Malicious Alteration
Premise: Hinata is forced to cede the heir-ship of the Hyuuga house to Hanabi,
becoming a member of the branch family, her journey to find her strength leads her to a place she never wanted to go. Hinata/Naruto
She hit the hardwood floor for the eleventh time, all her chakra holes were closed.
She had been able to summon the strength each time before now to raise, but now she was losing consciousness. The last thing she heard before blacking out was her father announcing the victor and successor, Hyuuga Hanabi.
She would never be recognized for her strength if she was bound to the branch family
Naruto would never acknowledge her. She would go unknown, uncared for the rest of her life. She panicked, striving about for a possibility that she could avoid her fate, a possibility that didn't exist. She spiraled in self loathing until she awoke.
She didn't move for a long time after she awoke, still lying on the floor where she had fallen. She had no idea how long she had been there, but she knew not a soul cared for her anymore. She was too weak to stand and too tired to cry. She sat up only after the sun was setting in the west and it was getting dark enough that it was hard to see.She stood, walked silently to her room. She had no idea what to do about her impending fate. They'd most likely order it to be done the next morning. Hinata felt helpless and weak, but she was used to it. In a daze she stripped out of her jacket and shorts. After shedding her ninja attire she glanced at herself in the mirror. An underdeveloped, pale skinned, unattractive, shy girl looked back at her. It all seemed so unfair to her. Why was she the weakest and least attractive girl in the village? What had she done that had made her deserve the short end of every stick. At fifteen all the other girls her age were sporting bodies that would turn heads, even the notoriously underdeveloped Sakura had grown into herself, with a stunning figure and newly budding powers she was becoming highly desirable among certain groups. But Hinata was left behind as always, flat-chested as ever, looking as physically mature as she was at twelve. CRASH. Hinata looked down at her fist, imbedded in what was once the mirror. She had never lashed out physically like that before, at least, not that she remembered.Her hand was bleeding, lacerated by the broken glass that had fallen all around.
She didn't bother cleaning the floor, just bandaged her wounded hand and put on a white cotton sleeping kimono. Seeing her bed she nearly collapsed in terror. Bed meant sleep, sleep meant the morning would come, morning meant the coming of her fate. She exited her room swiftly, stealing out into the garden. A walk was all she needed, a walk to clear her mind.She wandered aimlessly through the garden, barefoot, but not caring. It was there that she met him. Tall, obviously an adult he stood unabashedly in the center of the garden that was not his own. A mask covered his lower face and his forehead was protected by an unmarked metal plate. A patched cloak surrounded him and his eyes looked tired, if fierce."Excuse me, who are you?" The young Hyuuga asked, suddenly fearful of assassin or kidnapper. What she got wasn't exactly the kind of response she had expected."Nobody wants you." Even from a stranger it hurt, it seemed like today was kick-
Hinata-while-she's-down day."Nobody wants you because they think you're weak." The man approached, Hinata,
for whatever reason no longer felt fear, somehow she was sure the man would not hurt her."But I recognize your power... And I will use it." He was very close to her now.
Hinata found herself nodding. She realized she was overjoyed, someone saw strength in her. He began to walk away, and, without saying a word, Hinata fell into step behind him.
A.N.: I know it's short, but I just want to get it out there. I'd be happy with this story going in any direction, and I have quite a few ideas. I'd like to leave it up to my reviewers to determine what kind of story this will be. Should it continue to be told through Hinata's perspective and detail her journeys with this mysterious ninja or should it skip back and forth between Hinata's journey and the village where Naruto is. Should it continue to be serious, but contain some comic relief or should it be serious through and through. Should it contain adult issues (moving the rating up to R) or should it stay away from such things?
These questions and more can be influenced by a suggestion in a review. The one decision I will keep for myself is if it will become Naruto/Hinata... and that will be mostly determined by how the story develops anyway. I can assure you it won't be something crazy like Sasuke/Hinata, Gaara/Hinata or Hokage/Hinata (Kiba/Hinata I can see having potential, but I still prefer my Naruto/Hinata)
Ohbytheway - When I was editing I realized Hinata is being really hard on herself, most of what she's saying isn't exactly true. She's grown up physically just as much as she describes the others. I just combined what (little, seriously miniscule) I know about women and added in the fact that Hinata has a serious self esteem shortage and got her seeing herself as less than she was.
PS. I can't figure out what is wrong with the formatting, it seems like no matter what I do the indentions always disappear. I'm just going to leave it like this... I'm sick of being ineffective.