Meh. first Naruto fic. Hinata-centric

disclaimer on profile.

First Day

She could never forget the first time she had ever seen him. She was seven years old, small for her age and as pale as a ghost. Her first day at the Konoha Ninja Academy was indeed a memorable one, if only in her own eyes.

The day had started out rather badly. Her father had spent the minutes prior the beginning of school to lecture her on how important it was to uphold the Hyuuga clan's image of power and most importantly, warned her against embarrassing the name she ungratefully carried, embroidered in red on the back of her dark heavy jacket. She fought back tears as her father let her go into the playground. She walked towards the other chattering, excited kids hesitantly. She was so afraid… Afraid of being too weak and sent back home, afraid people wouldn't like her, afraid of getting hurt…Otou-san wouldn't stand for her being sent home, so her greatest fear was that she would be expelled because of her weakness.

She twiddled with her fingers and the other excited kids ignored her. Left alone, her mind wandered from fear, regret, mild hope until her mind focused back on fear. She was very distracted and almost didn't hear her name being called from Iruka-sensei, her teacher. She blushed as her name called again and she offered a small stuttering response that the teacher had trouble hearing. Nonetheless, her name wasn't called again so Hinata resumed to staring at the floor where she hoped nobody would bother her.

The morning past by extremely slowly. Iruka-sensei, after taking the attendance, gave them a rather long lecture about the values of the shinobi and what was expected by them by the Leaf. Hinata only half listened, her mind unable to calm.

After lunch, the afternoon flew by so fast that it left Hinata blinking. Hinata jumped as the bell rang and finally, that tense, scary first day was over. The kids started leaving the classroom, headed for the playground in front of the school.

She would wait for her father out here, she thought slowly, and stay near the gate, that way she wouldn't miss him and end up being forgotten.

She played with her fingers nervously, looking up slightly at all the other kids. The girls and the boys did not really mingle, rather playing with their own. Hinata sighed.

She was about to turn her back on them when a loud voice snapped her out of her shyness.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

She started at the boy who had yelled at. He had messy, tangled blonde locks that seem to spike up on their own, bright blue eyes and odd markings on his face. He looked really proud of himself for a moment, determined to make everyone listen to him.

"AND I'M GONNA BE HOKAGE SOMEDAY!" he continued yelling, fist in the air, "SO DON'T YOU FORGET IT!"

He panted slightly, silently waiting for a reaction from his audience. The audience had, however, been stunned into silence. Then, after a long moment, a few kids started to whisper. The few parents that had arrived early to pick up their kids rolled their eyes and scoffed. Their disdain was rather apparent, at least to Hinata. She wondered what that boy had done wrong.

He had a funny name, she thought quietly.

He was rather short too…in moments, all the kids were laughing at him, easily overpowering him.

He started yelling again. Naruto, angered, pushed another boy, who stumbled. Suddenly there was a huge ruckus at the playground, and Hinata nervously bit her lip. A hand was laced on her shoulder. Jumping, she faced her father, scared. Formally, she greeted him, shaking just slightly.

"I spoke to your teacher, and he told me you said nothing today." Her father answered, his hand leaving her shoulder. Hinata looked down. She stuttered an apology.

If he had heard her apology, he didn't answer. Instead he started walking away, and Hinata followed. Feeling daring all of a sudden, she looked back at the blonde-haired boy. He was smiling tauntingly at another kid. Hinata blushed and looked down. She hurried and tried to keep up with her father and his guards.

She didn't want to leave anymore. She wanted to stay and look at the boy who called himself Naruto.

She allowed a shadow of a smile creeping on her face when she thought that she would be seeing him again tomorrow.

She couldn't wait.