For Hinata month, day 1: why do you love Hinata?
Day 1
It was easy to hate her.
She liked to be quiet, for reasons he didn't understand. His silence was stern. Intimidating. It carried weight. His silence could overpower the clamor of many.
Her silence was soft. Still. Her silence matched the quiet of early morning, the peace of sunrise. She spoke when it was necessary, and even then, it didn't suit her. She thought too hard about words, too carefully about tone. All that caution, and in the end, it damned her.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
Her father's only words after a sparring match that ended with her on her knees.
Her silence was soft. Too soft for an heiress, who should have taken this opportunity to let her silence harden. To match her father's. Tears dotted soundlessly along the flooring.
She was silent as she was beaten, and she was silent as she dragged herself to her room. One could think, as she passed others without even a lift of her head, such a girl had no place among Konoha's fiercest. What a terrible fate, to be the successor to the strongest, and to be so weak.
But she tried. Oh, did she try. The way everyone in her family trained until they split open their palms, and strained their eyes-she was no exception to hard work.
But it was useless.
Her fate would never change.
"Nee-sama!"
Her little sister, that loved hugs, and coloring, and being a child. For now, she was allowed to play and run and laugh, in the ways her older sister was never able to.
And, everyone knew, that would change. One day, she would wear a band around her forehead, and she would learn silence, and there was no doubt hers could be as strong as his.
What a terrible fate, for two sisters who loved each other in a world meant for hate, that they would separate for the good of the other.
But only one could make the sacrifice.
Still, she smiled, and her smile was quiet too. True, and real, and her only indulgence in a world unfit for her happiness. Her future.
That smile would never change either, even if she would have to hide it away.
And so a girl, twelve and quiet and afraid of the world around her, took the path to become a shinobi.
He decided she wouldn't make it. Not her. Not her, who was born weak in a clan built on strength. Not her, who didn't speak unless spoken to. Not her, who would rather cry quietly than say what was on her mind.
"Yo, Hinata! You coming or what?!"
He watched her run to catch up with her teammates as they left for their newest mission.
A tracking squad.
She would be their eyes.
They'd be better off blind.
As it seemed, Team 8 was stronger than they looked.
He didn't know much about that scraggly mutt, or the bug-user, or the ninja hound, but he knew her and there was no reason she should have been in the Chunin exams.
He watched her, hands in her pocket, looking around the arena, making sure to look every way but his.
He wanted her to look.
He wanted her to see his eyes, and remember she did not belong.
What a terrible fate, out of all the hundreds it could have been, she would have to go through him.
He wanted nothing to do with her, but relished in being the one to put her in her place.
Still, she was quiet, even as he tore her apart in front of everyone. Even as he unraveled the lies she had been living. Even as he told her what she already knew but had hidden from everybody else.
Now they would know. They would all know what her silence hid.
It was not timidity.
It was shame.
So rightfully earned, because even at the mercy of her demons, she could not make herself face them.
"Kick that bastard's ass, Hinata!"
She had said she wanted to change.
He had scoffed.
But even as they sparred, powerful chakra clashing against one another, jyuken against jyuken, Byakugan against Byakugan, Hyuga against Hyuga-if it had been anybody else, she might have stood a chance.
Her eyes had changed.
Her voice had changed.
She was knocked to the ground, and this time, she had found a reason to get up.
Her legs wobbled. She clutched at a dislocated arm. Bruises welted around her cheeks.
She did not stand out of pride, or glory, or rivalry. She did not stare at him out of bitterness or hatred. And when she spoke, there was no caution, because she had seen through him as easily as he had seen through her.
"The one lost and suffering...is you."
If he had killed her that day, he would not have known how right she had been.
If he had not been stopped by four jonin, he would not have known how misguided he had become.
If he had not seen the way that annoying boy shouted for her and vowed to avenge her, he would not have known there had always been another way.
If he had not trained with her, and sparred with her, and drank tea with her, and fought alongside a war with her, he would not have known what he had been missing.
If he had not died smiling at her, and felt the freedom in choosing death, not out of obligation, but for somebody that you love-
He would never have known how easy it was to love her.
Fin.
TBH, I didn't really like Hinata at all until her match with Neji in the Chunin exams. To see her character and why she is the way she is, and the way she grows...wow. Brilliant writing.
Anyways, see ya guys later with the next prompt.
-Gen.