Alright, that took longer than it should have. If it would help anything, I would say that Microsoft Word stopped working on my computer and I was having difficulties, but it wouldn't. Without further ado: Chapter 4.

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 4: To Prove Her Worth

"Well..." Sakura was a bit uncomfortable with the silence. "We'd better get back to the boys, it's almost time to spar after all." Hinata wan't much of a talker. And she twiddled with her fingers constantly. Must be a nervous habit... Her analyzing was cut off by the other girl's soft stutterings, however.
"Y-yes... W-would you like to... Walk w-wtih me, Sakura-san?"
"Of course, I'd like that."

The walk was also mostly silent and very awkward. Normally, the silence didn't bother Hinata, but when there was another person who kept trying to start conversations... Well, it made her uncomfortable. Even when she didn't try to start conversations Sakura was uncomfortable to be around simply because... Well, it wasn't normal for her to be this quiet and Hinata could tell she was uncomfortable making her even more uncomfrotable. It was basically a mess. She felt like she was expected to do something more, but she just couldn't think of anything to talk about.

It was a reilif when Naruto's voice broke the silence. In more than one way. The temprrature seemed to rise and Hinata pulled on her jacket hood to let some of the heat out. No, he outside air was fine... She touched her face and sure enough it was burning up. Oh, she really needed to fine a way to stop doing this...
"Oi! You guys are late!" Actually, they were just on time. Naruto probably felt like yelling. That was why she liked him... Oh, thinking really didn't help her condition.
"N-Naruto-k--" She was interupted halfway through by another voice.

"We're not late, idiot! You're early!" There was a yelp and Sakura took her hand back, rubbing her knuckles. His head was so hard! She glared at the cause of her acheing joints.
"Now, now! Might as well start our sparing now, right? Hinata," Kakashi turned his head to the dark haired girl with his eyes turned upward in a smile. "You will spar with Sakura, she's more your skill level. Naruto and Sasuke, you'll go together as usual, but--" Here he paused to look at the three of them. Sasuke was still hidden, but he must've been there, Hinata supposed. "I want Hinata and Sakura to spar first so that they can watch Naruto and Sasuke. You'll learn from them and then I'll expect you to correct your own mistakes by watching each other."

Sakura wondered at that. Sure, she was excited to finally have someone to spar with, but... She didn't want to hurt Hinata. She couldn't be that bad, after all she had snuck up on her just a few minutes ago. But her punches could kill.

Hinata walked up to Sakura, surprising the girl by bowing. "I have great respect for you, Sakura-san... So I will do my best. I hope you will also take me seriously." She straightened up and smiled sincerely at Sakura. People usually took her lightly, but she didn't want to hurt Sakura because she had underestimated her. Her Juuken could kill with a right placed hit, she'd have to be careful. And Naruto was watching her...She could not lose.

Her wording had unknowingly made Sakura feel guilty. "Yes, let's both do our best." She smiled back at her, feeling bad that she hadn't had enough respect for her to let her take care of herself. She had a bloodline ability, so she should be careful, not the other way around. Maybe it was how nice she was that made her think she needed protecting... Because she was different, not like other people. Even though they were ninja, somehow she managed to maintain that perfect innocence. Her thoughts were as white as winter's first snow; pure, clean, guiltless. Or so it appeared.

Hinata would never let anyone know of her shame. Some girls her age had 'gone all the way', and she was proud of herself for being able to stand up for herself; to say no even if it came a bit late. Even if it meant that she lost the most precious thing she had ever had. The closest relationship she'd ever had. Was she loose? She didn't think so, but... She wasn't strong enough to turn him away until he had already... But that didn't matter. She would be better now, she would forge a new life. She would... She would make herself stronger so that she would not give in to anyone's will on something so important. With that determination, that thought in mind, she closed her eyes.

Inspecting the timid woman in front of her, she noticed small blood veins show up around her eyes. Before she may have thought it was disgusting, but now she could understand. Her eyes were receiving so much chakra that the blood flow was swollen from it making her perfect skin rise with the pressure. Hinata meant to end this quickly. Her techniques were dangerous. One hit could be fatal, or could end the match. Luckily, Sakura had the same deal. One hit was all it took for her to crush them. Whoever struck first would win. That, or she could try to outlast her. With the amount of chakra built up in her eyes she would no doubt tire quickly or run out of chakra. From what she remembered, Hinata didn't have the vast chakra capacity that Sasuke or Naruto had.

She could feel the ground beneath her feet, how they fit together so perfectly that it was as if they were made for this. She slid her foot across the ground and into the familiar stance that had been beaten into her since childhood. Hours and hours of endless practice. She had never gotten the ancient style of Juuken. It took her years to finally figure out why she could not do it. She was made differently. However, with inspiration she learned to plow through. Find a new way to work things out. She developed her own version of Juuken, one that was made to match her own strengths. Her flexibility and not her weaknesses.

Even though her eyelids were draped over her eyes, she could see clearly in a full circle around her. She had practiced her Juuken this way, it lessened the temptation of releasing the jutsu. Everyone underestimated her. Not only was she a girl, but she had been the shame of the Hyuuga clan for years. This was easily manipulated, and she increased it by fighting with her eyes closed. For her, the Byakugan worked better without opening her eyes. That way she couldn't see anything but chakra and was not lulled into a false sense of security that often happened to even the best fighters when chakra was weak. In this state everything else wasn't there so even the slightest bit of chakra would show clearly like light in the dark.

Most people had blue chakra. The only time she had seen another color... Had been when she had gone with Naruto and the rest of the Rookie Nine to capture Sasuke. There had been two other colors then. Red and purple. Something inside Naruto; the curse seal that Sasuke bore.

She saw the familiar blue coming from Sakura, just as she had from every other person since. She was gathering her chakra in her feet and hands. She had to strike now, but later she would admire Sakura's talent in chakra control. But now was the time to act. She was getting ready to strike and she had to stop her before she did. Beat her to it. Seconds later she had a much better view of the pink hair on Sakura's head. Not bothering with the sixty four strike, she closed several tenketsu leading to her arms without being detected. She directed Sakura's attention instead on a false attempt at hitting a vital organ. The decoy was successful and she found herself being thrown over Sakura's head.

'Damn.' Hinata had gotten under her defense. That could have been a fatal blow. Wake up calls were sometimes in the form of an alarm clock but this kind was just as common. For a ninja. Hinata had been versed in how to kill people since she was old enough to walk, for heaven's sake. The eight vital spots had probably been drilled into her mind while the rest of them were being potty trained! Well, maybe except for the other's who came from important clans like the Uchiha and Aburame. But she had to remember to-- Another hit came flying at her. For such a shy girl her fighting was agressive. Sakura had been on the defensive the entire time.

Then it hit her. Hinata was using her Byakugan to take preemptive measures against Sakura's attacks. She had to gather chakra into her hands before releasing it in a large explosion. The initial gathering of chakra was so minute that it shouldn't be detectable, but the Byakugan was able to see it. It shouldn't be surprising, she had known this. It just didn't seem like Hinata had gotten... Well, it had seemed that the genes she had received of the blood limit were somewhat weak. Could one really improve that much in such a small amount of time? Only... Naruto had. Hinata did seem to observe Naruto when he was around. A strike at her head cut off her thoughts forcing her back to the fight.

Her hands seemed to almost move on their own, flowing from one strike into the next with almost no cognitive direction. The exercises and movements were etched into her muscles until it became instinct. Sakura was more adept at using her chakra control to destroy things, speed was not her forte. They were poorly matched. Besides her inhuman strength, Sakura had no real techniques. Hinata had so many that she couldn't count them all, her father had seen to that. She could sense Sakura's attacks a long time before they came and even if she didn't know it... Sakura no longer had chakra flowing through her left arm.

She had to do something fast. Instead of the other way around, it seemed that Hinata was wearing her down, She didn't have time to strike, no time to think. An idea struck. She gradually spread her chakra out through her body and into the ground. Hinata had been keeping her eyes closed the entire time. Sakura couldn't use her chakra because of the Byakugan. She'd have to beat her with taijutsu. She simultaneously dodged a blow and slid her feet under Hinata's giving her just enough time to launch herself into the air and behind the three spectators.

Sakura had tried to trip her, and then gone up into the air... And disappeared. Her chakra signature was completely gone. Animals had stronger, brighter chakra than plants. Also, unlike plants, moving creatures, including humans, had their chakra spread unevenly throughout their body. There were several places where there was more chakra than others while unmoving objects had it spread evenly. Movement appeared out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned it was only a tree. Had that... been there before...? A sharp pain exploded from her stomach and she was thrust backward onto the ground.

Immediately, she knew what had happened and opened her eyes. Sakura was standing over her ready to attack again. She had figured it out. Sakura had figured out the difference between human and plant chakra signatures. How could she? Perhaps this time it was she who had underestimated her opponent.

The men watched the girls fight from the edge of the clearing. "Eh?" Naruto, of course, had broken the tension with his idiocy. But he was confused. Sakura had jumped behind them and then teleported herself directly behind Hinata. She had used jutsu, but... Wasn't there usually a noise and lots of smoke? Hinata turned around, but she didn't see Sakura at all! She had the Byakugan didn't she? Her eyes were closed though...

Kakashi sighed, knowing that sooner or later he would have to walk Naruto through this. "The Hyuuga can see chakra. Normally, they can see everything the way it appears with color and all as well as chakra, but when Hinata closes her eyes... It must be that she loses her normal vision. Although I'm not entirely sure why she's keeping her eyes closed, she couldn't see Sakura because Sakura dissipated her chakra so that is blended in with inanimate objects. Most ninja can do this when they hide their presence from other ninja, but... It's not usually good enough to fool the Byakugan." His visible eye turned upward in a smile as he finished up his explanation. "Our Sakura is exceptionally skilled in chakra manipulation."

Heh. I was planning on finishing the fight this chapter... But I just couldn't do them both justice in such a short fight. Yeah, I make it seem like it's going to be a sudden death kind of thing, but... That's just what it would seem like at first, so. Meh. Sorry I took so long to update, but I have lots of new ideas so I'll try to do it more often. That and I've given up on Word and have decided to download Open Office. Feel free to send me your opinion on what should happen next, although I won't promise that it will. I like to hear what you think though. Until next time! Jaa ne.