Disclaimer: Same as in first chapter
...Note: Everyone on the rookie 9 is now 16, Gai's team is 17...
Save Me
Chapter 2: Scars
Hinata lounged on one of the many roofs that were the upper roads in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, happily soaking up the sun and thinking as she relaxed during her usual half hour of lunch break before she had to get back to training. Her long hair was spread all over the roof that she lay upon, the light catching the hidden glints of indigo and purple.
She sighed; everyone had told her how she had grown up to be a beautiful young woman, yet here she was, without somebody that cared about her. Not like family or friends of course, but something more than either of that, she wanted someone to love her, more than anything in the world. Her heart ached with that want, there seemed to be a gaping hole that desperately needed to be filled with it.
She felt that only he could fill that hole.
How many times had she stared at him, with his golden hair, and eyes bluer then the sea, his exciting and determined personality-that seemed to affect everyone around him.
But he never so much as looked at her.
He only had eyes for Sakura. Haruno, Sakura-with eyes like little green emeralds and hair the color of the flowers she was named for, silky smooth. Sakura, who was everything she wasn't- Perky, happy, peppy, smart. Perfect Sakura. Hinata knew she didn't have even the slightest chance, not against Konoha's best cherry blossom in full bloom.
She sighed again at her own stupidity. She knew that she could never have him, and yet she always hoped for him anyway; she always saved a place in her heart that was always waiting for him to fill.
She was a little surprise at the soft thump of feet as a pair of ninja shoes landed gracefully next to her head. She slowly cracked open one lavender eye, then another, for she didn't want to leave her daydreams just yet. But when she saw who was next to her, she quickly pulled herself to full awareness and let her legs dangle off the edge of her roof as she sat straight up.
"He-Hello Neji nii-san."
"Hinata-sama."
He nodded to her, but she still couldn't help but give the slightest flinch at his words, hoping that it would go unnoticed, but of course it didn't, not with the best talent in Hyuuga. She hated hearing the word "sama" come out of his mouth, because she knew how he hated it, she knew all the pain he had gone through, about how he used to loath her and the rest of the main branch family since the incident with his father. She remembered everything that happened at the chunnin exams, she remembered with perfect clarity.
It sucked that her memory was like that. Only remember the bad, never the good. But then again maybe that was because of the way she had been raised.
She shut her eyes tightly again as those memories now surfaced in the many faceted windows of her mind. The yells, the hits, the bruises that never came from training, the marks she hid under her heavy coat, the insults, the shame,
Their eyes.
Of course what happened between her and the Main Branch stayed within the Main Branch, which was why she had no maids or servants (no gossip), and why she always met her father alone.
Not even Neji knew what had happened to her when she was little, for she was forbidden to talk about it, and of course she never did, because when one is watched by a Hyuuga one would always do as they were told. But then again, he probably wouldn't have cared, he seemed to stop caring after the death of his father, after he turned into one of them, with their eyes that she hated, the eyes she wished she never had.
Flashback:
She walked to the academy as quickly as she could, glad that Neji was in the year above her, and glad that he had left early, so she didn't have to stutter out to the human lie detector an untrue excuse to why she had the huge purple bruise across one side of her face.
She had made sure her hair was in disarray this morning just like all the other days when she had facial markings; she fooled everybody by just keeping her head down, and never showing that side of her face, which is what she usually did, so it wasn't out of the ordinary.
When she got there, she was greeted as usual by Sakura and Ino, who were yelling at each other-as usual.
"GO AWAY INO-PIG, I WAS HERE FIRST! Oh! Hi Hinata-chan!"
"Hel-"
"YOU HERE FIRST!!! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!! How are you Hinata-chan?"
Both of the bickering girls gave her a warm smile and stopped arguing for a millisecond (if that is even possible) and Hinata pulled her head up to return the favor, but in doing so, her hair fell back from her face, and the large sunset colored bruise was shown to everyone.
"Oh gods!!!! Hinata-chan what happened to you?!?!?!"
Hinata thought fast for a story that she could tell the two terribly worried girls.
"Oh it's-ah-nothing, I just-just injured m-myself training with my family yesterday, th-that's all."
It was partly true, as the reason her father had hit her was because she had messed up a combination in her personal training. She smiled, which twisted her face into something worse than what it already was, but then realizing what her face must have looked like, hurried to her seat as Sakura and Ino had sighed with an "Oh, that's all it was!" and started bickering again.
She thought that the days troubles were over for now, and opened her books, but then she felt a hand tapping on her shoulder, she looked up and gasped.
"Oh-I-Iruka-sensei! Gomen (sorry) for anything I did wrong!"
She said instantly; she always apologized before she spoke, it became a habit at her own home, as she had to apologize about almost everything she did.
"You didn't do anything wrong Hinata. I just heard from Sakura that you had hurt yourself yesterday, and I would like to have a look, as I am quite handy with healing jutsus, because you have to be when you're teaching a roomful of ninja to be!"
He laughed, but she didn't join in, she was too worried about what her father would say if he saw that her injury was healed.
"Oh, no Iruka-sensei, it's just a-a training injury, an-and the way of a Hyuuga is to en-endure everything!"
She gave another smile (maybe more so of a grimace), and went back to her work as Iruka left. But she made sure that not a single soul for the rest of the week saw her face, which finally healed of its own accord.
She was glad that no one realized or remembered that the Hyuuga's gentle fist style never went near the face.
Even now, at her age, the same things would happen to her, with no difference, except for the fact that they hurt much less then they had at the beginning, since she was now so used to it.
She opened her eyes again to see Neji discerning her expression. Sometimes she did wonder if he had the ability to read her mind. He had become much nicer after the chunnin exams, and they had built another friendship, maybe not a stable one, but better then what they had before. But then again, neither of them could replace what they had lost.
They had lost what they had when they stood in the rain.
...This Chapter is dedicated to all the child victims of senseless violence...
Wow, I feel really sad and emo, this was a depressing chappie to write.
Heeeeee!!! What will I write next?!?!?!? I will probably elaborate on this chapter later on though…
Read and Review!!!
Loves,
Zephyr
P.S. Thank you so much for the reviews everyone!!! Keep on reviewing and I'll keep on writing!
P.S.S. I will really start getting into the storyline next chapter, so review or I will not write!!!!