Palms facing out, veins protruding from her temples, stance firm. Hinata had found herself in the center of training ground #7, standing ready in front of a dark haired, red eyed boy. A few days had passed since his offer when they finally made time for the occasion. No one made a move. Using this time, she did a quick scan around to see if she'd find a certain blonde boy hiding. Unfortunately, she didn't sense nor see anything, before she was jumping back to avoid Sasuke's attack.

Strike, block, counter. The moves felt natural as she carried her steps trying to end the spar as the victor. Of course, Sasuke Uchiha wasn't one to let up, he drove himself to attack and dodge with full skill. This put a brief smile on her face, knowing he wouldn't go easy on her, after all her efforts in her clan to be a worthy heir, it felt nice to automatically be treated as an equal.

The smile lasted only a second, but it didn't go unnoticed by the blue-eyed male. He sat meters away hiding in a tree, he'd seen Hinata scan her surroundings before the fight, and managed to make it out of her field of vision while muting his chakra signature.

He was curious how the spar would end, nothing more. At least that's what he told himself on his way over. The spar went as he thought it would, both parties' going in full effort with Sasuke ultimately overpowering Hinata.

Sasuke saw the quick upturn of her lips, it caught him off guard letting Hinata land a hit on his forearm. He quickly made his way from her his arm throbbing in pain. He didn't let his mind linger any longer, as he dodged her next strike and countered. She lost balance as he took his chance to end the spar and immobilize, her causing her to admit defeat.

The sparring day came and went without any interruptions much to young Hinata's sure belief that Menma would make an appearance. If not make an appearance, but at least cause some kind of situation to bother them. Although nothing happened Hinata inwardly admitted that Sasuke was a good sparring partner and agreed to keep the matches up whenever they had time, considering they were now genin made this difficult though.

The thought that she was now a genin crossed her mind as she listened to Kurenai sensei explain their upcoming mission. She hadn't seen much of Menma recently since they were put into their teams, unfortunately for her she got stuck with two companions who did not have the first name Menma or have their the last name being Namikaze, though the teammates she was grouped with weren't awful, despite the irony of their abilities and the traits they occupied. One being in a clan full of hound training nin, but being a cat person. The other being an insect user, but being disgusted by insects.

Coming back to real-time Hinata focused back on her sensei just as she finished the rundown of their D-class mission of escorting a well-known figure from Konoha to the sand village.

It had been a year since they became genin and he began to walk by training ground #7 every day. He knew they weren't always there, but he couldn't help himself from taking the long way home from training to pass by this specific training ground every day even if he'd only seen the pair here sparring three times in the past month.

He'd rarely seen her, be it due to the fact that they'd both been busy with missions lately or the fact that even when she was in his line of view he avoided her eyes at all cost. Ironic considering the Hyuga kekkei genkei she possessed. That didn't stop him and he was pretty sure he'd been successful in avoiding her

Fortunately for him he managed to get teamed up with the Uchiha boy making it a bit easier to know if she and Sasuke had plans together, that was if Sasuke would even talk or make obvious inclinations, which he would not. Menma didn't only see the Uchiha boy as a means to know Hinata's doings, but also, he was just glad to be teamed up with such a strong member, with much to room to get stronger. Sakura on the other hand, was one of his admirers from the academy, and she didn't try to hide the fact that she was still swooning over him. This time though he didn't have Hinata around to scare her off, so he had to deal with her flirting directly almost every day, exhausting.

It'd been one week since their last match and he was itching to see her again. Sasuke wanted to see her smile again, for she only ever showed emotions of anger or irritation in the public, that smile had been a nice change.

He'd taken notice of Menma's repeated stalking, whenever they sparred. Just like the fact he'd noticed Hinata search the training grounds with her byakugan before beginning every fight. These reoccurrences were starting to intrigue him, he wanted to know why Menma was always near her and why she seemed to always be on the search for him. It was starting to get annoying, especially the fact that he was now on the same team as said blonde. Maybe this could be an opportunity to find out the situation between these two.

"Hinata...Hinata!"

Her eyes snapped forward upon hearing her name, she'd seemed to have dazed off and was currently standing in front of the Hokage's desk. Her thoughts managed to come back as she remembered she was here giving a summary of her teams newly completed mission.

"Yes?" she replied.

"I was just saying good job on completing your mission successfully, I know how much of a handful your teammates can be considering their ironic personality types."

"It's no problem." She kept her replies short; she wasn't in the mood to converse, she'd just wanted to organize her thoughts and rest at home in the compound, or maybe even spar with Sasuke.

"Well, good job, you can be on your way now." The Fourth Hokage said.

Hearing her confirmation to leave, she turned and walked out of the Hokage building. She walked and walked, but didn't end up at the Hyuga compund like she believed she would, instead she found herself on top of the Hokage monument. This wasn't anything unusual, she often found herself here when she was younger, this was the ideal place for a reserved person like her to be alone. Well, this used to not be unusual, but she hadn't been here since she was 6, when she sat up here fighting tears and made a vow to herself to change for the better.

Hinata wasn't that weak little girl anymore, so why had her steps unconsciously bring her here? She wouldn't dwell on it, instead she sat down and took in the scenery of the Village. This was the perfect view, one could see the entire village from up here and at night it looked beautiful.

Menma sat in his room looking out his window, when he'd heard his dad come home. His window directly faced the Hokage monument and he stared at it feeling like there was something there he should be seeing. He was soon interrupted when his mom called his name to eat dinner now that his dad was home.

They sat together looking like the nice family they were as they partook in their meal. Menma enjoyed these small moments with his family, quietly listening to his parents converse as he ate occasionally chiming into their conversation if they asked him something. It was like any other dinner they had. Until his father brought her up.

"So Menma, do you know Hinata Hyuga? She was a part of the same year as you in the academy." Minato questioned.

"I do."

"Were you guys friends? Do you know what she is like?"

"Why are you asking me these questions?" Menma hated being questioned, and his father questioning him about her of all people really ticked him off for some reason.

"She's only a genin, but she's extremely skilled not to mention she's the heiress to a powerful clan, I'm considering candidates for future ANBU, I can't go into details, but she seems like a good fit, of course not anytime soon though."

"Shouldn't you wait till she's at least a jounin before considering her to be in the ANBU."

"Like I said, not anytime soon. Anyways can you answer my questions?"

"Were not friends, I can't help you." Menma shoved rice into his mouth picturing how Hinata Hyuga would fit into the ANBU. Anyone who knew her now would agree she was a good fit for the ANBU: strong, quick, smart, emotionless. Now that word didn't fit Hinata, emotionless. He didn't lie when he told his father they weren't friends, but that didn't mean he didn't know who she was or how she was. Hinata Hyuga may act cold and ruthless now, but she wasn't always like that.

Menma finished his dinner and made his way back to his room. He sat himself back in his original position and looked out his window one more time at the Hokage monument. He was about to shut his blinds and make his way to sleep when he saw a figure from the corner of his eye making its way down from the mountain. He squinted to get a better view, but had no luck. Normally he would've shrugged the scene off and went to sleep, but he felt the urge to go and see who it was, though he had a feeling he knew already considering he only ever felt this urge when it came to her.

He just needed a breath of air of fresh air. That's why he was outside in the middle of the night making his way as fast as he could towards the Hokage monument. No other reason. He neared the location of the figure way sooner than he expected even for himself, he saw a silhouette standing at the bottom of the giant rock, it didn't move only stood there as he walked closer.

She admired the view of the village for a while, before she knew it her eyes felt drowsy and she began to feel the exhaustion of the day finally hit her. Hinata started on her way down the mountain, as she got to the bottom, she felt his chakra signature, it was impossible to miss and she felt him heading straight towards her. She didn't know why, but this made something stir inside her and she felt herself getting excited.

She saw his figure stop a few meters in front of her, she didn't bother moving only stood as he inched closer to her.

They stood a couple feet apart in silence for what felt like forever, Hinata's mind was swirling with thoughts and emotions, she didn't know what this was nor she did she enjoy this feeling in the pit of her stomach that only grew the longer that they stood still. She took this time to break the silence before this feeling engulfed her being.

"Menma?"

He stared at her figure, the moon light illuminating a different glow to her features. Her pale skin only looked paler; her white eyes reflected the village lights from behind him, her short pitch-dark hair showing slight blue undertones. He'd never taken in her features like he did now. Her soft voice speaking his name shook him out of his trance. What was he doing here? Why did he get so close instead of watching from afar like he normally did?

"Hinata..." He didn't know what else to say.

Her name was all he said before he disappeared. She stared at where he stood only mere seconds ago, as she felt her knees buckle and she hit the ground. Her chest felt like exploding, this gut wrenching feeling, felt like it was traveling through her whole being, it made her feel weak. Though it disappeared just as soon as he did. She stood up and stared at the sky eyes closed a smile planting itself on her face.

She didn't process what happened only walked home as relief washed over her. The feeling was gone, she didn't know what it was, but as soon as left the feeling went with him. Hinata made her way into the Hyuga compound and to her bedroom. She laid in bed and smiled as she went through what happened earlier in her mind. Now that she was calm, she started to miss the feeling that seemed like it would swallow her up just a few moments ago. Maybe it wasn't so bad, no it definitely wasn't. She wanted to feel that way again, no she craved, needed to feel that way again.

He laid in bed contemplating what had just happened. He approached her without any thought, he didn't hide and watch her like normally, no this time he faced her. He pictured her standing in the moonlight, remembering her features being illuminated by the small bit of light around them. The way his name rolled off her tongue with that sweet soft voice, he'd only ever heard that tone when they were younger. Now she always laced her soft voice with venom as if to keep people away. The mean words she would spue, the horrible names she called people so casually, the bluntness that made many dislike her. He never minded these things for he was not the nicest person either. He just preferred to show his cold side through looks and gestures, never made an effort to use words towards people.

He wouldn't make the mistake of facing her like that again, the trance he fell into when he saw her was enough motivation. He hated not being in control and when it came to her for some reason, he always lost his reasoning to stay in control.

He never wanted to feel that way again.

A/N: Just a reminder the characters are still genin, making them around 13 years old, so I'm trying to ease into their older teen years before I start adding actual romance and start showing the psychological side that I originally wanted for this story, this is a slow-burn which btw is actually pretty difficult to write for me since I have a love/hate relationship with slow-burn stories.

Also, Sasuke isn't being written like his RTN counterpart, as you guys can tell. It's because I feel like a flirty Sasuke would be a little difficult to add to get in between Menma and Hinata, don't worry though I MIGHT start changing his character as the story progresses and he gets older, depending on how I feel.

Anyways thank you guys so much for the reviews, I kept in mind what you said zanabaq while writing, so thank you. Also, I want to point out when you see those paragraph breaks like the long line separating sections that means its changing point of view.