Prologue: First Love

Konoha/ Konoha High School Entrance:

Hinata Hyuuga had never felt so frightened in her life until this exact moment. The day she had both dreaded and anticipated had finally arrived, the first day of her high school career. And to make matters worse, she began to show symptoms of anxiety. Her palms were sweaty, her heart beating erratically, and her stomach was churning for at least an hour now.

The shy girl began to hug the notebook to her chest tighter as she gazed up at the building she knew that she had to become achingly familiar with. After a few seconds, Hinata let out a sigh and began to take the steps toward the double doors. You can do this Hinata.

Before she could chicken out, she pushed through the doors and held her breath. The first thing she saw was the hundreds of people crowding the halls, their voices drowning out her own thoughts as she built up her courage to step forward and find her locker through the large mass of people.

Her hands shook slightly as she reached into her bag and pulled out her folded schedule which had all of her information needed to survive her first day. Like what my assigned locker number is. She unfolded the paper and looked down her list of classes until she reached the end of the document with a bolded number.

LOCKER # 305

Combination: 05-47-55

305? That's all the way in the third floor! Just then, the bell rang, indicating that first period had just begun. Sighing dejectedly to herself, she decided to wait to go to her locker as she tried to find her first class. Looks like I'll have to carry all of this stuff with me.

…Forty Minutes Later…

Konoha High/ Second Floor:

I knew that today was going to turn out terribly! Hinata mentally groaned at herself. She felt like such a fool so far. In her haste to find out where her first class was, she had gone into the wrong classroom twice because she wasn't sure how the floor layouts worked. Kami knows how many students snickered at her as she blushed and stuttered the apology while the teachers smiled knowingly at her and pointed her in the right direction. This caused her to be 10 minutes late to her Algebra 1 class. She was glad that her teacher didn't mind her lateness though. I guess he knew that I was a Freshmen after all.

The bell had just rang and Hinata was on her way to her locker carrying the new Algebra textbook within her hands. This thing is too heavy! Luckily, there were fifteen minutes of break time between each class, so she had enough time to switch out her textbooks. At least things were starting to look up for the shy Hyuuga.

Letting her optimistic side take over, she smiled and made her way toward the stair case in hopes of finding her locker.

Third Floor:

The lock was slightly tricky, but after a few tries, Hinata managed to open the metal door. With a wide smile, she dropped her Algebra textbook and binders in her locker, lightening the load off her bag as she closed her locker and snapped the lock shut. "There, that's better."

"Ha ha ha, aw man, wasn't that girl such a tease?"

Hinata's heart froze when she heard a loud, grating voice reverberating throughout the halls along with two other voices laughing. She turned to the source of the laughter and saw three rough looking boys walking towards her. They were all dressed in the same white shirt and dark black dress pants that signified that they were students here, its colors matching her own white blouse and black skirt. The one whom she assumed to be the leader of the group stood in the middle, his angular face smirked in amusement. The other two boys that stood on his right and left sides had silver and orange colored hair. They were still not close enough for her to discern their features, but she had a feeling that it was best to not know what they looked like to begin with.

Before she could turn, the bell suddenly rang as the dark haired boy instantly turned his gaze on her. Hinata gulped and slowly stepped away. The hall was deserted now, only she and the three boys remained as they all stared at her. Me and my stupid luck! She watched as the dark haired boy smirked and nudged his silver haired friend. "Neh, Suigetsu, is that some boy up ahead wearing a girl's uniform?"

W-what? She just stood there, mortified, not able to find the courage to speak as the three boys neared her, their walk reminding her of a predator stalking its prey. "Ha ha, it sure looks like a boy, huh?" The silver haired boy, Suigetsu, smirked at his friend.

Oh no… She suddenly found herself backed against a wall as the three goons stared down at her hungrily. Their expressions like that of a beast just waiting for the kill.

"Ha ha, such a cute boy though, wouldn't you agree Zaku?" The orange haired boy smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"Indeed Jugo." The dark haired boy made his first move as he quickly grabbed a hold of both of her hands. "This will be fun…"

She struggled against the strength of his arms, which made him tighten his hold on her. "Ah, looks like you are a girl after all." Zaku gave her a dark smile and licked his lips. "Which makes what I'm about to do-"

"Hey, ASSWIPE!"

Something, no, someone, had then pushed all three boys away from her as they collided into the wall. Caught off guard, the three boys glared at the person who pushed them. "The hell do you think you are?" Jugo spat out angrily. No one messes with me and gets away with it!

Hinata found herself behind a golden haired boy with his arms outstretched, meaning to keep her back. "What gives you the right to do that to her?"

Zaku spat and glowered at him. "We can do whatever the hell we want."

"Hee hee, you know man, I should thank you." Suigetsu and Jugo came towards them with a menacing look etched on to their features. "So far, classes have been a drag, and we needed someone to be a punching bag for us."

The boy immediately shoved Hinata into the lockers as he looked back at her, his startling blue eyes taking her in as he smiled. "Go, run away, I'll take care of it from here."

Without any warning, the two boys grabbed a hold of both of his arms, rendering him helpless as Zaku punched the golden haired boy in his gut. Hinata let out a scream as he continued to pummel her savior. The golden haired boy let out a groan, making Zaku laugh. "So wise guy, got any last words?"

His breathing was tense and labored as he glared up at his enemy, electric blue meeting Zaku's pointed gaze. "Kiss my ass." Without any warning, the boy kicked his leg upward towards Zaku's chin as the brown haired boy flew away from him and landed on the floor.

"Zaku!" Suigetsu and Jugo immediately let go of him as they ran toward where Zaku landed.

Oh no, oh no! Her heart accelerated to a thousand beats per minute as the golden haired boy quickly took a hold of her hands. "Come on, let's go!"

They were running down the steps of the stairwell so quickly that Hinata had to hold on tightly to his hand to make sure that she didn't fall. But more so than her own well-being, she was worried about the boy's injuries. Even in movement she could still see the pained expression on his face. Once they were on the first floor, the boy stopped and gave himself a breather.

"Ha… ha… boy, am I glad that you're all right." He gave her another smile which made her head spin. His voice carried a sense of pride that he was able to save her, and she was grateful to him.

"Thank you, but are you all right?" Gently, she touched his face and felt her fingers tingle with electricity. He nodded at her in response and took a hold of her hands. "I'll be fine."

She blushed at the contact. Never in a million years did she think it was possible for a boy to touch her, even casually. All her life, she thought that she would never fall in love because of her shyness and plain features. She never thought that she could be wrong in the fact that she could never fall in love.

Until now…

Her blue eyed savior turned his head back towards the hall, hearing a man's voice yelling along with the voices of the three goons. "I have to go." He quickly let go of her hands and smiled. "You should go to class, I'll explain the situation."

"B-but you'll get in t-trouble." The last thing she wanted the boy to face with was punishment for protecting her. She wasn't worth it. "Please, don't-"

"It's all right," He laughed and rubbed the hair on his head. "I wanted to protect you."

Her eyes widened as she felt her face blush. She wanted to say thank you for protecting her, but something more important burned on her lips as she blurted out. "Please t-tell me your n-name."

"Hee hee, it's Naruto." He gave her a wink and pointed his thumb at his face. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"I-I'm-" when she was about to tell him her name, the double doors to the stair case opened, revealing Zaku and a middle aged man who she assumed to be a teacher. Hinata gasped when she saw blood the blood oozing out from his nose, but Zaku just glared at Naruto, holding what looked like a towel which soaked up all the blood. The teacher's expression was of disdain as he pointed an accusing finger at Naruto. "Uzumaki, TO THE OFFICE, NOW!" Naruto gave her one last smile and whispered "See you around." Turning from her, he walked away, never knowing the true extent of how his heroic deed in protecting her had affected her.

For today was the day that Hinata had fallen in love with someone for the first time.

~End

AN: This story is brand new and rewritten entirely. For those of you who liked the original, I'm sorry that I deleted it. If you don't want to read this version, then it's completely fine. This is just for my benefit, so that I can get better at writing. :D All that said, I hope you give this story a chance (again!)

I apologize for any mistakes!

-TheresaRayne!