Okay, so here's the official chapter one of my first fanfiction attempt. Enjoy, and please do comment :)

Side note:

Even though this is going to be an Itachi/Hinata fanfiction, there will be a lot of uh...love confusion and such that will happen along the way. This chapter will give you guys the first hint :p

Also, I noticed fanfiction is kinda messing up the formatting on parts of my story ): so, please bear with that x_x

Somethin' filled up
My heart with nothin'
Someone told me not to cry
But now that I'm older
My heart's colder
And I can see that it's a lie

-'Wake Up'- Arcade Fire

Indigo hair, lavender eyes and purple clothes. Some would say Hinata Hyuga looked like a grape, but as for Hinata, she just thought she looked like any average ninja from any average village. A tool trained and educated on how to kill and not be killed. An age-old hitai-ate rested tied around Hinata's neck, proudly displaying the swirling depiction that is the Hidden Village of Leaf. Hinata's trademark lavender irises, trademark to her clan's inherent bloodline, stared at her reflection in a full-length mirror which leaned against the far eastern wall next to a sizeable window, through which early morning sunlight glinted. Birds chattered away gleefully in an ancient sakura tree, one of many on the estate which bloomed magnificently each year.

Another day, another dawn.

Another chance to disappoint her father.

After all these years of training as a ninja, Hinata would have thought it impossible to fail her father beyond a certain extent. Clearly though, she was dead wrong. Even since she started in at the Academy, her father made it a habit to pit her against her younger sister Hanabi, planning for Hinata to begin training her kin at a young age so she could prosper once she joined the academy and proceed beyond that to higher levels. Everything went smoothly at first; Hinata had obeyed her father's will and began to teach Hanabi the basics of the ninja- taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu- in that order. She found her younger sister struggled slightly in the genjutsu department but more than made up for it with her stellar taijutsu and ninjutsu skills. Once Hanabi got a grasp on the various hand signs, how to direct flow of chakra and learn basic moves such as the kage bunshin no jutsu and, more importantly, her clan's Juken, Hanabi began to grow at a rapid speed and quickly overtook Hinata, even though she had studied hard and practiced even harder every day whether or not she was in the academy.

When Hanabi graduated from the academy at eight years old- three years after she was enrolled by her father, Hiashi- Hinata started to be ignored by her father completely in favour of training Hanabi as often as possible because she proved to be a much more promising ninja than she herself would ever become. Ever since that day, Hinata had slowly but surely been falling into a seemingly bottomless pit of despair.

Today at age eighteen, she was nothing more than a mediocre ninja at best. Her sister on the other hand was already advancing into jutsu known only by the shinobi of her clan aged twenty-five or older. She knew she was a failure, how could such an accusation be thwarted when the evidence was standing in her place, staring desolately into a mirror instead of training rigorously in one of Konoha's many training grounds like every other ninja would be?

Perhaps she knew it wasn't worth it to even bother.

A gentle tap was issued to the invisible side of Hinata's bedroom door, snapping her out of her depressing train of thought. She wasn't expecting any visitors, especially not so early in the morning. Because of this fact, she raised both her hands into the proper hand seal and uttered one word quietly.

"Byakugan."

Hinata became immediately aware of the feeling of all the veins and arteries around her eyes bulge out all at once. As this happened, the other side of the door became clearly visible- Hanabi was waiting on the other side, Naruto was also there standing by her side fidgeting and looking around anxiously like he would have preferred to be anywhere but where he was at this current point in time. At the sight of Naruto she blushed lightly before catching herself in the act and forcing it away. Moving gracefully, Hinata stepped around her bed and to the door, opening it in one swift motion.

"Ohayou Naruto, Hanabi." She glanced at her younger sister who looked so like herself, but so different at the same time. "What is the meaning of this, Hanabi? Is something wrong?"

Hanabi shook her head. "No. Naruto-san here just informed me he has something of great importance to speak to you about." Hinata nodded. "I see." She turned her lavender gaze upon Naruto who started slightly now that he was under her full attention. "Are you feeling alright, Naruto-kun? You seem to be acting quite strange this morning."

Her blonde-haired comrade's eyes widened comically as he stuttered an excuse. "Ah, gomen, Hinata-chan! I'm just eh, really excited for lunch; I heard Ichiraku is coming out with a new recipe today and I just really wanna try it out before it's all gone!" he hoped that was a believable enough excuse.

Naruto held his breath in anticipation as Hinata smiled serenely, closing her eyes. "Oh Naruto-kun, you don't need to worry about that. You're always the first person in line and Ichiraku's best customer. I'm positive you will be the first to taste it no matter what."

He scratched the back of his head, trying not to wince. "I suppose you're right. Arigatou, Hinata-chan."

Naruto swallowed audibly and glanced over briefly at her sister before looking at Hinata once again. "Ne, Hinata-chan, would we be able to speak in private?"

Hinata's eyes widened slightly before she quickly regained her composure. "Of course, I do not see how that would be a problem." She caught Naruto glancing almost inconspicuously behind herself into her bedroom. Before she could say anything about what he was implying, Hanabi smacked him upside the head and adding a small bit of chakra for good measure, almost sending him flying face first into Hinata's chest. Hinata blushed furiously at the thought of such a mortifying event while Naruto regained his balance and glared threateningly at her sister who was glaring back at him with equal force.

"Ouch, you baka! What was that for?" Naruto began to rub the back of his head again, this time to relieve pain instead of stress or anxiety. Hanabi's glare increased with Naruto's words.

"Don't you dare call me a baka, dobe! Do you not realize what you just did? You most certainly cannot speak with my sister 'privately'-" she made finger quotations –"in the confines of her bedroom! Have you any idea how...dirty that is?"

Naruto shot her a dirty look.

"Don't you dare call me dobe! Sasuke-teme does that all the time as it is, and it gets soooo annoying! It makes me want to punch his face in and break his pretty boy image, but the only reason I don't is because Sakura-chan would beat me black and blue, and I have a mission in a week so I can't be anything but in top condition. The last thing I need is for you to strut around all peacock-like and be all...peacock-y, and ruin my chances with Hinata-chan!"

Hinata cocked her head to the left and blinked in slight confusion at the sudden turn of conversation. This was certainly strange. " Chances of what, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto halted mid-insult and promptly snapped his jaws shut. Hanabi giggled maliciously as his cheeks turned the brightest shade of red she had ever seen on anyone. At a loss for words she sent Naruto a pitying look and then raised her eyebrows delicately at her sister, silently asking her to leave the premises. Like the intelligent young ninja she was, Hanabi caught on quickly and smirked before turning away.

"Alright, alright, ill leave the two of you alone. But I suggest you go out to the gardens or something, father will not be at all pleased if he hears of you and a boy in your room, alone."

Naruto shot Hanabi another dirty look and Hinata nodded slightly. She was still confused about why this blonde-haired, blue eyed boisterous ninja was coming to her out of everyone. Perhaps he wanted to ask her out on a date?

No. That couldn't possibly be it.

Hinata had the biggest crush on Naruto for the longest time, ever since she was enrolled in the academy and saw him for the first time- a relatively short five year old with the spikiest hair she had ever seen on anyone, save for the youngest Uchiha, brother to the heir of his clan. All the girls and possibly even a couple of the males in her academy class adored him, claiming both his appearance and prodigious skills were unparalleled. She could recall all too easily every single day she was in the academy the entire class was guaranteed to hear both of her friends Sakura and Ino battle it out with words and some hair pulling, each claiming Sasuke was in love with one of them and not the other.

"Ino-pig, shut up! You know as well as I do Sasuke has no interest in you at all! Just you watch, he's going to be placed in my team, not yours!"

A young Sakura smiled smugly and crossed her arms. Ino on the other hand, grew red with fury and stomped her foot childishly.

The blonde-haired girl huffed angrily and began waving her arms around dramatically. "Are you crazy? There's no way he could ever like you. I mean, come on, your hair is pink. Pink! And your forehead is so huge; it could be used as Konoha's largest billboard to promote that Karanawa's Everlasting Lip Gloss that all the women in town are using. But it's not like you would know that, you never wear makeup or do anything nice with your hair. Speaking of which, I heard Sasuke likes girls with long hair. Yours barely even reaches your shoulders." Ino reached out and flipped some pink strands of hair which barely brushed the pinkette's small, slender shoulders. The smaller girl frowned sadly before catching herself. Trying to stand tall and be brave she straightened her shoulders and glared at Ino.

"He would never want you. Who would ever want someone who is always so loud and annoying? All you ever do is run up to him and scream 'Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun! Come sit beside meeeee! I'm soooo much better than everyone else; you have to like me and no one else!"

Ino's mouth opened and she gaped at the pinkette, slightly offended. "You do the same thing, billboard-brow."

Sakura gasped allowed and tried to push the blonde away. "Ugh, I do not!"

Hinata watched the scene unfold from her assigned seat near the back of the class. Hinata supposed she could relate to how her two friends felt, but then again no one else besides her liked Naruto; all they saw was the demon kyuubi and not the innocent small blonde boy with no parents who only wanted more than anything to make friends and be happy once again. He had saved her from bullies once but gotten beaten up because of it, something she would always feel guilty for. Naruto was a good soul and she only wished that more people besides her and Iruka-sensei could see it. Turning Naruto's way she saw that he was also watching the squabble between the blonde and the pinkette. He must have sensed he was being watched because he looked above their heads and his eyes met Hinata's. Once lavender met sky blue, Hinata's face became as red as it always did whenever she saw him or he saw her. But there was a small smile on Naruto's face, nothing offending, so she smiled ever so shyly and raised a hand in a timid wave. The smile that broke out on Naruto's face from her gesture of friendliness was enough to make Hinata happier than ever before for weeks on end- for Naruto had smiled a wide smile, a true smile- not one of those fake sunny smiles that broke her heart because she could see right through them. She of all people had make Naruto Uzumaki happy.

Hinata still like always had the same everlasting crush on Naruto, but the only difference between her academy days and now was her affection for Naruto had matured and grown into a form of love. She couldn't say one hundred per cent for sure exactly what form of love it was, but Hinata looked up to Naruto because she saw him as a hero and an immensely strong person who was always there for anyone who needed his help, no matter what or who he would be there in under an instant. Whether Naruto knew it or not, he had a family network in Konoha which would never break apart from him no matter what happened.

Stepping out her room and sliding shut the shoji screen Hinata looked into Naruto's eyes and tilted her head ever so slightly. "Come, Naruto-kun. Even though I know you mean well, it would be seen as inappropriate for the two of us to be seen alone in my bedroom. The gardens are a gorgeous common area where we can speak in private and not have to worry about being spoken ill of."

Turning away as she began to walk across to the other side of her rather large house Hinata failed to see the blush that painted itself across the blonde's whiskered cheeks as he rubbed at the back of his head in a shy manner.

"H-hai, Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled to herself as she led the way to her family's majestic gardens. Who would have ever thought Naruto would suddenly be acting so shy around her? It really was strange, but she was willing to see where these opportunities lead them. Finally closing in on a particularly ornate shoji screen Hinata slid it open and began descending a small bamboo staircase. Reaching the bottom she turned around and giggled slightly as Naruto stood still at the shoji screen gaping in wonder and amazement. After a couple of minutes he gathered himself and made his way down the stairs just as Hinata did- carefully, so as not to disrupt any of the delicate and exotic plants growing at his feet.

Naruto walked over to where Hinata stood and breathed out softly.

"This is beautiful, Hinata-chan. I kinda wish my apartment had plants like these, but they'd just die every time I left for missions." Hinata laughed softly at his words and smiled up at him.

"Well Naruto-kun, you could always buy some plastic or material flowers. They look almost just as pretty and they won't ever die, no matter how long you are gone for."

To her amusement he seemed to actually be thinking about it. "Hn, Hinata-chan, that's actually not a bad idea. I'll look into it and see what I can do."

"If you need help, I am more than happy to lend a hand, should you need it."

Her visitor smiled softly as he looked down on Hinata- certain emotions lighting in his beautiful blue eyes that had her stomach tying itself in knots of anticipation and her heart beating just a bit faster. From liking Naruto all these years, Hinata was well aware of what these bodily signs meant- she was going to faint. Hinata held strong though. When she was younger she would always be fainting around Naruto- something which was highly embarrassing and probably not so good for her health. So one day after she fainted from yet another encounter with Naruto, she decided to do everything in her power to keep from fainting again. It took a lot of time and effort, but she found the more she was exposed to Naruto and talked to him, she came to know him as a person and not just a boy she admired for his strength and courage. Over the weeks she hadn't been fainting, Naruto actually noticed and praised her for her strength- a preposterous concept to Hinata, being strong- but she could feel it was the start of something great. Maybe with Naruto's help she could become the kunoichi she always dreamed of.

Her father wouldn't believe his eyes if he ever saw his eldest daughter actually becoming proficient in the ninja way; dealing out senbon and shiruken and kunai like her life depended on it (which in most cases, it did), and performing jutsu which would make everyone in her clan recognize the shy indigo-haired female who had flown under the radar for so long. Even if Naruto didn't realize it, Hinata owed him so much for being there for her all the time. They had a relationship not quite unlike that of a dating couple: they loved one another and would do anything for the other. The only question was that of just how far this love stretched, something Hinata hoped to discover in the near future.

This thought brought Hinata back on track with why exactly she was standing here with Naruto in the first place. Taking a deep breath and then releasing it, she opened her mouth and asked the question which would change everything between her and Naruto, and many, many things to come.

"So Naruto-kun, what was it you wanted to speak with me about? You really did seem quite worried earlier, are you feeling okay?"

Naruto blanched slightly. "Yes, yes Hinata-chan, I'm more than fine...in fact, I'm great!" he offered her a wide smile which she recognized as one he sent out when he was actually feeling uncomfortable or awkward. She softened for him even more, already feeling concerned about what had her friend feeling so out of his league.

"It's just that, well, you know, I've been thinking about us a lot lately."

Hinata blinked, a little shocked. She managed to stutter out an "O-oh?"

Blonde spiky hair bobbed up and down in a silent nod of confirmation.

"Yep."

A new kind of awkward silence blanketed them both as Hinata waited for her friend to speak and Naruto just stopped talking. Wanting to hear what he was getting at, she prodded him along gently.

"And? What became of all this thinking? There's no need to be quite so worried Naruto-kun, I won't bite." She softened her words with a gentle smile, closing her eyes in the way he looked so shy and well...she just thought it was adorable.

He cleared his throat quietly and swallowed, most likely from nerves.

"Uh, ri-right. The reason why I came to see you, Hinata-chan, is because, well..."

Hinata knew pushing him more at this point would clam him up so she stood there before him with her hands clasped in front of her, waiting serenely for him to say what must have been on his mind for the longest time.

"."

She paused. What?

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun...may you please repeat that again?" she offered him another small smile of encouragement.

Naruto gave her a pleading look like that of a desperate puppy, and Hinata knew she had just asked him o do the hardest thing he had ever done in his entire life- including defeating Pain of the Akatsuki. She tried not to wince at both the situation she had put him in and memories of the past and instead apologized.

"Gomen, but I really didn't hear what you just said, it was so rushed. If you would feel better in doing so, we can have this conversation at a later date."

Naruto's eyes widened and he shook his head in haste.

"No, no! this...this has to be said."

Hinata nodded in understanding, her long indigo catching the light and shining with each movement. Naruto sucked in a deep breath, counted to twenty in his head and then turned to face the Hyuga in front of him.

"I would be honoured if you would agree to let me date you and become my girlfriend."

Hinata's world shattered.

Well, wasn't this irony if she ever saw it? Hinata knew what her answer was going to be right as soon as Naruto asked her, but before she could tell him she began to feel light-headed and swooned ever so slightly.

Before she knew what happened, her world went black.