Hihi! Anyways, this is actually a one shot that I'm doing for an ItaHina club contest on DA, so comments and suggestions would be EXTREMELY helpful. Especially since I wrote it in such a rush due to contest deadlines and such-blushes- No flaming please.
Disclaimer:Naruto and all characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto
"Oneesan! Please let me stay with you! Don't leave me again."
Hinata peered down at her younger sister. She had grown rapidly throughout the year and was nearly as tall as Hinata herself. But it was her face, contorted with sobs and lips quivering, that made her seem almost unrecognizable to her elder sister in the vague dark of the evening. What had happened to the unstoppable firecracker that never stayed down on the ground for long?
"Hanabi-chan. Go back home before they come looking for you." Hinata whispered as coldly as she could bring herself to do. She knelt down onto the ground, picked the shivering girl up, and wiped the dirt off her face in an almost maternal gesture.
Hanabi responded by burying her face in one of the red clouds of Hinata's black cloak.
"You don't know what it's been like now, since you left us. You don't know what they've done to me; what it's like having the title of Hyuuga heir thrust upon me when I never wanted it or what it feels like to always have to push myself to Neji's level." She was gasping and panting as she spoke; so that her words were barely intelligible.
Hinata only smiled softly. She knew exactly what it was like, and she'd known it from birth.
"It will get better for you soon, Hanabi. After all, father loves you."
"And I love you!" Hanabi raised her voice furiously, but softened it when she saw the cold look on Hinata's pale face temporarily fade away.
"Please, let me join you. I promise I won't be in the way. I will be loyal to Akatsuki. I promise." Hanabi bowed her head as she spoke, and her wispy brown hair was becoming tangled and mud stained.
All of father's harsh training and long, passionate lectures on fulfilling one's duty to their village seemed to have done nothing to inspire loyalty to it in either of his children, Hinata thought to herself with a twisted sense of satisfaction.
However, as much as she still cared for her sister, she felt that Akatsuki was her territory alone. She would never let Hanabi take that from her. More importantly, she would never let Hanabi take him from her.
"Go back home now, Hanabi, before I am forced to punish you or worse. Believe me; I will do much worse than what father would do."
Hanabi snapped her head back up and stared at Hinata with her white eyes suddenly seeming dark and animated.
"They've changed you. You're not the same anymore. He's changed you." She shouted while pointing an accusing finger in Hinata's direction.
"You're right about that, I have changed," Hinata said while smiling and taking Hanabi's small, rough sun tanned hands into her own, which were soft and white; with dark purple polish decorating her long nails. Hanabi stared at them, fascinated.
"I also want to be changed, and to be free. Like you are."
Hinata stood up abruptly. "Don't be silly. I can't help you. Maybe one day you'll find a way to help yourself." With those words, she left her sister there, crying alone in the dirt.
The old Hinata would have ran back to her and held her tightly. For a second, she gave Hanabi one last compassionate glance before she remembered that it was the old Hinata who was the one usually left weeping hopelessly on the ground. It was the old Hinata who was always overlooked. Always forgotten. Before Itachi remembered her and came back for her. He turned her life completely around. She would always be grateful to him for that. Always. 88888888888
FLASHBACK
Hinata's only goal as a child was to not be noticed. Being noticed almost always led to some sort of pain or punishment; whether in the form of a scolding from her father or harsh teasing from her cousin. Even at the age of five, she knew that she could never measure up to her father's standards of what she should be, but as long as she could stay quietly away from anyone's view, she would be safe from their judgment.
On one particular occasion though, she had managed to loudly trip and break some expensive tea set or other. She never could quite remember exactly what it was, but terrified of what would happen to her when she was discovered with the shards of glass on the floor around her bleeding feet, she ran away without looking back, until she had no more strength left in her small legs. She collapsed on the dirt and lay there; panting for awhile until she fell asleep.
When she woke up, she languorously opened her eyes, only to find a pair of unfamiliar and strange looking black eyes staring down at her. She cried out and tried to crawl away. Having never seen a pair of eyes that weren't white like hers before, she didn't know what to expect from a stranger, but she relaxed when she realized that it was just a boy, much older than herself, but still young, and probably harmless. Mostly good people lived in Konoha after all.
Something about the boy's smile though, made her wonder if she should run away again.
"Your family has been looking for you." Hinata was surprised at how much older and sophisticated he sounded.
"Come, I'll walk you back home." Hinata shook her head furiously. Home was the last place that she wanted to have to go back to.
"Are you running away then?" He asked her, taking a seat beside her on the grass. She awkwardly attempted to slowly inch away from him. Being so close to a stranger was terrifying, but going back home, even more so.
When she failed to answer back, he looked away from her.
"I'm going to run away too, only not yet, but soon."
Hinata's eyes opened wide, her interest was finally caught.
"R..r..really?" She said in a voice that was barely noticeable.
The boy threw her a glance that caused her to back away suddenly in the grass, causing green streaks to form on her new kimono.
"Yes, but you won't tell anybody, will you?" He asked, suddenly appearing friendly again. Hinata shook her head furiously.
"Won't you get in t..tt..trouble?'" Hinata spoke almost without thinking. The boy laughed softly.
"No. Of course not. I'm stronger than my father." He said proudly. Hinata's saucer eyes opened even wider. Was such a thing even possible?
"I wish that I could be strong like that, and could run away." She was looking down, speaking more to herself than to him, and when she noticed the stains on her kimono, fresh tears pooled in her eyes, threatening to spill over. Now that she had ruined something else precious, her punishment was bound to be doubled.
The boy picked her up as easily as if she were a small doll rather than a girl.
"That's too bad. You'll probably be stuck in that old Hyuuga main house here in Konoha for the rest of your life, so be a good girl and get used to it," he said in a matter- of- fact tone of voice. Hinata was becoming increasingly confused as to whether she liked the boy or not. He spoke as if remaining in Konoha was a bad thing.
"Don't you like it in Konoha?"
"I don't want to stay trapped in it, not when there are so many other places to see, with much more interesting possiblilities for someone like me."
"C…c..can I go with you?" She asked while unconsciously playing with his long black hair.
"No. It will be dangerous. Having a little girl following me around, especially a little Hyuuga girl whose family would be looking for her, would be too much trouble."
Hinata felt strangely heartbroken, and felt an odd turning in her stomach; a sort of desperation bubbling within.
"If you don't take me, I'll tell on you."
Hinata was quickly dropped hard on the ground. She got up, and rubbed her sore head.
The boy's flashing black eyes were fixed intensely on her.
"I thought that you were a good, quiet girl. That's why I told you, but now I see that you're a cruel child who will do anything to have her way. Just like my little brother."
Hinata turned around; ashamed. She had never been called 'cruel' before. Come to think of it, she didn't know why she said what she did, only that when she was around this child, she acted in ways she didn't usually act.
"…and like me," he whispered with a wicked smile. "I'm going to get rid of anyone who gets in my way, you included. Sasuke would've liked you, but unfortunately, he may never get to meet you if you end up doing that."
Sasuke. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Hinata, but all thoughts of him were pushed aside when the boy bent menacingly down in front of her. She automatically activated her Byakugan and looked him straight in the eye, wondering if seeing through him would possibly intimidate him, or if anything could possibly intimidate him. She wanted to prove herself to him; to be like him, and so the thought of possibly fighting him seemed exciting rather than frightening. She was shocked to see his eyes suddenly go red for a split second. She gasped aloud, but didn't budge.
He surprised her by suddenly picking her up again.
"You know, I think that you might not be so hopeless after all. If you really are like me, that is, if you really wish to run away, than maybe I'll come back for you one day, but that's just a maybe." He said.
"Really." Her voice was high -pitched with excitement.
He only nodded. When they arrived back at her house, Hiashi was there to meet them, with some of the Branch members standing around him with frightened expressions on their faces. No doubt he had threatened to activate all of their curse seals if his daughter wasn't found. He looked shocked when he saw the two of them approaching him together.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but she wandered off and ended up playing with my little brother all day. I watched them and made sure that they didn't get into too much trouble. I am sorry that he messed up her kimono though." With a small bow, he left, just like that. He lies so easily, Hinata thought, amazed. Hiashi looked down at his older daughter. "That Uchiha Itachi, he's a talented child. You could learn a few things from a boy like that." He said. Hinata only smiled and nodded, happy to know the name of the boy who might possibly free her one day88888.
In the months that followed, Hinata was able to face her training and her punishments with a little more hope and a little more enthusiasm than before. Konoha wouldn't be her home forever, and she wasn't going to have to stay stuck living a life that others chose for her the way her cousin probably would. She was going to be saved. She just knew it. Even her father had to comment on her newfound dedication.
But all that changed after the Uchiha massacre. She had nearly thrown up when she heard about it. She hadn't known that there would be killing involved.
She wanted to forget that she had ever known Itachi, and so she did. It was easy enough once she first laid eyes on Uzumaki Naruto. With his light hair and eyes, and his desire to stick things out rather than to run away, he was the perfect replacement for her affections. He was everything that Itachi was not, and she loved him for it.
She failed to be what he wanted though. She was too quiet, too plain, and too polite to be the kind of girl he wanted, and she knew it. As the years passed by, she began to long for something real, something tangible that she could experience firsthand rather than from afar. And, so when Itachi approached her once again twelve years later and asked if she still wished for her freedom, all was forgiven, and she followed him without a single thought about what her village would think. She would miss her friends, she knew that, but Itachi had paid his price for freedom. Hers was small in comparison.
Akatsuki was in need of more members, he had told her. She would be needed. Finally needed. She couldn't say no to that. Nobody needed her in Konoha. They had Neji. And Hanabi. She had just been extra. Insignificant. Itachi was offering her a chance to be significant. She had accepted wholeheartedly.888888
Hinata couldn't get the image of her sister out of her head that night as she lay in bed. Her sister had watched her escape with Itachi that night, and had been too shocked to say a word. Had she wanted to follow them even then?
"You're awake, Hinata." Itachi said, while continuing to run his fingers soothingly through her hair the way he had been doing for the past hour or so. Hinata nodded and Itachi turned her towards him.
"There's something that I need you to do for me. " He whispered in her ear.
"What is it?" She giggled sweetly.
"Catch him. Uzumaki. Do it for Akatsuki, and for me," he said while tracing circles on her throat. Hinata froze in his arms and began to find it harder and harder to breathe. Doing anything that would harm Naruto was a complete 360 degree turn from what the old Hinata would've done. But she wasn't the old Hinata anymore. She was new; free and powerful.
"I'll do it," she said with a kiss.
END
REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!!