Imagine having achieved everything you ever wanted:

Freedom from your over-bearing parents.

Having your feelings reciprocated by the person you pined after.

Living comfortably in a home that was just right for the both of you.

Now imagine being bored with the perfect lifestyle you'd been blessed with.

That was Hinata Hyuuga's current situation.

And she hated herself for it.

CHOKE

PART I: AWAKENING

It was a tough pill to swallow, that the first independent decision Hinata had ever made in her life was… wrong for her. She knew that her peers would not be able to understand her dissatisfaction, she'd been raised to project an aura of perfection and even though she had left the overbearing Hyuuga family behind, her upbringing had stayed with her. Hyuuga did not make mistakes.

Under the watchful eye of her parents, Hinata attended the most prestigious all-girl schools in the local area between the ages of three and eighteen. To please her father, she worked hard to achieve academic success that her family was associated with and had to avoid finding herself in social scandals. Pleasing Mother was easier, she didn't have to be perfect, but aim to project perfection; this entailed conforming to a strict diet, grooming regime and following Mother's fashion "suggestions".

Yes, it looked like a puppet-puppeteer relationship instead of one between the average parent and child, but it was all Hinata had known. It made her life simple, and she had convinced herself that her parent's actions were deeply seated in their love for her- after all, by making sure she was following their instructions that she was on the path to success and that they did not need to worry about an uncertain future.

They didn't factor Naruto Uzumaki into their equation.

Before they became romantically entangled, Hinata had known Naruto for two years, he was one of her university dorm-mates and the first to welcome her into a quickly solidifying friendship group. It was the first time Hinata had people she could truly call friends without ulterior motives or business-agendas. That was merely isolating reality of being a potential heir to the Bakyugan Closed Camera Television Security firm.

Naruto was the polar-opposite of Hinata: brash, bright, loud, insubordinate, unstable. Not the kind of person they had planned for Hinata to build a life with. But their daughter had loved him, she claimed she was happy, they were shocked that despite a financial cut-off Hinata continued her relationship with the boy.

To outsiders, her relationship with Naruto was the perfect sweetheart romance: they went on dates regularly, Naruto showered her with affection and praise, their sex life was consistent and they supported each other's dreams. Naruto was entering the world of politics- focusing on philanthropy to gain support and funds for foster-children of the local area, and Hinata? She was exploring her options trying to discover a career that married her interests and the business management degree she had pursued at her father's insistence.

Their work timetables were starting to conflict, and Hinata suddenly had a lot of time to herself. Alone time led her to thinking about her life… about her feelings… and led her to the conclusion that while she loved Naruto she was no longer in love with him, that perhaps she never truly was.

When Hinata was around her boyfriend, she couldn't help mirroring him. When he grinned, she smiled. When he sulked, she pouted. When he was angry, her blood boiled. When he was horny, she was more than willing to engage. But she noticed, in his recent absence that her feelings were reflections of his own… that she had little organic emotional input to their relationship since its conception.

It was… troubling to say the least.

The dark-haired woman sat on her couch in Naruto's university sweatshirt with a mug of green tea and the TV on the lifestyle channel. Usually, this combination of items and actions would relax her.

It wasn't working.

0*0

Tonight, she was supposed to be celebrating her twenty-fourth birthday with Naruto at one of the fundraising events. But she bailed on him. She had been bailing on him since she came to understand the nature of their relationship, since he started dropping hints that a proposal was in the works.

She couldn't see herself like the bubbling brides on screen, describing the love of their life on the screen, before breaking out in joyful tears over finding the right white gown. Twenty-four was still young, she could still do things with her life, was she truly fated to marry the first boy who ever looked her way? As a young girl that was the very fate she'd hoped for, but now, as it was becoming a likely reality, she became unsettled.

As the credits rolled up the screen, the front door opened. Hinata's head whipped to the left- her raven mane fluttering around her head. Naruto was home. The black tux jacket he wore was crumpled, the seafoam cumberband hung loose on his hips, his short blonde hair somehow dishevelled, his grin easy and lazy. His best friend, and main connection to higher society keeping him from falling headfirst onto the floor. Hinata raised from her position and hurried to the door, Sasuke handed the blonde over to her and departed without a greeting or a goodbye.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed. "Those old geezers really drunk me under the table. But, I got through to their hearts and their wallets."

"That's good… how much did you manage to raise tonight?" she asked as she helped him sit on the couch. Despite his confident aura, Naruto hated the stuffy affairs when Hinata wasn't around to help him navigate with her perfect conditioning. It was a shock he had raised anything at all, usually on those nights he drunk himself under the table instead. It was a mystery to her how he managed to raise money while intoxicated.

"Another hundred thousand. Babe, babe… we should celebrate." He giggled. He was already starting to take off his outfit, but it was getting the better of him. Hinata intervened with quick and nimble hands, to his relief. "I hate these fancy things Hina…" he slurred, "When we get married it won't be extravagant at all. It'll be small, simple."

"Of course." She agreed. Naruto sighed in contentment when freed from the trappings of his tuxedo. The blonde pulled Hinata close to his now naked chest and inhaled the scent of her hair. His right hand caressed the underside of her bare thigh, the left hand cupping her face. His deep blue eyes searched her face with concern. "Naruto…?"

"You're looking better." He noted, a thumb brushing over her lower lip, "We won't both be sick if I kiss you, right?"

"I'm feeling better…" Naruto dove in for a quick kiss. It was the first time they'd kissed in for the entire month, but Hinata felt particularly bad for lying to him today, he'd been desperate for her support tonight yet she stayed behind with her thoughts again.

"And you're not mad at me?" he asked her when she pulled back, so he had picked up on her absence... She had used her two temporary jobs as an excuse at first, then resorted to using her family to avoid him during Christmas and their anniversary. Tonight… she feigned illness. Usually she was more cautious to how she reacted with him, but this was the third night in a row she'd ignored him… She was bound to unravel soon and her cheeks flushed as Hinata became embarrassed at how obvious she had been. Then shameful, that she was hurting him like this when all he'd ever done was love, encourage and support her.

"No, I'm not mad." His face lit up again. For a moment, she remembered why she wanted to leave everything behind because of that sweet drunken smile. "Let's go to bed okay?"

I'm trying to do something? I want to complete a fic where the characters think they have everything they thought they wanted but have to consider maybe it's not what they pictured... Not sure if they're going to break up for real or end up back together, you'll have to struggle along with me. Yikes. Updates twice a month (hopefully).