Chapter 2: Meet and Greet

It was one of those days. Hinata Hyuuga, princess of Konoha, was to walk through the badlands. Her father was returning from a journey, and sadly the village gates were in the farmland. Great. Hinata kept her eyes glued on the gates. She ignored the glares and hateful comments thrown at her. Now at seventeen she was pretty used to it. Her pale eyes stayed focused on the rack in between the gates. She didn't see the gate keepers. She didn't see the pedestrians. It almost slipped her eyes when she saw her cousin duck through the crowds. Hinata, quite bored and figuring her father wouldn't be back for a little while, decided it would be fun to follow him. As far as she knew her cousin could be going off on his own little adventure!

Hinata loved adventure. Too bad she hadn't had any adventure in her life. She was just a princess. Not one of a fairy tale of any sort. She led what she claimed to be an empty life full of empty promises. "That's why our eyes are like this. We don't have any thrill to make them pop." That was her philosophy, and she didn't intend on changing it anytime soon.

When she finally caught up with her cousin she spluttered, "Where are you going, Neji-kun?"

Neji turned towards her and gave a small smile. "I'm off to see my love, Hinata-chan," he responded.

"Your lover lives here?" Hinata looked around.

"I thought I established this a while ago."

Hinata crinkled her nose, "Yes, but you didn't say she was this low life. Even the low lives look down on this place!"

"It's not always about money, Hinata," Neji said, stopping suddenly.

Hinata realized they were at a house. A small, small barn with - sure enough - tomatoes all over the fields, "Well, is she at least pretty?"

"Very beautiful, but..." Neji turned to his younger cousin, "you have to promise not to make one remark, you hear?"

She rolled her pale eyes and sighed, "Ay, Neji-kun..." Hinata knew he was right to worry on her judgement. At least... she does now. Hinata was not the type to particularly enjoy the low lives. "I promise."

There was a lot of expectation as she watched her cousin knock on the small door. She waited so very long... It was to no avail. There seemed to be no one there. Another knock. Again, the cousins were not greeted. Neji sighed, "Must be at the gates herself! Baka!" He slapped his forehead and ran off, leaving his younger cousin in her pretty dress in the middle of nowhere.

"Neji! Wait!" But he was already gone. The young girl was too stubborn to admit she was afraid and simply hmmph'd, sitting herself down on the front steps. At this point she didn't care where she was or who helped her as long as she ended up home. "Baka..." she mumbled to herself.

That was when she heard the voice, "Excuse me, but are you looking for someone?" Hinata nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. At this the person laughed, "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." It was a boy. A filthy, stinky, sweaty, working boy. He reeked of farm work... and tomatoes. "The name is Kiba."

"Charmed," Hinata mumbled, staring blankly at the hand he extended for her to shake.

Kiba looked around as if thinking of something to say. Finally he settled on, "The family that lives here is out. They won't be back for a while. Can I... help you with something?"

"No," the princess glanced at the boy with her peripheral vision. He had brown shaggy hair, red tattoos on both cheeks, and a large smile on his face. He seemed not to feel awkward at all speaking to royalty.

His face then turned to a frown, "Listen; I'm only trying to help. I would appreciate a little respect."

Hinata noticed he was serious but calm. He almost made a demand sound nice. At this point she was beyond frightened. Times like these she would hug her father round his waist and let him comfort her. This time she had to be strong, "And I'm saying I don't need your help."

"Well, it was still terribly rude what you said to be. You could've at least been nicer about-"

Hinata didn't let him finish, cutting him off with, "I'm scared!" wrapping her thin arms around him. There she sobbed. She could be lost forever, never to see her home again, surrounded by people that hated her for nothing. This could be the end of her inheritance.

Kiba rubbed her back, already forgiving her. "There, there..." he said, "It'll be okay."

"How do you know! I may never see my family again!" Sure this was a bit of an overreaction, but Hinata was still a child at heart. Hinata was a child in a strange place with strange people and nothing to turn back to. This was a perfectly normal thing to do.

"Look; there's that boy you were with just now..." Kiba pointed towards Neji who was laughing with a girl.

Hinata stared at her cousin. He had quite a story. Though he was never in line for the throne, Neji Hyuuga was to be ambassador of the Hyuuga's. He was assigned to marry Temari Sabaku of Sunagakure, the Kazekage's daughter. Of course, Neji was not one that believed in arranged marriage. He did the first thing he thought to: run away. When he was eventually found he was with another girl, but she got away before being questioned. Neji was practically enslaved by his own family for his actions. It was presumed that the girl was from another village based on the false details he gave of her. Basically he did all he could to rebel against the kingdom. This must be the "foreign" farm girl.

Snapping out of her thoughts and back to her senses she jumped out of the embrace with the brunette beside her. "Hinata-chan!" he called.

"Neji," she replied simply. Hinata looked at the girl beside him and made notes. Brown hair in two buns on her head, a decent figure with a decent tan, tattered clothing with sun-bleached spots on them, and to top it all off was the flawless face: she was a total hick.

Her cousin looked at her gaily and introduced the girl, "This is TenTen; she's the girl I was telling you about." Of course there was that warning glance telling her to watch what she said.

"It's so nice to meet you, Hinata-san! I've heard so much about you; man am I sorry about your mother," the girl spoke with a conversational tone, and Hinata raised an eyebrow. What right did she have to be sorry?

The blue-haired princess smiled falsely, "Sorry doesn't bring her back you know..." Kiba gave her an elbow at the shoulder and hissed something that TenTen was one of the good guys.

The cinnamon-bun girl faltered a little, and Neji muttered an apology to her before casting a glare at his younger cousin. Kiba dared break the tension with an invitation, "Why don't you two stay for supper?"

Hinata at that point grimaced at the tomatoes, "Thanks... but I have to meet my father at the gates. Neji, are you coming?" Neji simply shook his head and walked into the house. Hinata could hear him exclaim something along the lines of "UNCLE GAI! I'M HOME!"

"You know," Kiba said, "you could've been a whole lot nicer. They wanted to be your friends." What a freak he was! What right did he have to continue harassing her with the you-have-a-bad-attitude thing anyway? She was much loved by her family, friends, and followers.

Hinata looked back at him, "And you know, I could've been a whole lot crueler, too," she said though they were hardly words to come out of a princess's mouth. With that said Hinata turned around and walked to the gates.

Kona-chan text me BEGGING for an update, and she said I could make a request! WOOPEE! My brother's having a YuGiOh dream cuz he just said, "you think you can do that with that spell card?" Lawlz X3 ANYWHO: my request for Kona-chan is to either...

1. Write me a SuiKa oneshot/drabble! PLEEEEEEASE! I know you don't like this pairing but but but but!
2. Three words: Arranged marriage. Zutara.
3. Write a humoring Avenue Q oneshot, or perhaps something inspired by it/songfic? (my favorite pairing is Kate/Trekkie for the record.)

Do one of those things, and I'll be happy as a clown. The rate you're updating your current stories is perfectly fine, so yeah I like how those are going.

REVIEWERS: CHECK OUT konata1keyblade1kunai's STORIES! SHE ROCKS AND ROLLS LIKE 80's MUSIC! :D