A/N: I don't own Naruto, lo and behold.
Chapter 1: A shadow
"W-would you train with.. with m-me, Neji-nii-san?" stammered. It had taken me ages to gather enough courage to ask my cousin. Even though he did become a lot nicer after being defeated by Naruto, he could still be cold and heartless. My shyness, weak appearance and, after all, my feeling of guilt simply because I belonged to the main house and he didn't weren't very helpful either. "I have to prepare for a mission. You know that" he answered with an emotionless voice. But his cold, white eyes showed a flicker of pity and apology. "G-gomenasai" I whispered and bowed. I didn't want to be a burden to him of all people, to the only person who started to acknowledge me.
Sadly I walked about in the big compound. Whenever I met another family member; I would of course pretend a smile and greet them politely with a bow.
Who would train with me if not Nejii-nii-san? I'd never dare to ask any other of the family members, especially not my father. They knew I was weak and didn't even bother to hide their dissappointment. I didn't want to give them a proof. Under their cold, all-seeing eyes I was destined to fail. Hanabi was no exception.
So... my family members could not help me to fulfill my dearest wish: to become stronger. Maybe my team comrades? Shino? Our fighting styles were too different. Training with him would not work properly. Besides... his bugs were frightening the shit out of me, even though I never let it show, of course. And Kiba? He was usually training alone with Akamaru. "Not that you have any chance of defeating them anyway" the voice in the back of my head said. And what about... Naruto? "BAKA! That's impossible!" I scolded myself while blushing deeply. Lost in such thoughts I had reached my room and changed from kimono to my training clothes. I draw a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Another day of training alone...
.oOo.
I wasn't in the mood to use the common training grounds of konoha. Actually, I never was. I ran past them, hearing voices - screams and laughter - and the clinking sounds of colliding metal weapons. But the noises were distant like echoes from another world I didn't belong to. Eventually, I reached the forest that surrounded hidden leaf village but I didn't stop running. Jumping from tree to tree and breathing the cold, clean air made me feel better, as if a little part of the weight on my shoulders was lifted. I gained speed and chose a more difficult route on purpose. Dodging the little twigs, lianes, and even spiderwebs was a good practice. Additionally, I tried to move absolutely noiselessly so I wouldn't stir any animals. With my Byakugan activated it was quite easy.
Without a single scratch I reached a clearing which was so far away from the village that I would probably meet no other ninja. I let my breathing calm down and painted several targets an the trees around me. "Focus" I told myself and carefully aimed at the targets. Without moving I could see all of them thanks to the almost 360° sight of the Byakugan. I clutched the kunai, jumped and spun around to add extra speed to the throwing weapons. 1,2,3,4,5...6,7... they all hit their targets. But then... number 8 missed by an inch. An inch that in real battle would cost my life. Or my friends' life. An inch that marked my weakness... Discouraged, I sat beneath a tree and buried my face between my knees. It was always like this, no matter how hard I tried. I always missed one target by an inch.
After some minutes lost in thoughts I forced myself to stand up. Maybe I just had to train a little harder. Maybe, if I just pushed myself a little more... I started to pull the kunai out of the trees. Then I stood in front of the 8th kuinai and was about to reach for it. Suddenly, I saw a dark shadow running through the forest in front of me but some distance away. I quickly ducked behind the tree trunk in which the kunai still stuck. My heart was racing. "What if it's an enemy? If I'm taken hostage now... Nobody knows where I am!" I thought. And the voice in the back of my head added: "They won't miss you anyway, you failure." I pushed those thoughts away. The priority now was to find out who was strolling around in this deserted area of the forest! I peeked out of my hiding place to find the shadow. There! It was FAST. I couldn't follow its movements even with Byakugan. Where did it go? Somewhere to the right... The person, whoever it was, hadn't noticed me so far, luckily. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the shadow again and this time I tried to trace it stealthily. I noticed that except for his speed the mysterious person didn't bother to aggravate pursuing. This was very careless, so it was either a stupid person - which I didn't think - or a strong one that believed he could easily finish off any enemy. Secretly, I admired him but I was aware at the same time that it would make him even more dangerous.
The pursuit finally came to an end when he stopped at another clearing with a waterfall and a little lake. I hid behind some thick bushes and watched him closely. Something about him was slightly familiar, I just couldn't figure it out. Maybe he wasn't an enemy after all, but simply another ninja from konoha village who also preferred training alone? What he did was definitely training. Most of the time he was performing various exercises on the water surface to improve his chakra control. "Why am I not able to remember if I know this person???" I thought, angry at myself. This was clearly a disadvantage of avoiding contact with people. He did wear the sign of konoha but it could be stolen or even reproduced. So I couldn't be sure. "But then, if he were an enemy he would have confronted me by now, wouldn't he? I can't believe he still didn't notice me. Maybe he just wants to give me a false sense of security." My thoughts kept going this way and that and around in circles. I just couldn't make up my mind and decide what to do. "Argh" I was screaming desperately on the inside and this groan of frustration nearly slipped out and would have doubtlessly given my position away. Luckily, I was able to restrain it by pressing my hand against my lips. But he heard the telltale rustling of my jacket anyway and his head spun around immediately. His whirling glance bored into my lavender-white eyes with such reckless intensity that I froze with shock on the very spot and didn't even dare to breathe. I felt like I was going to faint. Suddenly, he let out a scream of agony and collapsed with a splash into the water.
.oOo.
A/N: Sasuke-kun: What do you think you are doing, letting me fall into the water like that???
Alesha: Gomen...! But you are not supposed to tell that it's you! pouts They have to find it out in the next chapter!
Sasuke-kun: Hn. It's obvious... Plus, you are lame when it comes to updating.
Alesha: sigh He's right... Anyway, I hope you like it. Please review, I love constructive criticism! But don't be too mean... This is my first fanfic and I know my English is far from perfect. So, if you find any mistakes - you can keep them. HAhahahahaha