UPDATE: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS THE ORIGINAL CHAPTERS FIVE AND SIX.

Chapter five. Sorry it took so long to get up. I had most of it written for a few days, but I didn't get around to finishing it until now. I'll try to do better with the next chapter. Thanks for reading!

This fic is rated M for a reason. Citris, but NOT PWP. It sort of has a plot. It has it's dark moments and is full of the angst of teenagers. I'll try to make it not completely emo, but I'm also trying to stay in character as well as I can. And we all know Sasuke... This fic will not be centered around any other pairings, because it's about Hinata. If I change my mind later (which is unlikely) it will only be because the plot demands it. Constructive critique is encouraged, but please don't just bash. Ex:

Critique: "You're plot is really sketchy and I think you made Kiba too brutal."

Bash: "This sucks."

Chapter 3: Reminiscence/Training

Hinata withered at the closeness of said neck, but her obvious discomfort went largely unnoticed by the two boys. Her face could have made a tomato look pale. Men made her nervous at a normal distance. Her life long crush and the town heartthrob? More than just a little uncomfortable. Naruto came closer, and she knew it was to glare at the Uchiha but that did not help the fact that she was all but sandwiched between them.

"Bastard! Who asked you anyway!? My hearings just fine!" One could almost see the sparks fly. But if Naruto could make sparks, Sasuke's demeanor could make hell freeze over with all the warmth he gave off. The childish ambition and rivalry of his childhood had given way to a much more mature and apathetic attitude. He would almost never speak, and when he did it was out of necessity. Or to say the off handed insult to Naruto, but those were now few and far between as if he could not grace anyone with his voice more than once a day.

He simply believed that when speech was not needed he did not use it. Only idiots used words to fill the silence because they couldn't stand it. They didn't think, so the silence made them realize how shallow they were. Life was not defined by words, but rather by actions. He respected those who took action and those people alone. Naruto was tolerable only because he had the power and determination to get things done.

Sakura was loud and weak. Or was. With age she had mellowed out and with study she was a force to be reckoned with. Before he would have done almost anything to get her out of her hair, but years with the sound nin had taught him how to tune people out. His sudden flight seemed to change the silly girl for the better. A little suffering always brought out the best in people. She could sit silently as long as Naruto wasn't around and she had apparently given up on him. This would have been a great relief if he had cared, but he had not cared in a long time.

An elbow had made contact with Naruto's head after his outburst silencing him for the moment. "We would love to have you train with us, Hinata. We're just waiting for our sensei and we can all start together." Men. They were so insensitive; she was the only one to notice the way Hinata had tensed up at their proximity. She had also noticed how her face had gone pale at the mention of her teammates. Hadn't Hinata been dating that Kiba boy or something? She heard a lot of things while hanging out at Ino's flower shop. Maybe they had a fight.

She took pains to not touch Sasuke. She still cared for him; she just didn't want to. It hurt to love him. Her stupid childhood crush had bloomed after she got to actually know him. She was in a state of confusion. Every time he blew her off or otherwise acted like a prick she would be stuck between her feelings for him and thinking he was a total jerk. It was both, really. She thought she could finally stop loving him after he left, and the feeling had lessened. But it was more in the way that a wound turned from the flaming pain of infliction to the dull ache that came after it was half healed. But that still left hope that it might heal the rest of the way, right?

Sakura had left an opening for Hinata to escape her predicament. She had almost fainted; would have if it hadn't been for her. But Naruto had paid the price with a large lump on his head. She didn't know whether to thank Sakura or apologize to Naruto, so inwardly she did both. She took a few stumbled steps back and bowed to the three. "Thank you for allowing me to t-train with you! I w-will do my best!" Her eyes were squeezed shut with the effort to make the words come out so she did not see the strange looks she was given.

She had been raised differently than the three of them. She was proper in everything that she did, thus, she was not normal. Naruto and Sakura would consider her weird and Sasuke would just look at her the way he looked at everything else. With mild disinterest. For her this was a sudden outburst. Neither Naruto nor Sakura quite knew what to make the strong polite manner which the Hyuuga's practiced. She distanced herself from them while completely unaware of the effect.

Luckily, the awkward silence did not last long. "Sorry I'm late. I—" But dodging Sakura's shoe took priority over finishing the elaborate lie he had cooked up on his way there. "Don't you EVEN START! It's usual for you to make us wait, but Hinata is another story! Don't waste a single minute of out training time on excuses!"

"I-it's alright, I just g-got here…" She tried to alleviate the situation, but no one seemed to hear her small voice. Well, Sasuke might have, but he gave no indication. He had, after all, heard her the first time. She sent him a glance, but quickly lowered her eyes. He was… Mildly frightening. No, more like he was someone that one needed to be wary of. She shivered lightly studied the ground at her feet with more vigor.

Kakashi's nervous laugh filled the silence and he started guardedly walking towards the training grounds with Naruto and Sakura at his heels. Hinata hesitated and followed after them pretending to be unaware of the critical black eyes that followed her after Sasuke was sure she had passed. The strong urge to shiver clung to her but years of practice allowed her to remain upright and still.

Sasuke watched the little Hyuuga girl blushingly follow after his teammates and sensei. He wasn't quite sure why, but he felt wary of her. Even before he returned to Konoha he had stayed close only to his teammates. Intruders were not welcome in his world. Though he was wary, he would not think on it too much. That would mean that he cared. He did not care. This was his mantra; he had used to get by since everything he cared about was ripped from him. His family had been avenged, but how could even death make up for the years of torture he had suffered at the hands of that man?

"Tch." Thinking on the past was pointless now. How foolish of him to get caught in that trap. It was the girl's fault, he didn't need anything new in his life. He had everything he needed: a strong sensei, a strong rival, a strong person to keep that strong rival in check. Nothing more was needed. She would have done better to have stayed with her own team. Regardless, she wouldn't come back. Kakashi did not play around with training, even if he did with everything else. He made them sweat. Pampered heiress' would not know the meaning of the word work.

The sound of a padded fist beating against cloth and wood was occasionally accompanied by tiny fragmented grunts. She had been training for hours now, and even though she had come to the grounds with team seven she was alone. It was almost time. She backed away from the cloth covered log and bent over, grabbing her legs with her hands to keep herself up. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had gone their different ways to train until ten. Then, Kakashi explained, they would meet and pair off to spar. It was a given that Naruto would train with Sasuke. He was the only one of their group who could compete with him, meaning that she would spar with Sakura.

Hinata looked up at the sun, shading her eyes against its rays with a bloody hand. Her hands always bled when she trained. Other ninja grew calluses, but for some reason hers did not. They stayed just as soft as the day she was born into this world. Maybe it was a strange gene slice or something inherited from her mother. Maybe it was because her salves made sure her hands always healed correctly. She had tried not using salves on her hands, but then nasty blisters would appear and it only made her miserable. Perhaps her skin was just soft so it broke instead of breaking into calluses. She sighed and wrapped her hands in special bandages that were just for this purpose. She had long gotten used to her hands being the way they were and regularly carries around bandages soaked in salving mixtures.

She donned the medicinal garments, just like she always did, and just like always the pain ebbed away and her hands became numb. The sun was not quite in the right position for her to head over to the training area, but she wanted to finish her training over by the waterfall nearby. Maybe she'd pass by where Naruto was training…. A slight blush appeared on hr cheeks. Did he train in hand to hand combat like she did? Did he work on his special techniques? Both most likely. He was a hard worker, determined and strong in every aspect of his life. She shook her head trying to rid herself of these thoughts. It did not do well to stare off into the distance. After shaking herself to make sure she was no longer dazed, she jogged over to the other side of the training ground.

Sakura knelt down by the river, continuing the last part of her solitary training. Actually, it was more like a break since she had been working so hard on her taijutsu. She had to practice her speed anyway, so this would help. It wasn't completely slacking. Convincing herself would have been harder than trying with anyone else. As a medic nin she had different things she needed to train in. She knew that. It just… When she saw all the gruesome things the other two were putting themselves through she felt like maybe she wasn't… What she was doing wasn't enough. Tsunade would tell her that it took the same effort, and her muscles told her the same, but it just wasn't as impressive as beating oneself half to death. A sigh passed through her. Well, she had better get to work or she really would be slacking.

A splash, her arm moved so fast Hinata could barely tell it had moved. Several more such 'attacks'… And then a fish was pulled out of the water, long fingers wrapped around its scaly tail. Sakura's eyes flashed, the emotions mixed and obscure, and she passed a glowing hand over the fish. It shuddered as her had pushed past its length. The hand almost seemed to go through its body, but that would have been… Well, she could still see her hand outside so it couldn't have. Something was going on with her chakra, and if Hinata was not worried about what Sakura might think about it she may have tried out her Byakugan just to see what was happening. She didn't want to spy without permission and steal her techniques, however….

It made her wonder what the technique was doing. When Sakura's hand reached its head she flicked her wrist and a small amount of strange… Black stuff splattered onto the ground. The fish was no longer moving. Surely it was not a technique that simply killed the fish… She waited, waited for Sakura to repeat the process. The woman took a deep breath and then her hands were in the water again. Another fish, no… Three fish. She had them all by their tails and she preparing to raise her other hand. Hinata's raised instead, small veins appearing in the corners of her eyes. There! Sakura's chakra flared in her hand as she passed it over the struggling fish. Her chakra was not a spike, but formed into a small plane, more like a piece of paper. No, like a filter. She pushed it through the bodies of the fish and Hinata could see the tiny particles building up against it. She flicked her wrist once again, cutting the brain stem and simultaneously forcing the accumulation out of its body.

Feeling slightly dishonest, she slipped out from behind the trees to meet with the talented medic nin. "Ano… That was… Amazing, Haruno-san…" A small gasp came from Sakura as she spun around.

"Hinata! I… I didn't sense you there…" The words were spoken with a small bit of wonder. How could she have missed her? Hinata wasn't that good, was she? Her face flushed. She was probably too distracted by her training… No good, she's have to be more careful next time.

"I'm sorry… I w-was… I was going to t-train by the river myself, but…" She stared at the ground intently, slightly ashamed at her actions. "I saw you…" She gestured towards the fish.

"Oh, that? Tsunade was teaching me to remove pollutants from fish. I'd been using fish from dirty ponds and I've just recently moved on to normal river fish…" She laughed to ease the tension in the air. Hinata sometimes made the air full of the stuff. She was a good kid, but awkward.

Hinata looked up at her with admiration written on her face. "Wow, that must be v-very useful… Narut-to-kun and Uchiha-san are v-very lucky to h-have you on their team." Her smile was so innocent and loving, Sakura was taken aback for a moment. No one smiled like that, no one she knew.

"You really are something…" She whispered under her breath. In truth, she was a bit jealous. How could she keep that attitude with the life they lead? She was a strong woman, she realized. It was foolish for her to assume things about her. Hadn't she snuck up on herself after all? She smiled at Hinata, but the smile was one of her own. That meant there was always something else just under the surface. Another feeling or motive under the slight curve of her lips. She felt a little guilty that she was jealous of the poor girl. She didn't deserve her harsh feelings.

"W-What was that, Haruno-san?" Hinata fiddled with her fingers. Sakura had muttered something, had she embarrassed her?

"It's nothing! Thanks, Hinata, I'm flattered you think so." She attempted to brighten her smile to reassure the timid girl. "No need to be so formal! Call me Sakura."

"Ah… Yes, Sakura-san." The silence stretched out uncomfortable long. Neither seemed to know just what to make of the other. Both turned their faces away in embarrassment. Meanwhile, the sun was making its way across the cloudless sky.

Okay, so this was a short chapter. I admit it. Really, it was just the ending of the conversation that started in the last chapter. ;; But the next chapter will be better, I promise! It will be about their training or after their training or both. If I skip the actual training or if I don't go into exact detail about what they're doing... It's because I'm either lazy or because I don't think they do something creative every day as training. Usually it just shows Sasuke throwing shurikens or using the chidori, Sakura is usually with Tsunade, and Naruto works on his Rasengan. Or it used to be beating up straw dolls that look like either Kakashi or Sasuke. And Hinata just hits a tree, so... I might say just that, but in more words and detail. In either case, the part after training will be interesting. So, until Chapter 6...

New: This is chapters five and six, now called chapter three. All new chapters will be four Word pages long, and I am combining chapters 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6 respectively. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy the story.