Hinata sat near the training grounds outside the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it was quiet at the time and that was how Hinata liked it, most Ninja's were off on missions but some were left with free time and using that free time was the young and shy ninja Hinata; the normally very shy young ninja enjoyed the peaceful area around the training grounds, unless Lee was present, then it was nothing close to quiet and she normally found herself taking in the scenery most of her free time. Hinata sat in a small patch of flowers and gently pulling pedals off of a small white flower, speaking in her normal quiet hushed tone.

"I tell him, I tell him not"

The young ninja repeated this until there was only one petal remaining on the stem and smiled when she got to the last flower and got up, letting the unfortunate petals fall off onto her lap.

"I'm going to tell him how I feel today! No more running away."

Hinata knew that the flower thing wasn't the best way to decide and actually she found it silly but she needed encouragement that no one would give her so she turned to this rather childish ritual; she ran as fast as she could to the center of town and made a beeline to where she thought Naruto would be right now and her assumptions about the yellow haired ninja were correct; she found the subject of her desire standing with one of his teammates, a young pink haired ninja named Sakura underneath the awning of his favorite ramen shop. Hinata paid no attention to Sakura and only had her eyes on Naruto, the guy she admired and liked from afar and when she saw him and his smile, butterflies set in and the desire to rush away took over but she took a breath and controlled her nerves.

"I'm going to tell him how I really feel today, no running away."

Hinata watched as Naruto looked at the young female named Sakura and blushed, his cheeks were red as he said something under his breath that Hinata could barely make out and after she heard it, she would of wished she wouldn't of heard. Naruto looked at Sakura and rubbed the back of his head nervously before speaking to the girl.

"I like you Sakura, a lot, Do you want to do something later?"

Sakura blushed, not knowing what to say to the orange suited ninja, she knew Naruto in the past tried to flirt with her but to have him actually confess was something she didn't count on, she sighed and eventually got upset with him and smacked him lightly on the cheek; Sakura knew about Hinata's crush on him and figured it out early on unbeknownst to Hinata; she called it her woman's intuition and she wanted to play cupid but Naruto was so dense.

"Naruto, just quit already and get a clue.."

Sakura stormed off feeling irritated about the whole thing and left a very sad and confused Naruto, he rubbed his tender cheek and let out a small sigh, he looked as Sakura stormed off into a crowd and grumbled under his breath, a pout on his face.

"She must still like that stupid Sasuke, what does he have that I don't?"

Hinata's eyes widened as she watched the whole event and finally made her presence known, she walked over to help Naruto who still had a pout on his face, she gently tapped his shoulder to get noticed and got into her shy defensive position; her fingers lightly being tapped together and her eyes never meeting Naruto as she spoke

"Are you okay Naruto?"

The young purple haired ninja placed a gentle hand on his shoulder finally getting some courage; Naruto turned and looked at Hinata with a small smile, he figured he would be polite to Hinata despite being forlorn right now.

"Hey Hinata, I'll be okay, I'm not hurt" he hung his head, and a dark aura surrounded him "Just my pride" he picked his head up and looked at Hinata who was staring at him curiously and it made him a little uncomfortable. Hinata couldn't help but ask now, she wanted to know why he was so infatuated with Sakura, maybe if she could find out, she could find out what he liked in a girl, she finally spoke in her quiet hushed tone as she once again tapped her fingers together as a sign of her shy nature.

"Why do you like Sakura so much? I mean, what makes you so attracted to her?" Hinata looked into Naruto's blue eyes, for some reason they reminded her of a fox somewhat but she did hear about Naruto having the nine tailed fox in him so she wasn't too surprised but she found it festinating to say the least. Naruto had a funny smile on his face, thinking about the hot pinked haired ninja as he spoke.

"It's because she's so strong inside and out! She is so awesome and she outgoing and I like that! She also is very pretty and I just love her! And.." he sighed "What a woman" he was busy daydreaming that he didn't see the crushed look on Hinata's face at first; he finally noticed that Hinata was getting teary eyed and quickly got on defensive.

"Hinata, are you okay? I'm sorry if I said something!"

Naruto sighed and panicked inwardly, wondering what he said or did and called himself stupid for saying something to hurt her feelings if he did. Hinata rubbed her eyes to get rid of the single cold tear rolling down her cheek "I'm okay" Hinata gave a weak smile and ran away as fast as she could before Naruto could stop her and Naruto just stood there with a dumbfounded expression on his face, completely confused.

"I hope it wasn't something I said."

Hinata hid behind a large tree near the training grounds and just let everything out; she recalled the look on Naruto's face when he spoke about Sakura, the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes; he really liked Sakura a lot and it upset Hinata more than it should of but it crushed her courage, she leaned behind the tree twiddling her thumbs and lost in space, right now she had no desire to be around anyone.

"I should have seen it sooner, of course he likes her so much, she's strong, independent, pretty and smart." she stopped twiddling her thumbs and leaned down, hugging her knees and staring off at a tree near the one she was leaning against, the very tree she would train at all the time, she mumbled lightly, speaking to know one in particular "In other words, she's everything I'm not" she buried her face in her arms and let out a sigh.

Hinata dozed off after that and noon came and went, the young ninja girl opened her eyes and found herself sleeping on the flower bed and the sun had started to go down, she assumed she must of fallen asleep; some flowers had stuck themselves in her hair when she was sleeping and shook them off, she rubbed her puffy eyes and she was startled by someone calling out her name "Hinata!" she quickly straightened up, recognizing the voice instantly and was completely quiet to hide where she was.

"It's Naruto! I don't want to see him right now."

Hinata quietly ran off to the training grounds and jumped over a gate on the opposite side of the grounds; she quickly found another tree and got behind it, taking deep and quiet breaths as she thought to herself, her voice now sharper then her normal tone.

"It doesn't matter anymore! I could be as strong as the hokage and Naruto will never..."

Hinata frowned at this realization and looked down, fighting back more tears as she bit her lower lip, the look of sadness in her eyes showed her distress; she slumped down and hugged her knees again.

"I'm all alone, Neji hates me and tried to take my life, my dad is embarrassed by me, the one guy I thought would understand me loves someone else entirely."

Hinata curled up tighter and closed her eyes in quiet meditation for an hour until she drifted off again until the moon fell and the sun rose ushering in the next day; Hinata yawned and rubbed her eyes, realizing she hadn't gone home "I'd better get home…not that anyone would care if I went home" she thought that last part with more bitterness then she intended and she frowned deciding not to go right now and just decided to relax near the tree for a bit longer, the quiet was soothing to her. Hinata took off her jacket and rolled it up into a makeshift pillow and decided to sleep for an hour more, hoping that this whole thing was a nightmare.

Konoha started it's day like always and everyone was doing their daily business with a pleasant happiness and it was a beautiful day so it looked promising; Hinata on the other hand was still at the training grounds leaning against a tree, debating if she should go home right now and finally decided to go, she sighed as she got up and winced as a pain went through her back seeing as the forest floor didn't make for a good bed, she grabbed her jacket which was stained with tears and dirt and put it on, it was covered in falling leaves but she brushed them off; her hair was a mess of tangles and leaves and her eyes were bloodshot but she didn't care what she looked like right now, all she wanted was something to eat stalked off into the town to find something and to try to calm her nerves.

Hinata stumbled around the village not caring about the stares she got, she assumed she must have been a sight right now with her woodsman appearance right then. Hinata stopped in front of the same Ramen shop she sees Naruto at and looked at it blankly before walking and quietly getting something to eat, she ate slowly and quietly, letting her short bangs covering her face, the cook looked concerned seeing the girl and decided to approach Hinata.

"Where's your home kid? You lost?"

Hinata didn't even look up from her bowl and mumbled quietly as she thought about the family that hated her "I don't think I really have a home" Hinata put some money down on the table and bowed her head in thanks for the before leaving out the door. Hinata walked around town to clear her head, she thought hard about her feelings right now, it was like a inner self was starting to take form in her.

"Why do you care so much about his feelings? And your family is full of jerks anyway, who needs them!"

Hinata shook her head and let out a quiet sigh, thinking maybe it was best to get out of town for a while, all of these feelings coming at her all at once was not helping her, she was not ready for this and it was making her sad, she sighed and guessed Naruto's obvious interest in Hinata and lack of interest in her was the final straw. The young ninja decided to return home and walked around it once before coming to her window, she opened it knowing she never locked it and snuck him, gathering some things there were important to her and she needed for her running away.

"Nobody will miss me.."

She frowned and stuffed the last of her provisions into an old bag and threw it over her shoulder, she took once last glance around her room and it was like a foreign place to her now, but she still smiled lightly, thinking of all the memories she shared here but they were all just that, memories, she wondered why she was so ostracized by her father, she guessed she just wasn't that strong, she wondered what would of happen if she was born stronger, she didn't know, all she wanted was approval and acceptance, she wished she was stronger, she frowned and snuck back out the window, leaving her house with one last glance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto who had been looking for a Hinata for an hour decided to give up and stop his search, he assumed Hinata would of found her way home by now and thought she would be fine but he was still concerned that he might of hurt her, he let out a sigh and thought he would stop by the center of town; he grinned when he saw Sakura sitting with his other team member, Sasuke at a bench, Naruto's grin fell into a pout when he saw his rival with Sakura, he had hoped he could catch her alone but he was wrong, he approached them and spoke in his normal loud voice,

"Hey guys, what are you doing here? Oh.." he looked at them both and wondered, he figured it couldn't hurt "Have you seen Hinata anywhere?" he knew he had stopped his search but maybe they knew, Sakura knew almost everyone and was a social butterfly so if anyone knew where Hinata was, it was her. Sakura slowly shook her head, feeling annoyed that Hinata could just disappear, Sasuke and her were given a quiet mission to find her after Hinata's father noticed her disappearance and she still was no closer to finishing, she wanted to spend alone time with Sasuke but until the mission was over, she couldn't.

"No and we were just sent to find her, we've been looking since last night but no sign of her" Sakura frowned and looked out at the people passing by them "I'm a little worried about her, apparently she went back home in the night and then just vanished"

Sasuke looked at Sakura with little emotion and apathy, he didn't know how to comfort people, it was not his forte but seeing as they were part of a team, he guessed his would give it a try, he put a hand on her shoulder and spoke in a low monotone voice "We'll find her" he forced a small twisted smile and even though it would of given anyone else the chills, it made Sakura relax and smile back at him with excitement, it wasn't everyday Sasuke gave this kind of attention.

"Yea…we will"

Sakura got up from her spot on the bench with new drive and looked at her team mates up "What are we waiting for? Let's go find Hinata okay?" she grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's hands and dragged them around much to their dismay and they started a thorough search of Konoha again but no one had seen her for a while. Naruto sighed as he threw his hands in the air dramatically "Were could she be" he then remembered his and Hinata's conversation before she rushed off, his funny dramatic face fell into a look of concern "I hope I didn't hurt her" he showed crossed his arms and looked focused in thought, recalling the conversation in his mind. Sakura turned to him with look of annoyance and mild anger, she clutched his shoulder tightly which caused Naruto to yelp and look at Sakura with a look of surprise.

"What do you mean hurt her? What happened, spill it Naruto!" she released his shoulder and moved in front of him, leaning in close to him and staring him with a threatening look; Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously and shook his head, nervous about what Sakura would do next, she had a temper and a strong left hook and he had no desire to be hit, he spoke in a panicked fast tone higher pitch then his normal voice.

"All I did was tell her how much I liked you, she asked me why I liked you so much and.." that was all the young pinked haired ninja needed, she didn't need to listen anymore, she growled quietly under her breath and hit him hard in the back of the head, leaving a bruise and a welt "BAKA!" she sighed and looked at Naruto with a look that said you're stupid "Don't you know anything Naruto? When it comes to women you're an idiot" she balled her hands into fists ready to hit hard if he said something else that was stupid. Naruto put his arms up protectively "What don't I know?" he looked at Sasuke hoping to get some back up but the raven haired ninja gave Naruto a side glance and crossed his arms, leaning against the bench "Hinata loves you…loser" he looked away, not believing his team mate could be this oblivious.

Naruto played back Sasuke's last words the moment he said them, he then knew why she was so upset, no one likes hearing their crush dote over someone else and Hinata did say she had something to tell him, he sighed and rubbed the back of his head, feeling guily "Oh man, no wonder Hinata was upset, I'd be upset too.." he let out a quiet sigh and looked down at the shoes. Sakura rolled her eyes and flicked Naruto's headband "Duh, you haven't noticed even after all this time? I knew you were a dunce Naruto but this is on a whole new level, Hinata cares a lot about you, why do you think she gave you her medicine that day at the exams?" she put her hands on her hips and leaned in close to Naruto again. Naruto started to remember all the times he was with Hinata and he realized that she was shy around him and was sweet with him, nobody would do all of those things because.

"I really am stupid If I didn't notice this.."

Sasuke sighed impatiently as he watched Naruto have an inner discussion and realized this conversation was not getting them anything they needed and wanted to finish this search mission, he glanced at Naruto with his ice like stare again before he spoke to him. "All you have to do is find her now, you can talk to her after we find her" he gave Naruto a look, challenging him to fix things with Hinata and Naruto accepted that challenge then and there; he nodded and looked at the gate to the village, he assumed that if Hinata is not in the village then she must be out there somewhere, the orange clad ninja nodded and looked at them both.

"Okay then, let's go find Hinata real quick and bring her back"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata walked down the long dirt path to the river and looked back at Konoha in the distance, she looked at it but couldn't get too sentimental, she didn't have much to remember besides her family and that stung when she thought of them, she felt bad for doing this to them bur she was going to find her own strength out there and come back, maybe then her father will look at her the way he looked at her little sister, she smiled warmly at the made up illusion and started to head closer to the river and the docks, she was really doing this.

"Farewell for a while Konoha."

Hinata walked faster, anxious to get started on her journey and walked down the to the docks, it was lively here, a lot of fishermen worked here and were passing around boxes and shipments to other boats and carriages and so it was always lively here, hearing the fishermen talk about their wives and sometimes utter words she had to pretend she didn't hear; floating lazily in the water were five large wooden boats that were leaving Konoha at different times; she decided to take the one heading to the sand village, thinking about Garra made her shiver but she learned he changed after Naruto gave him a head but that knocked him back to the stone age; she got her boat pass and got on, it was larger than she thought, above deck were people talking amongst themselves, she assumed this was a citizen boat, meaning there shouldn't be any ninja on here, the thought gave her a small comfort and below were cabins for the guests and a small dining hall, she observed the boat's engine and rowers, the rowers were for emergencies in case the engine died. Hinata jumped when she heard a loud whistle signaling that the boat was leaving and quickly took a seat on deck, she hoped the boat ride would not sicken her; she looked back at Konoha in the distance which was hard to see now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto shrieked in disbelief when he heard the news from a man who was near the gate with papers in his hand, he had just got back from the docks and noticed the three young ninja rushing out the gate, he stopped them and offered boat tickets seeing as he was a salesman and got their attention, the strange orange dressed ninja with wiskers was by far the loudest and asked him if a young woman got a ticket from him to which he said yes, remembering Hinata at the docks "WHAT! what do you mean she's gone?" he grabbed the man and shook him until the man was dizzy and almost ready to pass out "Are you serious!" the man looked scared out of his mind and tried to free himself "Yes, I saw the girl at the docks; she bought a boat ticket from me!" Sakura decided enough was enough now and wacked Naruto on the back "Naruto stop! You're scaring the man and you're going to hurt him" she was getting sick of him and he was driving her nuts but she told herself the sooner we get done with this then the sooner she could get away from him.

Naruto turned his head to Sakura and flailed his arms wildly; he couldn't let Hinata leave like this, not without telling her how he felt.

"We have to go to the dock right now!" he ignored his comrades and ran out the gate in a hurt, leaving Sakura and Sasuke, his shrill voice could still be heard from a mile away. Sasuke sighed as he put his hand in his pockets and gave Sakura a side glance. "Guess we've better go after him" he started to chase after Naruto with Sakura following close behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata leaned over the side of the boat, watching the waves of the ocean, seeing as the river they started on broke off into the ocean as they passed it; was peaceful to her and caused Hinata to give a small smile, letting the slow wind blow her hair around. Hinata yawned lightly and rubbed her eyes but she was not reasy to sleep yet, it was still day but she was worn out.

"I need to stay awake"

Hinata looked at the ocean again, trying to keep focused and sighed, she turned her head as she noticed a man with blonde hair covering one eye sit beside her on the deck, he leaned back with his arms on the railing.

"You're going to get sea sick if you keep on doing that" the man casually leaned back and stared at the sky, the man gave Hinata an eerie feeling, she looked at him and he looked at her with a side glance, she felt nervous.

Hinata looked away at the floor shyly, tapping her fingers again, she wished she could break this little habit but it was something she always did when she as shy which was often so it annoyed her, she then spoke quietly, cautious to get too close to man.

"Who are you?"

She noticed that another man sat down next to him looking out at the water but he was wearing a strange mask with only one eye showing, the other side had no eye hole that covered his face and his hair was the only thing visible; both of them wore black robes with red cloud like designs around it, the cloaked figures looked serious and dangerous and it made Hinata feel uneasy being around them. The masked man stopped looking at the ocean and held his stomach, swaying comically, the masked figure spoke and judging by the voice, Hinata assumed it was a man.

"Deidara! I'm getting sick"

Hinata listened to the two as she watched the blonde whose name was Deidara according to the masked guy walked over to him with a disbelieving look on this face, his voice went from slow and calm to loud and almost like how a father would address a son if he was scolding him

"Idiot, I told you not to look at the waves to long or you'll get sick!" he smacked the man in the masks back in punishment; he sighed and turned his back to the masked man. "Go lie down Tobi."

Hinata now knew their names and watched them some more as Tobi walked off down to the cabins making funny moaning sounds from underneath the mask. Deidara rubed his forehead trying to forget what Hinata assumed was his friend. Deidara looked at Hinata and his his facial features changed back to what they were before Tobi showed up "So, Hinata right?" his sly little smile was unsettling but Hinata didn't falter, she then perked her up for a moment.

"How did you know my name? I don't think we've never seen each other before" Hinata twiddled her thumbs nervously, now getting slightly frightened by the man; this was a simple citizen boat but still, something about him made Hinata nervous.

Deidara stared at the sky again, letting the wind blow his hair around and Hinata could see his other eye, she thought that with the light of the sun shining through them, his eyes looked pretty, he looked pretty, almost a little feminine, it made Hinata blush some; she proceeded to listen to Deidara.

"I know a lot about you, you have a lot of potential and that's why I was told to seek you out, we saw your new ability capable of instantly blocking or attacking anything in your extended field of vision and we're impressed, so I'm here to help you" Deidara looked at Hinata again and gave a small sly smile, it made her look away and blush; she didn't know how to deal with this compliment, it made her smile inwardly but she still had to keep a strong from outward.

"What do you mean by help me? Who are you exactly Deidara..sir?"

Deidara looked straight ahead, gathering his words carefully before looking back at Hinata who was looking curiously at him; he leaned into Hinata from his leaning point and smiled again.

"Join the Akatsuki and you will get the help you need, we can help you get stronger, you have some pretty interesting moves and with are help, you can become stronger. I can tell just by looking at you that you think you're weak right? Wrong, you have raw power kid but it's time we brought it out. What do you say?"

Hinata's eyes widened as she listened, she touched her chest where her heart was and looked down, she didn't even know what to say, she knew of the Akatsuki and they were notorious, she didn't even know what to think.

"Join them? But they're the enemy of the leaf village! But he did say they could make me stronger and maybe then Naruto would notice me.."she looked at her hands, she was leaf village and she couldn't imagine betraying them "But I don't want to betray the leaf village I just wanted to get away from it."

Hinata made her hands into fists gripping the bottom of her jacket, she thought about her father, her brother who was her father's pride and joy and then there was Negi, the images of him from the exams played back in her mind; no one would miss her and no one cares about her right now, she was invisible to everyone, even the man she liked but maybe if she did get more powerful she could impress everyone, her eyes showed pain, it almost even made Deidara frown, seeing the pain in her eyes, almost. Hinata sighed and looked at Deidara who looked back, waiting for the young ninja's awnser.

"Give me some time to thank about it, I have a lot to think about" she hoped that she could avoid the conversation again all together, maybe just run away but she knew that was not an option; Deidara shrugged "Have it your way, the boat ride is a two day voyage, give me your answer when you're ready" he then walked over to Tobi who was now back on deck, hunched over a barrel. Hinata looked at her feet, wondering what she got herself into.

That's Chapter 1, don't worry, I'm going to keep writing this story, I just wanted to update the first two chapters before I did anymore. I thank you all who liked this story in the past.

Next time on Akatsuki Hinata..

Hinata is now going to make a choice, will she remain a Leaf village ninja or will she join with the enemy? Will Naruto and Friends make it to her in time? Tune in next time!