Who Will I Be?

by marshmallowfairies

When the pressure gets too much for the Hyuuga heiress, what will she do? Who will she be? Originally was just gonna be a one shot but turned out much longer than I thought it would. I do not own the characters or jutsus, just the plot of this story.

1. Chapter 1

They each sat with a plate of untouched dumplings in front of them. Hinata thought it was silly that they always arranged to meet for lunch and then not eat in front of each other because they wanted to prove that they were doing everything that they could to stay in shape. The silence after her last revelation was becoming unbearably awkward now. She reached towards the dumplings but ended up placing her hand on the table next to the plate instead.

"I would run," Ino said abruptly, breaking the silence.

"Wha-," Hinata began, startled by her friend's response but Sakura interrupted, sounding annoyed.

"Ino! Hinata's confided in us because she expects our support- not stupid comments like that!" Sakura raged, looking like she might hit Ino but fortunately, Ino was out of her reach and Tenten wouldn't move out of the way to allow two of her friends to fight.

"I know!" Ino defended herself quickly, holding her hands up then dropping them slightly as though she was shrugging. "It's just that leading a clan at seventeen- that's huge! I know that there's no way I'm ready for that kind of responsibility." She glanced over at her friend, hoping that she hadn't offended her.

"Well, of course it is but Hinata's been preparing for this her whole life and..." Sakura's argument didn't have much backbone and her sentence dwindled into nothing, making her feel less certain.

"And you have to marry?" Tenten chipped in, breaking her silence. "They've just told you to marry? Anyone?"

Hinata sighed and directed her response at her dumplings. "I've been told to marry someone suitable. Therefore, I may choose someone but the council must approve of my choice." She thought glumly of how they would never approve of someone like Naruto who had no clan, so to speak, and was a Jinchuriki. Her love of so long could never be hers and she would probably be forced to marry some clan council member. The thought made her shudder.

"I couldn't do it," Ino murmured. "I just couldn't do it." And this time, neither Sakura nor Tenten berated her because they were both thinking the same thing- neither could they.