PREFACE

It was dark, though the sun had not long set. Hiashi Hyuuga and two other members of the Hyuuga main family were on a recognisance mission near Otagakure, they had been sent by the Third Hokage to investigate the many unexplained disappearances from surrounding villages. They had been in the area for almost a week without discovering anything significant and planned to return to the village the next next morning to report their findings.

In an abandoned village on the outskirts of Otagakure the three Hyuuga planned to make camp for the night. And it was there, in the ruined temple on the hill, that they found her.

In the shadows of the far left corner of the temple a mass of fiery orange hair was visible under a thin fawn blanket. As Hiashi drew closer his footsteps echoed of the cold stone walls and startled the sleeping child. She arose in a flash and bore her fangs against him but as he continued towards her she backed up into the corner more, like a cornered animal. Coming close to her he crouched to be at her a eye level and gain a better look at her. She was small and thin, her hair was overgrown and wild and she stared at him with wide, piercing hazel eyes,

"What is you name, young child," He asked softly, "I am Hiashi Hyuuga"

She did not answer, only stared at him,

"Where is everyone?"

"Gone," She answered after a long pause, her voice barely a whisper, carried in the silence, "They are all gone now,"

"'Gone'" He echoed back, "Where have they gone? How long have you been here?"

"I don't know,"

"Where are your parents?" He pressed, "Who is looking after you?"

"They are gone too,"

"Are you here alone?"

She nodded.

Hiashi draw up again and looked around the temple. It didn't look like she had been there very long and it didn't look like anyone else had been there before her for a very long time either. He silently wondered where she had come from. The two red markings above her eyebrows seemed familiar to him, though he couldn't recall which Clan they belonged to. she was thin and frail and Hiashi knew that a child like her wouldn't last much longer in a place, she would die from starvation or exposure before long. His companions also came to the same conclusion, and drawing up slowly behind him they both cautioned him that they couldn't just leave her there. Looking at the girls small face Hiashi was reminded of his eldest daughter, Hinata. They would both be around the same age he presumed and both appeared before him with a sense of weakness and frailty. He pitied the girl, just as he pitied his own daughter, and knew his companions were right, they couldn't just abandon her,

"Would you like to come with us back to our village, Konohagakure?" He asked her gently, "To a place where you don't have to be alone anymore,"

"Ko-no-ha-ga-ku-re?" She repeated back to him slowly,

"That is right,"

"A place I don't have to be alone" She murmured to herself in disbelief,

"If you would like to?" He posed again and she looked up a him wide eyed.

She nodded firmly after a small hesitation. Hiashi told her that they planned to leave in the morning and asked if they could set up camp in her temple. She agreed and the Hyuuga set about lighting a fire and drawing out blankets and food. Hiashi gave her a warmer blanket that the thin one she had as well as some of their food and she took them cautiously and returned to her corner. After her hunger was sated and she was warmer under the blanket she felt safer in their company and moved closer to them and the fire,

"What is you name?" Hiashi asked again having not received an answer the first time,

"My name?" She thought for a while, as if recalling a memory she had long forgotten, "My name is Tsukiko Kaguya."

The journey back to the village usually took two days, however in Tsukiko's weakened state it took her and Hiashi almost four as she couldn't keep up. He sent his companions on ahead to inform the Hokage of his delay and to report on what had happened during their mission. Tsukiko and Hiashi arrived in Konoha in the early morning of the fourth day with Tsukiko carried asleep on his back. The sounds of the village as they grew closer to the main gate and awoke her and he let her down so she could walk in on her own. Passing through the village to the Hokage building she stuck close to his side marvelling at the sight of the village and the large faces carved into the cliff face, but still cautious of her surroundings.

Knocking on the door of the Third Hokage's office Hiashi opened the door without waiting for an answer as he knew the Hokage would be expecting him,

"Lord Hokage," He greeted with a small bow upon entering the room

"Good morning, Hiashi" Hiruzen returned moving around from behind his desk, "And good morning to you too, you must be Tsukiko? I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the leader of this village. "

She took an instinctive step back as he approached but bowed slowly and cautiously to him, "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

Both Hiruzen and Hiashi were taken aback, despite the fact that she seemed frightened she still gave a polite greeting and showed no hostility. The two other Hyuuga Clan members who went with Hiashi on the mission to Otagakure had informed Hiruzen of the young girl a few days ago when they arrived back in the village without Hiashi. They had told him she was a cautious, but seemingly intelligent, child of the now extinct Kaguya Clan. Hiruzen didn't know what to make of the discovery of such a child near Otagakure, especially with such strange and concerning rumours surrounding that village. But while questions formed in his mind about her origins and he knew there were more pressing matters he had to attend to and so called in an assistant to escort Tsukiko Kaguya from his office and get her some food while he talked in private with Hiashi.

When they were alone Hiashi gave his report of what they discovered during their mission. While he listened Hiruzen gazed out the window at the village below and made to interruptions to ask any questions. When Hiashi was finished Hiruzen remained silent thinking over what he had just been told. Despite all the rumours about Otagakure his reconnaissance team had found nothing suspicious or worthy of note - and Hiruzen wondered if that in itself was the note worthy part. Did that mean all the rumours were simply just rumours, or was there something larger at play. Turning back to Hiashi Hiuzen thanked him for his work and changed the subject back to the young child who was brought into the village,

"What will happen to the girl now?" Hiashi asked,

"She will be placed under the protection of one of Konoha's most respected families," Hiruzen informed him lowering his head but keeping his gaze fixed on Hiashi,

"Surely you don't mean..."

"Tsukiko is in an unfamiliar place, most likely scared and cautious" Hiruzen continued, "It will be good for her to stay with a familiar, trusted face,"

"Lord Hokage," Hiashi insisted, "Since the founding of this village the Hyuuga main family has never taken in an outsider like this-"

"Hiashi," Hiruzen cut him off, "She is of the Kaguya Clan, we do not know anything about her abilities or the danger she may pose. We need to keep a close eye on her in order to know whether we made the right decision allowing her to stay,"

"She is only a child, but what if she proves to be a danger to the village?"

"Then we cannot let her stay... But we also can't let her leave either."

NEXT TIME-
CHAPTER 1: "He really does hate me, doesn't he?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

"What? You again, writing ANOTHER fic?" You may be thinking. And yes, yes I am. Despite the fact that I am notorious for not completing things I start this time is different. I have a point to prove with this story!

A friend of mine, actually more of a rival that a friend, ridiculed me one day by saying that I am unable to write a love story. Which is hella rude for one thing, but is also completely inaccurate. But simply saying "I totally bet I can write a love story!" just wouldn't cut, I had to back it up with proof. And so thus we have this story! And I will not loose to my rival, this will be the greatest love story I have ever written and it will rival even the greatest Shakespearian play! (though it also might be one of the only ones I have really ever written, but shh, that is irrelevant!)

Ah, but I cannot tell you the trouble I had just getting to this point, my children. I didn't have access to internet as I began writing this and I decided to just get as much progress done before posting the fist part so I would be able to continue posting more frequently even if I didn't have time to write as I would be well ahead of where I was posting. And it was going pretty well. Including this preface I had 6 chapters ready for posting. But... then the worst happened. I lost everything. All my work, all my planning - everything due to stupid technology! So I had to start all over from scratch - after I stopped crying this is. And I did. I restarted the whole thing and have even improved it since my first copy. And if that doesn't slow my dedication to this project then I don't know what would.

I will also tell you now, at the start of this journey, that I wanted to still focus on the plot and action of the story as well as making it a love story. So because of this, it is a bit of a slow burning story. If you are the sort of person who wants to read a story about romance - where the characters are together by the second chapter and are frick-fracking by the fifth, then this story probably isn't for you. But, if you want to read about falling in love, rather than just the romance side of love- then maybe you will like this more. I didn't want to sacrifice the MC's character development or the action and plot of the story just to force the romance and I wanted to stick as close to Kishimotos work as possible and do it justice - and as you know Naruto was never meant to be a Shoujo story with romance as the main plot device. Though, do not let me deter you, this is fundamentally a love story, it just focuses more on the development of that love rather than the outcome of it. I hope that makes sense? I guess you will just have to stick with me and this story and see what happens.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you choose to stick with it and follow its progress.