Betrothal
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 5 - Tears.
Temari stared up at the clouds as her yell echoed around the leaf village until, finally, it was drowned out by a booming roll of thunder. Smiling, the blonde-haired girl turned and stepped away from the window, her hair a little damp from where she had leant outside.
As she left the 'training room' she glanced along the corridor just as a lightning flash illuminated the area through the glass-covered skylight above. At the very end of the hallway was a single door, unremarkable in every way save for the fact that it was, quite possibly, the only door in the whole house that was locked.
Why? What would be the point of having this one door locked?
Unless... of course, there was something he didn't want her to see. No, that would be ridiculous, Naruto didn't seem to be hiding anything from her at all...
Temari frowned slightly. Everyone hid something, right? So why should this boy be any different? In fact, if he wasn't hiding anything, that would be much more unusual than if he were to be hiding some secret from her.
Taking a deep breath, and quashing her natural paranoia - a paranoia that had been deeply ingrained into her through years of ninja training - Temari crept over to the locked door. Ducking down, she first tried peering through the keyhole - only to find it so full of muck and grime that it was impossible to see through.
Of course, all that muck also meant that the door had not been locked recently, as she had first thought, but had instead been shut this way for quite some time.
How... intriguing.
Before she could act further, a knocking sound from downstairs tore her attention away from the closed door. Quickly she darted into her room and retrieved her fan before heading downstairs - after all, she didn't want to get caught unarmed like what had happened yesterday when she and Naruto had been attacked by some less than happy leaf-chuunin.
As she approached the front door to the house she heard the sounds of keys in the lock. In some ways this was reassuring since, according to Naruto, only he and Iruka had keys to the building. On the other hand... She had beaten up Naruto quite a bit that morning and it would have been quite, quite easy for any anti-sand activists to knock him out - or worse - and take those keys.
Any further thoughts were halted as the lock clicked once and the door began to swing open...
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Hyuuga Hinata hurried along, darting from one overhang to another in a vague attempt to stay dry - or at least stay dryer than she would have been otherwise.
In her arms she clutched a card box which steamed slightly. The front of the box was marked with the gaudy logo of Hizashi's Ramen House, one of the few ramen stands that offered take-away meals. She'd quite happily been on an errand to fetch a meal for the rest of her team whilst they trained under Kurenai Yuuhi - their Jounin instructor.
Within the box were six sealed bowls of Ramen, one for Kiba, Shino, Yuuhi, Herself and the new addition to their team, Tenten.
The sixth bowl had been bought on an impulse and she had been hoping to deliver it to Naruto.
Naruto.
She blushed as she thought of him, his blonde hair, his determined eyes, his manic personality and... his strength. The same strength he had given her when she had stood up to Neji in the chuunin exam preliminaries.
It was, really, quite a big secret that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. Although, it must be said, there were a few people who were perceptive enough to notice her feelings towards the foxy-ninja. Kurenai-sensei and Shino probably knew, they were the sort who didn't really let much slip past them. Kiba... well, Kiba probably wouldn't notice even if she declared her feelings out loud - that was just how he was. Hinata also had the slight suspicion that Sakura, from Naruto's team seven, also knew but that, really, was just a guess.
The reason for the secrecy concerning her feelings was, in fact, a rather big and dangerous one.
Namely, her father.
The current head of the Hyuuga family was a traditionalist. And by traditionalist it was meant that the man hadn't had an original thought since he'd been born. All he lived upon was the simple fact that, in his eyes and the eyes of his parents, the Hyuuga family were the best.
And the best did not sully themselves with things the commoners did. Even Hinata, who had been rather unceremoniously, kicked from her position of heir to the family, wasn't exempt from her fathers views on such subjects.
It was, frankly, the reason why members of the Hyuuga clan didn't train in any jutsu other than the three basics - Henge, Bunshin and Kawarimi - and the activation of their own Byakugan ability.
Now, if these were his views on 'common' ninja, his views on marriage were even more traditional. He viewed marriage as merely a political thing, to be planned by parents for the benefit and good of the family. Truth was, if her father had his way, Hinata was destined to be married off to some fool who's only redeeming feature was that an original thought had never sullied his mind.
Marriage to Naruto was... Well, if her father got his way it would never happen. Never. Not in a million years.
Given that village law was technically on Hinata's side, she had a slight advantage over her father. If she got married to someone - on her own initiative - then he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it.
The problem was, Hinata didn't know exactly how far her father would be willing to go to preserve the family's 'honour'.
In short, She was afraid that her father might kill Naruto if he found out. Heck, why would he stop there? For all she knew, he could kill everyone she felt attraction to - just to make sure he could control her marriage. He'd probably get away with it too, the Hyuuga family were too old and too powerful to really be stopped so easily, and it would be too easy for them to stage an 'accident' instead of a murder.
After all, Hyuuga were the strongest in the leaf.
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The door swung open and Naruto, and a pink-haired girl, staggered through it, each of them leaning on one another - and looking like they'd fall down if they tried to stand up individually. Temari blinked, the girl had been on Naruto's team hadn't she? Now what was her name?
It was then that Sasuke stepped through the door. For a brief moment Temari marvelled at how handsome he was - then she remembered how much of a jerk he'd seemed during the few times he'd shown himself in the chuunin exam. Still, she did think she would have preferred to be engaged to a handsome jerk who seemed to at least understand such basic thins a privacy and decency.
"Sakura! Naruto! Get DOWN!" Temari had only the briefest moment to gasp in surprise as Sasuke yelled out his warning, smacked his hand down on Naruto's head and vaulted over the orange-clad ninja. The Uchiha boy's feet barely touched the ground before he launched into a powerful side thrust kick at Temari's abdomen - while his preference would have been to perform a roundhouse to the head, the hallway was much too narrow for such a manoeuvre.
Temari moved quicker than she had ever moved before as she pulled her, still closed, fan up and braced herself - holding the closed fan at an angle like a really thick staff. Even so she only barely managed to block Sasuke's kick, the force of which drove her backwards - her arms protesting at the strain of stopping such a blow.
The black-clad, black-haired ninja lost no time in following up his kick by spinning slightly so that his body face the door he had just come through, then pushing up and off of Temari's fan and into a backward flip that would result in a devastating kick to the back of Temari's head as he somersaulted over her head.
The, now terrified, sand-nin turned her head and her body, trying to bring her fan into a position to block with. Too slow! Too slow! She couldn't make it in time! She couldn't-
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The rain fell.
Not very poetic, but then he wasn't a particularly poetic man. He could have said 'the rain fell to earth like hundreds upon thousands of tiny tears' but he didn't, that just wasn't his style.
The rain fell, and that was that. Why bother with poetry?
"Oi." His companion nudged him in the shoulder with one foot. Bah, why did he have to get given this crappy mission? He would have much rather been at home reading or sleeping or maybe playing a nice game of-
"I said... OI!" His companion kicked him, quite hard, in the leg. "Are you even listening to me!?" She shrieked, sounding like some annoying... thing. That was really annoying.
Simile wasn't really his style either.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm listening." He said, waving his hand. Gods but this was annoying.
"Really," His companion didn't seem particularly amused at his flippant attitude. Then she looked away, back at the building the duo were spying on. "Our target is definitely inside," She stated, "I saw them near one of the windows earlier."
"So, what're we gonna do?" Asked the lazy man. "Just keep watch until we have a good window of opportunity and then BAM! Right?" The man smacked his hands together in an effort to emphasise his question. The girl, his companion, just laughed.
"Close, though not quite. But yes, we've just got to wait for the right opportunity..."
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Temari's eyes widened as Sasuke's foot came hurtling towards her head with enough force to crush it like an unripe watermelon. Her body felt as though it was made of lead as she desperately tried to pull her fan up and around to block the kick...
The kick...
The kick that stopped dead just as the tip of Sasuke's foot touched her skin.
Temari gulped, her face a mixture of fear, shock and awe, she had only just managed to get her half-way around - there was no possible way she would have been able to block such a kick herself.
As the giant fan fell from shock numbed fingers, Temari's gaze moved up ever so slowly in an attempt at working out what the hell had just save her life.
"Sasuke," Stated Kakashi, "If this is how you expect to treat your new team- member then I am not impressed."
The copy ninja stood there, between the door and Temari, both arms outstretched and his hands gripping Sasuke's shins, preventing the younger ninja from completing his awesome kick. Sometimes it was amazing just how incredible a jounin was, in this case alone Kakashi had reacted with inhuman speed, managed to get past the bodies of Sakura and Naruto - who were both laying on the floor after Sasuke's vaulting move had knocked them down - and finally grabbed hold of Sasuke's shins. Not only that, but he had enough physical strength to have completely halted the boy's momentum.
All this, and no-one had even seen him move, nor felt his presence until he had actually stopped Sasuke's blow.
Temari backed away from Sasuke's feet slightly, bumping into Kakashi's legs as she did so. By this point, Sakura and Naruto had pulled themselves to their feet - whilst Sakura was annoyed at having been knocked down - Naruto was just plan mad.
"Sasuke you bastard!" he yelled, with his characteristic lack of subtlety, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The blonde-haired boy shook one fist in the air as he yelled at Sasuke, "You could have hurt Temari!"
Three sets of eye blinked in shock at Naruto's final yell.
'Why the hell is he concerned about some sand-nin spy?' Thought Sasuke, as Kakashi let go of his shins, allowing him to drop to the floor and land on his feet.
'Is he defending a Sand-nin? Wait... I'd heard that there was an arranged inter-village marriage... Could... Could Naruto be...?' Sakura's line of thought trailed off as she glanced from Naruto to Temari then back to Naruto. 'No way...'
'What did he just say!?' Unlike the other two, Temari's thoughts were much more jumbled and confused. Possibly as a result of her last-moment rescue from Sasuke's attack. 'Did he just try to defend me? Again? But why would he want to defend me? Especially after what I did to him this morning!'
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Sakura, Sasuke, meet your new team-member, Temari Sabakuno, also known as Naruto's Fiancée."
So caught up in the situation were they, that they never noticed one single figure who now ran away from Naruto's home...
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Hinata had gone towards Naruto's home, drawn by the sounds of Naruto yelling.
Granted, she'd been on her way there anyway but she had originally planned to go there after giving the rest of her team their bowls of Ramen. She hadn't intended to stop, she didn't plan on approaching the door of Naruto's home.
She never meant to hear Kakashi's statement.
"- Also known as Naruto's Fiancée."
"- Known as Naruto's Fiancée."
"- Naruto's Fiancée."
Naruto's. Fiancée.
The words filled her mind as she backed away from the door, her head shaking from side to side in disbelief.
"No..." Hinata's voice was but a whisper, a whisper that was drowned under the sounds of the rainfall. She turned away from the house and started to run, her tears mixing with the raindrops as they fell.
Hinata had always, ever since she had first seen him, believed in Naruto. She had believed in his strength, his determination and... and in his smile. The smile that he always seemed to wear, even when he was upset or afraid. It was the smile that said 'look at me, see how I smile even though it hurts?'. That smile was the one she adored for the longest time and then... And then one day she knew.
She knew that even though Naruto wore that smile he was crying within, that unseen tears rolled down his cheeks even as he bared his teeth in a happy grin.
She knew, because she did it too.
Hide her emotions behind a blank face - perhaps not quite the same as Naruto but she was still hiding her emotions just like he did. The one emotion she hid the most was the great attraction she felt towards the boy who never gave up, the attraction that made her strive to be like him - to keep going in the face of adversity. Soon attraction became something more, and Hinata had found herself wanting to be with the boy, to hold him and hug him and tell him everything was alright as she let him shed the tears he kept hidden from the world.
In sort, Hyuuga Hinata loved Uzumaki Naruto.
But she had never been able to build up the courage to tell him that she had these feelings for him, that she had wanted to be with him for such a long time!
And now, it was too late.
Naruto had a fiancée.
And it wasn't her.
It wasn't fair.
Just unfair.
Why her?
Why?
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"Fiancée? Then the inter-village marriage rumour is... true?" Sakura was sitting up, the pain under her bandages apparently forgotten for the moment, with wide eyes she stared at Naruto and Temari - who both had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed under her scrutiny.
"I don't get it." Mumbled Sasuke, "Why would they pick you for something as important as this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Asked Temari, her voice low and her head hanging down. "It's because we're considered expendable by our villages."
"Huh?" Three voices, Naruto's, Sakura's and Sasuke's, all betrayed the confusion each of them experienced after hearing such a statement. Kakashi, however, just nodded.
"She's right." He murmured, "There have been many instances of inter- village marriage being used to sneak an assassin into an enemy village - usually to kill their 'betrothed' and create chaos." At that statement, Naruto scooted away from where Temari sat and eyed her with suspicion.
"Likewise," Kakashi continued, "There have been instances of the receiving village making an example of the lone 'enemy' by publicly executing them." Sakura gasped at that, and Naruto looked somewhat guilty as he scooted back to his original position next to Temari.
"That's awful!" Exclaimed Sakura, one hand covering her mouth in order to hide her shocked expression.
"I see..." Mumbled Sasuke, "From the point of view that most of our village has, Naruto is still the same screw-up he was way back in the academy - strictly speaking there would be no great loss if he died."
Both Naruto and Sakura stared at Sasuke, eyes wide and mouths hanging open - neither of them able to believe that Sasuke had just said something like that.
"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Naruto recovered first and jumped up, pointing one finger at Sasuke. "You can't say that! I'm the best ninja in the village!"
Sakura sighed and glanced at Temari. "You're certainly the loudest ninja in the village." She whispered, and winked conspiratorially when Temari stifled a giggle with one hand - thankfully unseen by Naruto.
Sasuke then turned on Temari. "And you're slow." He said, "You barely blocked my first kick, and if not for Kakashi-sensei you would have never stopped my second. From what I heard of your fight with Shikamaru, you displayed only the use of one technique - meaning that you probably don't know any others."
Temari hung her head and looked down at the table as Sasuke spoke. He was right too, amongst the sand she was the weakest - her only redeeming point had been that she had some small influence over Gaara.
Now she didn't even have that.
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"Woof!" The tiny dog barked from it's perch atop the head of it's owner. Glancing upwards slightly, in a much practised manner which meant that the dog did not fall off, and blinked.
"You hear something Akamaru?" He asked, looking through thick black hair at the small yellow-furred dog above him.
"..." Stated Shino, his silence somehow conveying a meaning even though he didn't actually say anything at all.
The three, two boys and one dog, were sitting in a little shelter happily keeping themselves dry. For some reason Hinata hadn't turned up with their food, a tiny fact which worried them both greatly as Hinata was usually the most punctual member of the group. Their instructor, Kurenai Yuuhi, had decided that Hinata's absence was just too worrying - especially in a thunderstorm like this one.
With this in mind she had sent the two boys - and one dog - off to find their shy companion. So far the only thing the two boys had discovered was that Shino's bugs wouldn't go out in the rain and that Akamaru's sense of smell was practically useless in the horrible weather. They had decided, quite damp, that the best thing to do would be to take a rest and plan how to search the area more effectively.
"WOOF!" Akamaru barked, louder this time, and made a vague motion that was his way of indicating a direction. Facing the direction Akamaru had indicated, Shino peered into the misty wetness that was the unstopping rain. After a while a lightning bolt arced in the clouds overhead, lighting up his vision and allowing him to barely make out a figure huddled down in the distance.
"Hey." He murmured, loud enough for Kiba to hear. The young member of the Inuzuka clan nodded to Shino in agreement.
"Yeah, I see it. Think it's her?" He asked, "Akamaru thinks it is, Don't ya?" He added, reaching up to pet his canine friend.
"..." Stated Shino which, as Kiba translated, was a sort of agreement. "Let's go." He stated suddenly, and stalked off into the rain.
Kiba blinked, then glanced around. "H-hey!" He yelled, "Who the hell put you in charge." He grumbled, glaring at Shino's back as he followed the bug- using Aburame heir.
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"Calm down, Calm down." Kakashi waved his hands in a calming motion as he spoke. "Arguing will get you no-where, Temari will be joining our team regardless of what you all think anyway."
"Why should we put up with her?" Grumbled Sasuke, still somewhat put out about the whole situation. To him it seemed like a bad idea, a very bad idea.
Kakashi turned on Sasuke, still smiling, and spoke in a sugary sweet voice. "You have to put up with her for one reason and one reason alone." Then he glared. The three members of team seven caught the glare and suddenly went wide eyed. Sakura and Naruto wisely scooted out of the way slightly, Naruto pulling Temari along with them.
The times when Kakashi got annoyed were few and far between, fortunately. Though it was hard to tell if he was really annoyed, or if he was merely faking irritation, it was well known amongst the three that whenever Kakashi lost his smile and happy expression, he was being serious.
"You will put up with her," began the copy-ninja, "Simply because I say so." He nodded to himself, his irritation flickering away into a rather neutral lecturing expression. "In life, and in missions, it will be rare for you to chose who accompanies you. Though, for the most part, you will stay in the same teams you were in as Genin it is not always viable for you to attempt a mission with those people."
Sakura nodded to herself, "Is that because you may need the skills of people who specialise in certain things?" she asked, "Like when you sent Pakkun and Shikamaru with myself and Naruto when we had to chase down Sasuke-kun?"
There were a few grunts of thought before Naruto also spoke up. "Oh yeah, 'cuz Pakkun had a strong sense of smell and Shikamaru knew how to ambush the ninja that followed us."
The Jounin instructor grinned at them both. "That's right. In these instances the team selection will be made by either the team leader, or by whoever gives you the mission you have to perform." He stared at Sasuke, "you based your views of Temari on past experiences and combat data alone, both of these mean very little in real life. After all, combat is only part of being a ninja and, of course, there is no guarantee that you have seen everything that someone can do."
"So." Grumbled Sasuke, "What can she do?"
Temari gulped slightly. "Well," She began, "I'm an expert in survival techniques, and I've studied various poisons and poison cures. My unarmed Taijutsu is... weak, but I'm much better when fighting from a distance with my fan." She looked around guiltily and sighed.
"I... I also have some scrolls with technique I haven't learnt yet which... which I guess I'll have to learn."
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"Are you sure that's Hinata?" yelled Kiba, as thunder practically drowned out his voice. Shino merely glanced back and nodded once. "Well," Grumbled Kiba, "I'm glad someone does, I can't see a damn thing in this weather!" Atop his head Akamaru whined, disliking the feel of his fur being soaked through.
Shino said nothing as he approached the figure, who could now be seen to be sitting on the wet ground with her knees pulled up against her chest. Now that he was close enough, Shino was definitely sure that this was Hinata. He didn't know this from her outfit, or from her face - which was slightly blue-tinged from being out in the freezing rain for so long, nor did he know it was her because of her hairstyle.
No.
He knew who it was because of one simple little detail.
After all, only Hinata would sit in a rainstorm just to hide her tears from the world...
Chapter 5 - ended.
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Authors notes:
And lo, do I secure my place as the number one target (dead or alive) for Hinata fans everywhere.
Go me.
Not much to say except writers block decided to smack me around the face at around 2500 words. Not fun.
Is Sasuke a bastard? No, just a bit anti-people. ^^;;
Still searching for webspace. Nuuu. Though, if anyone creates some art to go with this, and puts it up somewhere, I'll be happy to include the addy at the end of the next chapter. ^__^
And for all those who poke at my continuity... It is there. Just wait for it to get clearer ^^;; Also, just because some things that should have shown up (Kakashi's talk w/ Naruto - as some people e-mailed me about) haven't yet, they will do eventually.
Hell, they may be different from what you expected too.
ACK! One more thing. I've never seen Temari's family name anywhere o.O So when I asked, and someone told me 'Sabakuno' I though, 'well, I like the sound of it so. what the hell.'
If it's proved otherwise, I'll change that detail. Until then though, it's Temari Sabakuno. ^.^
Lackey H, Wishing for Tenten in Autumn.
PS: For those of you that read my other fic 'To be Strong' do NOT think I've given up on it x.x I'm just suffering some major block on that ficcie ^^;; It'll continue once I get past that block, count on it.
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 5 - Tears.
Temari stared up at the clouds as her yell echoed around the leaf village until, finally, it was drowned out by a booming roll of thunder. Smiling, the blonde-haired girl turned and stepped away from the window, her hair a little damp from where she had leant outside.
As she left the 'training room' she glanced along the corridor just as a lightning flash illuminated the area through the glass-covered skylight above. At the very end of the hallway was a single door, unremarkable in every way save for the fact that it was, quite possibly, the only door in the whole house that was locked.
Why? What would be the point of having this one door locked?
Unless... of course, there was something he didn't want her to see. No, that would be ridiculous, Naruto didn't seem to be hiding anything from her at all...
Temari frowned slightly. Everyone hid something, right? So why should this boy be any different? In fact, if he wasn't hiding anything, that would be much more unusual than if he were to be hiding some secret from her.
Taking a deep breath, and quashing her natural paranoia - a paranoia that had been deeply ingrained into her through years of ninja training - Temari crept over to the locked door. Ducking down, she first tried peering through the keyhole - only to find it so full of muck and grime that it was impossible to see through.
Of course, all that muck also meant that the door had not been locked recently, as she had first thought, but had instead been shut this way for quite some time.
How... intriguing.
Before she could act further, a knocking sound from downstairs tore her attention away from the closed door. Quickly she darted into her room and retrieved her fan before heading downstairs - after all, she didn't want to get caught unarmed like what had happened yesterday when she and Naruto had been attacked by some less than happy leaf-chuunin.
As she approached the front door to the house she heard the sounds of keys in the lock. In some ways this was reassuring since, according to Naruto, only he and Iruka had keys to the building. On the other hand... She had beaten up Naruto quite a bit that morning and it would have been quite, quite easy for any anti-sand activists to knock him out - or worse - and take those keys.
Any further thoughts were halted as the lock clicked once and the door began to swing open...
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Hyuuga Hinata hurried along, darting from one overhang to another in a vague attempt to stay dry - or at least stay dryer than she would have been otherwise.
In her arms she clutched a card box which steamed slightly. The front of the box was marked with the gaudy logo of Hizashi's Ramen House, one of the few ramen stands that offered take-away meals. She'd quite happily been on an errand to fetch a meal for the rest of her team whilst they trained under Kurenai Yuuhi - their Jounin instructor.
Within the box were six sealed bowls of Ramen, one for Kiba, Shino, Yuuhi, Herself and the new addition to their team, Tenten.
The sixth bowl had been bought on an impulse and she had been hoping to deliver it to Naruto.
Naruto.
She blushed as she thought of him, his blonde hair, his determined eyes, his manic personality and... his strength. The same strength he had given her when she had stood up to Neji in the chuunin exam preliminaries.
It was, really, quite a big secret that Hinata had a crush on Naruto. Although, it must be said, there were a few people who were perceptive enough to notice her feelings towards the foxy-ninja. Kurenai-sensei and Shino probably knew, they were the sort who didn't really let much slip past them. Kiba... well, Kiba probably wouldn't notice even if she declared her feelings out loud - that was just how he was. Hinata also had the slight suspicion that Sakura, from Naruto's team seven, also knew but that, really, was just a guess.
The reason for the secrecy concerning her feelings was, in fact, a rather big and dangerous one.
Namely, her father.
The current head of the Hyuuga family was a traditionalist. And by traditionalist it was meant that the man hadn't had an original thought since he'd been born. All he lived upon was the simple fact that, in his eyes and the eyes of his parents, the Hyuuga family were the best.
And the best did not sully themselves with things the commoners did. Even Hinata, who had been rather unceremoniously, kicked from her position of heir to the family, wasn't exempt from her fathers views on such subjects.
It was, frankly, the reason why members of the Hyuuga clan didn't train in any jutsu other than the three basics - Henge, Bunshin and Kawarimi - and the activation of their own Byakugan ability.
Now, if these were his views on 'common' ninja, his views on marriage were even more traditional. He viewed marriage as merely a political thing, to be planned by parents for the benefit and good of the family. Truth was, if her father had his way, Hinata was destined to be married off to some fool who's only redeeming feature was that an original thought had never sullied his mind.
Marriage to Naruto was... Well, if her father got his way it would never happen. Never. Not in a million years.
Given that village law was technically on Hinata's side, she had a slight advantage over her father. If she got married to someone - on her own initiative - then he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it.
The problem was, Hinata didn't know exactly how far her father would be willing to go to preserve the family's 'honour'.
In short, She was afraid that her father might kill Naruto if he found out. Heck, why would he stop there? For all she knew, he could kill everyone she felt attraction to - just to make sure he could control her marriage. He'd probably get away with it too, the Hyuuga family were too old and too powerful to really be stopped so easily, and it would be too easy for them to stage an 'accident' instead of a murder.
After all, Hyuuga were the strongest in the leaf.
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The door swung open and Naruto, and a pink-haired girl, staggered through it, each of them leaning on one another - and looking like they'd fall down if they tried to stand up individually. Temari blinked, the girl had been on Naruto's team hadn't she? Now what was her name?
It was then that Sasuke stepped through the door. For a brief moment Temari marvelled at how handsome he was - then she remembered how much of a jerk he'd seemed during the few times he'd shown himself in the chuunin exam. Still, she did think she would have preferred to be engaged to a handsome jerk who seemed to at least understand such basic thins a privacy and decency.
"Sakura! Naruto! Get DOWN!" Temari had only the briefest moment to gasp in surprise as Sasuke yelled out his warning, smacked his hand down on Naruto's head and vaulted over the orange-clad ninja. The Uchiha boy's feet barely touched the ground before he launched into a powerful side thrust kick at Temari's abdomen - while his preference would have been to perform a roundhouse to the head, the hallway was much too narrow for such a manoeuvre.
Temari moved quicker than she had ever moved before as she pulled her, still closed, fan up and braced herself - holding the closed fan at an angle like a really thick staff. Even so she only barely managed to block Sasuke's kick, the force of which drove her backwards - her arms protesting at the strain of stopping such a blow.
The black-clad, black-haired ninja lost no time in following up his kick by spinning slightly so that his body face the door he had just come through, then pushing up and off of Temari's fan and into a backward flip that would result in a devastating kick to the back of Temari's head as he somersaulted over her head.
The, now terrified, sand-nin turned her head and her body, trying to bring her fan into a position to block with. Too slow! Too slow! She couldn't make it in time! She couldn't-
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The rain fell.
Not very poetic, but then he wasn't a particularly poetic man. He could have said 'the rain fell to earth like hundreds upon thousands of tiny tears' but he didn't, that just wasn't his style.
The rain fell, and that was that. Why bother with poetry?
"Oi." His companion nudged him in the shoulder with one foot. Bah, why did he have to get given this crappy mission? He would have much rather been at home reading or sleeping or maybe playing a nice game of-
"I said... OI!" His companion kicked him, quite hard, in the leg. "Are you even listening to me!?" She shrieked, sounding like some annoying... thing. That was really annoying.
Simile wasn't really his style either.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm listening." He said, waving his hand. Gods but this was annoying.
"Really," His companion didn't seem particularly amused at his flippant attitude. Then she looked away, back at the building the duo were spying on. "Our target is definitely inside," She stated, "I saw them near one of the windows earlier."
"So, what're we gonna do?" Asked the lazy man. "Just keep watch until we have a good window of opportunity and then BAM! Right?" The man smacked his hands together in an effort to emphasise his question. The girl, his companion, just laughed.
"Close, though not quite. But yes, we've just got to wait for the right opportunity..."
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Temari's eyes widened as Sasuke's foot came hurtling towards her head with enough force to crush it like an unripe watermelon. Her body felt as though it was made of lead as she desperately tried to pull her fan up and around to block the kick...
The kick...
The kick that stopped dead just as the tip of Sasuke's foot touched her skin.
Temari gulped, her face a mixture of fear, shock and awe, she had only just managed to get her half-way around - there was no possible way she would have been able to block such a kick herself.
As the giant fan fell from shock numbed fingers, Temari's gaze moved up ever so slowly in an attempt at working out what the hell had just save her life.
"Sasuke," Stated Kakashi, "If this is how you expect to treat your new team- member then I am not impressed."
The copy ninja stood there, between the door and Temari, both arms outstretched and his hands gripping Sasuke's shins, preventing the younger ninja from completing his awesome kick. Sometimes it was amazing just how incredible a jounin was, in this case alone Kakashi had reacted with inhuman speed, managed to get past the bodies of Sakura and Naruto - who were both laying on the floor after Sasuke's vaulting move had knocked them down - and finally grabbed hold of Sasuke's shins. Not only that, but he had enough physical strength to have completely halted the boy's momentum.
All this, and no-one had even seen him move, nor felt his presence until he had actually stopped Sasuke's blow.
Temari backed away from Sasuke's feet slightly, bumping into Kakashi's legs as she did so. By this point, Sakura and Naruto had pulled themselves to their feet - whilst Sakura was annoyed at having been knocked down - Naruto was just plan mad.
"Sasuke you bastard!" he yelled, with his characteristic lack of subtlety, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The blonde-haired boy shook one fist in the air as he yelled at Sasuke, "You could have hurt Temari!"
Three sets of eye blinked in shock at Naruto's final yell.
'Why the hell is he concerned about some sand-nin spy?' Thought Sasuke, as Kakashi let go of his shins, allowing him to drop to the floor and land on his feet.
'Is he defending a Sand-nin? Wait... I'd heard that there was an arranged inter-village marriage... Could... Could Naruto be...?' Sakura's line of thought trailed off as she glanced from Naruto to Temari then back to Naruto. 'No way...'
'What did he just say!?' Unlike the other two, Temari's thoughts were much more jumbled and confused. Possibly as a result of her last-moment rescue from Sasuke's attack. 'Did he just try to defend me? Again? But why would he want to defend me? Especially after what I did to him this morning!'
Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Sakura, Sasuke, meet your new team-member, Temari Sabakuno, also known as Naruto's Fiancée."
So caught up in the situation were they, that they never noticed one single figure who now ran away from Naruto's home...
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Hinata had gone towards Naruto's home, drawn by the sounds of Naruto yelling.
Granted, she'd been on her way there anyway but she had originally planned to go there after giving the rest of her team their bowls of Ramen. She hadn't intended to stop, she didn't plan on approaching the door of Naruto's home.
She never meant to hear Kakashi's statement.
"- Also known as Naruto's Fiancée."
"- Known as Naruto's Fiancée."
"- Naruto's Fiancée."
Naruto's. Fiancée.
The words filled her mind as she backed away from the door, her head shaking from side to side in disbelief.
"No..." Hinata's voice was but a whisper, a whisper that was drowned under the sounds of the rainfall. She turned away from the house and started to run, her tears mixing with the raindrops as they fell.
Hinata had always, ever since she had first seen him, believed in Naruto. She had believed in his strength, his determination and... and in his smile. The smile that he always seemed to wear, even when he was upset or afraid. It was the smile that said 'look at me, see how I smile even though it hurts?'. That smile was the one she adored for the longest time and then... And then one day she knew.
She knew that even though Naruto wore that smile he was crying within, that unseen tears rolled down his cheeks even as he bared his teeth in a happy grin.
She knew, because she did it too.
Hide her emotions behind a blank face - perhaps not quite the same as Naruto but she was still hiding her emotions just like he did. The one emotion she hid the most was the great attraction she felt towards the boy who never gave up, the attraction that made her strive to be like him - to keep going in the face of adversity. Soon attraction became something more, and Hinata had found herself wanting to be with the boy, to hold him and hug him and tell him everything was alright as she let him shed the tears he kept hidden from the world.
In sort, Hyuuga Hinata loved Uzumaki Naruto.
But she had never been able to build up the courage to tell him that she had these feelings for him, that she had wanted to be with him for such a long time!
And now, it was too late.
Naruto had a fiancée.
And it wasn't her.
It wasn't fair.
Just unfair.
Why her?
Why?
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"Fiancée? Then the inter-village marriage rumour is... true?" Sakura was sitting up, the pain under her bandages apparently forgotten for the moment, with wide eyes she stared at Naruto and Temari - who both had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed under her scrutiny.
"I don't get it." Mumbled Sasuke, "Why would they pick you for something as important as this?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Asked Temari, her voice low and her head hanging down. "It's because we're considered expendable by our villages."
"Huh?" Three voices, Naruto's, Sakura's and Sasuke's, all betrayed the confusion each of them experienced after hearing such a statement. Kakashi, however, just nodded.
"She's right." He murmured, "There have been many instances of inter- village marriage being used to sneak an assassin into an enemy village - usually to kill their 'betrothed' and create chaos." At that statement, Naruto scooted away from where Temari sat and eyed her with suspicion.
"Likewise," Kakashi continued, "There have been instances of the receiving village making an example of the lone 'enemy' by publicly executing them." Sakura gasped at that, and Naruto looked somewhat guilty as he scooted back to his original position next to Temari.
"That's awful!" Exclaimed Sakura, one hand covering her mouth in order to hide her shocked expression.
"I see..." Mumbled Sasuke, "From the point of view that most of our village has, Naruto is still the same screw-up he was way back in the academy - strictly speaking there would be no great loss if he died."
Both Naruto and Sakura stared at Sasuke, eyes wide and mouths hanging open - neither of them able to believe that Sasuke had just said something like that.
"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Naruto recovered first and jumped up, pointing one finger at Sasuke. "You can't say that! I'm the best ninja in the village!"
Sakura sighed and glanced at Temari. "You're certainly the loudest ninja in the village." She whispered, and winked conspiratorially when Temari stifled a giggle with one hand - thankfully unseen by Naruto.
Sasuke then turned on Temari. "And you're slow." He said, "You barely blocked my first kick, and if not for Kakashi-sensei you would have never stopped my second. From what I heard of your fight with Shikamaru, you displayed only the use of one technique - meaning that you probably don't know any others."
Temari hung her head and looked down at the table as Sasuke spoke. He was right too, amongst the sand she was the weakest - her only redeeming point had been that she had some small influence over Gaara.
Now she didn't even have that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Woof!" The tiny dog barked from it's perch atop the head of it's owner. Glancing upwards slightly, in a much practised manner which meant that the dog did not fall off, and blinked.
"You hear something Akamaru?" He asked, looking through thick black hair at the small yellow-furred dog above him.
"..." Stated Shino, his silence somehow conveying a meaning even though he didn't actually say anything at all.
The three, two boys and one dog, were sitting in a little shelter happily keeping themselves dry. For some reason Hinata hadn't turned up with their food, a tiny fact which worried them both greatly as Hinata was usually the most punctual member of the group. Their instructor, Kurenai Yuuhi, had decided that Hinata's absence was just too worrying - especially in a thunderstorm like this one.
With this in mind she had sent the two boys - and one dog - off to find their shy companion. So far the only thing the two boys had discovered was that Shino's bugs wouldn't go out in the rain and that Akamaru's sense of smell was practically useless in the horrible weather. They had decided, quite damp, that the best thing to do would be to take a rest and plan how to search the area more effectively.
"WOOF!" Akamaru barked, louder this time, and made a vague motion that was his way of indicating a direction. Facing the direction Akamaru had indicated, Shino peered into the misty wetness that was the unstopping rain. After a while a lightning bolt arced in the clouds overhead, lighting up his vision and allowing him to barely make out a figure huddled down in the distance.
"Hey." He murmured, loud enough for Kiba to hear. The young member of the Inuzuka clan nodded to Shino in agreement.
"Yeah, I see it. Think it's her?" He asked, "Akamaru thinks it is, Don't ya?" He added, reaching up to pet his canine friend.
"..." Stated Shino which, as Kiba translated, was a sort of agreement. "Let's go." He stated suddenly, and stalked off into the rain.
Kiba blinked, then glanced around. "H-hey!" He yelled, "Who the hell put you in charge." He grumbled, glaring at Shino's back as he followed the bug- using Aburame heir.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Calm down, Calm down." Kakashi waved his hands in a calming motion as he spoke. "Arguing will get you no-where, Temari will be joining our team regardless of what you all think anyway."
"Why should we put up with her?" Grumbled Sasuke, still somewhat put out about the whole situation. To him it seemed like a bad idea, a very bad idea.
Kakashi turned on Sasuke, still smiling, and spoke in a sugary sweet voice. "You have to put up with her for one reason and one reason alone." Then he glared. The three members of team seven caught the glare and suddenly went wide eyed. Sakura and Naruto wisely scooted out of the way slightly, Naruto pulling Temari along with them.
The times when Kakashi got annoyed were few and far between, fortunately. Though it was hard to tell if he was really annoyed, or if he was merely faking irritation, it was well known amongst the three that whenever Kakashi lost his smile and happy expression, he was being serious.
"You will put up with her," began the copy-ninja, "Simply because I say so." He nodded to himself, his irritation flickering away into a rather neutral lecturing expression. "In life, and in missions, it will be rare for you to chose who accompanies you. Though, for the most part, you will stay in the same teams you were in as Genin it is not always viable for you to attempt a mission with those people."
Sakura nodded to herself, "Is that because you may need the skills of people who specialise in certain things?" she asked, "Like when you sent Pakkun and Shikamaru with myself and Naruto when we had to chase down Sasuke-kun?"
There were a few grunts of thought before Naruto also spoke up. "Oh yeah, 'cuz Pakkun had a strong sense of smell and Shikamaru knew how to ambush the ninja that followed us."
The Jounin instructor grinned at them both. "That's right. In these instances the team selection will be made by either the team leader, or by whoever gives you the mission you have to perform." He stared at Sasuke, "you based your views of Temari on past experiences and combat data alone, both of these mean very little in real life. After all, combat is only part of being a ninja and, of course, there is no guarantee that you have seen everything that someone can do."
"So." Grumbled Sasuke, "What can she do?"
Temari gulped slightly. "Well," She began, "I'm an expert in survival techniques, and I've studied various poisons and poison cures. My unarmed Taijutsu is... weak, but I'm much better when fighting from a distance with my fan." She looked around guiltily and sighed.
"I... I also have some scrolls with technique I haven't learnt yet which... which I guess I'll have to learn."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure that's Hinata?" yelled Kiba, as thunder practically drowned out his voice. Shino merely glanced back and nodded once. "Well," Grumbled Kiba, "I'm glad someone does, I can't see a damn thing in this weather!" Atop his head Akamaru whined, disliking the feel of his fur being soaked through.
Shino said nothing as he approached the figure, who could now be seen to be sitting on the wet ground with her knees pulled up against her chest. Now that he was close enough, Shino was definitely sure that this was Hinata. He didn't know this from her outfit, or from her face - which was slightly blue-tinged from being out in the freezing rain for so long, nor did he know it was her because of her hairstyle.
No.
He knew who it was because of one simple little detail.
After all, only Hinata would sit in a rainstorm just to hide her tears from the world...
Chapter 5 - ended.
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Authors notes:
And lo, do I secure my place as the number one target (dead or alive) for Hinata fans everywhere.
Go me.
Not much to say except writers block decided to smack me around the face at around 2500 words. Not fun.
Is Sasuke a bastard? No, just a bit anti-people. ^^;;
Still searching for webspace. Nuuu. Though, if anyone creates some art to go with this, and puts it up somewhere, I'll be happy to include the addy at the end of the next chapter. ^__^
And for all those who poke at my continuity... It is there. Just wait for it to get clearer ^^;; Also, just because some things that should have shown up (Kakashi's talk w/ Naruto - as some people e-mailed me about) haven't yet, they will do eventually.
Hell, they may be different from what you expected too.
ACK! One more thing. I've never seen Temari's family name anywhere o.O So when I asked, and someone told me 'Sabakuno' I though, 'well, I like the sound of it so. what the hell.'
If it's proved otherwise, I'll change that detail. Until then though, it's Temari Sabakuno. ^.^
Lackey H, Wishing for Tenten in Autumn.
PS: For those of you that read my other fic 'To be Strong' do NOT think I've given up on it x.x I'm just suffering some major block on that ficcie ^^;; It'll continue once I get past that block, count on it.