Heya there, this is my latest story. And sorry I might take a bit more while to update my first story, cause I'm thinking of a better storyline and I might wanna rewrite it, perhaps. Besides, I'm a sixteen-year old kid in a country where the education system and exams are bent on destroying everyone's brain cells – I don't have a choice. So I'm not really free 'til like the end of this year.

Do read, and I won't nag for reviews. But reviews are still appreciated, and I will try my best to fulfil your requests.

Thanks :)

It's a Sasuhina!

YAY Sasuhina FTW!

Hinata POV

"Why does all this have to happen to me?"

"I know I'm weak but that's no reason to keep stepping all over me."

Normal POV

Being weak and timid, Hinata was under constant criticism from all sides. All her life, she had been looked down upon by her friends, her teachers, heck, even her own family!

Her father, Hiashi Hyuuga, was a proud man and considered Hinata a stain to his name. To him, she was nothing but a disobedient, weak, spineless smudge on his proud name. She was an unworthy heiress to the clan. He was personally ashamed of having her as a daughter. Hanabi would become heiress when she came of age. She was younger, but to Hiashi, anyone would be better than Hinata.

Hanabi, Hinata's own sister of course loved her and would not give her up for anything in the world. If it weren't for Hanabi, god knows what Hiashi might have done to Hinata. Disown her, maybe? Nevertheless, Hinata felt tortured by her own feelings of incompetence and inadequacy. She was weaker than her younger sister.

Hinata didn't know what to do anymore. Her sensei, Kurenai had her own problems to deal with. She also had tried her best to train Hinata. But to no avail. Nobody could train Hinata when she had given up on herself.

Tsunade sympathised with Hinata, and even offered to train her personally just as she did Sakura. But oh well, Sakura's jealousy put an end to that. There was only so much that even a Hokage could do. Tsunade could not protect Hinata from the humiliation and hatred she was subject to outside her own office, and in the Hyuuga household.

Sakura was going through a mental struggle, and worry for Sasuke had clouded her mind ever since he had left the village to gain more power so that he could kill Itachi. There was a rumour that the former Team 7 members were destined to be the next generation of Legendary Sannin, having been trained by Sannin themselves. This had gotten to Sakura's head and she now looked at Hinata with contempt and disgust.

The only friends that Hinata had, were Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Lee and Neji. Tenten was definitely her best friend, but Hinata felt as though they were drifting apart, despite both their best efforts to hold on. Tenten was now a Jounin and Hinata was a mere Chuunin. The gap in their strengths was quite big, although Tenten always made a point to never judge Hinata based on these. Kiba was too noisy and Shino rarely spoke, yet both of them gave Hinata great comfort and she was immensely grateful to them. Although Lee rarely spoke to her of anything other than "youth", Hinata was grateful to him too that he at least respected her as a human and didn't avoid her as though she had a contagious disease. Neji had been decidedly nicer to Hinata, too and was acting more like a responsible cousin.

Still, her friends could do nothing to protect Hinata from the sufferings she was subjected to from her clan and the rest of the village. It hurt her so much. She felt alienated.

Even Naruto now looked down on her. Even though he tried very hard to be nice to her and to avoid hurting her feelings, there was the inescapable fact that she was weak.

Weak.

That was the word she heard at least a hundred times a day. It rang in her ears, every day, every hour, every minute, every second. It hurt.

Most of all, it hurt her that Naruto loved Sakura instead of her. It hurt her that Naruto would have shouted in her face if only he weren't afraid she would break into tears the next second.

Hinata's love for Naruto began to fade by the second. However, there were a few remnants remaining.

She stared into the dark waters of the lake that stretched out in front of her. The surface was smooth, but she could not see her own reflection. Usually the lake reflected her thoughts back at her. Reflected her feelings. But this time, it was as though the lake swallowed all her feelings.

Hinata decided, today was the day she would confess to Naruto. If he said yes, she would stay and face every challenge the world threw at her, with him by her side. She would try her best to be his ideal girl.

If he said no…she would leave the village and…

She had no idea what she would do then. She had nothing to do. No reason to live if that happened. She could die for all she cared, in fact that would have saved her from the sufferings of the world.

…..

…

…

….

She found Naruto sitting in a bar, drunk as hell. But she didn't know he had just been rejected by Sakura, yet again. He was just drinking away his sorrows.

To the rest of the world, Naruto called Sasuke a friend. His best friend.

But inside, he was cursing Sasuke. He cursed Sasuke for stealing Sakura away from her. When Sasuke was here, he always competed with Naruto for everything and never acknowledged him. Even when he was gone, he was causing problems. Sakura kept spurning Naruto in hopes that Sasuke would come back and accept her.

This only served to make Hinata feel like an animal at the bottom of a food chain. She loved Naruto, who in turn loved Sakura, who in turn loved Sasuke.

She steeled herself to confess to Naruto and face the moment that would decide the course of her life.

…..

…

…

….

After the confession

"Don't you dare go crying on me! Not as though I haven't faced enough troubles for today! Stupid women and their screwed up love affairs….There's no way I could love a weakling like you! How about you go and try to get stronger, then perhaps I would consider you," Naruto shouted scornfully at Hinata. He then slurred something in a drunk whisper that Hinata couldn't hear. All she knew was that it probably contained the word "weak".

All the other people in the bar now turned their heads to stare at the duo. Almost all of them had smirks on their faces.

Hinata couldn't stop the tears now. The tears flowed freely.

That was how she ended up less than an hour later, racing through the trees, not caring where she went as long as she got as far away as possible from Naruto and that horrible village.

"Selfish Naruto! Even if I did decide to live and get stronger I wouldn't go back to a person like him who looks for superficial looks in a woman!" she promised herself.

All of a sudden, she saw a bright light in the distance ahead of her, slightly to the right. Curiosity got a hold of her and her tears momentarily stopped flowing. A giant – thing – landed and formed a huge crater. The impact sent Hinata's tiny body flying back.

Her eyes widened in the surprise and shock of seeing that person here, of all the people she could have met.

Cliffhanger! Although y'all probably have an idea who that person is anyway, right?

Sorry for showing Naruto in a bad light, but I never really liked him, although I don't hate him too much. I just had to create a situation for Hinata to leave Konoha, and he was the best choice.

Till we meet again…

Yours truly, Pride.