Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Ha. Some creative disclaimer this is huh?
A/N: it's pretty short…but all my one-shots are short, so I guess there's no worry.
I know I don't like naruhina. But I was inspired just a tad by silentwind. She likes the pairing, and I don't. So I started thinking about it and came to a compromise. A light version of it. It works. Yes, it does.
-misfit270
Just a Little Bit Brighter
Shyness always overtook her whenever she even glanced at him. It was probably one of the only remaining habits she still had left from the old genin days.
Now she was nothing but the heir to the Hyuga, the sole figure to be gawked at as she tried to walk down the crowded streets of the marketplace. She only wanted some ramen for goodness sakes.
A complete 180 turn from what she used to be, she was the picture of grace and poise- not exactly the beauty though, as her sister had always harshly and bluntly pointed out to her, never failing to crack that small evil grin as she relentlessly relayed all her faults back to her. She already knew all that stuff! Of course she knew- what she was now was completely different from how she had pictured herself to be 10 years ago.
But she never failed to redden a bit whenever she caught that flash of orange.
A mask, you could say, to cover up how she truly was inside. She'd gotten better at fighting, mastering the Hyuga's attacks, rehearsing them until the point of exhaustion until they were nearly perfect. Never as perfect as Neji-niisan's though.
She could whip out a cold, emotionless face in the blink of an eye, a requirement that her father had had her learn so that she could be better prepared to meet potential allies, enemies, and when haggling and dealing with the finances.
She was everything she had once hoped she'd never be.
All her friends had wondered what had become of the Hinata they used to know, how much she'd changed. Many had come to try to help her, believing her to be in some kind of depression. But each time, they left, more confused than before. They eventually came to accept this new Hinata. Not that that meant they were very happy with it. Friendships were strained, to say in the least, and soon, things just kind of… broke apart. Even more so when they all became jounin and had no legitimate reason to force them to see each other everyday anymore.
But he stayed. He was never really THERE in the first place she supposed, he didn't have very far to go to move away from her in the first place. So he just stayed. And she thanked the Gods that he stayed.
She hardly ever smiles anymore.
She wishes she did. But there's no reason to, except for those rare times when she catches a glimpse of that blonde running around Konoha, still up to his old tricks, terrorizing the villagers.
And it makes the day just a little bit brighter to know that he's there, captivating the world with his smiles.
She still never fails to redden whenever she sees that flash of orange.
Owari.
Review please?