The day finally came that Hinata freed herself, if even only briefly, from the confines of the Hyuuga compound and its judgment. After a year of tucking her savings away, she could finally afford to rent an apartment of her own, without begging her father's approval or untying his purse-strings.
Of course, her first action after getting settled was to throw a house-warming party.
It would be nothing big, just a group of friends, with games and refreshments. She was Hinata, after all; sweet and timid. Nothing could be expected of her that would be even slightly out-of-hand. Her friends intended to obey this, too, because she was Hinata, and she would probably burst into tears if anything went wrong.
So when her friends crowded around her living room to play games and munch on various snacks, they actually did play games and eat, laughing and teasing each other all the while. Hinata was pleasantly surprised by the turn-out, and was glad everyone was enjoying themselves.
"I know!" Ino's hand shot abruptly into the air, her voice soaring over the group. "Let's play 20 Questions! Hinata-chan, do you have any sticky notes?" After they had been retrieved, she explained the rules: "You have to write a noun on a sticky note and stick it to the forehead of the person sitting to the right of you. Then, we'll go around the room in a circle asking 'yes' or 'no' questions guessing who we are." She passed around the sticky notes, explaining the other rules, and the room fell quiet as they tried to think of their words.
Hinata frowned pensively at her cousin, who was sitting silent beside her, having already slapped the word "eyebrows" on Lee's forehead. Neji had grown tall and even more handsome, as serious and quiet as ever, but a smile formed sometimes when he looked at her, and his eyes had grown warm. She scrawled strength quickly onto her note and pressed it gently to his forehead, and when his questioning gaze fell on her, she smiled softly and said, "No Byakugan." She giggled at the scowl that meant she had read his mind.
"Hinata!" Kiba grinned as he placed his own sticky note on her skin. It felt strange there, and she raised her eyebrows experimentally to make sure it wouldn't fall off.
"Okay, everyone has a word?" Ino stood up, the word pig showing that Sakura had chosen hers. "Hinata-chan, it's your party, so you ask the first question."
"Um," her eyes trained thoughtfully on her hands in her lap. "Am I a person?"
"No." Kiba looked to Naruto, who sat on his other side. "Am I a dog?"
"Hey! How did you guess already?" Naruto pouted.
"You mean, besides it being the most obvious thing ever?"
And so it went around the circle. Surprisingly, the people who were worst at the game were the ones Hinata thought would be the best. Neji, for example, as the last to guess his word, but then again, she had given him a difficult one. When he did figure it out, and had taken the sticky note off his forehead, he remained staring down at it for a long while, silent, until he was drawn into a different game by the group.
Hinata worried that she shouldn't have chosen that word, but the look in his eyes when he turned toward her, and the way he gripped the paper like a lifeline until his knuckles turned white, dissuaded her anxiety.
The evening ended quietly, as people shuffled out in groups of two or three, exchanging hugs and "Good night"s and whining good-naturedly about the work they had to return to come morning. Hinata smiled at them, thanking them for coming and "oof" ing with a blush when Naruto tackled her in an embrace before leaving.
She sighed happily as she closed the door behind Kiba and wandered out onto the balcony that extended form her kitchen, where Neji stood staring up at the stars. The night was warm with summer, the air still and fresh and she took a deep weary breath. "That was fun." She offered quietly.
He nodded shortly in response. "Why did Kiba give you cookie?"
She giggled fondly. "I make them for him sometimes, to eat after training."
He nodded again absently, looking down at the paper wrinkled in his fingers, her neat handwriting still splayed there with that single word. "Why did you give me this one?"
She watched him flatten it upon the railing, like it was a priceless scroll, a Hyuuga heirloom. "Because, to me, you are strength," she couldn't bring her voice above a whisper, or force her eyes to meet his. "To me, you are invincible, and you can do anything."
He was silent, and so was she. The night closed in around them, and the rustling breath of a world asleep swelled into the foreground, filling the space that had emptied of their voices. They were like statues, not moving, and she was certainly not breathing, until his fingers were pressing a piece of paper to her forehead, and he turned away toward the lights of the city.
She understood, and quietly asked, "Am I a person?"
"No."
"A place?"
"No."
"A thing?"
"Yes."
She frowned thoughtfully, eyes lifting to the stars. "Is it a kunai?"
"No."
"An apple?"
"No."
After a series of unsuccessful guesses, she asked, "Does it belong to me?"
"Yes." His tone changed slightly.
"Is it here with us?"
"Yes."
She shook her head after guessing a few more things. "Will you give me a hint, please, Neji-nii-san? I can't think of anything else."
He took her hand in his, gently, and she flushed at how warm his grip was, how perfectly her hand fit in it. Her face heated further when he pressed it to his chest. Her breath caught at the feel of his heart beating fast against her fingers, and her eyes lifted in surprise to his. "Neji –"
"You don't have to say anything, Hinata-sama." He ripped the paper off her forehead so abruptly she flinched, and crumpled it in his hand. "But you should know that-" He stopped as she pried his fingers open, taking it back.
She smiled down at the my heart written in a print too shaky to be his. "Don't say that I don't have to say anything." Her voice was quiet but commanding. "It would be unfair that you would get to say it if I didn't."
She felt him stiffen, but her eyes remained fastened on the two words on that paper. To her, they were the most important message ever given. A moment later, though, he was holding her close, and her hands were knotted in his shirt, and she was crying, and he was whispering that this was how it always should have been.