Eden

A NaruHina Fanfic

Chapter 1

Prelude!

What Makes Her Tick

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Hinata focused her chakra up into her eyes. She felt it swell within the cells, attracting more light to broaden and focus her vision. When the veins popped out on the sides of her head, she initiated her kekkei genkai with a soft "Byakugan!"

Her opponent mimicked her incantation from across the courtyard, the inverted pupil in his eyes mirroring the streaks of black in her own lavender irises. Hinata narrowed her vision to pierce the skin of her opponent, picking out the tiny specks of his chakra points, their glow like the stars to her sharp eyes.

"Begin" Hiashi Hyuuga said blandly and watched as his eldest daughter rushed past him. He was suitably disinterested in this fight. He already knew what its outcome would be.

Stabbing out with her palm, Hinata attempted to close a cluster of points in her opponents shoulder. He dodged easily, retaliating with his own two fingered strike towards Hinata's outstretched arm. Leaning away just enough for the chakra disturbance to merely flutter her sleeve, Hinata was minimizing her shift of body weight in order to pinpoint her next hit, her fingers already moving. He batted her strike away, his forearm contacting the inside of her own, and then went to send a solid palm slap to her stomach.

Hinata leant back from her knees, using her arm to shove the offending attack up into the blank space where her shoulder had been. Twisting on her toes, she put her free hand on the ground for balance and sent a back hook kick to sweep his legs. He caught her foot in his hand, but found himself off guard before he could pulse chakra into it. The determined kunoichi had already pushed up off the ground with both hands to launch her other foot into his face. He was forced to abandon his planned decimation and dodge her second kick, though the armored heel of her ninja sandal still grazed his ear as it continued its arc. Hinata righted herself as they both gained a split second reprieve in the action. She panted as she wearily eyed the man she had never beaten, her cousin and training partner, the jonin Neji Hyuuga.

:::

This time, he attacked. His palm drove towards her shoulder, but she nimbly stepped out of the way. She deliberately found herself on the side that had just struck, effectively dodging his other hand that had been poised for a follow up shot. He kicked out to the side towards her, but she braced her arm at ninety degrees, the solid thunk of shin hitting forearm joining the sound of their panting, these muted noises the only testament to the grueling struggle in the Hyuugas private training ground.

She gasped when she saw him already turning, his fingers coming towards her shoulder too fast to dodge. Desperately, she threw chakra out of the points in his target area, so that when he hit, their two chakras collided, effectively nullifying the effects of Neji's gentle fist strike.

He stepped back with a mild look of approval in his eyes. "Hinata, you've grown. I was unaware you could spike your chakra anywhere but your palms."

Hinata gave a twitch of a smile in gratitude for his praise. "Thank you cousin, but the technique is still very rough, I was lucky with that shot" she said hesitantly, careful not to let the light conversation distract her.

Her face took on a determined set again when he tensed to attack. She swept her arm down to brush aside his palm strike to her abdomen, failing to recognize the feint attack until he used his other hand to take advantage and slap her down swept arm. Her fingers twitched as the chakra pulsed into her, pinching the nerves in her forearm and severely limiting the easy flow of chakra to that hand.

She grimaced; she had just been placed at a huge disadvantage. Breathing heavily, she attacked him viciously, not about to let him capitalize on his advantage. She used her injured arm to bat aside his own, not minding his persistent fingers that jabbed into it, closing off the remainder of the flow. She would not need it for her plan of action.

Neji, not realizing she was sacrificing that arm to get more hits on him, was caught off guard when her other hand swept over the crook in her arm and pulsed chakra into his shoulder. He grunted but pushed through the pain, taking inspiration from her unorthodox gamble and grabbing her 'sacrificed' arm to yank her in closer to him.

She gasped in surprise at such an unexpected counter, but was not fast enough to avoid his attack. He intercepted her forward momentum with his palm between them, pulsing a huge spike of chakra into her stomach.

Hinata coughed and fell to her knees as her stomach rattled around, struggling to gain control over the wave of nausea that momentarily incapacitated her. Neji stepped back, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Hinata, you have really impr-" he choked on his words in surprise as she rose up from the dirt, clutching her stomach. She looked at him with those fierce eyes he was now so used to, and he felt a grin come over him. "I wouldn't expect any less" he said with a proud smirk, and the fight resumed with no less gusto.

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Finally, when Hinata really was feeling at her limit, Hiashi called an end to the match. Despite her will, her legs buckled and she dropped to her knees, her breathing ragged and uncontrolled. Neji's breathing matched hers, but he did not fall. On her hands and knees, Hinata glared at the dirt not inches from her face, her messy; sweat dampened hair trailing around her.

She did not need to see to know her father's reaction, nor did she need to hear his disappointed footsteps stomping away. Tears wet the dirt in the dark cave her hair made around her. She clenched her hands into the hard packed ground, her nails digging tiny trenches through the battleground she had just fought across.

'I'm still too weak!' she cursed at herself. 'I'm such a fool! How did I ever think I could ever take Pain if I still can't even beat Neji? I'm so pathetic; I couldn't even protect the one I love most!'

She would never forget that day, the biggest failure in her whole life full of them. She had failed her village, her country, even the world by allowing Naruto to almost be captured. But most of all, she had failed her nindo, and she had failed Naruto. She would never forgive herself for that.

But she remembered said nindo, which was inspired by that love for Naruto. She knew what he would do, and she would always strive to be like him. Now was no different. Instead of giving up and putting it behind her like so many others would, she made a promise to herself.

'I won't give up. I won't let Naruto down again! I will get stronger!'

If Neji had been surprised before when she got up, the look in her eyes now as she rose from the dirt, the Byakugan adding to that fiery determination on her tear streaked face, her body retaking the Hyuuga form, haunted him for weeks after this fight.

He finally recovered somewhat from his shock and grinned ruefully. He had been looking forward to a nice relaxing bath after their training match. Training with Hinata always left him a few bruises he needed to soak away.

Well, it looked like that would have to wait. And, it looked like he would need all night in the bath tonight.

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Well, that's my new story. Its just a short prelude to get a feel for things, I'm trying to make it really down to earth and true to the characters and events in the series. This is beginning sometime in the History of the Leaf arc, that really gay filler arc after the Pain arc. I'll get the proper chapter out soon, just wanted to chuck this out there as an appetizer. Yea I know, Neji in a bath? WEIRD! But oh well. Couldn't really think of anything else... Yes, my stories NaruHina of course! (I didn't get to put the 'of course' bit in my summary so I just had to put it in here, I mean, what else would it be!)