Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

A/N: This is my first Naruto fanfic, so be nice to me. There will be many couples. Especially Sasuke and Hinata, cuz they’re the best couple in Naruto. Ever.

The Voice of the Mute

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Chapter 1

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Running.

It was the only thing that made her feel better. The only thing that helped her get her mind off of her problems. And really, for being just a freshman in high school, she had a lot of problems. She was constantly being humiliated and bullied by her classmates, and her teachers just never seemed to care. And the ones that did try to help only made things worse for her in the end and eventually gave up on her. Honestly, she’s had just about enough of it, and would love nothing more than to give everyone a piece of her mind, and be strong. But she just wasn’t like that, and even if she was, she just couldn’t. Why? Well, it’s simple.

She’s mute.

She can’t speak, and that causes many problems for her. Why? Because aside from her teachers, not many people know that she can’t speak. And then there are those evil people who just call on her and ask her questions, knowing full well that she can’t speak, and she can’t do anything about it but stay silent and stare out the window from where she was seated. And that easily led people to think that she thinks of herself better than the rest. Which, she doesn’t, not by a long shot. One of those ‘evil’ people that do such to her is none other than Sakura Haruno, lead actress in the Drama Club, and leader of the Dance Team. Along side her is her ever faithful friend, Ino Yamanaka, the leader of Cheerleading Squad, and captain of the Softball Team. Both of them, in Hinata’s opinion are nothing but spoiled little daddy’s girls who get what they want and when they don’t. Well, let’s just say it isn’t a pretty picture. Of course, they don’t have to worry about not getting their way since they have flocks of fans following their every move, which only makes them a bunch of stalkers.

Hinata shook her head, her lavender hair, which reached a couple of inches past her shoulders waving behind her as the wind blew gently on her face. She jogged down the desolate, paved sidewalk and came to a stop, jogging in place at the street’s corner, her large, pale lavender eyes glancing from side to side to make sure that no cars were coming as she crossed the wide street and continued her morning jog.

There were many other problems than the previously mentioned. Besides school, she had to deal with home problems, and a lot of them. I mean, her family was pretty much a bunch of psychos, of course only in her opinion. The only ones she didn’t think were psycho was her little sister Hanabi, and her older cousin Neji. Everyone else were nothing but a bunch of, well, crazy, deceptive, psycho, the list of names for them could go on, but she wasn’t going to think of it. At home, she had to deal with an abusive drunkard of a father who she tries her hardest to protect her sister from. And, well, it takes a great deal of energy and effort from her, especially when she has about two jobs to handle to at least take care of Hanabi and herself, while balancing school with the rest of her never ending problems.

You see, her mother had left them with their father because she just couldn’t handle it any more. After a horrible incident that she tries her hardest to forget, Hinata knew that her life would never be the same. With an emotionally unstable sister, and her powerful, abusive father, she knew she had to try her hardest to stay strong and keep her sanity intact in order to protect her sister and one day get her sister out of harms way for good.

So, here she was jogging to keep herself calm and center, and ready for the upcoming day. After jogging a couple of blocks, Hinata turned onto a street lined with large apartment complexes. She never paid any attention to them while she passed them, coming to a slow stop to one of the mediocre buildings in the middle of the area. The large, dull, gray building loomed over her, and she could only stare at it blankly before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes before walking through the large, glass doors, and into its large, spacious lobby.

“Ah! Good morning, Hinata-chan!” exclaimed a small, old lady with pure curls of hair, and a warm smile on the creamy, wrinkled face.

Hinata smiled and bowed to the lady as she came around the front desk to greet her with a hug. The old lady was the owner of the complex in which Hinata lived, and only reached just two inches above Hinata’s waist. It was a wonder how she was even able to run things here. But, that didn’t matter to the young Hyuga, she was glad that the old lady was the owner, for she was like a caring, and kind grandmother to her and her sister.

“You were out for a jog this early in the morning, were you?” she asked with warm, small, sky blue eyes behind her great round spectacles.

Hinata nodded shyly and allowed the old lady to tug her along to one of the square, white plastic table with four wooden chairs on every side. Hinata pulled one of the chairs out from under the table and sat on the firm, wooden seat, leaning back and sighing in slight exhaustion, while wiping the slick sheen of sweat that had formed on her forehead with the back of her hand.

The old lady smiled and turned to her, “Would you like a cup of tea? I just recently got an order of blueberry tea. It should help you unwind and relax.”

Hinata turned to her and smiled greatfully, nodding in acceptance for the offer. The old lady smiled back, telling her to wait there and turned to pad her way to the back office. Hinata stretched before folding her arms on the table’s smooth, clean surface and plopping her head down, snuggling deeper in her arms before attempting to sleep a little longer. But, that wasn’t possible when she heard the shuffling of feet come towards her and a deep, familiar chuckle from behind.

“I see that you’re not ready for school yet, Hinata.” came the familiar, mature voice behind her.

Hinata sat back up in her chair and turned to face her sudden companion with a pout. This only led to her companion chuckling even more.

“Don’t pout Hinata, you’re going to have to get ready soon, if you don’t want to be late for school. I can’t have my cousin do that now can I?”

The sound of another pair of feet making their way towards the two caught Hinata’s attention along with the nice aroma of blueberries. Hinata smiled when the old lady returned, placing a glass, white, steaming mug, with a dark, maroon liquid inside it on the table’s surface right in front of her. Hinata carefully took the hot mug and sipped at the steaming liquid, smiling as the sweet flavor of blueberries consumed her taste buds.

“Why hello there, Neji-kun. I see that you’re early as ever! Are you here to pick up Hinata-chan and Hanabi- chan for school?” the old lady asked with a sly grin on her wrinkled features.

Neji rolled his light lavender eyes and folded his arms over his chest, “Of course I’m here to pick them up, I can’t have them be late for school, now can I?”

Hinata smiled and turned to look at Neji’s uniform while the old lady laughed. Neji wore a long sleeved black button downed school jacket with a white T-shirt underneath. He had long, matching black slacks and sleek, dark brown formal looking shoes. Neji’s hair was a long dark brown mane that was tied in a low pony tail at middle of his back with a white ribbon. Hinata smirked when looking at it, knowing full well who would tie it in a bow and getting him to actually where it like that.

Neji saw her gazing at him with a smirk and mischievous glint in her large lavender eyes, and felt a faint blush rise on his cheeks.

“It’s not what you think, Hinata.” he stated sternly, but the effect was lost when he coughed in his fist and turned away.

Hinata just nodded and stood up from her chair, leaving the still steaming mug of tea on the table and bowing to the old owner of the apartment before turning to jog up across the lobby and up the stairs to the place where her family was staying. Looking at the door, Hinata sighed before taking a silver ring of keys and using the lone, metallic key to stick into the door knob to unlock and open the big, wooden door carefully, and entering into the large living room quietly to turn around slowly close the door so she wouldn’t wake her father up. Stepping lightly on the polished wooden floors of the living room, around a large, black leather couch and small, round glass table beside it and around the corner nearby into a small hallway. Hinata stopped in front of a door that had a lopsided sign saying: ‘Hinata’s and Hanabi’s Room’. Taking a shy glance to the dark end of the hallway where her father’s room was, Hinata carefully entered her room, closing the door lightly and turning to step over the mess of her sister’s strewn clothes only to come up to the small Hyuga’s bed and put her hands on her hip, shaking her head in disapproval to see the younger girl sleeping like a rock, with her covers half on her and half on the bed with her small body sprawled out on the stiff mattress. Hinata leant down to poke her sister in the head, only to get a grumble in response, and a hand swatting her hand away and turning on her side, facing the pale wall and away from Hinata. The indigo haired girl shook her head before grasping the sky blue sheets with tight fists and giving a sharp tug, sending the sheets to fly off her sister, and the said girl to roll over and onto the floor with a loud ‘thump’.

“Ooowwww!” the small girl grumbled with clenched eyes, sitting up Indian style and rubbing her sore but, “That hurt, Hinata!”

Hinata could only shake her head, going towards her already made bed and picking up a pair of folded clothes from her lavender bed sheets. She then grabbed the pair of folded clothes next to her on her night stand and handing them to the pouting Hanabi still sitting on the tan carpeted floor.

“Do we really have to go to school?” Hanabi asked with a big yawn, stretching her arms out wide before taking the neatly folded clothes from her sister.

Hinata looked at Hanabi with a soft gaze and nodded before heading out the door and walking across the hallway and into the bathroom where she locked the door.

Hinata stepped out of the bathroom in her clean school clothes which included white, long sleeved blouse with a dark, almost black, navy collar and cuffs, with a small cardinal red ribbon tied at the end of her collar, and a skirt the same color as her collar which came down to rest rite at her knees. She also sported long white socks and brown shoes. Hinata walked into her room with her large, white towel wrapped around her head and smiled when seeing Hanabi dressed in her school clothes, which had a green skirt and white shirt, along with a green collar and cuffs. Honestly, Hanabi hated the outfit, but there was nothing that she could do about it, even though she tried to hold her own rally outside the school because of it.

Hanabi looked at Hinata with a bright grin and said, “You see? I’m ready, so you don’t have to scold me. Now lets go downstairs to the lobby, I know that Neji- kun is down there waiting for us already!”

The excited pre-teen rushed past her sister with her school case in hand, while Hinata stepped into the room, unwrapping her hair from the towel, placing into a small bin next to her bed before grabbing her own school case and walking quietly through the apartment. When out the door, she locked it and rushed down the stairs so she wouldn’t keep Neji and Hanabi waiting any longer.

Hinata entered the lobby to see Hanabi teasing Neji about his hair, while Neji blushed with crossed arms, arguing with the young Hyuga. Hinata smiled at the sight and walked towards them, poking Neji in the shoulder to let him know that she was ready. Neji immediately stopped arguing and looked towards Hinata with a smile and a nod of the head.

“I see that you’re ready to go Hinata-chan. You didn’t forget anything did you?” he asked gently.

Hinata shook her head and looked towards Hanabi with a curious gaze, which the girl just smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget anything this time. Now let’s go!” she exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air and running ahead of them to lead them out of the apartment.

Both Neji and Hinata sighed, shaking their heads in amusement before they began to stroll at a slower pace behind the enthusiastic girl.

“I don’t know how you do it, Hinata- chan.” Neji stated, with one hand in his school jacket’s pocket, “She’s so full of energy, if she were my sister, I’d just end up yelling at her the whole time.”

Hinata smiled, giggling behind her hand and shaking her head before giving a shrug of the shoulders and stepping through the glass doors of the apartment and into the now bright outside. The trio continued their trek down the desolate sidewalk and around the corner to see a large building a few feet ahead of them. It was a large, castle like building with a large glass, dome for the roof at the center of it. Neither of them understood why the place had such a thing for the majority of the roof, and they probably never would. It was about 15 minutes until the trio stopped in the front of a large, open iron gate where a large, wide paved road led to straight to the Middle School building, and forked off to head towards the school’s gym, library, and other building.

Hanabi scowled when she stopped in front of the large path and turned to look at her sister and cousin with her hands on her hips saying, “I don’t know why we have to leave so early everyday, there’s never anyone here except for the teachers!”

Neji chuckled and ruffled her hair, “We leave early so we can drop you off at your school before going to ours. You know it takes about 25 minutes for us to make it over there from here. And we want to be early.”

“Yeah, well would it hurt to be like normal people and go to school when everyone else does, and not at like 5:00 in the morning?” she pouted, with large puppy dog eyes.

“Sorry, kid, but we can’t. Besides, it’s not 5:00 in the morning, it’s only 5:55.” Neji said, looking at his watch, and sweat dropping, “Alright, look. Just go to your classroom, sleep for a while, then go to the cafeteria to get something to eat.”

Hanabi sighed and rolled her eyes, “Fine.”

Neji ruffled her hair again, saying bye before walking down the sidewalk towards the high school. Hinata came up and gave Hanabi a hug and a big smile before waving bye towards her sister before jogging to catch up to her cousin and walking in a comfortable silence side by side with him.

Hopefully, today would be a good day.

A/N: This is the end of the first chapter. The next one should have more, especially more characters. Anyway, thanks to those who read this. Let me know what you think. Laters.