Disclaimer: If I owned anything, I would be sitting beside a pool in a million dollar mansion. Catch my drift?
Original Notes: HOLY COW I UPDATED!! And guess what? I delivered another short chapter with not much action!! Don't you just love me? Anyway, I'm really sorry that it took so long to get this up here, but life has been hectic and finding time to write anything has been difficult. I'm going to try a little harder to get things moving along a little quicker, and suggestions and comments are most welcome. I can very nearly promise that there will be some fun stuff coming soon!! Hehehe... And also, don't forget to read my other story (which hopefully will be updated soon), Sister Dearest! And now on to the main feature!!
Secondary Notes: 9/7/08: Did some revamping and such and fixed some parts. Intend on doing it with everything else I have up here. So if you've already been reading this before, be sure to look through it again just so you know what's been changed!!
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Preservation
Chapter 3:The Cat and the Mouse
-o-
Once, in a small town, there lived a cat and a mouse who were constant companions. The mouse was shy and timid, while the cat brave and strong. They were utterly and completely inseparable in their camaraderie.
-o-
Hinata awoke to Midori's ancient face uncomfortably close to her own. Her cheeks flushed a poppy red, and her scale-like eyes widened as she stared into the housemaid's murky black eyes.
"Oh, thank the heavens! I thought you were never going to wake up!" Midori exclaimed in a paper-thin voice. "How are you feeling? Hiashi said you were so tired you just up and fell asleep right there in his office! I was worried that you were ill, so I made you some chicken noodle soup. It's over there on the nightstand. It might be cold now, but I think it will be fine…"
Midori then leaned back to sit on a stool beside the bed that Hinata was lying in, still babbling at full speed as she reached for the soup on the small table next to her. Hinata sat up and nodded occasionally, not really listening to the words that were spilling like water from the woman's mouth. Instead, Hinata turned her attention on the room she was in, and was, for a fleeting moment, confused.
-o-
The mouse was smart and saved up his food for the harsher months, and did all he could in order to make the future for himself comfortable, always planning ahead.
-o-
The walls were painted a faded shade of light yellow with white trim, and the single window in the room was drawn tight with curtains of a deeper gold. Hinata could still hear the pathetic pattering as the rain drizzled on. A small lamp on a stained maple wood desk across the room under the lone window illuminated the small room, revealing the finer details of the peeling paint and warped floors. A chest, made of the same wood as the desk, could be seen at the foot of the bed where Hinata's small black suitcase sat crookedly on it. The bed was placed against the wall in the middle of the room, and there was an old rocking chair that sat against the wall on the eastern corner, away from the window. The twin-sized bed was old, and was covered in a dusty golden comforter that was flat and torn at places from enduring the torture of mice and years.
Hinata realized with a stab of misery that this was her old bedroom.
She suddenly recognized the room's shape and the placement of everything, and like the rest of the house, it was evident nothing had been changed since her mother had stormed out of the house all those years ago without a single glance back….
She was torn out of her reverie when Midori shoved a delicate china bowl into Hinata's hands that was filled to the brim with the chicken noodle soup. She was still speaking like an auctioneer as she roughly pushed a silver spoon into the bowl, causing the now-cold broth to spill out on Hinata and the bed. Hinata gripped the spoon and stirred the liquid slowly, her face twisted into disgust. It didn't look so good.
-o-
The cat, on the other hand, was constantly living for the day. When he made a kill, he ate it and saved none for later. He had fun and never did any work to help his friend mouse or himself.
-o-
"…When you were here before you never fainted, so I was worried for a minute there. But when I knew you were fine, I then had another problem to solve; how to get you back to your room! I hate to say it, but these old bones just don't work as they used to," Midori continued, not aware that Hinata really wasn't listening to her. "Your father couldn't help me, he had to fill out some papers and get them mailed out before some deadline came, so I called Neji in and we--"
"What?" Hinata asked, her voice higher than she had intended it to be. Her hands still gripped the bowl and spoon, but her eyes stared at Midori wide and alert; all former traces of sleep wiped clean from her face. An awkward silence commenced, and Hinata blushed violently and ducked her head, muttering 'sorry' numerous times in a voice as quiet as the falling of leaves. Midori cocked her head, and laid her small, shriveled hand on Hinata's petite shoulder.
"What is it, honey?" She asked in a motherly voice that made Hinata think of her own lost mother.
"I-It's n-n-nothing… I-I was just s-s-surprised that N-N-Neji was…. h-here…."
Midori nodded morosely, and removed her hand from Hinata's arm. "Yes," she sighed, "he's been here for…" she struggled to find the number, "I believe four years now."
Hinata struggled through her forest of memories to try and find why Neji would be living with her father. But before she could voice a question, Midori answered her thoughts.
"I don't know if you know, but Neji's father died in a tragic house fire when Neji was nine. His poor mother was so distraught that she killed herself a month afterward!" Midori shook her head and clucked her tongue. "Master Hiashi was kind enough to allow Neji to live with him when your mother never answered the letter we had sent her to inform her of Neji's unfortunate circumstances." She sighed and shook her head, and a moment of silence passed.
-o-
The winter finally came one day, with bitter snow and biting air. The mouse lived comfortably, while the cat suffered terribly. When the cat visited his friend mouse, he discovered all the mouse had saved, and begged for warmth and food. The mouse, unable to turn away his friend, accepted.
-o-
Hinata knew her mother had never even received a letter, and was confused. After her mother had left her father, Hinata had never had any contact with her cousin or his parents, and it came to a shock to her that he would've ended up here as she did. Yet she remembered how they had been friends long before she had moved to the bustling city of Konoha with her mother, and those came as bubbles of hope that filled her chest better than the congealed soup ever could.
They had trusted each other, and Neji had been a beacon of light when he would come and visit Hinata's dreary home with his father to discuss business with her's. They would play Hide n' Seek in the shriveled rhododendrons out front and in the encroaching forest that stood, ever watchful, behind the mansion. It made her happy to know that, just maybe, she wouldn't be so alone in this forsaken house. Despite herself, Hinata let a species of smile creep on her face.
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-o-
The cat then proceeded to eat everything the mouse had so meticulously saved. He devoured nearly all in sight, not heeding the mouse's cries that he stop. When he was finished, the mouse cried and told him of what wrong he had done, and said he would no longer consider himself the cat's friend.
-o-
The next day, it was still raining; the same painful drizzle that had prevented Hinata from getting any sleep as it pounded relentlessly against her old bedroom window. She could already feel depression stalking her in the shadows, and kept herself busy by exploring the house that had once been considered her home. Yet with every room she stepped in, memories and recollections would tug at her mind, and she found herself in even more of a knot than she was before. Hanabi already seemed comfortable enough, for she was in her old nursery doing who only knew what. All Hinata knew was she wasn't crying her heart out as Hinata had done earlier. She wanted to visit Neji; to find someone who cared and was in the same situation she was. So late in the afternoon, she finally worked up the courage to stand in front of the door that Midori had identified led to Neji's room.
-o-
The cat grew angry, and decided that if the mouse would prove to be so rude to him, he would simply eat him as well, which he did.
-o-
She pulled unconsciously at the edges of her pleated sleeves and stared with wide eyes at the oak door that stood menacingly before her. She swallowed once, and reached with a shaking fist towards the wood.
What if he's changed? What if he doesn't want to see me? What if he's angry I'm here?
However, each negative thought was shot down with a so-sure statement from the other half of her mind.
Neji wouldn't change! Of course he would want to see me! Why would he be angry that he has a friend, a cousin, here?
And it was these statements that allowed her to reach up higher, and knock with her sweating hand on the large wooden door.
"Can I help you?"
The voice from behind was cold and harsh, and made poor Hinata nearly jump out of her already clammy skin. Her hand froze in mid-air and she could feel her face heating up. She was certain she looked like a doe caught in headlights. She turned around slowly, and was met with an icy glare that was so callous she was certain it was her father for one moment. Then he spoke again, and she knew the voice that bordered tediously on the line of adulthood could only belong to Neji.
-o-
This helped none, however, for the cat grew lonely and hungry, and could not last the winter, and eventually died itself.
-o-
Notes: So what did you think? I'm feeling alright with this chapter...So why don't you review and tell me? Sorry about the slow, boring, cliffhanger chapters that are moving like snails right now, but this story needs some background before we move on to bigger, action-filled stuff in the later chapters! So bear with me, please! Thanks for reading!
