Naruto was sitting on a bench close to the school, his face looked grim as he looked at the small children which were trying to do target practice. They had lined up nicely, and observed each other's throws. One of them in particular, outshone the others, and bragged about it. For some reason this reminded him of Sasuke, back when he was younger. The techniques the kid was using were far above his skill level.
The only difference between Sasuke and this kid, was the obvious bragging and the fact that there was a small bird that was sitting on top of the targets. Luckily it was agile enough to make itself disappear if a child decided to throw unlucky. Naruto sighed and looked at the skies, was there anyone that even cared to look him up? Ever since Sasuke left, Naruto came here, every day, just to get his mind off things. Sometimes one of the children would mess up his throw, causing Naruto to duck. At least this gave him some confirmation that even without Sasuke he wanted to carry on living.
'Good afternoon, Naruto-kun' someone said, sounding embarrassed just to be there. In front of him, was a girl. 'Good afternoon Hinata-chan, what brings you here?' he asked, looking uninterested. He noticed that she had a cup of something clenched between her hands. i That wouldn't be for me, now would it?/i he silently deliberated. As usual, she was wearing the Hyuuga clan's logo. And apparently it was also embroidered on the mug heater that was tightly wound around the cup. 'I.. made you something, I hope it helps to get your spirits up' she whispered. 'Why do you even care?' he asked, sounding mildly annoyed. 'I care because I'm leaving' she said, sounding a little more confident.
'You're leaving.. why?' he asked, surprised. 'Is this because of me?' he asked, apparently knowing that she had some sort of feelings for him. She shook her head, not knowing how to go about this. 'It's not you, I just think it's better for all of us if I leave for a while' after this she gave him a quick bow and put the cup down next to him on the bench. 'Enjoy' and in a flash, she was gone.
The first few weeks were extremely hard on her, she met a lot of people and travelled around, but it felt like an out of body experience. She was there, but yet again she was not. Sometimes she would carry out a B-ranked mission for the Hokage, but other than that she did not make herself useful otherwise. Over time, her perception of pain and honor were the only things that truly mattered to her. Her only objective was to make the Hokage happy, to be productive to the villagers that mattered to her. Her friends, her classmates and of course her family. One day in particular, made sure that Hinata decided to plant her feet firmly on the ground again. She wandered between villages, and for some reason she took a break when she noticed that someone was looking for herbs at her side of the road.
Just to be polite, she started talking to the cloaked stranger. By doing so, she realized that he was no older than her. 'The name's Pein' he said, extending his hand to her 'Hinata' she replied. For a brief moment they locked eyes, and both of them decided that this was a rather uncomfortable thing to do. Even though Naruto had been in her thoughts for a while, she was learning to let go. Or so it seemed. In silence she and Pein continued their small quest for herbs. Even though she did not look like it, Hinata was quite skilled with producing medicines and knowing the healing powers of certain herbs and plants. She seemed satisfied with her own yield, before bidding Pein goodbye. One could question why Hinata bothered to talk to someone like Pein. His appearance was not exactly.. appealing, as one would put it. His piercings were enough to put others off, but Hinata seemed to be fascinated by them instead. Just before they parted ways, they had decided to meet up in one of the many bars the Hidden Rain village possessed. At around 7pm she arrived at the designated spot they had decided to meet at.
The café was nicely decorated with furniture which appeared to come from the Renaissance period. The decorations on the tables and couches gave the area a cozy feel. 'Please be seated' he asked, looking straight at her. For some reason this made her blush. For the occasion she had put on a lila dress, and white pumps. The strapless dress seemed to blend in quite well with the setting she was in right now. 'I didn't know I was bringing such a beautiful lady' he said, looking away. 'I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable' she said, hoping a waiter would arrive soon. To her surprise, her waiter of that night appeared to be Naruto. He seemed out of place amongst all of the other classy items, but that did not bother her much. For some reason, over the past few hours, she had taken a liking to Pein.
He was more of a gentleman, and after Naruto had taken their initial order, he had managed to magically disappear; while another waiter served them for the rest of the evening. But Hinata would never forget his confused expression, seeing him like that made her laugh a little bit on the inside. He didn't think she had it in her to date someone like Pein. Everyone knew that his methods of combat were.. unorthodox, to say the least.
But as the dates continued, they grew closer to each other. She learned his likes and dislikes, and because she looked beyond his appearance, he was not afraid to do the same for her. They were not afraid to look out for one another. Over time their team was known as one of the strongest teams in all of the realm.
Dedicated to Shiningstar Kirakira hope you enjoyed ^^