Because I Love You - Chasing After You

by The Flare Blade

Hiruzen knew that Tazuna's request was much more dangerous and important than it first appeared to be. He needed experienced ninja for the mission, but his hands were tied because of politics... until he sees a loophole. Using an educational project as cover, he will send two teams to Wave! A Naruto retelling with Hinata as a main character but with canon teams. (Ch1-5 revised!)

19. Chapter 19 - Guiding Light (Moon)

Yo!

I must say that I never expected such a positive reaction from the last chapter, haha. Thank you all for the kind words, my reviewers! I'm sorry my retribution was this delay, but I had to focus on my studies. (paid off really well, btw).

So those that have seen my profile and got e-mails/did some math probably realized this is a double-update in the making. Unlike Naruto's chapter, this one has events on the day after the teams return from Wave. It got big enough I decided to split it for your reading convenience, since both halves stand for different days and different atmospheres. Much like in Naruto's half—now third—of the intermission, I severely underestimated how much some of these scenes required of me, and Perentie Fan's idea from earlier brought about a new (big) issue I needed to address, so this got out of hand planning-wise.

I had gotten lax with my schedule since college was over, and I thought: so what if I have to edit this in the middle of the week? ...Between job interviews and medical check-ups, that turned out to be my undoing, which is why I'm sending this part. (+ SimplePotato having college issues)

There's a couple changes to previous chapters that I must bring to your attention. The first is a micro "plothole" last chapter: pretty much everyone besides Hiruzen and the secretary had a backpack either on their backs, or near where they were sitting as mentioned in C17. C18 matches that continuity, as these items are referenced here. (Unlike in their trip to Wave, they weren't expecting an attack, so sealing the packs was not needed.)

The second, is that I decided to get rid of some allusions to The Last's non-flashback events in the end of Hinata's dream way back, in Chapter 2. I'm toying with some new ideas and decided to not lock myself into following a specific path for those events just yet. Neither change warrants a re-read of the chapters, but I thought it best to notify you all.

Moving on, part of this chapter happens in the living room of Sakura's house. There's some artwork of the place made for the Road to Ninja movie and it's shown in the pre-movie anime episode if you want the full picture painted in your mind. Similarly, I'll be describing a bit more of Hinata's bedroom this time around but not fully, and you can check Shippuden episode 306 to see what it looks like if you need it.

It won't be too long—hopefully just a couple days—until the next update goes live, but I hope you'll enjoy this one!

---

Intermission

Guiding Light (Moon) [Current Version: 1.0]

---

While Kurenai and Naruto had remained inside the Hokage Tower to speak with Hiruzen, the other members of Team 7 and 8 had split off into two groups at the tower's entrance, much like they had right after meeting Tazuna weeks prior.

Kakashi, as ordered by the Hokage, headed to the hospital with Kiba and Sasuke while Shino tagged along simply because his home was in the same direction. Similarly, because the Hyuuga compound was in the same direction as the Haruno household, Hinata found herself accompanying Sakura after splitting off from her team.

On one hand, it was a convenient thing for Hinata. Even if she had the focus to do otherwise, it was much easier to just barely keep her friend's pink hair in her sights and follow Sakura through the partially crowded streets of the village than paying attention to the path herself. But on the other hand, that offered Hinata no escape from her angered thoughts.

She simply couldn't get what happened in the Hokage's tower out of her mind.

Even if they had interacted only for a minute, that old lady had been so nice to her... only to turn around and treat Naruto with such a complete disregard, as if he were trash rather than an actual human being. As if he had done something wrong.

"Whew, I can see it already!"

No. Hinata had the feeling that the secretary considered Naruto's existence as something wrong.

It made her blood boil, even more so when the secretary then seemed confused as to why Hinata was upset right afterwards, as if there had been no possible reason to explain her reaction to what had just transpired. The secretary had even thought she had been sick!

It was actually true, in a way. Disgusted was probably the better word, but sick fit the bill just as well. How someone could treat another person like that was just beyond her comprehension.

"Um... Hinata?"

But perhaps the most maddening of all... was that she had scared Naruto. The same Naruto that had gone as far as trying to spit on the face of Zabuza Momochi while pinned to a tree, almost cowering at the glare of an elderly civilian woman. The idea was almost hilarious, really. But for Naruto to react in that way... Hinata couldn't see another explanation. That seemingly kind old lady had the audacity to terrorize a much younger Naruto, just a frail boy that didn't know how to defend himself. And that had stuck with him even years later.

It hit a little too close to home.

'How can someone like her sleep at night, knowing they are tormenting a child?'

Hinata didn't know how she'd even live with herself, if she had done something like that. It's simply evil.

"Hey, Hinata. Are you listening to me?"

With Naruto's story still simmering in her mind, her pale eyes darted from the streets to the people passing through. Some were already going back to their homes after another day of hard work, while others, like the nearby shopkeepers, were still giving it their all to attract whatever potential customers they could find.

'I wonder how many of these people are like that secretary... people who walk around the village freely, even though they deserve—'

"Hinata!"

With a squeak, Hinata felt something pulling her by the hood of her thick jacket.

Her head jerked backwards and she turned around on instinct, only to find an upset-looking Sakura.

"S-Sakura-san?" she spluttered dumbly. 'When did she get behind me? We were walking almost side-by-side!'

"Sheesh... I was trying to talk with you, but you weren't listening." The pinkette's hands moved to rest on her hips and her expression turned into one of worry. "You didn't even notice I stopped walking, Hinata."

Burning with shame, Hinata was about to apologize when she and Sakura both noticed a few people around them staring.

Sakura refocused on her friend. "Look, come on," she called, grabbing Hinata's hand and quickly pulling her towards a nearby building.

"Sakura-san?! Ah!" Hinata stumbled but managed to keep up with the other girl's pace. "W-Where are we going?!"

She didn't get an answer until they were already inside the building, running up a set of stairs before Sakura stopped in front of a small metal gate and released her hand.

The pinkette dropped her backpack to the ground and dug inside it for a few seconds, before retrieving a set of keys and smiling at Hinata. "To my place!"

'She lives here? Oh,' she cringed. ' So that's why she stopped earlier...'

Sakura unlocked the gate. "C'mon in!" she said in a sweet, inviting tone that made refusing her impossible for Hinata.

While her friend locked the gate, Hinata's eyes adjusted to the building's lack of light and found another set of stairs further ahead.

It was almost as if Sakura knew Hinata's legs ached at the sight. "Don't worry, I live on the second floor!"

With that said, she rushed upstairs ahead of Hinata, who lingered by the gate uneasily.

It would be rude to say no and walk away, of course, so she soon bolted after Sakura. That brought a problem of its own, however.

"Um... will your parents be okay with this? I mean, it's all so sudden..."

Hinata herself had no idea she'd end up there until she was already at the doorstep, after all.

"It's fine! They aren't home yet," Sakura argued as she unlocked another door—one made of wood. "Or, at least they shouldn't."

Sakura shouted for her parents just to be sure once the door swung open.

"...Nope. Nobody home. Even if they were, I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Saying that, Sakura disappeared inside the house's living room while unstrapping her backpack and leaving it by the door before Hinata had even entered.

Hinata stepped inside and closed the door for her forgetful friend. The sound of another door opening and a brief glance told her Sakura went to a nearby room—likely the kitchen.

"I'll be with you in just a bit," she called out. "Feel free to sit anywhere you want!"

After standing around awkwardly for a few seconds, Hinata made her way to the nearby couch and used the chance to scan her surroundings. It was a rather simple room when compared to what she was used to, but a fair bit more modern as well. A small square table with three chairs was in the center, with doors and shelves filling the walls of the room. She even spotted a telephone on a small stand in the corner, with the glass doors that led to the small balcony right beside it, which also allowed Hinata to take a peek at the street below and nearby buildings.

"Sorry for the wait," Sakura said as she came back to the living room. In her hands she had two glass cups, both filled almost to the brim with water. "Here; drink this."

Hinata hadn't even asked for water, but accepted it anyways out of politeness.

"My mom works as a hospital clerk on the night shift and my dad's store hasn't closed just yet, so it's just us for now," Sakura explained, before downing her cup of water practically in one gulp. "Hmm! Delicious... I needed that."

Hinata was barely listening as she drank from her own cup, but she agreed wholeheartedly with that last part. The cool liquid slipped down her throat, satiating a thirst Hinata had been too furious to notice she had been feeling. The sensation was so delightfully pleasant that it completely cleared her mind, if only for a few seconds.

"Ahh... thank you, Sakura-san." She offered the empty cup back to Sakura.

Nodding, her friend placed the cups on the center of the table and then leaned against it, using her hands to prop herself up.

"So... have you calmed down?"

"...Yeah." Hinata had briefly considered playing dumb, but... 'I wasn't even trying to hide it, I think.'

"Good! You know," Sakura smiled teasingly, "I felt as if I was walking with Sasuke-kun back there."

Hinata winced. "...T-That bad?"

"Yeah," Sakura snorted. "So, what's up? Besides the storm cloud above your head, I mean?"

"..Heh," Hinata smiled a little, but it went away too fast for Sakura's liking.

The pinkette moved to sit beside Hinata. "Do you want to talk about it?" she rephrased her offer, gently.

Hinata only wished she could take her up on that. "No... i-it was nothing, really."

And ultimately... wasn't that the truth?

Seeing people mistreating Naruto was not something new to her, but knowing why they did it gave her a fighting chance. Or, at least, that's what she had wanted to believe after Naruto told her the truth.

But the reality was that nothing changed. All she was able to do was watch idly, like always. Naruto had smiled at her in the end, as if to say that it was fine, that he would forgive her for being such a failure... but she couldn't forgive herself that easily.

"Hmm... are you sure?" Sakura crossed her arms and kept staring, hoping that Hinata would crack under the pressure.

The Hyuuga only fidgeted uncomfortably, knowing her friend didn't believe her, but held silent and looked away.

"Alright then," Sakura gave up with a small sigh. "I was just surprised to see something ruining your good mood like that. I mean, considering what happened between you and Naruto today," she lightly elbowed her friend, wiggling her eyebrows.

Of course, the first thing Hinata had done after she and Naruto arrived at Tazuna's was to pull Sakura aside to give her friend a "status report". She hadn't said anything about Naruto's secrets, obviously... but Sakura was aware of almost everything else.

That conversation involved a lot more high-pitched squeals than Hinata's pride allowed her to admit.

"I'm not sure I told you this earlier, but I'm really happy that you managed to patch things up with that knucklehead," Sakura continued. "Proud, too."

Sakura's words caused an impossibly silly smile to adorn Hinata's lightly rosed face—signs that the pinkette's plan to cheer up her friend was working perfectly.

"I'm really happy too, Sakura-san. But... I couldn't have done it without you and everyone else." Without an ounce of hesitation, Hinata's hands reached for Sakura's left hand. "Thank you for helping me."

"Aww... stop that." Sakura's other hand moved to join its sibling with Hinata's. "We just gave you a little push, really. The rest was all you!"

That little moment of bonding lasted only a couple seconds before Sakura slumped completely in her seat, groaning. "But I wish things were going as well on my end. Ugh..."

Memories of Sakura's wail of frustration over a certain Uchiha's stubbornness earlier that day filled Hinata's mind.

"Sasuke-kun has been talking to me sometimes, which I guess is a pretty nice improvement. But he's been so... so cranky lately!" Sakura groaned in frustration. "You'd think he was the one with PMS here..."

Hinata almost groaned too. 'This again? What's with these people today?'

"That book you helped me pick for him helped for a while, but he got through it way too fast," Sakura continued.

"Well... it's not like there are many options when you are confined to a bed," Hinata said. She could still remember how restless she had felt during their first day in Wave, which she had spent chained to Tsunami's bed thanks to Zabuza breaking her legs. Her book certainly had been useful, even if she had nothing to practice what she learned about knitting at the time...

"Yeah... I guess you have a point," Sakura huffed. "But I'm actually surprised he swallowed his not-small ego and asked Kakashi-sensei to give him a piggyback ride back here just to get his legs healed properly."

Hinata had to admit, that had caught her off-guard as well. Sasuke had fervently refused to get any help during the past week and insisted on doing everything himself, even when it came to bathroom activities. Hinata had no idea how he actually managed to bathe properly—she had needed Kurenai to help her.

It had been quite embarrassing, but Kurenai had done her best to make her as comfortable with the situation as possible. It actually felt good to be treated with such care, if Hinata was to be entirely honest... but she couldn't imagine Kakashi doing the same for Sasuke. 'Or for anyone.'

"He's probably dying to get back to training," Sakura continued, sitting upright once more. "I bet you all my mission money that's exactly what he'll do these next three days."

"Sasuke-san is very committed," Hinata nodded. She had never watched Sasuke train as she had done for Naruto, but she could still recall Sasuke's words—his tone—when he spoke about his brother while they were headed to Wave. "People call him a genius, but... I think he only got this far because of how seriously he takes his training."

Sakura smirked. "Heh... honestly? You're not wrong, but I think right now it's more about not letting Naruto and Kiba catch up to him than anything else," Sakura snorted. "He gives this air of maturity, but he can be so childish sometimes that it's almost cute. In the end he's just as competitively silly as the others," she giggled, making Hinata laugh a bit as well.

Hinata found it amusing that they are pursuing a big dream, but on the short term, it was the simple desire to one-up each other that kept them was sure they didn't even notice it. 'Well, not all boys, she amended in her mind. ' Shino-kun doesn't seem to care much about that.'

Hearing Sakura sighing softly beside her snapped Hinata from her thoughts.

"Despite what I said, I think I'm going to do the exact same thing these next few days."

"You mean training?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "Between normal physical training and the stuff our sensei gave us, there's actually a lot to do. But I'm actually going to focus more on the elemental training; I feel like I'm really close to getting it right," she said, bringing her thumb and pointer together.

"I... I think I'm the same with my Water chakra training. It still drips quite a bit and the shape... d-doesn't resemble a bowl very well, but I'm close too. I think I can do it by the end of the week," Hinata smiled, feeling prideful and confident for once. "I do wonder what kind of jutsu Kakashi-sensei will give us for my first scrolls afterwards, though."

Her pale lavender eyes gleamed as they shifted to the empty cups on the table. "Kakashi-sensei said Water has various defensive and support techniques, so I'm expecting that kind of jutsu... but since Shino-kun fills that role in our team and I rely so much on the Gentle Fist, I think he might give me an offensive technique like a projectile, or maybe an all-purpose jutsu like the Water Clone."

In her excitement, Hinata failed to see Sakura's expression faltering as she spoke.

"I just hope mine will be something that can help me be useful, for once..."

The bitterness in her voice caught\ Hinata completely off-guard. "Sakura-san? What are you saying...?!"

"Come on, Hinata. You know that I barely helped during the mission," Sakura's head lowered, gaze trained at her lap. "Yeah, there was that fight with the Demon Brothers, but it wasn't like that mattered in the end. If something had gone wrong our sensei would've stepped in. Besides that fight... I either did nothing or, worse, just got in the way. I was useless practically the entire time."

Frowning with worry, Hinata placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Sakura-san, you're being silly."

"Si... silly?!" Sakura stammered, and Hinata could almost see the lit fuse on her friend's head as she turned to her.

"Didn't you just say that our boys are silly because of how they are so competitive? You're doing the same thing. You're thinking of "how much" you did and are comparing yourself to others."

Sakura just kept staring blankly in response, eerily resembling Naruto in Hinata's opinion.

"...That doesn't change anything," the pinkette eventually retorted. "I passed out without contributing in any way when we fought Zabuza, and I didn't even get to fight on the bridge."

"Maybe you didn't do much," Hinata calmly agreed, "but Sakura-san, what you did was still important. You just didn't get to see it."

Sakura scowled. "What are you getting at?"

"Look at the bigger picture," Hinata answered with a small smile, retracting her hand. "With Zabuza... yes, you fainted. But you helped buy us a couple seconds. Zabuza had been about to start killing us when our sensei showed up—every little moment we made him waste mattered! And on the bridge... if I had arrived just a little later than I did, Kiba-kun would've lost against that masked girl. Shino-kun helped make those Earth weapons too, but I'd have wasted too much time to get the three weapons I needed just from him, even if... that first one you made wasn't, er, u-usable," she finished with a small blush at the memory.

Sakura managed to ignore that last bit as she took in her friend's words, features softening as she did so.

"Man... you really are something, you know that?" Sakura chuckled a bit. "I brought you here to cheer you up, and in the end it was you who cheered me up!

"Ah... s-sorry," Hinata mumbled in response as she looked away, ashamed of how inconsiderate she had been earlier

Sakura just poked her in the rib, making the girl yelp. "Now who's being silly? What have I told you about using that word with me?"

Hinata opened her mouth but snapped her jaw shut immediately.

"Good girl! You're learning!"

They both laughed for a moment, and Sakura rose from the couch.

"You know what, I might even have a treat for you," she smirked. "I saw a fancy-looking chocolate cake when I went into the kitchen just now... want some?"

Hinata couldn't deny something like that even if she tried to. "Is it a plain cake or that kind with melted chocolate on top?"

Sakura smirked.

"On top and inside."

---

The two girls spent the next few minutes stuffing their faces with cake and chatting about minor trivialities. But after finishing her third (generously thick) slice of cake and downing another cup of water, Hinata decided to be a hypocrite and risked ruining the pleasant mood that she and her friend had fallen into.

"I... I know I don't really have a right to ask this," she acknowledged, wiping her face with a napkin, "but what was that all about?"

The pinkette's shot a nasty yeah-you-don't look at her, making it evident she knew exactly what "that" meant. But she, unlike Hinata, decided to get it off her chest.

It began with a sigh.

"I didn't tell you this before, but back at the bridge I had... another freak-out. When the mist started to vanish and I saw Sasuke-kun on the floor, looking like a bloody porcupine."

"But... uh, that was a week ago, Sakura-san."

"Yeah, but these?" Sakura pointed to the dark skin around her eyes, "are a result of that. When I told you the other day that I wasn't sleeping well, that's because I keep having nightmares about all of this. The bridge, our fight with Zabuza... and what Kurenai-sensei did before our mission."

Hinata winced. She had once asked Sakura once about how Team 7's training with Kurenai had gone, and she still regretted that question.

"You're right. Comparing myself to others can be silly, but... ugh, I can't believe I'm saying this," Sakura groaned in defeat. "I'm way weaker than Naruto now that he's got that fancy Shadow Clone Jutsu of his, and neither of us is even near Sasuke-kun's level."

Hinata carefully considered her friend's words before speaking her mind. Despite their last exchange, there was still a note of self-deprecation to Sakura's voice that irked her.

"I think... I think that as long as you work with "I have to become more useful" instead of "I have to stop being useless"... everything will work out fine, Sakura-san. You're smart and have excellent chakra control; I'm sure you'll become just as strong as them in time," she said, keeping her tone firm and positive, with a smile to complete the package.

"You... you really think so?"

"I know so! But... um..." Hinata began to play with her fingers. "Have you... considered accepting Kurenai-sensei's offer?"

Sakura crossed her arms. "Going to a fancy therapist just because of a silly illusion seemed like too much for too little. I was getting better, so I thought she was just exaggerating when she said how trauma from genjutsu can be hard to recover from. But this last week really proved me wrong... so yeah." She then frowned. "I'll try to see it after I get my money three days from now; I'm not sure our health care covers that kind of thing. It sounds expensive!"

"Well... I guess." Hinata thought her friend's concern was completely stupid given the kinds of surgeries that their health care covered, but kept that to herself. 'She is scared, after all.'

"But that doesn't matter right now!" Sakura continued, suddenly jumping out of her seat. The pinkette's bright green eyes were sparkling as she faced Hinata, and if not for the Hyuuga being startled by her friend's sudden movement, she would've been smiling at the sight.

"I was hoping to spend my time lazing around, hanging with my parents and such... I mean, it is supposed to be our free time, right? But no... I'll be focusing hard on training these next few days! After all," she smirked, "I gotta work that cake out of my system somehow! Oh, but I'm gonna grab another slice first. You up for round four?"

"Um... n-no. But thank you!" Hinata replied awkwardly. Sakura shrugged and went back to the kitchen, bringing Hinata's used plate and cup with her.

Hinata, quite honestly, would be down for eating more than twice what she had already consumed. But she was just a guest. Three slices had already been too much... with witnesses around, anyway.

Sakura returned, and Hinata tried not to look at the plate the pinkette held or its contents. "So, watcha doing till we're back on duty? Training too?" she asked, shoving more cake inside her mouth.

Hinata almost slumped. "I... I don't know. I really don't know."

Sakura raised an eyebrow... and then it struck her. "Mh," she swallowed in a hurry. "Sorry, I forgot about it...! You have your fight with your sister, don't you?"

"Y-Yeah... I think it will be tomorrow. I'll only be sure when I get home"

The pair fell in silence. Sakura couldn't say she envied Hinata... her friend had a lot to lose in this fight, but winning meant everything bad that would've happened to her would instead happen to her sister. It was a horrible situation to be in, and Sakura had no idea how to support her friend.

What could she even say in that situation? 'Man, clans are so messed up...'

"Sakura-san," Hinata said, rising and glancing at the nearby clock by the wall. "Thank you for everything, but I think I should be going. It's getting late... I should get back before it gets dark."

Sakura glanced at the sky through the nearby glass door. "Yeah... you're right. Let's go, I'll show you out."

Hinata grabbed her backpack and the two left the room. The streets were significantly emptier by then, but as the pair descended the stairs from Sakura's house...

"Okay, that's the last time, then I'm leaving," they heard a man's voice, frustration seeping through his tone.

Right outside, they found a man ringing the doorbell of one of Sakura's neighbors. Between his uniform, big backpack and the various letters he held under one arm, it wasn't hard to figure out he was a postman.

"Nope. Nobody home again," he groaned.

"Oh, you won't find anyone home at this time, mister," Sakura decided to butt in. "The old lady that lives there works from 6 a.m to 8 p.m."

"Well, that explains why nobody ever answers the door... I've been trying to deliver this little baby here for the past three days," he showed a small yellow package to the girls, "but it's a special thing. I need the recipient's signature to drop this off."

"Well, you're out of luck. She lives alone and works on weekends."

"So I can't deliver it and nobody can drop by the post office to get it because it's closed between those two times," the postman said, mostly to himself. "Gah... great. What now...? "

"You could try delivering that to the Hokage Tower," Sakura suggested, pointing in the building's direction. "She works there."

"Oohhh... Nice idea! Thank you! Oh, and I assume you live here so," he fumbled with his small stack of letters before bringing a few envelopes. "Number 47; that's for you."

Sakura looked at her mail in disgust. "...Awesome, bills."

"That's the adult world for you, little kunoichi. Thanks again and see ya!" he called out, before moving on to the next house.

"Dad's gonna love these," Sakura commented off-handedly while she examined what would probably consume a good share of her future income.

Meanwhile, Hinata was doing a quick bit of math and the results scared her. "What kind of person works almost a hundred hours per week...?! T-That's dangerous, isn't? Especially for an older person!"

"Well, yeah," Sakura agreed. Both girls had heard stories about people dying from overworking before. "But that's what you get when you're the Hokage's secretary. Not that Hokage-sama is a young man anymore, either," Sakura kept rambling. "I dunno how they can do it!"

"Wait... that old lady is your neighbor?!"

Sakura laughed a bit, finding Hinata's shock amusing. "Small world, isn't it?"

Mouth agape, Hinata's eyes shifted to the house. It wasn't a mansion or anything of the sort, but significantly bigger and fancier than what Hinata thought the secretary would require. For someone that was living alone and barely has any free time, she definitely wouldn't need more than a small, cheap apartment. Something practical above all else.

"You said she lives alone... this is crazy," she murmured. 'I don't understand...'

"It is," Sakura said solemnly as she approached, also looking at her neighbor's home and drawing Hinata's attention. "About five years ago or so I got curious and asked my dad about it. You... you know what happened here in the village around thirteen years ago, right?"

Eyes widening, Hinata felt the blood draining from her face at the rhetorical question.

"Her family used to run a... a textile store, I think. Her husband, daughter and two of her sons worked there with her. Her other son was a ninja." Sakura lowered her head. "That son was one of those who died trying to fight the fox before the Fourth arrived, and her store... was obliterated by one of the energy blasts, with the rest of her family inside. The only reason she didn't die with them was because she had been bedridden that day with a cold."

"..."

"I suppose the village recovered," Sakura continued in a low voice. "But buildings can be rebuilt. People... not so much. That kind of stuff doesn't heal."

It was easy to see now, Hinata realized. It was just a small glimpse at someone else's life, but...

"Hey," she felt Sakura's hand on her shoulder, interrupting her thoughts. "Don't think too deeply about it. I know; it's sad, but... we can't do anything about it. And we have our own lives to live, too."

"I... you're right," Hinata sighed, shaking her head. She had enough on her plate as it was, and as much as she wanted to stall or run away... "I suppose I should go now, Sakura-san."

Sakura frowned at her.

"Um...?"

"Before you go..."

Hinata blinked. Her thought process faltered, awaiting Sakura's next words... and the next she knew, there was a huge mass of pink almost in her face, the warmth of another human pressing tightly against her, and a pair of arms snaked around her upper back.

'She's hugging me...!' Hinata's brain supplied unhelpfully as it ordered her body to freeze, stiffly.

"I know things will get rough for you in the next few days, but... hang in there," Sakura said softly on her ear, apparently not minding that Hinata didn't return the hug. "If you need me for anything, even if it's just to vent, I don't care. But you can count on me, okay?"

Awkwardly, the shy girl tried to rectify that mistake. It's not like she hadn't hugged someone or was hugged before—actually, far from it—just never from someone around her age. Nonetheless, she appreciated her friend's intentions way too much to leave that action without a reaction to match it.

"Thank you, Sakura-san. I promise, I'll keep that in mind!"

Hinata spoke those words with a smile, but when they untangled themselves from each other, she found that her friend didn't exactly mirror that.

"Drop it."

"...E-Excuse me?"

The pinkette crossed her arms, but smiled playfully. "I think we have gone through enough these past weeks that calling me "Sakura-san" is almost insulting by now. It's way too formal for me, so if you don't want to call me "Sakura-chan", then please drop it."

"Um... okay." A moment of hesitation. "Then, thank you... Sakura."

It was so unfamiliar—weird—saying someone's name with nothing attached to it. But when her friend beamed in response to the lack of the "offending" honorific as they waved goodbye to each other, Hinata decided it was something she could get used to.

---

Precisely two minutes after separating from Hinata, Sakura left her backpack on the edge of her bed before throwing herself on the mattress, making the backpack bounce. The only thing stopping Sakura from sighing wistfully was the last piece of her slice of chocolate cake, which she was still chewing on.

It was such an obvious fact that it barely counted as a realization, but Sakura only truly noticed it after she got back home.

'Hinata is my best friend right now.'

Sakura couldn't deny it, she was quite fond of her newest friend. They had bonded a fair bit over personal struggles, training and semi-romantic drama... and it was only natural that she'd find new friends, as she lost all contact with her other friends from the academy (seeing as none of them managed to impress their would-be jonin-sensei).

But Hinata... it felt like shoving a key in a lock where it could fit, but not open. Close, but not quite.

And as her hand found itself drifting to the metallic plate of her "headband"... Sakura knew exactly why she felt that way.

---

It only would take a couple minutes for someone to reach the Hyuuga Compound from Sakura's house, but instead of maneuvering her way through main streets and being caught in the influx of people going back to their homes, Hinata took a longer path, which cut through a nearby park.

The birds and insects were audibly present, but outside of them it was just empty and quiet enough that Hinata allowed her mind to wander as she followed the familiar path.

At first, it felt good. Hinata had cowardly opted out of the whole "girl friends" thing back at the academy, so her experiences with Sakura were all new and exciting and made her warm on the inside. But those thoughts didn't last forever, and the small exchange that preceded their last "bonding" moment eventually was in the forefront of Hinata's mind, vanquishing her blissful mood.

Hinata knew that her opinion of the village as a whole was at all-time low. As far as she could remember, it never had been that great since she had always been put-off by how Naruto was treated inside Konoha's walls. Discovering that the reason behind it was ultimately a result of prejudice had stained it even more... and seeing one such event first-hand had shattered it all almost to the breaking point.

She didn't want to fight for those people. They didn't deserve it.

"And... I am not much better than then, in the end," she found herself saying, despite nobody being nearby to hear her shames.

Hinata knew those people were wrong. Even if they had kept their thoughts to themselves and treated Naruto like a normal person, they were being unfair to him. Not giving him a chance to prove himself and labeling him as something he wasn't. Judging him, for something he had no control over, and that ultimately had never impacted his life until very recently.

Some ignored him. Some feared him. Some hated him. They isolated him, not caring that Naruto was an orphan. Not caring that he was a human being and didn't have anyone to care for him, to protect him... or to love him. Calling him a monster while doing monstrosities themselves.

The number of people who actually went out of their way and tried to understand him amounted to less than a dozen.

The others? Even as her mind tried to lead her to a different path, Hinata's heart still didn't want anything to do with these people.

They weren't worth it.

And then, unknowingly, Sakura showed her the truth.

"But buildings can be rebuilt. People... not so much. That kind of stuff doesn't heal."

She could've hidden behind the excuse that she had less than 24 hours to deal with so much information and feelings... it didn't change the fact that, in the end, she was judging all of these people without giving them the consideration they deserved—she was denying them a chance to be understood.

What they did to Naruto was wrong, she knew. And in some specific cases, even horrible. But they were human beings. Everyone is vulnerable to their own emotions getting the better of them. Hinata knew why they mistreated Naruto, or in the best cases ignored his plight. Now, however... she could see that was only the most superficial layer.

The malignant aura she felt back on the bridge was, undoubtedly, only but a small fraction of what the strongest of the bijuu would be capable of radiating. Being exposed to that, alone, would've left any normal person at the very least apprehensive around Naruto. That wasn't where it ended for many of the villagers, however.

The Kyuubi's attack on the village was considered a tragedy for a reason. Hinata didn't have any numbers... nobody spoke much about it. But she knew many people died on that day.

Still, some emerged from the incident unscathed. But after hearing what Sakura knew about Hiruzen's secretary, who showed so much enmity towards Naruto... Hinata finally realized that there were people who lost everything that night, all in a single blow.

Even if the only one that was to blame for all of it was the fox... some people were in so much pain, trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, that it was no wonder that their hate would turn towards something. Naruto, the one who merely carried the demon, was the living reminder of everything that transpired that night.

It certainly wasn't logical, but the heart doesn't need logic. If Hinata had to guess, there were people in Konoha that looked at Naruto but didn't see that he was blond, that his eyes were a vibrant shade of blue, that his skin was a tan uncommon in Konoha. They didn't see his bright personality, they didn't see a frightened child on the verge of tears, or a prankster defiantly lashing out at the world, or a person that loved his village enough to risk his life to protect it.

As absurd as the notion might be, they didn't even see the orange.

They look at Naruto with eyes blinded by pain and fear and see only the whisker-shaped birthmarks on his cheeks.

They see a fox. A monster. A demon.

A murderer.

A convenient target for all of their pain, sorrow, anger and hate.

The realization that she had been walking an eerily similar path throughout the day hit Hinata like a bucket of icy water, dousing the flames that Naruto had unknowingly ignited inside her heart when he shared his story with her. And once the resulting steam dispersed... she realized one detail, that somehow, had always eluded her.

'Naruto-kun's goal has always been to grow strong enough to be Hokage, to earn the village's respect. But power alone won't make these people change their minds. If anything... they will begin to fear him even more if he becomes that powerful.'

She sighed. The gate that separated the park from the district that surrounded the Hyuuga Compound was now in her sights. 'Am I being too pessimistic?'

As much as she believed in Naruto's dream, she did not believe he'd achieve it until his late twenties at the earliest. Their generation wasn't aware of Naruto's burden—they were only influenced by their parents. Theoretically, the next generation wouldn't have reason to deny him unless maybe Hiruzen's law was revoked somewhere along the line.

'But it still is a problem... I'm sure not all of the people who have a problem with Naruto-kun are civilians.'

If even a portion of the Leaf's military was against Naruto, there would always be the risk of his coronation sparking a civil war somewhere down the line. That was not something Konoha could ever afford—a coup maybe, but not a drawn-out conflict. Hinata had paid attention to the history lessons back at the academy. Unless they somehow managed to "befriend" their major enemies, the Cloud and Stone villages would undoubtedly team up to take them down. And even if they got past old international grudges, that wasn't much of a guarantee for the village's safety.

Hinata still wondered if maybe she was overthinking it all... but she had come to a decision.

'I don't know how... or when,' she admitted to herself, 'but I must do what I can for the village to change their perception of Naruto-kun. I can't ignore them... I can't give up on my own village like this!'

Losing faith on the people she swore to protect... that would only lead to disaster. Hinata was glad that she managed to see that before taking more than a couple steps down that path.

She was still angry at the village, of course. But she couldn't hope to support Naruto—to pay the lifelong debt she owned him—while traveling through an opposite path. Perhaps if she had continued, in a distant future, she'd be trying to convince Naruto to give up and leave it all behind. Or to take the hat by force. Or even... in the darkest of scenarios, to destroy the village, because they weren't worth it.

Again, perhaps her mind was just running too wildly for her own good... but the thought made ice travel down her spine.

"No... I need to stop thinking about this," she said out loud as she realized how close to home she was now. 'I have my own problems to deal with right now. I shouldn't be worrying about someone else's at a time like this. Even... if it was a good distraction.'

She had finally exited the park and right ahead, Hinata could faintly see the last gate she'd be going through on that day. It was decorated with a red flame that matched the designs embroidered on her jacket's shoulders: the entrance to the Hyuuga compound. And farther back, looming over the smaller houses that surrounded it... was her home, the clan head's manor.

She had run out of time... but she was not going to run away.

---

Hinata's first stop was her room. After leaving her backpack on her bed and a quick trip to the bathroom (mostly to erase all evidence of Sakura's chocolate cake from her teeth and fix her hair and clothes bit), the current Hyuuga heiress deemed herself presentable and made her way to Hiashi's office.

When the moment came enter, however, her legs froze in front of the door to clan head's office, one hand closed, ready to knock... and the other holding a white folder.

Unbeknownst to the girl, someone was watching her.

She hadn't been trying to be loud, but Hinata's footsteps were nowhere silent enough to escape the hearing of an experienced jonin working in silence. Though he had been busy with the day's last bits of paperwork, when Hiashi heard someone approaching and stopping near his door without announcing themselves, his Byakugan instinctively activated.

Though he knew he barely had the right to call himself that, Hiashi was still a father. In the privacy of his office, he allowed himself a relieved smile upon seeing his daughter had returned from her first real mission, alive, whole and well.

The moment was gone when he noticed her usual hesitation when it came to him. Eyebrows knitting together, he decided to call her directly to speed things up... but then he saw his daughter's features changing. Gone were any traces of that hesitation, replaced by something he had yet to see in his daughter's face.

Determination.

At the sound of three soft knocks on his door, the veins on surrounding Hiashi's pure-white eyes receded.

"You may enter."

The door slid open.

"Otou-sama." Hinata entered and bowed respectfully.

Her features had softened to something more neutral once she entered, but Hinata wasn't cowering from him.

Hiashi nodded in acknowledgment, his expression betraying nothing. "You're back, Hinata. How was your first C-rank mission?"

Hinata took it as a cue to sit on one of the vacant chairs in front of Hiashi's desk, across from him. "It... wasn't."

One of Hiashi's eyebrows went up. "Explain."

"...Our mission changed rank. From C to S."

As used to masking his emotions as he was, not even Hiashi Hyuuga could stop himself from displaying shock so openly at that.

He could, however, recover in less than a second. "Then I presume that this folder you're carrying isn't the mission report Hokage-sama promised me, correct?"

A tiny nod.

"Tell me everything."

Hinata needed more than a few minutes to carry out that order, especially since she knew her father would be expecting her to give him more details about her battles and individual contributions during the whole mission, as he had forewarned her on the first day she came home with a headband on her neck.

Hinata would've never been able to guess from her father's stoic reaction to her words, but the Hyuuga clan head was in a fair bit of emotional turmoil under his icy mask.

Aimed at all adults involved, there was a mixture of anger and disgust. From the two jonin-sensei who decided to continue an at-the-time A-rank mission with six green genin in tow, to the lying client, the scumbag Gatou and even the Hokage, who had been warned about the danger but didn't overrule their choice.

Between Kakashi's experience and Kurenai's personality, he couldn't believe they made the decision to continue. Yes, the genin teams had the means to detect threats and avoid them without too much hassle, but as Zabuza proved, no plan survives contact with the enemy—it was too much risk. He was particularly disappointed with Kurenai in this regard.

And aimed at his own daughter... was some disappointment too. Simple mathematics and logic told him that Hinata had pushed herself more than she should've during their travel to Wave, even though she hadn't said it outright. He knew the Byakugan's limits intimately and hoped that was a lesson his daughter would not forget anytime soon.

But far more than disappointment, there was something else. For once, he could say Hinata went well and beyond his expectations. Her contributions as a tracker and fighter during the group's first battle were satisfactory, but neither were particularly special. What had caught his attention, though, was her decision-making during the next two conflicts.

The way she surprised Zabuza and the idea of weaponizing basic Earth constructs both spoke of a cleverness he hadn't know she had, and the fact she survived fights with people above her skill level and that fought with mid-range weapons—even managing to get the upper hand for in one for a moment—suggested that she had become stronger than he had predicted.

However, Hinata's fatal flaw was a lack of self-confidence, which lead to doubts and hesitation that have no place in the field. While she had yet to overcome that... seeing slight changes in her behavior as she stood before him were raw evidence that she had made considerable progress during her time away from home. He couldn't claim that she was confident, as she had briefly shown before knocking on his door, but she was finally taking the steps down that road.

During her report, he noticed she had stuttered far less, to the point she pronounced many sentences close to perfectly, and some even without any noticeable hesitant pauses. She tried to hold eye contact rather than keep her head lowered with her gaze to the floor, even if she couldn't hold it for long. Her body language and the volume of her voice reeked of fear before, but now they only hinted at it as they approached a level of neutrality.

Hiashi couldn't deny it. Seeing his daughter growing up had made him proud.

It took much of his self-control to hold back a smile, and to not say those words out loud. He wanted to give his daughter the acknowledgment she sought and fought for... but that opportunity had long since passed, he knew.

There was only one remaining emotion to be addressed, and it was the one he chose to focus on as Hinata ended her report.

"I... wasn't able to contribute significantly after Kurenai-sensei r-rescued me. W-What happened next, I think... I think the mission report will be able to explain better than me, otou-sama," she finished.

Obviously, Hinata hadn't told him everything. She hadn't been sure if discussing Naruto's secret was wise—nor she wanted to talk about that at the moment—and Hiashi definitively would not be interested in all the teenage interpersonal drama that went on during the mission... but two details she had left out brought about the last unmentioned emotion in Hiashi: confusion.

"Given the mist that had been there, I understand you cannot give me enough details on the other fights. However," he crossed his arms, "there are two things you failed to explain about your last fight. Namely... I do not understand how you could've tripped your opponent in the bridge under those circumstances, nor why your final strike to her chest failed to incapacitate her."

Whatever progress Hinata had made in forging a better mask to wear, Hiashi could see it start to crack.

"...T-This," she gulped, before offering the white folder she held, "this is a r-report on... everyone's training. T-The Hokage's project, I mean."

Hiashi grabbed it, noticing how some of it was crumpled, no doubt victims of Hinata's nervousness. His subsequent flat stare carried both curiosity and an unspoken order.

"I... um, this sh-should give you the answer you want..."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow, but retrieved the document from within and began to read it.

'Let's see... this first part is about her sensei's genjutsu lessons.'

Hinata was learning illusions of the lowest level, but was having a little bit of trouble. Outside of discovering that the otherwise unremarkable civilian girl had more potential with genjutsu than even the Uchiha prodigy, there wasn't much else of note in that part of the report.

He then moved on to Kakashi's report, which was oddly divided in three.

'...What arrogance,' he openly scowled after finishing that part. 'Instead of teaching them about ninjutsu as he was meant to, he gave them a true genin test?'

The words "And thus I conclude that Team 8 is fit for active duty" in particular stood out to him in Kakashi's report, leaving him to scowl at the paper. They weren't his genin, and he had no say on whether or not they were fit to exercise their profession. He noticed a reference to the mysterious fainting episode Hinata had mentioned to him—she had been far too dirty to get away without being forced to explain herself.

The second one wasn't much better. The only reason he wasn't angrier at Kakashi for focusing on something as complex as elemental manipulation instead of something with more immediate gains, was because that had saved his daughter's life in the end.

Then, finally, he saw what Hinata had alluded to.

Eyes widening further each time, he read and reread the last section at least four times before daring to open his mouth.

He finally understood why Hinata had fainted and ended up in the hospital the day before her mission.

"...This must be a mistake," he ultimately concluded, gaze falling to his daughter once again in a silent demand.

Hinata didn't trust her voice enough to reply to that. But luckily, there was a long, thin glass of water on her father's desk. Leaning forward, she grabbed the cup and brought it closer to her. She allowed her hand to hover above the cup for a few moments, and then lifted her arm.

The water followed in the exact shape the cup had molded it into. Not one drop fell from the mass of liquid as Hinata moved it around in various directions, before returning the water to the cup.

Hiashi watched it all with eyes wide open. If Hinata's affinity hadn't been Water, she'd have never reached this level of mastery over the element in only a couple weeks of training. His unbelieving stare then turned to Hinata, who took a deep breath to try and keep her nerves in check as she went to answer his question in full.

"I... a-after I was knocked down, my opponent walked towards me. I heard when she stepped in a puddle and I... just moved. I reached for the water and p-pulled... she tripped, and I attacked."

Hiashi listened in silence, still visibly rattled. Hinata didn't know how much of his attention she still held, but continued.

"At the time, I didn't know it hadn't worked... b-but, um, I think it was because I tried to do a Gentle Fist strike immediately after m-manipulating the Water. I... I think that changed the properties... of the attack, I mean."

Hinata wasn't sure if her strike had more accidentally used her Water chakra instead of Lightning, somehow, or if her body had tried to change it and couldn't do it fast enough to pump anything to begin with, but those were the only answers her brain had arrived at after days of thought over the matter. Her only certainty was that Haru's icy armor had been broken where she had landed her strike, thanks to Kiba and the Earth daggers.

Hiashi leaned over his desk with but a hand on his forehead to support his weight. His gaze was unfocused as he tried to process what he had just witnessed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence reigned over the room for far more than Hinata was comfortable with, and the sound of her own heartbeat ringing in her ears was becoming more frantic by the second.

"This... this must be a mistake," Hiashi repeated himself, standing upright in his chair and facing the girl seated across him once again. "Hinata, this shouldn't be possible. Our clan is one of the oldest in history, and it didn't take long for our ancestors to notice that the Byakugan almost never awakens in a child if one of the parents doesn't have it. It's for this very reason the clan was strictly against its members forming families with outsiders until just a few decades after we joined the Hidden Leaf Village and managed to attain some form of stability."

Hinata nodded timidly. She hadn't known about that last part, but it made sense in hindsight. A nomadic clan that depended on missions and was in constant conflict with rivals couldn't afford having clansmen who couldn't keep up with their peers.

They couldn't afford "failures", she realized with a frown.

"This limited the genetic pool of our clan, however," Hiashi continued. "Despite our clan's age, our Gentle Fist is nowhere as old. By the time we created the style, we had limited ourselves so much that every person in the clan had the same affinity: Lightning. It is impossible for a child to inherit another affinity if both parents have it; much like our Byakugan, it is a recessive genetic trait. And much like the Byakugan, this is a trait both your mother and I share. A trait you have to possess."

'If you were my daughter,' Hinata's mind completed for her in her father's voice, head hung low. 'I suppose I was lucky that, somehow, at least my Byakugan managed to awaken...'

But despite the shame and fear she felt, despite being so scared of Hiashi's gaze... Hinata refused to let go of the resolve she had found after confronting Naruto.

Hinata closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and raised her head again.

"What is going to happen now? T-To me and... Hanabi?"

Hiashi grimaced. 'That godforsaken duel...'

He crossed his arms. "I... cannot answer that question as of now."

Hinata blinked. 'He can't? But why?!'

It was such a simple matter, from her perspective. Now that they both were aware that she was not his daughter, she couldn't possibly be the heiress. The only matter left to decide is if he'd give the title to Hanabi here and now, or order her to either forfeit or throw the match.

'Well, there is the issue of what would happen to me after that. Maybe that's why,' she thought, as apathetically as she could force herself to.

"...It is becoming late, Hinata," Hiashi said dismissively, rising from his chair. "You should get ready for dinner."

The girl glanced at the clock. It was almost 7 pm, which was when her family had dinner.

And yet, she saw her father walk towards a nearby bookshelf; he quickly pulled two tomes and seemed to be searching for a third. She noted that the report about her training was still on his desk.

"I realize tomorrow is your day off, but please stay within the compound's grounds. And inform your grandfather that he can begin dinner without me; I won't be joining you tonight," he said, confirming her suspicions.

Had their relationship been better, Hinata would have tried to steer him away from overworking himself, but as it was... she could only obey and leave.

---

The Hyuuga clan had an extremely old tradition of greeting the sun together, as a family... which merely meant that the entire clan reunited each morning to have breakfast together. The tradition was older than the Caged Bird Seal, which split the clan.

Only the Main house upheld the tradition. Every morning, a fancy, big breakfast was served to all Main house Hyuuga that felt like joining their clan head for breakfast, which usually meant a good 99% of the Main house present in the village.

It was free food after all.

Not participating was considered a grave social faux-pax and a sure-fire way to build up infamy within the clan if you didn't have a good reason to skip, such as illness. Not that Hinata cared; at least, not anymore.

Being around so many people always had put her a little on the edge, and as news of her blunders and her sister's talent began to spread, Hinata had decided to wake up earlier than usual both to avoid the embarrassing gatherings and to begin her training regimen earlier than usual. It was a convenient excuse and the only reason Hiashi allowed her to do it in the first place, even if she thought he just wanted to escape the embarrassment from having her nearby.

The other meals of the day, however, had nothing special tied to them. Lunch and dinner were private affairs: each individual family of the clan had those meals in their own houses on normal days. Sometimes, her duties as a student and then as a ninja allowed Hinata to have lunch away from the compound... but she almost never could skip dinner.

While breakfast was far too chaotic for her tastes, dinner was the exact opposite. Her father and grandfather usually kept a quiet conversation going, between politics and clan events. Hinata and Hanabi, however, ate in silence. If neither of the adults directed a word to them, the girls were to remain silent.

It was horribly stifling and she hated it. Especially when her father didn't eat with them. It brought unpleasant memories of the first years following her mother's death, but regardless of how she felt, she went inside the clan head's private dining room.

It had fancy, traditional décor, and the table was big enough to accommodate her family plus a few important guests that occasionally joined them. There were no guests that day, and when Hinata entered, she only saw her grandfather and Hanabi, both already seated and waiting.

"Ojii-sama," she bowed to her grandfather. "Hanabi-chan."

Her grandfather, Hiroshi Hyuuga, looked, for lack of better terms, literally like her father but with gray hair and wrinkles—oddly, his clothes were also faded echoes of Hiashi's garments. Hinata didn't know him very well; he was extremely distant and usually too occupied with his current duties in the council. She understood why he wouldn't bother giving her any attention, but not even her sister earned that from him despite her talent. Still, he at least acknowledged Hinata's entrance and greeting with a simple nod.

Hanabi Hyuuga, too, eerily resembled Hiashi, although with softer features between age and a little of her mother's influence. Her hair was the strongest trait she shared with her father: long and dark brown. The seven years old girl was still clad in her simple training clothes and kept her pure-white eyes glued to Hinata as she took a seat, watching with an expression of contained surprise.

Hiroshi broke their brief silence.

"Hinata, I see you have returned from your mission. I trust you brought honor to our clan?"

She stopped to think.

It was an odd feeling, but... her mistakes she did not outweigh her contributions to the successful mission, this time.

"I... I did, ojii-sama."

"Hmm... good," he said, failing to spot any hints of deceit. "I am sure your father has said something to this effect already, but remember that from now own you represent our clan to the world outside Konoha. Always keep this in mind."

"...I will," she nodded, rigidly. Her eyes met Hanabi's for one moment while their grandfather took a sip from a nearby cup—saké, if Hinata had to bet.

Once he had finished, she informed him of Hiashi's decision to skip dinner.

"Hmm... I see." Hiroshi snapped his fingers, the loud noise summoning a Branch house servant from the kitchen. "My son won't be joining us tonight. Serve dinner immediately," he ordered to the young maid that answered the call.

"Yes, Hiroshi-sama."

The girl—perhaps only a few years older than Hinata—bowed stoically in a way that matched her detached tone and turned to return to the kitchen, but Hinata drew her attention with a small hand gesture before she could go too far.

"Ah." The maid smiled warmly as she approached and, again, her voice matched that. "How can I help you, Hinata-sama?"

"I'm not feeling very hungry tonight... can you make sure my plate doesn't have as much food as usual, please?" Hinata asked, mirroring the older girl's expression.

"Of course!" the maid replied with enthusiasm.

A snap-like noise rung out again, this time from Hanabi.

"I want grape juice," the little girl ordered bluntly.

The maid's lips formed a thin line. "Of course, Hanabi-sama," she said in the same flat tone she had used with Hiroshi, bowed, and finally left.

Soon, dinner was served. They ate the meal in a stagnant silence.

As her portion had been quite small, Hinata finished only in a few minutes and quickly excused herself after being granted permission to leave.

A pair of eyes followed her every movement...

---

As the moon rose higher and higher over the village's starry sky, a wide-awake Hinata found herself with few options to pass the time until sleep came.

She had a strategy that always worked for these nights: a hot bath, followed by reading a good book in the comfort of her bed and its warm blanket and fluffy pillow. The words would eventually begin to blur together, and that's when the girl knew it was time to turn the lights off. She had been doing that almost every night for quite a few years... but she could tell that wouldn't cut it that night, and not because the brand new romance novel she held was and too gripping or unbearably bad.

"Why am I even bothering?" she grumbled to herself, closing the book without even placing a bookmark as sigh charged with frustration escaped her. Reluctantly crawling out of her blanket, Hinata left the novel on the dresser by the foot of her bed and collapsed on the mattress once again, free to stare emptily at the ceiling.

Despite the relaxing bath she had just taken, Hinata still felt very tense. Her late night reading ritual had been completely ruined, and she lacked the focus to enjoy the story in the first place.

Her mind just kept wandering against her will.

Part of it was her curiosity over how, exactly, she'd be losing her title of heiress... but what truly tormented Hinata then was the long-term consequence of her inevitable loss: an arranged marriage to bring power to the Hyuuga clan.

That prospect brought so many unknowns for the girl to ponder about. What kind of man would her future husband be? A young, future heir to some kind of business, or an old, experienced politician? Would they be nice to her or want to treat her like his property? Would her father wait for her to get older before looking for someone, or would the clan choose him immediately? Would she have to leave Konoha, her family, and friends... all because of her husband? Where would she live?

'...What is going to happen to me now?'

None of the choices looked appealing to Hinata. But this was a burden, she knew, that she would have no choice but to bear... and she would do her best to endure it.

'It will all be worth it in the end. Because if I don't, then—'

A noise broke Hinata out of her thoughts. Someone was knocking on her door, and quite impatiently judging from the minuscule intervals between each knock.

"Who is it?" she called as shifted positions, sitting on the bed.

"It's me, onee-sama!"

'Almost as if summoned,' Hinata remarked to herself with a tiny smile. "Come on in!"

It opened to reveal one Hanabi Hyuuga, clad in white pajamas... and most importantly, carrying a tray full of cookies, and a cup of milk.

The young girl quickly stepped inside and closed the door with her free hand. "Hey! You barely ate anything tonight, so I thought you'd like a snack before bed!"

"How thoughtful of you." Somehow, Hinata's smile got even wider as she approached her sister. "I wonder why it looks like a bit too much just for me, though..." she remarked knowingly, taking the tray.

"Well, duh," Hanabi rolled her eyes. "It's for me too. Not that I doubt you can eat all of that by yourself."

Hinata ignored that last remark and left the tray on the dresser, just beside her newest romance novel and—

"Whoa!"

The moment the tray touched the dresser, was the moment Hinata's world twisted as she got tackled to the bed.

"I' missed you so much!" Hanabi squealed, squeezing her sister's torso with the strongest hug her little 7-year-old body could muster.

Laughing, Hinata responded with a gentle, but firm hug of her own. "I missed you too, Hanabi-chan. I'm sorry we didn't have time to catch up... I had to talk with father, and then dinner—"

"Don't worry, it's fine," the younger girl replied softly and broke off the hug to sit on the mattress. "I know you'd be trying to sleep by now but just I couldn't wait till tomorrow to catch up! I've got so much to tell you!"

"Well, then let's hear it." Hinata reached for her glass of milk and sat as well. "How is the academy going?"

Hanabi's eyes sparkled, and so Hinata found her early woes dissolving between small talk and a sweet snack, but most importantly, good company. Someone she could act freely with, without worrying she would make things awkward, without worrying about not being enough, without worrying that her affection might not be welcome.

...Well, that last one? Sort of.

The two sisters usually acted distant with each other while the house was still busy, but when they found time to spend together and there were nobody else around, the masks fell. Hanabi had questioned this more than once and still didn't understand very well why Hinata insisted on keeping their "bonding sessions" private... but that the Hanabi didn't understand, to Hinata, was evidence that her plan was working.

Hinata's heart still held the scar from the day Hiashi had harshly scolded her for attempting to hug him, years ago, not long after her mother's death. He had argued that it was "showing weakness in public" but had refrained from showing anything resembling affection even in private ever since. Her desire for her father's love being completely denied when she had needed it the most... it was a bitter memory.

As the years passed and Hanabi got older, Hinata noticed that despite Hanabi not being a failure like herself, Hiashi also held her at an arm's length. Hinata didn't know how he would've reacted to the two of them spending their time together, but she did know she could not let her sister grow up in the same way she had.

It was her personal mission to help Hanabi grow up knowing the meaning of the word "love". Even if that came at the cost of jeopardizing her own fragile relationship with the clan and father, if her failures and "failures" could keep Hanabi in their good graces, it was a price worth paying for. Trying to redeem herself in her father's eyes would only brew amenity between herself and Hanabi, so giving up on that had not been a hard decision at all.

Of course, Hinata knew her sister would eventually mature and realize her schemes, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. Now that she'd be busier and busier with missions or training and that Hanabi just started going to the academy, she knew that whatever time they had to be together would have to be even more cherished than normal.

"...and there's also Iruka-sensei," Hanabi kept going, gesticulating wildly. "You were right 'bout him! He is kinda cranky and strict, yeah, but he's actually a big softy when you get on his good side. I like him way more now."

"You didn't believe me?" Hinata, still smiling, raised an eyebrow. "I studied under him for years! I'm glad you've warmed up to him. But... you didn't say anything about friends," she said, holding the smile to hide her worry.

The mask proved futile when Hanabi became crestfallen. "Everyone kinda avoids me, onee-sama. I'm not too sure why... I mean, I stopped gloating about winning every taijutsu duel for a while now! I don't know what I'm doing wrong..."

'Ah... some things never change, do they?' Hinata realized sullenly. Her clan's reputation and unnatural eyes made befriending a Hyuuga very intimidating for most. Others resorted to bullying, but Hinata knew her sister's fighting prowess kept that possibility at bay, at least.

"Just... no matter how rough it becomes, don't give up on trying, okay?" Hinata tried to comfort her, speaking from experience. "As long as you're nice to others, you'll see they will find out how sweet and cute you can be."

She got a pillow to the face for that comment.

"I'm not cute!" Hanabi screeched, flushing and pouting in a way that completely betrayed her words.

It only made the elder sister giggle, to the younger's chagrin. "Sure, sure. But going back, nobody tried to befriend you?"

"Well..." she looked away.

"Well...?"

"There was one boy... and, um..."

The guilt in Hanabi's tone made Hinata's take a stricter edge, but without losing its gentleness. "Hanabi-chan, what did you do?"

The younger girl clutched the pillow tightly and frowned. "So there's this troublemaker in our class, the Hokage's grandson: Konowhatever. He's so loud and annoying! He's always acting like a clown in class and he tries to prank our teachers and even some of our classmates."

Hinata suddenly felt very, very sorry for Iruka, and very, very guilty for wanting to burst out laughing.

"I dunno what he was thinking, but he tried to talk to me... what, two days after you left? It was after he got busted trying to set up some sort of trap with a smoke bomb for one of the teachers. Said his closest friends were too scared to try pranking "big targets" again and he thought my Byakugan could help them to prank people without being caught."

...And then Hinata felt like strangling someone. 'Why didn't I think of that before?!'

"I kinda snapped at him after that, hehe..." Hanabi finished, sheepishly. "We fought, then I said some rude things..."

"Like what?"

Hanabi told her, and Hinata gasped.

"Hanabi! Never say anything like that again! Did you apologize?"

Hanabi had cowered a bit at Hinata's intentional drop of the honorific, but the question sparked her fury.

"Onee-sama, he's always being stupid and causing a ruckus in class!" She bounced out of bed. Because of him a lot of our teachers can't finish their lessons and we get extra homework! He deserved it!"

The older girl sighed, halfway sympathetic. She had (almost) always found Naruto's pranks amusing, but it bothered her how sometimes everyone in the class got punished in some way because of him.

"...And then?"

"And then each time we have to spar in class he challenges me," Hanabi smirked, full of smugness. "I, of course, always wipe the floor with him... but now he keeps trying to prank me! Sore loser...!"

"Trying?"

"Byakugan," Hanabi shrugged, before scowling.

'Oh, the irony.'

"The first time he got me, though. I never expected that whoopie cushion on my chair. But then again," her eyes gleamed with mischief, "I bet he never expected that I'd "serve" it to back to him as lunch a minute later!"

"Hanabi-chan!" Hinata gasped. "You could've suffocated him!"

"He had it coming! And besides, he vomited right afterwards so no harm done, right?"

With a weary sigh, the older girl buried her face in her hands. 'They declared war on each other,' she realized. "Please tell me otou-sama didn't catch wind of this..."

Hanabi looked away. "...I still have two extra hours of training per day, until next week," the younger girl grumbled, clearly feeling wronged. "So that means just fifteen minutes of break time after I get back, until dinner. Fifteen!"

Groaning, Hinata realized that nothing she could've said would convince her sibling of her fault in that fiasco if even their father apparently failed.

"But anyways, what about you?" Hanabi changed the subject. "You went to another country for your mission, right? Tell me more!"

"That's... a rather long story," Hinata said, glancing at her alarm clock. "Why don't we save that one for another time, Hanabi-chan? We'd be here until morning if I began now."

"Aww...!" Hanabi pouted, knowing exactly what Hinata's weak spot was. "Come on, please?"

The older girl almost gave in to her sibling's adorable charm, but found an escape route when she remembered something else.

"Oh, but I bought you something while I was there!"

"A present?" Hanabi's face lit up like a firework, her namesake. "What is it?! Where is it?!"

"Calm down," Hinata giggled as she got up and walked towards her backpack. After a few moments—and a mental note to hide a certain incriminating object that didn't belong to her before someone else could find it—she retrieved the present and offered it to her sister with a flourish.

"Ooooh! A book!" Hanabi snatched it and took in the bright golden letters on the deep blue cover. "Uh... "Tales of Waves"? What's it about? Pirates?"

"Well, maybe there's some. It's a collection of fairy tales, folklore and other such things from the Land of Waves. I was told they are pretty popular with kids of your age, there."

Hanabi was too distracted flipping through the pages to reply. "Wow, there's a lot of pretty pictures here, too... oh, a mermaid!"

"So, did you like—whoa!"

Sticking to the tried and true, Hanabi pounced on Hinata again and locked her into a tight embrace. No words were needed, but the small girl happily spoke her mind anyways.

"I love it! Thank you so much!"

Hinata closed her eyes and returned the hug with a fond smile. "I'm glad..."

The two sisters remained like that for a few moments, enjoying each other's warmth... until Hinata heard her sister yawning.

"Sounds like someone should be going to sleep," Hinata said with a hint of humor, breaking the hug.

"Onee-sama, it's just half past eight. Besides," she practically shoved her book on Hinata's face, "I wanna start reading!"

"Why don't you do it like me, then? Read it on your bed until you get too tired to continue."

"Um... well." Hanabi looked down, suddenly finding her shifting feet to be very interesting. "I was... hoping I could sleep with you tonight. Maybe we could read together?"

The answer came in a surprisingly frigid tone. "Aren't you too old for this kind of thing? You have your own room."

Hanabi was not expecting such a cold rebuke. Hurt, she somehow found the courage to look up to her usually kind elder sister... who winked at her.

Red spread through Hanabi's face. "You...!"

Hinata was too busy giggling to resist when Hanabi shoved her on the bed again, which only made her laugh harder while the smaller girl fumed.

"Of course you can sleep with me, silly! Do you even have to ask?" she kept laughing as she got up. "Grab your things from your room, okay? I'm going to the bathroom—don't forget to brush your teeth again!"

Hanabi grumbled something under her breath, but Hinata saw her smile before she vanished.

'That girl...'

Once Hinata left her bathroom, she saw Hanabi had already invaded her bed, which now had two pillows and an extra blanket (Hinata's greedy nature surfaced during the night, usually leaving Hanabi without any covers). The girl had not only nested herself on the side by the wall, but she had also turned off the room's lights and turned on the lamp by the dresser. The book was in her hands, but she had resisted the temptation and waited for Hinata.

"Come on!"

"Alright, alright," Hinata laughed, making herself comfortable under the covers. "Whose turn it is? I forgot."

Hanabi brought her fingers to her chin as she thought about it. The sisters had a little system where they'd take turns reading for one another, and Hanabi was pretty sure she had been the last one. "It's your turn, onee-sama."

She shoved the book on Hinata's lap. "Sure. Let's see what this first story is about..."

Hinata was surprised how easy it was to focus on reading this time around, even though she felt a little tired than before. What was no surprise to her, though, was seeing Hanabi barely keeping herself awake by the time she finished the first and seemingly only tale of the night, almost fifteen minutes later.

"I guess that's enough for tonight." Hinata closed the book.

"But onee-sama... just..."

A traitorous yawn escaped Hanabi's lips, killing any argument she might have come with.

"I think your body's trying to say something."

"Hrmm... okay. Fine."

Suppressing a chuckle—Hanabi could never stay awake past nine—Hinata crawled out of bed to put Hanabi's book away and turn off the lights.

"Goodnight, Hanabi-chan," Hinata whispered once she was back.

"Night, onee-sama..."

Despite having her own plenty of room on her side of the bed, the sleepy girl decided to invade Hinata's space, nesting herself on her sister's shoulder.

If Hinata had any complaints, Hanabi's next words silenced them forever.

"Love you..."

The last thing Hanabi felt one that night was Hinata's lips briefly pressing against her forehead.

"Love you too."

Closing her pale lavender eyes, Hinata felt all the inner turmoil from earlier disappearing, burned away by a strong fire that Hanabi left burning inside her heart, with nothing but two simple words.

That fire fueled Hinata's resolve to continue pressing forward.

It reminded her of what was truly important. Of why she absolutely had to endure whatever fate decided to throw in her way.

'I'm doing this for you, Hanabi-chan. I don't know what will happen... but I know that it will happen just to me, and you'll still have a future ahead of you. You're smart, strong... you'll grow to be a warrior and a leader that everyone will be proud of. And even if you don't want that life, you'll have the chance to pursue your own path, at least.'

As long as she could ensure Hanabi's happiness, to Hinata, that was enough. It didn't matter what she'd need to sacrifice. It was worth it.

Because, above all else, there was nobody in the world Hinata loved more than her adorable little sister.

---

A/N:

Well... I hope this chapter was to your enjoyment!

Between what knowing the truth about the Kyuubi AND witnessing Naruto getting shunned while she understood the context, I thought Hinata would be quite mad afterwards. But most importantly, she needed to manage those feelings, which is why the scene with Sakura and the next existed (beyond exploring their friendship and a bit of off-screen SasuSaku).

Curse you, Perentie Fan, for giving me this idea to work with! I... enjoyed it, and I think if not for your review, I wouldn't have realized that exploring the impact these events had on Hinata needed to be explored more, lest she become jaded. Playing with fanon tropes like the "all civilians are the devil" is always nice, too. So thanks, Perentie Fan!

And on the topic of thanking my reviewers, Ace McKnight now not only is joining gio08 in the hall of fame (AKA: they reviewed every chapter, bringing my review count above 300!), they were also kind enough to steer me away from shaming my biology teacher by mixing up recessive genes with dominant genes when the topic of affinity+genetics was first brought up. I didn't mix it up in the chapter, but in my mind, which would have impacted the plot point here. (one effing year later. I should commit sudoku at some point...)

This wasn't important to the plot, but Lightning being recessive would mean it should've been one of the rarer outcomes genetically speaking, as it is usually only possible if both parents carry the recessive trait. The explanation I have for this is that the ninja world accounts for what is more common between clans, and then the bigger villages they formed. That's where you'd have lots of people with known affinities... so, this disregards MILLIONS of civilians who never had their chakra tested. They don't have enough for ninja-wizardry, but they do have affinities. Add them to the pool, and perhaps the definition of what is common and rare could be different...

That, and it is possible to have a population where the most common genetic trait is the rarest, like how in some parts of our world the O blood type is the most common. Consider how clans kept to themselves, especially people with a recessive dojutsu like the Hyuuga... and this is a possible outcome. There are other ways this could happen, too.

With that out of the way, non-guest reviewers, you're free to move to the next chapter once it's out! Shouldn't take more than a couple days. Just, please... drop a review if you can! I'm not a girl and don't have siblings, so I'm really curious as to how good and believable some of the scenes were, and there's also the debut of Hinata's "sister mode"!

It would really make my day if you reviewed this! Just... I apologize, if you review before the next chapter comes out, as I might not reply until then. But I will!

Guest Review Answers:

Guest (C18): Your comments about Hinata makes me wonder why you are reading this fic in the first place. They seem to imply you don't like her or at least my interpretation of her, so why waste your time reading this? Considering how much I spoke about it in the chapter, I won't bother with the Team 7 comment. Feel free to believe whatever you want. I already addressed the point of why Sakura's crush in the academy days was superficial and Hinata's wasn't in another guest review answer, C14's. It has nothing to do with the romantic feeling, but everything else. Mainly, Hinata wanted a friend more than she wanted a boyfriend. She wanted to know Naruto himself, instead of being fixated on aspects like cool/strong/smart/handsome like Sakura had been-note her perspective on Sasuke in this chapter.

You could also just drop the fic.