A/N: Hello Earthlings all over the world! Finally, I have continued my job as a fanfic author after such a long period of doing absolutely nothing! I'm very happy with myself for carrying on this particular tale about a tomboy's quest to become a 'perfect lady'. I'm sorry if this chapter is too weird or boring! I will do my best.
Disclaimer: Oh yeah, I don't own Naruto….yet.
Hinata dashed out the front door of her house with a black converse sling bag slung over her shoulder. Immediately, she stopped dead on her tracks. Suddenly, she felt as if the clouds got darker. Her usual carefree smile turned into a small pout.
She was getting one of those feelings again. The type of feeling that indicated that something sinister was going to happen and that she was going to be the victim.
She shuddered.
The last time she had those kind of feelings, she went home by the end of the day and found out that her weirdo father had painted the walls of her room bright pink. Light, pastel pink, Hinata Hyuga can handle, but freaking BRIGHT PINK?! It just reminded her of one of her classmates in school. She shuddered once more.
"I'll just have to be on the look out for ice cream trucks or pianos suddenly falling from the sky, then." She muttered and shrugged, wondering what will happen to her today.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she glanced at her wristwatch and realized that she was 30 minutes from being late and cursed loudly. "That stupid of a cousin Neji didn't even call me to school! He just left! With his freaking car! I'm going to dump all of his beauty products into the Pacific Ocean after school!" She cried out loud to no one in particular.
But then she realized an obvious fact.
The Pacific Ocean would definitely not be big enough to hold all of Neji's beauty products. Realizing that fact, Hinata hung her head low, depressed.
Determined not to arrive at school late, she dashed into the garage and pulled out a crimson red bicycle. It was her personal bicycle that she has been taking care of, as if it was her own child, since she was 13. Now, 3 years had past and it was still as good as new.
It was not just any bicycle. It was her bicycle. And she affectionately calls it by the name of…Billy.
Billy Bob Brandon Hyuga, to be exact.
Tilting her dark blue baseball cap into a more comfortable position, she then caressed the leather seat of the bicycle and hopped on. "YOSH!!!" She quoted one of her cousin's best friends' famous saying, with a determined glint in her eyes. "We can make it, Billy! Just you and me!" She shouted happily, patting the handles of the bike.
A long pause ensued as Hinata waited for Billy's response.
Apparently, Billy was not much of a talker.
After a long period filled with the sound of crickets, Hinata breathed in deeply and gave a battle scream. One that would rival Xena, the warrior princess. With that, Hinata started cycling towards the school with speed that would put Lance Armstrong to shame.
'Just you watch, Neji-niisan! You will pay for almost making me late!' She thought to herself.
As usual, it was always fun to put the blame on the makeup-wearing-destiny boy. She then laughed maniacally, weaving in and out of traffic and overtaking cars like a drunken madman. Scratch that, a drunk, psychotic madman high on Red Bull, if that was even possible.
"MUAHAHAHA!" She went, as innocent onlookers swore they saw a blur of crimson red, black and dark blue went pass them.
"JUST YOU WAIIIT!!! NEJI-NEECHAN!!!" The civilians then heard, feeling the earth slightly shake. They wondered who was Neji-neechan and if she was a lovely woman.
Neji got out of his black Range Rover after parking the vehicle in Konoha High School's parking lot. He was humming the cheerful tune of Jackson Five's ABC, knowing for a fact that today was going to be a happy day.
Midway towards the school's entrance however, Neji Hyuga suddenly let out a sneeze. A rather loud one in fact, causing some students within a five mile radius to check if some sort of bomb had exploded. Neji turned red in embarrassment for a second but then returned to his stoic manner and glared at them. The other students quickly dismissed it and carried on with their merry lives. 'Someone must be talking about me.' He thought while smirking. It was obvious that he was rather proud of the fact.
Just as he was going to continue humming a tune once more, he sneezed loudly again. Expecting everyone around him to turn and look, he prepared his deathly glare to anyone who dared looking at him. But when he looked up, he was surprised that no one cared.
"It's just Neji sneezing again." The students around him said in unison and entered the school.
The said Neji was left on the steps to the school entrance doors, dumbfounded. Just then, he heard someone calling him from afar. He felt the ground shook for awhile too.
Shaking his head and scoffing in disbelief, he regarded it as only a fragment of his imagination. The earth shaking, he meant. About the faraway call, he was sure it was meant for somebody else.
"From what I know, I'm not a Neechan." He said nonchalantly as he entered the school. Then, his hands flew up to his face and his eyes widened in shock.
"I seriously need to moisturize more often." He concluded.
Click!
Hinata heard the satisfying click of the lock after locking Billy at a bicycle stand nearby the entrance doors of Konoha High. She sighed happily and flashed another big, cheesy smile to herself. "I'll be back, Billy. No flirting, kay?" She whispered to it while glancing at the other flashy dark blue bike next to Billy, also locked on the bicycle stand.
She then laughed to herself and looked at her wristwatch. There was still 10 minutes left and she was glad that she made it in time. On her way up the ivory white steps leading to the entrance doors of her high school, she stopped and tilted her head up to look at the large, bold letterings carved above the doors.
'Konoha High School.' She mentally read and smiled to herself.
"Wow. A whole new school year. I made it, mom. A whole new year without you." Hinata said sadly, her smile still not fading from her face. She took out the delicate, silver necklace that was hiding inside her baggy dark brown t-shirt and clenched the small, silver leaf shaped pendant, closing her eyes and allowing a simple flashback run through her mind.
Flashback
A younger, eleven year old Hinata was running towards her mother, who was in the kitchen at the time. Hinata's midnight blue hair was disheveled and her pearl eyes were flowing with tears when she entered the kitchen. Instantly, her mother gasped and kneeled down to wipe her daughters' tears away. "What's wrong, Hina-chan?" Her mother said in her soft, delicate voice. The concern laced in her voice made Hinata cry even more.
"T-two b-boys pushed m-m-me down the swing –sob- and s-said I was u-ugly." Hinata cried. Her mother only sighed and gave her a small smile. "Shh…" She calmed Hinata down. Then, almost magically, Hinata stopped crying.
"Remember…" her mother started. "Hina-chan, you'll always be pretty to me…" She smiled warmly. Hinata could feel her jaw drop in awe of her mother's beautiful smiling face.
"But!" Her mother tapped her lightly on her nose. The notion caused Hinata to blink once or twice.
"Only if you keep on smiling the biggest smile you can." She said and flashed Hinata a very big, cheesy smile. Hinata just stared at her mother, wide eyed. Hinata was at lost for words. But right then, she smelled something burning.
"Mommy….you're food's burning." Hinata pointed towards the stove. Her mother blinked a couple of times, her smile wiped away from her face and she turned back and yelped.
"Shimatta! My potatoes!" Her mother cried in despair as she tried to salvage what was left of the said potatoes.
Behind her mother's back, Hinata couldn't help but giggle. Then, she started to smile the biggest smile she could muster and as cheesy as her mother's smile. "So whenever I'm sad, I'll just smile the best I can. Then I'll remember you, mommy." Hinata concluded. But her mother couldn't hear her daughter, what with her own grumbling about the now ruined potato dish.
And an exact year after that, her mother had died.
Hinata blinked back the tears and sighed. Then she smiled her usual smile. Now was not the time to be moping in depression. It was a new year and she wanted a new start! Once again, she glanced at her wristwatch and gasped. '5 minutes to get to the school auditorium!' She thought alarmingly.
She let go of her pendant and ran towards the entrance door. Kicking it forcefully with her foot, the doors flew open and she took the chance to dash towards the doors to the school auditorium across the hall. When she reached the doors, she stopped for awhile to calm her breathing. All the running was really tiring her now. The minute she started to calm down and relax, she straightened up and tilted her chin up with some sense of pride or some sort.
'Made it.' She smiled proudly.
Just as she was about to reach for the doorknob, the doors to the school auditorium flew open and someone had just dashed out of the opening, colliding right into….poor little Hinata.
She stared at the tall and lean figure that had just knocked all the air out of her. Hinata was still lying on the floor, wide eyed. The figure just smiled a large, cheesy smile.
Instantly, she felt her cheeks get hot. She knew she was blushing.
'Holy crap!' She thought. "I-I-I…" She struggled to offer an apology.
'That smile!' She thought again, still lost for words while staring at the figure that knocked her down. He was staring at her with a confused look right now, but the smile was still plastered on his face.
'Just…like….mom's.' Hinata thought as she mentally remembered the image of her mother.
"Oh~ crap" She said out loud.
-END-
A/N: DUN! DUN! DUN! I wonder what will happen next…. He..he…Who is the mystery guy? Well, you will have to find out on the next chapter of….
How to be A Lady!!! Or Hot Balls! (HtbAL) I do not know where that came from. I just felt the need to type it out.