Disclaimer: not mine…. :)
Plot= mine. Setting= mine. Characters= not mine…. Get it?
Chapter 1
Hyuuga Hinata sat silently, carefully keeping her eyes locked on the floor. Hinata's father yelled at her every night because her grades were lower than those of her younger sister, Hanabi. Hinata never quite understood how her father managed to compare the grades a sixth grader to those of a high school junior. However, she knew better than to speak up for herself because every time she did things only got worse.
***Flashback- previous evening***
"Hinata, how dare you so much as show your face in my house!" Hinata's father bellowed. According to you're teachers, you're getting a low A in English! Your sister has a perfect A+ in all of her classes. Are you trying to disgrace the family name?"
"But father," Hinata said timidly, "English is one of my university classes. It is difficult for university students, much less for a high school student." When she stopped talking and looked up, Hinata knew that she had gone too far. Her father walked up to her and slapped her across the face so hard that she cried out, earning herself another blow.
"Stop acting like an ungrateful little bitch," he snarled, "Or else I will pull you from your classes at the University, whether you get your grades up or not. Do you understand?" He spat the last three words as if they were toxic. Hinata nodded, realizing to late her mistake, and before she could even open her mouth, her father grabbed his cane and began the process of wacking his eldest daughter until she was black and blue all over. "I said, 'Do you understand?'" he once again spat out.
"Yes sir," Hinata said with whatever she could muster. Her father huffed out of the room, and all she could think of was going to school the next day and how she would hide the severe bruises she could feel developing on her cheek and neck. With this thought in mind, she quietly stood up and went to close her door. Then she stripped off her uniform to reveal pale blue panties and a matching bra. Looking at herself in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door, she noted that she once again needed to wear opaque tights under her uniform skirt along with the sweater to cover the bruises on her arms and legs. Sighing, she dressed and returned to her homework.
***End Flashback***
When her father finally left, Hinata started her first assignment- a French translation that was over ten pages long. She was startled out of her thoughts by the sounds of the dinner bell and of her door bursting open. Her younger sister entered bearing a message, "Father says to tell you not to leave your room until after dark, when the main family is asleep." Hanabi turned quickly and left the room before Hinata could say anything to her. Hinata was rarely allowed to eat with the main family, even though she was the heir. The members or the main family avoided her even more than they avoided members of the branch family.
Her cousin Neji, a member of the branch family, hated her because he thought that everyone worshiped her. She couldn't help but wish he would realize how wrong he was. The only time she saw him was on holidays when the entire family ate together. Well, that and at school, but she had tried talking to him in between classes and he merely shook her off, assuming she was going to act cruelly just like the other members of the branch family. Hinata shook these thoughts from her head and returned to her homework. She had at least three hours until she could eat, and she figured that she should finish as much as possible.
Hinata awoke with a start the next morning to the sun warming her face. Looking over her shoulder at her clock, she realized that she had overslept again after falling asleep at her desk, missing her chance to eat before the rest of the family. She quickly gathered her books and threw on her uniform, adding semi-thick black tights and a pullover. Hinata threw on her book bag, grabbed her keys off of her nightstand, and slipped out the window. She crept to the back of the house where her car was parked and slid into the driver seat. As always, she pulled away quickly, wishing that she could give her older cousin a ride since Neji was expected to walk to the high school, which was just over a mile away. She sighed sadly, recalling her father's warning, as she drove toward the high school alone.
Neji watched jealously as his cousin Hinata drive by in the car she got as a gift on her sixteenth birthday. He found it unfair that she get the royal treatment and couldn't even be bothered to give him a ride. He shook those thoughts from his head and let his mind wander for the remainder of his walk. He thought about the colleges that he was applying too, seeing as both he and Hinata were seniors. He also thought about everything he had to accomplish before Hinabi's birthday at the end of the month. The younger girl was an absolute terror, and demanded a lavish 'masked ball' for her 13th birthday. All of the members of the branch family were scrambling to clean and prepare the house for the event, and Neji was busy from the instant he got home until dinner or later. With an frustrated sigh, he slowly walked up the steps of the local high school, walking in the door seconds before the tardy bell rang.Chapter 2
***Flashback- Hinata's Sweet Sixteen***
Neji watched as his younger cousin sat to her father's right, a sign that she was to be the heir. She would have everything easy. Things that he had worked for years to achieve would be handed to her if she asked. She sat there, hardly eating any of the food piled before her. Neji thought that she was being stuck up by not eating, Maybe the food's not good enough for her. In reality, Hinata was unused to having so much food, for over the summer her father had only been giving her one meal a day. Also, the head of the clan had warned her that if she acted like a pig in front of the entire family, she would be severely punished.
After everyone had finished eating and the tables were cleared by members of the branch family- Neji included- it was time for Hinata to open her gifts. As she opened the presents, Neji thought that she was being very rude by barley looking at anything. She would unwrap each package quickly and thank the giver, and place the gift upon the floor and move on. She received expensive gifts of clothes, jewelry, and perfumes, but she never commented on how much she liked anything. Hinata was well aware that the perfumes and many of the clothes would go straight to her younger sister, and she would only be allowed to keep a few outfits and possibly a bottle of perfume of lotion. Luckily, she managed to pocket most of the money, as she had every year since her eleventh birthday.
When she had opened everything, her father handed her the keys to a car. It was a beautiful car, one of the most expensive cars on the market, but upon closer inspection, Hinata noticed that it wasn't custom made as every previous heirs' cars had been. She shrugged it of, knowing she was lucky to simply get a new car. She bowed to her father deeply, grateful to escape her studies for a small part of the day. She was also glad to have gotten out of her room, because she was either locked in her room or at school.
***End***
Neji watched as his cousin pulled away, and he wondered why he constantly saw her sneaking off simply to get to school. He noticed that although it was a rather warm day she was wearing her pullover and looked dressed for cooler weather. He shrugged it off as just some fashion fad, and walked to the kitchen, keeping to the servant hallways to avoid contact with any of the main family. He had to leave for school soon in order to make it on time, and he need to grab a bite to eat before he left.
