Hyuuga Hinata; 5 Years Later

Age 17

-Shadows-

Weeks earlier, Kurenai told Kiba and I that she was entering us in the Chuunin exam. I accepted it at the time…

As the Chuunin exam drew closer, I found myself only becoming more and more afraid. Even though I had entered plenty of chuunin exams in my life, I suddenly felt helpless and fear was the only emotion I could muster during training.

My father told me it was time to stop being a ninja.

I could see it in my eyes that I was not fit to take on the Hyuuga house.

So I quit.

In the very same week, Hanabi became a genin.

Father was so happy for her. I was too, but I could only be reminded of all the hardships I had to endure. I knew they would not be as hard for her because she was so gifted compared to me. Then again, it didn't take much to be gifted compared to me.

I watched Kiba in the exam.

My biggest regret of not being a ninja anymore was that I wouldn't be able to see Kiba as much anymore.

Especially since he didn't do very well in the exam and was now leaving for Consolidation. Well, he wouldn't be leaving for another week or so, but it still felt very close.

I didn't want him to leave before I told him what I truly felt.

And, even though I was alone there in my room, the thought of my feelings for Kiba made me blush.

On the other hand, I couldn't tell him how I felt. We had a strong friendship and if I told him something like that, I might jeopardize our friendship. He might feel weird around me afterwards and not talk to me as freely anymore. And his freeness was always made me like him so much.

I had been silent for a year, so I could be silent for another year until he got back. Perhaps by then, I will have gotten over him.

Could I, though?

"Hinata!!" I heard Hanabi call me.

I don't know why I bother to have a door to my room because no one ever knocks anyway…

"Yes?" I said.

"Guess what?" she said. She had her forehead protector tied on her head.

"What?" I asked, glancing over at where mine lay on my bookshelf.

She looked over at what I was looking at, but then got puzzled. She shook it off and turned back to me. "I got my first kiss today!"

First kiss? What?

"You're only twelve." I said.

"So?" said Hanabi, getting defensive. "I'm old and mature enough! So now I have a boyfriend!"

"Oh…" I said. "I'm so happy for you…"

She smiled and nodded, closing the door behind her.

It wasn't that my sister's happiness made me sad…it was just that… well… Hanabi was living the life that I wished I had.

Maybe quitting my ninja life was a mistake. I had to speak to my father. There was still time to meet with the Hokage and ask her to put me on the Consolidation team…with Kiba…

I stood up and left my room.

I looked down the long hallway to see Neji walking towards me. I'm sure he was just making his way to another part of the house that was past my room, but I lowered my head and walked. I wished I had waited two more minutes before emerging from my room, but I didn't want to go back in now because it would look like I'm avoiding him.

He stood up taller and looked down at me. He was much bigger and much stronger than I…not to mention a much better ninja. In fact, he was probably the best Hyuuga ninja right now. Even more powerful than my father.

I didn't want to make it look like I was questioning his obvious dominance as I kept my head sunk low. I watched his massive shadow dance across the wall, completely overtaking my own. I was so intimidated by him that he didn't even have to do anything to make me shiver like a scared puppy. Maybe I wouldn't make a good ninja after all. But that much should have been apparent.

He suddenly coughed.

"Ah!" I said, jumping slightly. He surprised me. It had been completely silent, like a horror movie. And now we were standing virtually right next to each other, him towering over me.

I kept my head low though.

In fact, I lowered it even more in a slight bow, hoping not to offend him. My father told me not to do this because he was apart of the Branch House while I was part of the Main House, but it was an instinctual action for me because he was such a presence. "G-g-good morning…" I said quietly, trying not to stutter.

He didn't even bother looking at me.

I was about to keep walking, hoping he was satisfied.

"That is SO like the Main House to think they're too good for a member of the Branch House to even so much as say hi to." He mumbled.

I HAD offended him.

Unintentionally, but Neji has ever reason to be upset with the Main House… but especially my father…

"I did greet you…" I said, trying not to sound controversial.

"I had to practically force it out of you." He said, his voice elevating more as he spoke.

"I was going to say it anyway…" I tried to convince him. But he was already in that mode where he was sure he had heard what he had heard.

"No you weren't." Neji insisted. If he had a little more faith in the family, I doubt he would be quite as unhappy as he is. "I'm not as gullible as you Main House members might think the Branch House is."

Now was not the time to wonder where Neji had gotten the assumption that the members of the Main House believed that members of the Branch House were stupid and gullible. I knew there was nothing I could do to defend myself or assure him that what he thought was not right. Because if I did something like that, he'd only accuse me of thinking he was ignorant just because he was part of the Branch House.

"I don't think that at all!" I said, trying to be convincing but also not too forceful. But who was I kidding? Nothing I said could ever have any force. Especially on someone like Neji.

"And you don't seem to recognize that we are on the same level."

I didn't believe we're on the same level. I believed he was on a higher level than I was. He was stronger than I was in more ways than one.

My eyes darted back and forth from him to his shadow, which only seemed to be growing. It wasn't my imagination though…the sun was coming out from behind the clouds and he was blocking the light.

"What?" I said to him, feeling like I was shrinking smaller and smaller, only getting more helpless than I was, if such a thing was possible.

"Why don't you look at me when we're talking?" he said.

It was painful to look at him, let alone right into his eyes, like he wanted me to. Most people think that all we Hyuuga have the same eyes, but I look into Neji's eyes and see unconditional hatred towards everyone and anybody… even if someone had done nothing to him, he just couldn't stand that there were other people in the world that were happier than he was.

And it didn't take much to be happier than Neji.

His bitterness had overtaken him like the shadow on the wall.

"I just…" I began, but I didn't know how to finish my sentence. It was a bad move on my part to begin something I couldn't finish.

"Do I disgust you Hinata?" he said.

This was a lose-lose situation. If I said no, he'd tell me I was lying. If I said yes, he'd get offended.

But he didn't disgust me.

On the other hand, I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry that he put himself through all this when he could be looking at everything in another light.

"N-n-no!" I tried. I was begging for forgiveness… for no crime I ever even thought of committing.

"Don't lie to me!" Neji scolded me.

I could feel myself getting flustered. Part of me was upset with how I was being treated, but most of me just wanted to tell Neji that he had to stop doing this to himself.

"I wasn't!" I said.

"I can tell by the way you don't look at me that you can't give me a straight answer. And the way you stumble with your fingers, it tells me that you think you're better than I am!"

I let out a gasp and dropped my hands by my side.

But it wasn't true!

It wasn't true…

Just when I thought the tears would come out, I heard my father enter the hallway. He looked at Neji briefly and then began to walk by us.

He walked in between the both of us. Neji's shadow shrank as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Neji and my father were the same size, but Neji was much stronger.

My father turned his head away from Neji as he walked into a room at the end of the hallway. I could tell he was disappointed. In what? Me? Neji? Both of us? I could never tell.

"Tell your father that I'm not scared of him."

I looked at Neji. Then back at the door as it closed. I turned to Neji. "I don't think he's…" I began.

"Tell him." He interrupted.

"N-n-now?" my voice hardly came out. I was so afraid of him, I felt like I was being cornered.

"Yes." He said.

I don't know how I did it, but I turned my back to him and ran.

I sprinted as fast as I could to the end of the hallway and opened the door, shutting it behind me.

"Hinata, what have I told you about knocking?" my father said.

That's when the tears came out. "Father…" I whispered, going over to him. My father and I didn't normally hug very often, but he took me into his arms and patted my head.

"I know." He said. "And I'm sorry. I should have done something. I'll have a talk with Neji."

I knew that would only make things worse instead of solving them.

"It's not his fault." I confessed. It wasn't my fault either. It was no one's fault.

"Hinata, don't worry, all this will pass." My father said.

"Father…can't I be a ninja again?" I asked. Under normal circumstances, I don't think I would ever undermine my father's decision. Though, it's not like he had been the one who decided I had to quit, he only advised me to do so.

"You can do whatever you like, Hinata." He said. "But I don't think you understand anything. Anything at all."

I did understand, though. I understood everything.

I understood that nothing was being done about anything to solve the problems that were only growing more prevalent in the Hyuuga house, at the center being my cousin, Neji. He clearly surpassed all the other members of the Main House, yet we were going to place Hanabi in charge once she got old enough.

Somehow, that didn't seem right to me.

Maybe I didn't understand anything after all.