"G-get out of my closet, Hanabi-chan," Hinata said as she ushered her older cousin into her bedroom and shut the door. "If you wanted to listen, you c-could have just asked."

Hanabi emerged from her sister's closet, looking as casual as anything. "But, Ane-chan, you would have said no!"

Neji gave Hanabi a look. "You know she would have then let you listen anyway."

"Ha, yeah," the youngest Hyuuga laughed, perching on Hinata's bed. "So, Hinata-chan, spill it."

Hinata sighed heavily, shaking her head, and settled on her desk chair. "Neji-nii-san, Uchiha-san t-told me you spoke with him today."

"I did," Neji said curtly.

"And he said that you f-forced him to eat lunch with Ino-chan?"

"I merely suggested an alternative to canceling their luncheon, which Ino found agreeable."

Hinata nodded, then said, "Uchiha-san also said that you t-told him I said he was a s-selfish bastard."

Neji looked away, almost sheepish, "I did tell him those were my words."

"Neji-nii-san," Hinata sighed again, "you have obviously f-figured out my... arrangement with Uchiha-san." Neji looked at her, but said nothing; Hinata met his gaze evenly.

"Arrangement? That sounds juicy," Hanabi said eagerly. "Do tell!"

Ignoring her sister, Hinata addressed Neji, "I would prefer if y-you left it to me, Neji-nii-san. Uchiha-kun called me a b-bitch," her voice caught on the word, "for 'siccing' you on him."

Neji and Hanabi froze.

"He did what?" Neji asked, voice dangerous. "He called you a what?"

"I'll kill him!" Hanabi cried, jumping up on her older sister's bed. "The only one allowed to call Hinata-chan a bitch is me, and I would never do that to my Ane-chan!"

Hinata felt like she was doing a lot of sighing that night as she sighed once again. "Hush, Imouto-chan. K-killing him would be a bit much. He only called me- called me that- because he felt p-powerless."

Neji looked thoughtful. "She has a point, though. Revenge would be an excellent way to exercise your control over him."

"You're controlling Uchiha?" Hanabi asked excitedly.

"I'm... blackmailing him. S-so, yes," Hinata admitted quietly.

"Woah, blackmail?" Hanabi's eyes were shining. "Ane-chan is a boss ass bitch!"

"I thought you could never call Hinata a bitch," Neji teased, lounging against the wall.

Hanabi stuck out her tongue, "Well, not like that, but this is different!"

Hinata smiled wryly at her sister, "Thanks, Imouto-chan, but I don't feel like the boss most of the time."

"Well, Neji's right, then!" Hanabi leaned into her sister's space. "Get some revenge and show him who's in charge!"

"I-I don't know," Hinata said, backing up into her desk. "Being called a b-bitch doesn't seem like a good enough reason t-to get revenge..."

Neji looked at Hinata cooly. "Blackmail isn't about reason, Hinata-sama, it's about control. The Uchiha was testing the limits today, now is the time to strike back and reinforce your control. If you wait too long, your revenge won't have the desired effect of keeping him in line. After all," he smirked, "goldfish only have a memory of 3 seconds."

"But what c-could I even do to him?" Hinata asked, stifling a giggle.

Hanabi looked thoughtful, "What is it that this Uchiha bastard hates the most?"

"Being friendly?" Hinata said quite seriously and Neji snorted.

"That's true," he laughed, "all you have to do is make him be friendly to people he hates."

Hinata frowned, "But I'm a-already doing that with the blackmail."

"But only at school," Neji chimed in. "Put him in a situation where he has to be nice all day."

"A-all day?" Hinata asked wonderingly; then, with an almost devious smile blossoming on her face, "All day!"

Satisfied that her older sister would actually exact some sort of revenge on Sasuke, Hanabi asked, "What are you even blackmailing him for, Ane-chan?"

Hinata sighed, and, after a moment, said, "He was the p-peeper."

Neji bristled, looking like killing Sasuke wasn't such a bad idea anymore.

Hanabi gasped. "Drag him, Hinata-chan!"

"Man, 'Nata-chan, we haven't had lunch together in forever!" Kiba howled as he settled with Hinata and Shino under a tree in the school courtyard.

"I'm sorry, Kiba-kun," Hinata said, arranging her skirt around her. "I f-feel like I've neglected you and Shino-kun." She looked at them apologetically, but in truth, Hinata had been avoiding lunch with them ever since Sai had told her about Kiba's lunchtime boners. She really did not want to see that, but today she was going to take the risk.

"It's okay, Hinata-chan," Shino said. "It's not like we never see you."

"Just almost never," Kiba whined. "At least you still text me."

"If you call sending Hinata and me pictures of dogs with inane captions, 'texting'," Shino said flatly.

Hinata giggled- it was just like old times. She was glad to know that Kiba and Shino would always accept her friendship.

"I find the dog p-pictures charming," Hinata offered, and Kiba rewarded her with a wide, toothy smile. "Kiba-kun, would you like to g-go to the amusement park this weekend? I'm going with Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Naruto-kun and Uchiha-san, I was hoping you c-could come, too."

"Sure, 'Nata-chan, that sounds like fun, but aren't you going to ask Shino, too?" Kiba looked confused, tilting his head to one side.

Hinata looked from Shino to Kiba, blushing. "T-truthfully, I'm inviting the people Uchiha-san hates the most. Uchiha-san said h-hurtful things to me, and I'm trying to get revenge by surrounding him with the people he finds most annoying, n-no offense."

Shino's sunglasses slid down his nose as he looked at her with wide eyes.

Kiba barked with laughter, "That's great! I will gladly annoy Uchiha for you, 'Nata-chan, he's such a prick!"

"It seems being friends with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan is helping to improve your confidence," Shino observed. "I'm really proud of you."

Hinata ducked her head bashfully, "I knew I could count on you guys."

Author's Note: Dear readers, thank you so much for your continued support! I've really loved reading all of the reviews you've written for me these past couple of chapters! I appreciate them with all my heart! I know today's chapter is both a week late and really short, but I moved last weekend (when the chapter was supposed to go up) and I'm starting a new job tomorrow, so I didn't have a lot of time to write! I hope this cleared up Neji's role in the last chapter. Also, there was a question in the reviews: are the characters supposed to be speaking Japanese or English? Well, dear readers, in this AU, Konoha is a small town in modern Japan, so they are speaking Japanese. I mentioned Sasuke saying the word "sempai" felt weird in his mouth, that is because he'd never used the term before. Please continue to support and review A Good, Good Year!

The next chapter should be up on August 21!