Now is some Hinata action...
Metamorphosis
Chapter II
Jaded
"Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance." - Samuel Jackson.
Hinata was three when the first attempt to kidnap her happened.
She was three and she could still barely talk, let alone try to get away. At just three years old, someone had tried to sneak in through her window in her nursery and put a bag over her head and try to take her away. They hadn't succeeded, of course - because she had screamed, screamed so loud that her own ears had rung painfully. Because it had been scary; and to this day, she couldn't remember the face of her own kidnapper, but she could remember the silhouette of a black, black face and light brown eyes. They glinted, and she could still remember how petrified she had felt; how she forced herself to scream.
And it was her uncle that had come to rescue her; and it was her uncle who had been shot right in front of her eyes, and it was her uncle who had fallen to the floor, lifeless, blood pouring out of his mouth. The kidnapper had disappeared out the window, hearing that backup was coming quickly - and she hadn't seen him since. At just three, she had learned how to feel guilt - guilt so intense, that it settled in your stomach and made you retch and heave.
Hinata was five when her mother disappeared.
Right after Hanabi was born, she'd been hearing numerous propaganda about how the birth killed her - but it proved to be all untrue when she accidentally eavesdropped on her father's conversation. He had said, angry and cold at the same time, how she had run away, leaving their children to him; Hiinata hadn't know why. She had been too busy trying to bite back tears that were threatening to escape: too busy trying to get away from the truth. And she was five when she felt betrayal so icy that it stabbed at her heart.
At age six was the first time she had witnessed a murder planned by her very own father.
He had taken her out to the carnival; it had been so very unusual, since usually, her father would never pay attention to her. At the time she was too young and too happy to give it much thought - which was a mistake, showing her naivety. Because at the carnival, she had witnessed her father giving some sort of signal and - there were gunshots before some guy in a prim and proper business suit collapsed on the ground, blood coming out from the left side of his chest. The police sirens had sounded through the carnival grounds, and her father had callously informed her that playtime was over. Hot, mind-numbing fear had exploded in her brain then; and once more, she was acquainted with a horrible emotion when she really shouldn't have been.
She was nine when she realised that her father was part of the mafia - one of the major heads in Konoha, in fact.
It was a subtle thing: more like a small 'oh' going in the back of her head when she placed the last pieces of the puzzle together. To her knowledge, he was involved with all of the illegal weapons dealing - supplying weapons to different gangs, and sometimes, even governments. It was a business that made a lot of money, therefore making them one of the most powerful families in Konoha. It was a business that killed people. Brutally and efficiently. The moment she realised it, the moment she started hating it.
At age twelve she had met up with her cousin Neji who previously she had sometimes seen at different events - at age twelve she had been told that he was the next heir to the 'family business'.
When she thought of Neji, she thought of ice. Cold and hard. His eyes, even at twelve, where that of ice - they gleamed with hatred as they stared at her. Blame. Disgust. She was disgusting, because she was the reason his father died; the thing was, she agreed. Her uncle had been a lovely person, kind and daring, and was someone that didn't deserve to die for someone like her. A coward like her - who wasn't even able to defend herself at the time. Probably still couldn't now.
So she didn't say anything back to Neji's hurtful remarks, because she fully agreed with his reasoning. And his hatred. Because hatred, she had learned, was something that she did herself - to herself. And if she ever told Neji their similarities, he'd probably laugh - and maybe hate her even more.
She had just turned fourteen she met the love of her life.
Naruto Uzumaki was a cheerful person sporting vivid blue eyes and shining blonde hair. At first, she had been fascinated by him because he was everything that her life wasn't. Cheerful. Naive. Light. He was like the sun, and every time she was around him, she couldn't help but smile - because she realised that people like him actually existed. So warm, so bright. So unlike her family, and the 'family' business. But she was too scared to approach him because not only was she shy: but because she was sure that Neji would use this opportunity to take away someone important to her. That's how much he hated her.
She was sixteen when her heart was first broken.
Because it turned out that Naruto Uzumaki, for all his goals and bright sunny smiles, could actually like a girl. And of course, it wasn't her - it could never be her. She was too dark, and was like a shadow clouding his light; he didn't need someone like her. Besides, it wasn't like they had ever spoken more than two sentences to each other; she had never quite builded up the courage. It would have been an achievement if he even knew her name, for crying out loud. Why had she ever become so upset that he was in love with someone else, even though she knew it had always been hopeless?
It still hurt. Her heart bled, even though she knew it shouldn't. And it also hurt, too, because she already knew that Sakura was so much better than her. With that confident swagger, she had always been the first in her class - one of the three scholarship students in her year. And she had a right to be confident - because she was beautiful, and Hinata was not. She was, without a doubt, bitter. Heartbroken.
Now, she is seventeen and her father wants her to have an arranged marriage - for his profit.
Somewhat of a cliffy ending! . O_O
Review please, Aurora.
