The World Is New
By: Paisley May
When Hinata enters the Academy, she knows no one; not a single friend to be named. As she overhears her father say once, she is much better off that way. Without distractions and petty emotional ties, what could possibly stop someone of the great Hyuuga clan from becoming a great shinobi?
Other family members sitting at the dining room table that night - aunts, uncles, perhaps a cousin - disagree. True ninja thrive in teamwork.
But good kunoichi do not stutter.
The little girl, ready to cry, tiptoes up the stairs to her room and speaks to herself in the vanity mirror until she doesn't stutter anymore. (Of course, they come back the next day, like a virus with no cure.)
She feels as if she will never be good enough, and even though she manages to be quite happy it will always bother her. Because Hinata will always be the people-pleaser, and the days blend together without any excitement or memories.
But on her ninth birthday, she receives a nice new outfit from her auntie. The shirt is a pretty pastel shade of lavender and the pants are a creamy white. She even gets open-toed sandals - ninja's shoes, just like her sensei wears. For the first time in as long as she can remember, Hinata walks with her head so high she can't even see her feet. Father would be so proud.
She rounds a street corner on her way to school and sees him - that blonde boy with the silly scars on his face that look like whiskers. He has a few friends, Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji, and they are all playing tag together in front of the Academy. He and the other three boys are in Iruka-sensei's class with her. Naruto is his name.
Hinata remembers how the four boys put erasers on top of the doors whenever their sensei left the room. They were always getting in trouble.
She giggles when he runs straight into a tree in an attempt to tag Kiba. Despite the obviously painful mark on his forehead, Naruto sticks his tongue out and makes a funny face. The pale-eyed girl is so distracted by his silly antics that she falls while walking up the Academy's front steps and scratches up her knee on the concrete. The blood runs through the rip in her brand-new white pants and ruins them. She sits there weeping and clutching her knee until somebody goes and gets her a bandage.
After that, she couldn't stop watching that blonde boy; that Naruto. She spaced out watching him fall asleep in class and smiled when he laughed.
All because Hinata Hyuuga scraped her knee when she fell for him.
End.
The Epic Note Of Epicness- Thanks to the wonderful moldycookies for beta-ing my nonsensical drabble.
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