Something's wrong with Naruto-kun, was Hinata's first thought as she came face to face with Team 7.

Her heart had started beating much faster when Kiba had excitedly informed them that Team 7 was in the building, just one floor down. His nose really was improving at an incredible rate. But that wasn't surprising for an Inuzuka.

They might not be one of the noble Clans of Konoha but they were extremely loyal. That was no hidden secret. Neither was that, it is in the Inuzuka's blood the need to assert their dominance in a group, to establish themselves as the alpha.

And that Kiba was the alpha of their team, of that there was no doubt. After, Kurenai-sensei of course. Shino, who rarely said anything from behind his hood and sunglasses, did not challenge Kiba's assumption of the team leader position.

Only on occasions when Kiba was being especially silly, rather like one adorable, blonde haired, blue eyed, orange wearing ninja they all knew, did Shino reprimand him.

Kiba, much like the rest of his clan members was very adept at nintaijutsu. She regretted to say that Kiba was better than her, who should have been the taijutsu specialist in their team, given the clan she belonged to.

However, in contrast to Kiba's similarity to his powerful mother and sister, Hinata was nothing like the rest of her clan. The Hyuga were a clan of powerful shinobi who focused on their deadly taijutsu with the help of their revered dojutsu, the Byakugan. They boasted a large number of strong ninja and equally strong albeit obedient kunoichi.

The only one she remembered being similar to was her mother. But she had passed away a few years ago, leaving both Hinata and Hanabi, alone to face their father who grows colder each year.

Personally, the indigo haired kunoichi thought that Hiashi Hyuga, the cold, emotionless Head of the Hyuga Clan had loved her mother very much. And that it was her death that had made her father retreat into his own world.

Each year, he became even more distant than the last. Ever since she could remember, she was fighting for her father's attention which was easily bestowed when her mother was alive and when he had been training her.

But after her mother's death, Hinata had stopped progressing, prompting her father to give on training her personally.

He was the epitome of what her clan signifies, as a man, a leader and as a shinobi. And she wanted more than anything to be able to make her father and clan proud of her. But no matter what she tried it just wasn't good enough. She just wasn't as brutal as they wanted her to be.

It was no secret to Hinata that her father hated her weakness, her gentle nature. But at least, he doesn't say it anymore as frequently. The elders however, had no such considerations.

It was clear that they all wanted her younger sister, Hanabi, who already showed much more promise, to succeed as the heiress to the clan. But there was no way they could make her the heiress until Hinata was at least eighteen.

She remembered the first mock battle they had had in the courtyard with much of the clan present. Hanabi, four years younger than her had been able to beat Hinata. It was those cold, emotionless, disapproving eyes of her father that she couldn't stand and had run away from the clan compound, not wanting to show him her tears and cement his opinion of her weakness even further.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. But even if she could go back in time, she would not change the outcome of the battle. For that was the first time she had ever met Naruto.

Hinata ran with her head bent down, and hot tears streaming down her face, heedless of where she was going. But she just needed to get away from the stifling compound. She knew that someone was sent after her. After all, they couldn't just let the heiress outside with no protecting, her Byakugan being unsealed as it was.

Bang! A loud curse emanated from someone in front of her. She had crashed right into an older boy, who looked at his fallen ice cream and then to her, hatefully.

'HEY YOU!' the black-haired boy yelled, pointing at her.

'G…Gomen!' Hinata stuttered.

'People from noble families act like they're so stuck up!' spat his friend, who was even larger than the first boy.

Scared as she was, and not knowing what to do, Hinata squeaked another apology and made to bolt.

'Wait, you brat!' the first boy grabbed her hair painfully, and pulled her back.

'Aaghhh!' she was pushed to the ground.

The three circled her and bent her head, tears having resumed.

'C'mon, apologise!' they yelled at her.

'Gomenasai! G...gomenasai!'

'AAGHH!' Hinata was pulled up by the first boy, who glared hatefully.

'Don't look at me with those eyes! Freak!' he scorned.

'She must be a Hyuga,' the other one added. 'If you're a Hyuga, show us you're Byakugan!'

'Yehh. Otherwise, don't look at us with those creepy eyes.'

'I bet you're just a monster!'

'Yeh! A Byakugan monster!' the civilian boys laughed, all taunting her.

There was no one to save her from them. She was stuck, a useless Hyuga girl with a weak Byakugan who couldn't even defend herself against civilians. Her father would be even more ashamed of her when he found out. If only she could get away. Then no one would know.

'HEY! Quit it!'

Hinata was afraid she might just have passed out. For surely no one would have come to her rescue.

But no, she was still awake and this was really happening. With her tear-filled eyes, she looked at the boy standing opposite them, dressed in the brightest orange t-shirt she had ever seen, and green goggles on his forehead. If the situation wasn't so dire, she might have giggled at the comical appearance.

But as it was, she had no intention of laughing at him, even if he wasn't attempting to save her. There was just something in the boy's eyes that told her that he might be a kindred soul. That he might understand her pain.

'Who are you, brat?!' the kid whose ice cream she had spilled ask.

'I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI! THE FUTURE HOKAGE! DON'T YOU FORGET IT!' the boy exclaimed. Hinata had to admit, the boy had guts. He was much braver than she could ever be. And she instantly admired his courage.

The three bullies though, laughed in his face, taunting his dream.

'What an idiot!' they scorned at him, earning her glare at their back, not that they knew or cared. How dare they make fun of his dream! She, of all people knew the pain of striving for something when everyone was against you.

'Oh yeh! I'll show you!' the boy, Naruto brought his hands together in a seal and Hinata felt a build up of chakra. 'CLONE JUTSU!' he yelled.

Momentarily, the civilian boys were taken aback, thinking they had confronted a genin perhaps. But what resulted from his jutsu, were tiny clones glaring up the three bullies, squeaking challenges and the three burst into laughter once more.

Naruto stared hopelessly at the clones. But before she could warn him, one of the boys had surged forward and punched in the nose.

What resulted was a beating and even while squeaked for them to stop, they paid no mind.

'STOP!' she yelled, as loud as she could get her voice, hoping that would attract some adult attention. She had to stop his beating.

She was powerless to help him, feeling even more of a failure. Finally, after having ruined his red scarf, the three took off as they heard her bodyguard's approaching voice, calling for her.

Hinata went forward where Naruto crouched, 'A…Are you… okay?' she asked and he looked up, with the most striking, startling blue eyes she had ever seen. It was like he held an ocean of emotion in them.

'Yeh I'm used to it,' he murmured depressingly, waving it off as if it was a common occurrence. And that made her feel even once. She had been the source of this latest addition to her beating. It was bad enough that she was getting beat up at home in spars with her cousin and younger sister, but now her weakness was causing others to get hurt too.

That was the day she swore she would get stronger. For the boy who had tried to help her, for the one child who had shown her kindness when no one else would.

'I'm… sor….,' Hinata attempted to say before she was pulled back.

'Hinata-sama! I've been looking for you,' Ko said, pulling her with him, and throwing a glare at Naruto, who didn't look at all surprised. 'You shouldn't associate with him, Hinata-sama! The demon brat!'

'But… But… Ko-san,' she attempted to pull out of his grip but yet again, failed.

Hinata was shocked that Ko, who was normally so kind, would say something like that? Was the boy dangerous? He didn't look like he was?

But before she could say something else to him, Ko had increased his pulling efforts. The last thing she saw were the blue eyes, swimming with tears before a grin erupted on his cute whiskered face and the boy took off running.

Her heart beat even faster as they neared Team 7. Hinata didn't know what to feel. A part of her wanted to talk to him, another screamed for Kurenai-sensei to not to talk to her friend here so they could leave.

As usual, Kiba and Naruto got into an argument, even though she thought it a bit silly, that they were trying to one up the other, Naruto did look cute getting all riled up like that. But they shouldn't be so antagonistic towards each other. They were comrades after all.

Hinata could feel her face reddening at the how close Naruto-kun was standing, that was she afraid Kiba would hear her thumping heart. If she didn't pass out before that.

It was Naruto who kept her going even against the sometimes, overwhelming negative pressure from her family. Naruto, who got beaten down so many times in the academy for his poor shinobi skills but never failed to get back up. Naruto who she had followed many times – at a distance of course – so as to not get caught and watched him beat himself bloody and collapse by training until his body could take it no more.

It was he who had been kind to her before she had even met her team. He who had tried to save her from those bullies all those years ago and had gotten beat up himself.

Nobody had stood up for her when the villagers and other children made fun of her white eyes. It was only him who had tried to help a helpless, foolish young girl he didn't even know. It was him who didn't care that the bullies had torn up his scarf that was obviously very important to him, and instead was concerned about her.

After her mother's death, he had been the first kindness she had experienced. And with expecting no reward. He hadn't even known who she was. Even to this day, she felt guilty for leaving when her bodyguard pulled her away from Naruto and listening to him when the poor boy was still clutching his bleeding nose.

But the kind boy had never brought it up. And there had been so many times Hinata had wanted to thank him for it, but never found the courage to do so in the academy. She was always watching from afar. Too scared to know what he would say. Too scared for him to think of her just as everybody else did.

But then that had all changed when she and Naruto had trained together in Wave. Tree climbing was easier for her after all. She was a Hyuga and as such had nearly perfect chakra control. Still, she had been beaten by Sakura who was the one who got the exercise the fastest.

Hinata had thought that she and Naruto might even become friends, as outlandish and fantasy as the idea used to be before. And every time she wanted to give up and fall down, his determined happy blue eyes brought her back up.

But she was a failure. She just had to go and screw it up, like she did everything. Naruto had barely spoken two sentences to her or to anyone else on the way back from Wave. But then again, he was hurting over the death of his even if he hadn't known Haku for long. She wanted more than anything to be able to comfort him, seeing him hurting. But again, she was too scared. Always afraid.

He turned towards her and she instantly looked down to the floor, face heating up as she remembered the words she had spoken to him two weeks ago. She had foolishly compared his strength against Kiba's skill, who also eclipsed herself. But that wasn't a surprise. She doubted there was anyone who couldn't beat her.

Hinata reached within her jacket, her hand clutching something shiny and metal. She tried to summon up the courage to get his attention, stuttering and cursing herself for it, 'N…Naruto-kun…'

But he had already turned his head and those striking blue orbs to the girl holding his neck in a death grip and asked her out on a date, yet again.

Hinata felt her heart sink. Of course, he would never look at her like the way he does at Sakura. Look at her, Sakura was beautiful. She had lovely pink hair, matching outfit, had excellent chakra control from what Kurenai-sensei had remarked on their tree climbing training.

And Sakura wasn't afraid – not as much as her anyway - when the hunter-nin had showed up on the bridge and looked at them with that scary, slit Kiri-nin mask. Her legs hadn't trembled like Hinata's had done.

It was no wonder Naruto-kun was attracted to Sakura. Who wouldn't be? Her eyes briefly caught the obsidian, piercing ones of Sasuke Uchiha before she looked down and hurriedly followed her sensei. Away from team 7.

But even as her team walked away from them, Hinata couldn't help but be troubled over what she had seen. It was but a moment, but she had seen the look in his eyes. For a brief second, she was taken back to the moment where he was crouched to the ground, clutching his bleeding nose and his eyes had looked just the same.

Just as defeated. Just as sad. The thought broke her heart more than she could put into words. She would never fail to recognise the look. For she had seen it too many times, in the mirror. Naruto-kun was hurting.

Something was wrong with Naruto-kun and the thought troubled her deeply. Even more so that she didn't know what it was.

'Hinata-chan, you okay?' she turned to see Kiba and Akamaru looking over her concernedly. Could they have smelled her concern? Was that possible?

Hastily, she nodded her head, 'Y…Yes, Kiba-kun. Just thinking about the mission.' She supposed it could pass off as the truth. For this particular mission anyway.

'Ah don't sweat it. There's no way that demon cat is getting away from us this time!' He grinned and looked much like Akamaru did when the pup was happy.

The thought made her giggle and pulled her out of her troubled thoughts… for the moment.

But soon enough, they had caught Tora the demon cat again, which was getting much easier now that they had some experience in tracking. Unlike most genin teams, Team 8 actually looked forward to tracking missions.

Their team was designed to be specialised tracking unit, with all three genin having specialised jutsu. The Aburame with their Hijutsu using their Kikaichu bugs; the Inuzuka with their well developed and highly sensitive sense of smell and hearing; and the Hyuga with their Byakugan.

It was just a shame, Hinata thought, that their team was held back by her incompetence. But it's not like she was that way on purpose. Her Byakugan was just as pure as the rest of her clan members. No one had married into the clan in nearly fifty years. And it wasn't like the problem was in her eyes.

It was in her mastery of Jyuken, also called Gentle Fist, which was the Hyuga's secret taijutsu style. Unlike other styles, the Hyuga didn't rely on brute force to inflict damage. The damage they inflicted was much more subtle and much more devastating, if executed properly.

When the teams were formed, their sensei, Kurenai had told them of her belief they had the potential to be one of the best hunter teams in Konoha. And it was Hinata's wish as well, to be a powerful ninja for Konoha that her father and her clan could be proud of, rather than the weakling she currently was.

Unlike other Hidden Villages, Konoha had no proper Hunter-nin unit. Although Haku turned out to be fake, he did have a real mask, taken no doubt from the hunter-nin he had killed. They were tasked with hunting down rogue ninja from their village and with keeping their village's secrets.

A ninja's body, even if the person was no longer alive, still held many secrets, clan or otherwise that the village doesn't want getting out. For in their world, secrets and secret techniques, especially Kekke Genkai like the Byakugan meant power.

A hunter-nin was tasked with either bringing back the rogue-nin or eliminating them and disposing off the body on the scene. Hinata didn't think she had the stomach for such work but her sensei was certain she had the potential to be a good hunter-nin and she didn't want to let Kurenai down.

Hinata stole a glance at the woman walking in front of them. A kunoichi from the Yuhi Clan, she was one of the village's only three genjutsu mistresses. And at 27, she struck an amazing figure.

To Hinata, the older woman was nothing short of inspirational. Hinata had been introduced to her sensei when she was eight, when her father had given up on Hinata's training himself.

She knew her father had faced much opposition from the clan when he had entered Hinata for the academy. Because even though she wasn't as strong as the clan wished her to be, she was still the heiress, a position that had a lot of influence in Fire Country and genin and in time, Chunin missions carried a high risk of death. Or much worse.

After the Uchiha massacre, the Hyuga clan had filled in the power vacuum that had been left and taken over as the most influential clan within the village. As such, it was essential that their heiress be strong to be able to lead the Clan.

Hinata however, didn't fit the mould. She was too much like her mother. She knew it and she knew the Elders knew it too.

But she would not give up. She would die before she gave up without even trying. She would try her best to grow stronger in the few years she had available to her. She would fight for her place within the clan and she would show them that she was a Hyuga.

And, if there was anything, she had learnt from watching Naruto-kun secretly, it was to never give up. More than her father, more than her mother, more than even Kurenai-sensei, he was her inspiration.

She longed to see respect for her skills in those azure orbs that she imagined before going to bed every night.

AN:

I haven't yet decided if it will be a NaruHina fic or not. I might change the tags later on but i just wanted there to be something from Hinata's POV. One, because I like her character. I know many people hate it that Hinata's so weak and useless etc. But that's to be expected in a household like hers where she's belittled by everyone, her elders, her father on how she's the weakest Hyuga etc and a shame to the clan. I think its quite realistic that a young girl, especially one whose only support system was her mother - who's now dead - develops her insecurities, lacks confidence and has low self esteem. And that will affect her ninja abilities.

Second, I think she's hot. Or maybe that's the first reason. IDK.

For a while I was debating it to be NaruSaku but I don't like Sakura's character. In a way, it depends on his parentage. Since I'm not planning his parents to be the same as in canon. Also, I don't think it's quite realistic for the Hyuga heiress to be paired up with a no clan orphan, even if it is the Hokage's son.

Since in canon, it didn't specify if Minato or Kushina were quite rich. Kushina was only an immigrant from another country with no clan backup whatsoever. Or that Naruto was ever motivated by something as trivial as how much money he has. Influential, they may be. Given the Hyuga clan's influence and tradition, they would not want their heiress to marry outside of clan, given how jealously they protect the Byakugan. Because if that were to happen, then Hinata's children will be need to be given the Bird Cage Seal, and i don't think Naruto would ever allow that to happen.

Secondly, there wouldn't be any profit for the clan for such a match. I think's more realistic that they would want to get rid of their useless heiress by marrying her to Sasuke.

So yes, I haven't decided on the pairing yet.