It was the year of the ape. It was the summer, where Hinata just turned three years old. It was a warm night, filled with fireflies that milled through the air of the Hyuuga compound. The garden was spacious and inhabited a pond, which harboured the perfect living conditions for the glowing insects. Hinata sat on the wooden flooring which surrounded the garden. Although it was magnificent, she wished it was less traditional. There was not a lot of vegetation around. On the one side was a big cherry tree, but its time to bloom had already expired and at the moment there were only some wild sea roses blooming and some lilies in the opposite corner from it. Neji-nii-san was running around on naked feet oblivious to the stitching stones that covert the grounds. He was trying to catch some fireflies with his bare hands.

"It's good training to make me faster, Hinata-sama" he said a bit breathless, but Hinata was sure he only did it because he was fascinated by the glowing, colourful insects.

The fireflies twitched around in the air like little shooting stars.

Hinata's lilac eyes turned towards the darkening sky. It was a clear night, so the twinkling stars above were reflected in the pond. And there! A single shooting star passed by. A selfish wish flickered through Hinata's mind. She was relieved that no one cared to read her thoughts.

"Look" Neji held a firefly out in his hand to show her. The glistening wings were reflected in his steely violet eyes. He would later hold this memory dearly as it was drilled into his innocent mind as the border between being a child and being a shinobi.

"It's beautiful" Hinata uttered. "So shiny." She didn't mean the firefly. She looked at her cousins huge vivid eyes, that seemed to gain their life purely by the glowing fireflies glistening in them. His eyes mirrored also the stars, which made them even prettier. Did hers also look like that? She didn't dare to ask her cousin. Instead she looked up to the stars again. She didn't know any of the constellations but she had been shown the milky way

"You know, Hinata-sama. They say that the dead become stars in the sky." Neji-nii-san's voice was a bare whisper. He had followed her gaze into the sky.

"A lot of people must have died by the looks of it" he continued light-heartedly. "But they are still there and watching over us. Every shinobi knows, that that is their destiny. After they died they watch over the following generation and guide their way with their light."

"That sounds like a nice story, Nii-san."

"It's not a story! It's the truth and it will be my destiny as well, when I will protect you one day!" Neji smiled.

"Thank you, Nii-san." When Hinata took his hand, the firefly he had caught used the opportunity to escape his sweaty sticky hands. For a second, Neji wanted to shout at her, but then he saw the glistening milky way in her eyes as she still gazed into the sky. It had not been her intention to set the firefly free. Anyway, he could catch another one, anytime he wanted to.

The next day, Hinata had already forgotten about the solemn swear that Neji had made the night before. She was only three years old.

The day was filled with helping her mother around the house, Taijutsu training with her dad and a bathe. Clothed and smelling like a bouquet of daisies, she waited at the window for dinnertime. Waiting for the next command from the adults in her household was a fundamental rule of Hyuuga upbringing. Therefore being alone was nothing out of the extraordinary.

Hinata could see other children passing by probably on their way to the nearby playground. There was a girl with leaf green eyes and cherry blossom hair, that was pulled along from another small giggling girl. A boy with warm ember eyes ran behind them with a dog in tow. In a short distance behind them, two boys followed. They both had eyes like roasted chestnuts. One of them was bit taller than the other children, the other one a bit plumper.

Trailing them all was a small boy, that had the most extraordinary eyes Hinata had ever seen. She didn't think, that anyone else in the entire village had eyes like this. They were awake like a humming bird with the colour of the river kingfisher that sometimes sunbathed on the Hyuugas' cherry tree. He tried to catch up with them, but although pleading for the others to wait for him, they wouldn't stop. She wanted to shout out to him. "Come here, I am alone too, you can play with me!" But she never had shouted before.

The hummingbird boy didn't notice her. None of the children looked up to her.

Again, she wished she didn't have these lavender eyes that singled her out. If she could just have been braver and followed them.

At least I have Nii-san. Even though I cannot play with the other children, I am not all alone, Hinata thought to herself.

And that was indeed true, until the very next evening, when Neji got told that his dad had passed away. Hinata found him in the unlit garden seemingly frozen to the spot. She couldn't see his expression, because his face was concealed by the shadows of the house. He seemed to stare into the pond, which again reflected some stars from above. There were no fireflies in the air that night.

"Neji-nii-san. I am sorry... But... look. Your father is watching us from the sky now." Hinata whispered to her cousin.

"He is not!" Neji abruptely turned around. His eyes were steely katanas of hate. He clenched his fists ready to hit her, but instead he punched her with his words: "That is just a tale that they tell babies like you when their parents die. The stars are just stars, not people. When people die, they just cease to exist. They just vanish in the dark!"

Hinata could feel a lump forming in her throat. Her lavender eyes burned as if she got smoke from a fire into them. She could feel the hot hate reflecting from her cousin. Without a word of reconciliation he left.

"I'm sorry, Neji-nii-san" she murmured but her words didn't reach her brother.

Fin.

Notes:

It has passed a long period since I wrote anything that I felt was worthy to be uploaded. I would welcome criticism. I tried to use a lot of metaphors and similes to make the story sound alive and sparkling, although not a lot happens. I also tried out some symbolism. I am not sure that worked well. I read and heard a lot of writing advice lately and I tried to use most of it in this story. I am actually very proud of it. So, again: Criticism is welcome.

I originally wrote this short story for a much longer Fanfiction which is still a work in progress and may never see the light of day.

I hope you, dear reader, enjoyed reading this.