Standard disclaimers apply.

Chapter Three

She opened her eyes as the sun shone brightly through her window. Gradually getting up, she stretched her body in attempts to drive the laziness out of her system. Once finished with her after-bed routine, she quickly took a shower, dressed up and went to get her breakfast.

'6:32 am' she thought as she passed by an ancient clock. 'A little late, but that will have to do.'

As she opened the door to their dining area, she was greeted by Hanabi with an acknowledging nod and smile. "Ohayou, onee-chan."

She sat down and took a sip of her morning tea. "Ohayou, Hanabi. Neji-niisan."

The letter looked up from his meal. "Ohayou, Hinata-hime."

Before, the nickname was said with an air of mockery and insult but after the main chuunin matches these past months, after the truth about his father was known, he became notably warmer towards the main family and the nickname was know said with a tone of warmth and affection.

Hiashi, though, was another different matter. He still gave Hinata a hard time and still spoke ill of her. But lately, Hanabi was also facing the same fate. One time, Neji found her lying on the floor, badly bruised and beaten after a brutal training session. He took her in the care of Hinata, whose skills in healing have now surpassed that of Sakura or even Tsunade's assistant, Shizune though it was a well kept secret.

Hanabi was going in and out of consciousness after that vicious training with her father. Nonetheless, she was certain of feeling a warm sensation course through her veins. She hasn't felt this warm since…

"Okasan…" she murmured.

Hinata cast a sigh of relief as she watched her sister open her eyes and sit up the futon.

"Okasan?" she softly repeated.

Hinata smiled, immediately understanding. She bent towards Hanabi and gave her a warm embrace. "Shh… It's okay, Hanabi-chan. It's okay, nee-chan's here."

She felt her shirt dampen as her sister softly cried all her pain away until she could cry no more.

She smiled. Ever since the main matches, some things changed for the better. Hiashi treated Neji like he was his own son and both Hinata and Hanabi saw that it was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good thing being that they now had a big brother figure to look up to and bad thing being that they now had an OVERPROTECTIVE big brother figure to watch out for.

Their breakfast proceeded without much conversation aside from Hanabi announcing that it was certainly fortunate that their father will be gone for two full weeks. It was due to a request of the Hokage to establish an alliance with a neighboring country as duty of the head of the most prestigious clan of Konohagakure.

'Yes.' Hinata thought. 'Very fortunate indeed.'

Finished with his breakfast, Neji stood up briskly and said, "I hate to break the moment but I really must get going. Gai-sensei has arranged an early training session on the grounds."

"Training you say, eh?" quipped the youngest Hyuga. "Not a date I suppose?"

The shy Hyuga giggled as her cousin and little sister go again at one of their light teasing. "Neh, if you wouldn't mind, nii-san, Kurenai-sensei has arranged a session as well. We can go together, that way Hanabi-chan here would stop insisting that you have other plans regarding Ten-chan."

The accused who flushed to a tinge of pink, coughed in his most dignified manner and agreed that it was best. "And for the record, I am not meeting Ten-Ten."

Hanabi giggled. "Yeah, right."

"That's enough, Hanabi. Let's get going, Hinata."

"Oohh. I think someone is getting annoyed already."

"Goodbye, Hanabi." Neji bellowed and with that closed the door quite firmly.

"I think you were a little harsh, Neji-niisan." Hinata lightly scolded as the pair walked the dusty street leading to the training grounds. "Hanabi was only fooling around and you know how often those times can be."

"Iie, hime. She's quite old enough to know not to poke on serious matters."

Hinata stopped walking and raised an amused eyebrow. "Serious matters? We are still talking about Ten-chan, are we?"

The male Hyuga also halted and let out an exasperated sigh. "Not you too, hime."

She laughed. "Of course not, nii-san. I was just curious that's all. After all, you've been friends with Ten-chan for so long and if I remember correctly, you were always training together when Lee was still handicapped…"

"Well, in that case, I can say the same for Shino and Kiba, neh?" He raised an eyebrow as if daring her to defy his statement.

She sighed. "Yes, you're probably right about that."

He resumed walking. "Now, let's continue now, shall we? We don't wanna be late for our training."

Hinata smiled and ran to catch up with her cousin.

Private training with Kurenai-sensei these past few days have been very exhausting. And with her getting less than average sleep was not helping her recuperate.

"Focus, Hinata! Seize every prospect to scan the area!" the distant voice of Kurenai shouted.

She nodded and activated her byakugan, scanning the terrain with meticulous precision. She saw three bunshins coming from different directions. Calculating their movements, she spun around creating a force field of charka.

"Kaiten!"

Upon contact, all three clones were sent a few feet back and disappeared in a cloud of dust. Hinata was about to relax when she felt something behind her. Quickly throwing a kunai, she saw it embed in the chest of yet another bunshin and seized the chance to examine the area making sure there were no more opponents.

"Very good, Hina. You've been practicing well." Kurenai commented a few feet away.

"Hai. Neji-niisan has been helping me a lot."

Her sensei smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Anyway, today's training is over. Go home and get some rest. It is obvious that you need it."

Hinata blushed. "Uh, hai. See you tomorrow, sensei." And she walked towards the nearest restaurant to satisfy her stomach's pleas.

As she quietly ate her meal, she thought of her sensei's departing words. 'Was my lack of sleep that obvious? Come to think of it, Neji-niisan and Hanabi-chan mentioned it for quite sometime now…'

She knew that it wasn't some case or insomnia or whatever, it was just that, these past few nights she have been having these strange recurring dreams that made her wake up a few times in the middle of the night. They weren't what you can say as nightmares, but it wasn't a pleasant dream either. It always starts with her being in dangerous or even fatal scenario then proceeds to her being able to escape but somehow lands in a situation where she needs help. A mysterious man then shows up and rescues her. Every time she saw him, he was only a silhouette, like he was some sort of a shadow there to protect her and when she was finally close enough to see what lies beneath the shadow, she suddenly wakes up.

And right now, she had been hoping to Kami that those dreams would somehow improve or even give a hint of who the man in her dreams was. She knew that it was childish of her to think that but something inside her said that this man was real and he was nearby.

Yuri-chan's note: Yay! Another chapter! Review the story please! It will be very much appreciated.