Chapter 1

As the clouds shifted and swirled, making way for the few lights of the night sky, the moonlight poured onto the ninja village of Konoha, the village Hidden in the Leaves. Here lived many great ninja, from Genin to Kage. Amongst these ninja were the Leaf ANBU, the finest ninja in the village, trained to kill with a single blow. Only exceptional ninja are offered the chance to become an ANBU. The young man leaning against the statue on the roof was one of them.

The young shinobi, standing quite tall at 5' 11", wore the standard issue ANBU uniform, which consisted of a tight black shirt and gloves, as well as black ninja shoes and pants with a kunai pouch attached, topped off with grey armor and armguards. On top of this, he also wore a flowing red scarf, and a belt full of ninja tool pouches. On his back was the sword that gave him his title, "The Silver Fang of Konoha". His name was Kiyoshi Takeru.

His silver hair, which reached the middle of his back, hovered above his hazel eyes, while the rest of it remained tied in a ponytail, swaying in the cold wind high on top of Kikyo Tower. In his hand, the elite ninja held a photograph of two people, both Leaf ninja. One of them was a boy who had spiky blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a black head protector with an orange and black tracksuit. The other was a girl, shorter than the boy, with long, black hair and pearly white eyes, wearing a beige jacket and a head protector around her neck. Their names were Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga.

Placing his gloved hands next to each other at the top of the photograph, Kiyoshi tore it into two halves in one swift motion, throwing the half showing Naruto down towards the village below. He looked at the half that remained, which showed Hinata standing alone. How he wished he could hold her close to him and press his lips to hers, so gently... but she did not love him. Her heart belonged to Naruto. He had sworn to her that he would never come between them or try to break them up, that he was happy for them.

Kiyoshi loved her, ever since they were children. But she had eyes only for the dropout, Naruto, while he was a model student. After the teams were formed, he never saw her again until Naruto had returned from his training with Jiraiya. By then, Naruto and her were already in love with each other. He felt envious of Naruto, even perhaps a little jealous. But he tried, oh, how he tried to keep those feelings bottled up. He did not want to hurt Hinata, because it would hurt him in return.

He had made up his mind now. Standing to his feet, Kiyoshi placed his porcelain ANBU mask over his face and decided he would just go to see her. It couldn't be that late, the sun had only set a few hours ago. With a running start, he leaped off the tower, travelling to Hinata's house by rooftop. When he looked below, no one else was out.

Everyone was inside, either sleeping or partying late. Good, he thought. It's best to remain undetected. All he could hope for was that she was not at Naruto's house. The two of them were not exactly on good terms with each other since he admitted his feelings for Hinata. He knew he could never win her heart, but he wanted to talk to her.

Finally, he was at the Hyuga house. He could see two ANBU standing guard. One of them was a woman with long black hair, and the other a man with short brown hair. It would not be easy to sneak past them, but Hinata's silhouette could easily be seen in the shuttered window. He wanted to reach out to her and hold her in his arms... NO, he thought, I have enough problems with Naruto already. He had to find a way to get inside, but without alerting the ANBU guards-

"Kiyoshi?"

"Fang, what are you doing here?"

The ANBU had spotted him. Great, now he was going to be known in the entire Leaf village as a Peeping Tom. Not to mention everyone in the ANBU Black Ops were going to tease him about it for the rest of his life.

Sighing, he decided it was time to give it up and show his face.

"Hey, Aki, Yumi, it's me..." Kiyoshi said, removing his mask. As soon as they saw his face, they did likewise, looking about to ensure no one was watching them before hanging their masks on their belts. By this time, Hinata left from the window.

"What are you doing here?" asked Yumi. "She'll never love you, and you know that. Trying to peek at her while she's about to take a shower won't help."

"Sh-shower!?" Kiyoshi gulped, his hazel eyes open wide at the thought of catching Hinata in the shower. She would never forgive him!

"You'd better go back home, and fast," advised Aki. "It won't be as awkward tomorrow."

"No, I have to talk to her now… I'm leaving tomorrow on a mission, if you remember correctly. I-… I just need to talk to her"

Both Aki and Yumi remained silent for some time, looking to each other. Finally, they stepped aside, cracking the window open.

"She'll be in the shower now," Aki pointed out, placing his mask back on. "For your sake, don't get caught seeing her naked."

Kiyoshi nodded, climbing through the window into Hinata's room.

It was nothing as he expected it. Hyuga clan symbols hung on the purple walls. Not a stray piece of clothing in sight. Even her single, soft feather bed was properly made. According to her room's condition, Hinata was indeed a tidy person. He liked that in a girl.

Suddenly, he heard a door open behind him. Oh no, he thought. What if Hiashi had heard him? He would have no choice but to incapacitate him. He suddenly grabbed a kunai from his belt, spinning around quickly to face his assailant. But what he saw was not what he had expected to see.

There, in the doorway of Hinata's bathroom, with only a bath towel around her beautiful, wet body, was the one girl he ever loved, Hinata Hyuga.

Uh-oh.