Rating: Fairly PG stuff. Nothing you can't stomach.
Pairings: I can't bear to tell you now.
Disclaimers: This applies to the rest of the chapters as well. I do not own Naruto; Masashi Kishimoto does. There you go.
By the way: Naruto is twenty-three now. Just for the record. And you have to review after this. You can't not do it. It'd kill me.
Chapter 1: Naruto's Birthday Surprise
'Everyone's got to face down the demons,
Maybe today,
We can put the past away '
—"Jumper", Third Eye Blind.
Hinata, the new head of the Hyuuga Clan, stared at the neat stacks of paper on the surface of the squat table. The stark black characters danced across her line of vision and the room spun in a kaleidoscope of dull and somber greens, blues and blacks. Ancient scrolls, reciting the origins of the Hyuuga clan, hung on the otherwise bare concrete walls of the study. Finely woven tatami mats were spread across the floor. This was only the study room, however: select panels, usually the ones colored black, led to various sections of the left wing that only Hyuuga Hinata (and that's Hinata-sama to you), occupied.
Closing her eyes, she pictured a nice warm bed and pillows as fluffy as a cloud. Then she killed the thought immediately. She was the new Head of the Hyuuga Clan. Responsibilities and all that, including getting stuck in this horribly traditional idea of a study room. 'Renovations are in order,' she thought suddenly. She would get someone to move the PS2 over by the end of the day.
She twirled her ball-point pen idly, and started to peruse the contents of yet another letter. The Leaf's Tree-Planting Day, celebrated in honor of the first Hokage who loved trees, will be celebrated a week from now. Tradition demanded that three (three, as in tree, geddit) members of every family clan in Konoha attend. Psh. Hinata remembered all the years she has been forced to go. She tried not to smile, but she was just too happy for her sister Hanabi who will have the honorable privilege this year.
All of a sudden sunlight penetrated the thick paper-covered windows, and its shutters, to beam at Hinata. She pursed her lips. Her heart filled with something light and breezy (could be carbon monoxide, Hinata decided), she carefully hoisted herself to her feet. Because of her father's traditional, unoriginal and unimaginative ways, there were recesses under each and every table in the Manor. It's a kind of sunken pit in which one has to sit in so that the table itself is slightly above ground level. Horrible thing to bear if you're short (and Hinata is not. Definitely not.)
She moved quickly, sliding the heavy, well-oiled wooden door open and stepping out onto a cool stone floor. Her well-made sandals made no sound as she progressed through the hushed corridors of the Manor, empty as catacombs, and spreading and merging endlessly.
The Hyuugas of the Main Family boasted an enormous property that included an underground sauna, three training halls, a sizeable lake and a complicated maze meant to entrap intruders as only the people with Byakugan eyes can see through the walls of the maze to locate the exit. On top of all that, Hinata's herb garden is as large as the Stadium in which the Chuunin finals were held.
She smiled contentedly as she pushed the iron gate open and basked in the warmth of the morning sun, looking up at the sky as she did so. The breeze was cool and its freshness stung her nostrils as she inhaled air into her lungs.
She removed her sandals, placing them neatly at the entrance of the herb garden. The grass felt cool, soft and damp beneath her feet.
"Hinata-sama." She inclined her head towards the voice, blinked when she saw who it was.
"Ohayo, Neji-niisan." Then, politely, "Why are you using your Byakugan?"
"Checking the area for suspicious individuals," he returned gallantly. "Well, there is only the gardener, eleven meters and sixteen inches away from us, and he's snipping at a plant. So you're safe, Hinata-sama." He swatted at a fly and tried to be inconspicuous about it.
She just looked at him calmly. "Well, thank you for that."
"It's my duty."
Hinata bent and touched the petals of a white flower tenderly. It is one of those flowers that spring up in the least likely of places, in ditches or lakes, in winter or hell. This one was small and wilting, its petals tinged with brown crispness.
She snapped its head off in one swift motion and tucked it between the folds of her black kimono. The petals poked out from the center of her chest. Cowering from the world.
"That does not stop me from appreciating all that you have done for me," she told Neji, her eyes clouding over. "I . . . I am still grateful."
"You are stuttering."
"And you are still using your Byakugan."
He stared at her. She spun on her heel and walked off in the direction of her study. There were more pressing concerns, like how to break it to Neji later on, at the dinner table, that he'd been picked as one of the judges at the Annual Konoha Bird Singing Competition.
There was a visitor in the house. Her niece told her, in a reverent whisper, that the visitor had seated herself in the dining room without permission.
"Thank you, Misa-chan," Hinata answered lightly, glancing down at the small, fine-boned kid. Hyuuga Misa reminded Hinata of herself when she was younger—insecure, unhappy and frustrated that everyone didn't understand what she wanted to say all the time.
'One of these days,' Hinata promised herself. 'One of these days I will talk to Misa-chan. About herself. About me.'
"Hey," she called out, before the little girl turned to hurry back to her room. Misa coughed, halted and bowed her head. She daren't look at the elegant, collected Head of the Clan in the eye.
Understanding, Hinata reached out with a long finger, lifted her young niece's chin with it, and said quietly, "That's how it's done." Then she stepped around the stunned girl and was out of the room.
Haruno Sakura was settled comfortably in her seat at the table, drumming her fingers on the glass surface. Now a Jounin who specialized in medicine, Sakura decided to forgo ANBU duties and become the sensei of a genin team instead. Hyuuga Hanabi happened to be one of her students.
They usually met up like this, either casually or to discuss Hanabi's progress. Over the years the both of them had gotten very well-acquainted. Even so, Sakura had never made her way to Hinata's house before.
"Sakura-san," Hinata said, allowing an edge of surprise to creep into her voice. "Is something the matter? I thought the team would be training now."
The pink-haired woman smiled. "Hinata-sempai, I came here on the basis of two reasons. The first one is your sister Hanabi."
A frown creased her forehead. "Oh, no. Has Hanabi—"
"I'm sorry to say, but yes."
"Where was it?"
Sakura ran a hand through her cropped hair. "This afternoon. We were delivering books to one of the Council members' house."
Hinata rose from her seat and bowed deeply. "I apologize on Hanabi-chan's behalf, Sakura-san. I thought she'd reformed—"
"Hinata! Don't bow to me, there's no need! It was resolved very quickly, and the Council member forgave her after that. Please, get up!"
When it didn't work, Sakura bodily straightened Hinata's spine with her arms. With a reproving glare, she said sternly, "Hinata. I said, you shouldn't have to bow to me. Anyway, are you going to Ino's with me today? That was the other reason I came to look for you."
Hyuuga Clan's leader blinked, and cocked her head. "Ino's? What's the occasion?"
Sakura clucked her tongue. "You really must be rushed off your feet, sempai, to actually forget Naruto's birthday. Party on the hilltop!"
Notes: Not very good is it? -Flops away-
Some feedback, please? Click that button!