Truly an obsession for me to start a fic and never finish it well as a naruto fan and a big big Hinata fan me thinks this is going to be a NejixHinataxItachi thing going on in here… I know Neji and Hinata are cousins but according to Wikipedia in Japan it's allowed. Disclaimer I do not own naruto and the people in it!
Don't do things you regret… (don't really like the title if anyone has any suggestions feel free to share)
Hinata POV:
The harsh sun shone in to my eyes, bright, like every other morning. The birds sing their sweet melody, again like every other morning waking up to another day. I think about those who can not have a luxury like me, to have the luxury of tasting each day of life.
I couldn't think what was worse living but knowing or dying and forgetting.
In the yard the colours of spring bloom in all its glory. Again spring has appeared and soon it will go, nothing has changed. As I prepared my stance and concentrated my chakra into my body I could only think of those I cared for the most. Mother… my arm raised, Sensei… my fist tightens, Kiba… my arm extends, Shino… with force, Naruto… my action stopped to the jingly of the blue bracelet on my wrist. One of the first and last gifts Naruto gave to me now stained. In front of me was a bloodily hand and a bloodily print in the dented tree, the pain did not register I looked at the warm liquid flowing from the torn skin of my hand, the forbidden colour I wished not to see again mixed with the pure innocent colour of blue.
"Hinata-sama your father calls for your presence" a distant aunt called in a polite manner "I would advise you to change your appearance in his presence".
Without an answer or a reply I walked into to my room, roughly bandaging my wound, I tired my hair back using the same hair pin my mother used and exited.
3rd person POV:
Hinata walked into the dojo, her father is seated perfectly on the tatatmi straight faced he looked at his daughter the heiress of Hyuuga, but fear struck him as her rebellious and cold nature could just destroy everything he lived to build. He knew his daughter never used to be like this, there was once a time she was shy and gentle just like her mother.
Flashback…
It was that day, Hinata's 13th birthday she went to say goodnight to her mother who retreated early to her room complaining of a headache.
"Mother good..." she looked in disbelief, a pair of beautifully sewn silk shoes swinging in front of her eyes, her white eyes followed the long skirt scared to find out she called out again "Mother!" the skirt seemed to flutter in response that made her look up.
"MOTHER!" she screamed alerting the whole household while holding onto the feet of her dead mother trying to seek comfort from her refusing to let go.
It seemed like forever before anyone got there but Hinata knew of the shades of black and blue concealed under the long covering robe on her mother's shoulders, she knew of the beatings her mother received she knew she could see with those pretty white eyes.
Her father heard the scream of his daughter and rushed into see what all the screaming was about. The only thing he remembered was Hinata's big innocent white eyes stare back at him still holding on to her mother's feet staining the silk shoes. He called for the other older members of the branch family to come and remove the body of his dead wife still with the straight face he showed no emotion but his heart screamed. Hinata still crying now broken down on the floor she hugged her knees for comfort not once asking for one from her father.
With a tear stained face she looked at him face full of disgust to even call this man her father she spat out "Father…" she thought for a bit before opening her mouth again "I despise you".
She heard her mother's words replay in her mind 'Hinata never do things you regret' she wasn't sure what her mother had meant when she told her but now it has become crystal clear…
End of flashback…
Brought back to the present her father looked around to his right was Hanabi his second pride and joy of Hyuuga. On his left was Hinata's grandmother the previous successor of the Hyuuga clan. Hinata make no effort to be seated in front of them she looked down on them with cold eyes, no longer a child she stood and held herself high as a woman.
"Hinata the council has passed judgment" her father spoke.
"Your skills have improved dramatically, more than we have expected from you, it is time for you to take your rightful place as this clan's head, it is also agreed that you should marry and bare an heir within a year" her grandmother finished.
Hinata showed no emotion to what was revealed to be her fate, she eyes peered down on them, down on Hanabi she could see the imaginary faint outline of the cursed seal on her hidden forehead, it was sad to think that she too could be caged. She looked at the other members there faces she remember faces she scored in her memory faces she will never forget. Silence echoed in the space before she opened her mouth with the verdict on the tip of her tongue.
"I neither desire nor intend to produce an heir nor do I intend to be clan head" her voice flat and cold it pierced the hearts of everyone there.
"Hinata this is the decision of the council you wish to define the words of your elders" her grandmother spoke before her father could intercept "you do realize the consequences of your actions, don't you?" with that the dojo was filled with members of the branch family.
"You will be sealed and banished from the clan, please Hinata just accept" her sister pleaded, Hanabi did not wish her sister to have the same fate as the branch family, like their cousin Neji.
"This is your last chance Hinata do you accept the duty of a Hyuuga or be branded as a traitor!" her father shouted with force hoping that it would talk some sense into his daughter.
Hinata closed her eyes momentarily then looking back up at her family in front of her, the family that she has grown with in despair, the family that she has grown to hate, her actions and her eyes remained still.
"Well what is your answer!" her father once again shouted.
Concealed under the sleeve of her kimono, she brought the shining object into view and to where her hair was tied in one movement… she would never regret again… the drop of her mother's hair pin alerted the ears of the people there. In her hand was her hair her once dark silky locks now in her hand, she held out her hand and released the strands letting them fall with grace on the floor.
"I was never a Hyuuga" her voice stung like a wasp sting it stung.
"Then you leave us with no choice" her grandmother spoke sadly not once looking at her granddaughter.
The branch member seized Hinata on the spot holding her and pining her down until the Hinata in front of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke, they looked around "the replacement technique" one of them stated the obvious. The next thing they knew an invisible force hit them cutting them in the face with a sharp sting before droplets of blood formed just beneath their pierced skin. 'Was this Hinata?' some thought disbelieving that their little shy and gentle heiress has turned this way, betraying them her own family.
All was silent as they tried to figure out where she was… just then a jingle of metal could be heard from behind Hanabi "Hanabi-sama behind you watch out", one member called out as she turned sweeping her hair to a side was a foreign object the next thing she knew a cold chilling scrape ran across her neck the cut wasn't fatal it wasn't deep enough but the soft hands she recognized that held her neck tightly was.
"HINATA-SAMA!" the branch members cried in confusion but her father and her grandmother where not surprise over the spectacle, they knew they knew that Hinata had been training hard for this day when she can be free.
Hanabi quivered in her sister's touch it was so cold and rough she would never have thought that her sister would do this to her. Hinata roughly pulled Hanabi towards the entrance of the Hyuuga compound still with the knife tightly at her throat.
"Hyuuga Hinata you leave the compound today you will be branded a traitor of Hyuuga you will no longer be able to return, your actions are out of your own free will I hope you won't regret it" her father looked at the woman in front of him, who used to be his first born, his little Hinata.
All was tense as she and her father seemed to be having a staring competition. Hinata let out a little smile looking back at her father for a moment it looked like the little Hinata he remembered until he was hit back to reality.
"Remember Hyuuga Hashi that I despise you as a father but that does not mean that I do not respect you as a man much a less how you respected others as human beings, I will not take away the one thing you love the most (indicting it as Hanabi), I give you my word that she'll return unharmed" Hinata spoke calmly to her father one last time before she took Hanabi with her.
'I sure hope you know what you are doing Hinata' her father thought in his mind.
Jumping and jumping from tree to tree Hinata didn't hold Hanabi in a death lock any more in stead she was jumping from tree to tree next to her. Hanabi looked at her sister she knew her sister was a bit weird but this was too unlike her.
"Nee-chan what is the matter where are you taking me?" Hanabi called out scared of provoking her.
"You'll see" Hinata replied flatly.
What seemed like hours they came to a halt, both sisters stood in front of a place they where most familiar with, decorated with pretty flowers of all sorts and a stone with the name "Hyuuga Hikaru" (don't know their mother's name so just stuck with this one) it carried on to read "beloved wife and mother, will always be loved and free".
Hinata took out her knife again and started defacing the certain words on the stone "Hinata nee-chan what are you doing" Hananbi tried to pull her sister's arm way but she was too strong. Hinata stopped when she was finished what was left on the stone was the words "Hyuuga Hikaru beloved mother, will always be loved and free". It took a while but Hinata's harden expression softened as she looked at her sister and smiled.
Hanabi was shocked her white eyes looked back at her 'Hinata smiling what impossible I can't remember when she last smiled to me' Hanabi was taken back down to earth when her sister brushed her hair back behind her ear smiling.
She spoke softly "Hanabi it is time you know the truth and decide your fate on your own".
Hanabi still not sure what Hinata meant listened to what she had to say.
"When Mother was alive, I was happy then…
Flashback…
"Mother mother look what I can do" Hinata ran up enthusiastically to her mother with a bright smile on her face.
Her mother looked up from her flowers and watched as the little girl in front of her played out the gentle fist fighting style, the footwork needed a little more work but she had improved. Her mother smiled and Hinata knew she was proud of her hard work.
"Hinata come here" her mother called her over.
"Hai" little Hinata ran over and sat beside her mother.
"Hinata what do you want to be when your older?" that was a question out of the blue her mother knew her father pushed her hard to become the heiress of Hyuuga that was why she attended the academy and trained hard everyday, but there was a secret inside Hinata's little heart that she dared not to tell incase her father got mad by her childish thoughts.
"I…" unsure at first but then she blurted it out "I want to be a singer mother" she replied back happily, a singer that's what she wanted to be.
"Then you should follow your dream" her mother spoke, she looked at her little girl sadly she knew what her fate was but determined she looked at her big round eyes "Hinata never do things you regret, work hard for your dreams and hold on to them no matter what…" She trailed off a little but regained her composure "be free like the birds above Hinata" her mother pointed up into the sky just in time to see two little birds fly by.
End of flashback…
Another Flashback… Hinata's POV…
"Mother" I knocked on the door but nobody answered I knocked again the door managed to creek open by itself.
But it didn't feel right something just didn't feel right. I wished I never went in but something was telling me to go inside. As I stepped in to say goodnight to my mother, that was when I saw her… her beautiful silk shoes that she only wore on special occasions swung left to right and again in the same motion in front of me… her beautiful skirt lifted by the cold air… her eyes looking distantly… the rope around her neck.
"MOTHER!" I screamed for what seemed like forever tugging on to her shoes her beautiful silk shoes.
I cried for sometime, and then I looked up sensing my father's chakra besides me his eyes not even a tear no there was no emotion. How can he just look and not feel? The woman in front of him dead swinging side to side and yet not a single tear, then I remembered the swirling colours of black and blue on my mother's white skin. For sometime I had suspicions but did not what to believe until earlier that day I used my Byakagun. The images I saw the cries I heard the rough hand I recognized…
Why did I not see it before? Why have eyes that see all when I am blinded by my own naivety?
End of flashback…
3rd person POV…
"And that is the truth Hanabi, mother killed herself you always wanted to know the truth and there it is nothing more and nothing less", Hinata smiled at her like a sign of relief she was able to tell her sister the burden that she has carried all these years.
Hanabi was on the verge of tears she had no idea even now that she is 13 no body has ever told her how her mother died. Hinata noticed Hanabi's eyes, she pulled her in to an embrace, Hanabi for the first time in years felt comfort and loved by a sister that has always been so distant that she thought she had lost forever. Overwhelming tears of joy and relief shuck through her little body quivering against her sister, feeling the embrace tighten her crying was muffled into the silent atmosphere.
"Hanabi what would you like to be when your older?" she asked the same question her mother asked her when she was young.
Hanabi thought for a while before clearly answering back to her sister "sounds silly but I want to be a cook" she replied back proud of her answer.
Hinata broke the embrace and looked at her sister wiping away the remaining tears from her face "then you should hold on to that dream, always remember never do things you regret, work hard for your dreams and hold on to them no matter what" She looked up into the sky and pointed "be free like the birds above".
Hanabi followed her sister's slim finger up to look at the birds fly by "nee-chan aren't they pretty?" she asked but she got no reply, she looked back down "nee-chan?" she asked then looked Hinata was no where to be seen. Tears again began to fall as she sobbed "NEE-CHAN?" she cried louder but she knew her sister was gone. Hanabi crumpled near the gravestone of her mother, hugging her knees she cried for her nee-chan.
TBC…