Whee! My 2nd fanfic :D I'm still new to this and go my eyes are my only beta so please don't flame me too much!

I do not own any of the Naruto characters or franchise! All honors go to Masahi Kishimoto-Sensei!

There was a celebration in the Hyuuga manor. Servants busied about as they hung silk curtains and set long banquet tables. Coordinators yelling in every part of the house and making sure everything was perfect. Maids ran through with irons and clothes that cost more than they'd ever get paid in a year. The reason for all this fuss? An heiress was coming of age.

And an heiress was engaged.

Hinata Hyuuga was stressed.

Mostly due to the 5 maids who made dressing her look like a pit stop during a NASCAR race. "I can do it myself." She tried to say but the women would have none of that. "You've grown so pretty, Ms. Hinata!" Rei Kiwa, the oldest of them gushed. Hinata had known her for all her life and Rei acted as a mother, teacher, and friend to her. "Your mother would be so proud." Another maid agreed. Hinata kept silent, she didn't feel pretty at all. Even as they dressed her in the finest clothes in Konoha and curled her long navy colored hair to perfection, she still felt like the ugly duckling she'd been for her whole life. Even though it was her 20th birthday, which meant she would automatically gain leadership of the clan, she still felt like the little girl trapped in a big house with no one to save her. She had reasons to be stressed.

Hinata Hyuuga did not know she was engaged. She was too busy learning her duties as Mistress of the house that day. 'You are to wake up at 5 a.m. every day to learn of progress in the house, you are to be in charge of all finances, if a Hyuuga breaks any rule than you are the one to discipline them, and you must decide everyone's meals including the servants.' The elders had told her and those were just the major things. Just hearing the little bit she did she understood why her father was so tense all the time. She also understood why Father was so hard on her and Hanabi. Those years of Life Management classes and agonizing hours hearing the factors of economics would surely come into practice now. Her only real support was her cousin Neji, though. After a few intense years he had become more of a brother to her. He had helped her overcome her stutter and learn to be more confident in herself. Now Neji was her assistant, who in any emergency where Hinata was disabled from doing her duty, would step up to the plate until she was able to come back to her duties. He currently was escorting her to the banquet hall where the festivities celebrating her birthday would start. "I'm proud of you, you know." These words startled Hinata: It her asking to the point to where it annoyed herself to even get him to say if he slept well, so hearing him outright say that he was proud of her was as if he had started flying in the air. "Thank you." Hinata turned her head so that he couldn't see the impossible shade of red she turned. "Just don't fuck anything up." He added, trying to redeem his cool factor. She wouldn't either, because Hinata Hyuuga was a good girl.

As they walked into the room Hinata tensed up at the sight. It looked like most of Konoha was in her house including the mayor Tsunade who was seated next to her father. Just about everyone's eyes were on her as she bowed to Tsunade and sat in between her sister and her father. "You look beautiful, Hinata." Tsunade smiled. Hinata just gave her a curt smile, wondering why it was so silent in the room. As if on cue her father cleared his throat and stood. "Ladies and gentlemen I have an announcement to make." He started in his booming voice which would usually make Hinata flinch, but in this situation she knew she wasn't about to get punished. "Today, my daughter Hinata is 20 years old. This means that she is now the head of the Hyuuga manor while I go into retirement." He gave his best attempt at a smile but it looked as if he had smelt something bad. "But there is another reason for celebration today," He gestured for someone to come up but Hinata didn't notice as she played with her food. "My daughter hand in marriage has been promised to Naruto Uzumaki, our future mayor!" She paused for a minute. He wasn't serious was he? He couldn't be. It was like time paused for a moment as people clapped while Naruto stood and bowed. Her father looked back, unconcerned at the grim look on his daughter's face. He knew she would go through with it, because Hinata Hyuuga was a good girl.

"Excuse me." She ran out as discreetly as one could while being watched by a crowd of people. She sat on a toilet in the nearest bathroom. "SHIT!" She screamed, holding her head in her hands. At one time she would've been happy: marrying her longtime crush. But Naruto had changed after he traced his parents back using a private investigator and finding out they abandoned him. He had started sleeping with Sakura, a mutual friend, and found a friend in alcohol. Even after she confessed her feelings for him, he just brushed it off and continued on with Sakura and to be perfectly honest Hinata was over him too. So where did this come from? Why did he decide to ask her Father for permission to court her all of a sudden? All she wanted was to have a say in something in her life. Father had taken her out of school, not allowed her to see her friends, and never ever allowed her to have a love life. Hinata broke down with a wretched sob at the fact that her whole life really had been planned out for her. After a few minutes she heard Hanabi calling her. Pull it together; you still have to go out there, but she didn't want to. Until she heard knocking to which she promptly ran out. "Excuse me." She said right into a broad chest. "No, excuse me." The smooth voice said as he pushed her off. All she was a pair of pitch black eyes that she could've melted in if not for Hanabi running up. "There you are! We need you back in there!" She huffed. "Congratulations by the way, Ms. Hyuuga." The man smiled before Hinata was rushed away. "Who was that?" Hanabi smirked. "No one I know." But that was a lie; she knew his face from long ago. "Either way, he was hot." And with that one exchange Hinata Hyuuga was rushed into the foreign world of not having anything planned out.

How was that? I know it was short, but I hoped you liked it~

Please read and review

~Sayngel~