Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this story has no beta. There will probably be spelling & grammatical errors. Sorry.

This is set in an AU where Naruto is not a hyperactive idiot and has been adopted by Sasuke's family after his parents were killed when he was a baby. I've written him to be a calmer, smarter person because I think that if he grew up around the Uchihas, their stoicism and his hyperactivity would have balanced out… maybe. The final couple has NOT BEEN DECIDED, but there will be the following links for sure: NaruHina, NaruSaku, SasuHina, HakuHina.

Naruto and Sasuke are 18, Haku is 17 while Hinata is 15 turning 16 soon.

Anyways, characters will probably be OOC. Hopefully it's still an enjoyable story.

Read and review, please.

Chapter 1

Hinata silently made her way down the long, dark, hallway of the abandoned psychiatric hospital. All of the doors were open and every time she passed one of the white rooms, she could feel a chill run down her spine as she unintentionally imagined what the previous occupants of the rooms had been like. She took a deep breath as she walked through an open metal door at the end of the hallway, the temperature significantly lower than it had been just a few steps earlier.

"Naruto, Sasuke," she spoke quietly, her voice barely audible, "there are 4 of them here in the east wing surgical room," she was crouched against the wall beside the doorway.

"I'm on my way," she heard Sasuke reply through her earpiece.

"Don't do anything until we get there," Naruto ordered and she rolled her eyes. "Did you just roll your eyes?"

She knew that there was no possible way he could've seen her but was caught off guard by the question and stuttered a bit as she replied, "N-no."

"I can hear you."

Hinata froze and her breath caught in her throat as a voice hissed directly beside her ear. Her eyes were wide as she slowly turned to stare at the gaunt and rotting face of one of the spirits she had spotted in the room. The stench of his breath and decomposing flesh hit her hard and it took all the self-control she had to not gag. There were loose flaps of skin that hung and revealed the muscles and bones underneath his face and torso. She quickly grabbed a long knife and slashed at him when he reached out his hand to grab her. He snarled in pain when the blade sliced the palm of his hand and Hinata took that moment to retreat to stand on the opposite side of the hallway so that she could see inside the room clearly.

The perverted spirit recovered quickly and stood up to his full height. "You're so pretty," his smile pulled his cracked and bleeding lips tight over his teeth and his eyes were crazed as he looked at Hinata's face. "Do you know what I do to pretty girls?"

Hinata gasped when, as if on cue, the other three ghosts in the room turned around to face her. She had known they were nurses, but she hadn't been able to see their faces until now. Their faces and bodies had been mutilated so that they barely seemed human anymore. One of the nurses had her lips and cheeks cut off in the shape of a permanent smile so that it showed all of her teeth and gums. Her hands were amputated and replaced with blades while another nurse had an eye gouged out and the empty socket stitched shut, her eyelid sunken in, while her tongue hung down where her jaw should have been. Her right leg had been broken the fingertips of her left hand were replaced with scalpels while she held another scalpel in her right hand. The third one's eyelids had been removed so that her eyeballs were almost completely exposed. The skin and cartilage from her nose to her chin had been removed, and her hands had been replaced with a serrated blade and hook.

"Don't they look even more beautiful now?" a dry cackle racked his body before the nurses lunged at Hinata.

Hinata snapped back to reality and barely moved out of the way in time. She dropped to her knees and spun around on them, letting the left blade of the first nurse cut through the empty air above her head while Hinata cut deep into the nurse's ankles so that the spirit dropped to the ground and howled and squirmed in pain. Hinata didn't waste any time before she plunged her knife into the nurse's chest. She didn't even have time to watch the first nurse burst into brilliant lights before she blocked the serrated blade of the third nurse with her knife. She jumped backwards, hitting the wall behind, just as the nurse swung her hooked hand at Hinata's face. Hinata barely had enough time to register and duck under a scalpel thrown by the second nurse that came flying at her face after the hook missed her.

"Hinata, duck!"

Hinata did as she was told and dropped down just as Sasuke fired his gun at the third nurse. They squinted as his bullet found its mark in her head and she exploded into shimmering lights.

"I thought I told you to wait," Naruto scowled at her as he fired his gun at the second nurse, being as good a shot as his adopted brother.

"I was going to, but that one heard me and attacked," she replied, her eyes locked on the spirit of the insane doctor who had done horrible things to anyone who had come into the asylum decades ago.

"I just want to improve you," he laughed again.

"No, thank you," Hinata threw her knife expertly and it took less than a second for the blade to bury itself in his chest. "What?" Hinata wasn't the only one who was shocked when the doctor, who was clearly in pain, pulled the knife out but didn't disappear like the others.

"That should have cleansed him," Sasuke's grip on his gun tightened.

The doctor threw the knife at Hinata and she caught it easily, plucking it out of the air as her mind raced. "We need to burn whatever it is his spirit is bound to,"

"What did that article say about him?" Sasuke asked as he shot at the doctor; his bullets as ineffective as Hinata's knife.

"It must be the jewelry box that he used to seduce the nurses and patients into being alone with him," Naruto replied, his shots merely delaying the ghost.

"I think I saw it in his office," Sasuke spoke.

"Let's go!" Hinata shouted.

They turned and ran towards the office at the center of the hospital knowing that the spirit was likely to follow them. Hinata and Naruto threw salt over their shoulders to slow the spirit down and were satisfied whenever they heard the spirit hiss in pain. They didn't even realize that they hadn't heard the hissing for a while before the spirit came from another hallway.

Hinata screamed in pain when the surgical saw he held sliced into the backside of her right shoulder. She quickly got out of the way, smearing blood on the wall.

"You go deal with the box!" Naruto ordered Sasuke as he stood protectively in front of Hinata.

"I just want the girl."

"You can't have her," Naruto growled and pulled out his own knife. "Are you alright?" he said over his shoulder to her.

"Yeah," she switched the knife from her right hand to her left as blood blossomed around the wound through her shirt and ran down her right arm.

The spirit charged at Naruto, swinging the saw and attacking wildly while Naruto blocked every attack, protecting Hinata and defending himself with his knife and gun. It didn't take much longer before the spirit paused to clutch at his chest before smoke seemed to seep from his body.

"What did you do to me?!" it shouted, attacking Naruto with crazed thrashing.

Naruto calmly defended against the spirit's attack until he saw an opening and plunged his knife into the doctor's chest, "My brother destroyed your jewelry box."

The doctor roared just as he exploded into a shower of brilliant lights.

"Let's go," Naruto gently grabbed Hinata's left wrist and led her outside where Sasuke was already waiting at their car for them with their first aid kit out.

"The one time we actually need a Healer and Haku isn't here," Sasuke clenched his teeth.

Hinata winced in pain as Naruto helped her get her shirt off. She shivered from the cold night breeze as she stood in a camisole while Sasuke took a quick look at her injury.

"We need to get her to Haku or a hospital. She's lost a lot of blood and it's still bleeding," Naruto exchanged a worried glance with Sasuke when he saw the extent of her injury.

"I'll drive. You do what you can and call Haku. Tell him to meet us at home."

Hinata clenched her fists in pain as Naruto sanitized her wound and tried to stop the bleeding. Sasuke drove quickly and they arrived at Naruto's and Sasuke's home quickly, but she'd lost a lot of blood even though Naruto had finally got it to stop, the moment she stepped out of the car, she collapsed into a pair of strong arms.

When Hinata opened her eyes, it took a moment to adjust to the bright lights shining through the open window. She looked to her right where Haku was sleeping in a chair with his fingers intertwined with hers. To her left was Sasuke sleeping in the bed with her while Naruto slept in a chair at the foot of the bed. She looked around, recognizing the room as Naruto's, and sat up, freeing her hand from Haku's grasp.

"Hey," Sasuke woke up first and grinned up at her as he rubbed the sleep from his onyx eyes.

"Why are you all sleeping here?" she looked at the others again.

Sasuke shrugged and stretched, before he woke the others with hard smacks to the head.

"You're awake," Haku smiled in relief. His long brown hair was slightly disheveled.

"Haku ditched his date to come and treat you," Naruto smiled thankfully at his best friend.

"Sorry, I'll be more careful next time," Hinata apologized.

"I didn't even like her. I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'll never let you go on a mission without me again," Haku blushed when she grasped his hand in gratitude, but he looked at her with steady brown eyes.

"Did you let my uncle know I was here?" Hinata looked from one friend to another.

"I told him when I went to pick up your things," Naruto held up a bag.

"Thanks," she got up and took the bag, looking inside. "You went through my underwear?" she looked up at him with wide eyes, her face bright red.

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly while Haku just stared at Naruto in exasperation.

"I'm going to take a shower," she walked into the bathroom that connected Naruto's and Sasuke's bedrooms and showered quickly, changing into the clothes that Naruto had brought for her; a set of matching baby blue underwear, a pair of faded, distressed, skinny jeans, and a long, loose, black racer-back tank top that she knotted at her hip to give it some form. She came out of the bathroom with her long, straight, blue-black hair still damp.

"My girlfriends take much longer than you to get ready," Sasuke had finished showering in a separate bathroom as well.

"Well, I don't care about my looks as much as your girlfriends do," she shrugged.

"How does your shoulder feel?" Haku asked as he inspected her bare shoulder.

"It feels as good as it looks. Thanks," she replied with a smile. Haku had done an excellent job and there was absolutely no evidence of the previous night's injuries.

"That's good," he grinned back.

"I'm going to shower now. Mum's made breakfast so go eat," Naruto commanded as he pulled his T-shirt off over his head. Hinata hoped that nobody noticed her blush as she quickly exited the room.

She had liked Naruto for close to 5 years, since she was 10, and did her best to hide it from all three of her friends. She had always liked him quietly and the thought of telling him how she felt had never crossed her mind. She could never see her own worth and in her mind Naruto was too good for her.

"Why are you always around the Uchihas?"

"Yeah, along with Haku?"

Hinata was used to being questioned about her friends regardless of the fact that school had already been in session for almost four months. Every year there were girls who would question her friendship with her trio of heart throbs and she had gotten used to answering whatever questions they might ask.

"I've known them for a long time," she replied honestly, not telling them that she had trained as a paranormal hunter alongside adoptive brothers Naruto and Sasuke, and their best friend Haku since she had been 5 years old.

She had known ever since the guys were in junior high that Naruto, Sasuke, and Haku were very popular with the girls. These days, no matter where she went, there would be a group of girls gushing about the dreamy brothers who were almost complete opposites of their quiet best friend who, while being androgynous, was still part of their fantasies. She had intended on keeping some distance from them when she became a freshman in high school so that she could try to make friends, but they had made that impossible for her by sticking to her like glue whenever there was a break between classes.

She had always thought that it was strange that Naruto and Haku had both never had girlfriends despite the fact that girls were always gushing over them and giving them notes and homemade cookies and the like.

"Hinata, let's go eat lunch," Haku smiled at her warmly as he grabbed her wrist and led the way outside to their usual spot under a large tree.

"So, you're Hinata?" Sasuke's current girlfriend, a pretty blonde girl who dressed a bit too revealing for a high school student, studied Hinata carefully.

"Yes," Hinata nodded and smiled politely back.

"You told me I didn't have to be jealous," the girl frowned as she spoke quietly to Sasuke, though Hinata, Naruto, and Haku could still hear her clearly.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, clearly not even concerned that his girlfriend might be feeling a bit insecure.

"She's beautiful," the girl glanced at Hinata again.

"You don't have to feel threatened. I've always known that no girl could be more beautiful than Hinata and I don't expect my girlfriend to be prettier than her. That's impossible," Sasuke shrugged.

"She's like our baby sister," Naruto reassured the girl as well and Hinata felt her heart drop a little though she already knew that Naruto had only ever seen her as a child.

"I'm not the only one who's jealous of her. I mean, at least I'm dating Sasuke, but you guys are single and you seem to spend all your free time hanging out with Hinata. Every other girl is probably scheming against her."

Hinata looked at Haku who had abandoned his date the night before because she had been injured and began to wonder if the reason he had never had a girlfriend was because he was always around to take care of her. She knew he was handsome enough to have his pick of any girl.

He had an unassuming build, being 5 feet 10 inches with a lean, athletic build. He had long, silky brown hair that he usually wore down, unless they were out on a mission, and such deep, warm brown eyes that lit up when he smiled. His lips were slightly pouty and he had a rather feminine jawline. His face was youthful and boyish while at the same time beautiful. Many people who met him for the first time were unsure if he was actually a guy, until he spoke in his mellow, masculine voice. The way he dressed was effortlessly stylish. But it was his heart that made him the dream boy. He was transparent. He never said anything he didn't mean, and he was loyal. He was the type of guy who would be willing to try anything before quitting, but also the type of guy who knew when quitting was the best thing to do. He had a type of devotion that was rare and anyone who had his devotion was lucky. Presently, it was Hinata who owned his heart and his devotion and she didn't even know it.

Brothers Naruto and Sasuke were also both dreamy, but in completely opposite ways. Naruto had short blonde hair with an effortlessly tousled look, almost as if he had just rolled out of bed with great hair. He had piercing blue eyes and full lips with an admirable jawline that was undeniably manly. He was taller than Haku, standing at 6ft 2inches and had a bulkier build, chiseled to perfection. Unlike both Haku and Sasuke, Naruto had tanned skin which defined his muscles more.

Sasuke was the most popular of the three. He had pale skin, black hair that covered about half his face, and dark grey eyes. His hair was rather long for a guy, but nowhere near as long as Haku's. He was 6 feet tall with a lean build, but defined muscles. He was on the prettier side of masculine, but seemed to hit the sort of balance that women found most attractive. He wasn't too bulky or too lean, not too pretty or too handsome, not too tall but definitely not short either. His most defining feature, was probably his uncaring, bored expression.

Personality wise, Sasuke had a sort of "bad boy" type of aloofness and sarcasm that made him not watch his words. He didn't care if his words might be hurtful and never regretted saying anything to anyone. Unless it was Hinata. When it came to Hinata, he cared. There was something about her that made him more careful.

Naruto, unlike his brother, was kind to everyone. His words were comforting and seemed to put people at ease. He was the classic prince. He was the type of guy who opened doors for girls, the type of guy who went out of his way to help an elderly man or woman cross the street. Naruto had a gentleness and a chivalry that girls desperately wanted. But they wanted the rebel more. Naruto, with his slim fit, preppy style, was the type of guy that girls knew they should marry, but it was the wilder, leather jacket wearing, rebellious brother that girls wanted to date.

"Are you sure she's not competition?" the girl scowled, unhappy that Sasuke thought that Hinata was more beautiful than she was.

"Of course she's not," Sasuke sighed. "I'm not good enough to date her." Hinata rolled her eyes while Sasuke smirked as he stole a glance at Hinata.

Though she was currently only 15 years old, Hinata had a sort of timeless beauty and it was obvious that she was only going to get more beautiful. Her pale skin seemed to have a kiss of silver and her cheeks had a splash of pink so although she never wore makeup she always looked radiant. She had long full lashes that curled naturally and framed her large, sultry, but immensely kind pale lavender eyes. Her eyebrows were on the straighter side, with not much of an arch, but added a youthfulness that kept the rest of her features from aging her. Her nose could only be described as regal; straight and perfectly fitted to her small, heart-shaped face. Her naturally pink lips were full and luscious and were the constant source of temptation for many men and some women. Her blue-black hair was long and silky straight and when she left her hair down, it framed her face perfectly, while when she put her hair up, it just showed off her rather symmetrical features. She was not very tall, but her body proportions were what any woman dreamed of. She had the type of body that could wear anything or nothing and look amazing. She had just enough curve that she looked attractive and not too skinny. But unlike her friends, she wasn't constantly pursued by the opposite sex.

Hinata gave off an aura of seemingly impossible perfection that made it difficult for other people to want to be around her. People didn't want to be compared to the beautiful girl who had the top marks in the advanced placement classes, could keep up with the most athletic boys in all the sports, and managed to be kind and down to earth. Her only flaws, if they really could be called flaws, were that she would stutter occasionally and the fact that she was dreadfully shy and timid. Her stutter had at one time been a huge issue for her, but she had overcome it for the most part. It was easy for people who didn't know her to hate her because they didn't really want to get to know someone who seemed to enhance their own flaws. Hinata thought that people didn't like her because there was something wrong with her.

For Naruto, Sasuke, and Haku, they had grown up with her and she was the one thing that they all knew they had to protect. They knew that they were lucky to know her and be a part of her life. They wanted her to remain the way she was now for as long as possible and hoped that there would never be a day that broke her innocence and selflessness.

"Hinata's way out of my league. She's way out of anyone's league. If I'm, what did you call me, a god? Well then, Hinata's what gods wish they could be. The fact that you could even think that you could be her competition makes me upset. Aren't you being a little too full of yourself?" he looked at her with a cool gaze.

She let out a huff as she stood up and stormed away.

"That was mean," Hinata frowned.

Sasuke sighed, "I was being nice."

"Why can't you treat them like you treat me?"

"Because, they're not you. And besides, the only reason why they want to date me is because they want to be known as the girl who finally tamed Sasuke," he scoffed.

"How do you know that?"

"I know because I'm not deaf and I hear the talk as well."

"Still, you shouldn't intentionally hurt them like that."

"I reassured her that she didn't have to be worried about me falling for you because I know you're too good for me. What's wrong with that?"

Hinata sighed in defeat knowing that nothing she said could convince him that he was wrong.

"So, Hinata, do you want to go to the wint-," Haku started to ask.

"Hinata," the group turned their attention to look at one of Sasuke's classmates and quarterback of the football team who had just cut off Haku. "I was just wondering if you would go to the winter formal with me," he was clearly nervous and his face was crimson as he looked down at Hinata.

"Beat it. She's not going with you," Sasuke stood up and walked up to him.

"Sasuke, stop being so mean," Hinata stood up and pulled Sasuke away. "Kiba, right?"

"Yeah," his face brightened, happy to know that she knew his name.

"I'm really flattered that you want to take me to the dance, but I'm already going with someone else. Sorry," she apologized.

"Of course, you're going with someone else," he was clearly disappointed, but not crushed. "I should've known that someone would have already asked you. Maybe next time," he smiled sheepishly and returned to his group of friends.

"Who are you going with?" Naruto asked wondering who could have asked her to the dance without their knowledge and who she liked enough to agree to go to her first high school dance with.

"I'm going with Haku," Hinata replied matter-of-factly, as if they should have already known.

"Really?" Haku asked as his face broke out into a bright smile at the idea that she wanted to go to the dance with him and had even turned down someone else to go with him.

"Why are you so surprised?" Hinata frowned. "Weren't you going to ask me to go right before Kiba showed up? If not, you don't have to go with me," she shrugged.

"Well, you— I— we— I mean— what?" Haku struggled to find his words and they laughed.

"Well, I'm not taking anyone either so Haku and I can both escort you," Naruto stood up and dusted off his black slim fit jeans. Though Haku was not really subtle with how he looked at or talked to Hinata, he had liked her for so long that none of them remembered a time when he didn't look at her the way he did. They had all gotten so used to it that, even if he wasn't like this to other girls, they figured that he was like Sasuke and treated Hinata differently because she was special, and not because he had any sort of special feelings towards her. If Naruto or Sasuke had known that Haku was actually in love with Hinata and had been since they first met ten years ago when he was 7, they might have tried to give Haku more time with her.

"Why are you excluding me?" Sasuke frowned at his brother.

"I'm not sure if you'll be single by then."

"Whatever," Sasuke scowled.

"What do people usually wear to these things?" Hinata held her hand out to Haku and helped him to his feet as well.

"Dresses and high heels and makeup," Sasuke grinned trying to imagine their rather tomboyish friend dressed up.

"Hey, I wear heels," she smacked his arm pointing down to the impressive 4-inch, electric blue stilettos she wore at the moment.

"Yeah, and you're still tiny," Naruto tousled her hair affectionately.

"No, you guys are just freakishly tall," she replied with a small pout as she ran her fingers through her silky hair before securing her hair into a high, messy ponytail.

"What are you, like 5 feet?" Sasuke teased as well as he looked down his nose at her to spite her more.

"No," she rolled her eyes. "I'm five two," she muttered quietly.

"Like Naruto said, tiny," Haku laughed as well.

After teasing her the entire time, they walked her to her next class, Naruto tousled her hair again while Sasuke gave her a grin that girls would fight for and Haku gently brushed her cheek with his thumb.

"See you after school," he said before he headed to his next class.

"Hinata, you're so lucky." She was instantly surrounded by the girls in her class.

"It's not what you think," she replied, not meeting anyone's eyes as she sat down in her seat. She knew that they were just being nice to her because they all had crushes on her friends. They only ever talked to her when it had something to do with one of the guys.