Author's Notes: Lookie here! You probably didn't know that this was supposed to be a two-shot. I hope I got you good, Shoey. To tell you the truth, it was juliagulia1017 who suggested that a second chapter in Hinata's point of view would be nice. Much love to her; she's brilliant. And thank you for the reviews, everyone! I'm glad to see that there are others out there who are interested in the ShikaHina pairing.

Without further ado, your second (and final) chapter awaits.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Inspiration: HONEY by Otsuka Ai, Pureyes by Yuna Ito, and juliagulia1017's suggestion.

A Quirk of Fate

Chapter 2

Fate.

It was not a rarity for the new Nara to allow the word to cross her mind every now and then. After all, her cousin used to speak of it with a reverence tantamount to her husband's love for gazing upon the clouds. To Hyuuga Neji, fate had been something that should never be tampered with. To him, it was something to accept rather than scorn, since apparently, no one could change who they were predetermined to become.

To Hyuuga Hinata, fate was a strange thing to comprehend. She would never deny that she had spent many an hour mulling over its true context and just how much it had applied to her new life. Back when her cousin had spoken so adamantly about it, her friends had told her to ignore him. There was no such thing as fate governing an individual's existence, they all said. To them, it was up to a person to decide his or her own role in life.

She did not know what to think anymore. Was it fate that she had ended up the wife of the laziest shinobi in her village, or had her own volition been a deciding factor in their affection for each other?

Her life story had been one sorry twist and turn after another. Whenever she looked back at what had transpired in the past, all that would meet her was hurt, misery, and worst of all, silence. She wordlessly struggled to prove her worthiness in the bitter faces of her father and other Hyuuga relatives. She mutely accepted the pain that had accompanied her realization that Uzumaki Naruto, her longtime crush, was dating Haruno Sakura. And unfortunately, she spent the majority of both her childhood and adolescence without a sound.

To everyone around her (or at least, so it appeared to her), she was akin to a ghost. She was an opaque spirit who didn't have anything fruitful to offer to the world. It had been displayed many times through her fruitless efforts to shine in the obscure face of adversity, her futile attempts to express her true feelings for the one she crushed so deeply on, and her ineffectual endeavors at parting those pale, pink lips of hers to offer her own beliefs. Instead, she permitted everyone else to speak for her. She allowed silence to govern her every movement and thought.

For a while, she believed that her cousin was correct in his theory. Perhaps she was destined to be the soft-spoken person she was. She knew that she would never toy with fate for as long as she lived. It was truly a force not to be reckoned with. There were no twists in it. She couldn't change herself.

But she had erred in her beliefs. It was a slight mistake, but it was providential for her wellbeing that she caught herself before it was too late.

Fate, that confusing conundrum, had made her life a silent hell in the beginning to open her ears up to a sound-filled heaven at the end. It had been difficult as a child, but the everlasting struggle to become stronger had finally been terminated – she could now address her family members effectively and without a stammer. The interminable skirmish that had raged on and on in her mind regarding her feelings for a certain Uzumaki had finally been brought to an end – although she had lost Naruto, she had gained Shikamaru, someone who accepted sound, in the form of his complaints, as a daily habit in life.

But most of all, her child had given her the best present life could ever offer to a person: the joy of laughter.

She smiled at her husband's closed eyes at present, safe in his warm embrace and for once, reveling in the silence that engulfed her. This time, it wasn't such an unhealthy, overwhelming sensation that asphyxiated her; it was a silence that could be easily broken and released.

Idly watching their child stoop over to pick random blades of grass before throwing them about, she marveled at the sweet simplicity of his smile. Her husband said nothing, as was his temperament during these esteemed moments, and she followed his example perfectly. However, she had to stifle a small bout of laughter in no time at all, it seemed, when their little boy promptly stumbled on some upturned dirt and frowned cutely.

She knew Shikamaru was eying her as soon as the smallest giggle escaped her lips. She also knew that if it were any other kunoichi, he would have uttered something by now. Instead, he chuckled as well and merely pulled her closer to him.

…She knew she was not troublesome to him. She knew their little child was not troublesome to him, either.

And she wanted him to know that even with his petty grievances and numerous displays of laziness, he could never be troublesome to her.

Silence had made her regret many things in life; sound had made her strive to make a new beginning for herself and her new family.

Fate.

To Hyuuga Hinata, it had been a strange thing to comprehend.

To Nara Hinata, it was something that she had conquered.

The fact that her silence had been broken, due to the strength and solidity that Shikamaru and their child provided, was a quirk of fate.

Ending Note: Thank you for reading AQoF. It's my second finished fic here on this site (my first is a one-shot in the DBZ fandom). Please review and tell me what you thought!

Ladii-Chocolate