Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Watch Me ❯ Watch Me ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hinata lay in the same hospital bed, in the same white room, with the same white bandages on her arms. She couldn't help but sigh as she looked at herself. She had failed again.

The mission had been moderately difficult: escort the firstborn daughter of the daimyo to a village in the outskirts of the fire country.

The first few days had been easy-traveling on a well worn road and stopping constantly to allow the kind noble to stretch her legs. It wasn't until the fourth day that Kurenai-sensei asked the noble woman to refrain from doing so as they had reached an area barely controlled by the daimyo, her father. The lady had agreed and all had gone as planned, except for one thing. No one, not Shino's bugs, Kiba and Akamaru's noses, or Hinata's eyes had seen the attack that reached them the next day, a few miles from their destination.

The day had begun like all the other days on the mission. The four shinobi got up, made breakfast, woke the noble up, and then proceeded to break camp. They had only traveled a mile when sixteen shinobi, wearing Sound village head protectors had ambushed them. Shino and Hinata were instantly ordered to rush the daimyo's daughter to the safety of the village while Kiba, Akamaru, and Kurenai held them off. The plan worked relatively well, yet no one counted on the six sound shinobi following Shino and Hinata, then ambushing them as they rushed back to their comrades.

Their charge out of danger, the two began to fight, doing well against their four opponents. The sound shinobi had no special jutsus so Hinata's Byakuugan and Shino's bugs took care of them easily. As they ran to Kurenai and the Inuzuka duo, Shino raced ahead and Hinata lagged behind, deactivating her Byakuugan- a costly mistake.

Two sound shinobi had stayed behind, hoping to kill at least one of the leaf ninjas and they found their prey in Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress was attacked from behind-two kunai to her left shoulder, before she managed to knock them out with her Gentle Fist taijutsu. The rest of squad 8 arrived shortly. They were very proud of her and were ready to leave when Akamaru sniffed the air and growled.

Kiba turned to the white dog, questioning him as to his actions. The answer came as Hinata stood up, then promptly swayed and collapsed-she had forgotten about her arm. The team did some emergency first aid-removing the firmly embedded kunai, wrapping her arm in gauze and splinting it-before returning to Konoha at top speed-Hinata supported by the two Inuzukas.

Now she lay on the bed, trying desperately not to scream as the doctors removed the hasty bandaging and began to berate her as to why she'd used Gentle Fist taijutsu when her arm was already damaged.

Before her tears could start to flow, however, her canine loving companion, Kiba yelled at the doctors to "Give it a rest! Either she attacked or she was killed!" she didn't think she'd ever been so grateful for him before!

Even as she began to succumb to sleep, Kiba's voice rebounding through the room as he mumbled about stupid doctors and their idiotic ways of blaming shinobi for trying to survive, the door flew open and in walked her father, Hiashi-Sama. He looked at Kiba and ground out a "Leave. Now."

Kiba, being the good friend he was, looked to Hinata for approval, received a shy nod, and left the room.

Hiashi wasted no time. "What were you thinking, Hinata. You are the heir to the Hyuuga main house. The fact that you made the mistake of being hurt by inferior shinobi, not to mention hurting yourself in your own attack is disgraceful! You shame the Hyuuga name! You are a miserable, pathetic excuse for a Hyuuga. When are you ever going to learn? Why couldn't you have been born better? Stronger? More like Hanabi? Why couldn't you have been switched with Neji? Why was I, no, why was the head family, burdened with such a useless child? A useless heir? You are of the main Hyuuga house! You are a Hyuuga! You..."

Hinata cut him off sharply. "Stop! I never asked to be a Hyuuga! I never wanted to be the head of the main house! I've never wanted to be a Hyuuga!"

Hiashi stood there, stunned. "You ungrateful child! How dare you? You are lucky to have been born a Hyuuga! So many would give anything to be in your place!"

"Then let them have it! I don't want it! I never have!"

"And just who do you think will take you? No one wants such a pathetic girl! No one..."

Hiashi's tirade was cut short by the door flying open, and falling of its hinges. An enraged Kiba Inuzuka stood there, Akamaru at his heels, growling.

Hiashi turned to him. "Get. Out. This is no business of yours..."

"It is." Kiba's sharp retort cut him off. "It is my business. You want to know who'd take Hinata? I'll tell you! The Inuzuka's would take her. In fact..." he walked toward Hinata, lifting her up gently and cradling her shuddering and sobbing form. Her sadness only served to make Kiba angrier. "In fact, from this moment on, she is no longer Hinata Hyuuga. She is Hinata Inuzuka!"

"She had living family. Yours cannot adopt her, dog-boy." Hiashi snapped.

Kiba laughed, his eyes gleaming with a feral light. "Who said anything about adopting? Hinata?" he looked at the pale woman in his arms and whispered some words. At her nod, he looked up at Hiashi. "Hinata will be my wife."

Hiashi looked on at the scene, hardly believing that the twenty-two year old woman cradled against her twenty-three year old teammate’s chest was his daughter. "You wouldn't dare..."

His threat was cut short by Kiba's smirking retort. "Watch me."