Hina

Hinata bid her goodbyes to her teammates and entered into the quiet Hyuuga compound. Many found the compound a very disturbing eerie silence, but Hinata merely found it to be calming. Relaxing. Home.

Most days anyway.

Hinata wandered to the edge of the compound, where the large towering trees blocked the moonlight, bathing the soft blades of grass in darkness. But the light was hard pressed to be kept out, solitary specks of bright moonlight managed to squeeze through, allowing her a soft line of vision.

A tiny girl sat on the grass leaning against the wall of the compound, her eyes shut and arms wrapped lightly around her knees. Her soft indigo hair was splayed messily across her face. The tree above the young girl, whistled with the rush of the frosty wind, letting the harsh moonlight stream across her in moving pieces. She looked so cold, and lonely, and…afraid.

"Hanabi?" Hinata asked tentatively.

The girl's eyes flicked open, and then closed slowly. "Hello, Hinata."

Hinata ambled over and sat beside her little sister. "What's wrong?" Hinata asked, as her pale fingers pulled at the blades of grass.

"You should stop pulling out the grass; you know dad hates it when you do."

"Hmm." Hinata murmured absent-mindedly. "I probably should." She pulled out another blade.

Hanabi sighed. "I was the favorite, you know? Just 'cause you would never really listen to dad. Even when you wanted his approval, you never really listened."

Hinata's brow furrowed. "You are the favorite. I'm the weak, disliked, inattentive, worthless one."

"You're not listening Hinata. I was the favorite. I won't be anymore. As soon as…he knows…I won't be…"

"Hanabi—"

"You'll get to be head after all. A person who makes choices like me can't… Not that I mind really. Being Head sounded like such a bore, I kind of just enjoyed the attention. I never really wanted to be, you know… It was supposed to be your responsibility. I certainly didn't want it."

Hinata turned her head to look at her younger sister, as a cold shiver spread across her gut. The way she was talking…it was…it wasn't normal… "Hanabi, what…?"

"If you weren't so passive, I'd be afraid you would yell at me, for what I've done." Hanabi paused. "Dad'll yell at me. He'll yell himself hoarse. Might even turn me out."

Bad. Statements like that weren't made unless something was terribly, despairingly, jaw-droppingly bad.

All Hinata could think and feel was bad.

Unsettled.

Nervous.

Scared.

"I really fucked up, Hinata."

Hinata winced at the expletive. Hanabi was always too fond of curses. "Wha—"

"Swear you won't tell dad or anyone else in the clan. Swear you'll let me."

Hinata swallowed. "I swear." She whispered softly.

Hanabi sighed. "I…let's just say I've…made an addition to our family…"

Hinata froze. The swaying of the trees, the cold chill of the night, the owls, all of it – everything froze. Her very heart froze.

It was like the air was all sucked up out of her lungs and for the first time, Hinata couldn't see. She couldn't see a single thing.

Hinata was VERY aware that there were objects, animals, and colors before her, but she couldn't see them.

It was peculiar.

She was looking forward, but she wasn't looking at anything.

Blank.

It as like some…book she'd read where the character seems to describe a total freeze in time or in a movie when the character's eye's go wide and all the noise ceases. It was that very thing that probably scared her the most.

Not the fact that she couldn't see. As creepy as that was, it didn't scare her.

It wasn't the idea that she felt stuck in time.

But the eerie lack of noise.

The Hyuuga compound was always very quiet. So quiet that it scared Kiba to enter, calling the area a demented, freakish, inhuman vicinity. But it was nothing, NOTHING like this. She could hear no muffled voices.

No scraping of shoes.

No whistling of wind.

No murmur of grass.

No stifled giggles.

The noise that even glaring brought.

The noise of disappointment

Noise of fear.

Of joy.

Of anger.

Of love.

There was no noise.

No color.

No objects.

And no air.

Pregnant

Hanabi had always spoken of children like creatures. Creepy, weird creatures that she would never have. Things she…

Pregnant?

As quickly as the empty wave of nothingness hit, it left.

And all the noise and color became painfully clear.

The whiny fluorescent green of the grass blades she'd pulled out.

The flickering hum of the lights inside the compound.

The scrape of an animal clawing at the walls.

The hoot of an owl.

The moonlight falling across the grounds.

The gray – bright glowing gray – of the moon.

The pale shivering hand of Hanabi.

The noise of expectance.

Hanabi was waiting.

Hinata's tongue clung to the roof of her mouth and words slipped slowly and sticky like honey, from her lips. "H-How far…a-along?"

Hanabi's eyes slid shut. "Not much. A month or two. I only knew for sure today…Sakura did the tests on me."

"W-Who is…the f-f-father?" Hinata whispered timidly, words just falling from her lips. She couldn't think. Words only kept falling.

"No one you know."

Pregnant

"It's different, you know? I feel sick and weird. Sleepy all the time. Hungry too."

The entire compound had thought Hanabi was merely over-exhausted from training. Everyone had noticed her sluggish movements and her nausea in the mornings. They just assumed…Training…

"I guess there's a lot I won't be able to do anymore. I have to take care of myself…"

Hinata's eyes drew to her sister's stomach.

Pregnant.

The shy girl took hold of Hanabi's hand and squeezed it. It was so very cold. It felt like she was grasping an ice cube. An ice being. A human. A scared little girl.

The younger girl leant into her older sister.

Hanabi was so small.

So…

So…small…

"I'm scared." She whispered into her chest. "To tell dad. Kami, he's going – he's going to…Who knows. He's capable of anything. He almost threw you away and that's just because you weren't born a damn genius."

What would he do?

Hanabi was his favorite…but still…

"Kami," she choked, "What will I tell everyone?" A sob. "What will Neji say?"

Hinata was never more aware of how small her sister was than at this moment.

Hanabi had always been the better one of them two.

Stronger.

Smarter.

More talented.

More confident.

More loved.

But she was so small.

She was scared.

How was Hanabi supposed to do it?

A girl who lived on others' praise and attention.

A girl who'd never felt the burden of shame.

"Part of me kinda wishes I'll have a miscarriage and – and I won't have to tell anyone ever…But I don't think…I don't think…you know?"

"I – It would be hard to-to tell…"

She scoffed. "You think?"

No, Hinata wasn't thinking. Words failed her. "Gomen."

It was the noise of the compound that scared Hinata now. The noise to come. The Hyuuga clan was so reserved…This would stir certain problems. Certain conflicts. Certain everything…Hinata brushed Hanabi's hair out of her face and looked into her small eyes.

Hanabi's hand was no longer shaking and no longer…so cold.

"I'm scared, Hina."

"Anyone would be."

"Can we sleep out here, Hina?"

"Of course, 'Nabi." Hinata rested her chin on her sister's head. "Of course."

Hinata offered to be there when Hanabi told their father.

Hanabi dully refused.

Which left Hinata waiting outside the room in the hallway, sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, dull thoughts pounding through her mind. Thinking about it was possibly the most frightening thing, because the more thought she put into it, the more real it seemed to become. Her little sister was with child.

It was a rather startling experience, Hinata decided, because pondering it left her in a strange sort of equilibrium. She likened the feeling to being dropped into a rather large vat of squishy, un-sticky gel. It was like she could feel everything and yet nothing at all.

She couldn't even begin to imagine how Hanabi felt.

Her pale arms were wrapped around her knees, teeth gnawing at her lower lips. Worried and pensive.

Feet paused right in front of her. Firm, rigid.

Probably Neji.

He was one of the few Hyuuga members who, upon finding her sitting on the floor would actually pause to ask what was going on. Most just walked on like nothing mattered. In many ways, Hinata mused, the Hyuugas weren't really a family at all.

"Hinata-sama, what are you doing?"

Yes. It was definitely Neji. Hinata looked up. "Ano…" Neji didn't know…about Hanabi…not yet… "I…" She paused and mulled over an appropriate response. "Waiting. For Hanabi."

His eyes displayed confusion for a second. "Why?" He paused. "Is something wrong?"

Luckily, she mused, there were the select few, that really were made life in the Hyuuga clan seem like a family. A weird one, but a family nonetheless.

"Because…" She sighed. "She needs someone to wait…for her."

Neji inclined his head.

"It's complicated, but…" Hinata smiled distastefully, "Hiashi will probably let ev-everyone know s-soon."

At this Neji visibly frowned.

Hinata had never before called her father anything than 'father'.

Neji seemed about to ask another question when Hanabi came tumbling out from the room. The small girl fell back painfully; her palms stretched back absorbing the brunt of the fall. Hanabi's eyes squeezed shut quickly, so quickly it would have been missed by any other person. But the Hyuuga's had their damned eyes; they could see it all. Hanabi's palms stung terribly so.

Hiashi followed out, anger radiating from his every pore. In his usually calm face. "You – You – YOU!" He spat.

Hanabi laughed.

Coldly.

Echoingly.

Distastefully.

When Hanabi's face raised, you could see the tears pooling down her face. The sorrow and distaste mingling with her hollow laughter. Hinata wordlessly drifted to her sister and hugged her close. She didn't much like the expression and reaction in her sister's face. She seemed mad, almost mad with grief. Hinata's previous bland feeling twisting and turning with a newfound fury at her father.

"Disgrace! Wretch! You—" Hiashi continued, fury overtaking him. "How dare you walk into this house with—"

"Shut up." Hinata said quietly, for the first time ever speaking out against her father, her lilac eyes narrowed, and lips pressed tight. "Just, shut up."

Neji's eyes widened visibly.

This only increased Hiashi's anger tenfold. "Don't you dare! You weak, vile thing, defending this pathetic—"

"She is not pathetic." Hinata interrupted quietly.

"She is a distasteful shame." Hiashi spat, glaring at his youngest daughter, his used-to-be gem, cruelly, "She is a harlot. Traipsing around without a care. Deceitful little—"

It was one of those rare moments that Hinata would later look back on and be completely unable to explain. Because really it felt like it was the most unreal thing that could NEVER happen.

Sort of like when Hanabi told her the news but different.

Instead of the blank feeling of nothing, Hinata felt everything.

Every twitch enhanced.

Every color overly bright.

Every word devastatingly sharp.

And just as simply as the world enhanced before her eyes, her control slipped as easily.

Anger she had felt, but she had always been able to detach herself from it. She had always managed to push it aside.

It wasn't happening this time.

From this bright enhancement came a dull nothingness that removed as she felt her hand contact with Hiashi's surprisingly soft, human skin, at a specific chakra point that would knock him out cold. Hiashi fell dumbly to the floor, his words echoing into absolute nothingness.

Hinata stared blankly at the fallen figure.

She had just attacked her father.

She had used her kekkai genkai against her father.

Even worse, she had actually hit her target.

Hiashi had not blocked it.

Holy…

Rich, laughter swallowed the hallway from below Hinata. Hanabi was still sitting upon the floor, but the expression on her face had changed.

She was laughing.

And smiling.

And she looked…Happy. Pleased. Shocked.

"Th-That was b-brilliant!" Hanabi choked out between heaping gasps of laughter.

"I…I…" Hinata stared at the still from of Hiashi, "I can't believe I actually did that."

"I can't believe it actually worked." Hanabi laughed. "Some head. Knocked out by the so-called failure of the main branch. Oh, fucking brilliant. This is the best moment of my entire damn laugh." More fits of laughter. "You knocked him out!! Hah!"

Neji looked over at the Hyuuga head.

The passed out Hyuuga head.

The passive branch member smiled as the realization of this scene wriggled into his mind. "While I don't know exactly what happened or why, I'm seriously glad it did." The wry smile didn't leave his lips. "Can you imagine? Hiashi-sama what has occurred to you. My weakling of a daughter knocked me out."

Hanabi laughed uproariously at that thought. "Oh bloody fuck. That is awesome. We should take a picture of him and make a million copies and give it out to every member of the clan!"

The shock was finally wearing off and Hinata could think again. "I am so dead."

"Dead? Please." Hanabi giggled. "Kami, Hina, that was fucking awesome. Who knew you could do that? And they call you weak. Pfft."

"She's training." Neji answered, his smile still clear. "She's much better than they and even she believes."

Hinata blinked. "Am not…That was…luck?"

Hanabi smirked. "Sure thing, sis."

Neji stretched. "So…either of you want to explain?"

Hanabi looked up at her elder cousin. "Ano…I'm…" She sighed. "I'm pregnant."

Neji blinked.

Hinata directed her attention to Neji.

His eyes drifted to Hiashi. He stared at the man for a good minute before speaking. His voice was quiet and maybe a little cold. "You told him you were pregnant and he pushed you like that to the floor?"

"We had always known Hiashi was a jackass." Hinata murmured.

Shock filled the three Hyuuga's again. This time in Hanabi and Neji's pale eyes.

"Did you just curse, Hinata-sama?"

"He pushed her to the floor!" Hinata responded hysterically. "He could've killed the baby!"

Neji looked at his youngest cousin. The revered one. "Since when?"

"Not long."

"Hm."

Hanabi's voice was timid. "Are you mad, Neji?"

"Does it look like I am?"

Hanabi wrinkled her nose. "You're weird. I can never tell what you feel about anything. You're about as easy to read as…tea leaves are."

"I can read tea leaves." Hinata piped up.

Hanabi rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well, Hina, I can't. Tea leaves or Neji. Not everyone is as good at reading people as you."

Neji sighed. "I'm not…angry, at you Hanabi. You made a mistake and that's obvious. I won't chastise you for an err that you already have enough trouble dealing with." He looked at her in concern. Concern, Neji hardly ever displayed. "I'm more worried for your health and shocked than anything else." He glanced at Hiashi. "Angry I am. But not at you."

Hanabi smiled softly. "Hn."

After a moment of silent contemplation, Hanabi stood up and muttered absent-mindedly to the two before her. "Well, I think I've been disowned."

"Nah." Hinata murmured. "Just denounced. If ANYONE'S disowned it's me. I knocked out the Hyuuga head." She paused. "Can't I be sent to death for that? They'll see it as treason or…something…"

"He had it coming. "Neji murmured. "They can't accuse you of treason for knocking him out. Especially if you have witnesses." There was silence and then Neji glanced at Hanabi once more. "How far?"

"About two months."

"Boy or girl?"

"Unsure."

"Hn." He paused. He seemed to be thinking carefully as he analyzed his youngest cousin carefully. Finally, he spoke, carefully and clearly, "I'm not waking up at two in the morning to get you one of those craving things. I don't care if you're from the main and I'm from the branch. I won't do it. And if you decide to start yelling or getting emotional on me for no reason whatsoever I'll lock you in a closet. And if you complain about being fat, I'll cut off your hair; and—"

"Neji-niisan," Hinata interrupted, "where are you getting all these ideas?" Hinata was smiling. "How are you so aware of pregnancies?"

Neji shifted slightly. "Tenten's mother is six months pregnant. I hear all Tenten's complaints."

"So," Hanabi began mischievously, "if I suddenly wake up from a terrible nightmare and a followed by horrible bodily aches, you won't even—"

"No. I will do nothing at ungodly hours. I will put up with no unreasonable rants. I will not deal with any stupid complaints. I will not hear about any…fluidy things. I will not discuss any birthing nonsense."

Hanabi stuck out her tongue. "You'll change your mind. You'll soften up to me, Neji."

"No."

Hinata inclined her head. "Tenten's mom is having kids at her age?"

"Neji," Hanabi crooned, "do I look fat to you?"

Neji's eyebrow twitched furiously, "Hanabi." He warned.

The young girl grinned. "Oh, come on."

Neji just stared at her.

"You are so boring" Hanabi rolled her eyes. "Hinata at least humors me."

"Hinata has more patience than a rock."

Hanabi batted her eyelashes. "Well, dearest cousin of mine, I believe I shall be having a craving at three in the morning. Probably something rare. Just so you know."

"Hanabi, I swear to you—"

The girl giggled and skittered off. "Only joking."

Neji groaned.

He'd figured becoming a mother would smack some maturity into his little cousin. But no, she was still Hanabi. Not that Hanabi was bad. Just…slightly irritating on certain occasions.

Just yesterday, she'd woken him up at one complaining in agony over extreme abdominal pain.

Neji had scrambled out of bed in fear and shot a slew of questions at her trying to figure out what was wrong. He tumbled out of his bed through his interrogation, smacking his head on his bed frame, his hand slamming painfully into the marble floor and his legs tangled invariably in his damn sheets, before he realized she was laughing her head off.

Vindictive evil thing.

And then, Hanabi decided that since he was already awake, the least he could do was have ice cream with her.

At ONE in the morning.

The only good thing was he got to be there when she pulled the same stunt on Hinata. It was much funnier when it wasn't happening to you.

Hanabi sat outside in the same spot she had been sitting in when she had confessed to Hinata about her…predicament, except this time, it was daylight.

And she had a nice plump belly.

Her hand was softly resting on her round stomach; eyes slid shut, and breathing calm. The sunlight filtered through the tree branches and bathed her beautifully.

Hinata approached her sister happily, "Hey, 'Nabi."

Hanabi smiled as Hinata sat beside her. "How'd the meetings go?"

"Boring." Hinata yawned. "How did you manage 'Nabi? It's all so…" Hinata wrinkled her nose. "Political."

"The trick," Hanabi grinned, "is to imagine the members in a hula skirt."

Hinata laughed.

"From what I hear from Neji, you're pretty good at these political meetings. He says you shocked the entire council. They don't expect you to be quite so well versed in rhetoric. They're astonished. A better prospective head than I ever was."

"Being good at it, doesn't mean I like it." She shrugged, "I supposed I could make an okay head. I still think Neji would do a much better job."

Hanabi smiled secretively.

"So…" Hinata continued, deciding to ignore her sister's secret smile. She wouldn't get an answer if she asked anyway. "What'd Sakura tell you?"

"It's a girl."

Hanabi leaned into her sister, resting her head on Hinata's shoulder.

"You know," Hinata began, "they say the personality of a baby is doubled by the gender they take after. If it's a girl, double the mom's qualities; if it's a boy…"

"Oh, kami." Hanabi laughed. "She's gonna be a mess then."

"Eh," Hinata smiled, "the Hyuuga clan needs some messin' up. And a good head. Maybe she'll be it."

Hanabi shrugged. "Anything's possible."

Her sister was still so small.

So very small.

But so big too.

She was going to be a mommy.

And Hinata – an aunt.

An aunt.

"I have a name." Hanabi said to her.

"Oh?"

"Neji likes it. He smiled. Haven't seen one of those on his face since you knocked Hiashi out, Hina."

"Oh, kami," Hinata groaned, "don't remind me." Hinata smiled and brushed strands of indigo hair out of her sister's face. 'So, 'Nabi, what's the name?"

"Hina."

"Yeah?"

Hanabi laughed. "No, idiot, I wanna call my baby Hina."

"Twit." Hinata elbowed her sister gently.

"You're the most important – an annoying – person in my life. And I admire you and think you're amazing. I want my girl to be like you too, Hina."

Hinata smiled.

Yeah, the Hyuuga compound had a nice silence.

Because it wasn't silent at all.

And with the arrival of baby Hina, it would be even less so.

A/N: Welll, surprise, surprise, I've finally written something that has nothing to do with the sand siblings or Shikamaru. A little weird and different from what I usually write, but there's a reason why. I actually wrote this right after my cousin told me she was pregnant. She's my age, and like a sister to me. Too young to be having kids. My cousin dropped the bomb on me, first one she told, and I freaked. Seriously, Hinata's description of nothingness is what happened to me when my cousin told me, I swear I could not see or feel or hear a thing. It was creepy. So, I had a lot of tension built up inside of me and since my cousin wasn't ready to tell anyone yet (she still hasn't, waiting till after Christmas) I've kind of…been unable to converse with anyone. So I wrote something instead.

So Hanabi's character is strongly influenced by my cousin and Hinata by my possible reactions…

And yeah, that's about it.