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Step 4
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Hinata fell backwards onto the hardwood with complete lack of grace. It was by no means accidental, she allowed herself to plop herself directly on the floor boards out of sheer exhaustion. She had been on her feet all day, going from teaching children in beginners, to her own set of advanced classes in order to help her progress further, and then to now, in one of the vacant studio rooms meant for rehearsals and practices.

The only time she would leave the establishment was for lunch, and even that involved her being on her feet the entire time. It was like this all week.

Her clothing was starting to stick to her body, her hair was beginning to matte to her scalp from working up a sweat, and her feet were almost throbbing within the confines of her shoes. She lifted her knees to her chest and rested her head onto of them, closing her eyes and relishing in resting if only for a short period of time.

"Here."

She opened her eyes and raised her head. She was greeted by the kind dimpled-face of her former dance partner holding a water bottle out to her.

"You look tired," he commented. "Do you wanna call it a day?"

Hinata gently smiled up to him and shook her head, taking the bottle offered to her all the while. "I'm fine," she assured him. "It's only been one week, I'll get used to it."

Cecil moved to sit next to her on the floor while she twisted the cap off of the plastic bottle and took a small swig of water.

"So how long's the teaching gig for?" he asked her, bringing a bottle of his own to his lips.

"For the rest of the summer at least," she answered, replacing the cap and putting the bottle down beside her. "If I do a good job, they'll let me teach year-round to kids like us."

He raised an eyebrow. "Kids like us?"

Hinata nodded happily. "Those striving for the top. The really serious ones. Right now, I'm just dealing with those that show some interest, but none of them are particularly devoted."

"Makes you wonder how this school got such a rep then," Cecil chuckled. "If they just let anyone in."

"It's a summer program," Hinata reminded him. "They're not students. The school isn't backing them up with anything like they do us."

To that Cecil merely shrugged and drank some more water from his bottle, leaving them in some sort of silence that was awkward but not very comfortable at the same time. During which Hinata allowed herself to study him, pondering mainly on the reason why he would have been so accepting to the fact that Neji didn't want them dancing professionally together anymore.

"Is.. Is it alright if I ask you something?" she asked him quietly.

"You kind of just did," he replied with grin. "But sure, go ahead."

"I just.." she began and faltered slightly. "I'm sorry if I'm prying too much, but I just um.. I wanted to know why. I mean, why did you want to dance?"

"Is that all?" Cecil laughed.

"It's actually kind of a pathetic reason," he said after his laughter died down.

Cecil stood up and and walked across the room towards their bags, crouching through his own and brought his wallet out. He then went back and took his seat next to Hinata. He flipped it opened and pulled out a photo.

"Tha's my sister," he said, handing the picture over to Hinata. "My twin sister, I have a lot of them. But anyway, she wanted to be a dancer. Not a ballroom dancer but I never did have rhythm for any of that hip hop crap she liked so damn much, so I chose a different form. I guess, I kinda did it for her. Couldn't let an unrealized dream go."

He plucked the photo from between her fingers and placed it back into the confines of his wallet.

"But yeah," he said afterwards. "It's also the reason why I'm quitting."

Hinata turned to him wide eyed. "You're quitting? Is it because of Neji not wanting me to be your partner anymore?"

"No," he shook his head. "Well, yeah, kinda. I mean, after we had that conversation, that when I started thinking about all of it. I realized that, it's just... It's not the right thing for me to do."

Hinata's brows furrowed slightly. "I don't understand."

He smiled slightly. "Tell me, Hinata. Why are you striving so hard?"

Hinata lowered her head again and bit her lip. "I.. want to evolve."

She dropped her knees from her chest and turned herself to him with a sort of embarrassed smile. "Well, what I mean, is... Well, you see, I started dancing when I was thirteen. You know that already, I did a summer program, but it wasn't here, it was at the community center. I did that and then I didn't take it up again, until after I turned fourteen for the spring session.

"Anyway, when I was a sophmore, my English teacher, he was explaining this short story that we had read. Basically, he used an ugly duckling sort of metaphor. It was how all of us were still ducklings, because of our position in society, how unless we strive for higher, we'll remain that way. In a way he was also tyring to convince a lot of us to go to college because he went on to say that those that do evolve into the swans that are waited on by the ducklings that didn't try."

"That kind of sounds offending," Cecil commented.

"It was," she agreed. "A lot more than it should have been. Particularly after someone in the class came to the conclusion that he was insulting her parents. Since they didn't go to college or anything like that and they were just a blue collar family."

"Was he fired?"

"No, but he did watch what he said for the rest of the year. As far as I know...

"Even though it might have sounded offending or anything else they called it," she continued," it did get me thinking. It's not that I want to be waited on by anyone who didn't become what our society deems accomplished in their lives, and it's not as though there is anything wrong with a hard worker, but for some reason, I didn't want to be looked down on by people who thought they were better than me.

"That's why I do what I do. I don't have any particular skills, and I'm sure that I could be doing something my dad would find a little more productive, but this is what I love. I'm so elated while moving on that stage that I don't have to remember to smile, it's always there. I feel like I'm on top of the world, to put it in overused terms. So I use that to push myself so that I'm able to prove my worth, so that I can evolve from that ugly duckling that we all are."

"And therein lies the difference between you and me," stated Cecil. "You do this for yourself, where as I do this for a lingering memory that is better to leave behind." He his head to smile at her. "That's why I'm leaving, that's why I agreed to let you go. I need to move on from what happened so long ago, and if I keep in with this profession, I'm not going to be doing that. I wouldn't help you in going any further, not at all. In the end, I think I would just end up dragging us both down."

He shook his head. "I'm no good for you. Nah, Neji'll find someone better to replace me. Honestly though, I'm kinda surprised at how he took so long to finally want to replace me."

"Uh..." Hinata looked like she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to say something to him. "Actually, that's because the one he wanted to replace you, TenTen already took for her own partner."

There was silence.

"Should I not have said anything?" she asked.

"When was that?" he asked in return.

She chewed at her bottom lip. "Three days after his accident."

Cecil was speechless for a few moments. "That... That was three years ago! That was when we just announced it!"

Hinata didn't reply, she just drank some more water from her bottle.

"So he never like me," the boy sighed. "Well that kinda just threw my confidence down the crapper."

"If it makes you feel better," Hinata began, "he's said that you've gotten a lot better."

"It doesn't."

"I didn't think it would."

Cecil stood up and stretched himself out. "You want to start something before your cousin shows up and started scolding us for not doing anything. Even though he's pretty late himself."

"I suppose so," Hinata replied, standing up herself. "He wants me to be involved more with the federation rather just the school by the end of summer. I'd hate to see how long he'd hold something like resting over my head."

"Was that a joke?"

"In a way."

"Tyrant."

"He wants to help."

"However you want to look at it..."

Hinata had made her way over to her bag and after setting her half empty water bottle by it, pulled out a scrunchy and picked her hair up.

"You know how we have modified steps?" she asked out of the blue.

Cecil looked over at her. "What d'you mean?"

"Just that. The steps we dance, they're modified. Like the latin dances, they're not the actual dances. I mean, they're not the way they're supposed to be danced. Like Samba. What we do is not really Samba. Have you ever wanted to learn the right way to dance it?"

"You're not going Strictly Ballroom on us are you?"

Hinata laughed at the comment. "No, nothing like that. But I was watching YouTube clips and saw a lot of comments on it, so I thought I'd ask you."

"Why were you watching YouTube clips?" he asked.

"I was bored," she shrugged.

"Whatever," he grinned. "What d'you wanna go through first?"

"Samba."

He laughed.

While they prepared themselves and went over new things they had learned, just outside the room, be the doorway, was Neji himself. Normally, he wouldn't have stopped himself from going into the room while they were conversing and get on with what they had planned for the day, but after catching the beginning of Hinata's explanation to her former partner, he wanted to hear the rest of it.

Truth be told, Neji didn't really understand why Hinata pushed herself so much to become professional. Just like he neve rdid, she didn't share her reasons with him. Now he had a slight comprehension as to what motivated her, but even with the story she relayed, he knew that her way of expanding certain details in an explanation was just her way of distracting one she was telling from the bigger picture.

There was something else, he knew, but he also knew that she probably wouldn't tell. Which was fine with him, he felt no need to pry. The only obligation he had was in her success, and with her being without a partner, that was the first problem he would have to remedy.

So instead of barging in and letting the two inside the room know of his presence, he turned himself around and went to make a phone call.

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A/N: Another chapter late again, sorry. Work related stuff that cut my free time, I won't get too into it. Anyway, was this just a filler chapter? Yeah, it kinda was... I had written a back step for Hinata about how she ended up wanting to become a pro, but then I realized, I kinda didn't know how to progress the story further, so I did this. Eavesdropping Neji, what's he planning? And is it odd that I have TenTen being her rival in this one and her BFF in an other? Lol, I twist Ten's character so much.

Anyway, I'll be replying to reviews tomorrow, 'cause right now I have to get to work, and later on I don't know what I'll be doing. Preparations for summer events are killer, but at least I don't have to worry about my hollow mask anymore.(^^) I didn't want to go to AX as Ukwee, but I don't think I'd have enough money or time for a Legendary Girl A cosplay. Kudos to anyone who knows who I'm talking about.