Disclaimer: Consider it disclaimed.

Helping Hinata
Ch.1 - A New Start

The indigo haired girl sighed as she stepped out of her family's car, pearly-violet eyes scanning the large, overcrowded building ahead of her. Yet again, she was being sent to a new school:a new place for her to hide away in her shell as she had always done - or try to fit in, as her parents had hoped. They wanted a place where she would not be pushed around and uncomfortable, a place where she could belong.

She shook her head and turned to say goodbye to her chauffeur. "Tha-thank you." She whispered, her long bangs sweeping slightly into her face.

The driver of her family's car smiled gently. "I'll come to pick you up at three then. At least try to make some friends, eh Midge."

Hinata smiled shyly back to him, taking some comfort in the old nickname. The man was an old business associate of her father's who was supported by her father once he lost his old well-paying job and was stuck for a way to support his own family. "I-I'll try, Tom."

That said, she took her bag and settled it on her back, turning and shutting the door behind her. 'Me? Make friends?! Ha! Yeah, and why not get a boyfriend, too!' she thought sarcastically. Her mind was the only place she was brave. It was possibly the only place she felt truly safe, even including her house.

Stepping into the packed hallways, she glanced around nervously. Crowded areas always made her want to break down crying. Hinata was jostled around, as she tried to make it to the office. She took out a map that she had previously put in her jean pocket and unfolded it.

Staring at the creased paper intensely, she found the office! It was just a turn to the-

Hinata's thoughts were interrupted when a rather, in her sarcastic mind, 'joyous' red haired boy pushed passed her, knocking her and her map to the floor.

'NO! Where did that paper go? That boy will most definitely pay! I will torture him and I will...' She cursed to herself. 'I will only scream and swear at him in my head, while he goes and terrorizes anyone without guts... Like myself.' Hinata sighed forlornly, still on the ground and not really caring.

Apparently, though, someone noticed her distress, and came bounding – yes, bounding – over to the shy girl.

"OI! You need some help?" The person called out.

Hinata whipped her head in the direction of the voice. What she saw, took her breath away. It was a boy who looked to be about her age with sun-kissed, defiant hair. His ocean blue eyes were watching her for any signs of distress.

She was just about to say no when he held out a hand and smiled warmly. "Naruto Uzumaki! I'll help you out, okay?"

Hinata gratefully took his hand and offered him a nervous smile. "H-Hinata Hy-" she mumbled, stopping before she told him her last name. It was too well known and this was a chance!

Naruto grinned, apparently not noticing the lack of her family name. "Where you headed? Office?" he asked.

She nodded and he pulled her along. She noticed how whenever anyone saw him, they moved out of the way. Not like they had with the dark-haired boy she had noticed earlier. With that onyx eyed 'god', it seemed, some had swooned around him, and all moved out of respect. With her current companion, they moved out of the way almost out of terror.

No. That wasn't quite right either. With that red haired teen, they moved out of terror. Was it disgust that they moved? Whatever it was, they still got to the office and this boy was extremely kind to her. ...And talkative. The ENTIRE time there, he was going on about the school, or what to look out for, or sports, or his friends. Especially his friends.

"-And Sakura! Oh, you'd love her! Same with Tenten, she's a year older than us, but still hangs around. So does Ino. I don't personally like her, but she has her moments. Temari too! Those two are always fighting over Shikamaru... Although I don't think Ino really knows. She's always hanging around Sasuke. He's such a bastard! But, believe it or not, we're best friends... Sakura hangs around him too. She says she doesn't like him and that she only did in elementary school, but we know better!" He laughed at that.

You'd think this quiet girl would hate all the noise, but much to her surprise, she loved it! She somehow was starting to trust this young, kind, teen. 'So much different than-'

Once again, she was interrupted by the energetic blond. "Here we are, Hinata-chan! ...You don't mind I call you that, right?"

"I-I don't m-mind, N-Naruto-san." She whispered.

"San?!" He laughed at the respectful suffix. "Nah! Just Naruto, thanks!"

While she normally would feel far too embarrassed to go along with something so bold, having been raised to follow a certain level of decorum, the offer relaxed her and she let out a minuscule smile. Thankful that he hadn't noticed her first attempt at showing happiness in a while, she took her papers shyly from the waiting hand of a lady in the office. 'Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad!'

"Naruto..." she mumbled, trying the name out.

"Hmmm? What is it?" he asked.

"Eep! N-Nothing!" 'Yeah, this school couldn't be that bad if it had people like Naruto in it!' she thought absentmindedly as she read her class schedule.

"So what classes do you-" He gaped. "We have all but one class together and that one you have with all the girls!"

'Not too bad at all!'

"Want me to walk you to your classroom?"

The prospect was tempting but she needed to stop by her locker first and she had already troubled him enough. Besides, this would really only mean anything if she did at least this by herself. "Th-thank you, N-Naruto, but...I'll see you there."

Hinata glanced nervously around her first classroom from out the door. She really should have taken up Naruto's offer of being walked to the class room – screw her pride! She had had issues navigating the route to her locker and from there to the class room, so by the time she arrived at the door, the hallways were dead and she was fairly certain she'd already missed the late bell.

Then again, she wasn't sure if Naruto would want to be bothered so much and felt uneasy about requesting too much of someone she had only just met. Hinata had only ever had two friends: one was her younger sister Hanabi, who was shy, but no where near as shy as Hinata. The other was Tom. Even with them, families fought (and Hinata's even more and harsher than most) and Tom was first and foremost her father's right-hand man which meant nothing could be confided and not much could be related to.

As she was getting lost deeper within her thoughts, the bell actually did ring and furthered Hinata's depressing wishes to just go home and forget this had ever happened – maybe try again tomorrow. Then something she hadn't even considered happened: the door flung open and a familiar face stuck out the door, annoyed but also a tad anxious.

"Eh? Hinata-chan?!"

Hinata sputtered incoherently for a moment so Naruto reached out and pulled Hinata into the room. "Hey guys! Couldn't find Kakashi-sensei but look who I did find! Told you she was real!"

Seriously confused, the bewildered girl looked to where she was being pulled to and noticed it was a group of people. The exact kind of group Hinata tried to avoid: large and from the looks of things already, deeply connected.

She tried to get out of his grasp but Naruto noticed her discomfort and whispered, "They're great friends. They aren't as obnoxious as they look." He then took a glance at where a blond sat polishing her nails and scoffing at a purple nail that just wouldn't keep the glitter on it. "Well, most aren't!" Naruto laughed which gained the group's attention.

"Are you talking about me, Naru-baka?" Ino yelled at him. Then she noticed the shy, long haired girl beside him. "Ooooh!" she squealed. "Who's that?"

Naruto grinned. "She's new here! Her names Hinata!"

Hinata's eyes widened as everyone's heads turned to look at her.

"You mean you weren't lying when you said you met a girl today?" one of the guys asked, then proceeded to laugh uproariously with a few of the other guys, receiving an indignant "hey!" then a sarcastic "oh har-de-har" from Naruto.

The girls in the group all stood up and walked right up next to her, completely ignoring the boys. "Hmm. Hinata, eh? Doesn't she look like a certain white-eyed brooder in the corner," the short, pink-haired girl asked her friends.

Her two friends nodded and the one with brown buns on top her head piped up. "I don't think her personality is at all like him, though. Good thing, too..." she murmured, her chocolate brown eyes seemed to be laughing as she continued on. "Are you possibly related to Neji Hyuuga?"

It was then that Hinata's world felt it was about to be crashing down on her. He couldn't go here... Could he? "Uhh... Well... Ano..."

"Are you talking about me again, Tenten? Hmph."

They all turned to the voice and while the other girls in the group grinned and tried to play innocent, Hinata just heard one thing after his sentence.

'Boom.'

That was her world caving in on top of her. She thought he went to the school on the other side of town! Why here?

"Who's tha-" he started, but immediately stopped. He'd recognized that girl anywhere. "Hinata... What are you doing here?!" he snapped.

The poor girl gasped sharply and her eyes started to water. He was here and she wasn't just stuck in some nightmare. "N-Neji-nii-s-"

"Tch. Figures you'd have to come here. I was told you had moved." Neji then turned around with a scoff and went back to his seat in the corner mumbling something about hating formalities and being called 'nii'.

All the of people in group glanced back and forth from the two white-eyed relatives, but quickly decided to move on for the sake of regaining some peace.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka. Can I call you Hina-chan?" The blond girl stuck out a perfectly manicured hand to the quivering girl now sitting on the ground from fear or shock, she wasn't sure.

"H-hai. Nice to meet you, I-Ino-chan." Hinata reached up and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Great! That's Haruno Sakura, my best friend," she pointed her forefinger to the pink haired smiling girl who waved. "Tenten, another close friend," this time pointing to the bun haired girl who was looking rather deadly with her... Were those knives?! "They both have extreme tempers but their barks and bites are debatable to which is worse." Hinata was now slightly pale but nodded for her new friend to continue in the introductions.

"Then there's the boys," Ino indicated towards the group of unpleasant, brooding boys in the corner beside Neji. "Gaara, Sasuke Uchiha, and Neji Hyuuga. Never mess with them, and you'll do great!"

Hinata was not only pale by now, but also shaking uncontrollably. She recognized all three. Gaara was the redhead who knocked her over in the hall, Sasuke was the brooding 'God', and Neji was the cold teen of a Hyuuga; someone Hinata knew very well.

"Ino! Stop scaring her. We can talk about the jerks later, let's introduce our actual friends." Sakura cut in with a glare to the corner, which was shot back from all three, but mainly Gaara. "This is Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto Uzumaki, whom you've already met, Lee Rock, Chouji Achimaki, and Shikamaru Nara." she introduced pointing to each boy in order.

Kiba was the rather tall boy with light brown hair and football paint on his tanned cheeks; clearly an athlete. He also looked strong with his basketball shorts and muscle shirt showing off lean, toned muscles. Hinata recognized him as the one who had been teasing Naruto.

Lee... Lee had a very shiny, black bowl cut with large, black eyes and large, black eyebrows to match. His green shirt hugged his skinny body closely and he wore black stretchy pants with orange leg warmers. He struck Hinata as a rather fascinating person however, because what stood out most to her was the sheer air of determination around him, especially when he mentioned his life-long rivalry with Neji (okay, so he screamed it out, but he couldn't seem to help it).

Chouji had light brown hair that spiked up with matching brown eyes. He just wore casual clothes - a white t-shirt, dark brown khaki shorts, and a light green jacket with runners. Perhaps he wasn't skinny, the burliest of the whole group, but he seemed much like a teddy bear rather than someone scary and Ino informed her that he did, in fact, give the best hugs.

Shikamaru, or 'Shika-kun' as Ino called him, wore his dark brown hair up in a high ponytail but he seemed like he would much rather be in bed or, as he muttered a few times, on a grassy hill outside. He also wore casual clothes, but still different than Chouji's. Shikamaru was very skinny looking and tall, more of a brain than a brawns. Still, he was too lazy to be considered a 'nerd' in the ranks of high school but according to everyone he still had an extremely high IQ...

Lastly Naruto whom she already knew with his spiky blond hair and same deep blue eyes. He too, seemed strong in a more casual way and he wore ... a lot of orange. He was like sunshine.

Hinata smiled and nodded at each one, mumbling a small 'hello' to be polite now that she had recovered from her little scare.

"So..." Tenten started. "Do you want to know about the brooders?"

Hinata hesitated for a moment. Did she really? 'Pshaw! I can take on those pathetic wimps! I still need my revenge!' She ranted inwardly for a moment before coming to the conclusion that she really did want to know. "O-OK."

Tenten grinned. "They're all asses!"

"Tenten!" Ino and Sakura laughed.

"OK, OK!" Tenten giggled. "First off, Hyuuga Neji."

Hinata gulped slightly but nodded for her to continue.

"Neji used to be a really good friend. He was Lee's best friend and mine. We've known each other since grade five. It was always just us. If one got in trouble, the others did too, so we would be fair." She told her with sad, fond smile.

"W-what happened?" Hinata asked, timidly.

"New family moved into the neighborhood from Suna." Tenten shot a glare to the boys in the corner, this time going by unnoticed. "Gaara. But hey! At least that family brought some good, too!"

"Good? Who else?" Hinata was now getting interested.

"His siblings! Temari, Kankurou... and Sakura Haruno." Tenten finished.

"Tenten! I told you not to tell..." Sakura grumbled. "Not many people know. In fact, they only know that Kankurou and Gaara are related. Tema-nee-chan doesn't say a thing about her relatives and only Tema and I even chat at school. Our brothers glare or ignore us completely!" she explained.

"Y-you're related to Gaara?! W-what's he like?" Hinata asked Sakura, amazed and stunned.

"Well... Believe it or not, he's really overprotective of me, but not in front of his friends. Kankurou and Temari both are protective, but not as drastically as Gaara. He is the older twin, after all." Sakura sighed.

"Twins?! Wow..." Hinata was so astonished, she forgot all about stuttering.

"Yep. It's a pain..." She laughed. "Wanna here about the rest?"

"Sure!" Now that it was interesting, Hinata thought she'd better.

"OK. Back with Neji. Tenten?" Sakura motioned for Tenten to continue.

"Right. As I was saying, Neji used to hang out with all of us. He was extremely athletic and kind – when he wanted, of course!" All the group laughed, and the three boys in the corner even looked over. They seemed to be having fun.

Tenten continued on. "Anyways, once Gaara and Sakura moved in, he was even nice enough to go greet them, but he started hanging out with Gaara more and more and seeing us less and less. It's like a scale or teeter-totter for Neji. He's either all in or all out. He has always picked one side or the other ever since kindergarten. Just take Lee and I for example! He chose us when he could've been really popular." Tenten smile in recollection then regained her frown. "Well, he once again was all in or out. Unfortunately, this time he didn't choose us."

Hinata now understood, but could Neji really have been like that? She must've only remembered him after he had already met Gaara. "Neji-nii... Er... N-Neji-san and I are c-cousins. I d-don't remember m-much from when w-were young but I do from j-just a couple years a-ago." She sighed at those memories.

The rest of the group stared at Hinata in astonishment! "You're related to Neji? No way!" Ino then laughed. "But that does explain the eyes!"

Hinata nodded. "W-we aren't close, th-though. N-not at all.."

The others understood and changed the subject. It seemed to be rather sore. "Want to hear about Sasuke? He's the last one." Ino asked.

Hinata noticed Sakura flinch and was about to decline for her sake, when the door swung open.

"Into your seats, everyone!" A voice from the front called out, and Hinata looked up to see a woman about thirty years old, presumably Hinata's new homeroom teacher. "We have a lot to cover today and your home room teacher has been switched over to me for the new semester." Naruto grinned and muttered to Kiba something about a man named 'Kakashi' and the two snickered quietly. "We also have new student joining us," she announced and beckoned for Hinata to come up, which she did hesitantly. "This is Hinata Hyuuga. I am Ms. Kurenai Yuuhi and welcome to Konoha High."

AN: Erk. So it has been forever and while it seems like I'm not changing much just yet, you'll see! Since I pretty much have figured out how this is all going to go and it's mostly going to be extremely edited and/or extended, the chapters should come out fairly quickly. Or perhaps that's wishful thinking on my part. ;) (*laughs*) In any case, I definitely have missed the writing side of FanFiction so this might just be fun again~! (*crosses fingers*)

- Cady