"Hinata-sama," ever since the age of three, had been a name she had grown to dread. At first, she thought it was normal. It was what most everyone called her, Main or Branch, younger or older. Spoken quietly and reverently as befitted the future leader of the clan. Then she grew up a little, and noticed that Chouji was just Chouji, Shikamaru was just Shikamaru, and Ino was just Ino. Sometimes chan, if they were being doted on.
Never sama.
Hinata was never just Hinata. She was the heiress of the strongest in Konoha. She couldn't play roughly like Kiba was allowed, nor could she ever dream of getting head pats like Shikamaru got from his parents. She thought that maybe this was something to do with the Hyuuga's doujutsu, but then one day, she saw Uchiha Sasuke after class. He had a doujutsu too, and he was preparing to go home with his brother, hand in hand, beaming as Itachi greeted him with a forehead poke and a small smile.
So it was just her.
Hinata was supposed to be the heiress of the strongest in Konoha, and yet she was a disappointment. A failure. The Hyuuga blood was thin and weak in her veins. Neji was better. Hanabi was better.
But no one ever stopped calling her "Hinata-sama." Over time, it went from being spoken quietly and reverently to dismissively, scornfully. Neji said "Hinata-sama" like it was poison, and her name sounded so ugly.
It was a while before Hinata was ever just Hinata. She had to wait until she was in the Academy. Until Iruka-sensei. He called all his students by their first names. As a teacher, he didn't play favorites. He was only interested in making them all learn. A scolding tone here and there if they misbehaved, a patient tone if someone was slow to understand the lesson, a proud tone if they'd done well in tests. "Hinata" didn't sound so ugly from his mouth. It was just her name, no strings or baggage attached, and for that, she was grateful.
"Hinata" was Kiba's loud, rough voice followed by a puppy's barking, in the slight chagrin of a Shino who didn't forget her and didn't like anyone to forget him, and it was a satisfied you did well from Kurenai-sensei.
"Hinata" could sound boisterous and loud and welcoming from Kiba's mother and calm and collected and just as welcoming from Shino's father.
And when Naruto said, "Hinata, kick his ass, this hurts to watch!", she knew that "Hinata" had the power to be brave, to break beyond the confines of "Hinata-sama."
She may have been a shy, dark weirdo, but her name changed, just a little.
The first person to ever call her "Hinata-chan" was Sakura's mother one day soon after the Chuunin Exams, when her new friend had invited Hinata over to her house.
She'd been so shocked at the sweet, familiar form of address that she yelped and scalded her tongue on the too-hot tea that she'd received.
Sakura's mother blinked at her quizzically. "Is something wrong, dear? Did I add too little sugar?"
Hinata silently shook her head, mind still reeling. Haruno-san smiled and patted her on the head absently. Like she didn't realize how strange she sounded. Hinata's vision blurred.
"Well, then, I'll be off to pick up Sakura from Yamanaka Flower Shop, so make yourself comfortable," her voice echoed from far away. "I keep telling her to come home before five. Who knows what she and Ino-chan are up to?"
The door slammed shut and Hinata's tongue had since gone numb.
Sakura's mother was concerned about adding too little sugar. She'd given her a head pat.
If her clanmates were there, they might have taken umbrage at the address, at how some random lady referred to her as though she was just a kid. Just thirteen. Not the heiress.
"Hinata-chan" didn't sound so ugly coming from Sakura's mother, though.
When she was promoted to chuunin and grew older, her eyes becoming sharper and more distinguished, the villagers often called her "Hyuuga-san" with a nod and a polite bow. An impersonal greeting, a token of recognition that she was part of an old, prestigious clan, but one that would have been given to anyone, Main or Branch. A safety net.
Neutral. Like clear, fresh water or a blank slate.
It was better than "Hinata-sama."
She didn't ever think that "Hinata-sama" would sound nice again. The name had long since been ruined for her. But then, she wasn't the only one who had changed, just a little.
A few months after the Chuunin Exams, she was sitting by herself on the engawa at home, watching the rain, and admiring the way the Hyuuga compound's garden was so green in contrast to the grey sky.
Peace.
The sound of feet padding across the floor.
She started a little and turned to face her cousin.
"Mind if I join you, Hinata-sama?"
She met his eyes and found something there. Something she couldn't put her finger on. But he was waiting for her answer, so she nodded. He settled down next to her, eyes fixed on the horizon.
They sat in silence for a while before Hinata realized what it was.
Peace.
"Hinata-sama" wasn't something she ever expected to sound nice again. The name had long since been ruined for her. But then, maybe it wasn't just one or two people who had changed, just a little.
It was true, Hinata supposed, that the Hyuuga would be upset if her Byakugan were to fall into enemy hands. It would also be upsetting if she were kidnapped by rogue ninja from other villages and used as a bargaining chip against the Hyuuga, against the village. That was very different from caring about the matter of her life or death. Her father had made that clear. The Hyuuga had no place for the weak. That was all.
It didn't explain why her medical tent was crowded with half the clan or why Neji was singlehandedly holding them all off from mobbing her in relief that she was alive.
Hinata-sama needs to rest, he was saying. Because she risked her life to defend the village. So please leave without stampeding her tent or I will not be responsible for what I will do next.
"Hinata-sama," from Neji now, at the age of seventeen, sounded like someone brave, someone who had been acknowledged. Someone who was precious.
She didn't understand, so she closed her tired, strained eyes and drifted off into peace.
A lot of things had happened since that day when her cousin sat next to her and "Hinata-sama" didn't sound so bad anymore. She was a hero of the war now. A lot of people called her "Hyuuga-san" lately.
She learned to smile when Ino's mother and Chouji's father called her "Hinata-chan." And one day, heart beating furiously, she finally gathered herself enough to call her cousin's teammate "Tenten-chan," because, "Hinata! We've been through a whole war together so stop calling me Tenten-san or I'll seal you in this."
Tenten gestured to the giant pot she'd somehow procured from Kumogakure, the jar that was capable of trapping even a bijuu, and Hinata almost laughed then.
"Tenten-chan" sounded normal and simple and delightful. Just like "Hinata-chan."
Naruto was always straightforward. Neji had once told her that Naruto had better eyes than he did, telling things exactly as he saw them, Lee becoming "Bushy Brows" and Guy-sensei becoming "Uber Brows-sensei" and Sakura-chan just being Sakura-chan and Hinata just being Hinata.
No strings or baggage attached, and that made Hinata grateful. That she was just Hinata and nothing else.
That was why she yelped one day, staring at him in shock at the bizarre form of address he just used.
"D-don't call me that," she said, swatting at him plaintively.
Naruto pouted. "But Hinata," he whined. "I think orange wedding invitations would look super cool."
"They would not."
"Hinata..."
"No."
"Extremely awesome Hinata-sa – "
She cut him off in a hurry.
"There are old people in my family, Naruto-kun, and they won't be happy with orange wedding invites."
Naruto grinned at her flustered face. That made her more flustered.
"Help me out here!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Hinata-sama, please help out the extremely awesome – "
She turned and fled the room, hands over her face, Naruto trailing after her.
"Hinata-sama" would never be the same.
A/N: I wanted to write a thing where Naruto doesn't call her "Hinata-chan" like so many fics have him do, but "Hinata-sama" to freak her out and this kind of escalated. And a thing I wrote for NH Wedding Week on twitter. :)