Chapter One- the Eastern Academy

October 13th

-You said the Eastern Academy? This is it then. That would be thirty dollars, please.

Hinata got out of the car, and, while Neji paid the cab driver, got her first good look at her new "home".

The Eastern Boarding School Academy for the Young Ladies of Quality.

It was an old stone gothic-style building, four storied high, towering over a stone and fancy metalwork fence. The dark-grey walls were all covered with something that would probably be with in the summer, but now, in the middle of October, it was just a lot of dry branches, crawling up all the way o the roof.

The decorations of the building were magnificent, with stone carvings as well as metalwork, but somehow…It didn't look nice at all.

-Hinata, you carry your backpack and I will take the suitcases,- said Neji, cold as usual. Nevertheless Hinata was really grateful that he was accompanying her on this journey. She would've hated to go all alone. Even if Neji kept glaring at her all the time…

-Hinata, are you listening?

A sharp voice snapped her back to reality.

-Yes, Neji onii-san…- Hinata said. He was standing next to her, carrying her two suitcases. Hinata was advised to take more by her mother, as befit one of the Hyugas, but she simply didn't have anything to fill them with. After all, she wasn't Hanabi…

-Do you want to go in first or not?- asked Neji as the gates opened in from of them and one of the guards made a greeting gesture from his booth.

Hinata sighed and looked again and the grim and creepy building. "Established in 1867" read the small sing on the gates.

Five minutes later they reached the heavy wooden doors. There, a woman with long dark wavy hair was waiting for them.

-My name is Yuuhi Kurenai, and I am the secretary here. You are Hinata-san, I assume?

Hinata nodded.

-Yes…Nice to meet you…Oh, and this is Neji- my cousin. He accompanied me here…

-Oh, pleasure to meet you, Neji-san. Now, follow me. You'll need to sing the final papers.

She led them inside into a magnificent dark stone hall.

-This way,- Kurenai opened one of the doors and waited for them to come in.

-No, leave the suitcases outside, Neji-san. They will be carried upstairs to Hinata-san's room.

Neji did as she said. He didn't feel like speaking. He was still getting over a shock from his first look at this building. And this was a school for teenage girls? This would be a school for Hinata? For shy little Hinata who didn't even feel at home in their own sunlit villa?

-Shinsen-sama is ready to see you now,- declared Kurenai. -And, Hinata-san, I suggest you leave this backpack here…

Hinata gave the backpack (it was dark grey and had a little Hello Kitty keychan on one of the zippers) to Kurenai and she and Neji entered the principles office.

Behind a huge oak desk a middle-age woman was sitting. Once she must have been beautiful, but now since of the upcoming old age were shoving even thought the layers of makeup. Her eyes were really cold and distant.

Hinata visibly shivered.

-So…Hyuuga children, are you? Nice to meet you, Hinata-san, Neji-san. I am the principle of the Eastern Academy, Shinsen Ayame.

Hinata and Neji bowed. Shinsen-sama motioned them to sit down.

-As you might now, Hinata-san, your mother was once a student of this school,- continued Shinsen-sama.

Neji frowned- no mention of his mother was made. Hyuga Yana came from a poor family, and was considered a disgrace to the Hyugas by everyone, except his father. Not that it mattered much now, since they both were already dead…

Meanwhile, Shinsen-sama continued talking.

-In this school, only a selected few girls are admitted, so you'll be surrounded by the children from the best families in the country. We set very high standards for our students and expect them to meet them.

Neji saw Hinata shiver.

-This school has very strict rules set to maintain discipline and develop qualities in our students that would be fit for the ladies of quality.

Hinata started at her helplessly as Shinsen-sama while the woman continued to speak. Neji looked at Hinata and suddenly remembered that she had never been away from home for more that a week.

-Shinsen-sama,- he said loudly, interrupting the woman. She looked angrily at him.

-My plane leaves in two hours,- he said, bowing his head. Shinsen-sama measured him with a glance full of disgust.

-Very well, Neji-san. I used to know your father, but never got a chance to know your mother. However, I assume you must be a lot like her,- she said rather calmly.

Neji bit his lip but said nothing.

Shinsen-sama turned around and walked towards a small shelf that stood in one of the corners of the room. Neji saw Hinata glance at him questionably.

-Here, Hinata-san, Neji-san, you must sing those papers,- said Shinsen-sama, getting back to them with a few sheets of very fine paper in her hands and handed a copy to both Neji and Hinata.

Neji looked over the papers, which turned out to be a contract. He, as a family member of full legal age (he was 17) was required to sign it. Of course, it should have been his uncle doing this, but he was too "busy" to accompany his own daughter.

Neji handed the papers to Shinsen-sama at the same time as Hinata. She smiled coldly.

-Very well…I'll give you a few minutes to say your goodbyes. I'd go get a something I'll ask you to pass on to your aunt, Neji-san,- said the woman, opening the door and stepping outside.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Neji turned to his cousin.

-Neji…onii-san…- she began to say but couldn't finish her sentence and stopped awkwardly.

Neji looked at her. She blushed and stared at the carpet.

-I guess, good-bye, Hinata,- he said, feeling kind of strange.

-Yes, Neji onii-san, good bye…- she answered, not daring to look up at him.

Neji heard Shinsen-sama's voice behind the door, talking to Kurenai.

Hinata must have heard it too because she got up.

-Listen Hinata…

She turned around and looked at him. Neji hesitated.

-You...you know, if you ever feel like you need to talk to someone you ca write to me you know?- said Neji, taking even himself by surprise, -Of course, I'll keep everything you'll say in secret. I won't tell uncle, or aunt, or anybody…

Hinata's pale eyes widened. Then she smiled gently.

-Thank you, Neji onii-san…

The door opened to reveal Shinsen-sama who was holding a small richly decorated box in her hands. She smiled coldly and handed it to Neji.

-I expect you to take very good care of this during your journey, Neji-san. Farewell. Hinata, follow me!

Tayuya was walking through the garden from the Hospital Building heading back to her dorm, listening to some very loud music through her headphones…Damn that Temari- the bitch pushed her and she bumped strait into Shinsen-sama, who was coming into their classroom at that very time. Tayuya didn't have her jacket on and the principle instantly noticed her bandaged wrists. So Tayuya was first questioned, then sent to the Hospital, where that stupid Shizune's eyes nearly popped out and she not only spent a fucking lot of time putting those disgusting stitches on, but made her stay in one of the Hospital beds for the whole day, to make sure the wounds closed up.

Temari was seriously asking for it those last few days…and she was going to get it. Tayuya didn't even care if her wrist-cuts opened again- she was going to ruin that beautiful face of the Sabaku girl… grrr…

Suddenly, Tayuya stopped. Something on the forth floor of Dormitory building had caught her eye…Something wasn't right. Suddenly, she realized- there was light on in her dorm!!!

-Damn it, Sabaku!!!- she screamed and run towards the building. Fuck…what on earth Temari was doing in her room? And how did her get the keys- after all, Tayuya lived alone and there was only one set of keys, currently locating in her pocket. Or was it? Franticly, Tayuya reached felt her hip- the familiar spiky lump was there.

Fucking Temari, did she learn to fly or what, thought Tayuya, running up the stairs. Or maybe it wasn't Temari at all; maybe it was Anna- she was crazy enough to simply break the lock…But what the fuck would she want?

Tayuya stopped in front of her room door- it was shut, the look was safely in place. But there were noises coming from the other side of the door.

The girl opened the door, slammed it against the wall.

-What the fuck, Temari???- she asked angrily and then suddenly froze. Temari wasn't anywhere in sight. Instead, a shocked girl with big pale eyes and navy blue hair sat on the bed that was always empty before. A small suitcase was standing next to the closet that was open and Tayuya saw stuff hanging in it that wasn't her own.

The girl looked at her with big shocked eyes and then smiled shyly.

-Hi…You…you must be Tayuya-san…My name is…Hinata. Hyuga Hinata,- she said, blushing.

Dear Neji-onii-sama,

You've told me that I can write to you so I hope you wouldn't mind receiving this letter from me.

I've been placed in room # 404 along with a girl named Monou Tayuya. Her last name seemed familiar to me- then I've remembered that it's Orochimaru-sama's last name, that rather creepy man, who sometimes attended Father's parties. But I don't remember him having any children. In fact, I don't even think he had a wife…

There are six girls in my class- including me that is. Their names are Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Xu Tenten, Sabaku Temari. I wish I could say they are nice but they aren't…Well, they aren't exactly mean either.

Shinsen-sama has a lot of very strict rules here. For example, our uniform must always be tidy and our hair must be neat and it should never hang loose. Some of the girls, like Tayuya, Ino and Sakura have beautiful long hair so they absolutely hate this rule. Of course, Tayuya doesn't even care for her hair- it's really messy and hasn't been cut for quite a long time. Tayuya just seems to hate any kind of rules.

She's a really strange person. She seems angry all the time, she uses a lot of filthy language and she always gets into some kind of fight. When I arrived she was in the Hospital building for some reason and only returned to the dorm late in the evening. She stormed into the room, thinking it was Temari or one of the older girls who broke into her room and were going through her stuff. The next day she got into a fight with Temari- I don't know why, but they've been saying really terrible things to each other. That's pretty strange, since in the evening Temari came into our room and she and Tayuya had left and only got back after midnight. Of course, it's not allowed to be out of your room after 11 PM, but Tayuya and Temari didn't seem to care. Today Anna-san, one of the older girls (I'm not familiar with them yet, Anna-san is the only one I've meet, and that happened today for the first time), told them that she saw Anko-sensei, the martial arts teacher, watching them last night. But Shinsen-sama didn't say anything in the morning assembly today so I assume that Anko-sensei said nothing to her…

I hope she did, because punishment here is pretty strict. You can get locked up in the detention room, and, from what I've heard, it's just a plain room where they only give you water and you can be stuck there for days, depending on which rule you've disobeyed.

Staying in your room after 11 PM is considered one of the most important rules here, so Temari warned me to never leave the dorm later. She said that I'll get caught for sure, because I'm "naïve and stupid".

Temari might seem quite mean but she'd actually done me a favor by mailing this letter. At first I've wanted to write you an e-mail, but we can only access internet from a computer class, where our activities are strictly monitored by Tsujido-sama, Shinsen-sama's helper.

I've wanted to have a little of privacy, so I've decided to mail it to you. When Tayuya saw me writing, she said that it's no use sending it openly, since all of our mail gets checked and if there is anything Shinsen-sama doesn't like, we'd have to rewrite it. She said Temari has some way of sending and receiving letters without them getting checked, and that's how she and Tayuya communicate with their brothers. So I gave Temari this envelope. She told me to write to you that if you ever want to send me a reply or something, mail it to whatever address stated on the envelope. I don't know what it would be, since Tayuya said that how they send letters is "none of my business"

Sincirely,

Hinata.

Hey, people! You know the drill- read and review.

This was inspired bymanga Oniisama-E, Pieta and some other of Lilicious scanlations.

Mori