Hi all, this fic is dedicated to aurora0914 because she is awesome, and she introduced me to a whole load of pairings, one of which is now an OTP of mine, so I hope you all enjoy it.

*I don't own Naruto, Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 1

She lay in wait. Lying was the only thing that she could do right this instant, it's all she ever seemed to do. On occasion, she would get up, out of bed, and write or draw, or play music on one of the sixteen different instruments her father was always pressing on her to learn, or something. Days seemed endless now, just getting up, going to school, getting average grades, going home, laying in bed. That was it. The endless cycle of infinite loathing that took place every day. It hadn't always been like this, oh no, only since her lover had died. Only since the young, blonde, spiky haired boy had died at the hands of a gang on the streets.

She had descended into a dark void, and there was no way out, or up. Only down.

There was no help she could get, she was the quiet one, the one that no one noticed that sat at the back of the class, no one even sat next to her in most classes (aside from Sakura in biology, and Shino in Literacy.) she was just a shell, the one that everyone trod on, without realising she was even there.

Her name? Hinata Hyuuga.

It was a wonder why no one did notice her, she wasn't too bad at what she did, and her family was one of the richest in the entire country, that was how she managed to get into such a high standard private school, but she guessed nobody knew that, after all, they only read out their first names whilst taking the register.

She got out of bed, realising the time, and ran over to the kitchen. Boiled the kettle, filled a bowl with ramen from a 100 yen packet, and pouring the boiling water in. She took her make-do meal upstairs, eating it whilst recounting what she had learnt on the harpsichord. She closed the book out of boredom shortly after slurping up the last few noodles. She never did find the instrument very interesting. Ironically, she prefered the timpani, despite her quiet nature. The timp allowed her to let go, to release all of her frustration, to enter a whole other world, where it was just her, and the three custom-tuned drums in front of her. She did not just play the music, she became the music.

She could hear her younger sister in the adjacent room, playing grade 8 standard music beautifully on the violin. Vivaldi would have been proud of her. She was a violinist if there ever was one... and flautist.

That was another thing Hinata hated- being in her sister's shadow all the time.

If Hinata were younger than Hanabi, she would have been fine with it, she would be able to break away, and show her worth later on in life, step out of the shadow, and into the light of the sun. But this was not, and could never be, the case. Hanabi was the youngest, and despite the fact that Hinata would be next to inherit the family's company (And had the skills to do such) Hanabi was the shining star. Of everything.

Perfect grades, teachers pet, top of the class, played nineteen different instruments, spoke three different languages fluently (Hinata was stuck on two) did every sport one could possibly imagine, and still had time to be working on a massive oil painting on box canvas. She was everything that Hinata wished that she herself could be.

But at the same time, everything she didn't.

Her family wanted Hanabi to be the heir; and Hinata knew it bloody well, but, as much as her family wished they could, no one could change the order they were born in, this had happened by chance. So Hinata it was.

She could still hear the dreaded, beautiful screeches of the string instrument next door, she plugged her headphones in, switching through tracks, playlists and radio stations alike to try and block out the sound. Nothing worked. She then took to doing an activity so boring that it was capable of blocking out any sound one's human ear could fathom.

Maths homework. SOHCAHTOA maths homework.

Getting out her calculator, and the piles of sheets that the teacher always gave them to work from, she worked her way through all the questions set for this week, and next week, and probably the week after that- only to find that Hanabi had moved to playing her French horn instead. An instrument that Hinata preferred to the violin, but was a pain to play. And listen to. If you simply have your hand in even the slightest wrong position, your note is completely wrong, and you screw up the entire section, piece, and even orchestra.

It was an instrument that Hinata could never quite play. Equally, it was an instrument that Hinata could never quite care about. She was always too taken with percussion to care (no matter what her family thought about it, or how much they disapproved for the section. 'It's just something you hit with a stick!' They would say, yet, Hinata thought of it as so much more...)

Hinata ended up going to bed after a while, and just stayed there, reading. The only moving body part were the tendons that controlled her fingers as she flipped through the pages of the mesmerising tale of witches and wizards, and of a fraction of a platform. The books she read made Hinata feel big, strong, and above her sister- a rare feeling. 'Hanabi wasn't 'advanced' enough to be allowed to read these books', the elders had ruled. 'Only Hinata will be allowed to read them.' this was the only one-up she had on Hanabi, aside from her age.

Next Hinata checked the time, it was just past one am, far past Hanabi's bedtime, and just passed the one that Hinata had set for herself. She flicked the switch, and, with a flash, the lights went off. The whole estate pitch black.

It made Hinata feel oddly safe.

The next morning, it was just regular procedure. Get up, wash face, clean teeth, get dressed, go downstairs, eat breakfast, come back upstairs, clean teeth again, revise if time allowed it, and go. Her father was out doing company business, so it was up to her to walk to school. After phoning Sakura to tell her she was coming, she set off, Hanabi was off to meet some friends of her own.

Sakura met her on the stairs that stood next to the train station. In the spring, they were pink with cherry blossoms. In the autumn, they were gold with leaves. In the winter, they were white with snow. In the summer, they were grey with the concrete they were made out of. Apparently, little kids in the local school would use these steps to help learn the seasons, though, to Hinata, it seemed like a frightfully long time to have to learn something as simple as the seasons.

"Hinata!" Sakura called from the steps, her blue, pleated skirt blew about slightly in the wind as she shouted over the heads of the two girls walking in front of her. She wore a completely different uniform to Hinata. Sakura dorned a classic 'sailor' school uniform, in navy blue- her school's logo was clearly visible on her neck tie. Hinata, on the other hand, wore a slightly more 'European' uniform, a pencil skirt and blazer in grey, and a white blouse. Her school logo sat atop her top, outside blazer pocket. It was one of the things that came with going to different schools; wearing different uniforms.

"Hi Sakura." Hinata smiled lightly, speeding up her walking to get to the steps faster. "How are you today?"

"I'm great! Infact, I was talking to some people on twitter and Facebook last night!" Sakura was beaming. Hinata couldn't tell if it was out of happiness or excitement of something else, "And someone said they liked you!"

Hinata was suddenly curious. She had had many a crush, but never one who lover her back, or even, that she had ever known, someone who had a crush on her. She was never a big one when it came to things like love, or crushes, but having someone actually like her? Now that was news.

And that concludes chapter one. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Reviews make the world go 'round.

~EJF