Author's Note: Hello again! Chapter one only received one review, so I am doing my best to write best chapters I can as quickly as possible to make this a more appealing read. Any sort of input would be nice. I will accept flames because I dont take offense and sometimes the advice is good. So go for it! xD Sasuke is in here just like i promised, albeit for a short time. Um yeah, soooo go read please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Once again, I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. Is this enough to get her lawyers off my case? I do not know. But I'm too lazy to say anything else sooooo ONWARD!

Chapter Two: A Fateful Encounter

The birds chirped and the sun's rays peeked through the clouds, shining through the glass windows of a large, regal white house, and shedding light on a big bed with lavender covers. The beautiful Hyuuga lay on that bed, chest moving in a steady rhythm up and down, asleep.

She had tearstains streaking her cheeks, hinting that she had cried herself to sleep the night before. Her lips were twisted downwards and her eyebrows were furrowed into a frown. The sun brightened and easily pushed its way through her curtains, shining brilliantly on her face. She groaned, rolled over, and finally sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Her thoughts immediately shot back to what had happened yesterday. I-I don't feel happy about this, but I know you mean what you say, and I respect that. I still love you, I really do, and this is going to be hard, but you're my best friend too, Hinata. "Naruto," she sighed. She would never forget how she had hurt him. Hinata reluctantly rose from her bed with a sick feeling in her stomach. She undressed, stepped into the shower, wrapped herself in a robe, and brushed her teeth, singing softly to herself all the while.

Hinata kept going over what had taken place, and she eventually convinced herself that she had done the right thing. She couldn't have kept leading Naruto on, pretending that their relationship was still real, and though she had let him down, she had done it as only a friend could. She really did care about him before, and she still did, just not in the same way. Things had changed. She toweled her indigo hair, now almost black since it was damp, and ran a brush through it. She looked in the mirror and noticed the determined glint in her eye. No regrets. She couldn't let this interrupt her life, though she really inwardly hoped that things would be okay between her and Naruto after he had his time to think.

She dressed in her jounin outfit, a short black skirt with dark purple leggings, a sleeveless lavender top with a long-sleeved dark purple thermal underneath, a wide black sash around her waist, and her Konoha headband. She didn't care to use it as a stylish headband for her hair as most of the girls did, preferring to show the Konoha emblem and her standing as a ninja proudly across her forehead.

After nearly being killed by Neji in the Chunin exams, Hinata had begun to completely change her life. She trained like never before. Her drive was almost like Sasuke's; however, instead of being motivated by revenge, she was motivated her her own lack of strength. She wanted to change, and she wanted to become stronger. Neji had realized that and began to train with her, and so had her father and Hanabi. All the people who had scorned her before had acknowledged her want to become a better ninja, and finally respected her for that. Now Hinata was well-known in the village for her strength and talents, and she was one of the best jounin Konoha had ever seen.She was still mild-mannered, as she had always been, but her shyness and stuttering had disappeared. She was more confident now, and at peace with herself. She personally liked it. It made her feel good about herself, because now she had gained her own respect, which was even harder to earn than the respect of the others. She realized that was the respect that she needed most of all, so now she was happy.

She owed a great part of her newfound sense of being to Naruto; Hinata remembered all the time he had spent with her, even before they had started dating. Once she had started to change he really took notice of her. She became able to hold a conversation with him and slowly but surely he began to return her feelings. One day after they had gone out for ramen he took her into the woods and asked her to be his girlfriend. Hinata smiled remembering the moment. Naruto was so adorable and flustered, but she told him she would love to, and they shared their first kiss together. Hinata sighed again, but not regretfully, more out of sadness for what they had lost.

Naruto had trained with her, talked to her, and really understood her. They had never, ever fought. He loved her too much to make her unhappy. He really made her focus, and when life felt like it was too much for her to handle, Naruto was always there to pull her back to him, put his arms around her, and tell her he loved her, and not to worry. But then he would help her to stand again, so she could deal with her problems as a strong ninja. Naruto had pushed her to the limit when she confided in him about her growing want to change, and he was the main reason why she was able to become who she was now.

And you dumped him, Hinata reminded herself bitterly. She sighed again and strode out of her house and locked the door. She headed down the street toward the Hokage's office to get her assignment for the day. People smiled and waved at her, and she gave them halfhearted smiles as she passed by. She wanted so badly to talk to Naruto, but she knew she couldn't do that just yet. He needed his time. Her best friends Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino were both on missions, and she was never good with talking to girls, ironically, though she was one.

Hinata passed by an opening into the nearby woods and hesitated. She wasn't late yet, and she wanted some more time alone to think. She glanced again at the pathway, wrestling with herself in her mind. Go, you want some time alone, and you deserve it. Tsunade-sama will understand just GO!... NO! DON'T! You have your duty as a ninja to take care of and you need to go to work NOW! Hinata winced slightly at the voices quarrelling loudly in her head, set her jaw, and finally made her decision. Any other time she would have just gone on to work, but things were different now. She turned on her heel, and continued to walk, this time heading into the woods.

It was shady and quiet. A little brook ran through the clearing and there were few breaks in the canopy formed by the trees. The sun was not yet high in the sky, and a cool breeze rustled the leaves. Hinata sighed. She loved nature; it was so comforting to her. She had been stressed lately, and she needed a break. She jumped up into the crooked arm of a large tree and settled against the trunk. She smiled to herself, enjoying the feeling of being in total serenity. The wind whipped at her and she sat up and giggled; it tickled. Leaning against the tree again, her eyelids drooped and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Unbeknownst to Hinata, she was being watched. A certain missing nin from Konoha who had left three years ago was watching her curiously from the moment she entered the clearing. He became oddly interested; he didn't remember seeing this girl before, but she seemed strangely familiar. He crept closer and then he recognized who it was: Hyuuga Hinata. Inwardly he marveled: that tangible air of confidence around her, he didn't remember it, but he liked it. Now that he thought about it, she was one of the few girls who had never fawned over him. He leaned closer, intrigued by her soft, delicate, innocent-looking features and dark, luscious indigo hair. Suddenly, as if sensing his presence, her eyes shot open and she shrieked, falling out of the tree, shocked at the face that had appeared so close to hers.

The mysterious boy jumped down after her, caught her, and they both hit the forest floor hard. Hinata began to punch and kick at the boy with every limb she could muster to move after that painful fall. The boy yelped and heaved her off of him. Hinata went sprawling across the boy onto the ground, and she gasped and pulled herself up to a sitting position. For the first time Hinata got a good look at his face. "Sa-Sasuke?" A smirk flitted across the boy's face and he vanished in a poof of smoke. Hinata was astonished. She got up and rubbed her sore joints, and headed back onto the main road again, thoroughly confused. Boy do I have a story for Tsunade-sama.

Endnote: Ta-da! I hope that was an improvement on chapter one. And Sasuke was there as I had promised! He is a chicken butt and I dont like him much but he makes for some interesting fanfics, and I love sasuhina sooo yeah that would explain the fic xD. i shall try to update as soon as i can, and comments will encourage me, seeing as I am a first time author. Thank you guys! Until next time!

Love,

the hybrid :)