Thank you everyone so much for taking your time to read and review this!

Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

-thoughts-

THE REASON

As soon as they had left Naruto's and Sasuke's house, Hinata had felt a dread enter her as they began to walk down the dark and quiet road. This dread wasn't because she was scared of walking with a stranger, or being out so late at night – No, it was a different type of dread.

Hinata wasn't particularly new to this town, but it had been many years since Hinata had been back here, and she wasn't exactly back for the best of reasons.

Despite owning a house in the area and only being a few blocks away from Naruto and Sasuke - Hinata never stayed there, in fact she refused to stay there. It was a house, but it certainly wasn't her home.

Hinata was worried what Naruto might say if she led him to the Hotel she'd been staying at. Not worried in the 'he might get the wrong idea or want to come up' way, but in the 'he might offer me to stay at their house if he knows' way, and Hinata didn't want to be questioned about her reasons for staying in a Hotel. This led to her feet to take direction, leading her towards the house that she did not wish to go to, but would provide less commotion. She challenged herself to be strong.

"So, Hinata" Naruto spoke, breaking her away from her thoughts. "What were you doing out so late by yourself in the first place? Weren't you scared?"

Hinata turned to look at Naruto, he was looking straight forward and had his hands rested on the back of his neck. She chewed the inside of her cheek as her eyes redirected back to the path in front of her. "I was leaving work" she said honestly, "I finished a lot later than I thought I would."

Naruto had completely missed the fact that she'd avoided one of his questions as curiosity got the better of him. "Oh, where do you work? Somewhere close I hope?"

Hinata gave a nod in agreement, "Yes. I have just started working at a café called 'The Bird Cage'."

Naruto's ears perked up and he stopped in his tracks, "the bird cage?" he questioned, and Hinata could tell by the look on his face that the cogs were turning in his mind. "That's the café across from the big building isn't it, the building that's all black reflective windows?" his hands moving to gesture a tall building.

"That's the one" Hinata smiled faintly, stopping besides him.

The grin on Naruto's face grew, "Sakura works there too! Do you know her?"

Hinata's eyes travelled to the top left corner of her eye, as if searching her brain for familiarity before she shook her head in disagreement, "I don't think so, it doesn't sound too familiar" she said softly, her left hand moving up to her mouth, she softly bit onto the side of her index finger, "I am only new there though, so I might not have seen her before."

"She's awesome!" Naruto said enthusiastically, "She's really pretty, she has bright pink hair like cherry blossoms" he spoke happily, his face looking full of wonder and dream before suddenly dropping into fear and concern as he turned to look at Hinata, his shoulders raising ever so slightly and his face moving closer to Hinata's "But she's really scary sometimes and crazy strong!" Naruto whispered with a hand besides his mouth like someone would hear them talking, even though there was absolutely no one to be seen or heard in the dark of the night. He had taken so many hard hits to the back of his head that he wouldn't even risk the wind travelling his words all the way to Sakura's ears.

Hinata laughed nervously at his antics and waved her hand to dismiss him from thinking she'd say anything to Sakura about the conversation. "S-She sounds lovely!" Hinata blurted out quickly.

Naruto moved away from her and began walking again, slowly at the start so Hinata would be able to follow his lead before taking over it. "Yeah, Sasuke and I are actually meeting her for lunch tomorrow on her break, you should join us!" he said with a toothy grin, "You seem pretty cool too, and I think you'd fit in with our friends really well… If you'd like to that is."

Hinata watched Naruto with a genuine smile on her face, and happiness filling in her heart at being able to meet some new people so soon into moving, she was very grateful for the opportunities that were being offered to her – even despite the circumstances that they had arrived in. "That would be wonderful Naruto, thank you."

Naruto waved her of casually, "It's no problem at all! Having some good friends is really important… Uh… Not saying that you don't already have any good friends or anything though." He chuckled with a nervousness in his tone, hoping he hadn't offended her at all with his brash statement.

"Actually I've just moved back here after a long time away" Hinata said faintly, her eyes drawing down to her feet, "it would be really great to meet some people."

"Really? Well it's a good thing that Sasuke came along when he did hey! We'll be sure to introduce you to a lot of really awesome people, and I promise that you'll fit right in!" Naruto spoke loud and proudly, nudging her arm softly with encouragement.

Hinata truly was grateful, even more so that he hadn't pried too much into her personal life by asking where she was from or why she'd moved back – at first she had thought that he was being polite by not asking her too many personal questions about herself, but then she had realized after a short while that he was just blissfully ignorant and nothing more. His attention span didn't spread much further than the last sentence she'd speak, so she utilized it to her advantage.

For the rest of the walk back to the house, Hinata listened intently to Naruto. He was boasting about his dreams and goals and everything he was doing to achieve them. It all seemed to come so naturally to him, opening up and being so confident. Hinata was a little envious of that trait, but nonetheless she found herself enjoying listening to him, it was refreshing and inspiring. She was more than sure that he would be able to reach everything he had set out to do.

"This is my place" Hinata interrupted, touching his arm so he wouldn't keep walking – which she was more than sure he would if she didn't speak up, he was lost in his train of conversation and thought. "Thank you for walking me home Naruto, I look forward to seeing you and Sasuke tomorrow, I hope he'll be okay."

Naruto smiled at her and shook his head, "It was no problem!" he said with his smile growing wider, "and Sasuke will be fine so don't worry about that jerk!" he began to take a few steps backwards as she approached her front door and fumbled her pocket for her own keys. "I'll see you tomorrow Hinata!"

With a smile and a wave, she watched as Naruto took off down the road in a slow jog until his shadow disappeared into the night.

Her breathing hitched as her fingers brushed against the cold metal of her keys in her pocket. "You can do this." She whispered quietly to herself, her shaking hands sliding the key into the hole, she turned it slowly until it clicked. "You can do this!" she tried to reassure herself more, her legs beginning to feel like they were turning into jelly.

With a soft push, the door swung wide open. Hinata stared down the long dark hallway, her eyes looking like a deer caught in headlights. "You can't do this" her voice croaked quietly, "You can't do this!" she said louder and slammed the door shut, shoving the keys back into her pocket.

Hinata turned quickly, she turned quickly away from the house and took off down the road in a hurried pace, her hands still shaking and her heart racing so fast she felt it would burst through her chest and take flight.

It would be another night in a Hotel room for her.

-o-o-o-

Stirring awake uncomfortably on the couch, Sasuke sat up. Running his hands through his silky black hair, he winced as he felt a sharp pain jab his rib. That's right Sasuke thought as he looked downwards, pulling up the corner of his shirt to reveal a dark black-blue bruise across his ribs, he touched it gingerly and inhaled a sharp breath. Certainly not broken, but it's going to take some time to heal.

His eyes wandered towards the large black faced clock hanging on the wall besides the entry way to the kitchen, it's nearly 11 o'clock he thought, shocked at how late he had slept in. Better get Naruto up, he'll kill me if he doesn't get to see Sakura today.

Sasuke groaned as he pushed himself up off of the couch, his hand placed firmly to his injured rib as he stumbled to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I don't know what's more painful, seeing Sakura or dealing with Naruto if we don't see Sakura. Certainly not these damn ribs, I'd take some bruised ribs any day if it meant I could avoid the both of them.

Sasuke made his way towards Naruto's room, and without knocking he swung the door wide open, "Oi idiot, get up or we'll be late for lunch."

"~~~Sakuraaaa!" Naruto purred in his half asleep state, his face buried into his pillow with drool sliding down his chin from a dorky smile.

Sasuke looked at the sight with distaste, "Naruto." He said firmly, hoping to get a rise out of the slumbering blonde but with no avail. "Naruto! Get up!" He shouted, turning on his feet and slamming the door shut as he made his way towards the bathroom to have a shower, he didn't have the patience to spend a half hour trying to get that idiot out of bed.

"I'm up!" Naruto yelled, jumping up from his sleeping position to a now alert and wide awake one. He looked around the room scratching the back of his head, confused as to why it was empty; he could have sworn someone was trying to wake him just now.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke ignored Naruto as he ranted and raved on about god knows what on their walk to the Café, the last thing that he wanted was to be going here in the first place, let alone having his ears chewed off in the process.

"-and so Hinata is going to join us" Naruto's loud voice boomed in Sasuke's ear, pulling in his sudden attention.

"What did you just say?" Sasuke said, looking at Naruto very attentively, it wasn't often that Naruto could pique his interest with his never ending thoughts and never closing mouth.

Naruto blinked slowly, as if he had to focus hard to remember what he was just talking about. "Eh?" he turned to look at Sasuke, his eyes trailing up to the small cut above Sasuke's eyebrow. "Oh! That's right" he grinned widely, "Hinata said she works with Sakura! So I invited her to join us for lunch today!"

Sasuke suddenly felt much more inclined to get to the café on time, surprising himself at the small spark of curiosity (he wouldn't dare say interest) he had in the blue haired girl from last night's encounter.

When they arrived at the café, Sasuke was the first through the door with Naruto tailing not far behind him. His eyes searched the quaint little café with potted succulents hanging in little blue pots from the sides of the walls, searching for any sight of the lady from last night. He was disappointingly met with something else though, obnoxious pink hair and another loud voice calling out to Naruto and him.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura called out, waving at the two boys as they entered the café's double doors, she turned towards Hinata "That's the boys now, time for a break!" She said happily, her hands reaching around her back to untie the red apron's ribbons, pulling it off and folding it onto the counter. "Are you coming?" she asked curiously, taking note that Hinata was still standing there with her eyes on the clipboard she was holding in her hands "Hinata?" she called, waving a hand in front of Hinata's dazed white eyes.

Hinata, broken from her trance looked at Sakura and smiled, "Oh, sorry Sakura… You're fine to join them… I shouldn't be too far off" she mumbled, pulling the clipboard closer to her chest "I just want to get this one thing done and check on the others before I come over."

The morning had been busy, a lot busier than Hinata could have imagined and she was finding herself all a bit lost in the hours of the day. Sakura was the first person to show up for their shift today, and she was a little nervous at introducing herself to the pink haired beauty.

Sakura though, reminded Hinata a lot of Naruto. She was loud, confident and driven. It didn't take much more than saying she knew the boys to have Sakura go on about 'the loud idiot' (who she had assumed was Naruto) and listened to her fawn and fuss about Sasuke, his rugged good looks and killer personality. (Which, Hinata made no comment on – but could not deny that he was indeed a very handsome man)

Making her way over to the two men that she'd known practically all her life, Sakura moved to sit across from them at the booth they had chosen to sit in besides the front window.

"So you've met Hinata!" Naruto said excitedly, his eyes bright and following Sakura's every move with interest. "Is she coming to join us?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder at the ever busy Hinata rushing around checking on all the other employees, "Hinata won't be too long, she's just trying to work on something." She turned back to them with a smile on her face, "she's really kind and humble," but the smile didn't last long as her face drooped down into a frown, looking between the two boys "it really is so sad though." She sighed.

Piquing the interest of both boys, they sat up straighter in their seats, "So sad, why?" Naruto was the first to ask.

Sakura's frown grew, as she looked around to make sure that no one else was listening before continuing on with the news. "Well you see Hinata is the new owner of this place."

"And how is that sad?" Sasuke interjected.

With a look of annoyance in his direction that quickly diminished, Sakura sighed once more "Well you see she didn't buy into the business. Hinata hasn't said anything to anyone at all but we were told that her cousin past away and left everything to her. They were really close apparently, like siblings are."

Sasuke's eyes moved to look in Hinata's direction, and he watched her intensively as she hurried about like a mouse, looking flustered and confused with a pen shoved in her neat bun of hair. So she's like me he thought, draining out the rest of the commotion from the two obnoxious morons he was sitting with.

Hinata had felt an uncomfortable presence wash over her, like she was being watched very closely – in fact she could almost feel someone's eyes burning through the back of her head. She moved the clipboard in her hands down to her side as she looked up and around, searching for any evidence of someone watching her.

Then, white orbs met intense charcoal. Hinata froze in place, feeling her face heating up ever so lightly as she stared into Sasuke's eyes from across the room.

Hinata was the first to break contact after a silent moment was shared between the two.

"Here Hinata, it's for Sakura's table." Came a friendly voice from behind Hinata, making her jump ever so slightly out of her trance, she turned to look at the mousy haired girl who was holding a tray of toasted sandwiches. "The drinks won't be too long, go sit down and have a break."

Taking the tray from the girl's hands, Hinata nodded in thanks and made her way to the table. Placing the tray down between the lot of them as she slid into the seat besides Sakura. It was then that she could tell.

Naruto's eyes had said it all the moment she looked up at him to greet a hello - her eyes darted to Sakura's whose flashed with guilt and pity for a moment's time before turning into the friendlier gaze that Sakura had been giving her all day. Hinata expected to see the same in Sasuke's, but was surprised that he wasn't looking at her like she had grown an extra head. The casual look he seemed to have calmed her immensely from the storm that was brewing inside her heart and mind that they all knew her story without her even having have said anything at all. She welcomed his look, she ached for it, and she needed ever bit of it to keep herself stabilized.

"Good afternoon," she said quietly, trying not to let her voice give away the thoughts that were flooding through her "you're looking better this morning, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded at her to show that he had heard and agreed, not being much of the conversationalist.

Sakura's eyes looked Sasuke up and down, as if she hadn't quite noticed before that anything was possibly wrong with him, it was only then that she noticed the small cut on his eyebrow. "So how do you all know each other?" she asked curiously, looking between Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto, with a mouth filled with toasted sandwich spoke up first, "Hinata got into some trouble on her way home last night, and Sasuke helped her out" he swallowed almost at the same time as taking another large bite "we got to know her a little bit, but it was pretty late so we just invited her to join us when she mentioned this place!"

The hot drinks had arrived at the table, and Sakura had caught Sasuke and Hinata staring at each other as Sasuke drank his hot coffee, and Hinata her green tea.

A pang of jealous struck Sakura, she damsel in distressed him?! Her mind raced before she shook it off no, she doesn't seem the type… No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, Sakura couldn't stop her mind from jumping from conclusion to conclusion.

"How are you enjoying working here?" Sakura asked, trying to distract her mind from its previous thoughts.

"Yeah, owning a business must be pretty cool!" Naruto blurted out, not thinking of the circumstances that led to her success.

Sasuke saw that the light in Hinata's eyes had diminished, but the smile on her face stayed all but the same, if not a little forced from the lack of connection between her lips and her eyes.

Hinata took a large mouthful of her green tea, nodding with a forced smile on her face as her thoughts turned to Neji, and all he had ever done for her – and was still seemingly able to do for her even after his untimely death. "It's a little stressful, but I think I'm getting a hold of it. The staff is really great."

"Well you'd have to say that sitting beside me!" Sakura nudged her softly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Naruto and his big loud mouth she darted a glare in his direction, but her smile remained focused in Hinata's direction.

Naruto, upon seeing Sakura's brief but scary glare, gulped down hard on his food, having forgotten to chew he coughed and spluttered, taking a large mouthful of his coffee to get the lodged food particle the rest of the way down his throat. That was certainly not a look that anyone would want from Sakura.

For the remaining forty minutes of their lunch break, Hinata listened to Naruto and Sakura boast about their friends and small details about them – saying how they should organize a time throughout the week to get everyone together and introduce them all. 'Like family' they had called their group of friends. Hinata was happy to be getting an invitation to join in and meet them all. It certainly hadn't been an easy couple of days that she'd had in town so far.

Neji's passing was so sudden, that Hinata felt she didn't have the time or place to grieve - and finding out that he had left absolutely everything in his name to her meant that she didn't get much time to wrap her head around it all before she was on a plane and on her way into the town she grew up in.

Her father and mother had moved for business opportunities elsewhere many years ago, but Neji who had been living with them at the time decided that he would stay as he was attending college at the time and was able to move onto the campus.

Hinata had always wanted to come back, but never had anything that was driving her to move, and unfortunately a passing of her dearest cousin had now been that thing that brought her back, and him leaving everything to her gave her a reason to stay. If only she had known what she knew now, she would have moved a long time ago and spent her days with the person who had inspired her most in life, who helped her build up strength, courage, and told her that she could have the world in her hands if she just allowed herself to see what others saw in her.

Neji always tried to make Hinata believe that she could be strong and confident, and for him she was trying her damnedest to now. It would kill her if she didn't do that for him, he'd look down at her from the heavens and frown if she couldn't be all that he believed her to be.

Sasuke could tell that Hinata was only half paying attention to Naruto and Sakura, as he was doing very much the same. Without paying too much attention to his actions, he had watched her nearly the entire time. He knew what she was going through, in fact the reason that Hinata had stumbled across him last night was because he had purposely gone out last night to seek a fight – it was his way of releasing his pain and anger from the passing of his older brother. He didn't pity her, or feel sorry for her. Sasuke had understood her, and on a silent level he had connected with her.

more coming in due time!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I thought I better build up Hinata's character a bit more, and add the reason as to why she is and why she was that way in the first chapter!

Any and all comments or criticism is welcomed, as it helps me grow and learn.

~ Maixxy