Hey, this is my first fanfiction. This is a pairing that, though seemingly ridiculous, is very dear to me. It's kind of ironic how the characters of my favourite Naruto pairing share voice actors with the main characters of my favourite yuri anime, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Now for the general disclaimer:
I don't own Naruto. I own this plot, nothing else.
General information
Flashback
Transforming into another person wasn't always as simple and humane as it is today. Originally, people had to use body parts to transform into another person. For example, if you wanted to change your skin tone you would have to use a piece of skin, if you were to change your hair colour you would need the person's hair. There were issues that arose with this technique. A chakra imbalance caused a transfer of kekkei genkai. This only usually occurred with dojutsu, the Byakugan, Sharingan and Rinnegan. This technique is rarely used, however, every so often, a foetal deformity would occur and these barbaric practices would remain a requirement for those who suffered from an underdeveloped chakra system.
"Okay, here's what I'm going to do." Karin explained to her frightened victim, "First, I shall skin your hand. Then, I'll take that hair, lucky we have the same length. Finally, you'll love this; I'll rip out one of your eyes." As she finished explaining this she resumed her task. The poor girl she was terrorising screamed in pain as the Uzumaki attacking her gathered the supplies needed for her technique. As Karin propelled her hand toward the pale girl's face, the noise of an eye being plucked from a skull could not be heard under the cries that echoed throughout the cave. "Poor little Hyuuga, well your friends and family won't be upset about it. In fact, they'll be ecstatic about your return home." Karin said. A flash of light filled the cave and a perfectly healthy Hinata Hyuuga stepped out of the cave.
Hinata was in terrible pain. Hinata was thankful that Karin had, at least, bandaged her wounds.
'She doesn't was her 'supply' to die before she achieves her goal.' Hinata guessed. Although her wounds had been dressed, she continued to lose blood at an alarming rate. Her head began to feel light as she heard three very familiar voices at the entrance to the cave.
"Neji, why are we doing this job again? This kind of mission is usually managed by Team 8. I mean, we're a combat team. We aren't meant for this kind of work." Hinata was able to put a name to that voice very easily. It was Tenten.
"Maybe you have forgotten that Hinata-sama is missing and therefore Team 8 is one man short." Neji sounded extremely angry. His sigh could be heard from the back of the cave. "I'm sorry Tenten. I'm just worried about Hinata."
"The kunoichi we were sent after is said to be extremely intelligent, so why would she stay near a commonly used path? Neji, are you sure that the trail lead to this cave?" Obviously, the final voice was Lee. As Team Gai fell silent, Hinata succumbed to the darkness that crept up on her as she continued to bleed profusely.
In a final attempt to get help, Hinata began to move around in the chair in hopes of forcing it to topple over.
As Hinata struggled in the chair, it began to over-balance. Gravity took control, pulling the chair to the cold, hard floor of the cave. A loud bang resonated to the entrance, alerting Team Gai.
"What was that noise?" asked Rock Lee in his usual, loud voice. As the team moved cautiously through the darkness, Neji activated his Byakugan. The veins around his eyes bulged, signalling the activation of the Byakugan and allowing him to see through the darkness. The Hyuuga prodigy was startled by what was in front of him. During this time his teammates had gotten into a defensive position.
"It's alright. It's just a girl. She seems to have been tortured repeatedly." Neji deduced as he assessed the situation.
As soon as Hinata's hands and feet had been freed, she became limp. Neji checked her pulse, fearing that the girl had died. He let out a sigh of relief when he felt the soft beating of her pulse.
"She's alive but only barely. We have finished our mission so we'll head back to the village as soon as we can." He picked the unconscious girl up off the ground and Team Gai headed back to their campsite.
As the Hyuuga heiress's eyelids opened she began attempting to identify her surroundings. The girl was surrounded by an orange tent with enough room for three people.
"At least it isn't a cave." she said to no one in general. She raised a hand to touch the place wear her stolen eye had once been. Instead of skin there was a patch of leather covering her left eye socket. In order to inspect the material further, she removed the patch and looked at it, shutting her left eyelid.
"Just as I thought; it is an eye patch. It isn't a great one but it does the job." Hinata muttered, returning the eye patch to it's intended position. As son as it was back in place the tent door opened and Tenten stepped through.
"Good, you're awake. My teammates and I had begun to think you were never going to wake up." It was obvious that she didn't recognise the Hyuuga in front of her. Hinata wasn't all that surprised. It had been three years since anyone from the Leaf had seen her, plus, when people thought of Hinata Hyuuga, the words scars, blood and torture didn't usually come to mind.
"Are you a Hyuuga? I mean, your eye has the same traits as those of the Hyuuga clan." Hinata nodded.
"Yes I am a Hyuuga." she answered. Her voice would have been a dead giveaway if it wasn't as hoarse as it had been at that moment. It wasn't a surprise to Hinata. Calling for help for three straight years will do that to your voice.
"You haven't got the Caged-Bird Seal, interesting. There is only one Hyuuga around our age like that and she…" Tenten never finished her sentence. Her eyes widened as the rest of Team Gai entered the tent.
"Tenten, have you found out anything about her yet?" Neji asked. Lee looked at the girl's face.
"What is it Tenten?" he asked, getting worried at his teammate's expression. Tenten appeared to have forgotten how to speak, leaving Hinata to do the explaining.
"Hello Neji." the heiress said casually. He looked at his cousin with the same expression as Tenten. Lee was the most normal out of the three of them, a fact that scares the other three people who were in the tent to this day. Tenten regained her ability to use her voice.
"Hinata?"
Tenten couldn't believe that Hinata was alive. The girl had changed, though, and not for the better. As Tenten had realised who Hinata was, she began felt sick to her stomach at the thought of someone torturing kind, caring Hinata. She didn't begin to speak again until the sun retreated behind the mountains. As the boys retreated to the second tent that they has set up, as space would be an issue, the girls became engulfed in conversation.
"What happened Hinata? Who did this to you?" Tenten asked, becoming uncomfortable with the cold, stone-like aura that surrounded her. She had changed a lot.
"Karin of the Sound did this. It seems that this was required in order for her to use a transformation jutsu." she said, glancing at her wound; her voice was hoarse and retained a monotonous sound. Whatever she went through destroyed the little humanity she had left. Much of her humanity had been lost the day she became a genin.
Hinata was ecstatic; finally, a kunoichi. She eventually reached the front door of the Hyuuga compound. As a sharp knock sounded on the front door a branch family member opened it. As the woman bowed and moved for the Heiress to enter the foyer, she smiled at Hinata after seeing the hitai-ate around her neck.
"Congratulations, Hinata-sama." She said. It was a well-known fact that Hinata was well liked among those of the branch family. She never once used the Caged-Bird Seal against them, stating that she wished that there was no seal.
"Thank you, Haruka." As Hinata walked through the hallway she realised that the compound was eerily quiet. The dripping sound that was apparent to Hinata as she opened the kitchen door sent a chill up the girl's spine. As soon as her mind caught up with her eyes she understood the off feeling.
Hiashi Hyuuga ran down the stairs after a scream for help made its way to his study. He followed the branch family members as they headed towards the kitchen. The door was wide open. He looked down and saw that the floor was drenched in blood. As his eyes travelled further into the kitchen he saw his daughter sitting in the centre of the blood, eyes wide with fear. Next to her was the cold, lifeless body of his wife. She had been stabbed through the chest with a familiar katana. It bore the insignia of the Hidden Cloud Village.
As the kunoichi sat in the darkness Tenten realised how hard life must have been for Hinata. Neji had already told her of the horrible things that had happened to his cousin over the years but it was at that point that the older girl started to believe that a higher power was trying to send her round the bend.
"Hinata, I want you to know that I am always here if you need someone to talk to." Tenten explained in an attempt to reassure her haunted friend. Suddenly, Hinata caught her friend in a rib-cracking hug and finally let go of all of her bottled-up emotions. As the brunette returned the embrace, Hinata unload all of the sadness that had been eating away at her over the years. As she continued to cry Tenten began to see the lonely little girl she had first known Hinata to be. She needed someone to protect her and Tenten decided that day that she would be that someone.
'Wow Tenten's warm and very comfortable.' Hinata thought as the two girls remained in that wonderful embrace. At the time, the Hyuuga didn't understand why she had thought that. Tenten looked down at her friend.
"Are you okay Hinata?" she asked, placing her hand on the girl's forehead. It wasn't apparent to Hinata that she had turned a wonerful shade of scarlet. Tenten obviously assumed that the girl was sick. Hinata then let her go and sat up.
"I'm fine." Even after Hinata had said this, the older girl in front of her retained some sort of physical contact at all times during the night.
When they woke the next morning, Hinata realised that Tenten had her arms wrapped around her from the back. The logical part of her mind told the girl to get out of that position but the louder part yelled for her to stay there. She obeyed the second voice and placed her hands on the brunette's.
'What am I doing?' Hinata thought, her head spinning slightly. 'I like Naruto, don't I? I'm not gay, but how do I explain the way I feel for Tenten? Maybe it's just a lack of affection. Yeah, that must be it. Although the way I feel around Tenten is a much better feeling than how I feel around Naruto. It makes me wish I could just stay like this forever. The world could end today and I wouldn't care, as long as I was with Tenten… OH GOD, I am gay.' Then she thought of something important. 'What do I say to Tenten? How would she react to my feelings? Would she hate me?'
As Hinata's internal monologue decided to end the tent door opened and Neji stepped in.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HINATA?" he yelled, partially waking Tenten.
"THE CLOWNS ARE GOING TO EAT ME!" she yelled.
'I never knew Tenten was scared of clowns.' Hinata thought, smiling at her ideas about using that fact as blackmail.
"Neji I wasn't doing anything." Tenten obviously hadn't realised the position they were in.
"You are in the same sleeping bag and you're holding her in your sleep." he said, getting angrier.
"You do worse with Lee." Hinata interjected, not about to let Neji talk to her Tenten like that.
'Wait, when did she become my Tenten?' She brushed off her little internal slip-up as Neji left the tent.
The girls climbed out of the sleeping bag and packed up the tent and supplies, ready to start their journey home.
As Team Gai and Hinata began the journey back to the village, Tenten realised that Lee and Neji were holding hands. She looked over at Hinata and saw that the girl was smiling at the show of affection in front of her. She was much more open-minded about this kind of thing than the other girls around their age. As Tenten looked back toward the path in front of them, she felt Hinata's Hand close around her's. When the girl looked at her friend, she realised that the girl retained a straight face, as if nothing had happened.
"What are you…" Tenten began. Hinata silenced her when she put a finger on older girl's lips to stop her talking.
"Shhhhh." Hinata removed her finger and kissed her. The boys turned around in time to see what they were doing.
"Isn't that wonderful, Neji. They have found love." Lee said, a broad grin appearing on his face.
"Are you two quite done?" Neji asked. The girls broke apart and walked the rest of the way, enjoying a comfortable silence.
I hope you guys liked it. Hinata's internal conflict is actually exactly the same as what I went through, save for the names. Originally, this story didn't include it but my friend read it and told me that Hinata's coming out to herself was a little abrupt so I just wrote down what I went through.