Title: True Strength
Author: Spazoid
Summary: Strength comes in many forms.
That mark should never have touched her pale skin.
The seal stood out on her forehead, an ugly scar marking once flawless pale skin, forever branding her to a place she didn't belong. She wasn't weak, not really; she just wasn't strong in the ways they had wanted her to be strong. If they had taken a second to see beyond, they would have known; but they never looked beyond. Pride had blinded them long ago.
And he could do absolutely nothing about it.
All he could do was hold her silently as she wept. She was not weeping for her new position though, for the humiliation her father had put her through, or even the pain that had to be shooting through her. No, she was crying because she felt she had failed him and failed their family. She wanted to make it right, she said; she tried so hard to be strong so she could fix all that was wrong.
Neji always said Hinata was too soft hearted.
And he had believed that for a very long time, until he had seen that was her true strength.
He just wished he'd seen it earlier.