Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

A young lady peered out the barred window of her room. How she yearned to go out into the world. How she wished she could be as free as they were, but alas, she could not.

The gentle jingling of the shackles that hung limply on her hands and legs remained a grim reminder of what was in store for her.

Death.

She was a demon.

She was never to be seen or heard of. She was to live alone, and to die alone.

She would never have anyone. This was the fate of those who did not have a pure bloodline of the Hyuuga clan.

"Mother…" she whispered to no one, as she looked up into the sky, tears trailing down her cheek.

Finally she nuzzled her face in her hands as she sobbed out, "You broke your promise! You told me I would never be alone, but I am! I always have been alone and now I always will be…"

Flashback

"Don't go near her!" a mother scolded her child as she pulled him away from a small girl. The small girl seemed shocked, her hands dropped to her sides as her short raven black hair swayed ever so gently from a stray passing breeze.

"Why mother? I want to play with her! She's nice!" the small boy started back as he strained on his mother's hand, a futile attempt of trying to get his mother to release her strong grip on his small hand.

"She's a demon! She will curse you! Is that what you want?" she exclaimed as she scooped up her child and ran away from the small girl, all the way sending her uneasy glances.

The little girl stared after the mother and son. 'A demon…" she thought as she silently trudged home. That was all she was called. At home, in the village, everywhere.

She felt people staring at her as she walked along the path leading to her house. An everyday event.

It was neither strange nor unusual for people to snicker at her, or tremble out of fear if they happened to land a glance on her.

Her hands clenched at her side.

'It's not fair! Why am I called a demon? Why does everyone stare at me? Why am I always bullied or picked on?' she whimpered to herself as she picked up her pace, ignoring the stares she received.

Once she reached the Hyuuga house she ran straight to her mother's room.

'Mama will know what to do! She always has! I'll ask her why I'm called a demon! She'll know the reason!' the little girl thought as she knocked on the door to her mother's room.

"MOMMY! I'm home!" she barged in without waiting for her mother's answer.

"Hinata dear, welcome back. How was your day?" her mother, Hikari asked. She sat on her bed and gestured to her daughter to sit on the chair that had been conveniently placed next to the large bed.

"It was pretty ok. I made a friend but his mommy didn't like me, so she pulled him away from me," she answered as she sat down on the chair.

"…" Hikari did not answer but a slight frown marred her delicate features.

"Mommy? Could I ask you something?" Hinata asked, worry evident in her face.

"What is it darling?" she murmured to her daughter.

"Why am I called a demon?"

Hikari, who had been looking out the window, whipped her face towards her daughter. "What?" she asked bewildered.

"Well the mother who pulled away my new friend called me a demon. So I was wondering if you could tell me why she called me that," she innocently asked her mother.

Hikari fought back tears as she looked at her daughter. Her beautiful daughter who should not have been cursed to the villager's glares.

"Hinata, come here. I want to tell you something," Hikari motioned to her daughter as she patted on the bed.

Hinata tumbled onto the bed, forgetting about her question, "What is it mommy? Are you going to tell me a secret?"

Hikari merely nodded as she hugged her daughter, "No matter what happens, I want you to know that you will never be alone. No matter how desperate you are or how bad a situation you are in, there will always be someone to help guide you, ok?"

"I will never be alone… Of course I won't mommy! I have you! If you're around I will never ever be alone!" she thought out loud as she hugged her mother back.

Hikarihad no heart to tell her daughter that this would probably be the last time she would ever see her daughter alive again, but before she could reply to her daughter's comment a coughing seizure took over her.

"Mommy? Are you alright?" Hinata worriedly asked, but when her mother did not answer her back but instead coughed even louder she ran out of the room, wailing for help.

She did not have to wait long as soon, her father came rushing towards her mother's room. She was shoved out of the way and locked out of the room.

Hinata patiently waited outside the room. Waiting for someone to call her in. Slowly, the day turned into night and finally morning had come. Somewhere along the way, she had fallen asleep, but she was gently woken up by a servant.

"Hinata-sama, your father requests your presence in his room," she murmured to the small girl.

"Can't I go and mommy first? Is she ok? Could you tell daddy that I went to see mommy?" Hinata asked as she quickly got up and reached for the door knob.

She was just about to pull open the door when someone snatched it away. Looking up she came face-to-face with the master of the house, her father, Hiashi.

"You are dismissed," his voice boomed as he waved his hand towards the servant. She bowed and hurriedly exited the scene.

"Daddy! Could I see mommy? I waited outside her room the whole time! Can't I see her? I'm worried about her," she exclaimed as she tugged on the hand that her father was currently gripping onto.

"Hinata you can't see now, or for that matter, ever again," Hiashi coldly answered as he pulled his daughter away from the room.

"Why daddy? Did something happen to mommy?" she asked as she tried to walk faster to keep up with her father's pace.

"Your mommy had cancer. You knew that didn't?" Hiashi asked ignoring Hinata's question.

"Yup! Mommy told me about it," she merrily exclaimed, unaware of her father's frown.

"Well, mommy died from cancer this morning. She isn't going to be around to protect you anymore," Hiashi smirked as he walked up an abandoned stairway that led to a fairly isolated room, one that did not experience many visitors.

"What?" Hinata looked up, astonished.

"You will never be able to see her again. As a matter of fact, you will never see anything or anyone ever again,"

"Why daddy? Am I going somewhere?"

"You are a disgrace to our family. BOTH you and your mother. Both of you were abominations, but now there is one less! Your pitiful mother left you all alone, like how she died. Alone.

You shouldn't be alive, but we, the council and I, have decided to be lenient with your sentence. You are to be locked up till the day you die. No one will ever see you, none will know of your existence.

We will only keep you alive with some food and water, and perhaps we could give you some clothes too.

You will not address me as 'daddy', instead you will call me master if I decide grace you with my presence. All these rules will take effect as of now, demon child" Hiashi smugly exclaimed as he pulled Hinata into the dark and stank room.

Hinata let Hiashi pull her towards a corner of a room, which had chains and shackles attached to the walls. He then proceeded to pt the shackles around both her wrists and ankles.

"Daddy…" Hinata started but was met with a slap.

Stunned, she caressed her cheek and looked up at her father.

"DON'T call me daddy!" he hissed and slammed the door behind him.

Hinata stood staring at the door, all alone.

End of flashback

Hinata slowly wiped away her tears. In the years she had spent in the room, she had slowly stopped talking to anyone who came to visit her, of which was quite rare, except for a few kind servants and her sensei, named Kurenai.

Kurenai had been like a second mother, caring for Hinata as though she was her own child. Hinata had loved her and appreciated it when she dropped by. Kurenai had taught her what she could, from the basics of taigitsu to utilizing her bloodline limit, the byakugan.

Kurenai also told her the reason she was called a demon child.

Hinata's mother, Hikari had been a psychic, one who could see the future if she wished to.

When Hikari had married Hiashi, this fact had not come to light. Thus, Hiashi had remained oblivious to his wife's condition, but this all changed when Hikari had become pregnant with Hinata.

Hikari, fearing that her unborn child would inherit the curse, had no choice but to tell her husband of the situation, hoping that he would understand, but, alas, it was never meant to be.

Hiashi became furious and demanded that Hikari abort the child, which he refused to do. Hiashi vowed to Hikari that he would never accept the child, even though it was his own flesh and blood. Hiashi kept true to his word, never spending time with both his wife and child.

This changed when Hikari contracted cancer. She became bed-ridden, and soon, it became common knowledge that she would not live long.

She did not reveal to Hinata that she may one day become a psychic, hoping that perhaps the 'gift' would not cultivate in her daughter.

Even on her death bed, she held on to that thought, but unfortunately Hinata was not spared. Ironically, the day Hinata had been locked up in her 'prison', she started receiving visions.

Visions of the unseen future and visions of the unchangeable past.

Though she did not know how to activate the gift, Hinata tried her best to teach herself what her absent mother could not, and she slowly and steadily progressed with her self-teaching and self-learning.

She hid the fact that she indeed had inherited the ability to see the future. The reason being that she did not want to end up like her mother.

Used.

Kurenai had told her during her frequent visits that when her mother had revealed her deadly secret, the Hyuuga clan had decided to use it to their own benefit.

They asked her to see into the future for any possible attacks against the clan, how the younger generation of the Hyuuga clan would fare in the ninja promotion exams and so on.

This ensured that they remained the strongest clan in Konoha, even better than the other clans.

When Hikari had died, so did their luck. Their status in society dropped.

So if Hinata revealed that she too had the power to see the future, they would see fit to use it to their advantage yet again.

This was something Hinata did not want, but it would not be long before they did find out about her ability, just like they found out about how Kurenai had secretly been teaching Hinata ninjutsu and taijutsu.

Recently, Kurenai had stopped visiting Hinata. Hinata had suspected the worst, and when she received a vision of Kurenai being killed by Hiashi she knew her worst fears had come true.

She knew if she did not want a repetition of the past to occur, she would have to runaway from this place.

She would have to escape.

In a small makeshift ramen shop, a young teenage boy sat down on a stool.

"Hey! Uncle Teuchi! Could I have a miso ramen?" he called out as he raked his hand through his blond hair.

"Hey Naruto! What's been going on? Have you managed to get any new recruits?" the owner of the Ichiraku ramen stall asked as he busied himself with making a bowl of ramen for Naruto.

"It's pretty good. We've got a lot of support recently. Even the kazekage of the wind country, Gaara is fully supportive of us rebels. No surprise though, seeing that Orochimaru killed his father. He probably wants revenge," Naruto thought out aloud as he took the bowl of miso ramen from the stall owner.

"How are the other ninjas?"

"They like the village, but they still miss Konoha,"

"I see. I guess that can be expected. After all, they did grow up here and all their families are here,"

"Yeah," the blonde murmured as he absently looked at the counter.

The change in behaviour was not missed by the amiable uncle.

"What about you?"

"Huh?" Naruto shot up, bewilderment evident in his bit blue eyes.

"Do you like Suna?"

"It's ok. I don't see the difference between Konoha and Suna, except for the fact that Suna is surrounded by a desert, while Konoha... is surrounded by a forest..."

Uncle Teuchi laughed and shook his head, "So, are planning to move back as soon as the rebellion is over?"

"Actually I don't care..."

Uncle Teuchi nearly dropped the bowls he was wiping.

"I think staying in Suna might be better for me, that's all,"

"W...What? Are you sure? What about your dream to become the Hokage? Rokudaime?" he gently prodded.

"When you grow up, you begin to realise that the world isn't as beautiful as you thought it was..." he crudely answered.

Before Teuchi could retort to the remark, his daughter called out to him.

"Father! An order has come in from the Hyuuga estate! They want 20 bowls of miso ramen!" a young girl of the she shouted from the back of the shop.

"Alright Ayame! Could you add one more to the order? For Hinata-chan?" Teuchi called back to his daughter.

He heard a murmur from behind the shop, taking it as a sign of approval Teuchi resumed wiping the counter.

"Hinata-chan? Who's that?" Naruto as he stuffed his mouth with noodles, desperately hoping to change the subject they had earlier been covering.

"You're pretty blur for someone who just scoured the whole of Konoha for recruits. She's a young girl, probably about your age, who the Hyuuga clan has kept locked up for ten years, since she was eight," Teuchi scowled, realising what the adolescent was trying to do, but decided to let it pass.

"TEN YEARS? That's even more than half of her age!" Naruto abruptly stood up as he spat out his noodles on Teuchi.

When Naruto finally saw the after effects of his outburst he mumbled his apologies and resumed eating, while Teuchi wiped off the noodles from his face.

"Anyway, like I was saying. They barely keep the girl alive! Just giving her the basic necessities, like water and food. I think she'd be better off dead to be honest," Teuchi murmured.

"Why doesn't anyone try to help her?" Naruto asked him as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Sure. An extremely skilled lady ninja by the name of Kurenai did. Want to know what happened to her? She was killed by the clan head Hiashi,"

Naruto gaped at him.

"Father! I have the 21 bowls of miso ramen ready to go!" Ayame shouted as she walked out from the back of the shop juggling 21 bowls of ramen with her.

"Alright, I'll go deliver the bowls while…" Teuchi started but was cut off by Naruto.

"Hey uncle, how about I deliver the bowls for you? I'll be back with their payment and mine," Naruto smirked as he grabbed the bowls from Ayame and balanced them with ease.

"Whatever for Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked surprised.

"I want to go meet this Hinata-chan," was the answer she received as he walked off with the bowls.

Ayame and Teuchi just stared after the boy.

"Dad? I think you should make two more bowls of miso ramen. I have a feeling Naruto's going to be back with company," Ayame smiled.

Teuchi nodded and set to work.

Naruto walked as fast as his legs cold carry him, while balancing the bowls of ramen on his arms.

'I need to get into the Hyuuga household, but how? Maybe I could use Kao Utsushi no Jutsu on the person who answers the door? That's sounds like a plan, but I need to spend time with the person. Hmm. Or maybe I should just knock the fella out,' Naruto thought as he walked.

When he finally reached his destination he could not help but gape as he rung the doorbell. The Hyuuga household was huge! How the heck was he supposed to find one girl in this colossal mansion?

He began cursing to himself on his bad luck, when suddenly someone opened the front door.

A middle-aged lady smiled at him as she gestured him in, 'You must be here to deliver the ramen. Please follow me and I'll show you where to put the bowls down,"

He nodded.

As he followed her down the hallway he noticed an abandoned stairway, which was dimly lit and was very dusty.

Without his realization he had come to a stop, and was just standing and staring at the gloomy staircase.

"That's where the young mistress, Hinata-chan lives,"

"What? He asked as he turned around to face the servant who had confirmed his suspicions.

"Isn't that what you were thinking? 'That's the place,' You've come here to 'kidnap' her haven't you? It's happened lots of times before," she smugly replied as a glance at the stairway.

"Anyway, that's where Hinata-chan is. She's been there for ten years. All alone. Sometimes if you listen, you can hear her crying at night. Her mother –bless her soul- was such a dear. She would have never wanted this for her daughter. She sincerely believed that the master would relent and take care of Hinata-sama, but that never happened," the servant shook her head and sighed heavily.

"Why don't you give me the bowls of ramen? I'll put them in the kitchen. Here's the money for the food. Don't worry, nobody goes up to that room other than me, and that's just to pass her meals,"

She was about to walk off when she heard a soft reply, "Wait..."

She cocked an eyebrow at the boy standing in front of her.

"Why are you letting me...'kidnap' her?" he asked warily.

The elderly lady's features softened as she looked at the boy, "Naruto-kun? Do you believe in destiny?"

"Yeah. Doesn't everyone?"

Ignoring his rhetorical question, "Is destiny a matter of chance or a matter of choice?"

He paused to think for awhile, "Choice. Nobody controls your destiny. You choose where you want to be," he strongly replied, his eyes ablaze.

"I can't tell you the reason why I let you take Hinata-chan, but one day you will know. For now, think of it as destiny. Take care of her Naruto-kun. Make sure she never is alone. I know she's in good hands but I would like you to promise me that you will always be with her," she asked as she stared the boy in the eye.

"I promise. Thanks lady..." he turned as he sprinted towards the staircase.

'That was weird, why did she ask me to promise that? Also, what was all that stuff about destiny? Sounded like a certain Hyuuga I know about, except he seems to think the opposite of what she thinks. And what's up with her, calling me Naruto-kun and all…' Naruto thought when it finally occurred to him.

She had known his name, and he hadn't even introduced himself to her.

He jumped down the flight of stairs and scanned the premises for the lady.

Nobody.

He shook his head and ran back up the stairs and came to the door. It had been locked with a large padlock.

Naruto easily used his chakra to break open the lock and slowly opened the door.

Quietly the middle-aged lady stepped out from behind a tree she had been hiding.

She slowly smiled and then a sudden gust of wind blew from nowhere, blowing up fallen leaves.

When the leaves finally settled the lady was gone…

'I have to get out of here' Hinata thought.

She searched the sparse room for something hat could help her break free from the shackles.

'Why didn't Kurenai teach me how to unpick locks?' Hinata thought as she began to pound the shackles on the wall.

She hoped she wasn't making too much noise. If her father heard the din, she might never see daylight again.

She was still uselessly pounding on the thick shackles when she heard the rattling of the padlock outside her room door;another obstacle she would have to worry about later.

She paused mid-motion. She heard a little more rattling and finally it stopped.

She heaved a huge sigh of relief and was about to continue with the pounding when she heard a small explosion.

It was soft but she was sure she had heard it. Perhaps she had been mistaken, but when she heard the turning of the door knob she knew she hadn't been wrong.

The door slowly opened.

Hinata thinking it was her father shrank back and tried to blend in with the surroundings, which was a surely impossible feat with her remarkably pale skin.

She had been expecting a pale faced man with lavender eyes, but instead she saw a blond haired teenager who couldn't have been more than 18 years old.

Cerulean met lavender.

"Are you Hinata-chan?" she heard him ask.

She just stared and gaped at him.

"Are you Hinata-chan?" Naruto repeated as he cocked his head to the side, waiting for her reply.

"Yes, I am. Who… who are you?" Hinata stuttered out.

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service! But man, you sure have been deprived of a good room," he muttered out the last comment to himself rather than to the girl across him.

She mumbled something that Naruto didn't catch.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"You shouldn't be here. If my fa… if the clan leader were to find you here you could get killed. You should go while you can," she spoke out louder and got up to push him out, but was restrained by the shackles and chains.

"Sorry, but I can't do that. If I were to go back without you, that would defeat the purpose of me coming here in the first place," he shook his head, making his messy hair, even more messier.

"You can't, I won't let you! I… I'll scream, and then you'll have no choice but to run," she whispered as she peered behind him and then positioned herself to scream.

In a quick motion Naruto ran towards her and clasped his hand over her mouth.

Hinata blushed a bright red.

"Nope. You can't do that, I made a promise to someone that you'll never be alone, and I can't carry out that promise without being with you can I?" Naruto stated as he slowly released his hand from Hinata's mouth.

He then slowly using his chakra, created mini-explosives that burst open the shackles.

Hinata didn't move, still crouched in the position she had been in, when she tried to crack open the shackles.

"Alright, come on! Let's go before someone comes," he whispered a he looked around to see if anyone had heard the explosions.

She shook her head, eyes downcast. Her long, waist length hair shook with her.

"I…I can't"

"Why not? Are you hurt? Would you like me to carry you?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"It's not that. It's…It's just that, how do I know I can trust you? Ho do I know that in the end, I won't be back where I started. Alone. Weak. How do I know?" she blurted out, tears welled up in her eyes.

Naruto was taken back by her revelation. Looking into her eyes, he could see so much pain, hurt and loneliness.

She was just an empty shell.

Just like how he had been.

And how he still felt...

Finally, he cleared his throat and stretched out his hand, "I can't guarantee that you will never be alone, and I can't guarantee that you will be the strongest in the world,"

Hinata looked up, to see his fingers brush away a few stray tears.

"But, I can tell you this. As long as I live, you will never be alone, and as long as I stand on my own two feet, I will make sure that you will be strong,"

He reached out his hand, and this time Hinata took it.

Author's note: What is Orochimaru up to? Why is Naruto recruiting rebels? How is Gaara related to all of this? Thanks for reading! Please review!