Legend:
-Thoughts-
Narration
"Talking"
(With Certain Character or Scene Change)

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything relating to it, but I do own this plot!

I Always Knew

Chapter 3: Hinata

As soon as she had left the Hokage's Building she ran straight into her cousin, Neji, who was in a bad mood as usual. When he saw Hinata was on the verge of tears he quickly became very concerned, "Hinata, what is it, what happened?"

"It's nothing Neji, I just need to be alone for a little while," she replied and turned to walk off in a different direction, when she felt a hand grab her arm.

"Hinata I know you better than that it isn't nothing and you wouldn't be crying if it wasn't that big of a deal. What is it?" he asked genuinely concerned for her well-being.

"Let go Neji it has nothing to do with you so just drop it," she replied in a tone so dangerous that he immediately did as he was told without thinking and she walked off; this time he just left her, -What could have happened to change my soft sweet cousin this much? Something is going on and I have a feeling I won't like it when I find out what it is.-

The first thing that Hinata did when she returned home was run to the most secluded garden behind the Hyugga manor and cried her heart out for not ever having the courage to tell her crush that she loved him. She cried for having unwittingly made such a stupid promise. She also cried because now she felt truly alone. Before she had always felt that there was somehow someone else who understood the struggles that she was going through with Naruto around, but now that he was gone there was no one left for her to depend on, it was like he had just walked out on her and forgotten that she even existed.

When she was done she went inside careful not to run into anybody and took all of her notebooks and anything that reminded her of Naruto and buried them under a tree by a lake that was a little ways into the forest the surrounded Konoha. When she got back to the manor she took a long hot bath to rid her body of the weariness of a broken heart and went straight to bed even though it was noon. Nobody disturbed the Hyugga heiress as she slept and no one expected her to get up the next day, but when some one went in to check on her in the morning she was already gone.

"Why can't anyone find my daughter!" Hiashi yelled frantically -Tsunade-sama said that Naruto brat left the village yesterday. I knew that my daughter liked him, but could she love him so much as to do something drastic?-

"With all due respect sir, she mentioned earlier yesterday that she was going to be training today with her team, she may be there. Would you like me to go check?" Neji asks edgily.

"Go!" he commands jumping desperately on the single lead to is daughter's whereabouts and Neji was off.

It wasn't long before he spotted his cousin training as she had said with both her teammates and sensei clearly going at her with all they had, but try as they may they could not land a single blow. It was as if a switch had been flipped as he watched in awe at her graceful yet fierce, precise, and powerful attacks. Suddenly, Hinata disappeared and Neji had been about to activate his byakugan to try to locate her when he felt sharp metal rest against his throat.

"Leave now and tell my father that if he wants to know my strengths then he should spy on me himself," said a cold voice behind him as he felt the weapon slowly being lowered.

The voice was so devoid of emotion that it sent shivers down his back and when he turned around his suspicions were confirmed, it was Hinata. She was finally acting like the Hyugga that her father had envisioned her to be and Neji couldn't help but feel that this was not the best thing to have happened. "Hinata what is it, this isn't like you at all," he questioned -Is this what Naruto's disappearance has done to her? Sakura mentioned that there were two things that he made her promise, I know the first one and I have a sinking feeling that I can guess the second.-

"My affairs are none of your business, now go before I have you punished for disrespecting me and for disobeying orders," Hinata countered.

"You were the one who told me not to use suffixes, but I guess since Naruto left yesterday you won't ever be the same sweet cousin that I use to know and adore. Do you want to know something, you two actually got me to believe that you were going to reach your dreams and make all of the changes that you said that you would. I guess I was right about you all along things will never change, they will always stay the same as destiny would have it," Neji concluded despairingly.

"Neji, I don't recall ever knowing a Naruto, though when I first arrived here that was who my teammates were trying to convince me I had been in love with since our academy years, but I don't recall ever seeing him there either," Hinata informed him.

"That must have been one of the promises that he made you swear to. He told you to forget that he ever existed so you erased him form your mind and for you he was never alive. That was a cruel thing for him to do, but I guess under the circumstances it must have been the only thing that he could have done to help you," Neji pondered -It was exactly as I had thought, things are going to be worse then ever before- then continued, "I am truly sorry to have interrupted your training and it won't happen again unless it is an emergency Hinata-sama."

With that said he left to report to Hiashi and be off to his own training. Word got around like it does that Hinata could not remember the blonde haired ninja and that she was now a proper Hyugga and people treated he accordingly. Everyone noticed the cold aura emitted from her and wished for Naruto to return soon to bring the poor girl back from her emotional break-down, but no one was more worried about the heiress then surprisingly enough, her father. Hiashi missed her quiet smiles and soft laughs and the way that she had been so caring for all who would come to her with their problems. He had always been secretly proud of his daughter and only now regrets that he had never told her.