A/N: Thank you to Gravity The Wizard, notgonnasay09, and vash3055 for reviewing!

I hope I didn't mess up Hinata's personality too much in the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Of course not! If I did, I wouldn't have killed Jiraiya, or Asuma.

Chapter 3

I pratically jump up off my bed. Gaara and Naruto? Why would they come here?

Abruptly, it hits me. Naruto is here. In my home. Waiting for me.

What do I do, you might ask? I do what I always do.

I fainted.


I woke up to the sound of people shouting at eachother and at me, as if that would wake me up (or atleast, make me want to wake up). Instead of facing the embarassment I would be facing if I opened my eyes and showed them I was conscious, I pretended to be asleep and tried to distinguish the different voices.

"Relax. She's fine. I can sense her chakra." I could tell by the almost emotionless tone that Shino was talking.

"Yes. She's fine." Again, the stiff, protective tone: it was Neji, obviously.

"I'll wake her up! HINATAAAA!" I could feel myself starting to blush. I could tell that was Naruto. His voice was the best sound in the whole world. Of course I would recognize it immediately.

"Shut up, idiot!" Sakura, no doubt about it, "She'll just faint again if she wakes up to your voice." Someone giggled. Ino?

"Oww!!! Sakura, I was just trying to help..." More people laughed. Seeing Sakura hitting Naruto was funny for most people, but for me, it was painful. I went pale, which was a good thing this time, because if someone noticed me blushing they might realize I was awake.

"Naruto, you retard. You don't think about anything do you?" That was Kiba, taunting Naruto as usual, "I'll bring her around."

"What did you call me?!?!?" Naruto shouted.

Someone shook my shoulders vigorously.

Kiba, ignoring Naruto, yelled at me in turn. "Wake up Hinata! You didn't even see Naruto this time! You fainted in your own room!".

My face turned red, more rapidly than before.

"She's awake!"

I couldn't help it. I wanted to know who said it. My eyes snapped open.

Everyone was looking at me (with different expressions; I noted that Naruto had a look of happiness and relief), but Ino was pointing at me, so I figured that she was the one.

I took the time to glare at Ino, who had slowly put her hand down and joined the others in gazing at me.

Then I gasped.

I just noticed Kiba right infront me, still holding my shoulders, his face actually pretty close to mine. My face turned even more red (if that's possible), but I was determined to show everyone that I didn't have a crush on him. That is, if they even believed it. Anyways, because I was so determined, I just barely managed not to faint again.

"Hinata! You're awake!" He grinned. Then he furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait a minute... How come you don't faint for me? Your best buddy. I'm offended!" but then he laughed at my expression (which was probably a shocked one) and I knew we were still friends.

Kiba stood up, walked towards Naruto and started talking with him animately.

It was then that I noticed my surrondings. We were in the living room downstairs in my home.

...And, just because I think you guys would like to know who was there, I'll tell you.

Let's see... there was:

Sakura (who was gossiping with Ino)

Choji (who was not stuffing his face, for once)

Neji (who looked at me anxiously, then looked down at the floor)

Kankuro (who was tinkering with a puppet that had red hair like Gaara's...scary)

Shikamaru (who was arguing with Temari)

Temari (who was arguing with Shikamaru)

Shino, Sasuke and Gaara (all of which were standing silently in the room).

While I was taking this all in, the others started talking as if I'd just woken up, and now they were responding. I figured it was because they were waiting for me to faint again with Kiba's face so close to mine.

"She's ok, thank goodness." Neji muttered.

Shino wasn't saying anything, but I could swear he was smiling. I could just feel it, even if I can barely see his face.

"Hmm." That was Sasuke and Gaara, but I swear I could hear them sighing in relief.

"This is all so troublesome. Hinata just fainted again, what's the big deal?" Shikmaru.

Smack! "Idiot, I told you! We want to be there for the big moment!" Temari.

"W-what big m-moment?" That was me.

Shikamaru smirked triumphantly at Temari.

"You...! Tricked...! Secret...!" Temari looked flustered. "Damn you!" Temari smacked Shikamaru on the head again.

"Oww... I feel like Naruto..." Shikamaru muttered, "This is all so troublesome."


After a lot of talking and basically just having fun, we were still in the living room, but quieter than before. At first I was worried, because I thought that something was wrong, but then I noticed Gaara standing up.

Ok. That makes sense. Even though everyone knows that Gaara isn't murderous anymore and everything, Gaara is the current Kazekage and he had a very strong aura of authority. So everytime he does something that draws the slightest bit of attention, everyone becomes quiet.

But then he starts walking towards me. There's nothing special about that is there? I look behind me to make sure Kankuro or Temari aren't there.

They aren't.

So there I am. I'm starting to panic, because, really... Gaara? What ties do I have with him? Gaara abruptly stops, probably because of my frightened expression.

Suddenly Neji's right beside me, explaining the situation.

"Hinata... I wanted to tell you during your walk, but there was that, ah, misunderstanding... Anyways, your father arranged a marraige...you're engaged to him." Neji gestured towards Gaara, who politely waited for Neji to finish.

My expression shifts from looking scared, to shocked (who wouldn't be surprised if they were engaged to the Kazekage?), to confused (Who was I to be engaged to some one so important?), to angry (My father probably plans to get rid of me by engaging me to Gaara, and raise our clan's reputation at the same time), and finally, to comprehension (I guess this is the big moment everyone wanted to see).

Then I get this feeling, like I have to be strong, by myself. I can't trust my family after all. It was odd, I thought this when my father left me to Kurenai, but I hadn't felt abandoned. The bond between me and Kurenai was strong. But now I was being left in SunaI knew that this would have a really big impact on me. I was more... confident. Way more confident. Almost... proud...?

"Oh. Thanks for telling me then." My voice was cold. Hard. Then I turned my attention to Gaara. "Hello Gaara. How may I help you...?" I looked at him, waiting for him to respond. I had a feeling that my gaze was just as hard as my voice.

Everyone looked really surprised by my transformation-that-took-about-half-of-a-second, like Is this really Hinata? Did something happen while she was unconscious? or What the heck just happened?!?! Did Hinata just go more than ten words without stuttering?!?!?. Even Gaara looked surprised. He saw me during the chuunin exams. He saw who I was, what my personality was, everything. I bet at that time, when he had his I must kill anything that threatens my existence thing going on (yes, people actually bother to tell me the details), he passed me off as non-threatening. I figured I was now considered "threatening".

"I assume Neji has told you everything." His voice was so much softer than it was back then. People change so much. "We arranged for you to move to Suna immediatly so that you might become comfortable there sooner."

I stared at him in shock, disbelief, and anger. Move away? From beloved Konoha?

"I didn't plan this... and I'm not evil, you know" He added, "You may decline..." I opened my mouth to shout "I decline!" but Neji covered my mouth, allowing Gaara to continue. "You may decline, but we need you to think about this. This could change your entire life. So answer, in, oh, I don't know, a week." He smiled.

That was it. Neji covering my mouth was annoying, but I needed to wait a week just to tell Gaara the obvious answer, no? I couldn't stand it. I wasn't used to this impatience. I grabbed Neji's arm and hurled him at the wall. Everyone quickly moved out of the way, except Tenten, who caught him. The force of my throw pushed both of them against the wall and I knew if Tenten hadn't caught Neji, there would've been a hole in the wall.

Everyone became startled, Kiba and Shino looking disturbed, even.

"Sure! You guys are so surprised! You always thought I'm just weak, little, unconfident me, didn't you!" Inside, I was surprised, but I continued. "You guys... never... thought I was like you... You never thought I was as strong as you." All of a sudden, I was on the verge of crying. Well, not really. More like I really wanted to cry. This new me didn't permit crying. Even if Naruto died, I wouldn't have been able to cry.

I ran up the stairs, into my room, and slammed the door. I looked for my MP3 player and played some of my anger music. It didn't help at all, so I turned it off and stared at it blankly. Just another part of me gone. I can't even enjoy music.

I was still looking at my MP3 player, actually, when some one knocked on my door. I was about to shout "Go away!" but then Kurenai's voice said "Hinata? Can I come in?"

I got off my bed and opened the door. Kurenai was there, with Kiba and Shino. I let them in, and Kurenai hugged me. "I... I'm sorry." I murmured. "Temper tantrum."

"We're worried, you know. You have the sweetest temper in the world. You're not the type to have a temper tantrum, or even get angry at all."

"Well you know what!? Today's an exception!" I snapped at her.

Kurenai looked as if she just realized how much I had changed. "Ok then. We'll see you later, Hinata." She hugged me again, and left. Shino followed after her. But Kiba stayed behind.

"If you ever showed this side of you before, Hinata, I don't know if us guys would still like you. I know I don't. You're a true Hyuuga, Hinata. Your father would be proud." He said stiffly. Then he left.

I thought about it, and I realized what he said was true. The hard voice, the glare, the impatience. Those were qualities Neji, Hanabi, and my father shared. None of them enjoyed music either.

There's a test to see who was worthy of being a Hyuuga, kind of like the fireball jutsu test that the Uchihas had. To be worthy of the name Hyuuga, your Byakugan has to reach a range of atleast 250 meters. Originally, my Byakugan only reached 100 meters, the main reason my father had left me with Kurenai. Just yesterday, I was only at 148 meters.

This would be the ultimate test, if I was really was what I think I am. I switched my Byakugan on. 50 meters, 100 meters, 125 meters, 150 meters... I kept going until I couldn't see any farther. I checked my distance...

I was at a staggering 430 meters. My father himself was only at 450 meters.

I was a true Hyuuga.

A/N: Pretty long chapter for me, huh?

No, this isn't GaaHina, or KibaHina. This is purely NaruHina.

And the Hyuuga test is entirely made up (obviously). I did kind of get the idea from the Uchiha test, though. I'm not sure if Byakugans can reach that big of a range, but hey, why not? Seems like they can see pretty far, though I admit, this is a bit of an exaggeration.

Review please!