Hinata sat at the foot of her bed, waiting patiently for her little sister to finish her shower. She'd heard the water stop running a few minutes ago, but for some reason Hanabi had yet to come out.

She's probably just embarrassed, Hinata justified.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't too, her little scared her a bit. Which is why she was anxious when the door slid open, revealing Hanabi in her white robe, wet brown hair dripping on the wood floor.

They looked at each other for a second, before Hanabi swiftly left the room. Hinata stayed there quietly, stupidly.

She cursed herself for not saying anything before, "Hanabi, wait." She called, striding after her sister. Hanabi shut the door in her face, she frowned, knocking, "Hanabi please let me in."

"Can't I get dressed first?" Hinata could almost see her little sister's glare to match the hiss.

She figured she could take care of her clothes in the meantime, "Right, sorry."

Hinata bounced back to her bathroom, collected the clothes from the floor, and put them into the laundry basket near the end of the hallway. That gave Hanabi enough time to put a robe on and come out of her room.

Both sisters met eyes, "What do you want?"

That was when Hinata noticed her hair was still a wet, tangled mess, "Let me brush your hair?" Hanabi facepalmed, she answered a question with another question. "Fine." she opened the door to her sisters room and walked in, Hinata behind her.

As soon as the door was shut, Hanabi pounced at her sister, "Don't tell anyone." Each of her words were seethed clearly and punctuated.

"I wasn't, I wasn't going to." She shook her head, trying to calm her raging little sister.

Hanabi looked up to meet her eyes, she was only a few inches taller than her, nothing she couldn't reach in a couple years. She grunted before sitting down, silently telling her sister to begin grooming.

Hinata got the hint, and reached for a comb before starting at the younger girl's tender scalp, she knew if she hurt Hanabi she'd be as good as dead. "So," she spoke softly, "how long have you been..you know-"

"Last month." Hanabi replied curtly, uninterested in the conversation.

"Oh," she nodded, pulling gently at the thin strands of hair. "Your hair is getting long."

She rolled her eyes, again with the bullshit smalltalk, "I'll cut it soon don't worry, I wasn't planning on stealing your style."

Hinata stopped her combing, "Do you really think I feel that way about you?"

The shorter girl put her palms on her lap, "No, can you just finish already? I don't wanna talk about it."

"You will feel better if you do," she assured her, bottling things up was no way to cope with your problems, Hinata knew this factually.

Hanabi turned her head, "Yeah? And what do you know? When did you start?"

What was she getting herself into? A light blush appeared on her older sister's cheeks, "Eleven."

She looked at Hinata and then down, turning her head. "Oh."

"Has anything else happened?"

There was a knocking at the door, followed by their cousin's voice, "Hinata-sama, have you seen Hanabi-san?"

The girl in question threw an indignantly whispered, "No!" over her shoulder before rising. Hinata's shoulders slumped, looking up at her sister, she hadn't even finished yet.

"Yes, I'm in here Neji-nee, come in." Hanabi smoothed the rest of her hair out with her fingers.

Neji opened the door slowly, partly surprised to find them in the same room. After they looked at him blankly, he cleared his throat, "Hokage-sama has summoned you."

Hanabi blunk, what could she possibly want, another mission? She'd just come back from a B-rank! Until her eyes widened in realization, her team was supposed to report back to her office to submit their experience and whatnot. They were probably waiting for her, seeing as she ran away due to her..accident.

Hinata and Neji watched as she pushed her cousin out of the way, into her room, managed to get dressed in record timing, and out of the house quicker than when Hiashi found Sasuke in Hinata's room.

Hanabi left a trail of dust everywhere she stepped, enough that her feet would probably need another washing after this. Fuck her life, she'd have to see Konohamaru, and endure Tsunade's wrath. But something in her stomach fluttered when she thought of him, making her a little excited for this and running faster, if possible.

She swung the door open once she got there, not minding if it was rude. She froze, when both her teammates, sensei, and hokage looked at her. Tsunade's expression angry, Genma-sensei's relieved, Konohamaru's confused, and Udon's blank.

"Nice to see you take your hygiene more seriously than a mission report." Lady Hokage sneered.

Hanabi locked her jaw, walking in between her sensei and Udon, because there was no way she was standing anywhere near Konohamaru. "My apologies Hokage-sama."

"Very well, we were just finishing this, so I guess you're all dismissed."

Squad four nodded in sync, leaving the room quietly. Once they were all outside, Genma scratched his cheek, "So what was that all about?"

She watched him flip a senbon made of weak wood and catch it with expertise, like he'd been doing it for ages.

"None of your business."

He sighed, "We're a team Hyuuga, if you had to go for some family meeting I understand, but you can't leave us.." Genma didn't bother finishing his sentence, seeing as Hanabi was already turning the corner to leave the tower.

He looked down at his male proteges, "Will one of you go to talk to her?"

"Not me." Udon shook his head furiously.

Genma switched his gaze to Konohamaru, who smiled, "I'll see what's up."

It was hard keeping up with Hanabi, she was already outside, "Hey, Hanabi! Wait up!" He called from an open window in the tower.

She, surprisingly, did. Excited and scared and embarrassed. Her heartbeat racing when he stood in front of her, three inches taller.

"Well?" She bit out arrogantly.

He put up with her, "What was that about."

She shrugged, "I didn't realize how much I really hated all of you until coming back from that mission."

Konohamaru's lip twitched, "Oh, sorry." He dug both his hands in his pockets and walked away.

Hanabi's heart sunk watching him leave her, he just wanted to help. She frowned miserably, walking the opposite way to her house.

Kicking the dirt on her way there, she began listing all the things that were wrong with her and why Konohamaru would never like her.

She was too skinny, something even Ino would vouch for.

She was mean, losing her temper quicker than Sakura.

She was plain, brown hair only looked nice on Tenten.

She looked down, staring straight at her feet, because there was nothing there to interfere.

And most of all,

She was flat, something boy's her age despised.


Low self-esteem and Hanabi dont go in the same sentence what are you writing?