The glow of a new day flooded through her room, washing out the doom and gloom of night and replacing it with the much more appreciated soft hues of reds and yellows, rousing her out of her sleep. Hinata slowly blinked her way out of the obscure dream, staring at nothing and stretching her rigid limbs. There was much to do today, she thought lazily.
Snorting a breath she rolled out of her futon, standing on wobbly feet. However, it looked like her body had not woken completely from its previous lull of inactivity, as she took a step and fell down from uncooperative limbs. Blunt pain assaulted her nose and warmth spread across her face as she hit the floor, tears welling up in her crusty eyes.
With a practiced roll, she shifted her body onto her back with a slight wince, glancing down at her stubborn feet and shaking the numbness out of them.
That's one way to start the morning, she thought breezily, undeterred. Clapping two hands on either side of her body and hauling herself up. Another day was upon her. Another day to tack upon all the other days she'd been busy scrambling around doing…stuff. If all else failed and she didn't find a way to get herself out of this ludicrous arrangement then at least she had something to fall back on.
Her plan B, the back-up, was still sitting temptingly in a corner.
After completing her usual ritual, (Read: Wrestling with her hair) she popped in the domain kitchen and grabbed a slice of buttered toast, quickly returning greetings to the kitchen maids before hauling her butt out of the compound and munching on her breakfast. Neji had been avoiding her, as it was to be expected, though the painfully obvious degree he went through to not find himself in her immediate proximity had gained some notice.
Still, rumours hadn't flown astray (Her Father was an intimidating figure, Clan head or no) and the eyes that previously followed her like hawks dwindled to curious attention, before dissipating all together.
Hinata sniffed back a disparaging thought about her nosy family, lugging her heavy feet towards the western district, idly tugging off her jacket as the sweltering heat splashed over the country.
Ino huffed, waving her fan around her face and huffing some more when sticky sweat poured down her neck. Leaning on the counter, she shivered as cool smooth wood met her skin. She could just bend down and kiss it, the dirty cold countertop. Kiss it and slaver her tongue on it. Who cared if millions of germs made themselves at home in her mouth.
The air-con had gone out.
The air-con wasn't working.
There was no air-con.
And Shikamaru was being a fucking menace.
"This is such a drag," came his voice, minutely humming from his position on the floor, surrounded by vibrant flora and making him stick out like an eye-sore. "I'm so tired and hungry… and sore… Urgghh…" He squinted at her, smiling at her brewing expression.
Ino levelled a glare on his spiky, smarmy head, snarling out, "You haven't even moved your lazy behind an inch the second you entered the shop. That was two hours ago you-" Ino paused, eyeing a potential customer by the wide window plane.
The citizen stopped and stared through the stained glass, eyes lazily perusing the flowers in the shop, the boy on the ground and a girl with a glittering smile on her face near the back. He walked away, whistling.
The smile stayed in place until the shopper was there no longer, morphing into a scowl and a growl, "-useless jackass! Now get off that floor and help me!"
And just to spite her, because this heat was already unbearable and she was one-manning-ehem-one-womaning the shop by herself since everyone else was conveniently indisposed on this unbearably hot day; Shikamaru blew up in a puff of grey smoke.
Positively shrieking ("Shit! Did you just combust into dust?! Ha-ha that rhymed! Ack what am I saying? - Shikamaru say something to me!") that she hadn't realised her lazy teammate had sent a clone in his stead and tricked her silly! Ino vaulted over and stomped towards the front of the shop, keys swinging and jingling a merry melody as she hauled ass out of the stuffy shop.
Ino was done.
Business was practically non-existent-
The air-con had fucking malfunctioned-
And she had been deceived.
The slam of the shop door felt satisfying, at least for a moment. Ino pocketed the keys and spun on the heel, blending into the crowd and clomping the ground with her heavy boots. Oldies to the side, she avoided them and their sunspots. Women to the front, she sidestepped them, assembling like a swarm.
Traffic was slow and she was surrounded. Ino huffed again, the 3rd huff in four minutes and tucked her hair behind her ears, before gathering Chakra at the soles of her feet and jumping, high-high and high she went, elevated over everyone. For a heavenly second, a breeze wafted and graced the plebeians baking under the sun and she was floating.
Not for long though, gravity called out its war-cry and tugged her back to the ground.
"Uwaaah!-"She squealed, voice lost in the sea of other voices. Landing was wobbly, but she didn't break anything.
I am A-okay and we have... touchdown! Ino crouched on the rickety ledge, eyes hungry and searching for prey scurrying in the commercial district. She had been duped into caring for the shop and nobody had graced its fragrant opening, Ino wagered a day off wouldn't hurt business. Much.
And just as well…Ino thought, eyeing a familiar purple/blank shade of hair exiting a store. Looks like Hinata has finally graced her entrance to woman-hood! Heh. Ehhh… Ino frowned, that sounded so cheesy. Ah well, she traced the girl's path judgingly. I still don't like her.
It wouldn't, she decided, be much of a hassle to ask about the change of style and catch up with the girl she had previously assaulted.
The elusive Sasuke hadn't made an appearance in days now, which pleased her greatly and relief filled her up like an inflated balloon so she let up her defences walking around the outer districts of the village. She was a girl, high on teenage hormones with a personal mission complete and he was not going to ruin her day. It was not that she expected him to pop up from the belly of a store to snatch her up on his growing shoulders and carry out devious torture sessions or whatever evil machinations Sasuke got up to, but he was crafty when he needed to be and used to getting what he wanted.
Pulling her bottom lip into the grasp of her blunt teeth, she dispelled thoughts of the Uchiha from her mind. He wasn't important now.
Her head now felt feather-light. Her hair had been slain (professionally) into a chin-cut that framed her small face and illuminated her shy jawline, before she'd taken another big step and abandoned her modest clothes which had been trussed, mourned over and then thrown out into a dumpster behind one of this district's hotspots.
Hinata could have just called upon the hand-maids at her own home, instead of visiting a hairdresser but the free air called to her and she didn't want to endure cold doll-like hands handling her precious hair. They'd probably cut her bold out of ill-will.
There weren't many patrons when she squared her shoulders and braved the store, shuffling over to an empty chair and sitting down on the squeaky piece of furniture. The people who were gallivanting around were more than enough to make her feel small in her oversized jacket and pint sized height.
Bisecting away from the train of people she walked with, Hinata was not all that surprised to find Ino falling into step with her. "Hello," she greeted politely.
"Hi-na-ta," The blonde giggled, "Hiya!" Thus began her tirade of complaining about her day, the heat, but it wasn't that bad- Hinata swatted away a mosquito that tried to drive its proboscis into her vein. The female of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio lamented away of her short-comings and how she was going to slaughter Shikamaru. Hinata was gracious in her sympathy, truly.
Then the compliments began.
This was bad.
And unprecedented.
Ino was being benevolent.
"You got a haircut! And you've ditched the sour wardrobe! I can't believe it, so cute!"
The towering people around her were giving her a case of claustrophobia. Luckily business was fast and no sooner had she sat down that a woman, busty jam coloured hair flowing wildly around her hips had grabbed her by the hand and yanked her away to a station, butt planted on a leathery salon chair. "Sweet cherub!" she had said, "What can I do for you, hmm?" Hinata's lips had thinned at the endearment. The boisterous woman proceeded to inform her that.
Her name was Akane-
"Fitting," she had replied.
And Akane was going to rock her world.
Hinata absently tugged on Ino's slender wrist, leading her into Konoha's national treasure. The Botanical gardens. Ino had managed to subdue her mania from the last time they were together, which made her company much more pleasurable. Hinata smiled demurely when Ino began sliding her fingers through her locks, "Oh my Kami! So short and soft- what conditioner do you use by the way?-, but it fits you, ne?"
Fake, so fake, a bogus iteration of praises.
The woman bobbed behind her, fitting a leopard skinned cape around her neck and spreading her long locks over her shoulders. She dug her manicured nails into her hair, "Such a lovely colour…" she murmured, rubbing a long strand between her fingers.
Akane wrestled out of whatever stupor took over her and cast a friendly smile at Hinata through the mirror, "We giving you a cut Hun? Short, pixie, perhaps shoulder length? Maybe some bleaching and some streaks, or a full dye?" she poked her in the cheek, turning her face to the right, "Symmetrical face… proportionate features and unique eyes to blend, there's so much to work with!"
Hinata whipped her head forward, "Uh… just a cut... That's all I need..." she said slowly to the bubbly woman who seemed more and more unstable as she yammered on.
Twigs were snagging on Ino's ponytail but the blonde was energetic enough to ignore the new additions. Hinata wasn't exactly sure what she was going on about.
"-and then the old geezer snatched up a pair of clippers and tried to cut the stems himself! Honestly, all he had to do was ask but nooooo! He was a man and a man does his own work. Pfft, sexism is so out-of-date. Such a pain in the neck, lemme' tell you Hinata. If you ever get hassled by an older man with a scar running across his eye-"Sounded a lot like Kakashi, not the sexist part, the scar. "Make sure you give him a straight hook and a kick to his flabby coc-" Yeah, she was so not listening to this one-sided conversation.
"How short do you want to go?" Her slim fingers made their way into the depths of her hair again, weaving through, testing and pulling. Hinata stared at the mirror, then the hair tools that were used to primp, crimp and curl, thinking back to the days of the academy when Sasuke would stare with such indulgence on his face.
At. Her. hair.
Like he wanted to grab onto the lot and sniff. She couldn't tell whether he wanted to play with her hair or eat it, seeing as his gazes soon turned to one of hunger. Hinata cherished her hair, really, but it had to go.
"Yoo-hoo, Have I lost you?" Hinata shook her head apologetically and cleared her throat, before she agonizingly raised a shaking palm; distress accompanying the moving appendage as it rose higher and higher before settling. "Here," Hinata said, fingers trembling as she continued to hold them up. "I want the rest below to go." The woman arched a brow then set to work.
Two pale hands stopped her, shaking away the memory.
Hinata blinked and looked up, up, up, into the blonde's icy blue eyes. "Listen Hinata," she said, "I know you're deluding yourself about Sasuke," Hinata wanted to groan! So she did. "And digging yourself further into a hole that's going to be a bitch to climb out of, but I will depart with a word of insight," The previous atmosphere, that was so carefree and light had snuffed out, the wick of the candle-gone, "Sasuke is mine, you got that? Mine, not yours. If you keep going near him im going to rip your tits off and shove them on a pig pole, okay?"
Hinata choked on her spit.
Ino, the dear that she was, waited patiently for her reply. A serene smile plastered on her face.
"…okay?"
"Great!"
Thus, Ino did proceed on her word, leaving her on a bridge overlooking koi and shielding her chest.
Ino was in dire need of a psychiatric evaluation.
And Hinata?
Well…
Hinata was not a saint, but she was sane.
Looks were being drawn as she walked into her home, astonished gazes wrought upon the complete 180 she'd done today.
Hinata thought Good, make them stare. Gave her confidence, it did. She like many other people, had her flaws and her misgivings and desires. Unfortunately for her loosely and few close people that she could call friends, (And her clan-mates) liked to delude themselves into thinking she were some pure, guiltless and unassertive teenager who had a somewhat promising future ahead of her and wouldn't dare act on dissident impulses.
It felt liberating, to prove them wrong.
She was growing bold and as a freethinking young woman, she enjoyed this new-found freedom. (Read: She was going to ignore Ino and her threats, her breasts will stay stuck to her torso- thanksverymuch.)
Contrary to an implicit inertia she felt when dealing with matters of consequence, this little endeavour of hers (The hair, the clothes, the audacity) brang excitement to indescribable levels. Against the hurt and bitter betrayal she felt by Neji's avoidance and her father's intentions, this step into foreignness was well received.
Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she advanced through the estate, high on euphoria.
Turning the corner, Hinata's smile was slapped straight off her face because- like a cliché story plot, she ran into Neji's solid chest. Stumbling backwards, since she was unnaturally clumsy around these halls, strong arms wrapped around her elbows and kept her from slipping down, down, down…
Eyes mirroring her own stared with sheer intensity, his hands leaving her skin and returning to the pockets of his shorts. Her cousin was here, the same cousin that had been avidly avoiding her like she housed the plague itself. "Hi," she cheeped, cringing. Releasing a cough, "Neji."
His eyes secured themselves, the surprise wilting away. "Your team are awaiting you outside the gates," he said lowly. Distancing himself away from her, which hurt. Again.
"Oh, thanks?" she scuffed her toes, "How- ah, cousin, how have you been?" This was her day, okay, and she was going to force him into a conversation. "And I've been meaning to ask something of you, except… well I haven't really seen you around..." His eyes narrowed, "…since we are all so busy." Kami, that was a blatant lie.
"Fine," came the indifferent reply. Then courtesy demanded of him, "What did you need?"
Yes! We are making progress! Hinata smiled shyly, "Could you perhaps lend me a hand in my tra-"
Neji seemed to catch onto the sentence (Genius he was) and cut her off with; "You look different," Hinata flushed then squinted...was that? Yes it was! Thin lines of pink were high on his cheeks. He was blushing like a green boy! Neji didn't blush!
"Ah, thank you... and about the thing I wanted to-"
He bowed lowly, suddenly (Looking everywhere not her); interrupting her again-"The Inuzuka boy sounded urgent so you should not dally, I apologise, but I must be going now." Hinata gritted her teeth, realising that no- her cousin was not in the mood to socialize and two- he wanted her gone. Like right now. Out of sight. It had been what, a minute? and he was already sick of her.
Oh look, he was a few paces away from her too.
"Neji?" she called out, uncertain.
"What is it?"
I just wanted to ask if you could train with me… and talk about 'this'...
"N-nothing."
And he was gone.
Dejected, Hinata made her way outside, burying the rejection deep down.
At least her team could raise her spirits.
Except not.
Her morale descended, down into a bottomless pit.
Because not only was her squad waiting for her, but Kakashi's was too.