Hey! This fic is a collaboration with Myomi-chan, we sincerely hope you enjoy it! Please review!
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Sports season was always eventful for the students of Konoha high school, but that season that changed the lives of most of its students would always be remembered by those it affected, especially one Hinata Hyuuga.
It started like any other season: the fixtures were set and the teams were practicing as hard as they could, and they were pumped up. One could practically feel the school spirit pulsing through the school, as did Hinata as she strolled down the hallway. It had been a Monday; like any other, she had ridden to school with her older brother in his car, on the insistence that it was not safe to take the bus or walk to school given who they were.
She sighed as she recalled this. She was Hinata Hyuuga, daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, head of one of the town's most successful banks, a fact her overprotective brother, Neji, told her not to forget could endanger her life. But Hinata knew her brother insisted that he had to drive her to school not because she could be abducted, but because he did not want any of the perverted high school boys anywhere near her.
He was extremely protective, to say the least.
Hinata sighed again, lost in thought, as she approached her friends, who were huddled at their lockers. Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud argument that her two best friends, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, were having.
'Not again', she sighed as she thought to herself. 'I'm starting to wonder how we manage to come up with game strategies with these two ever arguing.'
Ino and Sakura were the co-captains of the school's girl's netball team, which Hinata was a member of. The only reason the team had two captains was because no one was willing to tell either girl the other was captain, as the two could get pretty scary sometimes.
"No! It's thanks to ME that we won the championship last season, so I should come up with the strategies this season too!" Ino shouted.
"Oh, please! I scored the winning shot AND broke the tie in the final game, so I should come up with the strategies, because yours failed and we would have lost if it weren't for my quick thinking and winning shot!" Sakura shot back, turning her back on Ino and crossing her arms smugly across her chest, much to the annoyance of the other.
Ino clenched her fists at her sides, veins popping up on her blonde head as she glared at her pink-haired co-captain.
Hinata exhaled lightly. "Um, come on girls…w-we all contributed to the victory…it was a team victory thanks to Ino's strategy and Sakura's shot and the team's defense and attacks…"
But her words were drowned out by the two girls who were screaming at each other, both very red in the face now. She sighed and turned away from them to open her locker and put away the books she wouldn't need until after lunch. She then headed off to home room, leaving her two best friends in the hallway still arguing, their shouts of 'Ino pig' and 'giant forehead' slowly fading behind her as she once again got lost in her thoughts.
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The bell rang, its shrill sound signaling the end of home room.
Hinata sighed in relief as she picked up her bag, only to frown when all her books fell out. Sighing again, she squatted as she began to collect her books and papers that were now scattered all over the floor, easily losing herself in thoughts of her schedule for the day as she went about her task. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice when someone squatted before her to help her pick up her books.
"Hey Hinata."
At the mention of her name in an all too familiar voice, she glanced up, her eyes widening as she recognized one of her brother's friends and her long-time crush, Uzumaki Naruto.
"AH! N-Naruto! U-uh, w-what are you d-doing here…." She stuttered.
"Weeell, unless I got lost again, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to have my English class here," he joked, smiling at her.
"R-right, well, you don't have t-to help me pi-", she started, trying to stop him from picking up her books but he cut her off.
"Nah, it's okay, I want to. And besides, your brother would kill me if he found out I would not help you in your 'time of need', ya know?" he joked with a lopsided grin that made Hinata's heart flutter.
Automatically returning his smile, she noted how his blue eyes sparkled when he smiled at her. Soon enough, she was lost in the blue pools that were looking at her. 'His eyes are the colour of the sky in spring…' she sighed.
"Hinata, are you okay?" he asked with concern.
"H-huh..?"
"Yeah, well your face was turning red and you kinda stopped moving..."
"Y-yeah, I'm o-okay", she answered quickly, blushing furiously.
"Are you sure? You look kinda faint to me…" he insisted, closely looking at her face, causing her face to turn a new kind of red at how close he was to her.
She quickly averted her gaze to the ground, trying to quickly gather the rest of her papers so she could leave the classroom, which was suddenly too hot for her liking.
"Oh that's a nice bracelet you got there."
At the compliment, she glanced down at her wrist to look at the silver bracelet she had gotten for her birthday the previous year. It had her name on it and sparkled whenever the light hit it.
"It suits you," Naruto commented as he peered at it.
"Th-thank you," she said as they both stood.
"Oh, here, you forgot your algebra notebook."
He reached for the book at the same time she reached for it, and she gasped when their fingers brushed each other's, pulling away as something akin to an electric shock ran up her spine.
"U-um, I h-have to g-go now, you know c-class…I'm l-late for c-class, bye!" she stammered as she quickly backed out of the room, running off to her next class, leaving a very confused Naruto in the classroom.
'What's up with her?' he wondered to himself.
"Oi, dobe, you're blocking my seat."
Naruto jumped, turning to see his arch rival, and frenemy, Uchiha Sasuke.
"Teme, ever heard of excusing yourself?" he snapped back. 'Man, where did he come from? I didn't hear him. Too creepy.'
But upon looking around he noticed that the class was already full and his friends and students alike were taking their seats.
Sasuke's voice interrupted his thoughts again. "That would require me to be courteous to you, and courtesy is something I do not think a Neanderthal like you could possibly understand."
The Uchiha coolly walked around him and took his seat without so much as sparing the blonde a second glance, purposefully ignoring the annoyance and irritation rolling off him in waves.
Naruto was about to retort, when the teacher entered the class. 'Temeh' he angrily thought to himself as he sat next to his pal, Shikamaru Nara, who just turned his head to the side, leaning back in his chair and muttering under his breath about troublesome friends and teachers ruining his morning when he could have been napping peacefully…
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Soccer practice was going as it usually did, starting with the team's coach, Hatake Kakashi, being over half an hour late.
"Sorry guys," he apologized, smiling good-naturedly, "I found a stray bunny and I just had to find it a good home becau-"
"LIAR!" Naruto interrupted with a shout. "You probably just went off to buy more of that perverted manga you're always reading, it's a wonder we even manage to win the championship! It's all thanks to my skill really, otherwise we wouldn't even have made it this far!"
Sasuke coolly interrupted the rant as the other was getting lost in his own self-praise, his voice laced with annoyance. "Everyone knows our win was thanks to Neji's strategy, so please spare everyone your idiotic rant, dobe."
"Yeah, you almost cost us the championship when you messed up the cross kick just before the half-time whistle," his friend and the team's goalie, Kiba Inuzuka, chimed in.
"Shut up dog-breath, no one asked you or the teme for your opinions," Naruto grumbled irritably.
"Moving on," Kakashi snapped to get their attention back. "Alright team, we were victorious last season and nothing is going to stand in our way this season."
The boys cheered at this, Naruto being loudest, earning him an annoyed scowl from Sasuke and an amused eye-roll from Neji.
"Now," Kakashi continued after the team settled, "we will do some drills to get warmed up."
Some boys grumbled at this, Shikamaru complaining about how troublesome practice would be.
"I will announce everyone's starting positions for our first game next weekend after practice ends. Okay, 5 laps around the pitch, then 20 sit-ups, 20 push-ups and 20 knee jumps. After those, passing, dribbling and stealing drills. Go!" Kakashi shouted as he pulled out his favourite manga to read. "Icha Icha paradise, I've been waiting for this volume for weeks!" he chuckled gleefully with a perverted glint in his eye.
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After a long and tiring afternoon, full of running laps, sit-ups and push-ups, the exhausted team huddled around their coach to hear who was assigned which position.
"Hmmm, you guys look exhausted," Kakashi commented with a chuckle, as the teens sat panting at his feet.
"Of course we're exhausted! You made us do all those exercises!" Naruto shouted, immediately annoying Sasuke who was sitting next to him.
"Quit complaining about everything dobe, it's called exercise and practice for a reason," he snapped, then continued, his voice teasing, "then again, I guess I shouldn't expect you to keep up, lazy." he finished with a smirk.
"Why you- " Naruto started, before Kakashi interrupted him, irritated.
"Enough, you two!"
Both teens glared at each other but said nothing more. Satisfied that he had everyone's attention again, Kakashi continued speaking.
"Now where was I? Ah, yes, I have here the list of positions you all will be playing in next week's game against Suna high school. Okay, Kiba will be the goalie as usual; our defenders will be Tesla, Adam, Chad and Akan. Midfield we have Sai, Shikamaru and Naruto and Sasuke as strikers, and Neji will wear the captain band," he concluded, flipping back the papers on his clipboard.
"What, midfield? How troublesome…" Shikamaru complained. "Can't I be on the bench coach?"
The lazy teen's complaints however were drowned out by Naruto's loud celebration.
"Alright! Striker! Yes! This is my chance to show my skills!"
His celebration continued, much to his team's annoyance, with more dancing and cabbage-patching.
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After the final bell rang, students spilled out of their classes, hurrying off to meet friends to walk home with, or chatting animatedly in the hallways at their lockers.
Hinata let out a sigh of relief at the day's end as she walked slowly towards her locker where Sakura, Ino and Tenten were waiting for her, all looking very excited about something. She warily approached them, wondering what they were all so excited about.
"Hinata! You are not going to believe this! Check out what's outside your locker!" Ino squealed as she pulled Hinata towards her locker.
"Ino, relax, it's not going anywhere," Tenten chastised, looking pityingly at Hinata who was rubbing her now released arm.
"Ow, Ino that hur-"
But Hinata didn't finish her statement, as she noticed what had excited the girls.
There, through the vents of her locker, was one long stemmed, fully bloomed, blood-red rose. Almost in a trance-like state, Hinata moved to open her locker. When it opened, her eyes widened when she noticed the little white gift bag that sat on top of her books. A folded card leant next to it, and on it, only a single sentence was written.
'It will look exquisite on your beautiful skin.'
Inside the bag, there was a box, displaying a gorgeous golden necklace, with a pendant with the initial N.
At this point, Hinata was aware of only three things: her racing heart, the fact that she felt really light-headed, and the non-stop squealing of Ino and Sakura behind her.
"A love letter!" squeaked Ino, diving to grab the note from Hinata's hands.
She read it softly and dramatically, Sakura and Tenten pressing close on either side. After finishing it, Ino shouted happily as Sakura squealed again and pulled a stunned Hinata into a hug. Tenten plucked the rose from Hinata's hand, carefully scrutinizing it.
"You have a secret admirer!" Sakura declared, releasing Hinata.
The young Hyuuga stumbled, trying to wrap her mind around things. Everything was a blur; everything except the startlingly red rose and the pure white of the bag and the paper. In a daze, Hinata lifted the necklace out of the box, holding it up to the fluorescent lights. They reflected off its gold surface, creating a shimmery effect that threw lights across the hallway like disco lights on a floor. Her friends 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed at the sight, but Hinata still did not utter a sound, scared that it could all be a dream.
"Wow, is that real gold?" The words were quickly followed by a whistle, and Hinata snapped her head down to meet Inuzuka Kiba's curious gaze.
"I-I think so," Hinata confessed; this elicited a squeal from Tenten this time, who snatched the necklace from Hinata's hand, running a finger delicately over the surface. "I-It was in my locker."
Ino passed Kiba the card. He frowned as he read it carefully.
Kiba was one of Hinata's best friends. She had known him since they were young children, and all through their elementary school days, they (along with Aburame Shino) had been an inseparable team of three, from playing on the playground to working on class projects. Hinata knew that if anyone could be trusted, it was him.
"Do you know who gave it to her?" Tenten asked, spinning the golden chain on her index finger. It whirred quickly.
"The initial is an N," Sakura said helpfully. "Maybe it wa-"
"Yeah, I think so," Kiba said. He leaned closer to the card, sniffing it. He scrunched his nose up, as if repulsed. "Yeah, it's definitely HIM. Only HE would..." Kiba shook his head.
"Ugh...Who?" Ino asked impatiently. Tenten had passed her the rose, and she twirled it between her fingers. "Who put it in there?"
Kiba passed the note back to Hinata, who slipped it into the gift bag. Hinata saw his expression, and realized he was thinking carefully.
"I just don't get why HE would..." Kiba mumbled to himself, then straightened up, intending to address the group at large. "Okay, so it smelled like -"
"Hinata!" Everyone turned to see Neji barreling down the hallway. "We must go now!"
Quickly grabbing the necklace from Tenten, Hinata stuffed the white bag into her backpack so Neji wouldn't ask any questions. Sakura and Ino glared at Neji, who only ignored them. Tenten raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's the rush?" she asked.
"We must hurry home," Neji explained, taking Hinata's arm. "We have lots of homework, and YOU-" he turned his attention to his sister "-need to bring your B in Chemistry up."
Hinata waved to her friends as Neji dragged her away. She sighed, her hand reaching back to touch her backpack, where she knew the necklace was hidden away.
'I wonder who sent it?' she thought, her heart pounding excitedly as she walked along. Her heart leaped at the thought of having a secret admirer. 'I wonder if I know him?'
A flash of deep blue eyes and a peal of bright, loud laughter bounced around in her mind for the remainder of the day.
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Author's notes:
Myomi-Chan: So chelty-chan and I came up with this a long time ago, but I procrastinated on it until now. Doesn't our writing flow so well together?! As usual, I was amazed by Chelty's creativity and wondrous writing! :D I hope you all enjoyed our collab!
Chelty-chan: yeah you can all thank Myomi for the detail! I basically only helped with coming up with the plot, she did most of the heavy lifting, Isn't she the awesomest writer evaaaaar?
Please review!
