I do not own Naruto, so dont come asking me for the licence.

Prologue

Hyuga Hinata was finally going to do it. She finally worked up the nerve to tell Uzumuki Naruto how she really felt about him. She had gotten the last word out, and Naruto was just standing there, with one of his expressions on his face. He opened his mouth, and she was hoping with all of her heart that she would get something back. However, as he started to speak, Naruto morphed slowly into her father, Hiashi.

While she couldn't hear Naruto's words, her father's words were perfectly clear in her mind. "I told you to stay away from this boy. You are the Hyuga Clan's Heir, and this… boy… I will never accept him into my family. You are to forget him at once, do I make myself clear?"

Hinata tried to respond, but came up with no answer. She tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn't move. As her father spoke, he grew ever more distant, and as he finished, morphed back into Naruto, who grinned at her. Even though she couldn't talk, she turned red and passed out.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a white ceiling. But something here wasn't right. Her ceiling wasn't white; it was bright blue, the same color as Naruto's eyes. As her other senses slowly returned to her, she found her nose assailed by the stench of disinfectant, her ears attacked by the never ending beep-beep noise of a computer tracking her heart, and her body feeling as though she had gone through one of Rock Lee's training sessions.

Hinata shifted her weight, and groaned at the shifting contact between her back and the bed she was on. What was she doing in the hospital? And why in the world was she in so much pain?

However, her comeback into the physical world had not yet allowed for her to summon any memories. When she tried to summon charka, nothing happened. No matter how hard she pushed, no charka came out. With that last motion, she realized why she was in the hospital.

Hinata and her cousin, Neji, had fought in the preliminaries of the chuunin exams. She remembered him hitting all of her chakra points, sealing them off with his own. Their Byakugan allowed them to see the chakra lines flowing in their opponents, and when she added her own chakra to her strikes, she could seal them off, rendering them helpless.

Unfortunately, she had not been the only person to know this. Neji also knew this technique, and despite the fact that she was the heir, he had come very close to killing her. The only thing that stopped him was the intervention of several Jonin, including their respective sensei. The last thing she remembered was Naruto jumping off of the railing to come to her aid, and then… nothing.

Hinata shifted again, this time eliciting a response from her lungs, which coughed up blood. She wiped her mouth on her gown as several medical ninja rushed into the room, looking concerned. They took her vitals and found nothing wrong. After giving her something to drink, they backed out of the room.

Hinata looked at the clock bolted to the wall opposite her bed. According to it, she had been out for nearly eighteen hours since the end of her match. Just how bad of a shape was she in? Why had Neji been carried away and beaten her to this state? There were a lot of whys and what-ifs running around her head, and she shut them down for the moment, trying to focus on getting to the restroom next to the clock.

She opened the door with some difficulty and staggered her way inside. When she had grasped the sink and was not about to fall over, she flicked on the lights and examined herself in the mirror.

Every inch of her arms and face was bruised, mainly from the beating she had taken. She then quickly examined the rest of her body. Her elbows and knees were scraped badly, mainly from the many times she had stood back up to challenge her cousin, but those would heal quickly. So would be bruises on her arms and face. What were not going to be so easy to repair were the bruises and cuts on her heart.

Hinata shed a few silent tears, and then winced when she tried to wipe them with her arm. She had tried so hard to be noticed by Naruto, and when she had, what happened? Neji beat the pulp out of her. In front of everyone! What would Naruto think about her now?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. When she staggered over and opened it, Kiba and Shino, along with Akamaru, Kiba's Ninja Dog, who rode in his jacket with his head popping out, entered her room. When they saw her, swaying before them, they rushed forward and helped her back to her bed.

After she had settled back down in her blankets, Shino said, "You really shouldn't have been moving around, you know. After the job that Neji did on you, you shouldn't have the energy to stand up. You could have just told us to come in instead of opening the door yourself, you know.

Kiba didn't say anything, for once. He just stood there looking at her. Akamaru had different plans, however, as the puppy left him and jumped on her. Hinata winced at the impact, but let Akamaru lick her face.

After waiting a few more seconds, Kiba rubbed his bandaged chin. "Goddamnit. Naruto has certainly come a long way since our days with him at the Academy. I remember him as the blundering idiot who was always causing Iruka-Sensei to make us do all the stuff that we already knew over again."

At that point, Shino interrupted, "Kiba, we should be going. She needs her rest and you need yours. After what Naruto did to you today-"

"I told you," Kiba growled angrily, "That moron got lucky. If I faced him again, he wouldn't be standing for very long, I can assure you that."

"Regardless, we should be going. Even if you don't value your own health, Hinata here needs to rest. Nearly all of her chakra points are still sealed, and she's in no shape to be talking for long periods of time. It might be days before she can walk safely on her own two feet. And in any case, it's getting late, and the hospital closes to visitors in ten minutes. We need to be going."

Kiba snorted and waved at Hinata, saying, "Don't worry. We'll come and visit you as often as we can. As long as the Hokage doesn't stop us, we'll come." Shino nodded in agreement. "Come on, Akamaru. Give Hinata her rest. She's going to need it tomorrow."

Akamaru barked and jumped to Kiba's shoulder and then into his hair. "Well, we'll both see you later." With that parting, they both walked out the door and gently closed it behind them."

She sighed and snuggled tighter under her blankets. The night was fast approaching, and since she was still exhausted from the fight, sleep quickly took her as the lights were dimmed ten minutes later.

Daylight outside Hinata's window slowly shifted across her face and she woke from her sleep, refreshed but still severely weakened. After washing her face in the pan of water next to her bed, she tried to stand up again, but found that she could barely manage to make her muscles respond.

Sighing, she lay back down and prepared herself for what was going to be a very boring day. Closing her eyes, she thought back to the dream she had. This was going to be a big problem later on. She couldn't pluck up the courage to tell Naruto, and sooner or later, he was going to be claimed by someone else.

Sighing again, Hinata started daydreaming about him, something that she had done for years. In her mind's eye, she could confide in him, but she could never seem to get near him without passing out cold. It was either that or he was so busy eating Ramen that he would never notice her. After all, she was just a strange, dark-haired girl to him.

She was interrupted by someone opening the door and pushing in a cart of food. Hinata sighed again. It was Hospital food. That was just what she needed right now. She couldn't really afford to be picky though, as she hadn't eaten a full meal for over a week, since before the start of the Chunin Exams.

After the nurse left to help the other patients, she turned back to the food she had gotten. Maybe she could turn her nose at it, but that wouldn't be a smart thing to do. Weakened as she was right now, anything to help her get her strength back quickly was something good; even if it was unappetizing hospital food.

She had just finished eating the last piece of chicken on her plate and set it aside when knock came on the door. She checked the time. It was eleven thirty. Kiba and Shino would both still be asleep at this point, since they didn't have any missions to do during the chuunin exams.

"Come in." she said.

The door creaked inward and a face that she knew better then her own popped in. What on earth was he doing here?

Author's note:

Well, here we go. The prologue. I know its kinda dull and all, but trust me, better stuff is coming. This is my First fanon in three years, and my first with NaruHina and even Naurto. Tried some Halo before, but the damn plot is so hard to get into. Anyway. R&R. Given the chance, i'll do the same to your pieces. Cut me some slack though. Oh, and i get writer's block really easily, so i need alot of encouragement to come out of it. And one last thing. THIS IS A NO-FLAME ZONE!!!

Thanks.

DDRMSTRPRO