Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter Three: Escaping
Flipping through the pages somewhat rushed, I finally found the page I was looking for. The printed interview with one of my favorite bands. I read the article about eleven times before I lost track. I was busy fantasizing about the lead singer when Neji comes in. I glance up, decide that I'm still mad at him and go back to reading my magazine. My peripheral vision lets me see him shuffling awkwardly.
"How are you today?" he asks stiffly. I give a half-hearted lift of my left shoulder and flip to the next glossy, perfect page.
"Are you feeling better than yesterday?" he says quietly. It sounds as though he was thinking it, then wanted to say it, but his Hyuuga mentality prevented him from saying it too loud, God forbid another Hyuuga would hear it. But I was a Hyuuga. And I heard it.
"Neji Hyuuga, are you trying to apologize??" I am astounded. I don't know what to say. He looks down, the most Hyuuga way of expressing discomfort.
"I should not have lost my temper," he said, ignoring me. "I'm sure you can be very empathetic with me at this point."
"Sure, I can be," I muttered, reverting back.
"I just wanted to let you know how I felt," Neji said simply. Neji, the most anti social of all of us, having feelings? I felt it easier to ignore him. What else was I supposed to do? Go all mushy on him as well? No way in hell. Neji stood there silently, waiting.
"What do you want?" I snapped. Neji shrugged.
"I suppose I was waiting for something," he said softly. I glared.
"Get out of my room," I said. Hyuugas are strong. We don't deal with feelings. If we get too close, we react like a lactose intolerant person being force fed whipped cream. Neji exited. He didn't seem regretful of his confession. Well, it was basically a confession enough for a Hyuuga. Ugh. Yet again, I needed to escape this house.
I stole out of the back without anyone seeing me and I looped around the property. It took a while to get to the center of town from our compound, but I run fast.
I wandered around, hands in my pockets. For the first time in my whole life, I wished I could be someone else for a change. Who wanted to be a Hyuuga? No one. You were cursed with a cold family from the moment you were born. A permanent hierarchy existed within us, as cold and hard as we seemed to the outside world. You stood tall unless you wanted shame.
Hinata was always the lucky one. She moved away, freeing herself. She relieved the position to me. Believing it was what I wanted. And I did, at a time. Now I didn't know. She was never a true Hyuuga anyway. Blessed with our Eyes, she never was cold. She never was proud. Or disdainful or cruel or…strong. The Hyuuga strong. I looked at my bracelet. It suddenly felt heavy. It no longer had scratches in the shiny surface. The years of wearing it made it smooth and dull. But the words stayed; they were as black as the inner core of the name Hyuuga itself.
Someone tapped on my shoulder and I immediately sunk into my defense position. It was a natural reflex.
"Don't kill me!" a voice cried. Hands slowly uncovered a cowering figure. It was him. I raised my hand to strike.
"Wait!" he said, big eyes pleading. "Can't you just tell me who you are?" I paused. He must be a true idiot to not know who I am at this point. I rolled my eyes.
"I thought you would have figured it out by now," I said disdainfully. "Apparently third time's the charm doesn't apply to you."
"Third?" he asked.
"You irritate me," I said. "Go play with your little friends or dolls or something." He flushed at that.
"I'm not littler than you," he argued. I winced, expecting a whine, but his voice was deeper than it was at the Academy. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt my ears. I relaxed.
"You sure act like it," I retorted and began walking again. He trotted after me.
"For someone so short, you sure got a lot of anger stocked up inside of you," he remarked, trying to make conversation. Wrong move, I thought. No one ever mentioned my obvious stature at the Hyuuga compound. I was the Hyuuga Heiress for Kami's sake. But he didn't know that. To him, I was just another girl. A girl that frequently knocked him out with a touch of the hand.
"Don't," I said, glaring at him over my shoulder. "Call. Me. Short." He slowed his pace down, but continued to follow me. I supposed not knocking him out gave him the idea that I would tolerate his presence. Ugh. Maybe I just didn't want to deal with the stares today.
"I saw you yesterday," he continued. "And you knocked me out. Again. For the…third time I guess? I don't remember the first."
"You wouldn't," I snorted.
"You could refresh my memory?" he prompted hopefully.
"Nah, I'm just waiting until your slow brain figures it out," I said. Like that was ever going to happen.
"That could take forever," he joked.
"It could," I said seriously.
"Are you thirsty?" he asked. I was taken aback. I was in the middle of insulting him and then he wants to know if I'm thirsty??
"What?"
"Thirsty," he repeated. "You know, like you drink something because you feel—"
"I know what it is," I snapped. "I just, well, didn't expect—" Why was I fumbling with words? I always knew what I was going to say.
"Ooh," he exclaimed. "That's a good place." Without thinking, he grabbed my wrist and dragged me in. Without thinking, I let him.
I stood awkwardly at the door while he assuredly went over to the counter and ordered. Being awkward made me feel more awkward. Years ago, I was a strong child. I was raised with the mentality that I must train harder and longer than anyone I met that was stronger than me. I was promised that one day I would be above them all. Only Hinata was actually guaranteed that. As I became a preteen, I saw the faults in this. I rebelled, turned my life and myself into one big gigantic tantrum. But Hinata gave up, set herself free. I thought I was getting what I wanted. But now, after these years have past and I've seen Hiashi, the stoniest, coldest man I know break down and become weak, I wonder what it was all for. Training so hard just to end up like him. Why?
Sometime later, I realized this was the same place I was with Hinata yesterday. I wondered if he knew that and if that was why he chose this place.
"Here's your drink," Konohamaru said, handing me something fruity in a cup. Sipping cautiously, it tasted similar to what I had had with Hinata yesterday.
"We were here yesterday too," I stated, testing to see if he remembered. "I was with my siiii…my friend."
"That girl you were with?" he inquired. I turned away, refusing to answer. He chuckled. "Okay, so you know her."
"Do you know her?" I demanded. He shrugged.
"Sure, lots of people do," he said. "I mean, she's with Naruto and everything."
"With who now?" I asked. Now it was his turn to stare at me.
"Don't tell me you don't know who Naruto Uzumaki is," he said disbelievingly. If Hyuugas could flush, I would.
"I'm not stupid," I said. "Don't look at me like that."
"Sorry," he said. "It's just, Naruto's a big inspiration for ...me …I didn't know you didn't know him…"
"Well don't look at me like I don't know anything," I said again. I paused. "So, she's...dating this Naruto person?"
Konohamaru nodded. I got the sense that it was old news.
"I see," I mused. No wonder she was so nervous about the Annual Formal. I felt a twinge of anger that she hadn't told me, but then I suspected she was waiting until the Formal to tell us. Hinata did that, she waited until she was positively sure.
"Say, are you even from around here?" he asked, eyes as concentrated as I've ever seen them.
"I was at that stupid gathering, wasn't I?" I said, my words laced with bitterness.
"Oh yeah," he said. "You were just sitting there."
"Actually," I said solemnly. "I was just sulking there." It took him awhile, but once he realized I had cracked a joke, he grinned.
Just then, the orange haired girl from the gathering who gave me a dirty look walked into the café. I saw her before she saw me.
"That girl," I murmured to him. "You know her, right?" He turned around conspicuously. I held back a groan. Didn't they teach how not to get caught 101 at the Academy or something?
"Yeah," he said. "She's on my Chuuin team." I nodded. So they were on the same team. That meant they were close. But not as close as I think she wanted them to be. If there was any shred of hope that this annoying teme would still continue to be my friend, I wanted to use that against her. I wanted her to be jealous. It was just my competitive Hyuuga side……….right?
"I remember her from the gathering," I said. "Don't tell her that I said this, but she doesn't like me." He was surprised and was about to say something, but she had spotted us and was heading over to our table. Her eyes were glued on me.
End of Chapter Three
Finally, Chapter Three! I hope you guys liked it!
R&R!!!