Chapter 1: The Mask

Disclaimer: Naruto obviously does not belong to me.

Two milky white pale hands laid the small porcelain cup gently on the small wooden table that stood between her and the elderly woman still sipping her own tea. Everything on the twenty-two year old girl seemed perfect, from her carefully put together lavender silk kimono and well-combed hair, to her peaceful facial expression and gentle movements.

The elderly woman laid her own cup on the table between them, before returning her wrinkled hands to her lap. She looked at the young woman before her and smiled, quite pleased with herself. Her training had truthfully paid off in the most amazing of ways. She had, in her own eyes, created a masterpiece.

"I talked with your father the other day", Kitsume said to her granddaughter with a small smile. "I wanted to make sure that your suitors were chosen properly and under strict criteria. And as it seems, the Hyuga elders have once again not failed me. You should be excited, my dear. All your dreams are bound to become true within less than a year. You will marry an excellent man and then you will be named the next leader of our clan. And who knows... maybe Kami-sama will have blessed you with a child by this time next year...".

Kitsume looked at her granddaughter, waiting for her reaction on the news she had just delivered her.

Hinata raised her head lightly, and looking at the woman before her, she offered her a soft smile.

"May you be blessed, obaa-sama. Your words have brought me great joy." Hinata said, but before any of the two women could speak another word, a servant girl from the branch house entered the room.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, Kitsume-sama. Hiashi-sama has asked for a meeting with Hinata-sama, as soon as possible. Our lord informed me that he will be waiting for his daughter at the Tsuki Garden.", said the girl, trembling a little before the old matriarch of their respective clan.

"Thank you very much for bringing word from my father, Nanami-san", said Hinata, trying to help the young girl out of her nervousness. "If it is not much trouble, I would truly appreciate it if you could inform my father that I will meet him there shortly".

The girl managed to smile a little.

"I'd be happy to do so, Hinata-sama"

And with that, the girl soon disappeared from their sight.

"If you excuse me as well, obaa-sama. It seems that our meeting has to be cut short today", Hinata said as she gracefully stood from her seat on the wooden floor.

"Don't worry about it my dear", Kitsume said and Hinata respectfully bowed, before she made her way out of the room.

It didn't take her long to reach the main garden of the Hyuga compound where her father was waiting for her. The first thing she saw, as she set foot to the Tsuki Garden, was his back clad in white. The second thing, was his strict eyes piercing right through her, as he turned his head to acknowledge her presence. But those were sights she was condemned to since she was a child. Even now, not much had seemed to change.

"Hinata", Hiashi said as his daughter approached him, "you came sooner than I expected".

"You asked for me, father", Hinata said as she bowed.

"Indeed", Hiashi said, "I'm sure your grandmother has informed you on the decisions of the council considering your marriage. That is not the reason I called you for. A letter has just arrived. It was sent to you by the Hokage. It considers your decision on officially abandoning your ninja duties, now that you are going to succeed me."

"I see", was all Hinata managed to say, as she received the, now opened, letter, by her father. "I'll make sure to have this matter dealt as soon as possible father. Let yourself be assured.", she said once she found the courage to speak again.

Hiashi nodded, giving her permission to go on with the rest of her duties.

"Hinata", she heard him call after her as she was about to climb those few steps leading to the inside of the Main branch house. She turned to look at him once more. "I am proud of the woman you have become".

"Thank you, father..." She said, beating back tears. "It... means a lot to me".

She reached her private chambers without even realizing. She was like a puppet for the best part of the day, acting on an auto-pilot mode, without thinking, without feeling. But once the door of her room closed behind her, she collapsed on the wooden floor, not even bothering to hold her tears any longer. They weren't happy tears though. They were tears of frustration.

Anyone would think she would cry out of happiness at her father finally acknowledging her worth, but in all truth, his words only managed to break her even farther. She was only good and worthy in everyone's eyes, just because she had become a much-wanted puppet in their hands. But she was the only one to blame because she was the one that had willingly let the strings be controlled by her father, grandmother and the council.

She almost ripped out the silky belt that was holding her kimono in place, as she tried to breathe properly again. But that didn't seem to help. She had given up everything, everything she loved, everything she was, and now she had to give away that one last thing that reminded her of her old shelf.

She threw her expensive kimono on the ground as if trying to throw away everything she had turned herself into.

She took out a white mask from one of her drawers. She had to meet Kakashi soon. He was waiting for her answer.

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A tall dark figure clad in old dusty shinobi clothes walked slowly through the woods. His steps were slow and steady, taking his time with reaching his destination. It was not as if he was happy to returning to Konoha anyway. If it weren't for the deal he had made with Kakashi a little after the war, he would have never returned to this godforsaken place.

He pinched the top of his nose in frustration.

"What a pain...", he murmured to no one in particular.

Kakashi had offered to excuse him for all his crimes and let him roam the lands, as long as he pledged his loyalty to Konoha and made sure to take on undercover missions for the sake of the village. The Hokage had called this fake freedom, a thank you gift, for helping them win the war against Kaguya four years back.

Thank you gift my ass, Sasuke thought. The old man obviously thought that it would have been smarter to use him this way instead of imprisoning him. He had thought of running away again in more than one occasions. He was strong enough to live as a rogue for the rest of his life, without anyone ever managing to bring him back. The reason he had decided to stay was another story though. It was definitely not because of love, or friendship, or even trying to rebuild his life and clan in Konoha though. That bullshit was for stupid men like Naruto.

"SASUKEEEEE!"

A loud voice echoed throughout the woods and before long, a blonde young man jumped and landed effortlessly on his two feet before him, disturbing his silent trip once and for all. At least Konoha was less than fifteen minutes away now.

"You're back!", Naruto said with enthusiasm, not losing even a tad of his goofball side, no matter how older or wiser he, supposedly, got.

"And you are being as observant as ever...", Sasuke said simply and kept walking, passing the future Hokage. That village was doomed in the end, and it would not even be because of him attacking it. At least if he had destroyed it, Konoha would have gone down heroically in the eyes of its people. Being torn to shreds by a stupid Hokage though... not so glorious.

"Ne, Sasuke!", Naruto said with his arms now behind his head, as he followed his childhood friend. "Will you be staying for long this time? I am quite bored lately, with that Hokage training and all. I haven't been on any missions in what seems like forever. And everyone is too busy lately...".

"You have Sakura, don't you?" Sasuke said flatly. "I don't understand why I should be the one to suffer."

"Ne, ne asshole, you can whine all you want, but I am buying us two some manly shake tonight. We'll have a great time.", Naruto said, playfully slapping his friend on the shoulder. "As for Sakura, she is on the last stages of her training with Tsunade these days. I don't think that she has even any time to pee... Anyway, you're not getting away from our shake contest tonight, dobe".

"You mean I am not getting away from one of those nights when you drink, puke and then I have to drag you home, all the while you are whining about still being a virgin..."

"That too!", Naruto grinned.

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"Are you sure about that?"

Hinata hung her head low, her eyes glued on the white mask she had just left on her Hokage's desk.

"Taking that path means no chances of ever turning back", Kakashi said as he looked at the girl sympathetically. She had grown too much as a ninja after the war and Neiji's death. It would be a great loss for Konoha to lose a shinobi like her, simply for the likes of Hyuga Hiashi.

"I know, Hokage-sama", Hinata simply said, still looking on her plain white mask. When she was offered that same mask among with a position among the Anbu, almost a year ago, a lot of things were different.

She touched the mask with the tips of her fingers.

"I have a person I need to protect, now more than any other time", she added and Kakashi shifted his weight forward as if trying to make his next words more prominent to her ears.

"There are also other ways of protecting her, though. Being one of the Anbu is one of those ways. You don't have to immerse yourself in political games of others to keep her safe."

She opened her mouth, ready to deliver her final decision when Naruto and Sasuke barged inside Kakashi's office.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, look who I fou-Oh! Hinata-chan! I didn't know you would be here", Naruto said, controlling his hyperactive self. He hadn't seen her in ages and he was truly happy to have been able to see her face after all those months she had spent making her clan happy.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto-kun...", Hinata managed to say, offering him a soft smile. "I was about to leave anyway", she said stealing a glance to where Sasuke stood. He didn't spare her a second glance though, as his empty eyes were now glued on the mask laying on top of Kakashi's filthy desk. Noticing his weird stare on her mask only made her more nervous around them.

"We can continue our meeting another time if that's not a problem with you Hokage-sama." Hinata said with a slight bow of her head.

Kakashi simply dismissed her with a nod, but before she turned on her heel to leave the room, the Hokage decided to say one more thing: "Please, Hinata, just think again of what we talked about".

She couldn't help but nod

"Hai, Hokage-sama"

As she turned to leave though she caught dark eyes staring right into her soul and mind. She hurried outside thinking that she should stay as far away as possible from those eyes.