Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto is property of Kishimoto Masashi.

Notes: despite the description and genre specification, this chapter is not general… and humour is minimum. For this chapter at least. The content (mostly for the second part) is more serious. Errr also this chapter explains a little more about the past rather than the continuation of the fic, that'll come in the next chapter after this. So then read on all

EDITED: nothing major, I put in a break at the change in POV as it confused some people. And changed my spelling mistake of Nee-san to Nii-san… I spelt it phonetically without thinking :S)

O o O

Hinata had woken up this morning well aware the state her male friends would be in at Uni today. So she'd gotten up early in order to mix up a hang over cure. Throwing the ingredients into a blender she mixed it up and poured it into a flask before securing the screw top lid. Just as she'd put the flask away in her knapsack the kitchen door opened and a groggy Ten-Ten trudged in mumbling a 'good morning'.

Hinata was living in university dorms and she shared her six people flat with her old school team, Kiba and Shino, along with her cousin Neji and his friends Ten-ten and Lee who were in the second year. Hinata replied politely and continued getting a small lunch packed for the day. She didn't like to eat cafeteria food all the time, plus making her own food kept her occupied and saved her the money. Not that she really needed more money, it was just an unconscious act to use no more than necessary, and her family were rich enough so that she'd never have to cook in her life but… she liked doing things for herself. Bidding Ten-ten goodbye, Hinata exited the communal kitchen and went back to her own room to check for any books she might need for her lectures. When she was finally satisfied that she had everything that she needed she set off for her morning lectures.

It was a routine by now, everything that she did… a little too monotonous. Hinata would have liked a little change… that was if it didn't scare the shit out of her. Entering the lecture theatre she sat at the back, like she always did and took down her notes neatly and carefully. Hinata's main problem was her confidence. She wasn't assertive and often got pushed around, doing things she didn't want to, she never got the chance to do things she did want to. Hinata wasn't stupid and she had the capacity to become great. But for the heir of the Hyuuga clan's family business… she was often pressured. Hinata would have been in the top ranks of her classes, all her grades were perfect… save the presentations. People, public places, public speaking; she couldn't do it and it was her failing. It was what had allowed her younger sister to surpass her in national tests.

Hinata was a normal girl only around people she'd known a very long time, that didn't list many people. Her cousin Neji was one. He was as good as a brother to her and she felt the most comfortable around him. Her little sister, Kiba and Shino, her old class mates, Sakura, Ino, sometimes Sasuke and finally Naruto. They were the only people she could talk to without stuttering. Even her parents would never hear her say a single sentence without irregular intervals.

Hinata's lips stretched slightly out into a smile as she noticed Sasuke stalking into the lecture theatre late. He found his way to the seat beside hers as usual and sat down. The lecturer didn't notice and Sasuke sat up trying his best to pay attention. His eyes were slightly bloodshot and his hair a spiky mess. He looked ruffled. She expected Naruto was in a similar state. The thought of him made her smile even more and a light blush rose to her cheeks. Sasuke must have noticed her attention on him because he turned his head towards her and raised a brow quizzically. Hinata knew Sasuke, but only because of Naruto and the fact that they were doing the same degree. They didn't talk, they had that in common, they shared notes and sat next to each other because they were acquainted but that was it. Hinata supposed she should know more about him. He was Uchiha after all, and the Uchiha businesses were tied in very closely with the Hyuuga's. If that wasn't enough, technically they'd known of each other since they'd been four but…

Oh well, shit happens. That didn't bother her right now. Passing the year with full marks was her aim. She was determined to do well in her presentations, she'd even asked Naruto to help her in talking. She was doing well.

The lecture flew by and Hinata was one of the first people out of the theatre. She liked to avoid crowds so she was good at speed walking past people. Her next destination; the cafeteria.

Most of them were already there, sat at the table, save Naruto and Sasuke; the former probably missing to pick up the other from his lecture. She sat down quietly, greeting everyone in a hushed voice. Sakura and Ino replied with smiles and Shino simply nodded his head politely. Shikamaru had his head buried in his arms on the table thus no response. Chouji looked up from the book in his hands and smiled. Kiba was in a position very similar to Shikamaru's but from the groans that emanated from under his ever present hood notified Hinata of his distress. She giggled slightly and took the flask out from her bag.

"Kiba-kun, how are you feeling?" she received a groan in response. She shook her head and got up to get some plastic cups from the café. Pouring some drink out she slid the cup over to him. "Drink that." Kiba looked up and took the cup, pausing as it reached his lips; he pinched his nose and gulped it down. He was used to these… Kiba's drinking record was probably the most extensive and Hinata was constantly making various elixirs to soothe the after effects. He hadn't drank all that was in the cup and when he put it down he did so shakily and it toppled over and spilt the remaining content onto his jacket. He cursed under his breath and got up to clean it off.

Almost as soon as Kiba left, Naruto and Sasuke walked into the canteen and over to the tables. She watched as they walked in but her attention was focused on the brighter of the two. Naruto, despite his obvious hung over state still had or made the energy to raise his best friend's spirits. Though it may have looked like arguments on the outside, it seemed to Hinata that Sasuke was upset about something; she could tell that about people. Not to mention Sasuke only drank when upset. So the smile behind Sasuke's eyes told her that Naruto had indeed succeeded in once again banishing the dark in people's moods.

It was that that attracted Hinata to Naruto. Most girls liked him because of his looks, but Hinata loved the fact that he saw the good in people and tried his hardest to bring that out. He never liked to anyone's bad sides. Respectively, Naruto rarely showed his more blue side, despite everything he went though as a child he always wore a smile on his face and brushed it off his shoulder calmly. If only she could brush her father's words off so easily…

Enough

I will not obsess over my sorrows; I will not wallow in self pity… I will not!

So instead she opted for stealing a glance of Naruto every now and then before offering both him and Sasuke some of the drink. Naruto took it with mild caution while Sasuke glared at it as if she had handed him a cup of maggots. With a little reassurance from Kiba who had just returned they downed it. Hinata kept her eyes down, in case anyone noticed the small flush on her cheeks as she glanced at Naruto.

Damn her stupid pale skin and stupidly obvious red blood and the way it flushed to her cheeks…

Hinata was not so buried in her own thoughts that she did not notice a fellow first year student lurking nearby the table. She figured she probably noticed before anyone else that he'd been stood around for a while now. Sometimes it was as if she had a sixth sense, being so in tuned with her surroundings. It wasn't long before he finally built up the courage and shouted out to Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto who had just settled out of one of their own tangles responded with fire behind their eyes. The fight was not pretty, but Hinata wasn't that squeamish. In another time she might have thought that Naruto's brutality was scary, but she knew that he was that way out of necessity. He'd grown up with the need to be tough.

Hinata was born tough, physically, but mentally her walls were made of foam.

Such is life is it not?

Hinata was disappointed when Naruto left, fleeing the scene of the crime so to speak. But she knew it wouldn't be long before she saw him again. Mondays were cooking days for Hinata… everyone came over, including Naruto who'd never pass up a home made meal…

Mondays weren't so bad.

Life isn't too bad…

…if you dare look on the brighter side.

O o O

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't the happiest person in the world. Even if sometimes he acted that way. Not many saw past the perfect façade save Sakura, Sasuke and unbeknownst to him Hinata too. He hurt inside and he cried inside. He was no different from the other kids he'd grown up with but that was the way it was.

Right now he was content. The effects of his headache were fading, thanks to Hinata and he'd had a good chance to stretch his muscles. They walked off of the university campus speedily and reached a small dojo not far from the city gates. This was where they took out their frustrations, and where they knew words weren't really needed. Pure sparring, no bars held, for the heck of it.

An old dojo master greeted them warmly as they entered. Sometimes Naruto wandered why people had been as uninviting to him as a child. His father had been the previous leader of Konoha and people had loved him greatly. Maybe it was because he'd died… protecting him no less. Whatever it was, Naruto had wanted to prove to them he was worth a while and that he could live to follow his father's footsteps. And so by his fifteenth birthday he had earned the recognition he had so badly. It wasn't easy, doing good things about the town and he had often gotten berated for the stupidest things, but it only spurred him on further.

Naruto was finally seen as normal, not just a bakemono or stupid kyuubi no kitsune. He was never sure why he was called those either, but Kitsune had always been a nickname, people just tended to refer to him as a legendary nine tailed beast fox in spite. The name kitsune, fox, had come from his smile, eyes and crafty nature. Rejected by a lot of society Naruto had gone out of his way to be cunning and troublesome. But he had truly become a kitsune when he was seven years old. Now that he thought about it, it was then that he and Sasuke had actually become friends. Up until then they had been nothing but rivals competing at everything for no reason.

O o O

Sasuke noticed the look on Naruto's face as the old man walked away. Confused probably, as to his past. Sasuke remembered everything. They'd fought like cats and dogs back as kids. Sasuke had always seen Naruto as inferior, a little child that couldn't take anything, that got riled up at the smallest thing and most important of all, inferior in class. Being part of the Uchiha clan… not many were more prestigious… no less this scraggly dirty blond child that always had a stupid grin on his face. No it was that day of Naruto's seventh birthday that Sasuke was able to use his eyes properly when one day after school he'd seen Naruto being bullied by some older kids.

Normally he would have snorted and left him there alone, but Sasuke couldn't ignore the horrifying screams, the blood streaming down the child's face and the way he thrashed. It was different to the way Naruto usually screamed at Sasuke; there was pure terror and desperation behind this voice.

He didn't feel pity.

He felt pain.

He'd heard snatches of the taunts as the two of the three boys held down the smaller child while the last was carefully cutting whiskers on his face.

"Think you're so sneaky now?..."

"You like the name so bad, may as well make you look more like one…"

"Isn't that right kitsune?"

Sasuke saw red after that, that wasn't right. He'd been foolish to start on three older and much bigger kids that were obviously tougher. But they were surprised enough at the small Uchiha hurling towards them that they let Naruto go. Naruto scrambled away still in too much shock to run away. Sasuke yelled, kicked punched and thrashed. He'd hit them a few times before they roughly pinned him too against the wall to deliver a similar treatment. The leader snarled and stuck his face up close to Sasuke's.

Punks.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, kid? Don't stick your nose in other people's business."

Sasuke spat in his face.

The guy punched him in return.

"Whoa shit, this is that Uchiha kid. We'll be in the shit if we rough him up." One of them realised and backed away slightly.

"I don't care… clans don't mean shit these days. They're all meaningless."

"Clan or not Koji, this is Itachi's little brother. Mess with a clan that's bad, but you don't mess with his brother."

"He's right you know…" Itachi had a knack for turning up at the right time. The bullies didn't stay standing very long, and Sasuke might have remembered the fight, how it had gone, what Itachi had done. But Itachi had been too fast. The boys were on the ground in less than a minute.

"You ok?" Sasuke had nodded and turned instantly to Naruto who was touching his cheeks in shock.

"Ni-san, help him… please." Sasuke had asked unable to stand properly. Any contempt, dislike, hatred all but disappeared when he watched Naruto poking his face in disbelief and he cursed himself repeatedly when he cried when Naruto wouldn't. They took Naruto home with them, and Sasuke's mother gushed over Naruto as if he'd been her own son.

"How did it happen?" Itachi had asked later on in the evening. Naruto had been put to sleep in Sasuke's room and the rest of the family were getting ready to do the same. Sasuke was told to share Itachi's room.

"I don't know. I was waiting for you to come pick me up and I saw them in the corner of the playground. I couldn't let them carry on so I just jumped in." Sasuke had muttered. He wasn't in a good mood. What he'd seen had been bad enough, his left eye was swollen and black and his father had told him off when he'd seen his eyes, red and bleary from having cried. Itachi had assured him that it was ok, and that he didn't mean it but Sasuke knew better.

"orokana ototo." Itachi had chided gently but smiled none the less. Sasuke got the impression that he was proud of his bravery.

They were not fond memories, but without that event Sasuke would never have had the friend he had now. In a twisted way he was glad of it.

He didn't have long to ponder on more memories as Naruto's foot came flying at his head.

"Pay attention Uchiha, it no fun kicking your head in if it's easy." Naruto laughed.

Yes he was glad.

O o O

Mini glossary: (things you probably already know but I'll explain just in case you don't)

Bakemono: monster

Kyuubi no kitsune (oh come on, you know this!): nine tailed fox (demon fox to be precise in this context, I had to put it in for reference to the original Naruto plot)

Kitsune: fox

Orokano ototo: foolish younger brother

Ni-san: older brother (thank you erikkoekkoek, I'd written it phonetically, thus the mistake. Funny the meaning changes one simple mistake can make huh?)

Author's ramblings:

Yes I know. Sasuke cries. Don't kill me. Read my explanation first. Well he cries because one, he's never seen anything like that. If I was seven years old and walked around to see someone getting their face carved into, someone I knew… I would cry. I can only imagine it's not a fun thing to watch. Granted Sasuke is a tough little boy who has been brought up to be strong, but he's still seven… this might be seen as undesirably OOC… but personally I don't think it really is. Also he got his face punched a few times and he did get kicked about a little. I may not have elaborated on it but you get the picture I'm sure.

Blessings of cakes cookies and pocky to;

-ErikKoekkoek -Surreal03 - Quile - scorpion05 - kokoro mizu no kaze -SGL - tsunade chan - wrathchylde -ah-choo-

thank you all for reviewing, I love you all loads, and you all keep me going to write more. A few words mean a lot more than they seem. Thank you for your time and I hope you will continue to follow me on this fic also

Next chapter: Meet Haruno Sakura. She's not a Sasuke groupie? She's happy… no she's depressed… she's what? Make up your mind woman!