197I started this as a NaruHina one-shot, but thanks to people asking "What's next?", it ended up being 10 chapters with a super long finished sequel and a third one coming up after I rewrite all of these. Thank you to all of my readers, especially those of you who posted reviews and inspired me to write more!
Universe: I think of this as a Quantum Naruto Universe, diverging off from where the anime was back in 2005, right after Naruto and Sasuke's first big fight on the lake. So the anime and manga went their own ways, and this story goes in a different direction.
Note: In the style of fanfiction, I've sprinkled Japanese in. Here's a little reference list of Japanese Terms: konbanwa (good evening) daijobu (Are you all right? or It'll be all right) oyasuminasai (good night) demo (but) ano (um) edo (um) kirei (beautiful).
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, but I love all the ninja goodness! This is just for fun and practice as a writer!
Motto: I'm always striving to improve, no matter how many times I fail. I won't take back my words. That's my ninja style! ^_~
Awakenings Ch. 1
He looked down at the floating noodles in his bowl. Just a few left. The chopsticks in his right hand faltered as images flashed through his mind. In kindergarten, he saw her standing apart from the crowd of kids throwing dirt and rocks at him. In class, her shuriken aim wasn't very good so she stayed and practiced after everyone else had left. The medicine she had handed to him after his fight with Kiba and Akamaru. Then the fight with Neji, her eyes filled with determination to fight against all odds, putting her life on the line to live up to her potential, to become a better person. The night they bumped into each other at the summer festival.
The summer festival was roaring along as enjoyed himself the only way he knew how—alone. It didn't matter. He didn't want to let his loneliness drown him tonight. There was too much fun to be had, and there was no way he was going to be left out of it.
He had just made this private little self-resolution when he saw her, standing by herself, looking rather frightened of the crowd. It was Hyuuga Hinata. Dark ink-blue hair, milky skin, and eerily captivating violet pearl eyes. She was standing there all by herself, wringing her hands. She seemed eager to join in on the festivities while at the same time terrified of all the excitement around her. Something made him want to go give her a slap on the back and knock all of the nervous insecurities out of her. So he did.
"Oy! Hinata-san! This festival is great isn't it?" He had forgotten that his hands were filled with goodies purchased from all of the vendors, so he dropped some stuff that he quickly picked back up. His fat froggy purse, Gama-chan, stuck out of his pocket, and a fried squid on a stick hung out of the corner of his mouth.
"Good evening Naruto-kun," Hinata said shyly from under her dark, ink-blue bangs, gasping a little for breath as she recovered from the smack on the back that she had received from him.
"Are you here alone?"
"Yes," she blushed.
"Me, too! Do you want to ride the roller coaster with me?"
"Okay..." Hinata's whole face turned bright red.
Naruto had wondered why her face suddenly turned so red. Well, she's always been really shy. He brushed the thought aside. He pulled out his fat froggy purse and paid the ride vendor.
"Ooo, let's sit in front! Roller coasters are best when you're at the very front."
He turned to share his mirth with Hinata, but saw only that she wore an expression of sudden terror in her pearly eyes.
"Ne, Are you okay Hinata?"
Hinata trembled a little but nodded her head. "I'm…I'm just a little scared of roller coasters, that's all," she managed to squeak out.
"Oh, well, it's okay if you don't want to ride, Hinata." He figured that's why her face had turned red. He also inwardly chastised himself. Even he knew that sometimes his thick head didn't readily register the feelings and thoughts of others no matter how well intentioned he was.
Then he saw a look of determination grab a hold of the anxiety-ridden one on her face.
"No, I want to do this...especially because I'm scared of it."
Naruto burst out in a toothy grin. He admired her gutsiness.
They boarded the front cart of the ride, and as the safety bar came down, he could see Hinata grab onto it with a death grip, her knuckles quickly turning white. He watched as she tried to keep her eyes on the tracks right in front of them instead of looking at all the loops, twirls, and falls that awaited them beyond that.
"Hinata."
She seemed to startle a bit at the sound of his voice and then visibly calm a little down. She looked over at him, wide eyes questioning.
"Yes?"
"It helps to scream, just scream and let all your fear out through your scream."
"Okay," she nodded timidly as she contemplated this piece of advice.
And then they were off, flying through the air, dropping out of the sky, twisting and turning as if possessed by a vortex. Hinata's screams were not dainty or squeaky but hearty explosions that no one would have expected from some a tiny unassuming girl.
As the ride ended and slowed to a stop, Naruto looked over at her and saw her panting like she had just fought a chuunin battle with her cousin Neji.
"You okay?" he asked, a little worried it may have been too much for her.
Hinata looked at him, at first still catching her breath, but then she suddenly broke into a smile. "Yes, very okay."
"Did you like it?"
"Yes," she said as she looked up at the coaster. "It was my first roller coaster ride."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I was always too scared to ride, but now, I'm not scared anymore. Not at all," she said as she smiled brightly and triumphantly at him. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."
"What? I didn't do anything," he chuckled.
They got off to make room for the next riders in line and walked back out into the heart of the festival.
They spent the rest of the night trying out all the different rides and buying lots of junk food. He was still puzzled by why her face turned red every time he spoke to her. The night was over too quick, and soon, he was walking her home.
At first they walked on in silence, the noise of the festival drifting away as they went along further and further away from it. It wasn't an awkward silence, just the sort of silence between two people who felt comfortable with each other's company. But it was Hinata that broke the silence.
"Naruto-kun...I.."
"Eh?" He looked at her and watched puzzled as she looked ahead and took a deep breath. Her eyes closed and she exhaled slowly. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. The two of them stopped at the corner of an intersection in a residential area. A few street lights dotted the crossing paths. The rest of the scene was bathed in moonlight.
"When I was growing up, my father was very strict on me because I was the heir to the family's power, but I couldn't live up to his expectations. I tried to train very hard, but I was a failure. Though I kept trying, I didn't believe in myself. Then I saw you in class. You kept failing, too, but you kept going, you believed in yourself. It amazed me. I wanted to be like you, even though I was a failure."
"Hinata-san, you're not a failure. Just look at the battle you fought against Neji! Most people would not have lasted as long as you did."
"I still lost though. Demo, I think I can finally be more confident because I tried my best. Thank you...for showing me what it means to not give up." She smiled gratefully, and then she breathed in and out in a sort of sigh of relief, like she had just lifted a heavy burden off of her shoulders.
"Ah, Hinata, I didn't do anything. And you're NOT a failure," he gave her a pointed look. "You know what? Hey, maybe you could challenge Neji to a fight again. I'll help you train!"
Hinata gave him yet another look of surprise. Then she looked down, contemplating his suggestion. When she looked back up, a smile crept across her face.
"Naruto-kun, the truth is I've already been training to fight him again. And since…since you've beaten Neji before, training with you would be very effective, but isn't that too much of a waste of your time?"
"Nah, I've been wanting to learn more about the Byakuugan and Juuken. I beat Neji because I tricked him, but skill on skill, he's truly a prodigy."
Hinata broke out into another genuinely happy smile.
"Then onegaishimasu, Naruto-kun. Let's train together."
"One more time Hinata-san!" Naruto cried as he formed the seal for the kage-no-bunshin, a ninja technique that allowed him to make multiple solid clones of himself. They had been training for weeks at a ridiculous pace and intensity on top of their regular training. Naruto was glad for the chance to practice battling against the legendary Hyuuga Byakuugan, a technique that not only allowed the user to see far distances in a 360 degree range, it also made chakra flow visible and thus more attackable.
Outside of his training with Hinata, he was still learning new techniques from Jiraiya, one of the strongest ninjas in the world, who had decided to hang around Konoha for awhile and train Naruto. The 5th Hokage, Tsunade, had taken an interest in Hinata, too, and Hinata has been training with her as well, especially in the art of ninjitsu healing and medicine.
As his image split into twenty clones of himself, Naruto looked at Hinata who had just squatted into a stance with her right foot behind her and her left foot out in front. The nerves and veins around her eyes bulged and pulsed as she initiated her byakuugan. He smirked a bit. With his kage-no-bunshin clones, he knew she couldn't tell which one is the real him because his chakra was evenly distributed across the board. He ran at her with his clones. As they approached her, a number of them jumped to different heights in the air to attack her from different angles. He saw her eyes scanning the crowd and then look straight at him. So different from the Hinata he once knew in school who hid away all the time, and yet the same exact person. Her eyes were so full of determination, so full of the desire to become better. Hinata's upper body twisted a bit as her hand came up for a strike, fingers poised together, and as her body moved in graceful and fluid motions and her eyes flashed with the utter passion and frenzy of battle, a thought struck Naruto: Kirei…
Suddenly, he felt the sensation. He'd never seen anyone look so absolutely and stunningly beautiful.
Hinata scanned the horde of Narutos that came at her. She saw them leaping in at her from all different directions. Each of the chakras flowed identical to one another. Then she saw it, the source of all the chakra pulsing slightly larger than all of the others, running straight at her head on. In that moment, all of Hinata's training from infancy up until the past few weeks took over and her body moved in utter symphony to the pulsating matter around her. With one graceful swipe, she zoomed past all of the clones and hit Naruto dead center in the chest. Naruto flew backwards, all of his clones popped into clouds of smoke around him, and he hit the floor sending up sprays of dirt and grass and puffs of dust into the air.
For a second, Hinata was lost in the finish of her attack, and then her face fell into a look of complete horror, and she ran to Naruto. He lay unnaturally still. With her byakuugan, she saw that his chakra flow had completely gone haywire and his chakra source, the one that she had picked out from all of the clones, appeared to be dispersing. The severity of the situation drove her past the point of absolute panic and into a realm of dissociation. She felt as if her mind and body began to act on its own, as if she was a mere spectator, but she was moving and controlling herself at the same time. She was on her knees in no time and placing her hands gently but firmly on Naruto's chest, one hand on top of the other in a triangular formation as she began desperately to heal him.
The rays of sunlight danced upon his feet as his eyes groggily opened. He squinted at first at the brightness of midday, and then sat himself up slowly propped on his elbows. At the edge of his bed of white sheets and blanket lay a mass of short, ink-blue hair with a pair of arms in thick jacket sleeves wrapped around it.
"Hinata-san?"
The head suddenly popped up and looked at him with wide, pale eyes full of shock. Then they began to well-up with tears.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shot forward and did something she never would have dreamed she'd have the guts to do—she hugged Naruto.
"Gomenasai…" came out muffled from where she had buried her face in his shoulder while she shook, hiccupped, and sobbed.
"Hinata-san, what happened? Why are you crying?" He reached one hand around to pat her on the back in an attempt to comfort her.
She backed away from him, grabbing a handkerchief from her pocket and started cleaning her face off.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy you're okay…Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"I feel okay…a little stiff…how long have I been lying here?"
"Three days."
"What happened?"
"We were training again…" Her voice trailed off in a sort of faint squeal; it seemed she would break down again at any moment.
Naruto jogged his memory. He remembered the kage no bushin, running towards her, observing her intensely as she executed her attack…his cheeks turned red. Now it was his turn to be speechless.
Hinata covered her face and began sobbing again.
"Ne, Hinata, it was my fault, I was being careless, I was…uh…distracted…"
His cheeks burned bright red again. Luckily she can't really see me right now, he thought randomly.
"Hey, what's all the commotion in here?" The 5th Hokage strode into the room. In came a troupe of genins (plus Shikamaru), Kakashi Sensei, Iruka Sensei, and Jiraiya. Sakura ran to the bed. "Naruto! Daijobu deska? Your face is all red!"
"Hahaha," Naruto laughed nervously, "I'm just embarrassed having all of you see me like this."
"You have Hinata to thank for being alive," Tsunada said as she put a reassuring hand on Hinata's shoulder.
All of them looked at her in amazement except for Hinata who was still undone. Apparently this was news to them.
"I've never seen anyone do such chakra healing before. Hinata-chan seems to have discovered her talent for extreme ninja medicine."
All of their eyes grew wide. Tsunade, the 5th Hokage, was famous around the world for her amazing medical ninja abilities. To get a compliment from her on ninja healing techniques was unheard of.
Hinata was still crying, though she seemed to have regained a certain level of composure and was only weeping weakly at this point.
"Naruto's chakra had been reversed in some parts and blocked in others. Apparently her strike to the source of his chakra had sent shock waves throughout his whole system. Hinata was able to heal the entire system."
They all looked at Hinata in disbelief. Neji looked on with an especially curious eye.
"Ah, heheheheh, I was being careless. It was my fault for underestimating Hinata-san," Naruto laughed with one hand behind his head. "Demo, Hinata-san, how did you know which one of my clones was the real me?"
"I saw…sniffle…I saw the difference between the real charka core and the clone cores," breathed Hinata as she wiped her face for the umpteenth time.
Neji's eyes grew wide. Hinata had always been thought to have inherited only a weaker version of the byakuugan in their family. Neji had always been thought of as the born prodigy of the family who had inherited more than the full strength of the byakuugan bloodline limit. He wondered if they had it wrong all along as he looked at his cowering cousin. He tilted his head as if it would help him see her better. But…she looks the same to me…he thought as he examined the furrowed brow, the hands clutching the handkerchief in front of her, her eyes hidden under her bangs. He smiled. If she is better, then the promise they made to fight next month would be interesting indeed.
She'd always been there. He just never realized it. Naruto looked again at the bowl of ramen noodles soaking up the soup. His lips pursed as a thought ran through his head. His eyes suddenly flashed with a look of resolve. He slurped up the rest of the noodles and soup, paid for his meal, and ran off in the direction of the Hyuuga mansion.
Note: Sure is fun to revisit these old fanfiction and pat myself on the back for the good parts while shaking may head at the bad writing. I'm working on my second book for both Phoenix Mountain and the Cowboy Ninja series at the same time, so thank you for your patience in advance. ^_^ Thank you for reading, and please look forward to my next chapter revision!
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