Hanako

"Let's go, Naruto! I don't have all day for you to make more clones! You know they don't work on me!" I shouted at him as he performed his jutsu. Throwing my senbons I took out about 20 of his clones at once, leaving him with about half. His pattern was too predictable. He always hung back on the left side of his clones. People had unconscious patterns and picking them up was my expertise. Using them against them was my tactic. Winning was my goal. Easily picking him out of the line up, I jumped on him and held a senbon to his neck. His clones reacted to me picking the right one and I took them out with a couple kunai and some wire while keeping a foot on Naruto's neck ready to step down if he did anything more than take a breath. Letting him up, he helped me pick up my poisoned senbon. Of course, he had to accidently prick himself and fall to the ground nearly paralyzed. I taunted him with a smirk as I held the antidote bottle above his face. After a good, full minute, I helped him. Cleaning up was my least favorite part of training, but it was a courtesy to the others who used the training grounds. Just as Naruto finished spooling up the wire I used and handed it to me, Neji walked up the path to town. Don't make this awkward. He agreed to act like I was never there. Put a smile on your face, stupid.

"Hey Neji-san, how are you?" I grinned and waved to him. I had to act like it never happened. He nodded curtly at me, acknowledging he heard me.

"I'm fine, thank you," he said in his usual cold, polite tone.

"What's up, Neji?" Naruto usually referred to everyone in an informal way, so Neji didn't seem too agitated by never speaking aloud that Naruto may call him so.

"I merely came to drop off a note to Hanako-san," he said stoically with an indifferent look as he held out the folded paper to me. I took it with a bright smile, but his eyes seemed to accuse me of being fake, so I cast them downward to the note. On the front "Please call me Neji" was written.

Neji spoke before turning and leaving briskly, "Read it when you have time."

"What was that all about?" He asked, squinting at me while holding his arms behind his head, "Is it a looove note?" His tease made no effect on me as I pocketed the slip of paper.

"I'm going home for lunch. What are you doing?" I questioned. Pulling out a ramen ticket from his pocket, he gave a foxlike grin.

"I'm going to Ichiraku. Wanna come? I got another ticket," his eyebrows wiggling up and down only added to the humor of the lewd joke. Everyone knew he was going out with Hinata, so his provocative suggestion was no more than that.

"Nope, there's some left over teriyaki chicken at my house calling my name, so I'll see you tomorrow if you want," I told him as I waved good bye. He'd just have to find Hinata or sit by his lonesome, which never seemed much of a problem for him. He was fine with being alone. These days, it was becoming harder and harder to spend time alone with just my thoughts. Like now, as I walked home. Biting my lip, I ran the rest of the way. The faster I got there, the less time I'd have to think. Passing people on the street quickly was enthralling. It made me never want to stop running. But alas, I had to stop because I was fresh out of steam. Tired from training and running, I entered my house, kicking off my shoes and waving to my cousins as I came into the kitchen.

"Hanako, Natsu took my dolly," said my younger cousin.

"Where did he put it."

"In his room."

"I'll get it in a minute," I sighed, throwing the teriyaki chicken in the microwave.

After punching in the time, I headed up stairs to my younger brother's room. He was at the academy for now, but he'd be angry if he knew I was in his room, so I grabbed the dolly from under his bed and headed back down stairs. Everything he tried to hide was under his bed, in the back of his closet, or in the bottom right drawer of his bureau. That was one of his patterns, and also the reason I started learning conscious and unconscious patterns. I gave my little cousin her doll and she hurried out with her sister. My family could be considered a clan if only we had a kekkei genkai. We were surely big enough. Sitting in the living room, I shared the chicken with my uncle as we watched a dumb game show. I always spent time with my family, but it felt like time wasted. We never talked or anything. I felt more alone with them than I did with anyone else. Superficial and mind-numbing, that's what they were. After finishing lunch, I still had an hour before meeting with Sakura for a friendly evening spar. My tired legs trudged my worn-out body upstairs. My downfall was my stamina. I had become stronger in most other areas, but it was still something I had to be careful of. Letting others find out that weakness could be loads of trouble not only for me but for my team if I was with one. My room was the last door on the right once I was up the stairs, so I went in and collapsed on my bed. A good nap would fix this. But I only laid there 5 minutes before the note from Neji dreadfully came to mind as it burned in my waist pouch. Sitting up on my bed with my legs crossed, I unfolded the note, fearing what it just might say. But once it was open at full length, it was a long strip of paper with bold writing almost like…a coupon. "One Free Stay at the Hyuuga Residence" it read. Looking over the rest of the homemade coupon, I found other interesting things written. "May be used whatever date, at whatever time, for whatever reason," it boasted, "Almost no questions asked." I didn't know what to think of it. One more thing was written neatly, like the rest of the coupon, though smaller, at the bottom. "Must be used by: Forever" it said. Now I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because his way of letting me know he'd be there for me again if I needed him was in a coupon form. Or cry because I didn't want this to ever happen again, though I couldn't be sure of it. Slipping the coupon into my book about butterflies on my bookcase, I intended to forget its existence. There never was a slip in character that night. No one was to ever find out. It was the past, and I'd be damned if it didn't stay there. But I couldn't promise myself that.

{Author's Note/ A special thank you to sPaRkzZz for writing my first review!}