OTOGAKURE NINJA ACADEMY

Sorry for that short chapter, now it's the good stuff.

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Chapter Fourteen

Sakon may have passed away, but he still brought on his own spirit inside of his twin brother Ukon, who managed to escape death. Although the Hyuuga had forgotten the whole situation all together, and was woken in a disturbed state.

Hinata laid a hand across her forehead and stroked it slightly a few times. Her head throbbed painfully as if there were millions of bees buzzing violently inside her brain. She found herself panting and awoken earlier to discover she was dripping from massive amounts of perspiration. Hinata's temporary memory had been washed away completely.

Her thoughts were paused by a tap on her delicate shoulder. She jumped quickly and turned to face Ukon.

"Hey" he said a little too casually. Hinata was still recovering from her shock as she stuttered. "H-Hello Sakon" she greeted awkwardly. The boy's looked down and searched the area before he continued. He shook his head slightly as his green lips curled. "Way to keep my cover, I was just about to ask you about that" he smirked, earning a peculiar look from Hinata. His cackling laugh left shivers down Hinata's spine. "W-What are y-you t-talking about?" Hinata asked obliviously. Ukon's face turned from a confident smirk to a concerned, frustrated elongated frown.

"Hmm?" he mumbled in a similar confused attitude as Hinata. Her blank white eyes read no other emotion but fear and confusion. "You can't remember a thing can't you?" he asked in a softer tone. Hinata nodded her head, bangs falling into her eyes. "Well that doesn't help! Why didn't you tell me!?" he shouted arrogantly. Hinata could now tell the distinctive difference between the two twins, and she would definitely say she liked Sakon better.

"I'm afraid Sakon is dead" his twin stated causing Hinata to flinch. "He died of the fatal poisonous attack he received from the battle with the Akatsuki member" he explained. Hinata's memory was triggered slightly, recalling the instant Sakon had said he said there was no poison antidote left. Her face lit up slightly in the realization. "I remember now" she quieted stated. She almost felt like vomiting from the surge of guilt that ran throughout her body.

"I managed to separate before the poison spread to my body. I don't know if I'll last forever outside his rotted body, but I'm going to try" he said in an aggravated tone. "I came here to ask you if you could keep this a secret from the others. I just don't want anyone to find out because they might kick me out, and I don't think anyone will really notice the difference anyways…" he said while looking at the sunlight blue sky. "Your secret is safe with me" she replied.

"Hinata-Chan!" a voice shrieked from behind. Hinata recognized the silhouette in the distance to be her purple-haired teammate Anko. "Hinata I'm so glad you're okay!" she whimpered and hugged Hinata tightly. She looked as if tears were welling in her eyes before she regained her composure. "Hey Sasame! Tell the others Hinata is fine now!" Anko commanded. Sasame smiled brightly as she took a peek at the Hyuuga and ran off quickly.

Hinata's head was spinning too wildly to hardly comprehend a single sentence. "Come on, the others are around the corner" Anko insisted and led Hinata through the clearing. Hinata only picture the frightening monstrous version of Anko, it seemed she has been doing that frequently lately. She pictured every last gruesome detail, from the spiny tail up to the horn sticking of her head, the queer discolorations, and the strange sharp figures. She still hesitantly insisted on following her to the other side of the trees to find the rest of her teammates gathered.

She found a few of them pacing around in nervous circles. Some were just taking this as an opportunity to rest. Most of the sand ninja were roaming around outside of the circle of sound ninja. She found Suigetsu sitting on a log next to Karin, apparently being recovered already. Ukon glared at her, eyes locked on her the whole time she stood there. She utterly ignored his gaze as she was more interested with speaking to her handsome team leader, Kimimaro.

Hinata made her way towards the green-eyed boy, leaves crunching beneath her feet after every small footstep. For every move she made it seemed the area got more and more silent, whispers flew around as fast as the wind. Hinata's white orbs met Kimimaro's green grasp. His stare was as cold as ever, and everyone silenced in order to hear his words to the Hyuuga heiress.

"It's about time" he spoke up finally. Hinata only gave a shocked stare and looked towards the ground. "We've wasted too much time, let's go now" he announced while glaring down at Hinata. A few pairs of eyes fixated on Hinata as she frowned forlornly.

"Hey I'm not done with her!" Kidomaru stood urgently. Hinata's innocent eyes met the spider like shinobi. Tayuya and Jirobo stood besides him. "Yeah, if it wasn't for this chick, Tayuya wouldn't have been harmed! She should have been on watch!" Kidomaru protested furiously. "Please, we don't need anymore arguments. She needs to lead us to the gateway anyways" Kimimaro said in her defense. "Oh, so now you're going to take her side again?" Juugo said angrily. Some of the other groups gave icy stares at the leader. Kimimaro sighed, green eyes swearing to find a way to set on fire. "It is her fault that we have been attacked, but we need her navigation" he stated.

Hinata felt like another failure, and soon enough, everything about that battle was blamed on her. Suigetsu's poisoning was blamed by Karin, and her wasted time recovering was another problem, but that was just to name a few. She stood hopelessly and took in every little complaint. Apparently, Otogakure had no time for imperfections and patience. "A-are we going to leave now?" she spoke up suddenly. Everyone stopped their heated discussion, leaving some still upset and heated. Hinata took off without another word, leading the others to follow behind her.

Hinata hung her head lower as she led the march through the grassy fields that she knew eventually led to the nearing sights of the hidden villages in the leaves. She was gaining uncomfortable looks from the others as they jumped from the sturdy tree branches. It was only a matter of time before they arrived at the great village gates.

Hinata smiled to herself for the first time in a long time. She reminisced happily to herself as they entered the town in the mid afternoon. Her fearful attitude she had bestowed upon herself soon diminished as she headed towards the sun soaked town. The place never seemed so alive compared to the dead looks of Otogakure. She was the first of her teammates to scurry into the town.

She felt her release her tension by exhaling deeply as she didn't realize she had been sparsely holding her breath this whole time. She was just so glad to be in Konoha, it felt like a weight was lifted from her. It seems as if none of her current teammates truly cared for her much, with the possible exception of Anko and Sasame of course, and there was Kimimaro…just thinking of his made her feel like he was standing right next to her. Of course, she turned as she sensed his overbearing shadow casting over her.

She felt sick looking at him, the one she admired greatly made her feel an overwhelming sense of unworthiness flowed through her veins. She didn't like it. He paused for what seemed like a long time, just looking towards the ground. "Don't wonder off too much" he requested. Hinata shook her head slowly before walking away.

"Sorry" he whispered when the cute girl was out of his sight.

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Hinata wondered the town, nothing had a changed the slightest a bit.

She thought for a while as to where to head to first, but after a short while, she automatically knew where she'd find a majority of her friends, fast.

The Hyuuga took a few sighing breaths, trying to shake off the incidences she just went through, if she was going to see her friends, she would have to act as if nothing was wrong, she would prove to them how strong she had become, and her teammates wouldn't ruin it for her.

"H-H-HINATA-CHAN!" the familiar blonde yelled in his usual loud voice. "Hello Naruto-Kun" Hinata smiled sheepishly. "It is you! Boy are we glad to see you here" he said. "It's good to see you too Naruto" she said. Naruto was shocked as he noticed her stutter disappeared greatly. He proceeded in wrapping his arms around her in a friendly matter, embracing her in a short hug. Hinata finally cracked her self-confidence, letting out a small blush.

"What is all the commotion now Naruto?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked irritated. Her green eyes met the returning girl. "Oh Hinata-Chan, I didn't know you were back!" Sakura exclaimed shocked.

"Yes, but I'm sadly only on a mission" Hinata explained. "Oh" was the response of the two members of team seven.

"Don't you find it weird that she isn't stuttering around you anymore?" Sakura whispered to the blonde. "Huh? Oh I guess I didn't notice?" Naruto whispered back, eying the Hyuuga.

"Well I'm here for now though" Hinata said in more of an upbeat tone, breaking the awkwardness. "Yeah that's right!" Naruto said happily. "Hey come on! I'm sure Kiba and Shino will be happy to see you!" he continued, leading Hinata to the training field.

Just as Naruto and Sakura assumed, the two members of team eight were busy in the training field. "Kiba-Kun! Shino-Kun!" Hinata called out while giving a slight wave at the two boys. Her cute smile drew the two boys from their training to their teammate in an instant.

"Hinata-Chan!!" Kiba yelled happily, skipping over to his partner. If Shino's glasses weren't there, you could probably see his eyes widen in shock. Even Akamaru pounced on top of the Hyuuga in the joyous reunion.

"Wow Hinata-Chan! You seem…different" Kiba hesitantly said. "Really? You think so?" Hinata flustered unnoticed. She felt herself more at ease being around her Konoha friends. The feeling made her easily forget about the hardships at the current academy she attended.

"Come on, let's go find the others. We were just about to meet up with Gai's team" Sakura suggested, allowing the others to follow.

"Alright" Hinata agreed and smiled brightly and followed the others as she glared at the Konoha sun.

Well I obviously need Hinata to run into Neji at some point, yeah?
Sorry that it took me a long time to update, I was thinking about putting this story on hold for a bit because I was having some writer's block.

Thanks for the reviews, they really encouraged me to continue.
I'll update soon now that I have more ideas…