I do not own 'Naruto' or 'Roman Holiday' and I mean no disrespect by using characters and/or situations from either.
Konohagakure Holiday
"This is your bedroom, your highness. I hope you find it adequate." The dark-haired hotel maid opened an unnaturally large and heavy door, beckoning the princess in. The room, decorated in a very ornate way, gleamed with polish.
"T-thank you, Ms. Furukawa." Realizing that her speech had slipped, Hinata blushed a bit, bowing to the tiny woman and allowing her to shut the door, leaving Hinata alone for the first time that day. The weary princess leaned against the door, sliding gracefully down to the floor with her back pressed up against the hardwood.
"I must be t-tired," she whispered to the room. "I r-rarely stutter anymore."
Looking up at the small table near the door, Hinata saw a local newspaper rolled up next to a decanter of water and a set of crystal champagne flutes. She reached up slowly, keeping her back against the door, as if she could bar people from entering, and grasped the newspaper, unrolling it with her other hand.
"Hyuuga Princess of the Land of Fire Visits Konohagakure…," she read aloud. There was a dated picture of her alongside her younger sister Hanabi and Neji to the left of the headline.
"T-two weeks into her Land of Fire tour and the spunky princess shows no signs of exhaustion, attending multiple functions in her honor…"
Hinata continued to read, grimacing at the world 'spunky.' She quickly lost interest and her eyes darted below the fold to a picture of a very handsome blond man grinning ear-to-ear and giving a thumbs up at the camera. He was flanked by the very young-looking Lady Tsunade, and a man Hinata recognized from the ball as one of her most powerful ninja. She couldn't remember his name; however, she recognized his facial mask and the jaunty angle that his Konohagakure forehead protector leaned across his face. Her interest piqued, Hinata read on.
"After much d-deliberation, Lady Tsunade has chosen a successor to her position of Hokage. Naruto Uzumaki has long been a p-prominent ninja, serving Konohagakure on a number of S-class missions…"
Hinata frowned, staring at the photograph of the young man. She couldn't remember him from the ball, and knew that they had not been introduced in the receiving line. There must have been a reason why one of the most important figures in the village had not been dragged out to meet her. She smiled wryly.
"I wonder w-why he wasn't there," she said, suddenly wistful as she traced her fingers over the photograph. Hinata was positive that they hadn't met. She would surely remember the most handsome man she had ever seen. Blushing, Hinata quickly scanned the article for clues.
Suddenly, she found herself shoved from behind and deposited on the welcome mat. She gave a surprised 'eep!' and threw the newspaper in the air, scattering the pages all over the carpet.
"Your highness!"
"Sister!"
Two voices yelled at once from behind her. Still blushing, Hinata stood and turned around to face Tenten, who was standing in the entryway looking confused. Neji peered out from behind her, his usual stoic expression on his face.
"Your highness? What were you doing in the doorway?"
"Um…I was…r-reading the paper." Hinata shrunk backwards towards the guilded four-poster bed that stood in the center of the room.
"On the floor?" Tenten sounded incredulous.
Hinata clenched the front page of the newspaper in her hand, suddenly angry. If she wanted to read the newspaper on the floor, she was perfectly entitled to. She was struck by the wish that Neji and Tenten had never entered her room and disrupted her privacy.
"I'm sorry, T-tenten," she said softly, bowing to her.
"It doesn't really matter," Tenten replied. "I was just a little confused. There's not really anything to apologize for."
Hinata bowed again and turned to clamber into the gigantic bed. Perhaps if she made it appear that she was going to sleep, they would leave her alone with her thoughts. The soft feather mattress immediately plied to her body, squashing down and welcoming her in. Hinata sunk down into the mounds of blankets and sheets with a long yawn. Neji and Tenten followed her, stopping at her bedside.
"I thought we would briefly go over your itinerary," Tenten said, pulling out a clipboard. Neji nodded, looking at Hinata to make sure that she was paying attention.
"Thank you," Hinata said.
"Tomorrow morning we start bright and early with breakfast at seven and a press conference at eight," Tenten began.
"No thank you," Hinata said.
Tenten paused and looked at her as if she wasn't sure what to do.
"Hinata was joking," Neji stated. "Please continue, Tenten."
"Yes please," Hinata said.
"Okay, after the press conference, you and Neji will go into a meeting with the Hokage, Lady Tsunade and her named successor Naruto Uzumaki…"
Hinata's mind latched on to the name, immediately recognizing it as belonging to the good-looking man in the newspaper. She nodded vaguely at Tenten, staring vacantly past her.
"Your highness? Are you listening?"
"Sister?" Neji's voice sounded a bit concerned.
Hinata shook her head. "I'm sorry, please continue."
"Alright. After noon, you will be doing a tour of the academy, meeting a few select classes, and giving lectures. Perhaps you should tell them about your own experiences training in the Hyuuga compound. I'm sure that they would be interested. Talk about how you believe that youth is the future of Konohagakure and the entire Land of Fire."
"No thank you."
"Well, you don't have to, your highness, it was just a suggestion," Tenten replied, sounding a bit hurt.
"Pleased to meet you. You have a lovely village. How do you do? Yes, please. And thank you. No thank you." Hinata began to spout pleasantries over Tenten, her voice becoming louder and louder. She felt a burning pressure in the pit of her stomach and tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes, but she didn't know why. Hinata's breath became shallow and rapid.
"I CAN'T do it!" she finally screamed, thrashing around underneath the comforter. Clenching her fists in the pillow she pressed it to her face and screamed, leaving it wet with saliva. Her arms were quickly pulled apart and restrained by Neji, but Hinata continued to writhe and thrash, sobbing and crying.
"Sister, stop," Neji demanded. "You are a Hyuuga." If Hinata had opened her eyes, she would have seen identical ones on Neji, full of worry and concern. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and rolled her head back and forth violently.
"Her chakra is spiking dangerously," Neji whispered to Tenten. Tenten nodded. Her hands shaking from nerves, Tenten pulled out a small vial of powder and, crossing the room, emptied it into the decanter of water. She filled one of the champagne flutes with the liquid and quickly ran back to Hinata's bedside.
"Your highness," Tenten begged. "Please calm down. Drink some water." Hinata stopped thrashing for a moment and looked past Neji at Tenten.
"Call me Hinata," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Please."
"I…of course, your, I mean, Hinata. Now please, drink some water. I'm sure you'll feel better once you have some water and there's a small amount of medicine in it to help you sleep." Tenten offered the glass to Hinata, who graciously accepted, drinking it down in one gulp.
Breathing in deeply, Hinata sat up in bed and looked at both Neji and Tenten.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," she said, her voice wavering at its usual pitch.
"It's okay," Tenten said, grasping one of the princess's hands tentatively in her own. "I'm just glad you're back to yourself."
Hinata nodded and smiled, squeezing Tenten's hand lightly before sinking back into the bed with a yawn.
"I am rather tired," Hinata said sheepishly. "I'm sure I will be perfectly fine tomorrow morning. You said that breakfast was at seven?"
"Yes, your high-Hinata," Tenten quickly corrected.
"Goodnight then, Tenten. Goodnight, brother. I'll see you both, tomorrow morning." Neji and Tenten nodded, turning away from her bedside and walking towards the exit.
"Don't worry about the lights. I believe I will leave them on for a bit," Hinata called after them. She couldn't help but giggle quietly to herself as she watched Neji take Tenten's hand when the reached the doorway, thinking that Hinata wasn't watching. Neji looked back quickly and Hinata ducked her head under the covers, keeping her eyes hidden until Neji, satisfied that his cousin had not seen his brief display of affection, shut the door firmly behind him.
Hinata pulled back the covers and quietly rose from bed, her feet softly padding along the plush carpet. When she reached the large window facing out into the hotel courtyard, she drew back the heavy velvet curtains with a flourish, gazing out into the soft, flickering lights of the town. A strain of upbeat, comforting music wafted up through Hinata's window and she began to sway in time. After a few minutes she stopped, frozen for a moment, before dashing to her dresser and pulling out a comfortable khaki jacket and dark cropped pants. Usually serving as her training clothes, they were the only items of traditional Hyuuga clothing that she didn't mind.
As she opened the window, a cool breeze ruffled Hinata's dark hair. She yawned briefly before jumping out of the window and landing softly onto the grass. In the darkness, she quickly activated her byakugan. Although it was nowhere near as strong as her father would have liked, it allowed her to plot a course across the gardens unseen by the security guards. She kept her chakra at a low, but very tightly controlled level, and slipped quickly into a waiting laundry van. As she settled in to a pile of white towels, Hinata yawned and leaned her head in her hands.
"I must b-be more tired than I p-previously thought," she whispered.
A/N: Poor Hinata, she just wants to be left alone for a while. This chapter was really hard to write, mainly because Audrey Hepburn does such a damn good job portraying the exhaustion and vulnerability during the freak-out. Although I think it fits in well with Hinata's character (bottling up that many feelings will eventually lead to a meltdown at some point) it didn't make the scene any easier to write.
Re: Naruto's newspaper photograph, the thumbs up is NOT the 'nice guy pose!' ;)
I guess there will be a bit of Neji/Ten in here too. I'm a big fan of that pairing.
Good question Hinata, where is Naruto? Maybe coming up in chapter three?
