Konoha Academy for the Gifted, a naruto fanfic

Slightly Alternate Universe, GaaraxHinata

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters.

Summary: With the orders of Hiashi Hyuga, 17 year old Hyuga Hinata is transferred into Neji's school, Konoha Academy for the gifted. Hiashi believes that some of Neji's leadership skills would rub off on her, before her inherence to the Hyuga clan. Hinata has been to a school in Konoha before when she was in grade school, how ever she notices a few new students scattered around the school. As she befriends a certain red headed boy, always wearing a stoic expression around every one, she soon realizes there is a lot more that Konoha Academy could offer her, aside from future business skills, there are lessons greater than life its self.

CHAPTER ONE

It was mid May and the Sakura trees were in blossom. Cherry blossom petals were delicately descending from the tree branches above her. It was the first day of school for our Hyuga heiress. Hyuga Hinata was standing along the shady path ways leading towards her new school. There were probably 25 cherry blossom trees on each side of her. The building named Konoha Academy: School for the Gifted stood strong and bold just ahead of her.

She was already late, by a couple of hours, but she didn't care. Her grip on her satchel tightened as she started to advance towards the building. Konoha Academy was supposedly there to teach her 'future life leadership skills' and 'help her harness her inner gift' that would be helpful for her when she inherits the Hyuga clan. Her Father, Hiashi, had figured it was wise to send his first daughter to his nephew's school. Neji, being every thing he thought his daughter was not, was wise, strong, powerful, and a genius, every thing that was needed to be a great leader. Possibly if Hinata were to spend more time with Neji, a bit of his skills would rub off on her.

She stood outside, of her classroom. Deciding she would make herself more presentable she smoothed out her gray plaid skirt, adjusted her gray vest, and pulled down slightly on the sleeves of her white blouse. She faintly frowned at the design of her uniform. The required clothing was very plain in her opinion; it limited her already non existent status of being unique, with the exception of her lilac colored eyes.

She took out her school rule book, to quickly glance at the dress code. She double checked that her shoes were glossed, socks were not baggy and 3 inches below her knees, her skirt was no more than 3.5'' above the knees, along with no added offense color on her outfit. Coming to a conclusion that she wasn't breaking any school rules, she knocked twice on the door. After hearing a confirmation to welcome her self in, she opened the door and walked toward the front of the classroom, where her teacher stood.

As she gave the teacher her transcript, she waited for her to acknowledge the reason as to why she was there. With out having to look up she could tell that all eyes were on her. Her teacher finally looked up from the paper. "Hyuga Hinata welcome, I'm Kurenai and I'll be your sensei." They both bowed to each other. Kurenai had a genuine smile on her face, which Hinata happily returned.

Hinata stood facing her classmates; her eyes were fixed on some kid's shoe. Kurenai had asked Hinata to introduce her self to the class. "My name is Hyuga Hinata …I'll be your new classmate," she said softly. There were a series of gasps and murmurs that rang throughout the classroom at the mention of her last name. Hinata could feel her cheeks flush slightly with all the attention directed towards her.

"And I'm looking forward to know what this school has to offer me", she finished softly, forcing her self to look up at all of her old colleagues. As her eyes scanned many of the familiar faces, and a few she didn't recognize, she suddenly stopped at the far right-hand corner of the room, at a red headed boy. He was staring out the window with his arms cross, obviously uninterested with what was going on in the classroom. If the classroom were to have caught on fire he probably would still be there until the room was completely covered in thick black smoke, would he realize any thing threatening had occurred. She highly doubted that he had heard her little introduction to the class; a slight frown came across her face.

Kurenai had directed her to sit next to Haruno Sakura. At the mention of the name, Sakura's hand rose up. Hinata took the hint and sat next to the girl who had her hand up, which was to her shock, in front of the red headed boy.

"Konichiwa Hinata-chan! I haven't seen you in so long, I almost didn't recognize you! How are you?" Sakura greeted. Sakura hadn't changed much since her younger years here, although her hair was shorter than she remembered. Sakura was probably a good 3 inches taller than her, but Hinata was pretty short anyways.

"Konichiwa Sakura-chan, I'm fine. It's great to be back" Hinata said as she turned around slightly to get a close glimpse at the boy behind her. She half expected him to be still looking out of the window, how ever his gaze was now fixed upon this strange new girl in front of him.

"Oh, that's Gaara-sama; he transferred here about a year ago from Sunagakure. He usually keeps to himself. You can't get anything but a stoic expression, from him." Sakura informed her, resting her chin on her palm. Hinata give a slight nod at the extra knowledge.

Gaara's arms were crossed as he continued to glare at her, and she felt rather uncomfortable under his gaze. His head was tilted slightly to the right showing the character of LOVE on the left side of his forehead. She faced forward to focus on the writing on the black board. She could still feel his stare burning through the back of her head. She shifted slightly and threw a piece of light blue paper behind her. Hoping it would land on the boy's desk, it did. He sat there, arms still crossed with a questioning look.

---

His gaze averted from the girl in front of him, to the piece of neatly folded paper lying on his desk. He quickly glanced back at the new girl, then back at the paper. Finally after contemplating whether or not to read it, he decided he would, even if he didn't care much.

Unless there's some thing you need to ask me,
I would appreciate it if you would look some where else.

He looked up, a bit surprised, although he didn't show it. She was so straightforward. He was only curious, he didn't even noticed when she came in, who she was, what she was doing there, why she would be throwing notes on his desk. A slight smirk formed on his face as several thoughts came into his mind.

-----

The bell rang, it was now lunch. Every one started to dig through their back packs for their lunch. As Hinata was putting her notebook inside her satchel, she couldn't help but look behind her. A bit shocked to see that he was already gone, how ever all of his belongings were still on his desk, she gave a knowing smile at the thought of his laidback appeal.

"Hinata-chan lets go, everyone will be so surprised to see you back." Sakura said as she took hold of Hinata's hand with a big smile on her face. She was pulling Hinata as fast as she could outside to where every one usually ate. Hinata nodded and let herself be dragged by Sakura, a smile forming on her face as well.

As they stepped out side, Hinata saw the many faces that she was so fond of. Kiba hadn't changed much, he was probably a head taller than her, and he wore his uniform so loosely. He didn't even bother to button up his shirt at all, exposing his fitted black undershirt. His tie was wrapped around his neck loosely. A blush crept up to her face as she noticed how much he has grown. Neji and Shino wore their uniforms perfectly, making them look very professional. She smiled as she noticed that Shino was still wearing his trademark shades.

"Hinata-chan!" Ino jumped up giving her a hug, which Hinata graciously returned. "What brings you here? You've been gone for so long. We really missed you." She asked, as both she and Hinata sat down on the grass below a large cherry blossom tree. Ino hadn't changed much either, her hair was still in a pony tail, but just like Sakura, it was shorter than she remembered. She had her skirt pulled up probably 4-5 inches above her knees, but it seemed that no one really cared.

"It's really none of your business, but her father transferred her here, so she could learn from me." Neji responded calmly for her. He crossed his arms and leaned against the tree.

"Ooh! Sakura-chan!" someone yelled from behind them.

Naruto, along with Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and to her surprise Gaara was with them as well. They were all coming towards them. Naruto came to Sakura and placed an arm around her waist planting a kiss on her cheek. Hinata's eyes widened slightly, but she quickly hid it. A saddened expression now fell upon Hinata's facial features. Shino, Gaara, Neji, and Sasuke noticed of course, being the observant ones.

"Eh? Hinata-chan? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked finally noticing his old friend.

She stared at his arm which were wrapped around Sakura .Plastering a small smile on her face, to hide her hurt emotions, "I came back to attend graduate from the Academy". Naruto had a big smile on his face as he jumped up to give her a big hug. Only this time no blush came upon her face, just an vacant mask, but her eyes gave it away; all the hurt feelings, the rejection, her wasted feelings toward this blonde boy.

Naruto finally let go after saying a few 'I missed you', 'you've changed a lot but that's a good thing!' they all sat down and started chatting. Asking Hinata questions, about her old school, what her new classes were like, talking about classes that they hate, teachers they thought were hot. Shikamaru, Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji remained quite the entire time, finding nothing to say.

-----

Naruto couldn't help but glance at Hinata every few minutes or so. She has really changed he thought to himself. She grew into a lovely woman, blossoming from her innocent girlhood into a beautiful young woman. He never did figure out her feelings for him.

His grip on Sakura tightened, which she returned by cuddling closer to him. Hinata was beautiful; her eyes were soft and relaxing, her skin was so fair. She gave off a soothing aura, making every muscle in his body relax slightly. Her hair had grown a good few lengths, it now laid a couple of inches below her shoulder, and her bangs were still framing her face. A Slight breeze blew by, making her hair brush against her face.

Cherry blossoms began to fall gently all around campus.

An old memory came to him as he watched her:

Four Years Ago

It was a drafty day in Konoha. Every one was gathered to say their good byes to the heiress of the Hyuga clan. After waving good bye to every one, Hinata walked towards the car.

"WAIT!" Naruto yelled out causing Hinata to freeze in step.

Naruto took a couple of steps towards her. Hinata was about to turn around but Naruto quickly wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. She tried to turn around to face him, but he held her there. He couldn't look at her eyes, he wouldn't dare. It would hurt too much to look at her straight in the eyes.

"Hinata-chan, promise me," her muscles relaxed as she heard the mention of her name. Her eyes started to swell up with tears, but she refused to let them out now, not until she was out of sight. "Promise me, you'll come back, even if it's only to visit." She was surprised by his request, yet she couldn't help it when a smile formed on her face.

Tears started to fall freely from her face. She gave a nod and suddenly her whole body froze. Naruto gave Hinata a soft kiss on her cheek. His lips were warm, she liked this feeling she felt when Naruto touched her. She could feel a smile formed on his lips. A blush crept up to her face.

Naruto reluctantly let go of the girl he was holding. They both stood there for a few seconds; him staring at her back, and her staring at the ground. Then she finally spoke. "I promise," was all she said as she started to walk to her car. When she was about to step in, she paused and without turning around, she said her last goodbye to her friends "Ja ne, every one… we'll see each other again, Naruto-kun" the last part was said mostly to her self, under her breath, but Naruto heard. He smiled to him self; he could still taste the salty tears that touched his lips from when he kissed her.

Naruto tore his gaze away from Hinata; he was now focused on the ramen bowls in front of him. "Itadakimasu!" Naruto hollered as he started to chow down on his ramen. Every one gave an exasperated sigh at the actions of Naruto.

"Hey every one," Tenten called out. She was with Rock Lee and a girl she never saw before. Tenten still had her hair in two buns; her eyes were gleaming with joy. "Hi Hinata, I heard you came back. Welcome home, you remember Lee, oh and this is Temari." The girl name Temari gave a slight nod. Hinata smiled at her.

Temari had four spiky pony tails. She looked stern with rough features, defiantly not a Konoha local.

Neji, Sasuke, and Gaara stood up. "Well we have to go, see you all later" Neji said as he adjusted his gray slacks. Every one said good-bye, except Hinata. She was watching them gather their stuff, curiosity running through her thoughts. Where could they be going? Is Neji-niichan close with Gaara-kun? She thought to her self.

Twenty minutes passed and there were 2 stacks of empty ramen bowls. She was tired of all the flirtatious remarks passing from Sakura to Naruto, ten minutes before the bell rang again, Hinata excused herself. She started to walk her locker. When she reached it, she took out her planner for the combination. Once the locker was opened… she stopped, her mind was swarming with thoughts. Naruto! Naruto!! Naruto!!!

Her eyes started to fill with tears, but she refused to let them out. She took out a couple of books and placed it in her locker. She took her sleeve and wiped her eyes with it. Someone came up next to her and leaned on the locker beside her. She looked over at the person. To her amazement, it was Gaara. She quickly tried to dry her eyes. His eyes were fixed on her yet again, arms crossed, and another stoic expression.

"'Hyuga Hinata is it?" he said with no hint of emotion at all.

"H-hai, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Neji-niichan" she asked not looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on the back of her locker. She felt so distant from her location.

"Neji is your brother?" he asked, ignoring her earlier question. He didn't really care, but he asked anyway.

"No,… he's my cousin…" she responded, putting a couple more books in her locker.

"Umm excuse me, you're leaning on my locker," A boy said to Gaara as he was trying to get to his locker. Gaara shot him a glare, and the boy quickly retreated. "A-ah... I guess I'll come back later." He ran off, Hinata and Gaara both staring at the boy, Gaara mostly glaring.

"Anyways, I got your …note, and I did have some things to ask you," he said holding up the note from before.

She was surprised he still had it. But it didn't matter. "What do you need to ask me?" she asked looking at the back of her locker.

"Class is about to start, I'll ask you along the way. We should get going." He grabbed her wrist and was leading her towards their homeroom.

Hinata's face flushed slightly, and she didn't know why. It might have been because of the sudden contact with this boy. "Ah-h, w-wait, I need to stop by the l-library to pick up my text books…" she said, while she was still being dragged by him.

He changed his route towards the Library & Records building. The halls were too noisy for either of them to start a conversation, and it was still noisy when they left the building. Once they reached the library, the bell rang. It took Hinata a good 10 minutes to get all 5 of her books.

She tried to hold them all, along with her satchel in hand, but 2 books slipped from her grip and fell down to the ground. Gaara let out a sigh and picked up the two books that fell. He took another book from her pile to lighten her load. "You should have left your things in the classroom, lets gowe're already late" he said as he led the way through the door. Hinata made a mental note to herself, follow Gaara's lead.

As they left the library, they walked along the cherry blossom pathway towards the academic building of the school. Gaara was faster than her; he was already a good ten feet away. Every one was in class. The campus was quiet, still, and the silence was unnerving. There was an awkward silence between the two. Hinata searched her head for a conversation starter. But there was no need to when Gaara spoke up.

"Who are you?" he asked not even looking back at her.

Hinata was surprised, he already knew her name. Why would he ask that? Then she realized his real question. Was she a threat to Konoha, who was she to the group, why was she eating lunch with people he knew, How come every one he knew, remembered her?

"I ...I lived around here 4 years ago. They were all my good friends; I was very fond of them. My father decided to transfer me away because; he felt that they were all holding me back, from my true potential. But he decided to bring me back when he noticed Neji-niichan's growing potential, and I agreed to come back for the sake of my clan." She said. There was another long pause before she said more. "Um, Gaara-kun?" she waited for his attention.

"Hn?"

that was all she needed to continue."Do you know how long Naruto and Sakura have… been… going out?" she asked under her breath. Her eyes saddened as she focused on the roots of the trees.

Gaara sudden stopped, Hinata looked up and stared at the back of his figure. They both stood there for a while, until Gaara finally turned around and placed the books on the bench closest to them. He walked towards her and stopped when he was close enough. Gaara looked down at her, she wasn't looking at him square in the eye, yet she was not intimidated, even if he was…towering above her.

They were standing so close to each other. To avoid making eye contact she decided to look at his face, careful to avoid any eye contact. He was a whole head taller than her. His jaw was so defined and his body was not too buff or skinny… he was actually kind of sexy. She blushed and tore her eyes from his body. She noticed that on his right sleeve had the word "kage", whereas on her sleeve had the Hyuga clan emblem. Is he related to the Hokage? Maybe a royal blood, she thought to herself.

"Hinata, I can tell Naruto is important to you, but I advise you not to feel any attachments towards him again." That was all he said. He noticed that she wasn't looking at him, so he took her chin and raised it, so they were eye to eye. He noticed her cheeks were a bit flushed. A smirk appeared on his face, when he realized that it was his doing that led her to blush. "They've been going out for 4 and half years, on and off again of course. Assuming your story is true, that would mean they've been going out before you even left." He paused just for the effect. "hm, you didn't look like the type to go after a guy that's already taken." He smirked.

Her eyes widened. She dropped her books. That hurt. Questions were forming in here mind. Memories were popping up out of nowhere. How would she go back to class and sit next to Naruto's four year girlfriend? Was she supposed to act like his goodbye kiss never happened? Why would Naruto even kiss her the day she left? Tears were threatening to come down. She fought as hard as she could to keep them from falling.

Her body began to shake. She wanted to leave. Leaving school on her first day wasn't a bad thought any more. No, she had to stay. She would consider her self even weaker than before if she left. She came to this school to grow stronger!

Gaara looked at her, feeling a bit sympathetic. he was the one that broke the bad news to her. He placed a handkerchief in her hand. When she felt the piece of linen on her palm, she finally looked up at Gaara who had his back to her. The cherry blossoms were falling again …and along with the blossoms, she allowed her tears to fall as well. Gaara knew that Naruto was probably one of the reasons why she decided to come back.

"We'll go back when you're ready." He said as he walked towards the bench where the books were placed, and sat down. Why was he being nice to her? He had known Naruto for a good 5 maybe 6 years now, after meeting each other at a fighting competition. Naruto was the only one ever to have defeated him so they stayed in contact. Naruto and him were probably complete opposites but, they were still very good friends.

He remembered when Naruto told him about Sakura, the kid was 'in LOVE!' as he recalled. He was happy for him but that just meant that Gaara was still alone. Every one had someone special to share their life experiences with, but he had no one. And apparently now the girl next to him is just as alone as he is. That's one thing they have in common now. She was a quite girl, he could tell from her lack of dialogue at lunch. He didn't say much at all because he didn't see a point in speaking up unless necessary.

Neji's cousin eh? She probably has that white eyes thing, Byakugan, was it? Yeah. She doesn't look so strong. He could probably kill her. No, not yet. Not when she's already in such low spirits. Her family is so different his. They were traditional. They had strong eyes, yet very pale features. She was also different from her family. Neji was confident and strong. She was soft yet still had the motivation to move forward. He couldn't help but think that Naruto was the reason for her motivation. Now that she knows he's gone, would she still be motivated?

Gaara continued to sit there thinking, eyes closed, arms crossed in contemplation.

He opened his eyes to see Hinata standing in front of him with a huge smile on her face. He was confused when he saw her expression but he wouldn't let her see his confusion. Why would she be smiling? Wasn't she just crying just a moment ago? 'Girls, they're so complicated to understand,' and he really didn't care no matter how much they confused him. It would require an inspired psychologist to deal successfully with them. But this girl, this particular girl in front of him, was different.

"I'm sorry Gaara-sama, I'm fine now" she said as she turned to face the academic building. Gaara stood up; books still in hand, and looked at her. She turned her head slightly to find him staring at her yet again. "Its beautiful ne?" she asked.

He gave her a questioning look. Noting his confusion, she pointed towards the sky. Suddenly he realized what she was talking about. The cherry blossoms were falling again. They were both completely surrounding them by gentle blossoms.

A warm breeze passed through the two students. A smiling indigo haired girl stood happily but reserved. The red headed boy watched her in interest. Cherry blossom petals were slowly descending to the ground, all around them. The tree branches of the Sakura trees swayed slightly in the direction of the breeze. He looked back down at her. Maybe, she's not as weak as he thought. Either she's very good at hiding her pain, or she's very strong for going through her situation, with a smile none the less.

The blossoms blew around the two teenagers, each staring at the other, for their own interest and fascination.

He didn't notice a slight smile forming on his face, while a thought came to him; 'yeah, it is beautiful…' he wouldn't have voiced this out loud, not even if someone threatened to kill him. He would probably have killed said person instead. As soon as the smile appeared, it quickly vanished. He turned away quickly, and forcing his stoic expression back on, his smile definitely gone now. But she saw it, she decided to let him keep his pride and pretend to not have seen anything. 'Boys', she thought 'pride is all they have to live up too'. She silently shook her head knowingly, and they both went on their way towards class.

END of CHAPTER1

SokiiE: Yeah I'm sorry it was very OOC, remember this is an Alternate Universe (AU). I'm trying very hard to keep Gaara the same and Hinata will gradually grow. I probably won't update this story for a couple of months, maybe years. I have another story that I never finished. My other story was rushed so I'm hoping this wouldn't be considered rush, but then it again it probably was. I'm totally open to suggestions, I know for a fact how this story will end, and I'm not going to change my mind either. As for flames, I don't mind it, if a flame can help me progress then SURE. But please keep it light, I'm only human, I can't handle such harsh criticism. Don't forget to review if you like it, because I'll only continue if people actually want me too. There really is no point in continuing if no one wants more.