A Hyuuga's Honor

by Elphaba818

Mulan AU - Hinata Hyuuga is the failed heiress of the Hyuuga clan, but when her injured father is drafted to fight in the Fourth Great Ninja War, she disguises herself as a boy to take his place. As she fights to regain her lost honor for her clan, she is enraptured by her blonde, blue-eyed captain, who reminds her of someone from her past. NaruHina

11. The Return Home

At last... it is done...

My masterpiece is done...

The final chapter of A Hyuuga's Honor is finally posted online for all of you, my wonderful readers, to read.

I know this might be hard to believe because it's been over a month since I last updated, but it was hard to write when you have a new puppy. I worked on this chapter little by little every single day since I posted the last chapter in between taking care of Brownie, if that means anything to all of you. I sincerely hope that all of you like it!

I don't have much to say, since this chapter is long enough already without me blabbing on and on, but I will say this: Like I said before a few chapters ago, I have yet to decide on whether or not I want to write a sequel to this story. That being said, the ending is left open in case I ever do write one. It's just that I have to rewatch Mulan II to make a decent outline to a sequel, and I really am not forward to watching it again. Like I said before, the Mulan sequel is garbage, a complete embarrassment to the Disney franchise. I hate it... T_T

Silken Danser will beta this chapter very soon. Just please be patient with all the typos!

Now, for the very last time, I want to thank all my wonderful reviewers:

- AndyM9594

- Nami2255

- Rose Tiger

- catchthecat

- Ramrikai

- Artistry101

-Cloud4012

- Such a Fucking Lady (Interesting pen name! I just wanted to shout that out!)

- NH SHIPPER (x2)

- AnimeLover72636

- gio08

- hinataellis

- Guest (x3) (So sad that I couldn't give you any proper acknowledgement, but I did tell you to leave a pen name, in my defense)

- jenuzumaki

- Da-X0315

- Kitani (x2)

-Anonamys

- Kakau

- ironblastharmony

Thank you all so much for you wonderful reviews! Your reviews are what kept me going these past few months as I wrote this story! Thank you so much for all your encouragement! And thank you for helping me break the 200 review count! I literally screamed for joy when I found out that the 200th review had been made! :)

Please note: I do not own Naruto or the movie Mulan. Naruto belongs exclusively to Masashi Kishimoto and Viz Media, and Mulan belongs to both history itself and Walt Disney Studios. This is a fanfic made for fun, not profit.

I know that this is the last chapter, but please remember to review when you're done reading! I love reviews!

Happy Reading!

EDIT:

As of 8/11/16, this chapter has been edited by my beta reader Silken Danser. Other than a few tweaks here and there with grammar mistakes, pretty much everything is still the same.

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Chapter Eleven: The Return Home

The grand party was nothing short of enchanting to Hinata. She spent the night taking turns dancing with each one of her ninja friends for a time before being whisked away once again by the Kage princesses to indulge in more gossip. They apparently liked her, and desired to speak with her and hear her opinions on things. Talking with girls close to her own age who didn't mind the fact that she stuttered every now and then was a new experience for the shy girl, but it would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy their company. In fact, by the end of the party, the three princesses actually requested that Hinata keep in touch with them with notes carried by messenger hawks when she returned home, as they wished to maintain a pen pal friendship with her even after she was gone. Hinata was more than happy to oblige their request, as she liked them too. Even if it turned out that she still struggled to make friends with other girls like Ino back in her village when she finally got home, at least she would have three other female friends that she could write to if she ever felt lonely.

Other than that, she was surprised when other clan heirs or young clan heads close to her age requested to dance with her, and she had no choice but to comply since she didn't wish to seem rude. It appeared that now she was famous, it didn't matter whether or not she was shy or that she stammered occasionally. As she was of a young age, unmarried, and currently famous, she was now considered a prized catch for marriage. Some of the boys around her age tried to impress her with their charms during their short chats as they danced, and there were some that looked uninterested in her in general and had to murmur quietly in her ear that although they thought she was a nice girl and a strong warrior, they had been forced by their families to ask her to dance out of hope that she would like them. The boys that were somewhat intimidated by her she could relate to and enjoyed somewhat pleasant conversations with, as she too was overwhelmed by her newfound status, but she was forced to politely refuse the boys that went over the top to try and impress her when they requested to dance with her again.

Some of the boys appeared to be genuinely nice so she felt slightly guilty for turning them down, but there was already a boy that Hinata loved with all her heart and therefore couldn't encourage the courting that her new suitors were subtly suggesting, even though Hinata knew deep down that the blonde Namikaze heir that she cared so deeply for would never see her the same way that she saw him.

Ever since Naruto had unknowingly rejected the confession of her feelings, Hinata had done her best to avoid him for the remainder of the party. She was too upset that he apparently didn't feel for her in the same way she felt for him to be able bear looking him in the eye. It wasn't as though it was hard to steer clear of him either. With everyone at the party wanting a moment of her time, it was easy to focus her attention on them rather than on the blonde boy who had broken her heart. It was hard for her to try to fool everyone for the rest of the night that she was ever so happy that the war was finally over, but if she had been able to pretend for over three months that she was a boy rather than a girl, then she was more than capable of hiding her real feelings behind a fake smile for one night.

And that was exactly what she did. No one had the slightest idea whatsoever that she was anything less than her usual shy, cheerful self when the party finally ended around midnight. It was only when she was safely hidden away in the privacy of her small guest bedroom with just Kurama and Usagi for company that she allowed herself to frown and shed a few tears.

Usagi squeaked out her concerns for her mistress as she hopped up and down on the bed while Hinata changed out of her fancy kimono into a nightdress behind the changing screen in the room, but Hinata ignored the kind little bunny, not wanting to talk to her right now as she simply wished to wallow in her self-grief.

Kurama, on the other hand, was a companion that would not allow himself to be ignored.

"Woman! Why are you ignoring the rabbit?! And why the hell do you look so sad?! I know you generally don't have much self-confidence, but if there was ever a time for you to actually feel proud yourself, this would be it! You just came from a party being held in your honor! You could try to look a little happier!"

"I… I know that, Kurama. I am happy that the war is finally over, but… but I realized tonight that I really am a stupid woman…"

Her response made both spirits blink. Neither of them had expected her to say that. Usagi turned and squeaked angrily at her fox companion, demanding that for once in his life he try to be nice to Hinata so as to figure out why she was so miserable. Kurama grumbled back at the white fur ball, but as soon as he saw Hinata's sorrowful expression and her lower lip trembling as she stepped out from behind the screen and moved toward the vanity table so as to let down her hair from the fancy bun that Matsuri and the other handmaidens had skillfully arranged it in, he sucked in his pride and did as the rabbit had demanded.

"What's the deal? We honestly thought you'd be on cloud nine when you came back from the party. Did people mock you behind their hands?"

Hinata sighed and shook her head at his question as her hair flowed down from its bun and settled freely around her neck. "No, everyone was k-kind, or at the very least civil towards me. Really, Kurama, it's nothing…"

Kurama growled in frustration. "Woman, for no other reason than to get this annoying bunny to stop pestering me to be nice to you, please play ball with me and stop avoiding my questions! Why are you so upset?!"

Hinata slowly turned around to face her two spirit companions as she brushed away the tears that had begun glistening in her eyes with a swipe of her finger, and both animals were instantly silenced upon seeing the wetness starting to run down her cheeks.

"It doesn't matter either way, Kurama, Usagi. It's just about a wish that I was silly enough to… to hope w-would become reality. It's not important, really. Just forget about it…"

Both Kurama and Usagi blinked at her evasive answer, but before either of them could question her any further, she crossed the room so as to sit down at the writing desk in the far corner. She pulled out a pen and a blank sheet of paper from the desk's drawer, and then began scribbling something down in an almost frenzied rush.

"Yo! Now what're you doing?!" Kurama demanded.

"Writing a l-letter to my friends in the army," she answered, not even bothering to look over her shoulder at him or Usagi as she continued to write.

Her words only succeeded in further bewildering her two furry companions. Usagi's tiny little pink nose twitched curiously as Kurama's many orange tails flicked back and forth in obvious confusion.

"What for?" the fox asked.

"We're leaving early t-tomorrow morning. In case I don't see any of them on my way out of the city, they'll be able to find this note so that they'll know w-where I've gone."

Usagi bleated franticly upon hearing this answer, and Kurama hopped off the bed and trotted up to her so as to lightly scratch Hinata's leg with his claws, ensuring he had her full and undivided attention.

"Leaving tomorrow first thing in the morning?! And not even waiting for the chance to say a proper goodbye to anyone?! What the hell happened?!"

Hinata thickly gulped, but she merely frowned in response to her fox companion and turned her attention back to her half finished letter.

"Our l-leaving early was planned prior to… to the mishap that happened. The fact that I'm upset has nothing to do with this."

"Bullshit, Woman! Now, tell me—"

"I… I don't want to talk anymore, Kurama."

"Don't dismiss me! I want—"

"I said, I'm done talking!"

The saddened girl said these last few words so sharply, Usagi made a small squeak of surprise, and Kurama backed away a few steps as he rapidly blinked. They both knew that Hinata had developed a backbone and had learned not to be afraid to speak her mind over the course of the war, but they were surprised that she had used this new skill on them. Normally, she would stay just as kind and caring to the two of them as she had been when she first met them. The young heiress must have been really upset if she was willing to snap at them as she just did in order to get them to leave her alone.

Hinata felt bad for losing her patience with the two creatures that had been by her side since the very beginning of her life changing adventure, but she couldn't deal with Kurama and Usagi's persistence right now. She didn't want them to be prying into her business at this moment. Upon knowing that it would always be unrequited love between her and the hyperactive blonde Namikaze heir, she just wanted to wallow in her grief. The sooner she left the city and began her journey home, the sooner she could try to mend the pieces of her broken heart.

---

Dawn was just stretching across the horizon the following morning when Hinata's guest room door opened just a crack. The shy girl hesitantly poked her head out into the hall and looked about anxiously to see whether or not anyone was awake and wandering around. Upon seeing that the palace hall was completely deserted, a great sigh of relief escaped her lips, and she silently opened the door a bit wider until she was able to slip out, and quickly shut it behind her, making no sound whatsoever other than a small click when the door closed. The Hyuuga princess wore her father's flak jacket and chainmail armor over her stolen set of clothes from her cousin. Her Konoha forehead protector and the gold medal the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent had presented her with were around her neck. The sword Kusanagi was in an elegant sheath at her waist. And she had her knapsack slung over her shoulders. She had packed everything up in a rush last night after she was done writing her letter, as she didn't wish to waste any time this morning running all about the room collecting her things.

All except one item, that is.

That particular item Hinata had left on her bed, right beside the letter to her friends explaining her hasty departure.

She felt rather bad for leaving all of them without telling them a proper goodbye, but her mind was made up. She had to face her father and the elders in her clan sooner or later, and she would rather hear their judgment of her for her recent actions as soon as possible. Plus, she missed her family dearly. If the Hyuuga council decided to strip her of her birthright as the clan heiress and then brand her with the seal of servitude of the branch family before throwing her out of the clan compound forever, she wanted to see her parents, Hanabi, Neji, and Tenten one last time. So the sooner she got home, the better. There was no time to wait.

And besides, if she stuck around any longer, there was a good chance she might come face to face with Naruto, and she didn't think she could take the torment of going through another full conversation with the boy who had unknowingly broken her heart.

As Hinata quietly made her way down the hall, there was a small rustling in her pack, and then two furry animal heads poked out so as to give her disapproving looks.

"You still haven't explained why we're leaving like this," Kurama growled.

Usagi bleated twice in agreement.

Hinata ignored them both. She wasn't in the mood to discuss this matter right now. She just wanted to be left alone.

"Woman, do not ignore us!" the fox snarled.

Hinata marched onward down the hall, turning a corner until she found a set of stairs which she silently stole down.

"Answer me, damn it!"

Her footsteps made no sound whatsoever on the short flight of stairs. Had the young heiress tried to tiptoe like this in the Hyuuga compound back before her time serving in the war, she would have surely gotten nervous and accidentally tripped at some point, causing a loud ruckus. Now though, being silent and stealthy was all but second nature to her, and she used her new skills to continue on her way down the steps until she reached the first floor, and then strolled silently along the hall.

"Hinata Hyuuga! I swear I will scream this palace down if you don't tell me right now why we're leaving! Exactly the truth!"

His words definitely made the constant rhythm of light footsteps padding down the hall come to a complete stop. For a long time, there was absolute silence. Hinata did not move. She did not speak. She did not turn around. She just stood there with a frown on her angelic face as she stared, unmoving, at a sign a few feet away that pointed the way to the palace stables.

"Woman! Did you not hear me?! I said, 'I swear I will scream this palace down if—'"

"He didn't get it."

Hinata's words were so quiet that Kurama and Usagi almost didn't hear her, but they were animal spirits and had better ears than humans did, so they just barely managed to catch her words. And her words made absolutely no sense.

"Huh?"

"He… He didn't get it. He d-didn't get what I was trying to tell him…"

Hinata's heart was still aching from Naruto's unknowing rejection of her feelings. She had hoped for almost the entirety of the time she was away at war that perhaps one day after she revealed her true self to Naruto that maybe there would be a future for them together, but when she had tried to reveal to him how she felt, he hadn't understood her. He thought that she was just speaking to him as a friend. It might not have been the same thing as 'I don't feel the same way,' but it was still a rejection nonetheless, and that hurt Hinata more than any blade ever could. She couldn't stay for even a few more hours to say a proper goodbye to anyone… not when she stood the chance of bumping into him again. That would cause her even more pain.

Kurama and Usagi instantly realized what this was really about. Usagi started squeaking sadly at her mistress, but Kurama immediately gave her a cross look.

"Are you telling us that the reason we're leaving at the crack of dawn without telling anyone goodbye is because of your romantic problems?!" he irritably growled.

Hinata blushed bright red. "I… Well, it's yes and no," she said shyly. "I decided last night before… before everything happened with Naruto that we were going to leave today… but our leaving right n-now is a result of that conversation…"

"So you're running away."

It wasn't a question. It was an honest, disapproving statement.

Hinata's expression drooped at his words, and she looked away from her two little companions before slowly trudging on down the hall, following the sign on the wall in the direction of the palace stables.

Usagi's hopped twice in order to get Kurama's attention, and then made several snippy squeaks demanding that he talk Hinata out of this idea this instant. Kurama rolled his eyes, but still obeyed the rabbit's demand. They both knew that their human charge would regret this decision for the rest of her life if she left right now.

"Woman, you've made several stupid decisions over the course of this entire war, starting with the fact that you chose to run away from home and get involved in all of this," the fox said. "But if you run away again, you'll be making the stupidest decision yet."

"How so?" Hinata asked, still not looking at him or Usagi as she turned a corner. "I told everyone last night I was l-leaving today. They won't be all that surprised when they realize I'm gone. And besides… they all knew I couldn't stay here forever. I… I might have been pardoned by the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent, but I have yet to f-face my clan and find out whether or not I'll be punished for I've done. I have to go home and face my family… especially my father…"

"Cut the crap. If that was really a top priority, you wouldn't have left that tattered red scarf of yours behind."

Hinata flinched at those words, but she still didn't stop walking. She had to get out of here now. She had to forget about her precious red scarf. The boy who had given it to her when she was young did not care about her the same way she cared about him. Leaving it behind was her way of trying to force herself to finally put him in the past and move on. If she had brought it with her, she would have only subjected herself to further pain by not wanting to let go of her childhood fantasy of love. It was better for her to just leave it here for Naruto to find. It was his scarf anyway. She was sure he'd want it back, even if it was in shreds now after her fight against Orochimaru.

"It… It d-doesn't matter either way…" she murmured.

"Bullshit it doesn't matter, Woman! Now you just—"

"It doesn't matter!" she abruptly snapped, her words sharp but containing a trace of sadness within them. "I've made up my mind. We're going home. Now. I… I can't s-stay here any longer. I don't think I can bear it if I do. I have to go home…"

And with that, her footsteps grew faster as she speed-walked down the hall. It didn't matter to her what Kurama or Usagi said. She couldn't listen to them anymore. She didn't want to hear their truthful words. She knew deep down that they were right, but she didn't want them to be. She was too emotionally hurt to listen to reason. Every fiber of her being was telling her to get away from Naruto, the one who had unintentionally caused her this pain in the first place, and go back home where he would not be able to accidentally hurt her again.

Nothing anybody said or did was going to stop her from leaving.

Usagi squeaked sadly and Kurama sighed in defeat. It appeared that in this particular matter, nothing either of them did would be able to change their Hyuuga mistress's decision to leave. If she was this adamant on going home right now, there was nothing they could do except respect her decision. After all, the last thing either of them wanted was to nag her to the point of her deciding on a whim to toss them both out of her knapsack and ditch them here in the middle of the palace while she returned home alone.

It took Hinata a few minutes more, but after following the signs on the walls, she finally found the entryway to the palace stables. She was amazed by how many stalls were currently being used. She had known that there would be a number of stalls full thanks to the number of nobles that were currently staying in the palace due to all the celebrations, but she was surprised by the fact that almost all the stalls were occupied by beautiful, well groomed horses of every breed she knew of.

A number of them were still asleep because of the early hour, but the few that were awake neighed and whinnied at her in greeting as she walked past. Hinata smiled pleasantly at all the majestic animals, but they were of little interest to her. Where was Rin? Where was her most loyal, trusted animal friend? She hadn't seen him in over two weeks. Lady Mei had assured her that he had been pampered here in the palace stables ever since she defeated Orochimaru, so where was he? Rin meant everything to Hinata. She wouldn't trade him for anything — not for all the gold or glory in the world.

Her musing was interrupted when she suddenly heard a familiar whinnying from the last stall in the lineup. Her face immediately brightened, and she hurried as fast as she could to see if her hopes were warranted as to which horse was calling out.

Sure enough, a certain snow white stallion was prancing about happily in his stall. Rin was overjoyed to see his girl again. He had smelled Hinata the moment she entered the stables, and couldn't stop himself from neighing loudly in delight. He had been so worried about her these past two weeks. He had enjoyed all the pampering from the palace servants when they groomed him, and they were always kind and gave him extra carrots and apples when they fed him, but they weren't Hinata. Her treats were tastier. She groomed him better. Hinata was his girl. She would always be better.

Hinata's face broke out into a great big smile the moment she saw her horse, and quickly entered the stall to greet him properly. "Rin! Oh, Rin! I missed you so much!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck to hug him tightly. Rin didn't mind. He nickered in happiness as he sniffed her hair, inhaling her scent for the first time in weeks.

The Hyuuga princess lightly laughed as she felt him start to nuzzle his snout against her, and gently stroked his neck. His mane was tangle-free from being freshly brushed the night before. His hooves were clean. His coat was gleaming in the light. He looked as though the palace servants had spoiled him rotten since he first arrived, and yet he still reminded Hinata of home. Home was where she truly belonged, not here in the Imperial Palace. It was time to go back and face her family and clan for the actions that led her to being the Heroine of Japan.

"Rin?" she murmured, still affectionately patting his neck. "Let's go home…"

The snow white horse neighed loudly in approval and bopped his head up and down several times, almost making it look like he was nodding to the idea.

Hinata laughed at the sight as Kurama and Usagi poked their heads out of her knapsack. Usagi happily bleated out a friendly hello to Rin, but Kurama just glared at the four-legged animal.

"Hello, Horse," he grumbled.

The loyal stallion's eyes narrowed upon seeing the nine-tailed fox spirit, and snorted loudly right in his face.

Kurama sputtered in rage. "Why, I ought to—!"

"Enough, Kurama! Don't start a fight!" Hinata gently chastised.

Kurama shot a glare at his human charge, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. He would have loved to shoot a Tailed Beast Ball at that horse for snorting right in his face, but Hinata had ordered him to keep a lid on his temper. He had no choice but to follow her command.

Tiny Usagi had no qualms with Rin, though. She happily squeaked a second greeting before hopping out of Hinata's knapsack to sit on her shoulder, and then nuzzled her petite head against Rin's snout. Rin nickered a bit at the display of affection.

Hinata giggled, and then turned around in the stall so as to go and fetch her set of reigns. To her surprise, beside the stall entrance there was a brand new set of reins and a fine quality leather saddle — an additional thank you gift from the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent for all she had done for them, their families, and all of Japan. Hinata was touched by these presents. She had been planning to ride Rin bareback throughout her entire journey home since the saddle she had brought from home had been ruined back in the mountains when she had cut Rin free from the harness connecting him to the flaming wagon with all the supplies. Her old reins had escaped that whole ordeal unharmed, but it was still nice of the five leaders to give her these.

A small, delighted smile spread across the heiress's face as she hurried to saddle him up. She really didn't have much time to waste. The longer she dawdled in her preparations to leave, the greater the chance that someone could find her and delay her in leaving, and if she was delayed for any reason, she might come face to face with Naruto. That was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Rin neighed playfully when Hinata finished preparing him for their long journey home. The Imperial Palace was beyond luxurious, but he had been cooped up in this stall for a whole two weeks, only being led out for quick walks around the courtyard by the palace servants for exercise for short periods of time. He was ready to start running and be free again.

Hinata smiled, and stroked his mane a few times to show her love before taking hold of the reins, and leading him outside. The sun was just peeking into view over the faraway horizon, lighting up the pastel sky, and the morning air was cool and crisp. It was going to be a truly beautiful day perfect for long distance traveling, and they really did have quite a journey ahead of them.

Hinata swung her body up into the saddle, and then patted Rin's neck to get his attention.

"Are you ready, Rin?" she asked. "W-We… We have a long journey ahead of us. We have to cross the mountains again to get back to the Land of Fire, travel for a time until we get approximately b-back to where the training camp was, and then… and then I suppose it's guesswork in traveling south back home…"

Rin pawed the ground restlessly in reply, eager to be off already, but Kurama grumbled a bit as he and Usagi hid themselves back inside her knapsack.

"Geez, you don't even know part of the way home? It'll only be a matter of time before we're all lost…" he muttered.

"D-Don't worry, Kurama. I still have the map provided in the conscription notice from several months ago. Once we get closer to home, I'll t-take a look at it and figure out the rest of the way home."

"Fine. Whatever…"

Hinata lightly laughed at her guardian's words before focusing on the road ahead. She was facing a long and hard journey ahead of her, but it couldn't be any harder than the adventure she had already been on. And besides, she would not be returning home the same as when she left. She would not be pretending to be someone she was not by disguising herself behind a mask of being the perfect princess that her clan had always wanted or the ideal son her father had always desired. She would be returning home looking and acting as who she truly was on the inside.

She was not Hinata Hyuuga, the dainty porcelain doll and model daughter.

She was not Hiro Hyuuga, the nonexistent but still strong ninja and model son.

She was simply Hinata, the first woman to ever elect to become a ninja, the warrior that had saved Japan, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan, and the misfit first-born daughter of her father.

She did not know whether or not she would be accepted anymore with all her faults that she no longer had any wish to change, but she knew that it was time to face the music and meet everything that she had run away from back home. It was high time that she found out what her family and clan really thought of her. Would they shun her, or would they embrace her? The question was baffling, but the only way to find out was to take the first step forward in this journey. It was time to go home.

That thought brought a smile to Hinata's face, and with a light kick of her heels into Rin's flanks and a sharp snap of the reins, they began trotting away from the palace and out into the main road of the Imperial City.

As Hinata rode down the main street of the city at a somewhat fast pace to reach the city gate, sleepy early morning risers jolted wide awake when they saw their beloved heroine ride past. They all clapped, cheered, and shouted her name as she passed by. On her way out she stopped only once to buy a bit of food for her journey from a vendor that was just opening his stall for the day. Many civilians waved her goodbye and wished her for safe travels on her trip home.

It wasn't until Hinata finally reached the main gate did she turn around, smile, and wave back to all of them.

Because it wasn't just all of them that she was waving her farewell to.

She was also bidding everyone that she cared about in the city goodbye.

---

Naruto had a big smile on his face as he entered the Imperial Palace. He was in a superb mood. The party had been great last night. He had reacquainted himself with all his old friends that he had left behind during the course of the war, and he had actually danced with Hinata. Granted, they had only danced once, and afterwards they had had that strange conversation that ended with the shy girl leaving him alone while she went and danced with that prick Kiba, but he was determined to talk to her today. For reasons that were unknown to him, he had been unable to catch Hinata alone for the remainder of the evening after they had danced together. Every time he seemed close to approaching her whenever she was alone for a few moments, she would immediately vanish back into the crowd or would accept a dance from one of the many nobles who now desired her hand in marriage.

That thought brought a scowl to the blond boy's face as he continued on down the hall. The idea of Hinata falling in love with and marrying someone else made him mad. Last night, he hadn't understood exactly why he felt this way, but after talking with his mother Kushina at the gala after she had so rudely eavesdropped on his conversation with Hinata… it would be a lie if he said he hadn't realized that he had developed some feelings toward Hinata. Whether they were love or not, Naruto wasn't sure, but he did know he had to talk to Hinata to know how she felt in return. She was pretty shy, so it was hard for him to sometimes figure out what she was thinking, but he was sure he could try to coax a direct answer out of her for once. This was important, after all. His mother might have been acting rudely when she decided on a whim to listen in on his and Hinata's private conversation, but she had been right about one thing.

Hinata wasn't the type of girl that appeared every day.

She was truly one of a kind and unique, and that was exactly what made her so special.

He had to find out how she might feel for him before she left later on today.

He'd regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't find out.

With a newfound confidence in his step, he approached the doors that led to the dining hall where palace guests generally ate when they weren't privileged enough to dine with the Kage royals, and pushed them open before walking in. To his surprise, Hinata was not currently eating the traditional Japanese breakfast that the palace servants had been kind enough to lay out. Everyone else was there though, excluding Sasuke considering that he too was not staying in the palace since his clan compound was in the city. It looked as though many of them had half finished their meals though, because now all of them except Kankuro and Gaara were gathered around Shikamaru's chair. He was dazedly groaning as if in pain while he clutched the sides of his head with both hands.

"Yo! What's going on, everyone?" Naruto called out, letting go of the door and letting it slam shut behind him.

His loud words combined with the booming sound that the door made earned a strangled yelp from the Nara heir, and he immediately slammed both his hands over his ears to try and deafen the noise. "Shut up…" he groaned. "Shut up and let me go back to sleep…"

Naruto blinked in confusion as Lee passed the army Tactician a hot cup of tea while the other guys gave the Nara a few friendly pats on the back. Kankuro and Gaara remained sitting in their chairs as they ate their breakfast, all but ignoring his strange behavior. In fact, Kankuro was actually failing to muffle his snickers as he wolfed down his pickled plum rice ball and portion of steamed white rice, and Gaara was actively smirking as he ate his egg omelet and calmly sipped his green tea.

Naruto had absolutely no idea what was going on. Why did Shikamaru look like he was in absolute agony? Why weren't Kankuro and Gaara worried about him? Speaking of Kankuro and Gaara, why were they in here at all? Now that they were back in the palace, weren't they required to eat their meals with their father, sister, and the rest of the Kage royals?

But more importantly, where was Hinata? She should have already woken up and be eating breakfast with everyone else, right?

"Uh… is everything okay?" he questioned again, quieter this time, as he approached the table.

Kiba chuckled as he waved his concerns aside. "Everything's fine, Cap— I mean, General. Nothing that won't take care of itself in a couple hours…"

His ninja hound Akamaru barked twice in agreement.

"Yeah, some tea will get him going again, provided of course that he actually drinks it," Choji pointedly added as Shikamaru simply stared at the tea that Lee had presented him with dead eyes.

"I told you all before, eating or drinking anything right now is a drag…" Shikamaru groaned, massaging his temples from hearing all the voices talking. To his ears right now, they sounded like they were yelling.

"You are acting foolishly, Shikamaru," Shino said quietly as he adjusted his trademark dark sunglasses. "The food will revitalize you, and the tea will help settle your stomach."

Shikamaru shot the Aburame a pitiful glare. "How many times do I have to tell you lot…?" he half-heartedly mumbled. "I'll just throw it up again in ten minutes… Stop being so troublesome…"

"Yosh! You are being quite unyouthful right now, Shikamaru!" Lee stated loudly. "We all wish to help you, and yet you are pushing us away! How can your flames of youth thrive again if you don't treat your illness?"

Shikamaru just gasped loudly at the extra loud voice near his ear, and quickly covered his ears again. "Damn it, Lee! I told you… keep your loud mouth down to normal levels for awhile, please!"

"Oops! My utmost apologies!"

"Uh, does someone mind clueing me in?" Naruto asked. "What's up with Shikamaru? He looks like crap!"

Kankuro nearly choked on the portion of rice he had been in the process of swallowing as he snorted in amusement. "The genius was an idiot last night, that's what wrong with him. He drank too much and is now dealing with a killer hangover. You've gotta love karma!" he laughed.

Naruto was confused by Kankuro's seemingly vindictive indifference to their friend's agony. "Karma? What the hell are you talking about? And how come you're both eating in here anyway, Kankuro, Gaara? Shouldn't you two be eating with the rest of the royals?"

"Ah, screw the rest of the royals!" Kankuro guffawed. "Seeing the Lazy Ass toss his cookies is well worth whatever punishment our dad gives us for ditching breakfast with him, Temari, and the Kage's and their families."

Gaara's smirk turned cruel in nature as he spared a look at the pitiful Nara slumped over the table, unable to eat or drink anything at the moment due to his weak stomach. "It's what he deserves and more for the number of times he ignored Kankuro's and my glares and continued dancing with our sister," he explained. "Why punish him ourselves when he is already suffering from his own careless behavior? We consider this justice."

Shikamaru listlessly turned his head to shoot a half hearted glare at the Sand Brothers. "Fuck you both," he groaned. "I never once asked that troublesome woman to be a pain. She insisted on those three dances, remember…? And even after those dances, she refused to leave me alone. Drinking was the only thing I could think of in order to tolerate her… You know, I'm starting to understand why my dad drinks so much all the time back home. It's the only way he can put up with my mother. She's the only woman I know of who's more troublesome than Temari…"

"You could have just ignored her and joined all of us back at the table, Nara," said Gaara as he watched Shikamaru out of the corner of his eye. "Considering you are acting as though you do not like her in the same way she likes you, refusing her should have been easy."

"Damn it, Gaara! She's Kage royalty just like you and Kankuro! That's what makes her so troublesome! Refusing her would have only made things worse! She would have thrown a god damn tantrum and ordered that bodyguard you three and your father have onto me to teach me a lesson…"

He said this all with a loud groan, but the red now staining his cheeks had nothing to do with his hangover.

Kankuro playfully glared. "That has to be the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard in my life! But ordering Baki-sensei to tear you limb from limb…? Not a bad idea… Not a bad idea!"

"Fuck you… Fuck you… Fuck you…"

Everyone else that had been sitting around watching this exchange couldn't help but laugh when they heard Shikamaru's pitiful comeback. Naruto himself laughed a bit, but then he remembered his primary reason for coming to the palace so early today, and got right down to business.

"Um… not to change the subject or anything, but where's Hinata? Shouldn't she be here by now?"

A sly grin appeared on Kiba's face. "Why? Got something important to say to Stutters?" he asked oh-so-casually.

Everyone at the table, including the very ill Shikamaru, couldn't help but share knowing looks at one another when they saw how Naruto's whole face burned red.

"T-That's my business, Kiba, not yours!" he pathetically retorted. "I… I was just curious, that's all!"

"Well for whatever reason you were asking, you should know that she has not arisen yet," stated Shino monotonously.

Naruto was puzzled. "She hasn't? That's strange. She was almost always early for the training sessions in camp in the mornings."

"Yeah, strange," admitted Kankuro with a shrug. "Don't worry about it. It's only eight thirty. She'll be up soon."

"Sit down for now and have some of the miso soup! It's delicious! The palace cooks really know their way in the kitchen! I wish my mom knew the recipe!" said Choji with a smile, ignoring his sick best friend for a moment so as to slurp up his soup.

"Uh, sure, okay," said Naruto with a shrug. It would only be a matter of time before Hinata woke up and joined them all for breakfast. As soon as she was done eating, he'd pull her aside for a few minutes and ask her how she felt. It was no big deal.

As he moved to sit down in an empty spot right next to Gaara, however, a new voice suddenly filled the room.

"She won't be joining all of you."

Everyone turned in their chairs to look back to the doorway. Sasuke had just arrived. He was leaning against the frame of the entryway with his arms folded across his chest, but he didn't have his usual stoic expression on his face. If anything, he seemed to be rather annoyed at something.

Lee quickly saluted him. "Good to see you, Sasuke! Please, if you haven't already had breakfast at your compound, join us! The servants prepared more than enough for all of us!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Lee for a moment as his jealousy flared over the fact that he liked Sakura, but then he shook away his dark thoughts and addressed everyone in the room.

"Hn. I suppose none of you ever really liked Hinata at all, considering you were all sitting here eating instead of trying to stop her."

His words brought a definite pause to what everyone was doing, and they all stared at him with perplexed expressions and furrowed brows.

"Stop her? What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked, reviving a bit from his upset stomach so as to give Sasuke a befuddled look. "She's still asleep in her guest bedroom."

Sasuke blinked as realization suddenly dawned on him. "Oh. None of you even know yet…" he mused.

Gaara's eyes narrowed at his words. "Know what? What exactly are you saying?" he demanded.

Sasuke sighed, but then blurted his news right out.

"She's gone. She left a few hours ago."

Silence.

For the longest time, everyone in the room simply stared at the new Uchiha heir with wide eyes as they struggled to process this new information. It didn't want to compute in their brains. Sasuke… he had to be lying about this! Hinata wasn't the type of person to just up and leave them without telling them a proper goodbye! There was no way in hell what he was saying could be true!

"You're lying…" Naruto growled, his heart dropping into his stomach from hearing this as his hands clenched up into tight fists. "Hinata… She's in her room right now, still fast asleep or getting ready to come down to join us for breakfast. She's upstairs! I… I know she is!"

Sasuke frowned at seeing the expression on the face of his childhood friend, but he still shook his head. "No, she's not. On my way here, I passed by a group of gossiping civilians. They were all talking about how they saw Hinata ride out of the city on that white horse of hers sometime around daybreak, clearly packed up and ready to make the return trip home. They were telling each other that they should make a trip to the city temple to offer up their prayers for her so that she returns home safely."

Everyone there was surprised to see just how upset Naruto appeared to be upon learning this. His teeth were grinding together in his effort to keep a lid on his temper, and his stance was stiff and rigid as he shook with suppressed hurt and rage. If any of them had been doubtful of how Naruto could possibly feel for Hinata after finding out she was a girl, those doubts were squashed now after seeing this. Naruto might be an idiot, but it was clear that he held some feelings for the Hyuuga heiress. If it hadn't blossomed fully into love yet, then it was at least affection, because although they were all upset at the fact that Hinata had left without telling them goodbye, Naruto seemed to be doing the worst off. He definitely liked her, that was for certain.

Naruto's thoughts were a frantic mess. His best friend Sasuke had been known in the past to be somewhat mean in how he taunted him, but this…? This was a very sick idea of a joke. Hinata couldn't have left without saying anything! She wasn't like that! He was supposed to talk to her today before she left! Why was one of his oldest friends in the world lying to him like this?!

"I don't believe you! She's upstairs! I know she is! And I'm gonna prove it!"

And without another word, Naruto lunged forward, shoved the stoic-faced Uchiha out of his way, and bolted right out the door without another word. The others were taken aback by how desperate the Namikaze heir looked as he all but flew out of the room, and they were left with no other choice but to shove their chairs away from the table and hurry along after him, Choji lingering behind for a few moments so as to provide support for his very ill childhood friend.

Naruto ignored the looks of bewilderment from startled servants as he hurried down the palace halls and up a flight of stairs to get to Hinata's room. He didn't even see them in his haste. He had only one thought in his brain. Get to Hinata's guest bedroom and see that she was still here.

When he finally reached the room the Hyuuga princess was supposed to be staying, he pounded his fist on the door.

"Hey, Hinata! Are you awake?"

There was no reply from beyond the mahogany wood.

The rest of his friends and comrades reached him then, but Naruto didn't even spare them so much as a glance over his shoulder. He just kept pounding on the door.

"Hinata! Please, open up! I need to talk to you!"

All was silent from inside the room.

"Come on, Hinata! Open up! Everyone's out here! We all want to see you!"

The others stared as Naruto continued to pound on the door and plead to the vacant bedroom out of hope that Hinata was inside and would answer him or open the door. It was actually very sad for them to see how desperate the blonde looked as he rapped repeatedly on the hard wood.

Finally, Gaara's sand shot out of his sand gourd and shoved Naruto away from the door. Naruto was annoyed by the interference, and was about to yell at the redhead to stay out of this, but then he saw Gaara stride forward purposefully to the door and knock politely.

"Hinata? My apologies if you are indecent, but we are coming in."

And then, much to the astonishment of everyone else, he simply turned the doorknob and pushed the door open before beckoning everyone else to follow him inside.

Everyone there was filled with dismay when Sasuke's words turned out to be true. The room was devoid of any sign of life whatsoever. Hinata wasn't inside, nor was her important knapsack and bag of supplies. The only visible sign that showed that she had spent any time in this guest bedroom at all was a single sheet of parchment with writing on it left behind on the surface of the bed, and lying beside it was the tattered remains of her beloved red scarf.

For the longest time, no one dared to say anything. They were all too stunned by the fact that Hinata really had decided to leave without saying goodbye to any of them to think up anything to say. Finally, the shocked silence was shattered when Lee hesitantly walked forward, and with shaky hands, picked up the letter lying on top of the bed. He stared at the first few words written at the top, and then looked back up at everyone else.

"It's addressed to all of us. Should… Should I read it out loud?"

Everyone nodded.

Lee gave them all an apologetic look and cleared his throat before beginning to recite the words on the page.

"Dear Friends,

By the time you all will have found this note, I'll already have left the city. I am very sorry to leave so suddenly and without telling you goodbye, but you may recall last night that I was planning to leave today, so I simply pushed forward the time when I left. Besides, I know all of you would have begged me to stay for at least one day longer. Please don't misunderstand me! The time I spent in the army training and fighting alongside all of you these past few months has been one of the best times I've ever had.

It's just that I need to go home. I… I may be the Heroine of Japan in the eyes of all of you, the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent, and the rest of Japan, but I have no idea what the Hyuuga council will say about what I've done. I need to go back and find out if I even still have a home in my clan compound anymore, or if I've been stripped of my rank as the Hyuuga heiress. And if I'm kicked out of the estate, I need to tell my family a proper goodbye. My father, my mother, my little sister, and my cousins? They mean everything to me. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't go home now and see them. The last time they saw me was after an argument I had with my father over his decision to take the spot in the army reserved for the Hyuuga representative! I have to face them again, no matter what happens in regards to my position in the clan.

Please, don't consider this letter to be a permanent goodbye. You are all some of the dearest friends I've ever had in my entire life. I asked you all last night, but let me extend the invitation again by saying that if you are ever near my hometown, don't be afraid to come and pay me a visit! Provided that I'm not stripped of my birthright as the clan heiress or thrown out of the clan compound, all of you are always welcome to stop by! I would be very sad if last night was truly my last meeting with any of you!

I'll see you all again someday!

Your Friend,

Hinata Hyuuga

P.S.,

Please tell the ladies in the Kage royalty that I will be sending them my reply about their request to help them in their endeavor of getting their law passed for women everywhere to become ninjas as soon as I've spoken to my father and the Hyuuga clan elders about it, and that regardless of whether or not I'm allowed by my clan to publicly support their cause, I personally think their idea is wonderful!"

Everyone just stared at Lee as soon as he was done reading. The green spandex-wearing shinobi stared at the words on the page for the longest time before flipping the paper over to see if maybe there was anything else written. He frowned before looking back up at everyone else.

"That's… That's it. There's nothing else," he said sadly.

"She really left?" asked Kiba incredulously. "Just like that?"

"She didn't even say goodbye!" said Kankuro, throwing up his hands in aggravation.

"I don't get it…" Choji said, actually taking the letter from Lee's hands so as to read it himself. "This… This isn't like her. She wouldn't do something like this!"

"Indeed," Shino agreed, peering over Choji's shoulder in order to take a look. "Hinata is not the type to leave without saying anything. What is the reasoning behind this?"

As the others argued with each other over why Hinata had seemingly left without a word to anyone, Naruto stood as still as a statue as he stared at the shredded remains of the red scarf that had been left behind on the bed. He felt so numb and detached as he stared at it with dead eyes. She was really gone. She left. She left without saying anything! He didn't quite know why this hurt him so much. His teeth clenched together and his hands balled up into tight fists. Why did she do this?! He had wanted to talk to her about last night! And the scarf… she had left the scarf he had given her back when they were kids. That made her leaving all the more painful for him. Why didn't she take the scarf with her?! That had been a present! The sight of the ruined remains of the red wool scarf on the bed drove a knife through his heart, and he so badly wanted to pound his fist into something to relieve himself of his internal agony.

Sasuke noticed the expression on the blonde's face as he stared, unmoving, at the scarf left behind on the bed, and quirked a brow. "Did you know something about this, Loser?"

Everyone immediately quieted down and quickly turned to face Naruto, but Naruto didn't answer them. It was like he didn't even hear the question he had been presented with. He just stared at the ruined scarf for a few more tense seconds, and then stepped forward to gingerly pick up the torn red fabric and examine it carefully.

"She left it behind…" he muttered tonelessly. "She… She left it behind…"

The others blinked. None of them fully understood what Hinata's decision to leave the scarf behind symbolized to Naruto. After all, none of them knew the full details of Naruto and Hinata's connected pasts. How could any of them know that back when they were kids, Naruto had given the scarf to Hinata to cheer her up after a group of bullies had teased her about her pearlescent eyes? By leaving it behind now for him to find when he realized she was gone, Hinata was basically saying that she was planning to forget that that event had ever happened.

The Hyuuga heiress had seemingly decided to give up on her feelings of love for the Namikaze heir.

As Naruto clutched the two long pieces of the scarf tightly in his fist, Shikamaru forced himself to forget about his weak stomach for the moment to address his friend.

"It doesn't take a genius to assume that that scarf is important, right?" he asked.

Naruto wordlessly nodded, but didn't even turn his head to look over at the others.

"Damn that troublesome woman…"

"Don't… Don't call her troublesome…" he said listlessly. "She's… She's not troublesome!"

"She obviously is if she's got you in a funk. Seeing you like this is such a drag."

Naruto didn't choose to respond to that. He just continued to stare sadly down at the red woolen shreds.

Gaara studied him for a few seconds, but then something occurred to the redhead, and he quickly spoke up.

"Naruto, isn't Hinata's clan situated in your old hometown?"

Naruto nodded to his longtime friend, still not really looking at any of the others as he did so.

"Then what are you still doing here?"

Naruto wasn't the only one to blink twice at that question. Everyone turned to stare at the third-born son of the Kazekage with bewildered expressions. Not that the idiot blonde understood what it was Gaara was recommending, but the others couldn't believe that it was one of the most seemingly emotionless people out of their whole group that had suggested what they had all been thinking.

"Wait… what?"

"She left her scarf behind, did she not?" Gaara pressed. "You should return it to her."

"Yeah, Dude!" Kiba whooped, actually daring to thump the befuddled spiky-haired blonde on the back. "I'm sure Stutters is probably missing her scarf right about now…"

"You should go home and tell your clan you have urgent business out of the city," Shino advised, adjusting his sunglasses a bit as he spoke. "Tell them that you have to leave immediately."

"Just make sure that you pack plenty of food with you before you go!" said Choji, grinning rather brightly. "I'm sure it's a long trip from here to Hinata's hometown!"

Naruto's cheeks burned bright red as he listened to his friends encouraging him to go after Hinata. His brain was telling him that he should stay behind in the city and start making all the necessary preparations to take over both his new duties as the head of his clan and as the new General in the army, but his heart was telling him differently. His heart was thumping madly in his chest, and was urging him to follow the advice his friends were giving him and go after Hinata. Maybe if he hurried, he could catch up to her before she made it to the mountains. Otherwise, he'd be looking at several weeks' worth of traveling on the road before he made it to his old hometown where Hinata's clan was coincidentally situated.

"Do you… Do you guys really think she would want it back?" he asked, feeling himself grow twice as red in the face as he did so.

Sasuke smirked. "Hn. If there's one thing I've learned over the years of Sakura always fawning after me, it's that women always treasure their most prized possessions. Especially if the boy they like is the one that gave it to them."

Naruto's head whipped around to stare at the Uchiha when he heard that last sentence.

"You… You guys honestly think she likes me?" he whispered, not even noticing the hopeful tone in his voice.

His words earned a groan from Shikamaru. "You're too troublesome for your own good, Naruto… Actually, forget troublesome. You're an idiot."

"Yosh! We cannot answer that, General! It would be unyouthful of us to tell you how Hinata feels when it's obvious she hasn't told you anything!" Lee proclaimed.

"The point is, Naruto, you'll never know if you don't go after her," Kankuro said suggestively.

Naruto mused over everyone's words for a short time, but then a determined expression spread across his face as he clutched the tattered scarf tightly in his fist.

"Sasuke! Gaara! I'm leaving you both in charge of everything in the Allied Shinobi Forces for the next few weeks! Make sure to mail out all those condolence letters by this afternoon!"

And just like that, he ran right out of the room at top speed, leaving the rest of the group no choice but to smirk as they poked their heads out the door in order to watch Naruto sprint away down the palace hallways.

Naruto's thoughts were a scrambled mess as he raced down the hall toward the nearest flight of stairs. He knew that ignoring his new duties in order to chase after Hinata was completely crazy, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Sasuke and Gaara could easily manage everything going on in the army without his help for at least a few weeks, and even though he was sure the elders in his clan would most likely be furious that he intended to blow off his new duties as the Namikaze clan head just to go after Hinata, he was sure his mother could convince them to keep their opinions to themselves. Kushina Namikaze was a kind woman, but let it be said that she had a temper that was unparalleled to anyone else's. No one ever wanted to get on her bad side.

A smile came to Naruto's face as he dashed past a group of startled palace servants and thundered down the stairs two at a time.

He was going after Hinata.

And this time, he didn't intend to let her go.

---

For the next few weeks, Hinata traveled without rest on the road.

Now that she was a ninja and could travel long distances at high-speeds on foot, she probably could have traveled faster if she wasn't riding her horse, but Hinata loved Rin more than anything and would never abandon him. The first week was the hardest, considering she had to battle the icy elements on the mountains in the Land of Iron to cross back into her home region of the Land of Fire. The nights were freezing cold as she shivered alone under her thin blanket in her flimsy tent as Rin stood guard outside, but Kurama and Usagi had decided to help their mistress out by cuddling up to her as she slept to try and keep her warm. The Hyuuga heiress tried to use her provisions sparingly, knowing full well that should an emergency happened she would need whatever supplies she had left in order to survive. Thankfully, nothing bad happened, and she and her companions made it safely out of the mountains with plenty of food to spare.

For the remainder of the way home, Hinata rode on horseback through the wilderness of the region, stopping only a handful of times whenever she or Rin needed to rest or to stock up on provisions in villages they passed by. Whenever they had to stop in a village to buy more food or other necessities, everyone in town would immediately recognize her as the new Heroine of Japan, and would swarm around her as they gushed out their praise and beg her to spend a night for free in nothing short of the finest, most luxurious inn in town. Hinata would always blush madly at their praise, but would tactfully turn down their offers to stay the night. She was eager to get home, and although she was grateful for their generous offers, she was unable to accept their requests. The villagers would be very understanding of her reasoning, but they were insistent on giving her the supplies she needed for free, or at least at half price. Hinata felt guilty for taking the things she needed that way, but the townsfolk would not budge on this decision. They refused her when she said she could purchase things at their full price, and would often have to shove the supplies into her hands in order to get her to accept them. Whenever Hinata finally left the small towns after she had everything she needed, just about everyone in the towns would see her off to the village gates, and would wave and cheer to her until she and her snow white horse were nothing more than brief specks in the far off distance.

Hinata was embarrassed by all the attention she was receiving, but she didn't have time to dwell on her new popularity in her home region. She had to get home. Mulling over her new status in life would have to wait until after she had seen her family again.

For the next week and a half, Hinata, Rin, Kurama, and Usagi journeyed back to where the ninja training camp had been approximately set up, and when they arrived at last, Hinata was able to use her map that had been included in the draft notice with directions on how to get there in the first place. As she was now at the training camp, all she had to do was follow the directions in reverse to find her way back home.

And that was exactly what she did. The last stretch of the trip home took less than two days to make, but to Hinata, who grew more nervous with every minute that ticked past as she rode Rin down the familiar path she had traveled several months before, those two days seemed to fly right by. She was so scared. The elders stripping her of her rank as clan heiress? That would be sad to her, but she was more concerned that her immediate family would hate her.

What if they didn't want her anymore?

What if they were ashamed of her despite all her noble deeds whilst in the army?

What if her father, the one she had done all this for in the first place, turned her away the moment she arrived at the clan compound?

What if her mother was disgusted by the fact that her eldest daughter, the one she had always tried to groom into a respectable young lady, was a ninja now, a man's profession?

What if her sweet little sister, the person she adored the most in this world, thought of her as less than trash now because there was a good chance she could now become the new clan heiress?

What if her beloved cousins, the only ones other than her sister who had been her friends before she ran off to join the war, thought of her as a disgrace to the clan now after all she'd done?

She was terrified to discover the answers to these questions.

It was a beautiful morning the day she rode through the main gates of her home village. Just after ten o'clock, to be exact. Many villagers were out and about as they went about their business as they would any other day, but the moment Hinata was spotted riding Rin as she entered the small town, a sudden hush seemed to fall over the entire populace, and people everywhere immediately stopped whatever they had been doing, and simply stood and watched her with awestruck eyes as they whispered excitedly to one another.

Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress to the main branch of the prestigious Hyuuga clan, had once been considered a misfit by the entire town, what with the way she was far too shy and a nervous wreck judging by the way she always stammered after every other word in her sentences, but that was all in the past. They had all heard the rumors that were spreading like wildfire throughout the entire country, so they knew of her heroics. Not to mention, she actually looked like a hero now instead of a disgraced young lady. She wore her father's green flak jacket and Konoha forehead protector around her neck with pride, and the medal she had been given for all her deeds hung around her neck too. The legendary sword Kusanagi was in a sheath at her hip for all the world to see, and she rode her white stallion with one leg on either side of him, not caring at all that riding like that was not proper for a young lady. The stallion held its head up high as he happily carried his mistress past all the mystified townsfolk down the familiar path that led back home.

Hinata's whole face glowed bright red as she steered Rin at a gentle walk through town. These were the people who, in another lifetime, whispered humiliating words behind their hands about the spectacle that the heiress of the Hyuuga clan made when she met with the town matchmaker. But now, the men were muttering words of admiration and the women were watching her with awestruck eyes, both sides amazed by what she had done while she had been away. Small cheers and greetings emerged from everyone's lips as they bowed respectfully to the shy girl as she rode past on her way back home. It seemed as though the villagers in her hometown had at last realized that she was indeed a special girl.

As Hinata passed through town, she happened to notice a certain girl wearing a vividly bright purple kimono with vibrant blue eyes that had her platinum blonde hair tied back into a high ponytail. She was standing beside a young man with straight black hair, dark eyes, and vividly pale skin, who was wearing a black and gray jacket with red straps over a high collared, midriff shirt and black pants. They both watched her as she approached with wide eyes, just as stunned into silence as everyone else was in the village at her return from the war.

It appeared as though Ino was out with her fiancé, Sai.

Hinata had barely spoken more than two words to Sai in the past, so he was even more of a passing acquaintance to her than Ino was, but seeing Ino out in public reminded Hinata of something — something that she had taken from Lord Inoichi's body back in the mountains so she could return it to Ino and her clan.

She was less than a five minute ride away from the Hyuuga compound. She could spare a few more minutes to give Ino her father's forehead protector.

With that thought in mind, Hinata immediately pulled back on the reins to make Rin come to a complete stop, and adjusted the straps of her knapsack momentarily before dismounting her horse. Ino and Sai both blinked when they saw her randomly approach them.

"Hinata?" Ino questioned when the Hyuuga princess came to a stop in front of her and her fiancé.

"Hello, Ino. Hello, Sai," said Hinata pleasantly. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ino blinked. Not only was the generally shy heiress to the Hyuuga actually addressing her without any hesitation, she wasn't stuttering either, and she was now a famous war hero throughout the entire country. Ino honestly had no idea why Hinata was actually talking to her. She had never hated the shy indigo-haired girl she had known for her entire life, but she barely ever spoke to her. She had always thought that it would be nice for the two of them to be friends, but Hinata was generally so shy, she could barely speak more than two sentences to her before quietly excusing herself from Ino's presence because it was hard for her to talk to anyone outside of her immediate family. So why exactly had Hinata randomly decided to come up and talk to her and her future husband now, when she really should be heading home?

"Yes," she agreed, uncertainty very obvious in her voice as she replied. "Yes, it has been awhile…"

"Almost four months all together, to be precise," noted Sai. The stoic son of the wealthiest artisan merchant in town had never really known Hinata before she ran off to join the war. He only thought of her as simply 'the Hyuuga heiress' and nothing further. The fact that Hinata had come up to talk to the two of them was mildly surprising, but other than that, the dark-haired boy really had no other opinion on what was happening. It was obvious that Hinata had stopped to talk to Ino rather than him. He would just stand off to the side quietly and let the chips fall where they may.

Hinata smiled. In the past, it had always been hard for her to think up things to say whenever she spoke with Ino since the Yamanaka heiress was generally so loud and outgoing, the exact opposite of her. Now though, it seemed as though their roles had been reversed. Ino seemed to be at a total loss for words while she knew exactly what she needed to say. She only hoped that she didn't offend Ino, a girl who had never once wronged her in the past, with what she had to give her.

"Ino?" she began, turning to face the still thoroughly bewildered girl. "I… I know we were never really f-friends in the past, but we were still on good terms with each other. So… So I knew that as soon as I found this, I had to return it to you."

Both Ino and Sai were now completely lost, but before either of them could question her to ask what she meant, Hinata had already slid her arms out of the straps of her knapsack, and swung it around in front of her so she could rummage inside. After a moment, she pulled out a Konoha forehead protector tied off with black cloth which she immediately handed over to Ino.

Ino's breath caught in her throat the moment she saw the simple item, and tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She knew this Leaf headband. She knew every nick and scratch embedded in the metal. She had grown up looking at this headband, because it was her father's. Her father was dead, though. She, her mother, and the rest of her clan had received the scroll relaying her father's death on the battlefield of the war just over a week ago and of how the last remaining troops in the Allied Shinobi Forces had laid his body to rest in a fire atop a mountain in the Land of Iron along with other dead men in his platoon.

But Hinata had his headband.

She was returning it to her.

She had personally seen to it that her father was properly honored.

Ino had no words as to how grateful she was to her longtime acquaintance for what she had done for her and the rest of her clan.

"Hinata…" she whispered.

Hinata turned a light shade of pink as she smiled at Ino. "I… My platoon didn't arrive in time to save your father or any of the others in his platoon, but… but I knew that if I was in y-your place, I would have liked to have some memoir of my father."

Sai was silent as he watched the happy tears pool forth from his fiancés' eyes. He had only met his would-have-been father-in-law a handful of times before he was sent off to his platoon in the army, but he had always thought that he had been a good man, and judging by the number of times he had caught Ino quietly praying for her father to return home safely from the war, he knew that she loved him. Ino might not have been capable of thanking Hinata at this moment for this kind gesture due to how touched she was, but he could.

"You've done a good thing for my future wife, Hinata," he said calmly. "Thank you."

Hinata felt the blood in her body rush up to her cheeks upon hearing the words of gratitude, and she smiled kindly in return.

"It was my pleasure, Sai… Really, it was no trouble at all."

She glanced at Ino, but Ino still appeared to be at a complete loss for words as she clutched her father's Konoha headband tightly in her hand as her tears glistened on her cheeks.

"I… I have to be going now. I h-have to find out whether or not I'm still welcome at the Hyuuga estate… I'll see you around, Ino, Sai…"

She turned to gather Rin's reins in her hand and quietly marched away so as to give them some privacy as well as continue on her way home, but Ino's voice quickly stopped her.

"Hinata? Maybe… Maybe sometime you could come over to my compound for tea? I… I'd like to repay you for what you've done for both me and my family."

Hinata turned back around to face her with a smile on her face. "It was no trouble, Ino. S-So… so you don't have to repay me, but I still like that idea. I'll see you next Thursday, maybe?"

"That would be great. I'd like to hear all about your heroics in the war!"

The smile on the indigo-haired girl's face only grew in size. Perhaps she would have a true a friend outside of her family, her army friends, and the ladies in the Kage royalty from now on.

"I'll see you on Thursday, then! Bye!"

With one last smile and nod to Ino and Sai, Hinata's grip on her stallions' reins tightened as she turned and led Rin down the street towards the Hyuuga compound. There was no point in riding him any further. Her childhood home was within walking distance from here. She could spend a few extra minutes simply walking the rest of the way. Plus, she was still nervous as to what type of greeting she might receive as soon as she walked through the compound gates. Trying to delay her arrival by walking rather than riding was all she could do now as she struggled to prepare herself to meet up with her family.

As Hinata left the main square in the village behind along with all of the villagers who were still awestruck by her mere presence, she felt a rustling from inside her flak jacket, and Kurama's head warily peeked out from her back collar to make sure that there was no one around who could see him before fully emerging from his hiding spot.

"Nice thing you did there for that girl," he commented.

From the front pocket of the flak jacket, there was serious of high pitched squeaks, and then Usagi poked her head out as she squeaked some more, nodding happily to the fox's statement.

"It was the least I could do for Ino. If I hadn't taken my f-father's place in this war and he ended up dying… I know I would have wanted someone to return his forehead protector to me and my family."

A silence fell between all of them for a short time after Hinata said this as they continued on their way to the Hyuuga compound. In less than a minute, Hinata would be reunited with her family for the first time in months, and Hinata had no idea what type of welcome she would receive. As she nervously fidgeted a bit with Rin's reins as she considered what might happen to her, Kurama lightly scratched her shoulder blades with his cute claws so as to get her attention.

"Ow!"

"Woman! Stop acting so scared! Everything will be fine!"

Usagi bleated her agreement out loud, and even Rin whinnied a bit to show his support.

"I… I can't help it, Kurama. I'm scared… What if they reject me? What if they don't want me anymore?"

The fox was silent for a moment as he considered her words. Hinata didn't really care. She knew that the only emotions he was ever comfortable with revealing to her were anger and annoyance. He very rarely ever chose to reveal his tender side to her, and if he did, his words almost always contained a hidden insult somewhere in them.

"Well, maybe this will get your mind off of things. I'm pretty nervous myself…"

Hinata had to blink when she heard that, as did Rin and Usagi. All three heads immediately turned to look at the fox.

"Y-You're scared, too?"

Kurama shot an irritable look at the surprised heiress. "Don't throw words into my mouth, Woman! I said I was nervous, not scared!"

"But why would you be scared? You said back on the mountain that you joined me so… so you could groom me into a war hero and get your old job back. You've done that! So why are you scared?"

The orange fox groaned. "I also told you that I accidentally blew up your original guardian. The Ten-Tailed Tree. Your ancestors are probably going to be pissed with me because of that. I don't know if they'll even let me back in the shrine…"

Hinata smiled a bit at those words, and reached around her to give the nine-tailed fox an affectionate pat on the head. "Don't worry about that… If they t-turn you away, you can always come and live inside the compound with me. I just know Hanabi will spoil you rotten! And if… And if Father and the clan elders turn me away from the house when I show up, we'll stick together. You, Rin, and Usagi? You're all my three most trusted animal friends! I'd n-never abandon you!"

Rin nickered excitedly at those words and Usagi squeaked happily as she fully hopped out of the pocket of the jacket to nuzzle her white furry head against Hinata's face. They both liked that idea.

Kurama smirked at her offer while he crawled out from his hiding spot on her back and then leapt down to the ground to trot alongside his human charge. "I suppose that would be an acceptable idea, but rest assured, Woman! I do not intend to just accept whatever punishment those old ghosts have thought up for me lying down, so you shouldn't either! Those old farts on the Hyuuga council are probably going to ridicule you, so you just remember to hold your head up high! If there's anything you've learned over the course of these past few months, it's confidence and self respect! You go and show that father of yours and those clan elders that you're no longer the same girl who left here four months ago who was all but afraid of her own shadow!"

"Yes, Kurama. I… I k-know you're right. I'll try to remember that."

By now, the walls of the Hyuuga compound were starting to come into view, and in the far off distance, Hinata could see what appeared to be a young girl in her late teens of the branch family casually sweeping the ground in front of the main gate with a broom. She had been humming lightly to herself as she completed the chore, but then she happened to glance up, and upon seeing Hinata slowly walking towards her as she led Rin by the reins towards the compound, a startled shriek escaped the girls' lips. Hinata froze in mid-step with worry as the branch girl stared at her for the longest time, but then she abruptly dropped the broom and dashed back through the main gate into the luxurious manor.

For the longest time, Hinata didn't move. She couldn't run away anymore — not when a member of the side family had seen her. Within minutes, the entire clan would be alerted to her evident return from the war. But she was terrified. What would happen to her once she had walked the final gap between her and the main entrance and walked in through the front gate? The obvious answer would be that the clan elders would be waiting for her and all but forbid her to cross the threshold of her childhood home, but there was a part of her that hoped that the moment she pushed open the main gate, her family would be standing there, waiting with open arms to welcome her home. It was an unrealistic outcome considering the treasonous actions she had committed, but her only wish now was for her family to still love her.

She just wanted their acceptance.

A simple 'welcome home,' and nothing more would suffice.

But would they tell her that when they saw her, or would they turn her away without a single word?

Kurama seemed to sense her thoughts, and pawed the ground restlessly by her feet to get her attention. "Go on. They're all waiting for you," he urged.

Usagi made several peeps of encouragement as she hopped down from her spot on Hinata's shoulder and landed on top of Kurama's head. It was a typical thing for the tiny little rabbit to do by now, but that didn't stop the fox from grumbling and swatting at her with one of his many tails.

"Stupid rabbit! Get off me!" he growled.

The fuzzy white bunny bleated angrily and planted her bottom firmly down on top of his head, making it clear that she didn't intend to go anywhere.

The orange fox sighed in defeat at the bunny's stubbornness, and then turned back to face Hinata.

"We'll be going on ahead then. We're both spirits from your family shrine. You might have to answer for your actions to the humans in your clan, but the rabbit and me? We answer to your ancestors."

"I… I understand. I'll see you both later!"

Kurama nodded and Usagi squeaked a quick farewell, and then the fox zipped away in the direction of the main gate. He slipped in through a thin crack in the semi open door, and then vanished without another word. Next stop: the Hyuuga family shrine.

With her fox guardian and tiny rabbit spirit companion now gone, Hinata was left standing a few yards away from the main gate of her home with only Rin for company. She was still terrified as to what she would discover as soon as she entered the courtyard of her clan compound, but it wasn't as though she was completely alone. Rin had been with her even longer than either of the little spirits had been. He was her oldest friend. So long as she had him, she knew she could face the people she both loved and was scared to see for the first time in many months.

She nervously smiled as she turned to pat her horse's neck. "Let's go, Rin," she whispered. "Let's go home together…"

Rin neighed loudly before butting his head in a friendly manner against her shoulder. Hinata laughed, but then tightened her grip on his reins before leading him behind her as she walked the last few steps toward the compound gate.

Her hand hovered over the handle to the gate for a moment as she considered what she might find on the other side, and she tried to mentally prepare herself for what might happen.

"Please still love me…" she whispered. "J-Just… Just accept me, that's all I ask… Don't reject me. Let me be part of this family again…"

She took a deep breath to try and settle her nerves, and then timidly swung the gate open.

---

The whole time Hinata had left the Hyuuga compound in order to take her father's place in the war, the entire Hyuuga clan was still befuddled over what their clan heiress had done.

The branch family loved Hinata, so most of them spent the day in the family shrine, desperately praying to the ancestors of the clan to protect Hinata in her dangerous endeavor and have her return to them safely, but those that were a part of the main family had conflicted views over what had transpired. Hinata was all but considered to be the failed heiress to their clan, but she was still a good person. Some main family members were like the branch family and hoped that she would at least survive the war, but there were others in the clan, in particular most of the clan elders, that considered her leaving to be a blessing in disguise. Provided of course that her true gender wasn't discovered by the leaders of the Allied Shinobi Forces and their clan wasn't disgraced, her dying in the war was the perfect way to rid their clan of such a failure of a Hyuuga. With Hinata dead and gone, her younger sister could be named the new heiress, and she could restore the honor that Hinata had lost by striking a worthy match with a matchmaker once she became of age.

"It's like the gods answered our prayers!" stated one of the male clan elders late one afternoon as he and some of the other members on the Hyuuga council strolled through the clan gardens. "With that stupid girl gone, we can start rectifying her disgraceful actions immediately."

His fellow members of the council started to nod and voice their agreement, but then a small pebble came flying out from behind a series of bushes nearby, and pelted straight at the man's head.

"Ow!" said the elder, immediately rubbing the sore spot on his cranium, but before he could turn and see just who it was that had dared to attack him like that, more rocks bigger than the one just thrown at him were flung out from the same bushes, and he and the other clan elders were forced to duck so as to avoid being struck.

Moments later, a furious yell resounded from the bushes, and a small girl of thirteen with dark brown hair came dashing out with an enraged expression on her face and a semi large stone clutched tightly in her small hand.

"Fuck you!" Hanabi screamed, trying to strike the man with the rock as he and the other members of the clan council dodged her childish attacks. "Fuck you to hell and back! How dare you say such a thing about my big sister!"

No one in the clan was more worried about Hinata than sweet little Hanabi. It wasn't all that surprising, considering she had been a hysteric mess when it was discovered that Hinata had run away from the compound. The night following her elder sister's impromptu actions, Hanabi had tried to do the same thing she did. She had packed a bag with some food and supplies, stole some of her fellow clansmen's ninja gear for protection, and managed to saddle up a horse. Hanabi wanted her wonderful big sister home, and she wanted her home now. The little pre-teen girl figured that if she could somehow get to the ninja training camp, she could convince Hinata to come home before her true gender was discovered. Her plan was put to a stop before she was able to get more than five miles out of the village. Neji and some other clan ninjas tracked her down easily and forcefully dragged her back home. Hiashi and Hitomi had been furious and worried sick about her, but they couldn't bring it in their hearts to punish their youngest child. Judging by the fact that Hanabi had been crying great trails of tears for hours before Neji and the others found her, Hanabi already knew that she had behaved immaturely, but she was simply at a loss for what she could do for her brave big sister.

Ever since that incident, the clan armory was put under lock and key, completely inaccessible to anyone in the family who did not possess the keys to get inside, which had only been given out to members of the clan that were registered ninjas. It was bad enough that Hinata was long gone and that Hanabi tried to go after her. Neither Hiashi nor the clan elders wanted anyone else in the compound to get the crazy idea of trying to either join the war effort like Hinata did or to be like Hanabi and try to go after Hinata. As much as the elders did not like her, her masquerade as Hiashi's nonexistent son had to be kept secret, because if her deception was discovered, the entire clan would be shamed.

But Hanabi herself had changed. She was still overall a sweet little girl, but she became the first person to be angered should she learn that someone in the clan spoke ill of Hinata. Hinata was her beloved older sister, the kindest and most wonderful person Hanabi knew. She would not stand idly by while the clan elders and people in the main family talked badly about her. Her standing up for Hinata had started small. She would shoot pointed scowls and glares at people when she heard them gossiping about Hinata, but when people just considered her antics childish and utterly forgettable, her temper flared. She began arguing with the members of the clan that hated her sister, and before long, those arguments would erupt into screaming matches where she would swear every cuss word she happened to know at them for speaking so lowly of Hinata. People started to get annoyed with her at this point, but they still considered her young and immature, and otherwise wrote off her actions as regular teenage misbehavior.

That was when Hanabi got violent.

Just like right now, she would scream, kick, punch, and throw anything in her nearby vicinity at the people who spoke of Hinata as though she was worth less than trash, and would be more than pleased when she saw that her attacks left scratches and bruises. She would be severely punished whenever she did this, but Hanabi didn't care in the slightest. No one else in the clan had the guts to stand up against those speaking poorly of Hinata like she was, and she would be damned if she stood around doing nothing when they did this.

After all, this was all she could do for her big sister right now. Hinata was far away trying to save their father's life. But what about her position as a member of this family? Someone in this clan had to help her in return. And who better than Hanabi? Sibling bonds are strong after all, especially between sisters. Hanabi would never let anyone belittle Hinata the way the elders wanted to. That was a promise.

The clan elder who had made the remark that had gotten the small girl mad in the first place was beyond furious at her actions. "Why, you—"

"Lady Hanabi!"

"Stop, little cousin!"

From behind the same cluster of bushes that Hanabi had come out of kicking and screaming came the running forms of Neji and Tenten. They both had worried and frantic looks on their faces as they hurried to restrain their younger cousin and pry the large rock from her hand. With Hanabi's new intolerable behavior, Hiashi had requested that the two of them keep an eye on her and make sure that she didn't continue to act so deplorably before the rest of the clan. Up until now, they had had no trouble with her today. They had been out with Hanabi in the gardens when they caught wind of what the clan elders had been saying, but hadn't been able to stop the preteen from grabbing a series of rocks and launching her attack at the man who had been badmouthing Lady Hinata. Knowing full well that they had to stop her before anything further happened, they had rushed out from where they had been enjoying the day in the gardens to hold her back from her continuous assault.

Hanabi kicked and screamed when she felt the strong, calloused hands of Neji and the small, delicate hands of Tenten tug her away from the clan elder she had been so close to striking with her rock. "Let me go! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" she screeched.

"Hanabi, please! Calm down!" Tenten begged as she struggled to keep the pearlescent-eyed girl securely in her grasp.

"Control yourself, Lady Hanabi," Neji advised, his words gentle but his eyes glaring pointedly at the elders for their rude comments. "It will all be okay…"

"Like hell it will, Neji!" Hanabi shouted, still struggling as hard as she could against her cousin and cousin-in-law. "They're badmouthing Hinata! They deserve what I'll do to them!"

The male elder who had been making the tactless remarks about Hinata in the first place looked rather miffed by her less than ladylike behavior.

"Lady Hanabi! Stop this at once!" he demanded, his white eyes flashing dangerously as he spoke. "Your behavior is completely unacceptable!"

"Yes, it is most certainly not suitable at all," agreed the woman standing beside him, her calculating eyes narrowing sharply at the second-born daughter to the head of the family. "Your time for acting childishly is coming to an end. You are nearly fourteen-years-old. You are to be the next head of this family, so you must—"

"I am not going to be the next leader of the clan!" Hanabi snipped, her eyes filled with nothing short of absolute hate as she glared at the elders, wanting more than ever for Tenten and Neji to let go of her so that she could stomp on the woman's foot. "That's Big Sis's birthright!"

"It's your birthright too, now," said the man. "Lady Hinata will undoubtedly perish in this war, and when that happens, her position as heiress shall fall to you. You will indeed be the next leader of this clan and—"

With inner strength Hanabi didn't even know she was capable of, she screamed to the high heavens as she finally managed to break away from Neji and Tenten and firmly struck the elder with her fist. The elder was actually knocked back a few steps from the force of her punch, but he had little time to recover, because she was reeling back her fist again for another sucker punch to his stomach.

"My—sister—will—not—die!" the little girl screamed, tears gathering in her generally happy eyes as she struck the man after enunciating each particular word.

She tried to throw some more hits, but Tenten seized hold of her again, and kept her grip firm around her wrist.

"Hanabi, please stop! Let's… Let's go back inside, okay? Didn't you say earlier that Aunt Hitomi bought you a new kimono? Why don't you model it for me and Neji?"

The dark-haired girl with cutesy panda bear shaped buns on her head tried to steer the hysterical girl back inside the compound and away from the scrutiny of the clan elders, but what was said next made her completely freeze up in shock.

"Yes, Lady Hanabi, go with Lady Tenten. Go and shed your tears with the one person who is to be blamed for this entire mess," sneered the womanly elder in disgust.

Hanabi glared at the woman as Tenten slowly turned back around, doing her best to keep a calm expression on her face rather than the guilty look that was threatening to overpower her. Tenten knew that this whole situation with Hinata being forced to partake in the war to save Hiashi was all her fault. Had she never married Neji, he would have gone away to war in Hiashi's place, not Hinata. The shy and kind clan heiress would be here right now, safe from harm, if only she had never married her husband. It was selfish of her to have wished all those months ago that someone else other than Neji would take his place as the Hyuuga representative in the war. Because of her self-centered wish, Hiashi decided he would go instead, and that led to Hinata taking his place in the Allied Shinobi Forces. She was truly a horrible person.

"I… I am sorry I caused trouble for the clan," she said respectfully, trying to keep her voice from trembling too much. "I never wanted any of this to happen! Hinata… she's become one of my dearest friends and I will hate myself forever if—"

She was cut off by Neji suddenly stepping in between her and the elders. A cold glare was on his face as he shielded his wife and youngest cousin from the members of the Hyuuga council.

"Apologize," he demanded, his arms crossed firmly across his chest as he glared, unmoving, at the clan elders.

The elders in attendance were flabbergasted at the audacity of his demand.

"What?!" snapped the male elder.

Neji's scowl only grew darker, but he made sure to keep his voice at a level tone. "I am not pleased with how my younger cousin has acted right now, so I was willing to reprimand her for her behavior in private, and I was willing to ignore the heartless words you just said about Lady Hinata, who is undoubtedly one of the kindest, bravest people any of us will have the privilege of knowing. But you have just disrespected Tenten, my wife. You insinuated that everything that has occurred due to Lady Hinata's decision to join the war effort is her fault, and she is completely blameless in this matter. You will apologize to her."

The man, woman, and the other elders were completely enraged by his words.

"How dare you, Neji! You are only a member of the branch family, and yet you dare to speak to us that way?!" shouted the man. "Perhaps you need to be reminded of your place in life!"

The elder made a particular hand sign, and Neji, Tenten, and Hanabi all went rigid when they recognized what it was — the activation hand sign for the seal of servitude imprinted into the skin on Neji's head. The elder was going to cause Neji immeasurable pain simply for talking back to him and his fellow clan leaders in defense of his wife.

Neji's eyes hardened, not wanting to show weakness or regret of his words to any of the elders before him.

Hanabi glared hatefully, hating the fact that the elders were abusing their power.

Tenten desperately tried to force her body between her husband and the male elder.

"Please! I'm sorry for what happened! Don't use the seal on Neji! We'll leave quietly!"

The woman sneered at her. "You may have married the prodigy of the branch family and are now considered a member of this clan, Lady Tenten, but you have yet to understand how this family works! You will stay silent during these matters! You should know by now that your future children will undergo moments like this one day as they will be born to the side branch of the clan, so you might as well—"

"Shut your mouth, Lady Haruka! You forget that young woman happens to be my niece!"

Everyone turned. Standing in the doorway leading back into the main hallways of the compound was Lady Hitomi and Lord Hiashi. Hiashi had a stoic, but still disapproving expression on his face as he gazed pointedly at the clan elders, but Hitomi was actively glaring at the group of adults.

"Mother! Father!" chirped Hanabi, her anger at the elders dissolving away the instant she saw her parents.

"Lady Hitomi, Lord Hiashi," said Lady Haruka, the fury in her voice vanishing and instead taking up a civil tone as she and the other elders bowed in respect. "We were simply—"

"You were simply trying to undermine my eldest daughter, antagonize my youngest daughter, belittle my niece, and harm my nephew!" Hitomi went on, her words sharp as blades as she strolled purposefully forward until she was right in the faces of the elders, Hiashi right on her heels as he maneuvered his way on his crutch. "Hiashi and I heard everything you, Lord Hakuto, and the others were saying! When you disrespect our kin, you disrespect us as well!"

Lord Hakuto's eyes grew cold. "There is a natural order to this world, Lady Hitomi, and those who try to upend it do not fare well… We were only trying to remind your daughter, niece, and nephew of that."

"It is not your place to remind them of that, Lord Hakuto!" said Hitomi, her demeanor completely unfazed by the challenging tone in Lord Hakuto's words. "It is mine and Hiashi's! Leave us at once!"

Lady Haruka only smirked in return. "Very well then, Lady Hitomi. We shall go, but see to it that the three of them understand how the Hyuuga clan works. And remember, should Lady Hinata miraculously survive the war, she shall be taught the meaning of that as well. We on the council have already decided that she will be punished for her treasonous actions once she returns."

Lady Haruka motioned for Lord Hakuto and the others to follow her out of the gardens, but just as they were about to turn and go back inside the main house, a stern voice cut through the air.

"My daughter will not be punished in the slightest when she returns. Not until a clan hearing is held."

The air went still as every head snapped in Lord Hiashi's direction. Hiashi's face was completely stoic as he stared down at the elders. For some reason, the calm expression on his face made him seem all the more frightening, especially considering what he had just ordered upon the expense of Hinata, his eldest daughter and the heiress to the clan.

The Hyuuga clan elders would often convene together to discuss important matters in regards to the whole clan, but a clan hearing was something else entirely. Should a member of the clan, main family or branch family, be put under speculation for having committed an act of treason that could possibly be considered as shameful of the clan as a whole, a clan hearing was held to determine his or her fate of whether or not they would be pardoned and their 'crime' all but forgotten, branded with a seal of servitude of the cadet branch should they come from the main family, or banished from the clan. The last time a clan hearing had been called was almost ten years ago, when it was discovered that a man in his late thirties of the main house had molested a civilian girl of only fifteen in the village. The man had undoubtedly been found guilty for his crimes, and he had been branded with the caged bird seal and sent to the branch family. He had scrubbed the floors and windows of the compound for two months before hanging himself in his bedroom, unwilling to live with the humiliation of losing his position in the main family any longer.

The fact that Hiashi was proposing a trial of this magnitude for his own daughter was astonishing, and his words succeeded in grabbing the attention of everyone present.

"Father?!"

"Lord Hiashi…!"

"Uncle, no!"

"Hiashi! How dare you! That is—"

"—a grand idea!"

Lord Hakuto was nodding eagerly to Hiashi's suggestion with a scheming grin on his face as Lady Haruka smirked at the idea.

"That is an interesting proposition, Lord Hiashi. I must wholeheartedly agree with you. With everything that has happened, a clan hearing sounds more than appropriate. Should Lady Hinata return home again, she'll undergo a trial. We on the council shall discuss this more in detail back in the council chambers. Good day to all of you."

And with one last polite bow to the Lord and Lady Hyuuga, the elders took their leave.

As soon as they were all gone, Hanabi spun around to face her father, her tears running down her face.

"I hate you, Father! I hate you!" the pre-teen girl screamed.

She tried to punch him in the gut in her hysterical moment, but despite the efforts that Hitomi, Neji, and Tenten all made to try and restrain her from attacking her father, Hanabi was too quick. It landed right at his waist, and Hiashi made no attempt to dodge her strike, but when she tried to hit him again, he easily caught her hand in his, and stared down at his wailing daughter with a solemn expression.

"That is enough, Hanabi," he said with a monotone voice. "I will ignore the first strike because you are rightfully angry, but try to hit me again, and there will be serious consequences. This violent streak of yours has to stop."

"Fine! Punish me! I don't care! You deserve it!" Hanabi screamed in her rage. "How dare you tell the elders that it's okay to put Big Sis on trial!"

"Hiashi, Hanabi might be wrong to attempt attacking you, but she is right about Hinata! How could you tell them that?! Do you not love our eldest daughter at all?!" Hitomi demanded.

Everyone stared at Hiashi with baited breath. What was his reasoning for this? Why would he leave Hinata's fate in the entire clan to a trial where all of the elders could judge her as they saw fit when she returned from the war should she survive?

After a tense silence, Hiashi finally answered them.

"I am giving Hinata a chance. Should I have done nothing, she would have been punished by the elders the moment she returns from the war. So long as there is a trial, they will be forced to listen to her and consider things from her perspective."

Everyone blinked when they heard his reasoning. What they had all considered to be a cold decision on his part in regards to Hinata was actually a loving gesture cleverly disguised to appease the clan elders. Hiashi truly was a brilliant man when it came to clan politics.

Hanabi gazed up at her father with tears still clouding her vision, and she wiped them away on the silken sleeve of her casual kimono, not caring at all that the water spots would cause stains. "You… You're going to give Hinata a chance? Really?" she whimpered.

The hardened lines in Hiashi's forehead softened upon hearing her words, and he nodded to her. "As the leader of the clan, I can't just tell the elders that there will be no punishment whatsoever for Hinata, as they will fight me on that decision, but telling them that a hearing will be held will force them to listen to her if she—"

"Hiashi! How dare you say 'if!'" Lady Hitomi said sharply, her eyes full of malice as she glared at her husband. "Hinata… She is a strong girl! She's coming home! I know she is!"

Hiashi frowned. "My apologies, Hitomi. I should not have said that."

"You have done a good thing, Uncle," said Neji. "Lady Hinata will be given a fair chance now. Thank you."

"Yes, Lord Hiashi," agreed Tenten. "Hinata… Hinata will be relieved when she gets back. So long as she presents her case to the clan elders in the right way, there's still the possibility that she won't be banished from the clan!"

Hiashi nodded at his niece-in-law with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Tenten," he declared. "There is no need for you to address me so formally. You are Neji's wife, and that makes you a part of this family. You are not an outsider. You have every right to call me your uncle as you call Hitomi your aunt."

Tenten was taken aback by his words, but then slowly nodded. He was completely right, after all. She had just as much right to calling Hiashi her uncle as Neji did.

"Yes, Lor— I mean, Uncle Hiashi. I'll… I'll do my best to remember that from now on."

Hiashi nodded in return, but as he opened his mouth to address his whole family, a tentative voice softly called out to him.

"Um… pardon me? Lord Hiashi?"

Everyone looked over. Standing in the doorway leading back inside the compound was a small branch girl of maybe seven or eight. She was obviously nervous to be addressing the head of the clan, because as soon as Hiashi turned toward her, she lightly squeaked and ducked her head out of view of the doorframe, only to peek back out shyly after a few moments.

For a long moment, everyone standing in the garden was strongly reminded of Hinata. The little branch girl standing before them was such a shy child. She was just like how Hinata was when she had been her age.

Hitomi smiled warmly to the small girl, and gestured for her to come over. "There's no need to be afraid. You can come out," she said kindly.

With a hesitant nod, the little girl stumbled forward so that she was standing before all of them, and then nervously bowed.

"I… I'm sorry for interrupting all of you, Lord Hiashi, Lady Hitomi," she cutely mumbled. "But… But I was ordered to bring all of you to the main entrance."

Everyone in attendance blinked as Hiashi's brow rose at her words. "May I ask why?" he said.

"A ninja came," said the little girl, twiddling a bit with her fingers to express her shy nature. "He asked for all of you. Says he's got something to give you…"

"Very well, then. You've done well passing along his request," said Hitomi politely. "You may go back to your chores. Thank you for telling us this."

"Yes, Lady Hitomi," said the small girl. And before anyone could say anything else, the little branch girl quickly bowed, and then turned and bolted away back inside, too embarrassed and nervous from having delivered her message to the head of the clan and his wife to walk away slowly.

As soon as she was gone, Hanabi looked back up at her parents. "Why would a ninja not in the clan come here, Mother, Father?" she asked.

"That is a very good question, Hanabi. Let us go and see," said Hiashi.

Everyone nodded, and then followed the leader of the clan back inside the compound to the main entrance.

Sure enough, waiting in the foyer of their home was one of the civilian ninjas of the village. He had been sitting in a chair patiently waiting for all of them to arrive, and upon seeing all of them come in he quickly stood up and respectfully bowed.

"Lord Hyuuga, Lady Hyuuga," said the village ninja rather considerately. "Thank you for seeing me."

Neji and Tenten pulled Hanabi back from trying to peer around her parents to get a better look at their guest as Hiashi and Hitomi nodded courteously in return.

"Of course, sir," said Hitomi. "We of the Hyuuga clan are always a friend to those in the village."

"May we ask what the nature of your visit is?" questioned Hiashi, not one for beating around the bush.

The ninja nodded to the noble lord before reaching into a pouch in his waist. He rummaged about inside it for a moment before bringing out a scroll.

"This arrived via a messenger hawk to the village ninja office a little earlier. It was addressed to you, Lord Hiashi, and your immediate family."

Hanabi tilted her head curiously as she watched the man pass the scroll to her father. She didn't recognize the seal stamped across the paper that kept it from unraveling. She was pretty sure that the symbol wasn't for any other notable ninja clans in the general area. What was this symbol supposed to represent?

She was the only person in the room who was unaware of what it was, though.

Hiashi's face hardened.

Hitomi choked back a sob.

Neji became very pale.

Tenten looked as though she might suddenly be ill.

And why did they all look like this?

Because the seal on the scroll was that of the Allied Shinobi Forces.

All of them except Hanabi were now silently begging for the mercy of the gods above for the words on the page to not contain the death notice of the indigo-haired beauty that they all so deeply loved with all their hearts and souls.

"Hiashi…" Hitomi breathed, a hand reaching up to clutch the fabric of her beautiful kimono right over her heart as her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

"Thank you for delivering this," said Hiashi tonelessly, his generally stern eyes lacking their usual sharp edge as he looked back up from the messenger. "We appreciate you bringing this to us."

The ninja nodded again. "Of course, Lord Hiashi. It was no trouble at all. Good day to all of you."

He bowed to all of them one last time in farewell, and then showed himself out the door without another word.

Everyone gathered around Hiashi as he slowly broke apart the wax seal, and carefully uncurled the rolled up parchment. He cleared his throat, and then began to recite the words written on the page.

"Dear Lord Hyuuga and Immediate Family,

My name is Naruto Namikaze of the Namikaze clan stationed in the Imperial City, and the new General of the Allied Shinobi Forces. I am writing to all of you so that you are made aware of your daughter Hinata Hyuuga's brave and noble deeds in the war. Yes, everyone in the city, in particular the Four Kage's and the Mizukage Regent, are aware that your clan representative is a woman and not a man, but that is currently the last thing on anyone's mind at the moment, as she has done what many in the army, including me, were incapable of doing, let alone dreaming.

Your daughter, Hinata Hyuuga, has personally saved the lives of the Four Kage's, the Lady Regent, and the members of the Honorable Families by being the only ninja in the army to stop and kill the snake traitor Orochimaru.

Regardless of what anyone else may say or believe about her, Lord Hyuuga, I want you to know that Hinata is a true hero and one of the bravest people I have ever known. You should be proud to have her as your daughter and the heiress of your clan.

In more saddening news, I regret to tell you that during her battle with Orochimaru, Hinata was hurt badly, and is currently fighting for her life in a minor coma. Rest assured, Lady Tsunade and Princess Sakura are the two best medics in all of Japan, and they have been tending to her nonstop ever since she stopped the snake summoner, so she is in good hands. We do not know when she will wake up, but both medics say that she should be fine once she does.

It is currently unknown to everyone what will happen to Hinata once she wakes up, as no one knows what any of the Kage's have decided to do about her in regards to disguising herself as a boy and joining the army, but everyone is hopeful that they will pardon her. Many of the people in the city, civilian or ninja, believe that she will be spared from death, so please try not to worry too much about that. If that happens, I will be sure to send you another note informing you and your family of the unfortunate news, otherwise try to wait for her to return home in her own time.

I'm sure you'll be hearing all about Hinata's deeds in the war before too long from the rumors of travelers and other ninjas. War news travels fast, after all!

Best wishes to you and your family!

From,

Naruto Namikaze

Leading General of the Allied Shinobi Forces."

There was a long, unbroken silence between the five members of the family after Hiashi finished reading. Then Hitomi seized the scroll from her husband's hands to see the letter for herself. As soon as she was done silently reading the note, she clutched the letter tightly in her fist and began crying tears of joy.

"She's alive…!" she breathed, grasping the scroll close to her chest as her tears rolled down her cheeks. "My sweet daughter… She's alive! The gods have answered our prayers!"

Hanabi began bouncing up and down as she clapped and cheered in delight. "Hinata! Hinata's a hero! My big sister! She's a hero! I always knew she was great!"

"She really took on Orochimaru all by herself?" asked Tenten, politely taking the letter from Hitomi to see that part of the message with her own eyes.

"Lady Hinata… she was undoubtedly reckless to do such a thing," said Neji, peering over his wife's shoulder to read the letter. "But I have to admit, she is far stronger than I believed her to be. I hope she will be all right."

Hanabi shot a glare in her older cousin's direction. "Of course she will be all right, Neji! Hinata would never die in her sleep! My big sister will be coming home any day now! I know she will!"

Hiashi hadn't said anything all this time, instead choosing to remain lost in thought as he mused over the contents of the letter. But upon hearing his youngest child's words, he nodded in agreement.

"Hanabi is correct, Neji. Hinata will be fine. She will be returning home very soon. Now, if you will all excuse me, I must inform the elders of this news. I will see you all at dinner."

And with that, the stoic leader of the clan turned on his heel and marched away without saying anything else.

---

Upon learning of her big sister's heroic deeds in the war, in particular of slaying the evil Orochimaru, Hanabi stopped her immature habit of picking fights with anyone in the compound that spoke poorly of Hinata and instead spent every free moment of her time sitting on top of the compound walls for hours at a time, peering anxiously into the far off distance for any sign of her kind and wonderful sister riding her loyal white steed toward home, looking every bit as heroic as the letter from the leader of the army had declared her to be.

She wanted to be the first person in the clan to see her sister when she finally returned. Nothing anyone said or did would prevent her from spending her days sitting on top of the walls to wait for her beloved sister.

Not even bad weather stopped the small girl. One particular day happened to be very rainy, rainy enough that no one in their right mind would normally choose to go outside unless it couldn't be avoided. But that didn't matter to sweet little Hanabi. Dressing herself in a rain coat, a pair of boots, and a set of gloves to try and keep as dry as possible, she ignored the protests from her mother and two cousins as she trudged back outside in the rain. She wasn't stupid enough to risk climbing up the wall in the current weather conditions, but she did drag a fold up chair outside behind her for something to sit on, and moved to sit beside the main gate just on the outside of the compound walls.

Hanabi was shivering in her boots as she sat there with the hood of her coat pulled up over her head. Her teeth were chattering from the freezing wet raindrops and her lips were on the verge of turning blue, but she didn't dare stand up and head back inside.

She loved her big sister more than anyone else in the whole world.

She was going to be the first person Hinata saw when she finally came home.

She wanted to be the first person to hug Hinata like there was no tomorrow the moment she returned.

There was nothing anyone could say or do that was going to make her budge from her chair.

Absolutely nothing.

Except—

"Hanabi, if you are going to sit out here right now, you should have at least brought out an umbrella."

Hanabi turned her head. Hiashi was standing beside her along with a member of the branch family. The branch man was holding an umbrella over her father's head with one hand, and struggling to carry a tray of two cups of piping hot tea in his other. Hiashi was gazing stoically down at his second-born daughter as he leaned on his crutch, and Hanabi blinked up at him in confusion.

"F-Father?" she whimpered, her words faltering a bit due to how cold she was.

Hiashi didn't answer her. He simply turned and took one cup of tea from the tray that the branch member was carrying, and passed it over to Hanabi without a word before taking the other cup for himself. He then readjusted his grip on his crutch so as to hold it under his armpit so he could take the umbrella from the member of the cadet family.

"Thank you for your assistance," he said with a nod.

"Of course, Lord Hiashi," the branch man politely mumbled. He bowed respectfully to the clan leader, and then hurried back inside the compound to get out of the freezing rain.

Hiashi adjusted the umbrella so that it was shielding Hanabi as well as him from the terrible weather before taking a quick sip of his tea. "Your mother is worried about you, Hanabi. She says it's time for you to come in."

Hanabi had difficulty forcing her mouth into a scowl due to her facial muscles feeling all but frozen, but she managed it after only a little trouble. "I… I said it b-before, Father… I don't care if I g-get sick. I'm going to b-be the first person Hinata sees w-when she gets home. I s-swear it…!"

She took a huge gulp of her tea when she was done, desperately needing an energy boost after all the effort it took her just to say those few short sentences.

"Hinata would be very upset if she saw that you were sick at her expense when she finally returns," Hiashi argued. "She knows you love her very much, Hanabi, but she loves you just as much, and seeing you so sick will break her heart."

Hanabi was silent for a time as she considered his words.

"J-Just for a few more m-minutes?" she begged. "What if she c-comes around the corner the s-second… the second we g-go back in? L-Let me wait for a f-few more minutes?"

Hiashi considered her words, but then nodded to her simple request. "Very well, but only for a few more minutes."

They stayed there together for a little while not saying anything. They just ignored the pelting, freezing rain as they sipped their hot cups of tea while scanning the cloudy horizon for any sign of Hinata, not that there was any sign of their lost family member. Eventually, a thought occurred to Hanabi, and she managed to speak a question that had been on her mind ever since that fateful dinner the night Hinata had run away from the compound to take Hiashi's place in the war.

"F-Father… are you ashamed of Hinata?"

Hiashi's face went rigid at his child's question, and his hands, which had been in the process of bringing his cup back to his mouth to take another drink, immediately stilled.

"Hanabi?" he questioned, his tone neutral and not betraying the slightest hint as to what could be going on in his mind.

"I… I'm n-not stupid, Father…" the little girl explained. "I've always k-known about how the elders h-have been trying to convince you f-for ages now to strip H-Hinata of her position and p-pass the title for c-clan heiress to me. I know y-you've never done anything to s-stop them from talking about it… I always thought y-you were just trying to b-be smart in how you deal w-with them, but after what y-you said to Hinata the night s-she left… Did you only ever t-think of her as an h-heiress, or as my sister?"

Hiashi had always believed his youngest daughter was more perceptive than she generally let on with her usual playful persona, which had temporarily become ill-tempered due to her worry about his eldest daughter, but he never suspected that she knew about how the clan elders had been trying to persuade him to make her the new heiress even before Hinata had run off to the warfront. Hanabi was only a child. She shouldn't have known anything at all about that.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not regret what I said to her that night at dinner, Hanabi," he said after a short time. "I lost my temper with her when I should not have. When she returns, I intend to apologize to her for that."

Hanabi blinked at his reply, but she didn't get the chance to say anything else, because Hiashi was suddenly gesturing her to stand up from her chair.

"It's time to go in now, Hanabi. I'll call for some branch members to draw you a warm bath."

Hanabi reluctantly nodded, and then passed Hiashi her empty cup of tea before standing up from her seat and folding back up her chair. Once she was ready, she followed her father back inside the compound while dragging the chair behind her as she tried to stay shielded from the rain underneath the umbrella.

As she walked though, only one thought swirled about in her mind.

Her father didn't exactly answer her question.

---

More weeks passed, and eventually one morning after a hearty breakfast, the whole family decided to spend some time in the clan gardens, persuading an initially reluctant Hanabi to abandon her post on the wall just for an hour with the promise that they would let her stay up there without interruption until dinnertime if she did. Ever since Hinata had left for the war, they all realized just how important their family was, and tried to make time every day to spend time together other than at mealtimes. So now, they were all taking in the morning sunshine together as they enjoyed the day.

Hanabi was hopping over the rocks in the small pond as she played while Tenten giggled at her childish antics and tried to convince her to come back onto solid ground before she slipped and fell in the water.

Neji was pretending to read a book, but his eyes were occasionally glancing up at his wife playing with his younger cousin, and a faint trace of a smile spread across his face.

Hitomi and Hiashi were sitting on the marble bench underneath the cherry blossom tree as they watched the rest of their family enjoy the fresh air. It was truly a lovely family moment, but the only thing that was missing that would make everything perfect was the fact that Hinata was not here.

She should be here, coming outside right now while carrying a tray with a pot of tea and small cups to pass out to everyone. Preparing tea for everyone in the family was one of her favorite hobbies other than pressing flowers. Hinata might not be the perfect heiress that the elders desired her to be, but she was the perfect member of their family. She always had the warmest, brightest smile on her face, and never complained about her failings with the elders no matter how bad things became. She was such a sweet and gentle girl with a heart of gold, but those on the Hyuuga council never seemed to recognize her worth or ever appreciated her.

To not have her here right now, softly smiling as she poured everyone a cup of tea before joining Tenten in watching Hanabi play… it was the only thing that prevented this morning from feeling truly wonderful.

"Hanabi, do be careful, all right?" called out Lady Hitomi as she watched the little girl stumble for a moment as she struggled to maintain her balance on one of the boulders. "You don't want to fall in the pond and get wet, do you?"

Hanabi giggled at her mother's concern. "Don't worry, Mother! I'm being careful! I'm pretending I'm Hinata!"

Her words made the others in her family raise a brow.

"Oh, are you pretending to water walk then, Lady Hanabi?" inquired Neji, shutting his book and fully turning to face her and Tenten. "I assume that Lady Hinata learned that chakra control exercise back at the training camp."

Hanabi shook her head as she hopped to another stone. "Nope! I'm pretending that I'm fighting that snake creep! I'm chasing him all over the Imperial Palace rooftop!"

Hitomi and Tenten both laughed while Hiashi and Neji nodded as small smiles appeared on their faces. By now, they had heard of many different versions of their family member's heroic deeds from the word of fellow ninjas and travelers. Apparently she had managed to destroy an entire mountain with a great and powerful jutsu back on the front lines, and during the epic showdown between her and Orochimaru, she had endured a firestorm that would have killed any other normal person. It was understandable that Hanabi was trying to imitate her sister's legendary fights during her downtime.

Despite what the elders might think, the rest of the world no longer saw Hinata as a misfit anymore.

She was a highly honored hero.

"How's your battle faring, Hanabi?" Tenten asked, smiling brightly to the pre-teen girl. "Are you in a tight spot?"

"No way! I'm whooping Orochimaru's butt! I'm one jutsu away from being victorious!"

A rare look of amusement flitted across Hiashi's face. "See to it that you are, Hanabi. Do not allow that snake summoner to escape."

Hanabi beamed. "Of course, Father!"

Hanabi carefully turned to face another large boulder in the pond. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself, but just as she was about to leap onto it, the sound of a door slamming from somewhere back inside the main house echoed throughout the gardens. Everyone jumped and turned in confusion as they heard footsteps running through the house, followed by excited yelling and cheering as more footsteps started thundering after whoever was running first and started the loud commotion.

The five of them exchanged looks of confusion amongst themselves.

What was going on?

Why did things sound as though some type of frenzy was happening inside?

Was everything okay?

Hiashi grabbed hold of his crutch and hurried to stand. He had to go back in and find out what was happening, but the sudden calling out of his name quickly halted him.

"Lord Hiashi! Lord Hiashi!"

There was still what sounded like excited shouting from members of the clan as they ran through the halls of the Hyuuga compound, all trying to get to one area in particular in the manor house, but a young girl of the branch family that had been given the chore of sweeping the ground in front of the estate this morning was suddenly dashing out into the garden to speak with all of them. She was red in the face and panting for breath from the hard run she'd made in her effort to find the leader of the clan and his family, but an excited smile was on her face as she remembered her manners and made a quick, hasty bow.

"What is going on?" Hiashi demanded. "Why is the clan in an uproar? Has something happened?"

The young branch girl's smile only grew as she eagerly nodded. "She's… She's back, sir! Lady Hinata has finally returned! She's walking up to the main gate as we speak!" she gushed.

The world came to a crashing halt for the five Hyuuga's when they heard her words.

Within seconds, Hiashi, Hitomi, Neji, and Tenten were moving as fast as they could to get back inside the house and were joining the throng of clan members running as fast as they could, all dignity and manners forgotten, to the courtyard in front of the estate. Hanabi was right on their heels, actually electing to jump down into the water around her and spoil the silk of her casual kimono as she swiftly waded out of the water and back onto the grass rather than hop from rock to rock to get out the pond while remaining dry.

Hinata had returned…

There were no sweeter words in all the world.

The five of them followed after the rest of the clan, main family and branch family alike, as they ran through the winding corridors of the compound until they were finally at the doors leading out to the front courtyard. In the mad scramble of people that were trying to squeeze through the set of double doors, Hanabi managed to get swept away from the rest of her family in the sea of bodies to the back of the lineup while the others were all able to exit outside together. There was no time to wait for her to catch up to them though, because in the excited mass of hysteria from everyone in the clan, they were being all but shoved outside to stand in the courtyard alongside everyone else. Hanabi would be by their sides in a few moments, so Hiashi, Hitomi, Neji, and Tenten all forced their way to the front of the crowd standing a short distance away from the main gate leading outside. No one bothered to stop them. They were Hinata's immediate family. They had every right to be the first ones to greet her when she finally opened the gate and came in.

Everyone chattered eagerly amongst themselves as they waited for Hinata to reveal herself. This was an exciting moment for the entire clan. Their heiress had become a war hero in her time away. Would she still be the same person? Did she bring back any medals of honor? How would Lord Hiashi receive her return?

There was a small, barely noticeable push on the wood of the tall gate, and a sudden hush fell over the crowd as they stared at it with wide eyes. She was here. Hinata was finally here…

And with that last thought echoing in everyone's minds, the gate slowly swung open.

---

Hinata felt her breath catch in her throat when she walked through the main gate of her childhood home, carefully leading Rin behind her as she did. All of her clansmen were standing before her in the main courtyard and staring at her in wonder. Main family and branch family combined. She hadn't expected this, to be confronted by all the members of her clan the very moment she opened the gate, and she froze in place for a few seconds as a panicked look spread across her face. Were they all here to forcefully shove her back through the gate with no warning whatsoever, or were they here to welcome her home? She was so, so scared to know the answer to that question.

But her focus was soon shifted away from the clan as a whole, because her gaze landed on the few people that were directly in front of the rest of the crowd, and she felt her heart soar just from seeing their faces.

Hitomi's hands were over her mouth as happy tears gathered in her eyes…

Neji stared in wonder as a look of relief spread across his lips without hesitation …

Tenten was trembling as a glowing smile appeared on her face…

Hiashi's hand was gripping his crutch tightly in his hand, still wearing his usual stoic expression…

Her family…

For the longest time, Hinata just stood as still as a statue as she drank in the faces of those she loved with all her heart and soul. She had dreamed of this moment for so long, since the day she had left the compound all those months ago, to be exact. There had been so many times throughout the war that she believed that she would never see any of them again, but here she was, standing before them. She had lost all concept of time and her senses as she stared at them, unable to think of a single word to say. Mere words couldn't even begin to express the swelling in her chest that described how she felt.

But wait… someone was missing. Where was sweet little—?

"Get out of my way! You're blocking me!"

The spell over the eldest Hyuuga princess seemed to be broken by hearing the sudden childish shout, and she peered around her family to focus her attention back on the crowd of her fellow clansmen. Someone very short and with a loud mouth was shoving her way through the jam-packed crowd to get to the front of the lineup, not seeming to care in the slightest that she was elbowing others hard in the gut or stepping on people's toes. She was simply desperate to break free from the crowd, and when her little face appeared among the mass of bodies, Hinata's heart made a leap of unexplainable joy.

Hanabi scowled as she finally broke free from the rest of the crowd and all but stomped her feet as she marched over to where her parents and cousins were standing.

"Hey! What's the big idea, Mother?!" the little preteen girl shrilled as she tugged hard on her mother's kimono. "You, Father, and Neji and Tenten didn't wait for me! You knew how important this was to me! I wanted to be the first person… to see…"

Without breaking eye contact with the child she had prayed to the Hyuuga ancestors every day would return safely, Lady Hitomi simply put her hand on top of Hanabi's head and forced her to turn and look over at who was standing at the main gate, still staring nervously at all of them.

Hanabi's words trailed off as she stared at her older sister. She was so used to seeing Hinata dressed up in plain and casual kimonos when around the compound or wearing more elaborate kimonos when attending formal functions, that seeing her as she was now was a shock. She wore their cousin Neji's baggy clothing and their father's green flak jacket and old Leaf headband proudly just as any man would, but her hair hung loosely around her heart-shaped face, still making her look like the beautiful big sister Hanabi had always known Hinata to be. Even if she wasn't wearing men's clothing and simply wore a potato sack, Hanabi would recognize Hinata in a second. That timid, kind and gentle smile on her face as she looked on at all of them, too shy to step forward or say anything.

This was her sister.

Her beloved older sister.

She had finally come home.

"Big Sister…" Hanabi whispered, taking a single step forward as tears glistened in her pearlescent eyes. Then a joyful smile spread across her face. "Big Sister!"

Hanabi broke out into a run with her arms held out wide, laughing and crying at once as she all but knocked Hinata to the ground when she tackled her in a great big hug. Hinata was home again. It was impossible for the small girl not to hug her big sister with all her might.

"Hinata!"

Rin was quite startled when Hanabi rather suddenly decided to run up and hug Hinata, and he pawed the ground in front of him rather nervously, but Hinata didn't even focus on him. She was flat on her back on the ground, staring up at the little sister that she had feared she would never see again who was full out sobbing as she desperately clung to her clothing. Hanabi… Sweet little Hanabi… Her precious little sister… Hinata started to cry as well as she slowly got back on her feet, and hugged Hanabi back with all her might.

"H-Hanabi…" she whispered, squeezing Hanabi's small frame as tightly as she could. "Hanabi!"

"I… I was so worried about you, Hinata!" Hanabi sobbed into her shoulder. "I was so worried!"

"D-Don't cry, Hanabi…" Hinata said, pulling away from the hug for a moment to gaze down at Hanabi's face and wipe away her tears with her finger. "You look prettier when you smile…"

"I can't! I'm so happy!" Hanabi wailed, crying harder than ever and she buried her face into Hinata's chest as she hugged her again. "I knew you'd come back! No one else believed harder than I did! I knew you'd come back!"

Hinata smiled as she rested her head atop her sister's smaller one. Hanabi. She had missed her so much. There was no one else on earth that could compare to her sister. She was childish and immature at times, but it was moments like this that made her so special. No matter how hard people might try, no one could be matched to Hanabi.

The sound of footsteps approaching made Hinata look up from embracing Hanabi, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Hitomi, Neji, and Tenten coming forward.

Hitomi's eyes were shining through her tears as she beheld the face of her eldest daughter, the daughter she had feared she might have lost in the past few months. Neji and Tenten lingered back as Hitomi gently cupped Hinata's cheek with her hand, simply looking Hinata right in the eye as she cried.

"Mother…" Hinata whispered, more tears clouding her vision as she studied the woman who had loved and raised her.

This simple word made Hitomi gasp through her tears, and less than a second later, Hanabi was forced to let go of Hinata in order to avoid being crushed by her mother as Hitomi pulled Hinata into a bone-crushing hug. Hinata initially gasped when she felt the strength of her mother's embrace, but seconds later she hugged her back just as tight. A mother's love was a precious thing, and to be hugged like this again by Hitomi meant the world to Hinata.

"Hinata! Oh, my precious girl!" Hitomi gushed, stroking her daughter's blue hair softly as she pulled away from the hug to look at her daughter's perfect face once again. "My little girl! I was so afraid we lost you, Darling!"

"Oh, Mother…!" Hinata murmured, burying her face into her shoulder. A mother's loving hug was something no one else could ever be able to replicate. To be held like this again by Hitomi was something indescribable. Hinata lightly sobbed as she hugged her mother tightly, and Hitomi smiled when she felt the tears stain the silk of her kimono. No matter what she may have seen or done in these past few months, her mother was here now to make everything better. A mother always knows best, after all.

Neji watched them for a moment with a content expression on his face, and then awkwardly cleared his throat. "Lady Hinata?" he called out.

Hinata turned. Upon seeing the expression on her dear cousin's face, she forced herself to break free of her mother's grasp and pulled Neji into a hug. Neji was startled for a moment by the fact that Hinata didn't even hesitate to hug him, but he overcame his shock quickly and hugged her back. He was so relieved that she was okay.

"Thank the gods you're all right," he said.

"N-Neji…" Hinata sobbed.

"I failed in my duty to protect you, Lady Hinata," he said sadly. "It is the duty of the branch family to protect the head family, in particular you because you're the clan heiress. I… I'm so sorry I didn't go after you when—"

He was cut off by Hinata squeezing him tighter.

"Don't say that, Neji," she said. "Everything… Everything t-turned out fine in the end. I'm just glad to be back…"

"Good to have you back, Cousin."

Hinata smiled at him as she pulled away from the hug, and then turned to face Tenten, who looked rather hesitant to step forward and greet her.

"Hinata… I am so happy you are okay," she said sadly. "I alone am at fault for you putting yourself in such a dangerous position. I love Neji, but if I had never married him, you would have been here, safe and sound, and he would have been the Hyuuga representative in the war! You have every right to hate me! I don't… I don't expect you to forgive me right away, but… but I want you to know, I will do everything in my power to earn your friendship again one day! So please, please try to—"

Just like with Neji, Tenten was cut off when Hinata suddenly rushed forward and hugged her just as she had hugged Hanabi, Hitomi, and Neji.

"There's n-nothing to forgive, Tenten," Hinata said with a smile. "You are not to blame for anything! It was my choice to go. I couldn't ask for a better cousin or friend than you. I… I'm just g-glad that you're still willing to welcome me home again."

"We're a family, Hinata! We will always be here for you!" Tenten said, surprised by her words.

"Yeah, Big Sis! We all love you!" Hanabi insisted, running up and hugging Hinata again the second her older sister let go of Tenten. "You're irreplaceable, especially to me! You're the only big sister I've got!"

Hinata smiled as she patted Hanabi's head. Hanabi's cheerful little smile was something she had sorely missed while she was away. She was the epitome of playfulness and enthusiasm, that much was certain.

But then the Hyuuga heiress realized just who was not joining in with the rest of her immediate family in welcoming her back, and she slowly looked back up. Hiashi, her father, had not moved at all despite the rest of the family all rushing forward to greet her. His expression was unreadable as he clutched his crutch tightly in hand, and stared on as her little sister, her mother, and her two cousins hugged her tightly and expressed their gratitude that she had returned to them safely.

Hinata's smile faded a bit. Of course her father was hesitant to greet her. She had shamed him and the rest of the clan the night she had left. Just because she was loved and appreciated by the rest of her family didn't mean a thing if Hiashi didn't do the same. He wasn't just her father. He was the head of the clan. His word was the only word that truly mattered in the grand scheme of things. If he rejected her and ordered her to walk back out the main gate, she wouldn't only lose the family that had just hugged and loved her, she would lose her home and position as heiress.

He was the one she had to ask forgiveness from for doing what she had done.

She had to present him with the gifts the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent had presented her with so that he knew that she had restored the honor she had lost during her failed matchmaking session with Lady Anko for their family and clan.

With a small, nervous gulp, Hinata calmly removed Hanabi's hands around her waist without breaking eye contact with her stoic father. Hanabi initially opened her mouth to ask Hinata why she didn't want to keep hugging anymore, but then she saw who it was that Hinata was looking at, and quickly closed her mouth again. Everyone in attendance knew that Hinata still had to speak to Hiashi.

It was only a short distance Hinata had to march to reach Hiashi, but it seemed like the longest, most nerve-wracking walk she had ever faced. She had thought that climbing the stone steps of the Imperial Palace to receive her judgment from the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent or facing Orochimaru in one-on-one combat had been the most intimidating moments in her life, but she knew now that she had been wrong. This alone had to be the most terrifying thing she had ever faced. One word from her father, and she might not only be forbidden to reenter the clan compound, she could be forbidden to ever speak to him, or the rest of her family again. Let the gods have mercy on her and at least grant her pity enough for her father to accept her gifts for the clan with a one worded answer. Even if Hiashi didn't love her anymore and stripped her of her birthright as the Hyuuga heiress, to just be given the privilege to still live here in the compound and be with him, her mother, sister, and cousins again would be more than she could ask for.

When she was at last face to face with Hiashi, Hinata was at a total loss for words for a few seconds, but then she finally remembered her manners and slowly bent down in a low bow.

"F-Father," she whispered. "I… I've returned…"

Hiashi was utterly silent as he appraised his eldest daughter, his face betraying nothing as to what he could possibly be thinking. Hinata was worried about what her father could be considering saying to her, so she quickly went on, determined to make sure he at least accepted her presents from the Four Kage's and the Lady Regent before he passed his judgment about whether or not she was allowed to stay a member of the clan.

"I've brought you the sword of Orochimaru, Kusanagi," she said, reaching down toward her waist for the hilt of her new sword. She nervously unsheathed it, and held it before her as she quickly bowed again. "And a medal from the F-Four Kage's and the Lady Regent!" she went on, quickly tearing the large gold medallion off her neck and showing it to Hiashi before pressing it and the blade of Kusanagi into his hands. "I… I hope you will find honor for the Hyuuga clan in these gifts…"

For a long moment, the silence stretched on, and although Hinata could not see Hiashi's face through the long dark curtain her hair provided around her head as she bowed, she worried that he might throw the blade and the medal down at her feet in absolute disgust. She would not blame him if he did. Had another male ninja in the clan like her cousin Neji presented her father with gifts like these, he would not hesitate to congratulate and declare him as a ninja that had made the clan proud during his time at war. The fact that she, a woman, had earned these gifts by pretending to be a man in order to be a ninja had to be one of the most shameful things that the clan had ever been subjected to.

But then, the sword and medal slipped right out of Hiashi's hands, and he suddenly engulfed Hinata in a loving hug.

Hinata completely froze up as she felt her body being squeezed tightly by her usually stoic father. She had trouble processing what was currently happening. Her father was hugging her. He was hugging her in front of the entire clan. In the past, he would once in a while smile to her, Hanabi, or Neji in front of other clan members, but he had never gone so far as to show this much open affection in front of the entire clan at one time. She had no idea what to think.

But then she heard her father speak, and all her attention was focused solely on him.

"These gifts," Hiashi said, "mean nothing to me compared to your safe return, Hinata."

A warm smile spread across Hinata's face upon hearing these words, and she couldn't stop herself from throwing her arms around her father's neck and burying her face into his shoulder as happy tears sprung forth from her eyes.

"F-Father! I've… I've missed you!"

"I as well, Hinata," said Hiashi, hugging her even tighter. "I have missed you as well…"

Seconds later, the rest of their immediate family all rushed forward to hug the two of them together, and the rest of clan, main branch members and side branch members alike, erupted into thunderous clapping and cheering. Hinata might not have been the perfect heiress they had always wanted her to be, but she had not only brought great honor to their clan the likes of which had never been matched before, she had also survived the war. That was a feat that many of them had believed to be all but impossible for the gentle girl. She was going to go on to be the greatest leader of their clan one day after her father retired, that much was certain.

Hinata wept for joy as the five most precious people in her life embraced her together.

She never knew it was possible for her to be so happy.

She still had a place in their hearts.

They still loved her even though she had shamed them by running away.

She was still a part of the family.

Nothing could spoil this wonderful moment for her.

Absolutely nothing.

Except—

"Lady Hinata. You have returned at last."

Hinata broke away from the hugs that her family was giving her to turn around. The two clan elders that had always made her life a living hell in the past as she struggled to be a good heiress for both her father and the clan as a whole were stepping forth from the crowd, and the rest of the Hyuuga council was trailing after them. For a fearful moment, Hinata completely tensed up. Knowing that her father was still welcoming to her was one thing, but pleasing the Hyuuga elders was an entirely different matter. How exactly was she supposed to explain her actions to them?

Knowing that every second counted when it came to dealing with the elders, Hinata forced herself to politely bow before them. "Lord Elders, Lady Elders…" she said respectfully, feeling thankful of the fact that she managed to keep herself from stuttering as she addressed them.

The elders all blinked with surprise when they too realized that Hinata wasn't stuttering, and that was concerning to them. In the past, they always knew that they had the upper hand on Hinata because they could tell that they made her extremely nervous whenever she stuttered. It was clear that she was somewhat nervous to be standing before all of them now, but they weren't sure as to how tense she was because her words were stutter-free. If they wanted to maintain the dominant role that they had established over the years with the clan heiress, they needed to work fast. And by work fast, that meant getting straight to business with the deal they had struck with Hiashi prior to Hinata's return.

"Lady Hinata, there is much to be discussed," said Lady Haruka, her voice taking on a no-nonsense tone that said her words were not up for debate. "Follow us, please."

The other elders nodded at once at her words, but Hinata was puzzled as to what she wanted. Before she could open her mouth and ask what she meant by that, Hiashi's eyes narrowed in suppressed anger.

"Lady Haruka, Hinata has only just returned," he said firmly, his voice rather challenging. "There is plenty of time for her to relay her… adventure to everyone at a later date. Right now, I am sure that she would rather rest and spend time with me and the rest of our family."

Hinata felt Hitomi's hand on her shoulder tighten and Hanabi hugging her fearfully as they both glanced nervously at the clan elders, and even Neji and Tenten were doing their best to shield her from their view. Something very big was obviously happening concerning the elders, but she was in the dark, and judging by the confused murmuring being exchanged by the other clansmen that were watching from the sidelines, they were too. What was going on?

"Father? Is… Is everything all right?" she questioned.

Hiashi stiffened. How was he supposed to explain to his eldest daughter that she had to face a clan hearing from the elders because of her decision to take his place in the war? He knew the elders wanted this done as soon as possible, but he hadn't expected that they would try to put her on trial the very instant she walked through the gate. She deserved at least one night of relaxation as she made up for lost time with him and the rest of the family before the elders attacked her and tried to finally strip her of her birthright.

"It's nothing, Hinata. Nothing that can't be postponed until tomorrow, at the very least," said Hiashi pointedly, his stern eyes fixated solely on the elders as he spoke.

Lord Hakuto's eyes narrowed. "Lord Hiashi, such matters cannot be postponed for even a moment. Everyone on the council wants to know just what Lady Hinata has done during her time away. She must come with us immediately. She needs to answer to the council."

"Now see here!" snapped Lady Hitomi, now stepping forward to stand beside her husband. "The Hyuuga ancestors have smiled down upon my family by guiding my eldest child back home again! I insist that Hinata be given at least one night's rest before all of you demand details from her!"

Lady Haruka fought to keep her tone civil. "Lady Hitomi, we understand that this is an emotional moment for everyone, but we on the council need to know exactly what she has said and done during her… adventure as Lord Hiashi so kindly put it. We need to begin her hearing immediately."

"A h-hearing? I… I'm to be put on trial?"

All heads immediately turned toward Hinata. She had definitely been surprised to learn about this tidbit of information, as her stutter had momentarily returned. Hinata was staring at the council members with wide eyes. She had anticipated that the clan elders wouldn't exactly be pleased with her endeavor to masquerade as a boy in the war so as to save her father's life, but she had always assumed during her months away that she would either be welcomed back into the compound with open arms from her family and the rest of the clan the second she arrived, or immediately be thrown back out of the gates with nothing but the clothes on her back and her title of clan heiress stripped away. She never anticipated that they would want to hear her story first before passing their judgment.

Hiashi stiffened. If Hinata didn't know her father as well as she did, she wouldn't have been able to pick up the very subtle hints that he was now rather uncomfortable after she had voiced her question, but she didn't get a chance to say anything to him, as Lord Hakuto was now speaking.

"That is correct, Lady Hinata. Your father convinced us that we ought to hear your story first before we make a decision as to what should be done about you. The rest of the country might be worshipping you now, but you are still a member of this clan, not to mention the clan heiress. We have the ultimate power to decide whether or not you have brought honor to the family."

Hinata understood the underlying message he was telling her all too well. The fact that they wanted to put her on trial was simply a formality before they could go ahead with the already pre-decided verdict to brand her with the caged bird seal of the branch family and strip her of her rank of the clan heiress. It would be a miracle to be able to get through this meeting with the clan elders without being punished at all after telling them her story, but she would not make the same mistake she had made so many times in the past whenever she dealt with them. She would not show them that she was afraid. She was still her father's first-born daughter, and still technically the next leader of this family until the conclusion of this meeting they wanted with her. She would attend this clan hearing with her head held high.

"Very well. I understand," she told the elders, feeling rather proud of herself for not stuttering at all. "I will attend this trial. I only have one request before it begins."

"Oh?" said Lady Haruka, she and the rest of the elders looking rather intrigued at the fact that she was not protesting to being forced to go to her trial without any prior warning. "And what would that be?"

Hinata smiled. "I know that… that clan trials generally take place in the council chambers, but I am sure that the rest of the clan wants to hear my story as well. I would prefer to have the hearing take place in the Great Hall so that they can listen in, b-because it is the only room in the compound that is large enough to host everyone easily."

Everyone had to blink twice at Hinata's request. In the many times in the past whenever a member of the Hyuuga clan was put on trial by the clan elders, never once had the accused requested that the hearing was to take place in another location other than in the council chambers, and for no other reason than to allow everyone in the compound to watch and hear the proceedings.

The elders in particular were outraged by the audacity of Hinata's request, but they were masters at concealing their true emotions.

"Lady Hinata," said Lady Haruka, her face fixed in a rather tight expression. "That sort of thing has never happened before in the history of the Hyuuga clan. Having other clan members present while you tell your story is completely unheard of. We shall have your trial in the clan council chambers, as it has always been done in the past."

Lady Haruka's words held a no-room-for-discussion manner to them, but Hinata was not at all deterred. She was not going to be pushed around by the elders of this clan any longer — not when it came to such trivial matters like this.

Hinata's eyes hardened with inner strength she had never possessed before running away to join the war effort. "The hearing," she said, sounding firmer than anyone there had ever heard her to be before and it took them all aback, "will take place in the Great Hall. Or else there will be no hearing at all."

Lord Hakuto's eyes went wide. "Lady Hinata! You dare to speak that way to—"

"I believe that I am being quite reasonable with my request, Lord Elder," Hinata went on, her voice still very strong. "I… I will agree to attend this trial that you have decided upon, but I wish to tell my tale to everyone. If you d-don't… If you don't like it, then simply sentence me now and be done with it. I am not ashamed."

Hinata's family was staring at her in amazement, knowing in the past that it would have been a miracle for the shy girl to ever manage to speak that way in general to anyone, let alone the clan elders. She spoke with minimum stuttering and pausing between words, and with such resolve to her voice that had never been heard from the clan heiress before. She was definitely a changed woman from her time at war.

Lord Hakuto was furious upon also realizing this fact, but he kept his temper in check. There was plenty of time to punish Hinata for her newfound attitude after the trial. Her punishment had already been decided upon for shaming the clan as she had. She was already going to be stripped of her rank as clan heiress and banished from the compound. She would get what she deserved in due time.

"Very well then," he said through gritted teeth. "Just please return to your room and change into something more appropriate and we will—"

"There is no point," Hinata interrupted. "You're already putting me on trial for pretending to be my f-father's nonexistent son in the army. The fact that I am wearing his flak jacket and my cousin Neji's ninja clothes right now rather than a nice kimono makes no difference, considering it's part of what this trial is even about."

Lady Haruka looked as though she was mortified by this statement, but Lord Hakuto appeared to grow even angrier. What had happened to the shy girl that they knew in the past? This Hinata was so very different from the Hinata that they had easily intimidated as she grew up, trying to force her into being the perfect heiress for the clan. Talking down to her during the proceedings for the hearing was apparently going to be more difficult than they had originally thought.

"If you insist, Lady Hinata," said Lord Hakuto, his eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"Follow us then, if you please," said Lady Haruka, vaguely waving her hand toward Hinata for her to follow them back inside the compound.

As a young branch man stepped aside to lead Rin toward the clan stables to unsaddle him and put him back in his old stall, Hinata walked with her head held high after the clan elders, followed closely behind by her family and the rest of the clan. She was scared of what may happen next, but she was determined to tell her story to everyone in the Hyuuga clan no matter what happened to her. Regardless of what the elders thought of her, she still had the love of her family at the end of the day, and that was all that really mattered to her in the end.

Even if the elders threw her out of the compound before the day was over and took away her birthright of clan heiress, they couldn't take away the fact that the rest of the country loved her for her bravery and dubbed her as a hero.

She was more than just 'Hinata, the Disgraced Hyuuga Heiress,' now.

She was 'Hinata, the Heroine of Japan.'

She was the world's first female ninja, a kunoichi.

She was about to enter a whole new battlefield with a different kind of enemy.

And she was going to fight as hard as she could to stay a part of her family.

---

As soon as everyone from both sides of the clan were gathered in the Great Hall and had found places to sit down, Hinata stepped into the exact center of the room while facing the many elders seated in high chairs looking down their noses at her and began her tale.

She started it right from the very beginning, explaining all about how she had been so scared for her father when the draft notice was sent out and he had refused to send Neji or another ninja in the clan, and had insisted on going himself. She told them all that her decision to go in his stead had literally simply been a wild idea that had popped into her head while crying outside in the pouring rain after the argument between her and the rest of her immediate family at dinner that night, and she had upped and left before she could even think of talking herself out of the it.

Explaining to everyone why she left was easy.

It was explaining everything that happened next that was hard, especially when it came time to talk about the two friends she had made before arriving at the ninja training camp.

"What do you mean, you had a Hyuuga guardian watching over you?" questioned one of the elders curiously as she stumbled through her explanation of her nine-tailed fox guardian and the tiny rabbit spirit that had met her on the way to the campgrounds. "The clan guardian statues supposedly coming to life are thought to be nothing more than a myth."

"And what of this rabbit spirit?" asked another council member. "I was under the impression that that little creature that was summoned from the family shrine for you on the day of your appointment with Lady Anko belonged to Lady Hanabi."

Hinata bit her lower lip. It wasn't that she was ashamed of her two animal companions that had been by her side throughout the entire course of the war. Far from it, actually! Kurama and little Usagi had saved her life numerous times, especially during her fight with Orochimaru at the palace! No, it wasn't that she was embarrassed by them that made her reluctant to reveal their part in the story to her family, who were listening intently off to the side, and the rest of the clan.

It was the fact that she was certain that everyone in attendance, particularly the clan elders, were going to assume that she was insane in the head for believing that two little spirits had been watching over her from day one of her life changing journey.

"I… I'm not quite sure what you expect me to say," she finally said after a short pause. "Like I said, I had stopped to take a break by a r-river while on my way to the training camp, and while I was there they appeared before me. Hanabi named the little rabbit spirit Usagi back when she first summoned her from the ancestral tablets, so I just used that name for the bunny throughout the entire war. I don't think the little rabbit actually minded… Kurama however was the orange fox with the many tails, and he already had his name when I met him. He was a little rude at t-times and short-tempered, but he introduced himself as one of the Hyuuga clan guardians from the family shrine, and that… and that the Hyuuga ancestors sent him to protect me and help keep my true gender a secret from everyone in the army during the course of the war."

There was a long pause in the tale as low murmurs filled the Great Hall. The quiet onlookers to the trial had been unable to keep silent after hearing this, and they whispered curiously amongst themselves. It had been many years since a member of the Hyuuga clan had claimed that one of the ancient guardian statues had come to life and guided them throughout their journey. In fact, out of the notable times that it happened, those Hyuugas were said to have gone down in history as great legendary heroes in the clan. While it was true that Hinata Hyuuga would definitely be going down in history due to her involvement in the war, they still had yet to find out if her being the world's first female ninja was an honor to all of them in the clan, or simply a disgrace.

While the idea of the little rabbit spirit tagging along for the ride didn't rouse that much concern, the elders didn't want to believe that Hinata could have been blessed with a guardian spirit by the Hyuuga ancestors during her journey. She was the failure of the family. She was supposed to tell her ridiculous story and then they would easily throw her out of the compound. It was supposed to have been so simple, but this little tidbit of information was… 'unbelievable' would have to be the right word.

The best course of action was to simply act as though this was a sign that Hinata wasn't exactly in her right mind after everything that had occurred.

"Oh, yes, of course!" said Lady Haruka with obvious exaggeration and a rude eye roll. "A great Hyuuga guardian spirit! The ancestors considered Lady Hinata someone who would go down in history! We should all be praising her for her so-called great guardian!"

A number of the elders and even some members of the main branch of the clan had to choke back rather obvious laughs from hearing Lady Haruka's words.

Hinata's cheeks flared red hot in humiliation and anger. How dare Lady Haruka mock Kurama in this fashion! He might not always be a kind fox, but he was her friend, teacher, and had literally been the only creature that was on her side and that she could actually hold a conversation with during her first few months at the ninja training camp! And she most certainly did not imagine him up!

"Hey! You old bat! Are you calling my big sister insane?!" shouted Hanabi, jumping to her feet from her seat at the small table where she, her parents, and her two cousins were watching everything from off to the side. "Hinata's not crazy! She's perfect! And you're nothing short of a—"

"Hanabi! Enough!" interrupted Hitomi as she too stood up and grabbed hold of the small girl's shoulder. "Sit down at once!"

"But Mother! That mean woman was insulting Hinata!"

"Hanabi. Listen to your mother. Sit down now."

Hiashi shot his youngest daughter a cross look as he spoke, silently warning her of the inevitable punishment that would follow after the hearing was over should she not listen to what he and Hitomi were telling her. Hanabi was miffed at the order, but nonetheless begrudgingly sat back down again. As soon as she was seated once more in her chair, Hiashi turned toward the members of the high council.

"If you are insinuating something about Hinata's mentality, Lady Haruka, I highly advise you to remember that she is still the heiress to this clan and my eldest child," he said sternly.

"Lord Hiashi, you cannot deny that what Lady Hinata is telling all of us is very farfetched," argued Lord Hakuto. "You mustn't blame Lady Haruka — or any of us for that matter — for not believing what she says. Logically, the Hyuuga clan guardian statues coming to life and guiding particular members of the clan is simply a fairy tale! And besides, even if Lady Hinata is telling the truth, where are these so-called spirits right now? There was no trace of them when she entered the compound."

"I'll prove it to you, then."

Everyone turned back to Hinata. She was staring intently at Lord Hakuto and the rest of the elders. There was no trace of anger in her face. Just plain determination. Determination to prove to everyone that she wasn't insane.

Lady Haruka blinked at her words. "Prove it? How exactly can you do that? Like Lord Hakuto just stated, we see no sign at all of a fox guardian or a small rabbit spirit."

"They both r-ran ahead of me into the compound in order to return to the family shrine," Hinata explained. "They needed to go and speak with the Hyuuga ancestors spirits. As soon as I've finished telling all of you my story, I will go and fetch them."

Lord Hakuto scoffed. "What, you can't fetch them now?" he chuckled.

Hinata's hands clenched up into tight, shaking fists. They were assuming that she was slow in the head because she couldn't make Kurama and Usagi appear out of thin air. It wasn't her fault that they had to go and speak to the ancestral ghosts of the clan immediately upon arriving at the estate.

"L-Like I just said, Lord Hakuto," she said bravely. "Kurama and Usagi are both currently engaged in their own meeting with their superiors. I will go and see if they have concluded with their m-meeting after I've told all of you my whole story. May I continue now, please?"

The elders were furious at Hinata for refusing to go and fetch her 'friends' right away for all of them to see with their own eyes, but they nonetheless nodded and motioned for her to go on.

And so Hinata did. She went on to tell them all about her first few hours upon arriving in the training camp, and because the elders demanded details when she tried to just give the basic facts about the fight, she was forced to fully explain how Kurama's loud mouth ended up landing her — or rather, 'Hiro' Hyuuga — in the middle of a fight between Kiba, Choji, Lee, Shino, and Kankuro and consequently on the bad side of Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and Shikamaru. She was also forced to describe how at the very beginning of training, she was basically bullied by all of them twenty-four seven, even more so when it was discovered that she initially had no skills as a ninja warrior and was considered to be all but a joke in terms of jutsus or fighting, especially since 'Hiro' was the heir of the so-called Hyuuga clan.

The elders didn't bother hiding the fact that they were pissed with her upon hearing this. With the exception of Lee, who was simply a civilian-born ninja and had no real weight in the terms of ninja clan hierarchy, everyone else on the list of names Hinata had presented them with were either the heirs to their clans or superior ninjas in their clans, and Kankuro was the eldest son of the Kazekage! The fact that Hinata had managed to get on the bad side of all of them was bad news for the clan. It meant that they could persuade the leaders of their clans to stop associating with the Hyuuga clan simply because of how Hinata had poorly represented the entire clan as a whole during the course of the war. And because she was representing the clan in the war, her lack of skills meant that the other clans might start to consider them weaker than theirs. It wasn't exactly surprising that she had had a rough start learning everything at camp in the beginning, considering that she was a woman and had never trained alongside the other ninjas of the clan in the art of the Gentle Fist, but that didn't matter to the elders. It was just another reason in their eyes to think poorly of her.

Had she heard such things being said about her from the clan elders many months ago before all of this had happened, Hinata probably would have felt sad that the elders were only concerned about how her actions reflected the clan as a whole rather than being concerned about her since she basically had no friends at the beginning of training. But now, she mainly felt irritated upon hearing this. How she felt upon being ostracized by everyone in camp while struggling to learn the skills that they were supposed to be learning at during training in her first few weeks there weren't even being taken into account in the elders' eyes. She as a person did not matter to these people. All they cared about was the outlook of the whole clan.

Still though, she didn't lose heart. She explained how during the day she learned about basic ninja skills needed while out on the battlefield with the rest of the troops and that every morning they tried the daily exercise of attempting to retrieve Captain Naruto's special kunai from the top of the large pine pole. Then she described how at night, Kurama gave her nightly lessons on how to perform the clan's unique taijutsu style of the Gentle Fist, and even taught her how to perform the secret fighting techniques that could only be used by ninjas that possessed the Byakugan.

This time, no one in the clan bothered trying to hide their disbelief at her words.

Obnoxious laughter echoed throughout the Great Hall.

"Lady Hinata, we are sure you did the best you could while acting as a ninja in the army, but lying to us in unacceptable," stated Lord Hakuto over the deafening howls of amusement. "You have had no instruction from anyone in the clan on how to perform any technique with the Gentle Fist. It is impossible for you to do it."

Hinata was now thoroughly insulted.

"I… I'm not making this up!" she insisted. "Kurama… Kurama and Usagi are both real, and my fox guardian did teach me how to use the Gentle Fist! He t-taught me the basics on how to do the taijutsu, and he even showed me the advanced fighting jutsus that were developed with it!"

"Is that so?" said Lady Haruka, raising a skeptical brow at the young heiress. "Are you honestly telling us that you can do the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms, the Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm, and the Rotation?"

Hinata bit her lower lip. The elders weren't going to like her answer, no matter how she presented it to them.

"Well… not exactly…"

"Well, what exactly do you mean?"

The quiet girl involuntarily flinched. "I… I can do the Sixty Four Palms up to the Thirty Two Palms at the moment, Kurama n-never taught me how to do the Vacuum Palm, and because I had trouble performing the Rotation… I kind of changed it…"

Shocked silence ensued throughout the room.

"You… You did what with the Rotation?" said Lord Hakuto, seething with rage.

"I had trouble learning it, so I figured I would redesign the technique to make it work better for me. I invented a whole new technique. The Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms. It… It w-works as both a defensive and offensive technique since I'm very flexible, and because I learned early on to have precise control over my chakra, I was able to channel it to form sharp, flexible blades with my hands. I use them by quickly moving my arms around m-me in a circular motion as fast as I can. They protect me and also cut up anything or anyone that happens to be in the nearby vicinity…"

"You redesigned the Rotation?" reiterated Lady Haruka.

"I just… I just needed a way to be able to protect myself since I couldn't do the Rotation. And it's not the only jutsu I invented while I was away…"

"What?!"

"The idea for the other technique w-wasn't based on any other jutsu in our clan. It was just an idea that popped into my head and I thought it would help me. And it did! I call it the Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists."

"Twin Lion Fists?!" growled Lord Hakuto.

"I realized early on that I didn't have much p-power behind my hand thrusts whenever I tried to spar with… with the Gentle Fist, so I thought, 'Why not use my chakra to strengthen my attacks, but also try to drain my opponents chakra, too?' Basically, I change the shape of my chakra when I expel it from my hands, so instead of h-having it glow dully with my normal light blue chakra, I warp it to form that of two light blue, lion-shaped shrouds. They're quite destructive, and it has to be morphed in a precise way with an exact amount of chakra, otherwise they don't work at all."

There was a long pause after she was done explaining as the elders all shared unreadable looks.

"Lady Hinata," said another elder. "You knowingly tampered with one of our clan's most effective jutsus, and admitted to creating another one without the consent of us, the elders. Do you have anything to say for yourself upon this particular transgression?"

Hinata blinked. "Transgression?" she repeated. "What transgression? All I did was find a way to make sure I stayed alive while out on the battlefield. You cannot blame me for doing what I had to do in order to preserve my life."

"But Lady Hinata—"

"Would you like me to continue my story, or should I first give you a demonstration of my two original techniques?"

The elders were taken aback by Hinata's directness in her question, but then brushed it aside so as to whisper amongst themselves for a moment. Finally, they turned back to her.

"Your story can wait a moment. Please demonstrate these techniques now."

Hinata nodded, and then made the traditional hand sign to activate her bloodline limit.

"Byakugan!"

The veins around her eyes bulged outward, and everyone in the clan watched in anticipation as their heiress brought her hands together to form the ram hand sign. There was a brief pause as Hinata gathered her confidence, but then a determined look spread across her face.

"Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!"

Everyone from both sides of the clan gasped in awe when they saw Hinata's arms start spinning around her body at an almost unseen speed in the usual circular sphere as the thin, razor sharp blades of chakra emerged from the palms of her hands, creating the impenetrable shield. People were amazed. It was undoubtedly different from the Rotation, but it nonetheless looked very unique. Hinata had invented this? It was so… intriguing.

The elders didn't quite know what to make of this technique. They didn't like the fact that Hinata had redesigned the Rotation, but judging from the reactions of the rest of their fellow clansmen in the room, they were amazed by her original jutsu. The best way to put a stop to this was to prove to all of them that her jutsu was not as good as the one it was based off of.

"You there," called out Lord Hakuto to a ninja of the branch side clan, who jumped slightly upon being addressed out of the blue. "Throw some shuriken at Lady Hinata now. We must test this technique."

The branch man slowly nodded, and reached into his weapons pouch on his leg to pull out a number of small shuriken stars. He tossed them expertly at Hinata without a single word, obeying the instruction. Everyone expected the shurikens to be either blocked or to be able to penetrate the shield and lightly scratch the clan heiress, but neither of those things happened.

The shuriken stars were all sliced in half.

They hadn't been deflected or smashed.

They had all been sliced right down the middle.

The many bits of steel fell harmlessly to the wood paneled floor with small clinks, but Hinata was completely unharmed. She ended the jutsu without a single word, and then collected the pieces of the broken shurikens off the floor before approaching the branch ninja.

"I am sorry about your shuriken stars. I will p-pay to have them replaced," she told him kindly.

The branch man nodded with wide eyes as he slowly retrieved the bits of scrap metal from Hinata. He stared at the pieces for several seconds before politely stepping back to where he had been standing before Lord Hakuto had ordered him to test her jutsu.

Hinata smiled kindly at the branch member one last time, and then moved back to the center of the room to face the elders once again.

"Would you like me to demonstrate my other jutsu now?" she asked politely.

The elders stared at her for several moments in complete silence. They were still blown away by the fact that Hinata's chakra blades in the jutsu were powerful enough to cut steel in half without causing her to even break a sweat. Finally, Lady Haruka nodded.

"Yes, activate this other jutsu of yours."

Hinata nodded. She wordlessly concentrated her chakra into the palms of her hands once again, and felt the familiar rush of warmth in her hands as the chakra was expelled outwardly to form the great lion-shaped blue shrouds of her other original technique.

"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists."

Ninjas in the clan immediately activated their bloodline limit to see this technique in greater detail. The way Hinata was making her chakra flow outward from her hands was astonishing. None of them doubted for a second that being struck with a traditional palm strike or even a punch to the jaw while that jutsu was in effect would cause serious damage.

Hanabi was staring in wonder as she watched her big sister perform this technique. Her other jutsu that was supposed to be a variant of the infamous Rotation was cool, but this other original one looked so beautiful to her eyes. She wanted to learn it!

"Mother! Father! Can Hinata teach me how to do her new jutsus?" she asked without thinking.

The elders heads immediately snapped around to glare at Hanabi, furious at the idea that the girl that they preferred to have as the next leader of the clan wanted to follow in her older sister's disgraceful footsteps, but before any of them could say anything to the small girl, Hiashi quickly spoke up.

"That will be a discussion for another time, Hanabi. Right now, your sister still needs to finish telling us her story."

The head of the clan's words made the elders begrudgingly nod in agreement, and they signaled for Hinata to cancel her jutsu and the use of her Byakugan and continue with her tale.

Hinata explained how after about two weeks in the training camp, that one night out of the blue, Naruto approached her and told her to go back home and send Neji in her place because he didn't want to see an innocent 'man' die. Before the elders could interrupt her again and demand to know why she didn't come home like she had been ordered to do by her commanding officer, she quickly explained her wild idea of wanting to be able to prove herself to everyone at camp who thought that 'Hiro' was a joke by being the first person to climb to the top of the pine pole using only the chakra in her feet to retrieve Naruto's special kunai.

Everyone listened intently as she told them how she spent the entire night popping soldier pill after soldier pill to keep replenishing her chakra reserves as she ran higher and higher up the pole. They were especially interested in how the rest of the men in the camp were amazed by her dedication when they found her still trying to be the one to get it when they awoke at daybreak the next morning. Her audience was then shocked when they learned how Hinata, being fatigued from sleep deprivation, physically spent from low chakra, and simply fed up with how the men in camp treated her on a daily basis, had all but yelled at her fellow shinobi to not intervene when they realized that she had been trying to get the kunai all night long.

The elders in particular were ready to blow a gasket when they heard about how she had attacked one of them in particular when he tried to stop her.

"You punched the heir to the Aburame clan?!" shouted Lady Haruka in horror.

"I was stressed and not in my right mind at the time, I'll admit," Hinata argued. "I was facing the probability of being sent home in d-disgrace, and I was also angry that he and the others were all of the sudden showing concern for my well being when they had all been cruel to me since the day I arrived. I shouldn't have done it, but Shino nonetheless forgave me later on. He, Kiba, Choji, Lee, and Kankuro all ended up being astounded by the fact that I did manage to get the kunai at the end, as was Naruto and the other army leaders. We all became friends not too long after that incident."

"Still, we will have to send out a formal apology to the clans of those men, especially to the Aburame clan and Lord Kazekage in the Imperial City, considering that Kankuro is his eldest son," noted Lord Hakuto.

The other elders murmured words of agreement to his words, but Hinata was now really annoyed. The fact that her friends forgave her for that incident wasn't even being taken into account, and they didn't even seem to care at all that she had been the first ninja at the training camp to pass Naruto's test and retrieve his kunai at the top of the tall pine pole.

She ignored her feelings and continued her story. There was no point in telling everyone about the humiliating bath incident in the lake that she had endured when her friends walked in on her and decided to strip naked, too. Some things were better left unsaid. And there was no way in hell that she was going to reveal the private conversation between herself and Naruto when he told her about how he was treated by the general public now that it had been accidentally revealed that he and his mother Kushina were related to the Uzumaki clan. That was not her story to share with everyone. She skimmed over these details by simply saying that she eventually built up friendships with her small group of friends as well as Naruto and the other troop leaders, and that they eventually learned that their platoon was summoned to the front lines of the war in the Land of Iron.

Breezing over the details of the embarrassment she had endured from her fellow shinobi when they talked about the female race during the march up to the front lines was easy, but when she reached the part in her story about discovering the destroyed village, everyone in the clan, not just the elders, wanted to hear details. This was especially hard for Hinata, reliving the events that had occurred in the ruined village. She felt no shame at all when she started tearing up as she explained how she found the body of the little girl inside the shambles of what was once a house, omitting the part about discovering the dried blood on her thighs. There were children present, after all, Hanabi being a prime example. Everyone had the courtesy not to interrupt her when she gave details about finding the corpses in the snow of what was once the main division of the Allied Shinobi Forces, in particular the body of their acquaintance Lord Inoichi Yamanaka, and she even mentioned the funeral fire that had been constructed for all of the dead bodies. The elders had no comments at all when she admitted to bringing the bodies of Lord Inoichi and the little girl to the fire herself to lay them to rest, or of how she placed the little doll in the snow in the position of the memoirs Naruto had left for his late father and godfather. It was a good deed she had done, and even they could not find fault in her actions in the destroyed village.

Moving on to the battle in the snowy mountains, Hinata kept everyone on the edge of their seats as she described how she and the other men in the platoon fought hard against the Sound ninjas that had orchestrated the sneak attack. They were all amazed at how she described the fight, but jaws dropped all over the room when she went on to tell all of them about how she came up with the split second, crazy idea to set off an avalanche with an explosive tag to wipe out all the shinobi in the invading army. She even included in her tale that she had come face-to-face with Orochimaru for a few moments after she threw the kunai, and briefly mentioned the sword slash to the abdomen she had endured when he got pissed with her upon realizing what she had done to kill all the men in his army.

"You were injured?!" interrupted Hitomi, sounding horrified at the notion.

The elders shot the Hyuuga matriarch an annoyed look for interrupting the proceedings, but Hinata blushed and nodded.

"Y-Yes, Mother. The… The brunt of the attack was absorbed by Father's flak jacket and chainmail, but I was a little hurt in the end…"

"Are you all right?! Are you in pain right now?! Do you need to sit down?!"

"Lady Hitomi, please calm down. Lady Hinata appears to be fine," stated Lady Haruka exasperatedly. "In any event, we still need to continue with the—"

"I shall worry about my eldest daughter whenever I please!" snapped Hitomi, instantly silencing the irritable older woman. Within seconds, Hinata's mother had risen right out of her chair, and had crossed the room to engulf her indigo-haired daughter in a tight hug.

"My sweet girl! We all could have lost you and we wouldn't have even known it!"

"I'm okay, Mother, really," Hinata insisted. "I'm better now, I swear! No pain at all!"

"Thank goodness!"

"May we continue now, Lady Hitomi?" demanded Lord Hakuto. "As Lady Haruka was just saying, there is still much to discuss."

The Hyuuga matriarch shot a cold glare at the elder, but then turned to pat Hinata fondly on the cheek before turning around and returning to her seat beside the rest of her family.

Hinata was embarrassed to admit to everyone that her idea of setting off the raging avalanche caused her own friends in the army a great deal of stress when they realized that they too were in the way of the unstoppable storm of snow, but she nonetheless told them all about how they were forced to take shelter behind some tall rocks while she rode out the waves of ice and snow atop of Rin, and ended up saving Naruto's life in the process when he got swept away in the snowy vortex. Murmurs of surprise filled the room from various people when they learned this. The Hyuuga heiress had saved the life of the Namikaze heir and Captain of the Allied Shinobi Forces. It was an astonishing revelation.

It was at this point in the story that Hinata was forced to reveal to everyone that she had blacked out from the pain of her injury to her stomach, and when she came to around dawn the next day, the medic-nin in the platoon that had tended to her while she was unconscious had discovered the truth about her real gender, and had informed the leaders in the squad.

Cries of horror and outrage erupted from the elders.

"God damn it! I should have known it was too good to last!"

"We've been shamed! Our clan has been disgraced!"

"We'll be stripped of our ranks in nobility! The entire country will shun us!"

"Silence!"

A deafening silence resounded in the Great Hall as all heads turned toward Hiashi. He was glaring coldly at the elders, warning them not to say another word if they knew what was good for them. The elders begrudgingly stayed silent. They did not wish to anger the head of the clan any further.

As soon as Hiashi was positive that none of them would continue to act hysterical, he turned to face his eldest daughter again. "Please go on, Hinata. What happened after everyone found out the truth?" he asked.

"W-Well, the camp inspector Ebisu… he really wanted Naruto to invoke the death penalty. Everyone thought he would do it, even me… But Naruto dropped the k-kunai at the last moment…"

Everyone stared at the clan princess, not believing their own ears.

"Say that again?"

"Naruto… he said that because I saved his life, his debt to me was repaid. He simply ordered everyone to move out and they left me up there in the mountains…"

"They spared you?"

"Yes. They… They all just l-left me there… I stayed there in the snow until late afternoon, talking and crying with Kurama and Usagi, but by the time I found the will to get up and come back home again, I saw Orochimaru and his leading Generals. S-Somehow they all survived the avalanche, and they were marching down the mountain to the Imperial City, so… so I got back on Rin and rode after them…"

Lord Hakuto stared at her in disbelief. "You risked being executed by the leaders in the Imperial City should they discover that you impersonated a Hyuuga male ninja just to follow the invaders?"

"I was the only person in the entire country that knew they were all still alive! I couldn't just stand by and do nothing! I had to warn Naruto and the rest of troops in the platoon that they hadn't died and were going after the Kage's and the Honorable Families!" Hinata insisted.

More murmurs filled the room as everyone expressed their disbelief. Hinata had risked being either beheaded or hanged by going to the Imperial City as she did just to warn the men in the Allied Shinobi Forces that Orochimaru and his leading Generals were still alive. She had been undoubtedly fearless and brave.

Hinata eventually continued on, telling everyone in attendance of how her warning had been ignored by Naruto and the rest of the troops, and how she was forced to leave Rin behind at the city stables to travel through the city on foot to try and find someone else to help her in her endeavor to stop the snake traitor and the last members of the Sound army. Everyone was dismayed when she admitted that she couldn't find help in time before Orochimaru and his men attacked, and they took the Four Kage's, the Lady Regent, the Honorable Families, and the Lady Regent's bodyguards hostage. As the rest of the men in the Allied Shinobi Forces panicked and tried to get inside the palace using brute force, which was getting them nowhere at all, Hinata explained how she came up with a rather unorthodox plan to save the royals, and managed to get her friends and most of the platoon leaders to agree to help her out with it.

Her plan had worked in the end to the astonishment of everyone listening. The Honorable Families had been safely escorted out of the palace while the Four Kage's and the Mizukage Regent were immediately rescued by her fellow shinobi comrades, and in the meantime, she had tried to help Naruto stop Orochimaru. When Naruto had failed and Orochimaru realized that she was the one who had set off the avalanche that had killed all the men in his army, he had chased her through the palace with the intent of slicing her head right off her shoulders with his sword Kusanagi.

Everyone was on the edge of their seats at this point, especially when Hinata surprised them all once again as she explained how Usagi had somehow been able to make herself large for a few minutes and had consequently saved her life.

"Thank you so much for presenting her to me, Hanabi," Hinata said kindly as she paused in her tale to smile at her sweet little sister. "You were right all those months ago w-when you gave her to me. Rabbit spirits are very lucky! If it weren't for little Usagi, I wouldn't be standing here today. So thank you…"

Hanabi beamed happily when she heard this. The small girl had spent ages in the Hyuuga family shrine that fateful day of Hinata's appointment with Lady Anko to try and summon a little spirit. She had been ready to give up so many times that morning when her efforts brought forth no results, but her patience and love for her big sister had paid off in the end when she had at last persuaded the little bunny to come out of her ancestral tablet. She was happy to hear that the little rabbit spirit she had summoned for Hinata had protected her big sister while she fought against the evil snake traitor.

Hinata then went on to explain that she had been forced to try and get away from Orochimaru by climbing out of the blown out wall and onto the fallen pillar, where she had tried to jump upwards to the rooftop. She described how, to her great dismay, Orochimaru followed her up there, and how she had been forced to fight the snake summoner one-on-one in the epic climatic battle of the entire war.

No one dared to interrupt as she described the battle in great detail. She told them all about how she was forced to use every jutsu and skill she had been taught back at the training camp just to survive the encounter, and that she actually managed to go toe-to-toe with the evil man when using the clan's infamous taijutsu style of the Gentle Fist in combination with her two original Gentle Fist techniques. She explained how during one point in the duel she had used her original technique of the Protective Eight Trigrams to defend herself while at the same time cutting up the snakes Orochimaru had sent flying at her. She also mentioned how she had managed to land attacks on him while using her Twin Lion Fists, and then combined her second original jutsu with the Hyuuga clan's special technique of the Thirty Two Palms to cause further damage.

A few people listening attentively in the audience started to applaud her for her quick thinking of using her two unique jutsus in such a clever way, but seeing the elders scowl at them for interrupting quickly silenced them again.

Hinata then went on to explain that she had been severely injured and suffered nearly lethal poisoning when one of the snakes managed to bite her, and when she brought up how Orochimaru had dangled her over the edge of the Imperial Palace rooftop and stabbed her right in the stomach in the same area as where he had slashed at her back on the mountain, there were a few choked back screams and gasps of horror.

"The bastard stabbed you with his sword?!" Tenten cried out in alarm.

The elders shot the brunette with cutesy panda bear-shaped buns an irritable look.

"Quiet, Lady Tenten!" snapped Lord Hakuto.

"And do mind your language!" added Lady Haruka.

Tenten shot both of them and the rest of the clan elders a glare of her own, but she felt Neji place his hand on her shoulder and stayed silent. She wasn't the only one at the table who had been shocked by what Hinata had told all of them. Hitomi looked horrified at the prospect and Hanabi had turned white, but Hiashi kept them from being like Tenten and causing another interruption. It would be a big mistake to antagonize the members of the council any further.

Hinata turned a tad bit red when she considered what had happened next. "Well… After Orochimaru s-stabbed me with his sword, I happened to look down at the balcony directly below me, and I got a wild idea. Before I could do it though, Orochimaru asked me why I decided to fight him at all when it was obvious I would not have won. I… I told him it was because I never go back on my word, because that's my ninja way, and t-then I grabbed hold of the purple rope belt on his waist and… and I threw myself backwards off the edge of the roof."

The room exploded.

Everyone that had been listening to her story — main family or branch family, young or old, man or woman — immediately started shouting their alarm and disbelief at what Hinata had just told them she had done. She had intentionally thrown herself off the edge of the palace rooftop to ensure that Orochimaru did not survive at the end of their fight. She had nearly killed herself! They were all shocked that she had gone to such lengths to make sure that Orochimaru did not win.

It took the elders several minutes to get everyone's attention and force them all to remain silent once again.

"Quiet!" ordered Lady Haruka, she and the other elders in attendance being forced to bang their fists on their table many times in order to emphasize their words. "Settle down! Settle down! There is obviously still more to the story we have yet to hear!"

The room gradually quieted down once more as people stopped talking, and all attention returned to the red-faced Hyuuga princess, who was wringing her hands a bit in front of her as she waited to continue with her story.

As soon as all was silent once more, Lord Hakuto nodded for her to go on, and Hinata hesitantly did so.

"I… I wasn't trying to kill myself when I dragged him down off the roof with me," she said shyly. "I had noticed that there were l-lanterns sticking out of the wall right by the balcony below me. As soon as I was positive that Orochimaru was free falling like I was, I… I kicked him away from me and tore off my red scarf which I was using in place of an obi at the time, and I latched it onto one of the lantern lampposts. My scarf t-tore right down the middle, but I did stop falling… for a few moments that is. The scarf finished tearing all the way through after a bit, but Naruto caught me before I hit the ground. I… I blacked out after that. I woke up a few weeks later in a recovery room in the palace."

People murmured in amazement at Hinata's quick thinking and apparent narrow escape from death, but the elders didn't want to admit that they too were impressed. They also didn't like the fact that Hinata's story was gaining support from the other members in the clan. If they wanted to continue with their plan to use Hinata's story as proof that she was unfit to be the clan heiress anymore, they had to discredit her somehow.

Lady Haruka was the first one among them to realize the most obvious thing that had occurred in the story judging by what Hinata had just told them, and a knowing smirk spread across her lips for a moment before she forcefully changed her expression into that of an angry scowl.

"Hold on a moment, Lady Hinata," she called out, forcing Hinata to halt in the middle of her tale. "You just said that you were forced to tear off your obi in order to latch onto the lamppost. Are you telling us that you knowingly let your kimono hang loose in front of all the people in the Imperial City?"

Hinata turned beet red with humiliation as the room fell utterly silent. Now that the elder had mentioned it, everyone in attendance realized that in this instance, the woman was correct. The clan heiress, the shyest and most modest person in the entire Hyuuga clan, had knowingly displayed her body to the entire population of the Imperial City? It was shocking, and it couldn't be denied that it was shameful, too. This was definitely something that the clan as a whole could agree was an appalling act.

Hinata did not speak for several moments. She was far too embarrassed to say anything at first, but then she realized something, and anger suddenly filled her veins. Why was she suddenly so embarrassed about what they had called her out on? No one in the entire Imperial City had thought that what she had done to try and stop herself from falling was something she should be ashamed of herself for. True, untying her scarf that had acted as an obi for her borrowed kimono was not something that was generally done while out in public, but no one had condemned her for doing it. They had applauded her for trying to save herself! The elders were the ones who were making a big deal out of this, not the general public in the Imperial City!

"Lady Hinata? Do you not have anything to say for yourself?" demanded Lord Hakuto.

The shy girl clenched her fists up into tight balls as she willed herself to speak. "It's true that happened, but… but is that really the only thing that any of y-you bothered to focus on?" she said in a quiet, angry manner.

The elders all stared at her, not expecting that tone from the girl they had known before she had run off to join the army in secret. "Come again?" said Lady Haruka.

"I… I'll admit that what I did was very unladylike, but I did what I had to do to survive! Not that any of you sitting up there on your high chairs care one way or another whether or not I live or die!"

Hinata's anger-fueled words brought a hush over the room, and everyone stared at the girl in disbelief at what she had just said. Her family sitting in the corner was especially taken aback. And every single one of the elders suddenly froze in place when they heard her. They had gathered that Hinata had apparently gained more self-confidence in herself during her time away, but they never imagined that she would not only talk back to any of them as she was right now, but that she actually appeared to be on the verge of shouting.

The Hinata they knew before she turned herself into the world's first female ninja would never shout.

She would meekly bow her head and quietly mumble an apology for poorly reflecting the Hyuuga clan with her disgraceful action.

Who was this girl standing in front of them?

They had to force her back into her old fears now before she gained even more self-confidence.

"L-Lady Hinata, you are forgetting your place in this meeting!" said Lord Hakuto rather quickly. "You have dishonored the clan by joining the army in Lord Hiashi's place and we on the Hyuuga council have the right to know if—"

"Dishonor?! You wish to talk about dishonor?!" Hinata interrupted, her eyes flashing icy cold at the older male. "You think I dishonored our clan by doing what I did to save my father's life?! The Four Kage's and the Lady Regent declared me a hero! They… They actually bowed to me in front of the entire city! They inspired the entire population in the Imperial City to bow to me, and they presented me with Orochimaru's sword and the medal I gave to my father when I arrived so that all of you would know that I brought the greatest honor ever to the Hyuuga clan! Is that sufficient enough for all of you, or should I have demanded that the five of them come here themselves to tell you this in person?!"

The elders all stared at her in disbelief, but Hinata did not care that she had shocked them. She was too angry. She had spent her entire life trying to be the perfect daughter and heiress to her family so she could bring great honor for the clan, but because the elders had always looked down their noses at all her past failings, she had lived in fear of making a single mistake.

And even now, despite the fact that she had brought back the greatest tokens of honor that could ever be bestowed upon a ninja by the Five Kage's, it didn't matter at all. They wanted to twist her story to make it sound as though she was nothing more than a disgraceful girl. They wanted her out of the clan so badly, so that they could have Hanabi as the new heiress. Well, if that was how they were going to play it and she was going to be kicked out of the clan regardless of whatever she said, then two could play at that game! She was not the same girl she was when she left the compound so many months ago and was not about to just stand there and take their verbal abuse. She had learned self-respect and how to be confident in herself while away. She was done being treated second-rate by the men and women sitting at the table in front of her.

"I… I know you all hate me," she said abruptly, surprising those listening on the sidelines but she paid no attention to any of them. "I know for a fact that you wish that I died while I was gone, but I matter in the end! I… I am not worthless!"

The council of elders sitting before her either grew very tense or turned sweltering red with suppressed rage.

"Lady Hinata!" said Lady Haruka sharply. "You… You have obviously lost your mind for you to speak to us this way! We are the ones who will decide if—"

"—if I am still worthy to be the heiress to the clan," finished Hinata, her fists now starting to shake with fury. "You… You must think I am really stupid, don't you? This whole trial has been a waste of time. I am sure you all decided long before I even arrived that you would brand me with the seal of servitude of the branch family and throw me out of the clan no matter what I told you about my deeds in the war. It doesn't matter to any of you that the rest of the world thinks of me highly now. To all of you, I will always be considered worthless, the failed heiress of the Hyuuga clan."

"Lady Hinata—"

"I am not done talking yet, Lord Hakuto! I am finished with letting all of you talk over me! For once in your lives, you are going to stop belittling me like you and Lady Haruka did the morning of my matchmaking appointment with Lady Anko and you will listen to what I have to say!"

Hinata's whole body was shaking at this point with pure anger, but she was not to be stopped for more than half a second. All of her life, she had lived in fear of talking back to the people before her. It was high time she told them exactly what she thought. She was going to be kicked out of the clan regardless of whatever she said or did, so what did she have to lose?

"I… I've spent my entire life trying to be the perfect heiress you demanded I be! I listened attentively in my lessons! I was kind! I was polite! I was… I was just a little girl! A little girl that was trying to do everything I could to make you and my family proud! But it wasn't enough… It was never enough! I was shy and I stuttered, so in your eyes that made me an embarrassment! I was quiet, so that meant I was a failure at social skills! I was clumsy at times, so that automatically meant that I would never be considered graceful… I was just someone you all wished would disappear forever, because with me gone, the clan would finally be rid of its one imperfect flaw. The Hyuuga clan can't afford to have a misfit for its heiress…"

The silence that followed in the entire Great Hall was so intense, it could be considered deadly. Everyone just stared at their princess with shocked expressions as they watched her pant heavily from her long monologue. Hinata… Was this how she honestly felt? Did she really struggle that hard on a daily basis to try and please the elders in the past?

Before anyone could question her though, she went on, but this time her words did not come across as angry. They were filled with resolve and determination.

"I'm sure that it doesn't matter to any of you on the council, but the ladies in the Kage royalty were actually inspired by me! They invited me to try and become an activist for women's rights by supporting the law they intend to try and get passed for women to legally become kunoichi, or female ninjas just like me… I initially told them that I would have to discuss this matter with all of you and my father first before I came to a decision of whether or not to help them, but I realize now that you will immediately forbid me from adding my support to their idea, even though it really should be considered an honor to be invited to help the Lady Regent, the royal princesses, and the other highborn ladies with anything, let alone with passing a law! If you hate me, that's fine, but if you intend to kick me out of this clan, there's nothing stopping me from sending a messenger hawk back to the Imperial City telling the ladies in the Kage royalty that I will be happy to give them my full support. Actually, why am I still standing here talking? We all know what the outcome of this meeting is. I will take my leave now to go and send that message to the Imperial City. I will be back later to retrieve Rin, my animal spirit friends that I know you don't believe exist, my personal belongings, and to say a final goodbye to my family."

And without another word, Hinata politely bowed to the council members sitting there in front of her with their mouths agape, and then gracefully spun around on her heel before striding purposefully to the doors leading out to the hall. Her eyes were burning with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. She would not give the clan leaders the satisfaction of knowing that she was hurting inside. She had finally stood up to them, and she would not let them think for even a second that she regretted telling them exactly how she felt. She would leave the clan with grace and dignity. She would not be remembered as the girl who left with tears in her eyes.

Her hand stretched out to turn the doorknob and exit the grand room, but that was when a new voice suddenly cut through the frozen silence.

"Hinata. Please stay."

Hinata's hand jolted when she heard the voice, and her hand paused in midair halfway to the door handle.

Had this been a member of the Hyuuga council that had demanded her to stay, Hinata would have left without so much as looking back over her shoulder at him or her.

But it wasn't an elder that had asked her to stay.

It was her father.

With a dry mouth, Hinata slowly turned to look back over her shoulder. Hiashi was grabbing hold of his crutch and rising to his feet despite the looks of worry he was getting from the rest of their family. But he was not looking at her however.

His stone cold gaze was locked solely on the clan elders.

Lord Hakuto seemed annoyed by his unexpected actions. "Lord Hiashi, Lady Hinata has basically just said that she has no qualms with being replaced as the clan heiress. There is no reason to look so—"

"Lord Hakuto," Hiashi interrupted, appearing to be unfazed by Lord Hakuto's words, "you and Lady Haruka are as of this moment stripped of your duties as clan elders."

It was so quiet in the room, one could hear a pin drop.

Hinata's anger all but vanished. She lost all concept of reality for several moments as she completely turned around to stare at her father. Why did Hiashi suddenly say that completely out of the blue? Her father had never once stood up for her against the clan elders in the past. Why wasn't he on their side and belittling her for what she had done in the war? She knew he was happy that she was home again, but she had come back home half expecting him to be just as worried about the honor of the clan as they were. Just what was going on?

Lord Hakuto and Lady Haruka looked just as shocked as she was.

"Lord Hiashi!" exclaimed the lady elder. "I… I beg your pardon, but Lord Hakuto and I—"

"Did you two not hear what I just said?" Hiashi coolly interrupted, his eyes becoming stonier with each passing second. "Both of you are hereby no longer part of the Hyuuga council. Remove yourselves from the High Table at once."

Lord Hakuto's jaw grew rigid as he fought to keep his temper in check and speak civilly to the head of the clan. "Lady Haruka and I have been faithful members of the high council for nearly twenty years now, helping to ensure that the Hyuuga clan maintains its high reputation in both nobility and within the ninja world. Don't you think you owe us an explanation as to why we are so rudely being dismissed from our posts?"

Hiashi's brows furrowed. "According to Hinata, you and Lady Haruka have made it your mission to intimidate my eldest daughter on more than one occasion, and even admitted that both of you all but threatened her several months back when she failed in her appointment at the local matchmaker."

Lady Haruka's entire face puffed red with anger. "Lord Hiashi! We were only looking after the honor of the entire clan! An heiress that acts like an embarrassment reflects poorly on both you and—"

"Embarrassment?!"

Hiashi's booming, rage-filled shout echoed loudly throughout the Great Hall, and many people in the room flinched away from him in fear. Hinata herself was somewhat afraid. She thought she had seen her father angry before that night when she had argued with him about his decision to go in Neji's place and he had yelled at her. That was nothing compared to how he looked right now. That night, Hiashi had only shouted at her for a moment when he lost his patience and just had a small scowl on his face. He did not subconsciously activate his Byakugan and glare with nothing short of hate on his face as the most defiant look she could ever imagine spread rapidly across his features.

She wasn't the only person there that was shocked to see him looking like this.

All the members of her small family were either frozen in disbelief or had momentarily forgotten their manners and were watching him with their jaws agape. The elders in particular looked very, very afraid. It was obvious that in the many years that Hiashi had been the head of the entire clan, he had never once lost his patience with the Hyuuga council as he was right now.

Lady Haruka fought to keep a level expression on her face, but she was failing miserably. She looked as though she had somehow swallowed a lemon. "Lord Hiashi, please try to stay calm. I was simply—"

"—you were simply stating what you honestly think of my daughter," stated Hiashi, who appeared to be growing angrier by the second. "Do you and Lord Hakuto speak this way to Hinata when she is not around me or the rest of our family?!"

Lord Hakuto was undoubtedly angry, but as this was Hiashi he was speaking to and not Hinata in private, he had to at least attempt to seem cordial. "Lord Hiashi, as Lady Haruka just said, we are only concerned about the honor of the clan. In the past, Lady Hinata has not acted the way a good young lady should. Can you blame us for trying to… how shall I say… encourage her to try and do better in her role in this clan?"

Hiashi's face turned so red, Hinata was amazed he hadn't exploded.

"The greatest gift and honor," he said with such a finality in his voice that everyone in the clan listened with rapt attention, "is having Hinata for a daughter. Anyone who says otherwise has no place being part of the decision making of this family. Lord Hakuto, if you and Lady Haruka do not leave those spots at the High Table in the next ten seconds, you will both be thrown out of this clan!"

The two adults were undoubtedly furious that they had been stripped of their ranks as clan elders, but there was nothing they could do. Hiashi was the head of the clan after all. His final word was the law, even more than theirs was. With as much dignity as they could muster, Lord Hakuto and Lady Haruka silently rose from their chairs, and walked soundlessly to the side of the room to stand amongst members of the main branch that had been watching from the sidelines. Now that they were no longer elders, they were no better than any other member of the main family and truly held no weight in the long run of the clan. At least Hiashi hadn't ordered that they be branded with the seal of servitude for the side branch of the clan. They would have both died of shame if he had demanded that that be done to them.

Hinata barely paid them any attention. Her attention was fixed firmly on her father. He had defended her against the elders… The thought couldn't process in her head. He had stood up to them for her, but what was even more amazing to the generally shy girl was that her father had told the elders that despite her many faults, the only thing that mattered to him in regards to honor was that he was lucky enough to have her as his child. It didn't matter to him that she had disgraced him and the rest of the clan all those months ago when she failed with Lady Anko, or that she had embarrassed him later that same day when she tried to convince Ebisu not to give the draft notice to him when he stepped forward in Neji's place to be the Hyuuga representative in the war. He might have yelled at her later that night at dinner when she argued with him for wanting to happily die on what could be considered a suicidal journey, but at the end of the day, none of that mattered to Hiashi anymore.

All that mattered to him was that she was his daughter.

He was actually proud of her.

She thought she might cry from the very thought.

There were so many things that she wanted to say to her father in regards to what he had just said and done for her, but before she could so much as begin sorting out her reeling thoughts, Hiashi was already turning to look back at the remaining elders sitting at the High Table.

"Which of you are the next ones in charge after Lord Hakuto and Lady Haruka?" he asked, his voice clearly announcing that he was the one who held the most authority in the clan at the end of the day.

The elders shuddered from hearing his echoing words, but then two hands slowly rose up.

"I am the next eldest male on the council after Lord Hakuto, Lord Hiashi," claimed a man by the name of Hideki.

"And I am the eldest female after Lady Haruka," said a woman called Hotaru.

Hiashi nodded in response. "Then as the two eldest leaders among the Hyuuga council, what do you two think in regards to my daughter's story?"

Lord Hideki and Lady Hotaru were both silent for a time as they considered everything they had heard in Hinata's tale of her grand adventure away from the clan, and then they whispered quietly together in private for a few moments before softly asking the elders sitting around them for their opinions. Lord Hakuto and Lady Haruka had never really asked the other elders for their opinions when they had been in charge. They had simply made decisions on their own and then demanded that the rest of them simply follow along with what they decided upon. It was definitely a nice change to see all the elders engaged in the decision-making for once.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lord Hideki and Lady Hotaru finally turned back to look at Hiashi.

"We on the council have come to the decision that although Lady Hinata acted foolishly by choosing to break the law in order to take your place in the war, Lord Hiashi, we believe that she did all she could to represent the standards of the Hyuuga clan while she was away," Lady Hotaru explained. "She without a doubt was very brave during her time in the war and saved the lives of thousands with her deeds, not to mention that the ladies on the Kage royalty are now looking to her as a role model. All of us on the clan council don't think any punishment should be necessary."

"That being said, we should bring up that we are however… concerned about her mental health," said Lord Hideki rather cautiously. "She claims that she had a Hyuuga guardian spirit watching over her ever since she left four months ago, and yet there was no sign of this so-called orange nine-tailed fox when she arrived. Forgive us for saying so, Lord Hiashi, but you have to look at this one particular point from our perspective and see why we are reluctant to believe her about this."

Hiashi's stern expression did not once leave his face, but he did nod at their words. Whether he liked it or not, Lord Hideki, Lady Hotaru, and the rest of the elders did bring up a valid point. Where was this guardian spirit that Hinata claimed to have watched over her since she left the safety of the estate to run away to the ninja training camp?

He turned to look back over at Hinata, who quickly stood up even straighter when she realized her father was focusing his attention on her. "Hinata, is there any way you can bring this talking orange fox here for everyone to see? We would all like to meet him and the rabbit spirit companion you mentioned that Hanabi gifted you with a few months back."

Hinata blinked, but then slowly nodded in reply. "I… I do not know if they are both done with their own meeting with the ancestors in the family shrine, but I shall go and see. I will return in a moment."

And without another word, she respectfully bowed to both her father and the elders sitting at the High Table, and then quickly turned and hurried out of the room to go and find Kurama and Usagi.

---

Kurama and Usagi had a hell of a time trying to stealthily make their way to the family shrine in the clan gardens. Almost immediately after they had snuck inside the main gate ahead of their human mistress and entered the courtyard, the main doors that led into the grand mansion burst open, and just about every member in the Hyuuga clan ran right outside in order to greet Hinata when she finally walked inside. Not wanting to be seen by any humans other than Hinata, the kind little white bunny and the foul-mouth orange fox were forced to take cover in a series of bushes to avoid being seen.

As Hinata finally walked inside the courtyard and everyone's attention was focused on her, the Hyuuga clan guardian and the little spirit companion did their best to move as carefully and as silently as possible through the foliage to leave the gathering without drawing any attention. While there was nothing wrong with either of them being seen by the humans here as they were all part of the Hyuuga clan, they had reached a rare agreement with each other that it was best to just get to the temple and speak to the ancestors first and foremost. Usagi had technically not done anything wrong at all in the past few months other than accidentally ruining Hinata's appointment with Lady Anko and then choosing to not return to her ancestral tablet in the shrine afterwards. Other than a harsh scolding from the ancient ghosts, she would probably be okay. Kurama, on the other hand, had destroyed the guardian statue for the Ten-Tailed Tree spirit and then left the shrine to become Hinata's guardian on her journey without Lady Kaguya and the rest of the ancestor's consent. He could very well be facing a harsher punishment.

Kurama huffed when he and Usagi finally managed to sneak away from the great welcome home party and silently slipped around the back of the estate to reach the clan gardens. "Geez! I knew the stupid woman was a war hero now, but was it necessary for every god damn member of this clan to come and greet her like that? I'm sure I'm going to be shaking leaves out of my fur for at least a week!"

Usagi twitched her little pink nose cutely in amusement and hopped up and down on top of the fox's furry head.

Kurama growled and swatted at her with one of his many long tails. "Damn it, Rabbit! Why must you always sit up there when you need a lift?! It's annoying having you sit on my head!"

The little white rabbit only squeaked in return before hopping a bit more.

The fox growled again, but otherwise ignored the little bunny as he trotted through the garden. The faster he got to the small temple, the faster he could rid himself of this little rabbit pest.

As they went deeper into the gardens, they passed by the spot where the stone statue of the Ten-Tailed Tree had once stood. There was nothing in the spot now, not even the crumbled bits of rock and stone that had been piled up after Kurama had accidentally destroyed it. It was understandable that it was all gone, though. They had been away for four months. It was obvious that someone from the branch side of the clan had been ordered to clear away all the rubble from the broken statue. The gods only knew what the humans in the Hyuuga clan must have thought when they discovered that the ominous statue of the tree with ten stone branches had been destroyed over night. Maybe they thought lightning hit it in the storm that had occurred that same night or something along those lines…

Kurama was pleased that the damned statue was gone. Even before Hinata had run off to join the war and he had been ordered to awaken the overgrown weed, he had never liked the stupid tree creature. Even though destroying the sprout-like spirit had been an accident, he couldn't say that he regretted what had happened, not unless Lady Kaguya and the rest of the clan ancestors kicked him out of the temple that was. It was unlikely that would happen, though. He had been the one to guide Hinata into being a celebrated war hero and the world's first official kunoichi, a female ninja. She had brought great honor to the Hyuuga clan. If that wasn't enough to earn him back his former job of being an official guardian of the clan or at least earn him his old fearsome form and powers back, he didn't know what was. The fox couldn't wait to show those old ghosts in the clan tablets that he had done what all of them had deemed to be all but impossible for the shy and gentle heiress to the clan.

Together, Kurama and Usagi trotted and hopped up the stone steps leading up to the small shrine, and then entered the oriental, circular structure. The ancient ancestral plaques engraved with all the names of the deceased Hyuuga clansmen had obviously been cleaned the night before and were all shining and sparkling in the morning sunshine streaming into the little temple. A thin trail of smoke was weaving about lazily in the air from a stick of incense burning strongly in the incense holder hanging in the ceiling… Kurama's old incense holder, to be exact, but to the fox's surprise, the holder was empty. Despite being gone for several months now, it appeared as though the ancestors hadn't given away his position of being the family awakener to another spirit in the shrine.

Usagi also looked up, and upon seeing the empty post, she made a quick comment with a timely bleat. Kurama merely shook his head at her question and chuckled. "Tch, the damn ghosts couldn't get rid of it. For one, they're ghosts, and two, someone from the compound would have noticed if the entire incense holder went missing."

Usagi blinked at his words, but otherwise said nothing. Even though she wasn't overly fond of the fox spirit's foul tongue, in this instance he was correct. Members of the branch family came into the shrine to polish the tablets every day. Someone for sure would have suspected that something fishy was going on if the incense holder disappeared.

"Well, might as well get this show over with," Kurama grumbled. Before Usagi could squeak out a question of what he was planning to do, the fox leapt up on top of one of the memorial stones, and used it as a stepping stone to hop up onto the bell. Without warning, he banged one of his many tails against the bottom of the holder, making the familiar clanging sound to make the ancestors awaken once again before hopping back down to the ground to stand beside the little white rabbit.

Within seconds, great wisps of blue chakra swirled about in the air as they materialized from the various ancestral tablets, each one of the engraved stones glowing brightly as the ancestors reemerged from them once again. As ghostly apparitions took up the forms of how they had looked while they had still been alive, Kurama tried to ignore the bead of sweat starting to run down his temple. He would gladly relive the past four months of the war and deal with keeping Hinata's secret about her true gender all over again before he admitted to himself that he was the tiniest bit worried about what the ancestors might decide when it came to him.

Lady Kaguya waited until all the ancestors were fully awake before addressing the fox sitting on the floor of the shrine right in front of her floating feet. "Kurama," she said, "you have returned."

The arrogant fox cheekily grinned at the Hyuuga clan founder. "What's the matter, Kaguya? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you aren't happy that I'm back."

Lady Kaguya sighed. "Well… I won't deny that meetings between myself and the rest of the ancestors have been less hectic with you gone…" she muttered.

Kurama dropped the cheekiness and shot the ghostly woman a quick glare. "Is that the thanks I get for turning the stupid clan heiress into a decorated war hero?"

His words earned him a kick upside the head from tiny Usagi, as she would not stand by and let him call Hinata stupid and do nothing, but the other apparitions all muttered anxiously amongst themselves.

"Yes, we have heard all about that," said the spirit of Hinata's late uncle Hizashi as he floated forward to get a better look at the orange nine-tailed fox and the small white rabbit. "We are all amazed by my young niece's grand adventure."

"She has brought great honor for our family! I am certain that she will be considered a legend and will go down in history!" chimed a grandmother rather enthusiastically. "She is truly a special young girl! I can't believe all the rest of you wished her ill!"

The accused ancestors fidgeted uncomfortably when they heard her truthful words. None of them had believed that Hinata would bring honor for the clan during her time in the war. They had all automatically assumed that her true gender would be discovered within minutes of her arrival at the training camp and the entire Hyuuga clan would be disgraced. They naturally felt ashamed of themselves for not having any faith in their descendant.

Lady Kaguya maintained her usual strict composure. "I'll admit that we were all perhaps mistaken to have wanted to drag Hinata back, but that does not excuse the fact that you disobeyed our orders and went after the girl in the Ten-Tailed Tree's place, Kurama. Excusing the fact that everything turned out all right for Hinata in the end, do you have anything to say for yourself for defying us? Or for turning him into a pile of rubble?" she demanded.

The orange fox huffed indignantly. "Easy, your royal highness!" he snapped. "My going after the crazy girl was to make sure she even had a guardian at all! It sure as hell is not my fault that that damned tree spirit was being stubborn!"

"Stubborn?" called out a cousin curiously. "What do you mean by stubborn?"

"The god damned weed didn't wake up when I banged the stupid gong! I did my job, it's not my fault if the sprout didn't want to do his!"

All the ancestors, including Lady Kaguya, exchanged looks of surprise when they heard this. Even though Kurama was arrogant and a bit of a pain in the neck, he had done his job properly for many years now. The fact that the ten-tails didn't wake up when he asked him to was an unexpected twist, and it was definitely worrying.

"Are you telling us the truth?" asked Lady Kaguya after a momentary silence. "Did the Ten-Tailed Tree really refuse to awaken?"

Kurama scoffed. "Ask the rabbit if you don't believe me. What reason does she have to lie?"

All the ghostly heads turned to look at the small little spirit sitting beside the fox. Usagi squeaked as she reiterated that for once, Kurama was telling the truth. The tree spirit really didn't wake up when the fox rang the gong.

More muttering resumed amongst the ancestors as they mused over Kurama and Usagi's words. Finally Lady Kaguya spoke. "Well, I can't say that I am pleased that you decided on a whim to make yourself Lady Hinata's guardian without even consulting with the rest of us first, but—"

"Why the hell would I have consulted with you, Kaguya? We both know that you wouldn't have sent me anyway. You would have yelled at me for accidentally destroying the ten-tails statue, and then would have ordered me to wake up another of my tailed brethren."

It took all the willpower Lady Kaguya possessed to not lose her temper. "I see that your time away hasn't changed your attitude in the slightest," she said as civilly as possible. "You still hate us and everyone in clan…"

"Well… I don't know if I'd say that anymore…"

Everyone, including Usagi, blinked twice when they heard those words, and they stared at Kurama in disbelief.

"Say that again?" Lady Kaguya demanded.

Kurama shrugged. "You were right that I still don't like any of you, considering you sealed away my powers and transformed me into this ridiculous child-like fox form, but as for hating all of the humans still alive in the clan… I'd be lying if I said that Hinata has more than earned my trust and respect."

He now had Lady Kaguya's full and undivided attention, considering that he had finally addressed Hinata by her real name. "Go on," she said at once. "Tell us exactly what you think of Hinata."

Kurama rolled his eyes. "She's a shy girl, that woman, and far too quiet. Her words come out as nervous stammering half the time and she's a bit of an idiot… but she's got spunk in her, let me tell you! Just how many other girls did any of you know when you were alive that had the smart idea to start an avalanche in order to stop an army of over a thousand ninjas? Plus, she was the one person who was able to take down Orochimaru. If that doesn't earn someone respect, then nothing will. She's definitely got more self-confidence in herself now than she did when she initially left home a few months ago."

There was a long pause as Lady Kaguya stared down at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Kurama honestly had no idea what could be going on in her mind. If she was going to kick him out of the temple, she should just get it over and done with. He would much rather be antagonizing that white horse of Hinata's or trying to bite one of the rabbit's white floppy ears.

At last, Lady Kaguya seemed to reach a decision, and to Kurama's surprise, she actually smiled at him.

"Then it appears you have finally learnt your lesson and proven your worth," she said with a surprisingly cheerful smile.

Both Kurama and Usagi had to blink twice to make sure they heard her correctly.

"What?" said Kurama, trying to sound nonchalant, but unable to deny to himself that a feeling of hope was surging up into his chest. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

"Do not misunderstand me, Kurama. You undoubtedly acted rashly and selfishly when you first decided to chase Hinata and become her replacement guardian, but you did manage to not only guide her into being a bolder person and a celebrated hero, but in the process of doing so, you finally learned the lesson I wanted you to understand when I sealed away your true form and half of your powers in the first place."

"What lesson was that?"

"Respect for humanity. By coming to care for Hinata, you finally learned how to be considerate of the human race, and you even proved your worth to the clan by helping her to fulfill her destiny as the world's first kunoichi."

An eager grin spread across Kurama's face upon hearing her words. "Then does that mean you're finally going to restore me to my former self and make me a guardian again?"

Lady Kaguya nodded. "You are as of this moment officially a guardian to the Hyuuga clan again, Kurama. Just as soon as I do this."

The spirit of the clan founder brought her hands together to form a hand sign, and then seconds later, Kurama felt a tingle spread through his body. He barely had enough time to look over at his reflection in one of the shiny memorial plaques surrounding him before his transformation took place. He watched in delight as his body grew in size until he looked like an adult fox rather than a baby. His fangs and claws sharpened themselves to a point, resembling that of razor-sharp knives. He felt his old powers flow through him once again as the tattooed kanji symbol for the word 'seal' on his back faded away completely. He was his true form once again. He was no longer stuck as a chibi-sized version of himself. If he wanted to, he could become twice as large as the entire Hyuuga compound without even breaking a sweat, and with the seal off his back, he could make a Tailed-Beast Ball that could easily obliterate this entire village without so much as batting an eye. Oh, how good it felt to be his old self again!

The fox couldn't stop himself from whooping in excitement. "Oh, hell yeah! This is awesome! I'm back to my old self again!" he cheered.

Lady Kaguya cringed. "Please keep your volume at a respectable level, Kurama. The last thing any of us want is to catch the attention of the living clan members in the compound."

Kurama scoffed. "They're all doting over Hinata's epic return right now, so don't worry. And besides, I deserve a minute to celebrate! I've been waiting generations for this moment!"

"Well, keep in mind that these benefits can very well be taken away again!" Lady Kaguya warned. "The honor of being a clan guardian is a privilege, and not something to be taken lightly! Should you abuse this position like you did in the past, I will have no qualms whatsoever in demoting your status in this shrine and sealing away your powers again! Is that clear?"

"Yeah, sure," Kurama said with an exaggerated eye roll. "I'll try to be politer from now on if that's what you're asking, but I ain't making any promises…"

Lady Kaguya sighed, but otherwise didn't comment further. It was unlikely that the nine-tailed fox would ever learn manners, but at least he promised to try to be nicer from now on. That was more than she had ever dared to wish for in the past.

With a slight shake of her head at the fox's antics, the wise ancestor then focused her attention onto little Usagi still sitting patiently at Kurama's side. "And now, little rabbit. There is the question as to how we should reward you," she mused.

Usagi squeaked a bit in surprise, not having once thought that the clan ancestors would wish to award her for her role in Hinata's quest to restore her honor for the clan.

Even Kurama raised a brow. "You plan to reward the rabbit, too?" he asked.

"Of course we should reward her!" cried out an elderly grandmother. "This little rabbit is just as responsible for helping Hinata go down in history as you are, Kurama!"

"Indeed she is," agreed Lady Kaguya. The clan founder was silent for a few moments as she considered what to bestow on the little spirit companion that would be sufficient enough to count as a reward for her part in helping Hinata, but then her eyes fell upon the empty incense holder hanging from the ceiling, and she smiled in delight. "Well, with Kurama restored to his old position as a clan guardian, we will need a new family awakener for the shrine. Would you be willing to be the new bell ringer, little rabbit?"

Usagi hopped up and down excitedly before happily bleating out her approval. All her life, she never thought she would actually amount to being someone mildly important in the Hyuuga shrine. As a spirit companion, her first and foremost job was to be a good companion to her summoner or mistress, and she quite liked her role very much because she got to meet Hanabi and Hinata. But to be the family awakener in the clan temple? That was more than a dream come true for the cute little bunny. Words couldn't even begin to express how happy she was right now.

"Wonderful, then all that's left to do is for both of you to turn yourselves into your statues and—"

"K-Kurama? Usagi? Are you both up there in the shrine?"

All conversation in the temple came to an abrupt halt. Hinata was making her way through the garden, heading straight for the stone steps that led up to the small temple. The ancestors were immediately sent into a frenzy. They were not supposed to be seen by their human descendants. They all had to disappear now, before Hinata caught a glimpse of them.

Lady Kaguya immediately turned to look down at the fox and rabbit standing before her on the floor of the shrine. "There's no time before she comes up here, so I'll just say this quickly. Welcome home, Kurama, little Usagi. You both went above and beyond mine and the other ancestor's expectations. Be sure to turn yourselves into your appropriate statues as soon as you've concluded your business with the clan heiress."

And with that having been said, she and the other apparitions vanished with swirls of bright blue chakra, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

They disappeared in the nick of time, too, because less than a moment later, Hinata finished climbing up the last of the stone steps and spied both of her two little spirit friends standing alone in the exact center of the clan shrine.

"Ah, there you two are. I knew I'd find you both— wait, what happened to you, Kurama?!" Hinata gasped, taking in the new appearance of Kurama for the first time when he and Usagi fully turned around to face her. "You look… more adult now! Very different!"

The fox laughed. "Well, I should hope I do! This is how I generally look when my powers and true form aren't sealed away."

Hinata blinked at this new information, but then she smiled happily. "Oh, so my ancestors r-restored you to your former self?"

"You bet, Woman! They even made me a clan guardian again, and the rabbit here now has my old job as the family awakener."

"Oh, congratulations, Usagi!"

Usagi bleated out a happy thank you in reply.

"I have to say, I'm surprised to see you here so soon," Kurama commented. "I would have thought that you'd be spending every minute with your family right now."

Upon hearing his words, Hinata's expression turned a tad bit sheepish. "That's… That's actually part of the r-reason why I'm here right now. The clan elders are demanding to meet both of you."

Her words brought a definite pause to both animals, and they stared at her in disbelief.

"Say that again, Woman?"

Hinata wrung her hands together in embarrassment. "I… I told the Hyuuga council about both of you and how you helped me during the war. The thing is… they don't believe me w-when I say that you're both real. They think I might have hit my head too hard at some point and I might be crazy now, or at the very least that I'm lying to get extra attention. So… So they're demanding that I make both of you come to the Great Hall to m-meet them and so you can give them your version of my time in the war. If I don't bring the two of you with me, they're just going to assume I'm crazy…."

Kurama sighed, but then, with little to no warning, he suddenly began shrinking down to the size he had been throughout the entire time Hinata had come to know him.

"W-What's happening?!" she fearfully gasped.

"Relax, Woman! I'm just shrinking myself down to a size you can easily carry," the fox grumbled. "I'll make myself big again later. I gotta look somewhat tamable to those asses on the clan council when you present me."

"Oh, I see. That's smart," Hinata agreed.

As soon as he was small again, Hinata gently picked him up off the ground, and nestled him in her arms before allowing Usagi to hop up onto her open palm, and letting her rest on her shoulder. It would be a lie if Hinata didn't admit to herself that she was somewhat nervous as to what might happen. Usagi had been seen by Hanabi, Tenten, and her mother before she left for the warfront, not to mention Lady Anko and Orochimaru, but Kurama had never been seen by any humans other than herself throughout the entire war. She could only pray that for once in his life, he would at least try to be respectful when speaking to others. She needed him to make a good first impression on the elders of the clan.

With that thought in mind, she quickly turned and left the sanctuary of the clan shrine. She expertly weaved her way through the beautiful garden once again and lightly laughed when she noticed Usagi looking longingly at the small corner of the garden that was reserved for vegetables for members of the clan that enjoyed growing their own food. Despite being a spirit companion, Usagi was still a rabbit, and she loved a nice, juicy carrot as much as any other normal bunny.

"D-Don't worry, Usagi. I'll see to it that you and Kurama have a nice lunch later, okay?" said Hinata with a smile.

Usagi bleated an affirmative, but it was obvious from her expression that she wished to dine on those plump carrots right now rather than later.

After making their way down the many winding corridors in the Hyuuga estate, they finally reached the door that separated them from the Great Hall. Hinata hesitated for a moment as she considered how this introduction of her ill-tempered fox guardian and kind little bunny spirit companion would go over with the rest of the clan.

Would they like her two friends?

Would her friends like all of them?

Would Kurama or Usagi become offended and start snapping at the people inside?

She was very worried.

"Time waits for no one, Woman," said Kurama suddenly, having noticed that they had been stalling here in front of the door to the Great Hall for almost a full minute now as they waited for Hinata to find her confidence again.

Hinata jumped a bit from hearing his voice, but she nodded to him, knowing full well that he was right. Pausing only a moment longer to take a deep breath to gather her courage, she reached out to take hold of the doorknob, and slowly reentered the room.

It appeared as though people had been making idle chatter amongst themselves as they waited for her to return, but upon seeing their heiress slowly enter the room again with a miniature white bunny sitting proudly on her shoulder and carrying a small fox with bright orange fur and nine distinct tails protruding from its bottom, a sudden hush fell over the crowd. The clan elders in particular were taken aback. It appeared as though Hinata wasn't crazy and hadn't been lying. The fox and rabbit did indeed exist.

The Hyuuga princess ignored everyone's stupefied expressions, however, and made her way back to the exact center of the room before politely bowing to the clan council members.

"Honorable elders, fellow clansmen," she said courteously. "Please, allow me to introduce you all to my t-two friends and companions in my time during the war. This here is Usagi—" she gestured to the small white rabbit that squeaked happily on her shoulder "—the lucky spirit companion that my little sister Hanabi gave me before… before my failed matchmaking session with Lady Anko a few months ago, and this—" she nodded to the orange fox in her arms that was actively glaring at the clan elders, who were all immediately put off by the fox guardian "—is my guardian spirit that the clan ancestors sent to watch over me while I was away. The Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit, Kurama."

There was a momentary pause as everyone simply stared at the two animals, unable to say or do anything. But it was actually Hanabi who broke the strained silence. Ignoring the small protests from both her parents and two older cousins, the sweet little girl hopped off her chair and all but skipped to the center of the room so as to get a better look at her big sister's two friends.

Usagi recognized her summoner immediately, and bleated happily upon seeing her approach. As soon as Hanabi was close enough, the tiny white rabbit hopped off of Hinata's shoulder and onto Hanabi's, and she hopped along the length of her shoulders in affectionate delight.

Hanabi giggled as the little spirit nuzzled her face against her own cheek. "Usagi! I'm so happy to see you again!" she exclaimed, holding out a hand and letting the small creature hop up on her palm so she could look her right in the eye. "Thank you for looking after my sister while she was away! Did you stay lucky for her during the war?"

Usagi happily nodded as she hopped up and down.

Hanabi laughed again at the rabbit's enthusiasm, and then turned her attention to the still silent fox in Hinata's arms, which had yet to stop scowling at everyone in the room.

For a little while, Hanabi didn't say anything. She just stood there in front of her big sister as she stared at the fox, who just glared at her return. In truth, Hanabi's silent staring was actually annoying Kurama, and he flicked his many tails a few times to at least get the pre-teen girl to blink, but Hanabi was unfazed by the action and just kept staring at him in wonder. Kurama wanted so badly to huff at her. Were all girls in the Hyuuga clan annoying?! He was just about to open his mouth to demand that Hanabi stop staring at him like that, but that was when Hanabi finally spoke.

"Adorable…" she whispered, a wonderstruck smile spreading rapidly across her face. "So adorable!"

And before Hinata could warn her little sister of Kurama's short temper or try to stop her, Hanabi lunged forward, seized the tiny fox from her big sister's arms, and hugged him tightly to her chest.

"So cute! So cute! So cute!" the little girl squealed as she snuggled the orange fox so hard while spinning around, he actually had to gasp for breath and became somewhat dizzy.

Usagi nearly fell off Hanabi's shoulder as she started bleating with laughter, and even Hinata had trouble suppressing her own giggles. To see Kurama being manhandled this way by Hanabi was far too amusing.

Unfortunately, Kurama did not share their sentiments. Shaking aside his momentary dizziness, he slapped the child's face with one of his many tails and even nipped hard at her hand. Not hard enough to draw blood or seriously harm her, but enough to get Hanabi to yelp a bit in pain.

"How dare you, you stupid girl! Release me at once!" he howled in anger.

Hanabi, and just about every other person in the room other than Hinata, shrieked in alarm when they heard Kurama speak. Hanabi obeyed his demand, though. With little to no regard to the fox's wellbeing, she literally threw him about three feet away from her in her momentary panic. Regret welled up inside the young girl when she heard him 'Oof!' in pain when he fell unceremoniously on his back with all four paws sticking up in the air.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kurama! Are you okay?!" Hanabi gasped, rushing forward to see if he was indeed alright.

Before she could pick him up again to check him over, the fox bared his fangs at her and growled threateningly. "Girl, you try to pick me up and cuddle me again, and you will definitely be losing some fingers!" he warned.

Hanabi didn't get a chance to so much as apologize for accidentally dropping him, because within seconds, he starting to grow in size so that he was his usual adult form that Hinata had seen him as back in the clan shrine a few minutes prior. This action only succeeded in further scaring the rest of the clan, and many people screamed in terror.

"Hanabi! Hinata! Get away from that thing this instant!" Lady Hitomi suddenly shouted.

Without waiting for either of her daughters to respond, the Hyuuga matriarch literally leapt up out of her chair, and lunged forward toward the three of them. She seized hold of Hanabi's wrist, and dragged her several feet away from the still rapidly growing orange fox before trying to do the same to Hinata, but Hinata calmly removed her mother's grip from around her wrist when she tried to drag her away from her guardian.

"Mother, there's really nothing to fear. Kurama… Kurama j-just likes to taunt people and has a bad temper. He's never once hurt me, and he would never hurt Hanabi, let alone anyone else in the clan! Let me prove it to all of you!"

Ignoring the terrified expressions on everyone's faces, Hinata walked back over to Kurama with a smile on her face. She knelt down so that she was on her knees in front of the fox, and then allowed her hand to hover slightly in front of Kurama's mouth and nose.

"Hinata! Get your hand away from that fox's mouth!" Hiashi shouted, his voice laced with uncharacteristic concern for his child's safety.

"Father, everything's fine! Just look!"

People were still afraid, but to their amazement, Hinata was right when she said that there really wasn't anything to be afraid of. She waved her hand several times in front of Kurama's nose, but all the fox did was growl and roll his eyes in annoyance. Not once did he ever attempt to bite or scratch her hand. He was a little mean-spirited, but he was quite tame.

Finally, Kurama got annoyed with the constant hand being waved around his nose, and he shoved Hinata's hand away with a swat of his front paw. "Okay, you made your point, Woman! Stop that! It's annoying!"

Hinata obediently obeyed him, but then began petting his head and neck, still emphasizing her point to everyone that Kurama was harmless. The fox spirit rolled his eyes again, but still didn't do anything. At least this was enjoyable to him.

"It… It's not hurting you?" asked Neji, who was cautiously holding a kunai in front of him in case Kurama took off running in his general direction. If the fox did do that, he would not hesitate to protect his wife and the rest of his family.

"Of course not, Neji. Like I said, Kurama is my g-guardian. He would never hurt me, and he won't hurt any of you either. He protected me during the war. Ask him anything about my time at war! He'll back up everything I already told all of you."

The elders were watching the fox curiously from their places at the High Table. While the fact that the fox could speak and was able to grow and shrink at its own will was just as alarming to them as it was to everyone else in the clan, they couldn't deny that they were all fascinated by its presence. Hinata had a creature like this guarding and guiding her throughout her entire time in the war? The very idea of this simple thought brought forth many questions that desperately needed answers.

"Excuse me… Kurama, was it?" called out Lord Hideki. "May we have a moment of your time, Lord Fox?"

Kurama scoffed, but nonetheless turned his attention to the elders sitting at the High Table. "Don't call me Lord Fox. Just Kurama is fine," he grumbled.

"Our apologies, but we have questions for you, Kurama," said Lady Hotaru. "Things both about you and the ancestors in the clan shrine, but also about Lady Hinata and her time at war."

"I'm going to stop you right there. I'm not allowed to talk about the ancestor spirits in great detail," Kurama interjected. "I have rules I have to follow myself with the ancestors, and talking to all of you about them is a big no-no. I can tell you my perspective on your heiress's actions during the war, and translate anything the rabbit here says on what she thinks of the girl, but that's it, got it?"

The elders all frowned at this reply, but nonetheless nodded. While the idea that they wouldn't be able to ask too many questions about Kurama himself was disappointing, at least they could get fresh perspectives of Hinata's deeds from different sets of eyes that had also witnessed what she had done.

"Very well," said Lord Hideki. "Please, Kurama, tell us all about what you and the rabbit Usagi think of what Lady Hinata has done in the war during her time away."

The fox mischievously grinned. "Well, I suppose it all begins with how she screamed like the rest of you lot did when we first met…"

---

Naruto was amazed that hardly anything had changed in his old hometown in the ten years that he had been gone. Other than a few buildings having been built or torn down, or a few shops that he knew were new or had relocated to another area in the village, pretty much everything was still the same. People had aged, but they definitely looked familiar to the Namikaze lad. He was pretty sure that no one there recognized him after being gone for a full decade, but that didn't stop the boy from sending friendly smiles and nods to whoever he noticed had a familiar face.

Still though, that didn't deter Naruto from his original mission. He came back here again for only one reason and one reason alone, and that was to find Hinata. He had to return the red scarf he gave her back when they were kids, and find out if she honestly liked him or not. He didn't just leave his home in the Imperial City and abandon his new duties as the new head of his clan and the new acting General of the Allied Shinobi Forces just to be brushed aside by the shy Hyuuga princess. By the end of today, he was going to know exactly how Hinata thought about him, no matter what.

But before he could do that, he first had to locate the Hyuuga compound.

He had been wandering around the village for almost ten minutes now, but he had yet to figure out where the Hyuuga estate even was. He was on the verge of tearing his hair out. He was so close to Hinata, and yet still so far away. Where oh where was a map or a sign when you needed one?!

"Have I been down this way already?" the spiky-haired blonde mumbled to himself as he noticed the sign on a particular flower shop. "I'm pretty sure I've passed this place twice…"

As he stopped and looked around to try and figure out how he had ended up back here in the first place when he had walked past this shop almost ten minutes ago, the door to the flower shop swung open, and a certain platinum blonde-haired girl and her dark-haired, stoic fiancé strolled out. They were initially going to walk past the clueless ninja without so much as looking at Naruto, but then the girl happened to catch a look at his face, and she gasped in surprise.

"Naruto?!" she asked in amazement.

Naruto spun around only to be confronted with the excited face of Ino and the puzzled face of Sai. Naruto was confused upon seeing both of them.

"Uh… how do you know my name?" he asked curiously.

Ino smiled. "I'm Ino Yamanaka, and this is my fiancé, Sai! You probably don't remember us. Actually, scratch that! My fiancé doesn't even seem to remember you!"

Naruto stared in bewilderment as Ino turned to look over at her fiancé.

"You remember Naruto, right, Darling?"

The artist slowly shook his head. "No, and I have a feeling that me not remembering who this is will result in you yelling my ear off later," he said tonelessly.

The girl scowled momentarily before giving him a good swat upside the head.

"First of all, be nice! Secondly, this is the boy that once tripped and whacked into you while he was playing, and ruined that drawing you were doing that day we were at the park when we were kids. Remember now?"

For a moment, Sai still looked confused, but then his eyes widened as he remembered, and he quickly turned to look back at the still bewildered Naruto.

"Oh, yes. I remember you now. You were the idiot that ruined an ink drawing I was making of the park one afternoon. It's been a long time."

Naruto growled at having been called an idiot by the stranger that he didn't remember. "Hey! Don't call me an idiot!"

"My apologies, but you were running at top speed and not looking where you were going. That classifies as an idiot, in my experience."

"Again, be nice, Sai," Ino advised. Sai thankfully listened to her, and with him finally quiet, the platinum blonde turned her attention back to the other blonde standing in front of her.

"Sorry about him, Naruto. I love him to death, but he can come off as rude sometimes by accident."

"Uh… okay. Listen, not to be rude myself or anything, but I really don't remember either of you…"

Ino blinked upon hearing that, and then laughed.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory. You and I used to play together most days whenever your parents and mine met together, on the occasions when our two clans held meetings. Sometimes we'd go to the park and hang out with Sai here, but other times we'd play in the gardens of our clan compounds. My clan always has the prettiest flowers, hence why Sai and I are here right now. We were just closing my family's flower shop."

Naruto contemplated for a second as he thought back to his childhood before he and his family moved to the Imperial City, and then he abruptly remembered those afternoons. He and Ino had spent a lot of time playing together when they were kids, and just as Ino herself said, some days they played with Sai. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten all about that!

"Oh, I remember now! It sure has been awhile, Ino, Sai!"

"It really has! What brings you back to this side of the Fire country? I thought you and your clan moved to the Imperial City. Are you moving back here again?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Well… I came here to visit someone, but I haven't been back in so long, I'm kind of turned around. I don't suppose either of you know the way to the Hyuuga compound, do you?"

Sai blinked. "The Hyuuga estate? Yes, we know where it is. Who are you visiting there?"

"Hinata Hyuuga. We… We were comrades in the army together, and, well… she left something behind in the Imperial City. Someone had to return it to her, so… so I came here to give it back to her…"

Both Ino and Sai stared at him for a moment, but then Ino started laughing, and even Sai smirked.

Naruto's entire face burned. "Hey! I'm just trying to be nice! Can one of you just give me some directions?!" he all but yelled in his embarrassment.

"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that," said Sai, his words sounding just the tiniest bit sarcastic. "Just remember to actually give Hinata whatever she so-happened to leave behind in the city when you meet her again."

Naruto growled, now beginning to lose his patience. "I'm not lying! She really did leave something important behind!"

"Relax, Naruto. Like I said before, Sai has yet to learn when he's crossed a line," Ino laughed, actually brushing a tear away from one of her eyes. Then she turned and pointed toward a side street a short ways off. "Take that road over there and make a right at the second intersection. The Hyuuga compound will be the third building on the left."

Naruto nodded at the instructions, feeling more than grateful that he wouldn't have to keep wandering aimlessly through his old hometown for hours on end in order to find Hinata's clan. "Okay, thanks, Ino. It was good to see you again. I'd say the same to you, Sai, but you've officially gotten on my nerves."

Sai didn't seem to be the slightest bit perturbed by Naruto's rude goodbye, and merely nodded in return while Ino smiled pleasantly to the Namikaze heir.

"Good to see you, too, Naruto! Hopefully I'll see you again some time!"

Naruto nodded in return, and then wordlessly waved in farewell before turning around to follow Ino's directions to the Hyuuga estate. Ino had always been a loud mouth back when they were younger, but she was still nice. Sai, on the other hand, hadn't changed a bit. He was still the silent, sarcastic asshole he remembered him to be back when they were kids.

It was another ten minute walk for the impatient blonde-haired boy, but at long last, he spied the gates of what appeared to be the wealthiest compound in the entire village, and a smile quickly spread across his face. This had to be it! Beyond the walls of this estate had to be Hinata's home. He had finally made it!

He quickly picked up the pace. He was finally here. He would get to see Hinata again! This time, he was not going to act like an idiot. He was going to find out how she felt about him no matter what, and he was going to try to at least admit to her that he liked her. He wasn't going to let her run away again. Not this time.

He approached the main gates to the manor house, and quickly noticed that there was a Hyuuga guard standing around just outside the gate, grumbling angrily to himself.

"Typical, so typical," Naruto head him mumble. "Send a branch man out here to keep an eye out for guests while the great lady warrior tells her tale to everyone else in the family. Why not send someone from the main family out here to greet visitors? But no it's, the branch family's duty to do the servants work!"

Naruto had to blink twice as he listened to the man whine to himself, but then he quickly cleared his throat.

"Um, excuse me?" he called out hesitantly.

The guard jumped nearly a full foot in the air as he spun around. "Oh, dear god! Honorable elders, I-I-I meant no harm at all! I was only talking! I— Oh, you're not someone from the main branch…"

Naruto shook his head, still a bit taken aback by the man's ranting followed by his over the top spluttering. Was nervousness common among everyone in the Hyuuga clan? If so, he could understand where Hinata got hers from. "No, I'm… I'm Naruto Namikaze. I was wondering if you could tell me whether or not this is the Hyuuga compound?" he slowly asked.

"Yeah, this is it. How can I help you?"

"Well… can you tell me whether or not Hinata Hyuuga has made it home from the war yet?"

The branch ninja blinked at the question. "Lady Hinata is here, yes. She made it back safe and sound. May I ask why you are calling for her?"

Naruto did his best to ignore the fire now burning in his cheeks. "Well, I was her platoon Captain in the war, and… well, she left something behind back in the city. I came here to give it back to her."

The branch ninja didn't say anything for a long moment. It was obvious that the boy in front of him came here to see his clan heiress in person, not just to return her lost property. He really wasn't supposed to let strangers into the compound without prior notice of their visit or without the clearance of someone from the main branch, but he and all the members of the branch family loved Hinata. He didn't want to deny her a visit from her friend — or perhaps someone more than a friend — just because of the clan rules…

Finally, the branch ninja motioned for Naruto to follow him inside. "She's currently in a meeting with the clan elders, but I'll go and check if the meeting is over. You can wait in the Entrance Hall in the meantime."

"Okay, thanks a lot!"

Naruto smiled as he followed the member of the branch family through the main gates. He would see Hinata any minute now. All he had to do was patiently wait.

---

"…and after the entire city bowed to her, the Hokage had the palace servants get her ready for the big party afterwards, not that the rabbit here or I attended. Afterwards, the woman basically told both of us that we were all going to leave the next morning, and we did, and now here we all are, answering all of your pointless questions."

Kurama smirked as everyone in the clan stared at him for a long moment after ending his own version of Hinata's epic adventure. Aside from adding a few details here and there, his story was basically the same as Hinata's had been, only it was being told in his point of view, and occasionally he had to stop and translate Usagi's details of the story. Other than having a foul mouth and causing a few brows to furrow in the room whenever he called Hinata 'woman' or 'girl,' he had nothing but the highest things to say about Hinata in his own story, and Usagi was just the same. Regardless of what anyone else in the clan might think, to the two spirits, Hinata was a hero, and they made sure to emphasize that point many times.

Finally, Lord Hideki motioned for Lady Hotaru and the rest of the elders to huddle together so that they could speak quietly for a moment, and the elders did so. Everyone watched with baited breath as they waited for the elders to finish speaking. What would they decide upon when it came to the fox? They had already declared that there would be no punishment towards Hinata, but what did they think of Kurama?

After a while, the elders all turned to address everyone in the Great Hall. "We offer you both our gratitude, Lord F— Kurama, Usagi" said Lady Hotaru. "Judging by what Lady Hinata herself has told all of us, and after adding in your own versions of the story, it is clear that if it hadn't been for either of you, there were certainly many instances in Lady Hinata's time away that she would have been killed, or her secret discovered. You have our utmost thanks."

"We know that your true 'home' is in the clan shrine, but we wish to extend a welcome to both of you to come and go throughout the compound whenever you wish," said Lord Hideki. "That being said, we have decided that your existences should be kept a clan secret. Outsiders should not know about either of you. Unless someone marries into the clan, you are to not reveal yourselves to those not of the Hyuuga clan."

"That works fine by us. Guardian rules dictate that we're not to reveal ourselves to clan outsiders anyway," Kurama said with a shrug.

The elders all nodded. That worked out nicely for them, and they all felt better knowing that the fox and rabbit were under their own set of rules themselves from their higher ups.

"Thank you for all you have done for Lady Hinata, Kurama, Usagi," said Lord Hideki. "We shall always be grateful, and if there's nothing more to add, then we can successfully conclude this meeting. All we have to add is this: Welcome home, Lady Hinata. You have been sorely missed, and we are in awe of the honor you have brought to our house."

Hinata couldn't stop herself from smiling as she nodded politely to the new male head of the elders. She was so happy to know that she wasn't going to be branded with the seal of servitude for the branch family or kicked out of the clan. She was still the clan heiress, but that meant little to her compared to being able to remain with her family. She could stay here with all of them for the rest of her life. That was all that mattered to her.

"Thank you for your kind judgment, honorable elders," she answered back. "I will do my best to bring further honor to the clan in the future."

"We are sure you will, Lady Hinata," Lady Hotaru said with a smile. "We are sure you will."

Hinata's smile only grew in size, but before she could say anything else, an excited squeal of delight escaped little Hanabi's lips, and the small girl darted across the room, and tackled her big sister in a hug that nearly knocked Hinata right off her feet just like when she first entered the compound through the main gate.

"Yay! The meeting is over! Let's go to the gardens now, Big Sis! I've got to tell you about everything that's happened here since you left! I've got so much to tell you!"

Hinata was helpless to her little sister's insistence to chat, and literally found herself being dragged past her two spirit companions toward the door. She was actually a little amused, to be honest. She had forgotten how much she missed Hanabi's energetic, playful persona during her time away from home. No one could make her smile as easily as Hanabi could. Her sweet, carefree little sister was the epitome of everything pure and innocent in this world.

"Hanabi, dear! Don't go and steal away Hinata all to yourself!" their mother gently chastised with a small laugh as she and the rest of their family got to their feet from where they had been sitting down, and they all began following the two sisters to the door. "All of us wish to spend time with your sister."

Hanabi furrowed her brows and huffed at her mother's words, but nonetheless obeyed them and stopped dragging Hinata long enough to wait for all of them to catch up. Even Kurama and Usagi trotted alongside them, both of them eager to leave the room now that they were no longer needed. As soon as their parents, two cousins, and the two animal spirits were finally with them again, the small girl pushed open the door and started to drag Hinata behind her again out into the hallway, walking somewhat slower this time so that the rest of their family and Hinata's animal friends could still walk alongside them.

As soon as they were all out of earshot of the inhabitants in the Great Hall, Hinata let out a deep breath of relief she hadn't even realized she had been holding in. "That… That was nerve wracking," she breathed.

Kurama rolled his eyes. "You faced the great snake traitor Orochimaru without so much as breaking a sweat, and yet you were panicking during a simple meeting? I wish I understood you, Woman…"

Tenten was actually amused by his sarcastic words, and couldn't help but laugh. "He's right, you know, Hinata. You actually came across as firm and confident when you stood up to the elders! You're not the same girl that left here four months ago, and I mean that in a good way!"

Neji nodded at her words. "Tenten is correct, Lady Hinata. You were in control of that conversation with the elders, not the other way around, and you didn't stutter or pause in your sentences nearly as much as you would have in the past when addressing them… when addressing anyone, actually. You speak much more clearly now."

Hinata blushed and turned her head away shyly. "I… I learned to believe in myself and have self-confidence while I was away… D-Don't get me wrong! I still stammer from time to time, but… but I suppose I do speak clearer now."

Hiashi firmly nodded at her words, but the faint traces of a smile were creeping at the corners of his lips. "You still have much to learn when addressing members of the Hyuuga council, but you did well in there, Hinata," he declared. "I am very proud of you for how you spoke your mind. You will make a fine clan head one day."

Hinata smiled widely as she looked up at her father, the one person who she had sought the approval of in the past while growing up. "Do you… Do you really mean that, Father?" she whispered. "And did you really mean what you said back in there, t-that… that you are honored that I'm your daughter…?"

"I would not have said it if I did not mean it, Hinata," he told her, with no trace of hesitation in his words or on his face. "You brought great honor to our family, but that means little to me compared to your safety. I am glad you have returned home safe and sound."

"Your father is right, Hinata," Hitomi added with a kind smile, actually stopping to sweep a loose strand of blue hair behind Hinata's ear. "Honor and glory? That means nothing to all of us. We love you for who you are, and nothing will ever change that. We're all so happy you are home again."

Hinata blinked away the traces of tears that threatened to appear in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, Father, Mother…" she said. "I… I'm happy to be home again, too."

Her mother embraced her in a warm hug as her father clapped a hand on her shoulder. Tenten didn't hesitate to join her aunt in the loving hug, and Neji smiled as he nodded kindly. Kurama was scoffing as he pawed the ground in front of him, impatient to keep moving, but he was smirking in approval while Usagi bleated happily from atop Hanabi's shoulder as she bounced excitedly in place with a cheerful smile on her cute little face. As soon as Hitomi and Tenten let go of Hinata, the little dark-haired girl started tugging on the hem of Hinata's flak jacket in order to get her attention.

"Okay, Hinata! I know you probably edited down your story so that it was okay for the stuffy old elders to hear, but you gotta tell me everything that happened in detail, okay? For starters, why did you bring home a sword when you should have brought home a man?! Considering you lived and trained with other guys for months on end, you should have caught the attention of at least one, right?"

Hiashi and Neji both stopped and gave Hanabi stern, matching looks of reprimand for her words, but Hitomi and Tenten immediately laughed, while Usagi bleated on Hanabi's small shoulder and Kurama smirked.

Hinata, however, just flushed bright, bright red as her thoughts immediately turned to the certain blonde, spiky-haired hyperactive shinobi that she had grown to love with all her heart while she was away at war.

"H-Hanabi! What… What're you—"

"Oh, you are out of the meeting with the elders, Lady Hinata?"

The group turned. Standing behind them was the branch ninja that had been ordered to guard the main entrance to the estate. He was nodding politely to all of them, but his gaze was focused solely on Hinata. He clearly had something very important to say.

"Can we help you?" asked Tenten kindly.

The branch ninja nodded. "There is a visitor for Lady Hinata. He is waiting in the Entrance Hall to see her."

"Tell him to come back tomorrow," Hiashi ordered. "Hinata has only just come back today. She deserves to spend one day reconnecting with all of us."

Hinata was about to nod in agreement to her father's words, but before she could do so, the branch ninja went on.

"My apologies for contradicting you, Lord Hiashi, but Hinata might want to come and see this guest right away," he said bravely to the head of the clan. "The guest introduced himself as Naruto Namikaze, her squad Captain in the war. He said he has something important to give her."

Hinata's family all blinked before turning to look at her.

Kurama concealed an amused laugh with a distinct cough.

Usagi hopped up and down in joy.

Hinata's entire face flared a bright shade of red.

Naruto… Naruto had followed her home from the Imperial City… Why? She thought he was only interested in her as a mere friend, and nothing further. Why would he come all this way just for her? And what did this branch ninja mean when he said that Naruto had something important to give her?

"I… I'll s-see him immediately…" Hinata said slowly.

"Very well. This way, Lady Hinata."

With a polite nod and bow to her family and her two spirit friends, Hinata followed the branch ninja to the Entrance Hall of the compound at a snail's pace, her thoughts too jumbled and confused to give her the sense to try and walk any faster. The idea that Naruto had seemingly followed her home from the war was enough to make her head spin.

It wasn't until after she turned the corner in the hallway behind the branch ninja that Kurama flicked one of his many long tails back and forth to get everyone's attention.

"I'll be rejoining the other statues in the clan shrine if any of you need me," he declared, having seen too much of Hinata's fawning over the blonde idiot over the course of the war to be interested now. "Are you coming, Rabbit?"

Tiny Usagi bleated an affirmative. With one last nuzzle of her little furry face against Hanabi's cheek, she hopped down off the small girl's shoulder, and landed on top of the fox guardian's head. The orange fox growled, annoyed as usual with the rabbit using his head as a means of transportation, but for once he kept his mouth shut, and trotted off down the hall to the clan gardens without another word.

The humans left behind had to blink twice at the sudden disappearance of both Hinata leaving to meet her guest and the two animal spirits that had left them as soon as she was gone, but then Hanabi out of the blue started skipping down the hall in the direction that Hinata had gone in.

"Lady Hanabi? Where are you going?" Neji called out.

Hanabi giggled as she twirled around, a mischievous smile adorning her sweet face. "I'm going to see Big Sister's friend! It's not every day that a boy comes here asking for her! Who knows, maybe if he's handsome, I can be the Hyuuga representative in the next war! I want a cute husband someday, too, you know!"

And ignoring the looks of disbelief on the faces of her parents and two cousins, Hanabi spun back around, and continued skipping along down the hall.

Hiashi in particular had a stern look on his face. It was one thing accepting that his eldest daughter had gone against tradition by becoming the world's first female ninja, but it was an entirely different matter to learn that Hinata might already have a suitor from one of her army comrades, and it certainly didn't help his case that his youngest child thought that the whole idea was one big game. No man was going to so much as consider a courtship with either of his children before he met them first.

And with that thought in mind, Hiashi swept down the hall after his two daughters as quickly as he could on his crutch without uttering a single word.

Hitomi recognized the overprotective fatherly look on her husband's face before he left, and couldn't help but chuckle slightly in amusement before she turned to face her niece and nephew.

"We better go along, too. The gods only know that your uncle will probably scare that poor boy away without thinking twice about it should we not follow."

"I agree, Aunt Hitomi," said Tenten, giggling herself at the very notion. "Lor— I mean, Uncle Hiashi can be very frightening at times."

"It's a good thing he is, too," commented Neji, his eyes narrowed in displeasure at the very idea that Hinata had a visitor of the opposite gender. "Lady Hinata is not an ordinary girl. She is special. She deserves the very best in terms of marriage."

"You have yet to even meet him, Neji. Don't go judging someone before you have the chance to know them," his aunt gently reprimanded.

Neji bowed his head apologetically. "Yes, Aunt Hitomi. You are right. I apologize."

"Let us go and see this young man. Perhaps Hinata going away to war will have brought not only honor to this family, but a husband, too!"

Tenten laughed again as Neji's eyes grew colder at the very idea of that happening, and then the two of them followed Hitomi down the hall after the other members of their family.

---

Hinata was too flustered to speak as she followed the branch ninja down the many winding corridors of her childhood home. Could… Could she maybe be wrong? Was Naruto perhaps a common name? What if this was simply someone else who wanted to play a cruel prank on her? She was starting to get used to the idea that she did indeed matter in this world, but if this was someone's idea for a twisted practical joke… it wasn't like she didn't understand why they would do this to her. For years, she had considered herself to be a worthless failure. Just because she was trying to not see herself that way anymore didn't mean that other people in the village or even in her own clan had completely changed their opinion of her.

But when she at last followed the branch man into the compound's Entrance Hall, she was shocked to see that it really was Naruto, sitting down on a small chair and examining a beautiful painting of a lush forest as he waited to see her.

The branch ninja cleared his throat to get his attention, and Naruto immediately jolted in place before turning to look around. Upon seeing her there, standing shyly behind the cadet family member, he quickly leapt to his feet.

"Hinata!" he gasped, feeling more than a bit stupid upon realizing that he couldn't think up a single thing to say to her. "I… Uh… You… Hey!"

Hinata found herself blushing so hard, she was quite certain that she was as red as a ripe tomato. "N-Naruto…" she whispered, too nervous and shocked to say anything else as she stepped forward further into the room to see him better.

The branch ninja politely bowed to the shy princess before quietly taking his leave to resume his post at the entrance of the compound gates, but neither Hinata nor Naruto paid him any mind as he left. The two of them only had eyes for each other, and they stared at one another with bright red cheeks, both of them too embarrassed to be the one to break the awkward silence and be the first one to speak up.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his neck. "It's… It's good to see you, Hinata. I'm glad to see you made it home safe and sound," he said.

Hinata squeaked a bit from hearing those words, but she nonetheless nodded. "Thank… Thank you…" she whispered back.

More silence filled the air between them, neither of them able to find the words to express what they both wanted to say.

Naruto wanted to ask Hinata what she might possibly feel for him…

Hinata wanted to ask Naruto why he had come all the way here just to see her, when he had made it clear back at the party that he only saw her as a friend.

Both of them hesitantly opened their mouths to try and ask these questions, but neither of them got the opportunity to speak, because another voice suddenly cut through the air.

A child's voice, to be exact.

"Big Sister! Is that your boyfriend?!"

Hinata never knew she could squeak so loudly, but upon hearing those six words, she found herself blushing harder than she thought it was humanely possibly to do as she whirled around. Standing at the entrance to the room was dear little Hanabi, looking oh so mischievous what with that cheeky grin on her sweet face as she stared at her older sister standing in front of the handsome blonde stranger with the whisker-like scars on his cheeks.

Naruto was spluttering at the unknown little pre-teen girl standing a few feet away that had asked such an embarrassing question, but before he could say or do something — anything, really — Hinata was already turning away from him to run toward the small child with matching pearlescent eyes to hers.

"H-Hanabi! What… What're you—?!"

"He's really cute, Hinata! Sign me up for the next war, okay? I want someone who's just as handsome as he is for a husband one day when I'm older!"

Hinata's head was reeling from hearing her sweet and innocent sister talking like this, and before she could try and stop her, Hanabi was darting around her in order to run right up to Naruto and examine him from head-to-toe.

Naruto had never felt so bewildered in his life as he found himself being circled around by a little girl at least five or six years younger than he was. She was scrutinizing him from top to bottom, but at the same time appearing to be wonderstruck by the very appearance of him. Just what the hell was going on?

Finally, Hanabi came to a stop directly in front of him again with a satisfied look on her face, and she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "Hi there! My name is Hanabi! I'm Hinata's little sister! Are you going to be my new brother?!"

Naruto looked as though he had never been asked such a question before, and Hinata was just about ready to fall over in utter shock from the embarrassment she was experiencing. Hinata loved Hanabi to death, but why oh why did she have to say such a thing?! How would she ever be able to look Naruto in the eye again after this, let alone be able to say more than two words to him?!

"Hanabi! D-Don't go asking such a q-question to someone you… you only j-just met!" she spluttered, not even caring that she had fallen back into her old habit of stuttering after every couple of words due to how embarrassed she was.

Hanabi turned and cheekily stuck out her tongue at her. "Be quiet, Big Sis! I'm conducting a thorough interrogation of your boyfriend here!"

"B-Boyfriend?! I… I… I…"

"So tell me, sir! Did Hinata invite you to come down here to see all of us, or did you come on your accord? Have you fallen in love with my big sister yet, or do you merely have a crush on her so far? And do you—"

"That is enough, Hanabi. You are embarrassing your sister."

Hinata jumped and spun around. Standing behind her was their father, who was giving Hanabi a scolding look for her childish behavior, but Hiashi's eyes were locked solely on Naruto, seemingly appraising him on mere looks alone. He wasn't alone, either. Coming in from out of the hallway was their mother and Neji and Tenten. Hitomi appeared to be amused by the entire situation as she tried to conceal a small laugh behind one of her hands. Tenten was overall curious about their guest as she tried to peer around Hiashi to get a better look at Naruto, and Neji was moving to stand in front of Hinata like an overprotective big brother as he stared the blonde boy down. It didn't matter whether or not Hiashi ended up approving of their guest. Neji would not leave Hinata alone in Naruto's company should he find him dishonorable.

Hinata flushed as she saw the rest of the members of her family file into the room. She hadn't anticipated Naruto following her home from the war after that last conversation they had shared at the grand gala in the Imperial Palace the night before she left the city. If she hadn't foreseen this, how could she have ever imagined introducing the boy she had unrequited feelings for to her family?

She opened her mouth to say something — anything — but Hiashi was already moving past her on his crutch to all but loom menacingly over Naruto, who looked more than frightened to have caught the attention of such a stoic and imposing man.

"I am Hiashi Hyuuga, the head of the Hyuuga clan. I understand you are here to see Hinata, my eldest daughter. Who may I ask is calling for her?" he asked in a stern tone.

Naruto fought the urge to gulp. Forget Orochimaru and his band of Sound Ninjas. Hinata's father had to be the scariest man he ever met!

Remembering his manners, Naruto forced himself to bow before him and the other members of Hinata's family. "Hello, sir! I… I'm Naruto Namikaze, the new General of the Allied Shinobi Forces and the heir to— I mean, the new head of the Namikaze clan."

Hiashi raised a brow. "The new General of the army and head of the Namikaze clan in the Imperial City?" he repeated.

Naruto hastily nodded, trying to ignore the small bead of sweat that was running down his temple. "Y-Yes, sir. My… My father Minato was the previous clan head and General of the army, but he… well, he died during the war, so his responsibilities fall to me since I'm his only heir."

"Hmm…"

For a long moment, no one spoke as Hiashi continued to study Naruto and Naruto continued to sweat. Hinata had never realized she could become so nervous over a simple introduction. Did her father not like Naruto? Did he disapprove of him? Even in the one in a million chance that Naruto could ever like her a quarter of the amount that she liked him, if her father disapproved of him, there would definitely be no future for the two of them. Her father held the final word over her relationships.

Finally, Hitomi suddenly laughed, and the tense silence was broken.

"Honestly, Hiashi! You are scaring the poor boy! Whatever happened to offering a warm welcome to our guests?"

The woman, who was all but an older carbon copy of Hinata what with her beautiful indigo-colored hair, turned to face Naruto with a warm smile and a polite bow. "Please excuse us for this discourteous welcome, Lord Naruto. I am Lady Hitomi, Hinata's mother. You have already met my husband Hiashi and my second daughter Hanabi, and this is my nephew Neji and his wife Tenten, Hinata's cousins. If I remember correctly, you are the General that wrote to us about Hinata's delay in returning home."

This was the first time Hinata had learned this particular tidbit of information, but before she could say anything at all, Naruto was quickly bowing to the Hyuuga matriarch. "P-Pleased to meet you, Lady Hitomi!"

"The pleasure is all ours, Lord Naruto!" Tenten exclaimed with a bright smile. "You took care of Hinata during her time in the army! It is our honor to welcome you to our compound! Right, Neji?" she added as an afterthought, turning to face her husband.

"Yes, welcome," said the stern member of the branch family, his words oozing a sarcastic tone and his eyes just as sharp as his uncle's were. Just because his wife, aunt, and youngest cousin had taken a shining to Hinata's guest didn't mean he had to. He would be just as firm as Hiashi was when dealing with Naruto. After all, the blonde-haired shinobi had yet to earn his uncle's approval. Only if he managed to win Hiashi's approval would Neji consider giving Naruto a chance.

Naruto was immediately put off by Hinata's stern cousin. Whereas Hinata's pearlescent eyes made her look friendly and kind, Neji's eyes showed that he was not someone to be trifled with. If Naruto was remembering correctly, Hinata's male cousin was supposed to be some sort of prodigy in the art of the Gentle Fist. He made a mental note to never get on this man's bad side. The last thing he wanted was to have to fight at some point with the ninja standing before him.

Hinata decided to take this break in the conversation to cut in. "N-Naruto? You… You wrote to my family at some point?"

The hyperactive shinobi jumped at the suddenness of her words, but then realized what it was that she had asked him, and nervously chuckled. "Oh, yeah… I just figured that your family should know what happened to you during your fight with Orochimaru and that you were unconscious. I hope I didn't cross a line or something!" he quickly added.

Hinata's entire face flamed red as she vehemently shook her head. "Oh, no! N-No, no, no! Of course not! That was a nice thing you did! Thank you. I was just surprised to learn about it, that's all…"

"Thanks for sending us that letter, Lord Naruto! It was good to hear that Big Sis was okay! But you never answered any of my questions!" Hanabi piped, still bouncing about excitedly as she gazed up at Naruto. "Why'd you follow Hinata all the way here from the Imperial City? Are you in love with my big sister? Did you forget to ask her to marry you before she—"

Naruto's whole face became bright red, but he was mostly ignored compared to the way that Hinata, with a face as red as a cherry, flew forward in order to slap her hand over Hanabi's mouth, preventing her from speaking any further.

"That's enough, Hanabi! Please don't ask any more questions!" she begged.

Hanabi giggled behind her sister's hand. She didn't appear to be the slightest bit ashamed of her embarrassing questions.

"I beg of you to forgive my youngest daughter, Lord Naruto," said Lady Hitomi, a smile still on her face as she addressed their guest, but she was still shooting Hanabi a somewhat disapproving look out of the corner of her eye. "She's a bit immature, but she's truly sweet when you get to know her."

"Please, don't call me 'Lord' Naruto," Naruto abruptly said, trying to force himself to stop blushing as he spoke to Hinata's mother. "Just plain 'Naruto' is fine. I've only just gotten used to the idea that I'm in charge of everything now that my dad is gone, and I'm still not used to being called a 'lord' yet."

"Ah, I see. Well, we are all pleased to make your acquaintance, Naruto."

"Same here, Lady Hitomi!"

Naruto seemed to have gotten over the brunt of his nerves while speaking to Hitomi, and had no trouble flashing the woman a genuine smile as he casually extended pleasantries. He was trying his best to sound formal, but he just had this casual charm about him that made people like him regardless of his lack of formality. Hinata couldn't help but smile herself when she saw him grinning, and let go of her grip on Hanabi in order to give him her full and undivided attention. Naruto's smile was infectious. One smile from him was enough to make her smile all day.

Hiashi noticed the glowing smile suddenly spreading across his eldest child's face. In the past, Hinata had never smiled like this before. It appeared as though Hanabi wasn't too far off the mark with her nosy questions.

"It is getting late," Hiashi suddenly declared. "Would you care to join us for dinner?"

Everyone blinked twice at the invitation, especially Hinata. She wasn't entirely sure that she had heard him correctly. Her stoic father was inviting Naruto to have dinner with all of them? Her mother extending the invitation she would understand, but her father? Was this his way of trying to test him further?

"Uncle, I thought we were going to have a quiet family dinner tonight," Neji protested, trying to keep his words polite and not rude considering that they were all still in Naruto's company.

"I think it's a grand idea!" Tenten exclaimed, her response the exact opposite of her husband's as she kept on smiling at Naruto. "It would be nice to get to know you better, Lor— I mean, just plain Naruto!"

"Yeah! I have more questions to ask you, Future Brother!" piped Hanabi.

Both Naruto and Hinata's faces flared scarlet again.

"Hanabi! Enough! No more making outrageous statements like that!" Hitomi said sharply.

"Sorry, Mother…" the little girl said apologetically.

Hitomi nodded in approval, and then faced Naruto again. "Please, join all of us for dinner, Naruto," she said. "We would all be very interested to hear Hinata's story from a fresh set of eyes."

Naruto bit his lower lip nervously, and then turned to face Hinata. "Is… Is this okay with you, Hinata?" he asked.

Hinata shyly nodded. "Yes… Yes, you should join us for dinner," she whispered.

Naruto smiled wholeheartedly again. "Okay then, Lord Hiashi, Lady Hitomi! I'll accept your offer! I'd love to join you for dinner!"

Hinata blushed even harder. Naruto was going to join her family for dinner! Never had she imagined that she would one day share dinner with Naruto while at the same table as the rest of her family. Oh, this would most certainly be one of the most awkward dinners of her entire life, taking a place right on the same list as the night her father decided to be the Hyuuga representative in the war, and when she had had dinner with all the ladies in the Kage royalty.

"Wonderful! Come with me, Big Sis!" Hanabi suddenly chirped, lunging forward in order to seize hold of Hinata's arm. "You come along, too, Tenten! We gotta get Hinata looking nice for dinner with her future husband!"

Hinata started sputtering in disbelief as she tried to avoid making eye contact with Naruto. Why did Hanabi insist on saying these embarrassing things?!

"Hanabi! P-Please! Don't say things like—"

"Excellent idea, Hanabi!" Tenten interrupted, grabbing hold of Hinata's other arm. "We'll see you all at dinner then, everyone! Especially you, Naruto! We all look forward to getting to know you better!"

And before anyone could say anything else, Tenten and Hanabi whisked Hinata right out of the Entrance Hall and back in the direction of her bedroom as the shy girl peeked over her shoulder at the red face of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed ninja she loved so much.

---

After her sister and cousin-in-law had helped Hinata to change out of her father's flak jacket and Neji's baggy ninja apparel and into a somewhat dressier than usual light purple kimono with a dark purple obi, they had all joined her parents, Neji, and Naruto in the formal dining room for when the family had guests for dinner. The three had bowed politely to the four who had been waiting for them before taking their seats in the beautifully crafted dark wooded chairs around the long, matching dining room table, and then the branch family members came into the room from the kitchen, laden with the dishes they had prepared, and everyone began to eat.

As the meal commenced, Hanabi jabbered away more questions at Naruto all about Hinata, and to the older girl's immense relief, her questions were more about the war itself this time and not about anything embarrassing. Her little sister wanted to know everything that she had done while she was away. Was she a pro at training right from the start? Was she a klutz on the warfront like she had always known her to be? What was the avalanche like that she had set off? Did she really destroy the entire Sound army with only one kunai?

Naruto happily answered her questions one at a time as he ate his meal, and even when Neji, Tenten, or Hitomi added in their own questions occasionally, he was pleased to explain Hinata's actions in the war from his perspective. Neji was slowly thawing from his cold exterior as he saw that Naruto really did seem to be a nice guy, and Tenten and Hitomi had already seemed to like him from the moment they spied him in the Entrance Hall. Naruto just had this aura that drew others to him simply by being himself.

Hiashi on the other hand was more curious about Naruto himself, and asked questions regarding Naruto's family and clan. These questions Naruto had more trouble answering. For one, he was nervous of messing up his chances at Hiashi liking him, and although he didn't brag, he did want to make a good first impression on Hinata's father. The other problem was that he was reluctant to talk too much about his parents. It was difficult to talk about his father since he was still mourning him and it pained him to talk too much about him still, while his mother's past he just tried to skim over. The last thing the hyperactive boy wanted was for Hinata's family to judge him or his mother simply because they were descendants of a clan that had double-crossed the country years ago.

Thankfully, Hiashi seemed to only breeze over these facts, and eventually he too began asking questions about Hinata's time in the war just like the rest of the family. Apparently he was satisfied with the little Naruto had told all of them about himself and his family.

Hinata spoke only when necessary over the course of the entire meal. She was too nervous to speak too much. Her mother, sister, and cousins seemed to like Naruto, but she had no idea what her father thought of him. Did he like Naruto? Did he not? What could he possibly be thinking? Surely he liked him a little bit, right? He wouldn't have invited Naruto to join them for dinner if he didn't…

Just as the plates were being cleared away and the branch members were inquiring if anyone was interested in having dessert, Hanabi piped up again.

"So Naruto, why exactly did you come all this way from the Imperial City just to talk to Hinata?" she asked. "The branch ninja that announced your arrival said you had something you wanted to give her! Where is it?"

Hanabi's innocent question about the reason for Naruto's unannounced visit was something everyone at the table, including Hinata, had all but forgotten about, and they all immediately turned to Naruto expectantly.

"Yes, why exactly have you come all this way to see my eldest daughter?" Hiashi inquired, his eyes cool and inquisitive as he studied the shinobi sitting a few seats away from him.

Naruto's cheeks tinged red, but he still managed to find his voice and speak clearly. "Well, someone had to return Hinata's scarf to her! I volunteered!"

Hinata froze. "My… My scarf…?" she repeated, her words no louder than a tentative whisper.

Naruto nodded, and then bent down in his chair to collect the bag of supplies he had brought with him from the Imperial City that he had left by the legs of his chair. He rummaged about inside it for a few moments, but then pulled out the familiar red wool garment that Hinata had treasured ever since she was but a very small child.

"You left this behind in the guest room in the palace back in the Imperial City. I know how important it is to you, so… so I knew I had to come and give it back to you in person…"

Hinata couldn't move as she stared at the simple item Naruto was carefully holding in his hands. She had left her scarf behind in the city because she had wanted to move on from Naruto. Taking it home with her would have only made it harder for her to get over the heartbreak the blonde boy sitting in front of her had unintentionally caused. It was second nature to Naruto to be kind to others, but just looking at the red wool scarf he had given her back when they were children was causing her unimaginable heartache once again.

Still though, Naruto didn't know how she felt. He had come all this way out of the goodness of his heart as a dear friend. It would be undeniably rude of her not to accept the scarf and thank him for bringing it home for her.

"T-Thank you, Naruto," she said, gently taking the scarf from him and holding it gingerly in her hands. She was unwilling to say anything else, though, and quickly took a sip from her cup of tea. Telling him she hadn't realized that she had forgotten it back in the city would be a lie, after all.

Hanabi blinked curiously when she saw the seemingly ordinary piece of clothing, but then a thought occurred to her, and her pearlescent eyes twinkled. "A red scarf! That's so cool! It's kind of like the red string of fate between the two of you! Right, Hinata?"

Of all the embarrassing things Hanabi could have said, she said that — the one thing that could have ever made Hinata literally start choking on her tea in complete disbelief and embarrassment.

She wasn't the only one who was mortified by Hanabi's words. Naruto's entire face flamed red again, and her mother looked as though she had never realized what a troublemaker Hanabi could actually be if she put her mind to it.

"Hanabi!" Hitomi exclaimed, sounding utterly dumbstruck by what her youngest daughter had just said.

"What, Mother? I was just making a comment!"

"Nonetheless, Hanabi! There are certain things that you do not say—"

"N-Naruto! Would you b-be interested in seeing the c-clan gardens?!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed as she all but leapt to her feet, too embarrassed by the direction in which this conversation was taking to stay in here any longer. She didn't care how much she was stuttering as she spoke. She needed to get herself and Naruto out of here right now.

Naruto himself was pretty sure he looked like how Hinata generally looked on a daily basis what with how hard he was currently blushing. Was being this embarrassed by simple conversation how Hinata had felt everyday while she was pretending to be 'Hiro' Hyuuga in the army? No wonder she was always anxious to have time to herself every now and then. He quickly nodded to her flustered question, also anxious to get out of here right away.

"Yeah, s-sure! That… That sounds great, Hinata!" he said at once.

"Okay, then! F-Follow me please!"

As the mismatched couple stood up from their places at the table, they both bowed respectfully to Hiashi and Hitomi.

"I… I will speak with both of you again later, Mother, F-Father…"

"Thank you for dinner, Lord Hiashi, Lady Hitomi! It… It was very nice!"

And with that being said, Hinata seized hold of Naruto's hand with the hand not still clutching her precious red scarf close to her chest, and then literally dragged the boy behind her out of the room with a scarlet face.

As soon as they were both gone, Tenten lightly giggled. "Well, they do seem to be a perfect couple, don't they?" she commented. "They both seem to get overly embarrassed quite easily."

Neji scowled. "Please do not joke around like that, Tenten," he asked. "It is hard enough to accept the fact that Lady Hinata is an accomplished warrior now. Adding a man into the mix is difficult for me to wrap my head around."

"Oh, lay off it, Neji!" Hanabi chirped, flashing a beaming smile at her older male cousin. "Hinata deserves a bit of happiness in her life! And Tenten is right! They really are a perfect match! Where Big Sis is calm and quiet and shy, that Naruto seems hyperactive and loud and upbeat! It's an opposites-attract couple! Like I said before, that red scarf is like the red string of fate between the two of them!"

"Hanabi, just because you think those things doesn't mean you should go ahead and say them out loud," Hitomi gently reprimanded. "You embarrassed both your sister and our guest."

"Okay, okay. I'll remember that in the future."

There was a momentary pause, but then the small girl jumped up from her chair, and started hurrying toward the door leading out to the hall.

"Hold it, Hanabi. Just where are you going?" said Hiashi.

"I'm going to see what happens between Hinata and Naruto! Don't worry! I won't say anything to distract them or embarrass them this time! I'm just going to watch them!"

And with that, the small girl skipped merrily out of the room in the direction of the clan gardens.

---

Hinata's mind was reeling as she led Naruto into the clan gardens. Now she knew exactly how Naruto felt when she met his mother back at the gala the night before she left the Imperial City. Her family seemed to like Naruto well enough, but she was quite embarrassed by what they had said while in his company. She was especially embarrassed by Hanabi. She had always known that Hanabi was a bit of a stinker, but to go ahead and ask Naruto whether or not he was going to be her new brother by marrying Hinata and saying that the red scarf that he had returned to her was like the red string of fate that intertwined their destinies together… she had thought for a moment that she was about to faint from shock. She only prayed that Naruto didn't think poorly of her now after hearing everything that had come out of Hanabi's mouth.

It wasn't until they were deep in the clan gardens and out of sight of anyone who might be watching them from the windows of the main house did she finally stop walking as she released her grip on Naruto's hand, and turn to face him with tinted pink cheeks.

"I… I'm s-so sorry for all the things my sister said, Naruto…" she said shyly, her face growing hotter and hotter with every passing second. "Hanabi has always been outspoken and childish, but I never thought she would say things like that to you…"

"It's okay, really," Naruto insisted, but judging from the redness in his own cheeks, he was just as embarrassed as she was about everything that had just happened. "I'm sure siblings do crazy stuff like that sometimes… It was actually pretty funny, to be honest!"

"Oh… okay, then."

The two were silent for a time as they walked further into the gardens side by side, enjoying the early evening air as fireflies started twinkling in the darkness. There was a lot that they needed to talk about, they both knew, but neither of them had the guts to be the first one to speak up and begin that awkward conversation. The longer that dreaded talk was put off, the better.

They eventually came to Hinata's favorite spot in the clan gardens, the marble bench underneath the cherry blossom tree that Hinata had sat under several months ago while her family tried to cheer her up from her failure with Lady Anko. Hinata quietly took a seat on one end of the bench while carefully arranging her red scarf neatly on her lap as Naruto sat down beside her on the other end. The pinkness in the petals covering their heads was just beginning to fade away. Pretty soon, the flowers would all turn pure white for a time before they too died away, but right now, the cherry blossom tree was still in its prime form as it flowered with beautiful pink petals. Hinata couldn't help but feel lucky that she got to see the tree as it was one last time this year before all the pretty pink blossoms died away to pure white.

For a little while, neither of them spoke. They just sat there in awkward silence as they watched the fireflies dance about over the watery surface of the garden pond. The tension was so thick, it was all but unbearable, and eventually, Hinata couldn't stand it any further and literally forced herself to speak.

"Why did you come here, Naruto? It wasn't just to return my scarf. You… You could have mailed it back here if you were so worried about it…"

Hinata's whispered words seemed to echo in the calm stillness of the evening air, and it was a long time before Naruto found the resolve to respond.

"You invited me, remember? You said it yourself back at the party. I was always welcome here."

"B-But you said that you wouldn't come by and visit for at least a few more months. You said you would be too busy with… with your n-new duties as the new General and as the head of your clan."

"I made some arrangements with Sasuke and Gaara to take over my duties as General for a few weeks as I swung by. As for the stuff with my clan… the elders weren't too happy with me, I'll give you that. They're temporarily running everything while I'm gone."

"You're still n-not answering my question, though. Why did you bring my scarf back? I… I need to know…"

Hinata needed a direct answer out of Naruto. Why did he come all this way just to give her scarf back to her? She didn't know what his answer would be, but a part of her that still loved him was desperately hoping he would say that it was because he had grown to like her as more than simply a friend. Deep down, though, she knew that was simply wishful thinking. Naruto had made it clear that night at the party in the Imperial Palace that he only saw her as a friend, and nothing further. It was silly of her to think that his feelings would have changed during the short time between then and now.

But Naruto needed direct answers of his own out of Hinata. He didn't follow her here all the way from his home in the Imperial City to not receive any type of indication of what Hinata felt for him in return. He'd answer her question in a minute. He had questions of his own that he needed answered, first.

"Well, why'd you leave it behind in the first place?"

Hinata blinked at the unexpected question, and she quickly turned to face Naruto with a surprised look on her face.

"P-Pardon?"

"Why'd you leave it behind in the Imperial City, Hinata? If… If it had been any other item in your knapsack, I would have considered your leaving it behind to be an accident, but you left the scarf behind. I gave that to you as a present back when we were kids. Why'd you leave it behind?"

Hinata was silent for a moment as she considered how to answer him, and her eyes were downcast and sad as she stared down at the red scarf on her lap. She wasn't one to be frank about her feelings, but what was the point in hiding the truth about this from him? It didn't matter anyways in the end. Naruto didn't share her feelings. If she really wanted to move on from him, perhaps the best course of action was to just be honest with Naruto over how she felt about him and then let him politely reject her… knowingly this time. When he rejected her back in the Imperial City, it was obvious that he didn't understand what it was she was talking about. Letting him properly reject her confession was probably the only way she would ever be able to move on from him and find someone else to fall in love with again one day.

"Because… Because when I first received it as a child, I considered the boy who gave it to me to be my f-first love… And that same boy rejected me back in the Imperial City. I thought… I thought it would help me to move on if I left it there for that boy to find…"

For the longest time, Naruto did not say anything. He just stared at Hinata in awe upon hearing her words, not that Hinata noticed. She was oblivious to his expression, and continued to stare sadly at her lap.

"I know I'm silly to still hold onto a childhood crush, b-but you made an impression on me that day when we met as children, Naruto. You were… You were so kind to me, and you didn't care that I was quiet and shy. I kept your scarf so that I would never forget you, so I would n-never forget the little boy who had saved me from bullies… When we first met again that day of the fight at the training camp, I remember thinking that you reminded me of that boy, but I wasn't entirely sure. You do look a little different now with those whisker-like scars on your face, so… so I tried not to compare the two of you together, but as t-time went by and we got to know each other over the course of training, I started to like you for entirely different reasons. You're always so kind and brave, and you have no trouble saying exactly what you feel. And that day when we were h-heading up to the front lines and you told me that you were looking for the girl you had given your scarf to back when you were a kid, I realized that you were the same boy from back when I child. I… I was so happy… I wanted to tell you the truth about who I was right then and there, I swear— but I w-was afraid… I was afraid of what you would do if you found out the truth of my gender… Not that it matters at all anymore. I k-know you only see me as a friend, Naruto, and I'm okay with that. You don't have to make me feel better by saying anything right now. I'll get over this in time, I'm sure. I just don't want this t-to end our friendship…"

More silence reigned between the two of them, and the longer that it stretched on, the more depressed Hinata became. Why wasn't Naruto saying anything? She was sure he was shocked to know how she secretly felt about him, but couldn't he at least reject her heartfelt confession politely? Just a simple, 'I'm flattered to hear that, but I'm afraid I don't feel the same way,' would suffice. Just a polite refusal, that's all she wanted. It was what she needed to hear in order to try and move on.

"For someone who is usually so shy and quiet, you sure do talk a lot. Who said I ever intended to reject you back at the palace?"

Those were the last words Hinata ever expected to hear right then, and her head snapped up in utter shock. She quickly turned her head to calmly ask Naruto to please repeat himself, but she never got the chance.

The second her head turned to face him, his lips captured hers in an innocent, tender kiss.

On the contrary to what people believed of him, Naruto did have a few brain cells in his head. Upon hearing everything that Hinata had just told him, he knew that he needed her to know that he felt something for her in the same way that she felt something for him. The trouble was, he wasn't too good with words, and he knew that he would never be able to verbally express what he felt to Hinata in a way that she would understand.

So, he did the next best thing.

He showed her exactly how he felt.

He liked her. He liked her a lot.

Hinata's heart was hammering so hard in her chest, she was surprised that she hadn't already gone into an anxiety-induced cardiac arrest. Her mind was a big, jumbled mess of thoughts. Naruto was kissing her. He was actually kissing her… The very thought was enough to make her cheeks burn red hot under the tender touch of his rough, calloused hands. Before she left to join the war, she had had childish fantasies about loving Naruto, the sweet boy who had given her his scarf back when they were both children. He had been a bit of an idolized idea of love, but he had still been a nice dream. Now, after actually getting to know him during their time in the Allied Shinobi Forces, she knew what true love felt like, and those warm, tender feelings were welling up inside her, bursting with joy. She was too surprised and nervous to kiss him back, but she did allow herself to enjoy the feeling of his lips pressed on hers. She never wanted this moment to end. If she were to die right now, she would die a very happy woman.

Eventually, Naruto pulled himself away from her, and he saw that Hinata was flushing so hard, her entire face was on the verge of turning a permanent shade of crimson red. Not that he was any different. The blonde boy was quite sure that if he were to look in a mirror right now, he would look just the same as her. His whole face felt like it was on fire.

"I never meant to make you think that I was rejecting you back at the party, Hinata. I just misunderstood what you were asking me… I like you, too! I want to see you as often as I can once I get the hang of running the army and running my clan!"

Hinata didn't know at what point she had fallen asleep, but that was the only logical explanation in her mind as to what was currently happening. Naruto… Naruto liked her. She had only dared to hope in her dreams that he would ever say something like that to her…

It was all too much for the shy, innocent Hyuuga princess, and her eyes rolled up in the back of her head as she lost all consciousness.

---

"Oh, yeah! Way to go, Big Sis!" Hanabi quietly cheered from her hiding spot in the clan shrine as she watched Hinata and Naruto kiss. "You've got that guy right under your thumb!"

Usagi squeaked and hopped up and down in joy, but Kurama just rolled his eyes as he watched. When Hanabi had quietly sneaked in here and explained to the two of them that she was spying on her sister and the blonde idiot, Usagi was more than happy to join her summoner in watching her mistress's alone time with the boy she had fallen in love with during her time away from home, but Kurama had been reluctant to watch. Human courtship rituals had never once caught his interest in the past, so why should it now? In his opinion, humans took far too long in their courtships. They should just mate and be done with it. That's how it was for foxes. All very straightforward. Why couldn't humans be the same way? That didn't stop Hanabi, though. Stubbornness ran in the family, it seemed to Kurama, as it was evident by the way the little girl had all but dragged him off his old pedestal to watch. She wasn't one to take 'no' for an answer.

Hanabi held the orange fox securely in her arms as she watched Naruto slowly end the kiss between himself and Hinata, and she couldn't help but smile even wider.

"I'm happy for her, you know?" she exclaimed quite suddenly. "Hinata has always been such a good person, it's high time that she got something in return for always being so kind!"

Usagi made a small squeak of agreement from her viewing point on top of Hanabi's shoulder, but Kurama just huffed in annoyance.

"Tell me again why this is my problem?" he demanded. "Your sister's love life is of very little interest to me."

"Because you're Big Sis's guardian, silly!" Hanabi giggled uncontrollably. "You're her friend, that means her business is your business, but more importantly, that means that from now on, you and little Usagi here are my accomplices in crime! Whenever that guy comes around to visit Hinata, the three of us are always going to get together to spy on them!"

"What?! What the hell for?"

"Because it's boring to spy on an older sibling all alone! I love Neji and Tenten to death, but they're both too old to partake in spying like me! From now on, you two are going to be my friends just as much as they and Hinata are! I don't have too many friends outside of the clan, so I don't care how rude you are, Kurama! You're my friend from now on just as you are Hinata's friend!"

Usagi bleated again in joy, but Kurama actively groaned. It was bad enough being the guardian for a girl who was so shy and had such low self-esteem issues, but being the babysitter to her hyperactive, somewhat bratty little sister? Everyone had a set of standards that they lived by — even spirits and guardians, and this was finally the point where he put his paw down and lived by those standards!

"Now see here, you little brat! I most certainly am not going to be—"

He was cut off when all three of them saw Hinata suddenly faint from embarrassment right into Naruto's arms.

They all watched as the goofy smile on the blonde idiot's face quickly morphed into a panicked expression.

"Hinata?! Hinata?! Oh! Oh, sweet crap! What's wrong?! Are you breathing?! Please don't be dead! What happened?! Oh… Oh, god! I gotta get you back to the main house somehow!"

Despite witnessing Hinata faint and Naruto panic at being the cause of it, Hanabi simply burst out laughing.

"Oh, silly Hinata! I haven't seen her lose consciousness like that in years!" she exclaimed.

Usagi tilted her head to the side curiously while Kurama gave her a quizzical look.

"This has happened before?"

The little girl giggled in reply. "Of course it has! I remember when I was little Hinata would faint all the time when she got too embarrassed! I thought she outgrew the habit! She must really like Naruto if she fainted like that after a kiss! She's too shy for her own good!"

There was a momentary pause while Hanabi watched as Naruto struggled to try and readjust her older sister's limp body so that he could try and carry her bridal style back to the main house. But then the small child gently picked up Usagi from where she was perched on her shoulder, and set her down gently on the ground.

"I better go help them. Naruto looks so overwhelmed that he might faint next! I'll see you both later, Kurama, Usagi! We'll play more then!"

And with that, the dark-haired child scurried out of the shrine and down the stone steps in order to rush over and help the blonde in moving her sister back inside.

Kurama sighed as soon as she was gone. "Damn, that girl! I thought Hinata herself was a pain, but now we have to deal with her stupid little sister? Geez… what is this world coming to?!"

Usagi made an indignant squeak at his words. She was loyal to her summoner just as she was loyal to her mistress. If Kurama thought he could get away with badmouthing either of the two sisters while in her presence, he was sorely mistaken!

"Oh, knock it off, Rabbit! I mean the kid no ill will! I'm just tired of dealing with humans in general. The point is, it's all over now! The woman is finally a hero, you're the new family awakener, and I've got my old job and powers back. Everything is finally as it should be."

More squeaking resumed.

"What do you mean, there might be another adventure?!"

Bleat. Bleat. Squeak. Squeak.

"Damn it! Don't go making any predictions about the future, you overgrown fur ball! You don't have that power! Nothing is set in stone yet! And even if it was, you can bet your bottom dollar that I won't be involved! I'm done with wars and fighting for at least another few decades!"

More angry squeaking.

"What?! You wanna fight?! Let's go!"

As the fox guardian and the little rabbit spirit companion wrestled each other on the floor of the shrine, the evening light faded away completely so that the stars in the sky twinkled about merrily. Kurama was right about one thing. Nobody knew anything about the future. Who knew what the fates still had in store for the Hyuuga clan.

But in particular, for one misfit Hyuuga heiress.

At this point, only one thing was for certain.

Hinata Hyuuga was not born to be ordinary.

The gods had great plans for her.

Oh, yes. Very great plans indeed…