DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. I do not own Kaze no Stigma.

Few dared to actually line the streets to watch. Most remained in the houses and shops that lined the main street, peering out through the windows. Those few out on the street mainly belonged to the Uchiha clan. They were some of the few powerful enough to blatantly watch the Hyuuga's humiliation. With no fear of retribution, the members of the Uchiha clan waited near the gate quietly, but happily. It was always nice to watch the Hyuuga take a hit, and honestly it happened so rarely. Those non-Uchihas on the street were much more solemn. These were people who knew the girl and liked her enough to risk the Hyuuga's ire: her only two friends from the academy, a flower shopkeeper who had helped the girl care for her mother's garden, and her teacher from the academy, who had hoped for so much more for her. Notably absent from the streets and the houses were the other Hyuugas, who had refused to even watch her leave the compound (with the exception of her younger sister, who peeked through a window as the small figure carrying a few meager supplies left the compound for the last time). Also missing was the Hokage. He had similarly refused to watch, but for the opposite reasons. He hated that she was being forced to leave.

The people grew silent as they caught sight of the little girl walking steadily down the road. The bruise from yesterday's fight was a stark contrast from her otherwise pale skin. Her bangs hid her eyes from the crowd. Her small backpack contained the few supplies she had been allowed to take with her. Hidden in it were the few extras smuggled to her by those who cared. A few brave people had sent rations to help her on her journey. The flower shop owner had managed to get two books to her: Flower Meanings; What Your Bouquet Really Means and Common Edible Plants. Her sensei had added one more to her library: Common Ninjutsu and Genjutsu Techniques. And her friends had given her a small stuffed dog and a good jacket she had hidden at the bottom of her pack. Along with a small amount of food, a water bottle, the clothes she now wore, and a bracelet left to her by her mother, that was all she owned.

As she walked out of the gate, head down, shoulders hunched, her friends began to cry. They were 11 year old boys, and on any other occasion they would have hidden it, ashamed. But for now they cried openly, one sobbing loudly, the other silently leaking.

This even would be etched in Kiba and Shino's minds forever. There was no erasing that. Ino wouldn't remember the day itself, but would occasionally find her mother crying over a picture drawn by a little girl with white eyes. Sasuke would look back in fondness, mistaking the day for a holiday and a memory of a time before his brother betrayed his family. Naruto would later wonder why Iruka kept a class picture of the year before everyone graduated from the academy. For all the rest most of the memory of the shy little girl would disappear. They didn't need to remember her. She wasn't anything special.

*LINE BREAK*

Hinata would like to pretend that she walked out of the city with dignity and pride. She would like to pretend that her eyes were dry and determined and the reason she didn't look up was because she refused to five those horrible people the satisfaction.

But she was never very good at lying to herself. She had walked out keeping her head down and her mouth firmly shut because she was sure the moment she looked at something other than her feet or opened her mouth she would start bawling.

If she could do it again (though if she had a choice she never would), she'd do it right. Head up, shoulders squared, looking each and every person straight in the eye and asking them accusingly "Why?".

Thoughts like these raced through her mind as her paperwork was checked by the chunin who had pulled guard duty.

"Alright, everything checks out. Welcome to Konoha, Nagi-san!"

"Arigato."

As she walked through the gate, she paused, taking in the sight of the place she used to call home.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"W-what?" A combination of surprise and familiar setting brought back her stutter.

"The city! Konoha is the most gorgeous place I've ever seen! And I've been all over, 'cause I'm a ninja. Trust me, you'll never see another place a beautiful as here. Sometimes I don't even really mind pulling guard duty, 'cause I get to look at her all day. Course, it gets boring after a few minutes, on account of I don't sit still well, but it's still nice." His intonation combined with his blonde hair and blue eyes to pull a memory out of her head. A little boy on a swing set all alone: her childhood crush, whom she left without ever talking to. "Anyway, don't you think she's beautiful?"

She turned away from his 100 megawatt smile to look back at the city. Memories of faces peered out at her, faces she had refused to look at but whose stares had made every step that much harder. "No."

Leaving him quickly behind, she realized he had grown up into exactly the person she had pictured. When she was small she daydreamed about what their life would be like when they were older and she finally got up the courage to tell him about her feelings. She'd thought about it a lot.

In some small part of herself, she resented him for not being different. She resented him for not changing because she left. But she had only watched from afar, he barely knew who she was. Why would her departure affect him? It wouldn't. But, and she blamed this on returning to this bad place, the feeling remained.

*LINE BREAK*

"You see children, hundreds of years ago demons roamed the earth. They destroyed towns and crops and animals, and so humans developed a way to fight them. And that is how ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu came about. And that took care of many of their demon problems. But some of the demons were too strong, and were killing many people."

"Like the demon fox that attacked us many years ago?"

"Ooo yeah! Tell that story!"

"You idiot, she's already telling us a story!"

"But this one's boring."

"If you children aren't quite, I won't be telling you any stories. Are you going to listen, or are you going to talk?"

"Listen."

"Good. Now, yes, like the demon fox. Living in this time was a young woman. While she was off on a mission, her village was destroyed. Heartbroken, she called out to the gods to give her the strength to defeat the demon that killed her family. And one god, touched by her plight, appeared to her. He offered her a contract. The exact terms are lost to us, but she gained power over his domain, in this case fire. And she became the first En-Jutsushi, and the first contractor. She was able to use her control over all fire spirits to defeat the demon that had destroyed her village. Others followed in her lead, forming contracts with the other Spirit Kings. Do you know what those other techniques are called?"

"Well, En-jutsu's control over fire! The Hyuugas and Uchihas have it, and it's the strongest!"

"Nuh-uh! My mom's from Suna, and she says that Chi-jutsu's the strongest, 'cause everyone has to stand on the earth."

"Not if they can use Sui-jutsu. Then they can stand on water."

"What about Fu-jutsu? Can't they fly, Grandma?"

"That's another story, little one, and perhaps not one for right now."

"Everyone knows Fu-jutsushi can't fly, moron!"

"Yeah! They're the weakest of the bunch!"

"Run along now children. I think your mother is calling for you."

After the children left, the grandmother didn't stay more than five minutes. Hinata finally had the park bench all to herself.

The woman was an awful storyteller.

*LINE BREAK*

Hinata had bought the small apartment off a couple she met on the road. They were moving to get away from the danger of living in a ninja village. Hinata was heading back to Konoha anyway, and bought the apartment without ever seeing it. They had looked like they needed the money, and Hinata didn't care too much where she stayed. If she had a roof she counted herself lucky. After all, there was a large amount of time where she didn't. It was a nice place. One bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom, all rather small, but serviceable. The walls were painted in cool, comforting colors, blues and purples mainly. The furniture came with the apartment, so Hinata didn't need to do any shopping. The couple hadn't wanted to take anything, partially for fear of it being stolen, but mostly because it was all rather cheap and they could afford better now. They even left her pots and pans and some old cutlery. Hinata could see being happy here. It felt like a home, a safe place. She was grateful to have found it. She'd need a safe haven in this city.

Coming back to Konoha had been a hard decision for her. Part of her wanted to come back and show them all what had become of her, make sure they knew that she had survived, had thrived even. But Hinata was never one to love the limelight and more of her wanted to just let things be. What did it matter what they thought of her? She was done with them, and they with her. She just wanted to let the whole thing rest, and be content with the fact that she never had to deal with them ever again. She had forgiven most of them long ago. Not all of them. She could never forgive all of them. But she no longer let it rule her life. It was something that had happened, and while she would always remember, she didn't have to let it cripple her.

And then some intel had reached her and she had realized that a lead was pointing toward Konoha. She could have ignored it. She had wanted to ignore it. But she was always short on leads and she'd decided following this one was worth the pain. So she's come back, not as Hyuuga Hinata, but as Nagi Hinata. She got an apartment and would go looking for a job tomorrow and would wait until her lead either panned out or didn't. And then she'd leave, and they'd never have to know she came back at all. With her customary contacts to hide her Hyuuga eyes and 8 years gone by, hopefully no one would recognize her. She had thought about sneaking in under a false name, but it was best to do things legally when possible. It drew less attention.

Maybe she could even learn to be happy here. Maybe being here would be cathartic. Maybe it would help her let go of the hatred that coiled around her heart whenever she thought of this place. Maybe she would be able to heal her past wounds and leave a better person than she came. Maybe.

But that wasn't the purpose of this trip. And it probably wasn't entirely possible. After all, she'd been carrying these wounds since she was 11, since she last resided in Konoha.

Gods, she hated Konoha.

If everything went right, Hinata would be in and out in a few months. No one would even know she'd been there. She tried to ignore the nagging voice at the back of her head. You know, the one that says, "But since when did anything go right for you?"

*LINE BREAK*

Chapter 1 done. Not betad, just so you know. In case you missed it, at 11 Hinata was kicked out of the Hyuuga clan and thrown out of Konoha. 8 years later, at the age of 19, she returns. When she left she was stripped of the name Hyuuga. At some point while she was gone she gave herself the last name Nagi. The Hyuuga and Uchiha clans are fire magic users and consider themselves the strongest. Suna houses earth magic users who think they're the strongest. Somewhere in the world there are water magic users who also think they're the strongest. Wind magic users have been subjugated by the other three and are considered the weakest.