Bliss - Letting you know that this is my first fanfic, the layout is a bit rough but hopefully I can improve on that. If this gets great reviews I might write more chapters to it. Suggestions are a plus thank you

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto or the anime/manga itself, I however will try to keep everyone in character

(Chapter One: Realization)

"Just a bit further" Hinata said to herself as she leaped from branch to branch following her team mates.

"They make it look so easy I can barely keep up" She muttered to herself while the surroundings to the sides of her look like swirls of blur. Looking at how graceful Shino and Kiba are from behind she still wondered if she can be as good as them...the thought of quitting the team has ran in and out of her mind so often she sometimes becomes very light headed.

"Shino-kun...Kiba-kun...please...wait...for...me" With each breath she took saying those words she felt as if her breathing is going faster than normal...she needs to catch her breath before she can continue on. Hinata stops and starts to cling on the tree so she can breathe normally, Shino and Kiba continued for a bit until they realized that Hinata is no longer following them.

"Hinata are you ok?" Hinata looked up and it seemed like it was the voice of Shino, she gives a faint smile and nodded her head slowly while holding onto her jacket.

"Do you want me to carry you?" She looks at Kiba and blushed a bit.

"I'm sorry, i'm fine, lets continue" She said still trying to catch her breath. Before anyone can say anything she was off leaping again from branch to branch till they finally came to the road.

"We are finally home..." Hinata was so relieved to be back in Konoha, finishing up this last mission has been quite a breeze for them but they didn't care much, as long as they were home, give the documents to the 5th Hokage and then go about their lives until they are summoned once more for a mission.

"Yes it's great to be home!" Kiba was being energetic as always with that wide grin he always has with Akamaru beside him also giving energetic barks as well. Shino was just adjusting his glasses like he always does not really saying anything, even though he was mostly silent, Hinata knew that there is more to him that meets the eye.

(Mission Complete)

After returning the documents to the 5th, Hinata decided to go check in the Hyuuga house to see if Neji was training with her father. Of course when she got there she can see them sparing with Hanabi looking around the corridor so she wouldn't be seen by them. Hinata can only smile to herself knowing that she has a wonderful family that is doing great things...though of course she wishes that she wouldn't be much of a burden to them and hoping one day they can be proud of her to call her a "Hyuuga".

She smiled silently as she prepared four cups of green tea for herself, her father, Neji, and her sister. She also took it upon herself to prepare Manju(1) for them as well since it is a favorite of Neji's. Setting two cups and two Manju's where on the side where her father can see it she set off to go see her sister and give her the tasty treats and then went off onto her room where she can meditate.

As she slides the door to her room she couldn't help but smile and notice how her face got a bit hot when she saw Neji and her father sparring. "Neji-sama seems to be doing well with his training" she said to herself in a low whisper where not even the walls can here "I will someday be like that!" she nodded her head once in agreement with herself. She sat down on her futon and began to sip her tea and nibble on the manju that she made. To her they tasted so delicious, she was proud of her cooking, it's one thing that she is able to do right for a change.

As she took another nibble out of her manju she heard a small patter on her window, of course not really thinking about it till she finally looked and saw a rock hit the window, a few seconds later another rock struck the window. "Who is there?" She said while opening up the window, looking ahead she say Kiba with his big smile as well as one of his hand slightly tossing a rock up and down a bit. "Hinata-san, Shino, Akamaru and I are going swimming, would you like to come too?" said Kiba in shouting but whispering sort of way. "I don't think it's a good idea...Kiba-kun" was the reply that he got, of course Kiba wasn't satisfied with that answer so he leaped through her window before she can act on her own.

"Aww it's not like it's gonna hurt to have fun once in a while" exclaimed Kiba while he was resting his arms behind his head "It would be great for us to finally relax while the summer heat is still here". Hinata started to nod but then it struck her that she would have to go in her bathing suit and of course that made her face start to turn crimson "K..Kiba-kun...I don't..." before she can finish her sentence Kiba started to look in her drawers for her bathing suit while interrupting her, "If you don't find your bathing suit, I will" he couldn't help but give a wide smile as she tried to stop him as fast as she could. "I'll find it...I'll go, can you please g..get out so I can change p..please" she found her bathing suit and showed it to him so he can see that she wanted to change into it. "OK but hurry Hinata-san"

Of course Kiba complained after her taking a while to change, she had to tell her father that she will be going out with Kiba and Shino for a bit and will be home by night fall hopefully. What she didn't know is that Neji saw Hinata leave with Kiba and the dog and decided to follow Hinata in shadows, hopefully catching a glimpse of what he thought would be "training". After going to the waterfall Kiba stretched out a bit and put his towel on a rock along with his jacket, pants, thigh and belt packs, and his Konoha band. Shino took off his sandal shoes and just put his feet in the stream while Hinata took off her gear as well.

Standing in front of the stream she smiled a bit as Kiba jumped into the water doing a cannon ball and Akamaru right behind him doing a summersalt flip, she felt so happy that she came and tested the water with one toe before finally going into the stream herself. Kiba started to splash around a bit hitting Hinata and of course she started to splash back, without herself knowing it she would splash Kiba gracefully with her fingers rather than putting force in the hands like Kiba was doing it. Of course Shino started to notice...so did Neji as he sat on a branch just hiding from them while using his Byakugan.

"So this is her training..." Neji said to himself as he put his hand up to shade his eyes to the almost setting sun. "She can manipulate the water so easily without putting effort into it.." he just sat there as his eyes were glued on to her like a cobra being mesmerised by a snake charmer. Shino can feel Neji's presence but didn't say anything to his team mates, of course after the slash wars they swam up to the edge where Shino is sitting. "Come on in Shino, the water is fine!" of course Kiba would say that with enthusiasm, he barely saw Shino without his cloak and Jacket.

Leaving the three alone Neji quickly left back to his home to speak to his uncle, Hiashi. "It seems that you have been keeping an eye on Hinata" Hiashi said after Neji was done sliding the door, as Neji sat down Seiza style(2) and looked down while saying "Yes I have, I have noticed that Hinata has been changing ever since she left on her mission to find the "Bikou-chuu"(3) of course Hiashi could only smile after hearing that. "Yes I have noticed it myself, if she trains more often than she does now many we can have some hope for her" That was all was said between the two, Neji could only nod his head knowing that he might assist her to where she can at least hold her own.

(End of Chapter One)

(1)Manju - A famous, popular, and traditional Japanese sweet bun that can have pork or red bean paste inside.

(2)Seiza Style - the traditional formal way of sitting in Japan. To sit seiza-style, one first kneels on the floor, and then rests the buttocks on the heels, with the tops of the feet flat on the floor. The hands are sometimes folded modestly in the lap and sometimes placed palm down on the upper thighs with the fingers close together.

(3)Bikou-chuu - An almost extinct tracker insect that can smell better than a ninja dog. In the Anime episode 148 it has pictures and such