Something's actually gonna happen in this one, guise. I've been getting lots of good feedback and support from you all, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I'm still gonna use this card while I can: I'm new. The stuff I've published this week, let me learn you a thing. I can count on one hand how many people I've shared my work with. I got the bright idea to join a creative writing class. Thought it would be a bunch of theory and stuff. World building, whatever (something I'm notoriously bad at). The teacher gave us assignments, then we were supposed to turn in a copy to him and then SHARE IT WITH A GROUP. I was like, HUH UH and was strategically absent whenever we picked groups. So, even though I was in a creative writing class of, oh, 13 people, one of them saw my writing. The teacher. And I mean, I've had to show my Mom and my sister so they could proofread and such. They always seemed to like it, but immediate relatives, y'know what I mean? No one ever wants to be like, "Well, my mom thinks I'm special." (By the way, she does. Go hug your mom. Or don't. I'm just a bunch of text an over-tired civil employee is putting out here. I can't tell you what to do.). So, in a nutshell, Tallman0029 heard my idea for what to do with this time skip and was like "Do it." In that creepy Emperor Palpatine voice. So, here it is. As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to PM me. If you're curious about my awful attempts at concept work and fan art, check out my dA . My deviant ID is the same as here, ponchoninjax3.
Hinata stood in the Hokage's office, numb and ready for her new mission. She hoped it would be dangerous or located somewhere far off. It had been so long since she could focus her foggy mind on something tangible. The Hokage waited until Shizune had closed the door and settled into position beside her. Tsunade always had a very stern expression, however today she looked downright ominous.
"Hyuga Hinata, I have an important assignment for you," Tsunade said, her voice almost a growl. "It will be your duty, and your duty alone to see it is carried out."
"Yes, Lady Hokage." Hinata nodded, then waited patiently for the Hokage to continue.
"Some very important talks will be going on between our village and Getsugakure," Tsunade explained. "There is no guarantee of how long they will last, but it will undoubtedly be for at least a few months."
Hinata grew hopeful. Getsugakure was on the other side of the world. Would she be escorting dignitaries there and back? That would surely be dangerous as well as time consuming. Anything to soften the eternity between now and when Naruto returned from training, she thought. She saw him in her mind's eye, his warm charming smile even in memory was enough to make her shyly smile back. Hinata realized that she had been smiling at the Hokage and flushed with embarrassment. Tsunade called no attention to it and resumed speaking.
"The ambassador for their village, Tsukimori Seiichiro, will be speaking on behalf of their king, and so throughout the talks he will have to travel frequently between the two," Tsunade continued. "To keep the talks from falling apart and as a demonstration they are acting in earnest, the king has offered the ambassador's daughter, Tsukimori Beki, to us as collateral until the deal is sealed."
Poor girl, Hinata thought. How awful would it be to be treated like a bargaining chip? As the heiress of the Hyuga clan, Hinata was in a similar position of value. So much so in fact, there had been attempts by other villages to capture her in the past, for both the ransom and her Byakugan. Hiashi, however, would never allow either of his daughters to be traded around the way it sounded like the king was doing with this Tsukimori girl.
"Because of your status as the Heiress to the Hyuga clan, we thought it would be fitting for you to play hostess and escort to Tsukimori Beki through the duration of the talks."
Hinata's heart sank. She would be playing babysitter to an ambassador's daughter. Hinata did not want to accept the assignment. As sorry as she felt for this girl's situation, Hinata did not want to be stuck pent up in her house and in the village for months with a strange girl tied to her hip. On the other hand, Hinata did understand Tsunade's logic. Hinata was an heiress, and that was exactly the sort of thing heiresses were expected to do. Even if Hinata had felt the urge to object, however, there was something about the way Tsunade spoke that had an air of finality. This whole arrangement had already been decided upon. It would not be fitting or proper for Hinata to refuse a direct request of the Hokage, especially with a delicate matter of state such as this. The only positive outcome she could hope for would be to go in graciously and accept it for the honor it was supposed to be.
"I accept the assignment, Lady Hokage," Hinata relented.
"Thank you, Hinata," Tsunade said. "This is a great favor to me and to your village."
Hinata bowed silently, cursing herself for her lack of spine.
"Beki is your age, Hinata," Tsunade's expression softened. "And her background as an ambassador's daughter may give you two some common ground. It isn't guaranteed, but this might be an opportunity for you to make a friend and ally of someone who may one day be a powerful figure in Getsugakure."
"Positions are inherited there, aren't they?" Hinata recalled something to that effect being mentioned back when she was in the Academy.
"Typically, unless there is no one to inherit the position or they were forced to resign due to scandal," Tsunade explained.
Something was nagging at Hinata about the assignment. It seemed straightforward enough, but it was as if some gossamer thread of important information was wiggling just out of her reach. Was there more to this than just keeping an eye on Konoha's ward through the talks? An idea crossed her mind, and before she could stop herself Hinata asked:
"Will Tsukimori Beki become the ambassador for Getsugakure in the future?"
Tsunade simply nodded, and the silence that fell between them was very telling. Hinata now understood the real motives behind the Beki's placement in her hands. Motives ultimately always turned out to be about politics or duty to one's family and village. They were hoping that Hinata, as a future potential leader in Konoha, would take this opportunity to benefit Konoha at a later time. Acid roiled in Hinata's stomach and resisted the urge to wince. Hinata just hoped that Tsukimori Beki felt the same way she did about all of this.
"Your fathers have arranged for you two to have dinner together while they discuss the arrangements," Tsunade broke the silence. "Try to have fun, Hinata."
Hinata bowed, keeping her expression blank. The image of Naruto's smile was the only thing keeping her from screaming in rage.
"Yes, Lady Hokage."
…
"She's my age?" Beki's eyebrow was cocked suspiciously.
"Yes, my child," Seiichiro sighed. He had told her the whole story and the two had sat in silence a full five minutes before she had responded. "And she is the heiress to the most powerful clan in Konoha."
Beki could only figure that to become the heiress of a clan from a ruthless village like the Leaf, there had to be trail of blood and bodies behind her a mile long.
"Is she nice?" Beki watched her father's face. He was an ambassador and a ninja. His dishonesties were nearly impossible to detect, but every once in awhile a twitch or slight aversion in his gaze would give him away.
"I have heard she is very kind and graceful," He sounded sincere.
Beki bit her lip. She was an ambassador's daughter, but she had always been affectionately referred to as Seiichiro's "Wild child". Good natured dignitaries had always chuckled at her bursting into important meetings with skinned knees, grass stains, and brambles in her hair. He was a single father, and she earned him a lot of sympathy points with her escapades. This Hinata girl sounded like the perfect politician's daughter by the sound of it. People described her as "kind and graceful". Beki was jokingly described as "oni-ni-kanabo", an unstoppable force. She worried their personalities would clash and the next few months would be miserable. Beki would infuriate Hinata by being too carefree, and Beki would be miserable trying to be good and always somehow causing mischief anyway, tarnishing that precious reputation of Hinata's.
"It's going to be fine, Beki-chan," Her father said as he placed his hand on her head reassuringly. "You have a good heart and that is what sees you through even the worst of your trouble. Anyone who sees you knows there is no meanness in you."
Beki hung her head. It was settling in. She would be separated from her father for months; that's why he was being so affectionate. This was going to be hard for both of them. Neither of them had ever really been alone so long. She would be halfway around the world, in a village known for wiping out other villages and cranking out serial killers like Orochimaru. Her father would probably be worrying about her constantly, putting his life and his career in jeapordy every time he traveled between the villages.
Seiichiro was a hard, strong man; Beki had seen stare him down groups of bandits with no one to back him up and a child clinging to his leg. She was going to miss him a lot. She would miss the security and safety he gave her. She would miss his company and his perfect diplomatic wit. Beki did something she hadn't dared since she was small enough to be scared of the dark: she hugged her father tight.
In that small moment of weakness she had shown her father she was still a little girl. For all his trying to make her strong and hard, Beki was still a lamb in the woods. He hugged her back and cried into his sleeve so she would never feel his tears.
…
Hinata had opened the windows to one of the guest rooms of her house. It was not the largest, nor was it the most luxurious, but if she were to have to stay in one of the other rooms it would be this one. It had some of the best light in the house. It faced the east, so it got all of the gentle morning sun but stayed cool during the hot afternoons. It was also a fair distance away from the master bedroom, so both girls would be sure to have some privacy. Hinata had also had the linens laundered, so the bed and towels were fresh. One her way home from the Hokage's mansion, she had popped in to the Yamanaka's flower shop and picked a bouquet of alstroemeria and daffodils-friendship and new beginnings. Their pinks and yellows brightened the room and gave it a fresh perfume.
Hinata sat on the edge of the bed and hoped that all this work toward ensuring another's happiness might make her happy, too. She prayed that Beki would be a kindred spirit, another lonely bird in a gilded cage, and somehow they might learn to sing together in spite of the forces that decided their lives for them.
…
Beki fidgeted nervously as she walked with her father from the inn to the Hyuga compound. She was in her finest kimono, its sleeves hanging almost to her ankles. It was an inky black, the color of the sky in the dead of night. Along the sleeves and around the back, smoky silver clouds hovered over a great golden moon. Beneath the sky was a lake, complete with cattails, dragonflies, and gently lapping waves. Her obi had been her mother's, and as such was the same icy blue of her eyes. It suited Beki's gray eyes and fair blonde hair, but it had been much more striking on Yukihana.
The kimono was a family treasure and should be in a damned museum, Beki thought. It wasn't fit for wearing in public, especially around people unfamiliar with the warped culture of her family. If people paid close attention they would notice the ghost lights hovering above the water, and when the light hit it just right the weave shimmered, revealing ghoulish faces beneath the surface. When asked, Beki always said the souls were fireflies, feigning ignorance. Fireflies aren't blue, and they don't look like they're actually made of fire. No one who noticed the faces in the water ever asked. Those people usually kept their distance.
The garment was morbid; everything about her village was fixated on death. The legend of the shrine that brought the town most of it's fame, the Shrine of the Three Maidens, was about the murder of three young women and their revenge after death. Girls from the three families that descended from the lines of the Three danced at the festival in their honor every year. It hadn't been until Beki was much older that she realized that the girls were reenacting those grisly deaths with serene looks on their faces and graceful flicks of the wrist.
When they at last arrived at the Hyuga mansion, they were let in ceremoniously by a member of the lower branch of the clan and led to the dining hall. Seiichiro told Beki to wait outside while he spoke briefly with Hiashi and left her on the cobbles outside. Beki looked down at the bouquet of sunflowers she had bought Hinata. What had she been thinking? It was good manners to bring a gift, but a well bred girl like her might think receiving a crop item offensive. It was just when she had been shopping, Beki thought that Hinata's name kind of reminded her of the sunny blooms. That being said, Beki was a moron and this girl was bound to be smarter than her.
Panic began to set in. Her eyes darted around the courtyard and she spotted some thick magnolia bushes on the other side of the reflecting pool. Beki turned tail and darted for the them. Bringing no gift was probably less offensive than giving her a bouquet of stupid farm flowers. Beki was not used to the restrictive layers of the kimono, nor the measured weight of the geta. She knew she would be in trouble even before she heard the crack.
Hinata had just finished getting ready. She was in her lucky lilac kimono with dainty white butterflies on it. She had put her hair up in a pretty comb Naruto had bought her and was feeling anxious but ready to meet her new charge. She was walking toward the dining hall when she saw a blond girl in a dark kimono running toward her with a bundle in her arms. Hinata watched in shock as the girls geta snapped and she tumbled face first into the reflecting pond. Instinctively, Hinata rushed forward to fish her out the water. She barely remembered to throw her sleeves behind her as she pulled the girl onto the paved path.
"Are you alright?" Hinata asked, the adrenaline giving her voice a slight quaver.
"I-I'm fine. Other than the fact that my dad is going to make me commit seppuku," Beki sighed.
"Why would he do that?" Hinata asked.
"Because I've probably ruined this stupid kimono that's been in the family for generations and I TOLD HIM not to let me wear it because I ruin everything and I KNEW this would be the next casualty of my bad luck."
"I-its just a little water," Hinata thought aloud. "If we get it taken care of in time we might be able to save it. Come on,"
Hinata pulled her toward the building where all of the garments were tended to. If anyone could save that kimono, it was wise old ladies that tended to the Hyuga's priceless kimono collection.
Beki flushed with shame and stayed silent through most of the process. She was peeled like an orange and given one of Hinata's yukata to change in to. She clutched onto a soggy bundle the whole time, chastising herself.
"I am going to make one hell of an impression," Beki muttered.
"On whom?" Hinata asked.
"I'm supposed to meet the heiress of the clan tonight, and here I am making an ass out of myself and borrowing her clothes," Beki sighed, flopping her arms in defeat.
"Why were you running in this priceless kimono?" One of the women asked as she hung Beki's kimono on a rack with the speed and precision of a master.
"I bought Hinata these sunflowers because her name has 'sun' in it but then I realized what a stupid idea that was and I was trying to stash them in the bushes so no one would know and now-'" Beki stopped and buried her face in her hands, grunting in frustration.
Hinata couldn't help but smile.
"It just so happens that sunflowers are my favorite."
Beki looked up at her in shock and awe.
"Nice to meet you, Tsukimori Beki," Hinata smiled. "I'm Hyuga Hinata."