Ten voiced, looking amused at her friend.

"Huh…oh, sorry."

"Hinata? The last time I remember you seeing this far off into space was when you told me you were giving up on Naruto… oooh!" The girls face lit up and Hinata couldn't help but give her a confused look.

"Huh?"

"Did Naruto say something to you?" She asked in all seriousness. Hinata forgot how much of a big sister she could actually be.

"No, he didn't say anything."

"Then what is it? Something happen with your father this morning?"

"No, nothing out of the usual."

"It's not good to hide things from your friends Hinata." Ten-Ten scolded. She knew Ten-ten hated it when she didn't talk to her.

"It's just…I helped him find a necklace today."

"Helped who?"

"Naruto."

"You helped him pick out a necklace? For who?"

"No, helped him find it. We ran into each other this morning and he dropped it, and I helped him find it. He didn't say who it was for."

"What did it look like?"

"A silver cat. Who would want a silver cat?"

"Maybe he got it for some girl." At her words Hinata suddenly felt that familiar pain. Was it really a pain though? Whatever it was, it was confusing.

"Maybe."

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"I don't know." She took a breath and decided to confide in her friend. "He found someone who can make him happy that's a good thing right?"

Ten-Ten shrugged. "Well whatever or whoever it was for, you can't be beating your self up about it. If it was for someone else, and if they are together now; you can't do anything about it anyway. You vowed to give it up… or are you going back on that?"

"No…no nothing like that." Hinata folded her arms in front of her. Suddenly she felt so cold. She wasn't going back on what she said. She wasn't going to go back to chase that man who never even looked her way. It was a lost cause, a path that would only completely break her heart all over again.

An image popped into her head. Naruto was polishing the necklace on his pants waiting outside someone's door. She came to the door and gave him a hug; she was so happy to see him. He'd give her the necklace and she'd be ecstatic. She'd turn around and lift her hair for him to slip it around her neck and then she'd kiss him as a thank you. And he'd smile that wonderful smile of his and run off to his mission promising that when he got back she'd be the first person he saw.

"You look annoyed." Ten-Ten mused as she finished her lunch.

"I do?" Hinata said changing her obviously annoyed look to seem innocent again. Maybe she should train more. Maybe she needed to occupy her brain some more, or do something so mind draining her brain would feel like mush and it would hurt too much to think.

"Maybe we should change the subject. How's training?" Ten-Ten asked when it got quiet between them again.

"My father doesn't want me training at night anymore."

"So you're going to be training with him and Neji in the morning?"

"I was, but Neji offered to train with me at night."

"Oh well that's good news." It was good news, probably the best good news her father could give her, and yet she still felt bad.

"Speaking of Neji…" Ten-ten said pointing out the window. Hinata turned and saw him coming up the street with Rock Lee and Gai. She didn't think they saw them so she turned back around. She smiled to herself; training with Neji wouldn't be so intimidating after all.

TBC -