Quick note, I just want to say THANK YOU! I passed the 100 review mark last chapter! I'm very grateful to everyone who reviews every chapter, my audience is the reason I continue to write this. With every chapter I write, you help me realize my dream of becoming a professional author. So I dedicate this chapter to my readers.

EDITED. I regretfully admit that I am an idiot and was having Hinata call Neji 'neesan.' Which, in a moment of ignorance, I remembered being the japanese word for brother. After many reviewers told me otherwise, I edited my mistakes. If I missed any, I do apolgize and will catch them when I can. Which brings me to another point. BETA reading is for winners!

The fight hit full throttle as soon as one twitched. The two Hyuugas hit each other with the force of a tornado. Their feet stayed mostly still once the fight began, the only footwork was made to pivot or back up from an attack. They bent and twisted, arms reaching out to try and attack what seemed to be vulnerable tenketsu points that only they could see. Small explosions of pure blue chakra erupted from palms and fingertips as they hit their mark. Grunts and yells were the only sound that could be made out between the shifting dirt under their feet and the sound of the chakra explosions.

Naruto and Shino watched with baited breath, both focusing keenly on the fight. Both were ready to jump in at any time should the fight turn south for their teammate.

Naruto had faith in her, he remembered how hard she fought and trained when not feeling any pressure or self-doubt. He knew that she could beat her cousin, if only she could let go of old memories that slowed her jabs and left her open for counterattacks. He winced, every time he was able to make out a clear hit. But, even though he knew she was struggling with fear, he definitely saw she was almost staying even with connecting blows. Not being able to bite his tongue anymore, he hoped she wouldn't lose concentration. "C'mon Hinata-chan! I know you got this, I've seen how good of a fighter you are! Kick. His. ASS!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth, trying to do anything to get his message across.

Even though she was in a fight for her life, Hinata was smiling. Her first love was watching her every move and had his complete attention locked onto her fight. He was even encouraging her! If she could spare the breath and lack of focus she would be crying pure joy. Her heart swelled and she lunged forward with a loud cry of confidence.

Across the way, Rock Lee clenched his fists and jumped in the air. Landing, he thrust out his arm and extended his thumb in what could only be described as a good guy way. "YOSH! Neji-san I know you can defeat her if you let your flames of youth burn brightly!"

"Lee shut up!" Neji quickly retorted, barely dodging a strike that would of hit his right eye. This isn't the same girl I've fought in the past, she's grown stronger! I cannot lose! He screamed in his mind, pure rage fueling his attacks. "I won't lose to the Main branch! It is my destiny to win!"

His destiny. . . Hinata mused, as she could remember how he'd said similar things in the past. When he had last utterly humiliated and pummeled her into submission, he told her it was her destiny to never defeat him. That she was weak and unfit for the Hyuuga name, much less the position of heiress.

To be honest with herself, she didn't want the name nor the position. The Hyuuga name meant, 'towards the sun'. It was a majestic name that implied superiority and grace. Her clan certainly had those, but they were also clouded by undue pride and arrogance that corrupted any big headed shinobi with the name.

At nights, after her father had finished with his usual slandering of her being, or being snubbed by the clan council, her heart was filled with hate for her clan. It was a dirty, ugly thing, that she tried to hide from everyone but she couldn't help it. Her clan was nothing more than a bunch of bastards that hated her and always told her she was useless and unworthy. This feeling was deeply locked away for a good reason. All it did when she thought of it was eat her up inside. The hate, the anger, it wasn't her. It was the Hinata Hyuuga that her father made, and the Hinata Hyuuga that she shunned and repressed.

With a gasp, she dodged another clever counterattack that had hid behind a feint that was intended to make her think he left himself open. She knew that her entire focus had to be on the fight, but she couldn't help but look into her cousin's eyes and see the hate and pain that was directed towards her.

She knew the story, his father had been used as a double to save her father's life, as they were twins, when he had killed a Kumo shinobi that tried to kidnap her. Kumogakure demanded that her father was to be executed and his head sent to them for killing one of their shinobi. They had no way to prove that their delegate had been actually sent there to kidnap the heiress, so they had little choice unless they wanted to start a war.

She felt horrible for him, losing his father like that, from what she could remember, Hizashi Hyuuga was a kind and good man – the polar opposite of her father. She knew that he blamed her for it, and in a twisted way it made sense. Which is exactly why she had tolerated for so long the constant abuse and anger Neji showed. The prodigy was trapped by the Caged Bird Seal that could end his life at any second should any Main branch member feel he deserved it.

And she was the only person who he could safely take his anger and frustration out on. Sweet Hinata, who would always try to be understanding and never speak up over his harsh words or brutal treatment in sparring. Sweet Hinata didn't work, so now she'd try getting her message across by force.

Feeling spurred on by this, she felt something within unlock as her senses keened and began attacking faster and more precise as her anger began to finally manifest outside the dark recesses of her heart. Screaming a battle cry, she shoved two fingers into the tenketsu point that rested where the left arm met the shoulder.

Neji cried out in anguish, feeling the tenketsu point almost implode from how much chakra was forced into it as it shut down. It didn't help feeling the sharp pain from the jab he got either. Instantly, his left arm arm dropped and was now dead weight as the chakra flow was cut off to that arm. He had to do something quickly or he would lose.

Behind him, his female teammate Tenten, watched nervously. Biting her lip she reached down as slow and quiet as she could to pull out a kunai. At the beginning of the fight, she was sure that the Hinata Neji spoke of at times would be no match for him. But, from what she was witnessing, that was not the case. Feeling the hard steel of the kunai within the safety of her pack behind her, she pulled it out.

While it was hard to say to herself, she knew how strongly she felt for her Hyuuga teammate. He could be cold, stoic and sometimes depressing. But, she saw a side of him that no one else did. She knew he was a tortured soul that only wanted love and peace, but he didn't think he could obtain it any other way than violence. She had dropped hints before of her attraction to the boy, but either her attempts weren't good enough or the boy wasn't interested. Regardless of that, she would protect him at any cost if Hinata tried to kill him. Honor could take a back seat compared to her feelings.

Lee never took his eyes off the fight, but he could recognize Tenten trying to get her kunai through his peripherals. He knitted his brows as he knew what she must be thinking. He wasn't blind or dumb as some people labeled him. The girl loved Neji; a plus of being a genius, Lee supposed, you become somewhat of a girl magnet.

To Lee, Neji was more than a teammate, he was a rival and friend, even if they were both one-sided. He would protect him just as fiercely as the weapons expert would but, he wasn't blinded by love. He knew very well what Neji's hate and rage veiled. If he could, he knew that Neji would try to kill the girl. That was what Lee was waiting for and keeping a vigilant watch on. While he may not know the girl, nothing good could come of killing someone like that.

Getting hit three more times, Neji knew he had to do something and quick. He had an ace up his sleeve, one that he'd been working on and yet to perfect. In this instance however, he had little choice but to try it or he might lose this fight. For a split second, the world froze as he concentrated his chakra starting from his center. Then, in one blazing moment, he spun. "Hyuuga Style! Kaiten no Jutsu!"

Hinata only had a moment to recognize the technique and could only stare in disbelief. She was too close, and had no way to avoid it as she felt herself get slammed backwards. The heiress sailed through the air coming to an abrupt stop against a tree fifty feet away.

Naruto could only look on in silent disbelief as he watched Hinata getting the upper hand on her opponent when suddenly Neji began rotating at high speed and a pure chakra sphere shot out and expanded from him at an alarming rate. It stopped two feet away from him and continued to exist until Neji stopped his spin leaving a crater in the ground. Naruto didn't witness the last bit however, as he was already running as fast as he could to the side of his female teammate who was already starting to stagger to her feet.

The blow she felt was tremendous as pain exploded in her skull from where she hit it against the hard bark of the tree. Her world was spinning and she wanted nothing more than to stay on her back until the pain went away. Unfortunately, this wasn't an option for the girl. She felt her body protest when as she slowly tried climbing to her feet. Gritting her teeth, she fought through the pain and finally stood. She was rewarded by her blonde teammate rushing to her.

"Hinata! Hinata! Are you okay?" Naruto yelled as he arrived at her side. He barely noticed Shino as the bug user came to rest against her other side.

Conjuring up a smile, Hinata looked up at him as she steadied herself. "Y-Yes, Naruto-kun. I. . . I actually feel better than I have in a long time." She spoke, no evidence of her stutter apparent in her speech, only the pain she felt made her words unsteady. The feeling of fighting one of her tormentors was liberating.

"You are sure Hinata? That blow to head doesn't look good." Shino added, his head tilted as he noticed with a worried glance that her usual shining lavender hair was darkened in the back.

To be honest, she felt a little woozy, but it wasn't something Naruto would let stop him. So she'd be damned if she stopped too. "Yes, thank you for the concern though Shino." She replied as she quickly pushed off her planted foot and staggered towards Neji.

Naruto had to bite his tongue, almost telling her it was stupid to go on and to just let him and Shino take care of it. But, he knew she was a shinobi too and even more important, this was a personal fight for her that she needed to resolve. "Hinata, we're both rooting for you! You got this, I know you do!"

Neji smiled, feeling pride at being able to preform the Kaiten under pressure. He also noted it had a secondary effect of clearing his arm's blocked tenketsu thanks to the very technique. It required expelling a large, steady amount of chakra from ever tenketsu and making it solid by spinning at full speed. It was the perfect defense and thanks to the byakugan's enhanced sight, he could keep his vision straight and steady as he spun.

The only downside being that he exerted far too much chakra in the technique and was now dangerously low. He could also feel his tenketsu scream in pain as they all just basically gave birth. Panting, he fell back into the gentle fist style, knowing he couldn't show any of this. Morale was half the fight, after all.

Reaching an optimal distance, Hinata matched Neji's stance as she stared him in eye. She smiled, seeing something in them that she never saw before. If she had to guess, it was some small form of respect. "Neji-niisan, if you want, we can stop now and both walk away." She offered, knowing it would probably only serve to provoke him. But she didn't want to hurt him, scroll or no.

Neji gritted his teeth as he took her offer the wrong way. "Never! I'll never submit to you! The weakest shinobi of our clan will never defeat me!" he yelled, shoving off his planted foot as he lunged forth aiming for her heart.

Hinata only frowned, seeing he still hadn't changed. Slapping his hand to the side, she countered with quick jab to the tenketsu above his right lung, then while he was momentarily stunned, slammed her left palm into the area directly above his left eye.

Neji jumped back in full retreat as he cried out being blinded in his left eye. Having the chakra cut off as fast as it did to his eye not only canceled his byakugan but caused his vision to shut out in the eye. He'd been struck there before, the blindness was only temporary.

She didn't let up, not giving the boy a moment to reactivate his bloodline, if she was going to win it had to be now.

He cursed, as he barely dodged a palm strike to his arm. Is she taunting me? She could of killed me I was so open the last hit! How dare she! Roaring in rage, he thrust his arm out, letting himself get hit in the arm and unleashed a full jyuuken strike charged with as much chakra as he could directly at her chest.

She could only watch in horror as it passed by her defense and hit her dead on. Immediately she vomited up blood as it flew from her mouth and covered the boy's shirt. Neji stopped, momentarily shocked at hitting her.

"HINATA!" Naruto and Shino both cried out. Naruto tried to run to her, but was stopped by Shino as the bug user grasped him by the wrist. "Let go of me – !" he started.

"Wait, she's not out yet." Shino replied, the pain from seeing his friend hurt evident in his voice. But it was true, as he watched the princess reach out and grab Neji's wrist.

For whatever reason, he didn't pull away as she grabbed him. "N. . .Neji-niisan?" she asked, a small trickle of blood running out the corner of her mouth.

"Y-Yes?" he replied, wondering why it was his voice was shaky. He had wanted this, to show the Main branch just how powerful a Side branch member could be.

"Is this. . . Is this what you needed?" she asked, feeling her voice start to slip. She pressed his hand against her chest, firmly keeping it above her heart.

"Wha – what are you saying?" Neji replied, not expecting those words to come out her mouth. He stared at his hand confused, trying to figure out what she was getting at. After a moment, he understood as he felt her heartbeat growing fainter. Did I. . .did I kill her? His mental voice was subdued and almost regretful. But, that wouldn't make sense. . . he wanted this! Didn't he?

"Did this f-finally –!" She had to stop as she vomited more of her precious blood. Wiping her mouth, she looked back up to Neji as if she never had stopped. "Did this finally help you lose your hate? They. . . they're not deserving of such attention. You need to . . . live your life, niisan." She finished, meaning every word. So much for using force, heh. She laughed in her head. Seeing his troubled expression, she hoped her next move would be enough.

Neji couldn't believe what she was saying. All this time he had hated her with a violent passion, now why did he feel such horror at what he had done? Then, as if his subconscious took on a life of its own, it spoke: You didn't hate her, you hated the Main branch. She was just the only member of the Main branch that would take your shit and was allowed to get the shit beat out of her. You've seen it before, how they look at her. She's in just a bad situation as you. At least your father loved you and the Side branch welcomes and accepts you. She gets no such treatment except from the kinder Side branch members.

In the moment he was lost in his thoughts, he barely registered the princess letting go of his hand and then moved against him. Wrapping her arms around him, she embraced him in a weak hug. "Please. . . Neji-niisan. Don't hate. . .me." She whispered.

Don't hate me. . . he thought. He remembered hearing those very words from her when she was only six years old. He had been bullying her and made her cry out in the gardens. Between tears, she looked up at him with red eyes and even redder cheeks. Please neesan, don't hate me! He had only glared at her and walked away, listening to her crying.

Now, he heard the same words from her again, only now she was bleeding and even dieing. With hesitation, he brought his arms up and weakly returned the hug. He felt a foreign tear fall down his cheek as he replied, "I. . . I don't hate you Hinata-sama. Please, forgive me."

Hinata let out a small laugh, as she heard the words she had wanted to for so long. "I-I'm happy. . ." was all she could utter before her world went dark.

For the second time, Team Eight screamed their teammates name and rushed over to her.

Neji was so out of it, from feeling her fail in his arms as she slowly slid out of his weak embrace. He didn't even mind it when he felt Naruto roughly shove him back as he scooped up the unconscious or dead girl into his arms.

When Naruto had seen the girl go limp and fall to her knees, he swore he felt his heart stop. Only Hinata needing their help is what kept Naruto from letting his anger take over and rip Neji apart. "Neji." He spoke, never tearing his gaze away from his teammate. "If she doesn't get better. . ." he turned his head towards the boy, and apparently shocked him. For his once cerulean eyes had now turned crimson. "I. Will. KILL YOU." He slowly and clearly pronounced each word.

Neji just nodded, wondering if he would even fight back. "Naruto," he started, as he reached back into his pouch.

The blonde narrowed his eyes, readying to defend himself as Shino started maneuvering his bugs closer to the other Hyuuga.

Not blaming them for their apprehension, Neji pulled out a brown scroll. "Take it." He threw the scroll to Shino who deftly caught it.

"Neji –!" Tenten started, feeling flabbergasted.

"She deserves that scroll. Please Naruto-san, take care of her." Neji quickly interrupted her.

Feeling confused at the boy's actions, he wondered if Hinata somehow changed him. Looking at the scroll he saw it was the one they needed. But, even still he couldn't forgive the boy yet. "I don't need you to tell me that. Let's go Shino."

Neji watched them disappear into the forest, his working eye staying onto the Hyuuga princess. He prayed she would recover. He still had many things to work out within himself, but he knew that he had to make up the many years of abuse she had to endure because of his hate.

"Neji, why did you do that? We needed that scroll! How are we going to get to the next exam?" Tenten asked, not as attached to the girl he was.

"Tenten-chan! Neji-san did the right thing! The young woman has obviously stoked his flames of youth to soaring new heights! Besides we can get back both scrolls easily!" Lee cried out, flashing his pearly whites and making the best good guy stance he could.

"For once, I agree with him." Neji mumbled.

Both of his teammates stared in disbelief, each for their own reasons.

"Let's go," Neji started, limping over to his team. "We need to make camp for the night, there's no way I can continue like this." Using all his remaining strength and will, he forced himself to jump onto a tall tree branch and start heading south.

"Yosh! The first one to find a suitable camp is the winner! GO!"

"Lee. . ." was all Tenten mumbled as she followed Neji.

Knowing it wasn't too far away, Naruto and Shino headed for the tree that they had spent the first night under. They needed to hide somewhere safe while they took care of Hinata.

Carrying the girl bridal style, Naruto tried to keep his focus on jumping from tree to tree, but found himself distracted. He was on overload with worry, as he kept glancing at her. To his relief, any indication of internal bleeding seemed to stop. Her breathing was steady and so was her pulse.

It didn't take long before they came upon the tree and with Shino's help, got Hinata through the crawlspace carefully. Taking out his canteen, Naruto wet a cotton ball, that was in a first aid kit he had in his back pack, and cleaned off the trails of blood that had seeped out at both ends of his lips. It took him a minute, as he feared if he pressed the cotton ball too hard he might break her. His hands started to shake, as he placed her head in his lap and looked to see if the head wound she had earlier was bleeding. It looked like it had clotted on its own and would be okay. Then, with a snap of his head he looked up towards Shino, hearing his name called.

"Naruto!" Shino repeated for the fifth time. He was almost to the point of shaking the blonde. Seeing him finally respond he continued. "Is she okay?"

Naruto nodded, "Yea, she isn't bleeding anymore. Do we have any medicine or something like that?" he asked, more or less grasping at straws, trying to find any thing to help Hinata.

"Reach into Hinata's pouch, if I remember right she carries around a homemade balm for cuts and bruises." Shino suggested, recalling his teammates expertise with herbs was to make medicine.

Searching the small pouch on her waist, Naruto pulled out the first round container he felt. It was a wooden lacquered container with a cherry blossom design on the top. Twisting it open, there was a creamy white substance inside that had the normal medicine smell to it. "This it?" he asked, seeing if the boy recognized it.

"Yes, you only need to use a little bit." Shino responded, remembering when the heiress had treated his wounds in the past.

Taking a small amount, he rubbed the balm onto the cut on the back of her head. Then, pushing up her jacket sleeves, he noticed bruises in an almost exact line up her arms. He repeated putting on a small amount of balm on each spot until he covered each bruise that he saw without touching her anywhere the boy inappropriate. Her arms already felt off limits, but he wanted to do what he could to help her.

Seeing he could do no more, he laid her down and sat beside her, keeping his troubled gaze on her. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest properly until she awoke. Taking off his jacket, he laid it over her to keep her warm.

Seeing the gesture, Shino pulled off his coat and folded it up to place under the girl's head to serve as a pillow. He felt exposed as soon as he did it, but didn't care, hoping Naruto wouldn't say anything.

Naruto, even though his thoughts only currently revolved around the princess, looked at Shino's bare arms. He could make out small discolored dots up both arms. If he had to guess, it was where the bugs left his body to attack. "It's not as bad as I thought it would look." Naruto spoke, knowing Shino would appreciate honesty more than anything.

Shino was pleasantly surprised, as he looked down at his arms. "Thank you, Naruto, that means a lot to me." He replied, smiling.

"Wow," Naruto laughed, scratching his cheek. "You should keep that jacket off more, it's nice to actually have some idea of what emotion you're feeling."

"If I wouldn't get chased out of every establishment in Konoha I would. It gets hot as hell in that thing during the summer." Shino replied, humor in his voice. As if to prove his point, a small bug pushed open the small discolored skin and scampered across his forearm, only to burrow back in another 'entrance'.

While he wasn't disgusted, Naruto understood why he'd be treated badly. "Well, I don't think it's that bad but, I have to ask – does that hurt?"

"The nerves are dead in those spots, I cant feel it when they leave me."

"Good." Was his awkward reply as he settled back against the wall.

"Should we forfeit?" Shino asked bluntly, knowing it had to be lingering in Naruto's mind too. When they had gone in to sign their waivers, they received a flare to be used if they needed emergency medical attention or wished to forfeit and be escorted out.

The question had been nagging at the back of the blonde's head since he had first seen Hinata pass out. If it came between Hinata's well being and completing the exam – scratch that, anything, she came first. But, it looked like she would pull through no problem and knew that if they forfeited because of this she would never forgive herself. "We should wait, I think. She looks like she'll be fine. But, if she even looks like she starts getting worse we will."

Shino nodded in agreement, Hinata was very special to him. While it wasn't love he felt, it was close. She had been the first person and girl who had ever accepted him outside of his family. All through the academy, the other kids were mostly nice to him, but whenever the discussion of his family's technique came to light he was shunned instantly. His family was extremely supportive of him, and told him that it was the unfortunate fate of the Aburame. They would never be widely accepted, only their friends, family, and fellow shinobi would accept them. Even then, not all shinobi were as understanding.

He could still remember the first day of training the original team had. Jin was practicing by himself, with Kurenai adding helpful hints. Shino sat by himself watching, and didn't notice as Hinata came to sit besides him. He had been surprised, even if he didn't show it. It had been the first time an outsider of his clan sat so close to him.

"S-Shino right? M-My name's Hyuuga Hinata, w-would you mind if I ate my lunch with you?"

Yes, he had responded. He still couldn't figure out though if his lack of vocabulary stemmed from his normal stoicism or shock. Contrary to popular belief, the Aburames weren't emotionless and uncaring. The reason for their neutral nature was because of their insects. Their hives were deeply connected with their being, tuned to their emotions and bodies condition. If their emotions ran wild, hitting any extreme, then the hive would respond in kind. The insects would vibrate and begin to move erratically through the paths they made in the hosts' body. Not only was it extremely annoying and as loud as fifteen exploding tags, it was dangerous to their health. If the insects got too out of control they could attack their own host. Although this was very rare.

"I-I'm glad, I h-hope w-we can become f-friends?" she asked, stuttering worse than before. A blush creeped onto her cheeks, as she started poking her fingers together.

Yes, was all he could respond again. She was his first friend and, he was a normal pre-teen too. It was the first pretty girl who talked to him, and he had been glad for once of his tall collar. Looking down at the girl, he found himself praying too. Please, let her get better.

Naruto refused to sleep, much to Shino's annoyance. The Aburame was worried too, but they needed the sleep. But, Naruto refused to take his eyes off her. After arguing with the blonde mule, he realized it was fruitless. For another day and a half, Hinata still showed no change and it was starting to worry them both to the point where Shino stopped sleeping. Naruto had finally fallen asleep around noon the day before, but only slept for two hours before he woke up cursing.

The boy's barely spoke, the most communication they shared was when they swore they heard another genin team treading nearby. They instantly regretted lacking the foresight to set up some perimeter traps around their hideout. Naruto kept vigil over Hinata, guarding her from the line of sight by the door. His greatsword drawn and ready to cleave whoever was foolish enough to enter. Shino was communicating with his bugs, trying to get a fix on their location.

After a tense three minutes, Shino went out and carefully scouted in a 50 meter radius, seeing if any trace of the team was left. He unfortunatly found it in the form of excrement behind a bush. Besides that, it seemed they had moved on.

After another day, around noon Hinata finally woke up.

Why do I hurt. . . Hinata groaned in her mind, groaning out loud in unison. After the initial pounding headache however, she felt like she had slept a long time in a comfortable spot.

"Hinata?"

Opening her eyes, she almost wanted to gasp as she saw both her teammates hovering over. She blushed, wondering why.

"A-Are you okay!" Naruto exclaimed, the worry and anxiety he'd been holding in for two days exploding. He wanted to keep shooting off questions, but bit his tongue to let her answer one at a time.

She took a moment to think, what had happened to her? No sooner had she thought it she recalled a single sentence. I don't hate you Hinata-sama. Please forgive me. She almost cried, thinking back to it. She finally had her niisan back, finally had some semblance of family. "Yes, Naruto-kun, I'm okay." Then, her stomach disagreed with her, "and hungry." She sheepishly admitted.

Naruto felt like laughing he was so relieved. "Alright, I'll go see if I can't get some food. Shino?" he asked, silently posing if he could be okay alone.

"Go ahead."

Nodding, he took a long look at Hinata, drawing a deep blush from the girl. At that exact moment, Naruto could dance he was so excited.

After Naruto left, Hinata had finally noticed that both boys were lacking an article of clothing. Looking down, she almost felt like passing out again as she noticed Naruto's jacket was warming her. She also noticed with a sideways glance that Shino's coat was serving as a pillow. Looking over, she finally saw how it was that Shino's bug's exited his body.

Noticing her gaze, Shino almost felt like covering himself, feeling naked in front of the girl.

Seeing that her attention was making him uncomfortable, she spoke up. "I thought you would be more like Insectman."

"W-What?" Shino replied, completely caught off guard.

"I thought your insects came out like how Insectman shoots out his. From the wrists."

"You thought I was like a comic book character?"

Hinata nodded, feeling embarrassed. She hoped she didn't offended him, she was being honest. Then, she heard something she never heard before.

Shino couldn't believe it, it was so funny he did something he truly had only done three times; he laughed – hard. Doubling over, he held his sides and was almost to the point of tears.

Hinata started laughing a bit herself and sat up, clutching Naruto's jacket to herself. "You sound really good when you laugh, you should do it more Shino-kun."

Calming down, he smiled at her. "That's the second time I've heard something like that in the past two days."

Keeping the question to herself, she reached back over and grabbed his jacket. Handing it to Shino she replied, "I think you want this back right?"

Grabbing the jacket, he looked at it for a moment, then back to her. "I think I'll keep it off for a little bit longer."

And there's chapter ten! This chapter took a bit of a different turn than I had figured it would, but one thought rolled into another and this came to be. I wanted to explore the relationship between Hinata and Neji, I know a lot of people thought it was going to be a bloodbath, (which it kind of was), but I never 100% liked Kishimoto's handling of it. I wanted Hinata to be the one to convince Neji to become a different person, not Naruto.

I also ended up giving Shino a lot of air time too. I realized I had been keeping him on the back burner sometimes. I've always enjoyed his character in Naruto but he's never been explored to my memory nor has his clan's insect technique been explained. Mind you, I haven't seen the filler in Naruto so I don't know if they did or not. If I ever put something in that isn't right cannon-wise, it's because I either never saw it, or don't agree with it.

I kept Neji kinda muted on the whole destiny thing, I honestly couldn't think of any lines that would go with it, so I just decided to try and keep to his character while omitting that.

As always, thank you all for the reviews and keep it up! I'm shooting for the moon here. I hope to get Chapter 11 out just as fast! I hope you enjoyed!

Shinobi no Ryu