Finally time for the next chapter of SYHO huh? Hope you guys enjoy Neji singing visual Kei and Ino making him pretty
In the background of the spacious hardwood floors of the club Hinata has started to get into the habit of visiting on a regular bases music played from the yet to be replaced DJ stand. The boy that was supposed to come in to deal with it was running late. The laptop sitting atop it still worked plenty fine through.
The song that played depended heavily on a very powerful guitar player; it was some English rock music she had never listened to. Her father didn't appreciate much music that didn't have a calmer melody to it. The change was…somehow nice.
Ryo swept up paper cups and straw wrappers at one end of the floor while she worked around the bar. It was silent between the two of them, only broken by the few times Ryo or she would find a curious question about the other they wanted to ask. Hinata enjoyed the little talks. It made the time just go a little faster and she came to learn that Ryo, in some way was really on the same wavelength. They were both very shy people, and Hinata felt a kind of kinship to him when he confessed his crippling fear of public speaking.
"I-If pub-public speaking get to you…why?" she pointed to the stage with blushing cheeks. She didn't know if it was ok to ask. Ryo looked up to her and leaned on his broom before following her hand and gave a tiny smile.
"To help, if I can't speak in front of other people, why not try and sing in front of other people?" he shrugged.
"D-Does it help?" she asked. Ryo turned warm eyes to her and pursed his lips in thought before he answered with a nod.
"Yeah, I'd like to think so. I'm sure it could help you too Hinata-san." He confirmed. The heiress blinked at that. She hadn't expected to be brought up. Looking back at the stage, the girl remembered her first night. By some form of fluke she performed with this boy flawlessly. The thought of even performing again now, even knowing Sakura-chan and Tenten-san planned for it twisted her gut into all kinds of knots.
Could she pull it off so well again?
Just then the front entrance opened and let cold winter light into the warm club. The chill the outside air brought a shiver to Hinata's petite frame even though she was in the farthest corner from the door. A tall, dark haired man walked in silently. He paused briefly to look up to see she and Ryou staring at him.
The man pulled the long hair that lay on his shoulder behind his back and cleared his throat.
"I apologize…I hadn't thought anyone would be in yet." The man spoke in a soft, calm voice. Hinata blinked up at him and then to Ryou who seemed to be in the same dazed amazement as she. The man was very handsome, high cheek bones and thin lips. His eyes were sharp and at a slight angle. Black hair and black eyes, for a moment she had almost called the man 'Sasuke-san' until she realized who it was. She had to look back into her passed interactions in 'BURNED'.
"I-Itachi-san, w-what brings you in s-so early?" She squeaked at the part time bartender. The dark haired man graced her with a polite smile.
"It will be a busy night tomorrow, I thought I would check our stock to see if I should pick up anything." He answered.
Uchiha Itachi. He is Sasuke-sans elder brother, Hinata remembered. A very quiet and intimidating beautiful man. He was older than the rest of the teenagers that ran the entertainment. He had to be since he handled all the alcohol at the bar. She stepped aside and scurried off to another corner of the floor to sweep up there. The silence resumed with the occasional sound of opening cabinets.
"I hear Sakura-san is training you Hyuga-san." Itachi spoke up some time later. The floors were swept now and Ryo had gone to go find a mop bucket. Now Hinata sat at the bar, looking up onto the stage. A pretty pop song was in the background now.
Silently, she turned to the Uchiha who was scribbling something down on a sheet of paper.
"She is" she agreed. Itachi nodded.
"She is a good teacher. How are you getting use to working at night?"
"My father doesn't know." She admitted. The man stopped writing at that and sent an impassive glance her way.
"That's right…Neji lives with your father, a very strict man. My fathers' company has done some business with him."
They went on like this, silently conversing until something distracted the older man. Then Ryou came back with a mop and bucket and asked her to start wiping down the stage while he mopped the main floor.
The door burst open again, possible with much more flare than when Itachi had walked through as a tanned boy that Hinata recognized as a boy from her homeroom ran through.
"Hey, Ryou, thanks a ton for finding someone else to take over my duty!" the boy laughed as he walked over to the blue eyed boy. The other just shrugged.
"It's ok Inuzuka, Hinata-san was able to get permission from her father to stay out late."
"Hinata?" the other boy questioned and turned to the stage where the girl was. Sharp brown eyes and a lopsided grin greeted her in a similar way to a puppy. She smiled and gave the boy a shy wave.
"Ah…Kiba-san…from homeroom?" she murmured. The boy lightened up.
"Woah, its Hinata-chan! I finally get to talk to you again!" Kiba forgot about Ryou there and then and scampered over to Hinata. She smiled.
Childhood memories of wild haired little boys and her mother's friendly laugh filled her mind. She remembered she use to be so close to a couple boys her whose mothers were close with hers. She had enjoyed visiting their homes, played with puppies at Kiba's and cried when the other boy, Shino, she remembered, would hold scary bugs up to her.
Kiba ran onto the stage and embraced her in the same bear hug he would when they were children, as if her mother's death hadn't made them drift apart with the help of her father's refusal to bring her to visit.
It was like she never even left it. And the warmth felt so good and made little tears prick her pearl eyes.
"…Kiba-kun...your hugs…" she sighed as she looked up at her old childhood friend. It felt right to call him that. Kiba let out a mighty laugh that made both the silent Itachi twitch and the now perpetually confused Ryou jump.
"Wait so…you know each other?" Ryou asked as he came to join the two. Kiba let Hinata's feet touch the floor again.
"Childhood friends—hey, you known Shino works here as a DJ too Hinata!" Kiba jumped at the chance to get the three friends back on speaking terms. Hinata perked up, she hadn't been so giddy. Her eyes bounced up to him with a smile.
"Really?"
Kiba agreed they would have to find the time to spend time with each other tomorrow before the performance.
Hinata took her dinner into her room that night, she was a good student, however, even she would start to fall behind while being so primarily focused on the care of the night club and her vocal exercises with Sakura-chan.
She hummed the melody of the current song playing on her ipod as she wrote down the French translation to her foreign language class. Her history and calculus assignments had already been diligently completed by the time she finished off her bowl of rice.
Her tiny voice hitched when she came to a particularly difficult translation so she went for her dictionary.
The rest of the night continued like this as her father walked passed her open door as her humming resumed. Hiashi's footsteps had always been naturally quiet. It came with the air of cold dignity he carried himself with.
The father waved the maid with his pot of evening lavender tea to his own quarters on the other side of the traditional mansion. The older woman nodded in silence and stalked off to let the man watch his child without the violet haired girl none the wiser. Pale eyes fixed his eyes across his silent child's room, even so late into the night the white walls and light pastels of her accessories filled the bland space with the light and color he remembered from the past. He eyed the paper origami flowers hung over her plan futon cover.
His knuckles turned white under his thick yukata as he stared down at the oblivious girl. His lips set in a thin line when he eyed the alarm clock to her left.
11:28 pm
She was up late again. She always stayed up late now; it was concerning. Her progress reports had never stated her having any difficulties in her classes that invoked the need to stay up late to study. Was she okay? Were her classes putting toomuch stress upon her?
He couldn't have that, she was too valuable. His eldest could not afford to get ill.
His foot slid closer to the doorframe as if he would enter the room. He shouldn't have to announce himself. But he stopped short and eyed the neatly groomed hair of his daughter and squared his shoulders to turn away and head to his own room for the night.
He would just bring it up the next time the family gathered for dinner.
The weekend went by slowly.
Hinata spent the next morning having a silent breakfast in her own room once more as she looked over the last bit of French homework she had been too tired the previous night to complete. Just as she went for her notebook there was a knock at her door. She let them enter and it was Neji.
Hinata looked up from her notes to give to older teenager a polite smile and pat the space next to her on the futon. He joined her in familial silence as he let her write what she needed.
"We will be leaving at nine tonight to prepare for the opening." He informed his cousin who now looked up from her notes. A bigger smile set across her placid features. She was happy, excited even to hear her cousin perform, she now knew he played an instrument, a bass. When they talked briefly about it she learned he enjoyed it very much.
It was one of the few pleasures the chill the Hyuga family seemed to cast over everything they touched, that could not be touched. Neji awkwardly admitted that it was probably only because they didn't precisely know of his proficiency in the instrument.
"We will have to leave without the maids knowing. Uncle had to go into the office today to assist with something that happened the other day."
Hinata raised curious eyes to him.
"I-Is everything o-ok?" she asked.
"I heard his secretary mention something about a computer crash." Neji informed. The quiet reigned over the two for another long time.
Hinata set her studies down and pulled up her legs to her chest to wrap her arms around herself. Neji's eyes flickered once to her at the movement before setting his eyes once more to her ceiling where paper flowers hovered on strings. His gaze softened and pointed a pale hand up towards them.
"I remember those." He murmured, Hinata looked up to what her cousin pointed at and her lips twitched up just slightly before they pursed. Neji figured she wouldn't speak up about them, but right now, this moment in time before the two did something not at all in her comfort zone, was something that they hadn't done since he was first welcomed into the main family's home.
"Aunt Sawako made them the day Hanabi-san was born." He sighed up at them as there light grey shadows played across their pale faces. Neji's head tapped the wall as he leaned back. Hinata's hands clinched before relaxing at the pretty memory.
"Mother loved making origami." She agreed. "…I still remember how to fold them, just like how she showed me."
The two shared a soft laugh until the quiet that covered them was welcomed.
"We use have rooms right next to each other." Neji murmured. "...We use to tell each other everything, didn't we?" He stared up with a frown.
"We did…" Hinata sighed.
"How did I start keeping things from you Hinata-sama? How could I not think you would enjoy the people at BURNED?" he hissed quietly, they didn't want the help to hear. Hinata bit her lip in worry. She couldn't answer. How did they become like this?
It had to be after her mother died. Lots of stuff changed then, she wasn't allowed to visit Kiba-kun or Shino-kun, she quit violin lessons, Oto-sama stopped smiling and stopped talking to her, Oto-sama got remarried…twice.
"…A-A lot has cha-changed." The heiress gave him. Hinata blinked back the needle picking sensation in her eyes and leaned onto her cousins' shoulder. He tensed once, but quickly relaxed.
"It did." He nodded.
Hinata giggled then. He turned pearl eyes to her in question.
"I g-get to hear you s-sing now." Neji chuckled to himself with his own smile.
"Don't laugh, but Ino will be putting make-up on me too."
Both ate lunch together, and a quick dinner of rice balls from last night's dinner. At 8:30 sharp, Neji joined Hinata in her room and opened the window silently.
"We have to get Naruto on the way." He mentioned as he helped her out into the night. The winter air chilled her through her jacket, but Hinata ignored it at the thought out that bright ball of sunshine that made her heart beat. She nodded happily and followed her cousin out of the Hyuga complex and down the street.
In the suburbs, the front lights illuminated each house in warm yellow light until after two blocks of walking. By then most of the light had already been turned off, it was up to the tall, iron street lamps to light the way. Under one such light Hinata and her cousin stopped at the old metal gates with a mailbox out front that had 'Uzumaki' on the side.
Big pearl eyes stared nervously at it as she started rolling on the balls of her feet in anticipation. It was a moment later when the door was pushed open and a loud voice laughed.
"See ya later mom!" it yelled before closing the front door and turning bright eyes to the Hyuga's to greet him out the door. Hinata gulped when they immediately zeroed in on her. If possible, his grin got even wider as he jumped from his porch with flare and ran over to her with arms spread wide.
"Aw, Neji, you do love me! I love seeing Hinata-chan!" the blonde yelled excitedly into the night before being batted away from her by her silent cousin.
"I will not stand for any of your overly touch self on Hinata-sama Naruto. Come on." He muttered before leading the way, leaving Hinata to tilt her head the usual wondering way. Everyone really didn't like Naruto-kun touching her.
The tanned boy rolled his eyes at Neji's back and nonetheless turned his attention back to her.
"Ready for the big night Hinata-chan! I can't wait; you'll just burst into tears with how girly Prissy Pants here looks so much like a girl when he puts on Visual Kei performances."
Hinata brought a hand to her lips and giggled, Neji had told her earlier that day.
"I-I ho-hope it's no-nothing I should worry ab-about." She said.
Naruto grinned and grabbed her hand without thought.
"Nah, unless Neji is secretly a girl dressing as a boy, dressing as a girl….You'd have some serious family issues then." He shrugged. Hinata forgot to giggle at the joke as she eyes the large hand wrapped around her much smaller one as he lead her after Neji.
Both teenagers laughed softly to themselves as they came upon Neji who took it upon himself to give their hands a dry look before turning onto the road that led downtown. It wasn't a long walk; Naruto lived relatively close to the downtown part of Konoha.
Walking up the stairs to the second floor entrance that led to the backstage area, the three were greeted with shouts and quick 'hello's'.
Sakura was near the staircase with a scowling younger Uchiha. She looked up at the sound of Naruto calling out to her. Hinata smiled up and waved with her free hand. Sakura returned the smile and waved, Sasuke, however, glared pointedly at Naruto.
"You." He growled and Hinata jumped just the slightest as a pale hand reached over and yanked the blondes' spiky hair. Naruto yelped and had to release the younger girls hand so he could keep his friend from making him bald.
"OW! The hell Sasuke, what did I do this time?!"
"You told her to 'dress me up'." The dark haired youth glowered as his free hand pointed accusingly at his pink haired girlfriend. Sakura pursed her lips to hold back an amused smile, even though she held hair spray in one hand. A hairbrush was thrown to the floor at their feet.
"Um…D-Don't worry Sasuke-san…N-Neji-nii is being m-made pr-pretty…" she pointed out as if to make the boy feel better. From somewhere in the dressing rooms, where her cousin had grudgingly disappeared into, was a sudden shout from the blue eyed Ino.
"YEAH! I GET TO TOUCH NEJI'S HAIR!"
There was a moment of silence that gave Sasuke a green tint to his feature before the brooding teenager let go of his grip on Naruto's hair.
The crowds started filling in around ten pm.
Hinata was on backstage with Shino and Kiba as she assisted with the lighter parts of a drum set that the brown haired boy was setting up. Shino, on the other hand, was standing over his shiny new DJ stand as he flipped a few switches and raised the volumn of the current party beat on outside where the patrons danced.
She looked his way as Kiba busied himself. She felt content oddly enough. Sure her heart beat like mad to the beat that was playing and to the occational looks Naruto would shoot her as he ran around backstage for his missing drum sticks, Ino's cat calling of her cousin upstairs did nothing good for her either, and the anticipation was killing her…but it all felt so right. Sakura was kind, her childhood friends and Ryou were there to show her what to do when she wanted to help set the stage too. It felt like she had always been here, working backstage, practicing making her voice strong so the girls of BURNED could plan her own solo.
Hinata loved every crazy, loud, and jumpy moment.
With the instruments set and placed, Naruto found his drumsticks and teased Hinata about getting a kiss for luck.
Her cheeks exploded in a bright cherry red that had her stumbling over her words until her cousin decided to appear. And it was almost as if she had somehow gained an older sister when she wasn't looking.
Neji stood over a nervously laughing Naruto with his long, dark cocoa hair brushed and straightened to perfection. It's already long length extended to his tail bone. Neji had been right about the make-up too, although due to the Hyuga family's genetically sensitive skin she could work out the dark eyeliner and…if she didn't know better, Hinata would have thought she also saw traces of mascara to lengthen his lashes. His features, nonetheless, have defiantly become more effeminate looking. She couldn't help the almost slip up of calling him Nee-san.
He caught her staring; color shaded his high cheek bones.
"Hinata-sama, please…I am a disgrace. A man should never be caught dead wearing such a thing on his face."
"…good thing you aren't a man…" Naruto muttered from where he sat in front of his drums. She waved her arms and a sweet blush.
"No-nonsense Ne-Neji-nii, y-you look so beautiful!"
Naruto snorted, Kiba, who was in the vicinity, doubled over, and Shino who was looking for the instrumental to the Hyuga's song glanced up and gave the long haired teenager a once over.
Just for effect, his brow raised.
"Shino if you do not cease in those repulsive thoughts you are surely thinking I will tell the entire club what I had the misfortune of walking in on as you…entertained Kiba." A dark look crossed the boys face and Shino's eyebrow quickly lowered.
"You have no sense of humor Hyuga. I hope you do not speak to Hinata so rudely." He murmured over his music before throwing a turned off microphone his way. Neji caught it and turned disapprovingly towards his cousin how looked like she wanted to ask what he had meant.
"N-not until I-I'm older?" she questioned.
"Exactly." Neji nodded his approval before patting her head affectionately. Hinata furrowed her brows and turned her view to Shino whose eyes she could not see through the glare of his glasses.
"I will explain in due time Hinata, Neji, get on stage before I tell your precious Hinata that you sang in full visual kei get up on a dare, frills and tiny short and everything Ino desired….oops." Shino's dry voice cleared his throat and pointed noncommittally towards the stage. Unable to keep a straight face as Kiba's background laughs rose in volume, Neji's hand fell onto his face as red stained his ears. He stalked towards the stage, happily in just a pair of highly stylized black jeans, torn strategically in an attractive way. He wore no shirt, Hinata noticed just as he prepared for the curtains to rise, but he did wear a striking leather vest with an ornate row of three buttons and a chain that wrapped around one side and hooked to the back, the other end seemed to be inside a breast pocket. His left upper arm had a black band with little studs while a bracelet that looked much like a belt decorated the same wrist.
He didn't look very comfortable for she detected that familiar tense way his shoulders got, usually around her father. Her study was cut short, however, as her other co-workers pulled her back a little ways from the instruments and let the band take its place.
"The part of the instrumental we cannot provide will start in thirty seconds." Shino spoke up as the curtains rose and the background music started to fade.
"Naruto, don't get the timing off this time." Her glasses wearing childhood friend chided the blond. He didn't get an answer as Naruto steeled his features in a rare show of concentration.
On the stage Neji didn't look so uncomfortable anymore as a sly smirk placed itself over his frown. There were women screaming from the other side of the curtain as the generic music faded and the band, hidden in their place started out without any warning.
The crowded club started picking up in energy as the curtains rose and Neji, doing something Hinata never thought she would see, because quite frankly she hoped to never see her cousin do so every again. Neji moved his hands so slowly up to his mic, that strange little teasing smirk she was unused to seeing on him didn't falter. Long fingers trailed up the mic and flicked the on switch, it could have been…almost, Hinata flushed at the thought, sensuous in the motion.
Thankfully, the heiress didn't have to ponder to long about her cousins little performance, because immediately after the switch, proverbial and otherwise, was switched, Neji's lyrical voice sang the first verse.
Truth By: Versailles (English translation of Japanese lyrics)
If I'm dreaming I hope I won't wake up,
Because I want to be with you,
Just a little bit longer.
The lyrics, compared to the quick beat of the drums and melodic cords of the guitar were long, drawn out in dramatic notes that lingered for a few seconds before wavering in her cousins transfixing voice.
Because I'm not brave enough to keep apart with your arms.
Every time, you were looking at me with this irreplaceable smile
The words Neji sang over the rhythmic rock flowed like his body as he picked up the power in his voice.
I was hesitating, whether to take this time from you and then,
You were teaching me the importance of things,
Which are not limitless.
Decorative, cut flowers ironically bloom beautifully
I want to burn them in my heart before they will perish
Why the more I dream, the more people suffer?
I wish you to look at me and at our future, not turning your eyes
Smiling through the tears, you sigh
And I'm staying here without your "goodbye…", wishing no separation…
Dark hair flowed with the whip of his head as the normally stoic older teenager lost his composure. He threw an arm out to the audience. Another wave of happy women shrieked as he seductively ran a hand through the long strands of hair that strayed into his face.
I realized that there is no such thing as eternity
But believing, I wanted to see miracles, dreams, possibilities
For you, for our future
Well, it's the last song…
The song had reached a crescendo. Hinata watched, hypnotized as ever by the changes that even went about her cousin as he sang his heart out to an audience when only minutes ago he was standing there with red ears and a distasteful glance at his wardrobe of Ino's choice.
Why loving people hurt each other? Why do they forgive each other?
Love, countless times repeat itself to the coveted infinity
In the limited time crying, smiling through the tears in your eyes
You have taught me really important things…
The vocals came to a resounding end and the crowd cheered at the first successful performance of the night. And in the blink of an eye, the music paused; Neji found his way backstage where an enigmatic Sasuke took his place and an entirely different kind of heavy music picked up.
She eyed her cousin with those intuitive Hyuga eyes of hers and found a table with a cooler of water set up a safe distance from a collection of speakers and an amp. She quickly took one to join the panting lad as he stripped out of the vile leather abomination Ino had to practically rip his previous shirt off to get him into.
At his side, Hinata laid a tentative hand on his bicep. There twin eyes looked to each other and she was amused at how quickly they returned to their impassive expression. She handed him the drink with a smile.
"That w-was beautiful Neji-nii." She breathed. Sasuke's performance, loud and intense drown out any response Neji could have made as he took the drink with a pleased smile and joined her to watched the blonde idiot on the drums work himself into a fit to keep the beat going.
OMG FINALLY! You know what sucks, I found a much nicer visual kei song I liked much more than the ones from Versailles, but since I already mentioned this band in a previous chapter I couldn't change my decision..unless, you know, I wanted to create more inconsistencies than there already must be in this story.
On another note, did you catch the little tid bits I threw into this chapter about some of the relationships between the characters? Haishi's was my favorite to write. I'm going to really enjoy writing the interactions and evolution of his relationship with Hinata.
Also…Shino is totally a top. Just thought you should know. Because, fucking Shino. I wonder what Neji looks like in frilly shorts that show off dem milky thighs of his…PFFFFT OH GODDESS I SHOULD STOP! LOL!
….milky hyuga thighs….oh please someone draw that and give me a link….
R&R and enjoy this troublesome chapter!
P.S...Unsurprisingly when I googled 'milky neji thighs (because i had the need to make sure no one else had an image stuck in their head like i do of this perverseness) I didn't get any hyuga legs...but I did find two very pleasing images of a shirtless Neji~
