Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any fairy tales.

Warnings: OOC-ness, shameless promotion of my own works

Scroll Two: Three Little Rays of Sunshine

Once upon a time, there was family of Hyuuga. They were a prominent name, and they had three notable children: Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi. These three children were at the right age to start setting out on their own and making a name for themselves. Well, actually, Hanabi was a little younger, but the Hyuuga had made Neji and Hinata wait several more years to set out so that all three were within a reasonable ballpark of the right age. So, on one bright, clear, sunny April day, the three little Hyuuga children did set out.

It wouldn't be much of a coming-of-age journey if there weren't any trials, would it? Lucky for our three little rays of sunshine, many bad people sought their family secrets, so they had to elude capture by those bad people, either by hiding, living on the run, or fighting back.

Let's start our story discussing the official heiress to the Hyuuga clan, Hinata. She had been given a name that was an alternate reading to her family name; that was how much her success meant for her father and clan head, Hyuuga Hiashi. Hinata also knew that she had disappointed him time and time again, and was determined to succeed this time and return a true Hyuuga. She vowed not to be outdone by her cousin and her younger sister.

"Hm…" Hinata looked around. The sun was shining kindly, and she was surrounded by fields of beautiful flowers. "This place is nice. I think I'd like to stay here awhile." But there was no place to stay. She sat amidst wildflowers and was deep in thought. Then, it hit her. "I know! I'll just build a house of flowers! Then, I'll be able to stay in this wonderful place, and hide in plain sight!"

Hinata happily got to work on her floral house. Each time she plucked a perfect flower, she apologized to it for doing so. "I'm sorry…" Daisies, sunflowers, roses, amaranths, hibiscuses, plumerias… Every flower under the sun had a part in Hinata's home. It all seemed surreally ideal. It was growing warmer by the day, so Hinata's house provided relieving shade during the day while she never had to worry about getting the chills during the night. No matter what, a wonderful fragrance clung to her, and Hinata was happy.

Unfortunately for Hinata, flowers wilt, and with the passing of the summer season, her supply of blooms dwindled. She tried to make up for this by substituting leaves. However, autumn came and went, and then the only foliage was evergreen needles. She was very afraid for the coming winter. How could she last it out if her house could not be insulated? As she was searching one day for something to supplement her precious home, a man haphazardly sporting a bandana with the symbol of Kumogakure, the shinobi village of the Lightning nation, found her.

"Well, hello there, Miss," he said to Hinata with a leer. "Are you from around here?"

"No, sir," Hinata shyly replied. "I'm on this coming-of-age rite and have made a temporary home here, but I am from a place far from here."

"Where, Miss?" He prompted.

"I'm from Konohagakure. Are you lost or something…?"

"Ah, I see. You're one of the Hyuuga!" He declared, reassured of his initial suspicions.

"W-what? How did you know?" Hinata apparently never realized that none of the other clans had any silly journeys as coming-of-age rites, nor that the Hyuuga were long renowned for their pale wisteria-lilac irises. She finally began to suspect something that wasn't right, so she turned tail and fled, right back to her decimated flower house.

The Kumogakure shinobi easily followed her, and laughed heartily when Hinata shut the door behind her. She can't possibly imagine this is a defense, can she? I could probably blow this apart with just my breath! As he neared to do so, however, the house blew itself apart. Hinata had him trapped in her Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou technique. After finishing up her move, Hinata blocked his chakra flow with the help of her Byakugan, and then ran away once more.

Now, her much smarter and much more capable cousin Neji had different ideas back in April. Shunted to the side at birth due to his father Hizashi having been born only minutes after his uncle Hiashi had been, Neji had ironically been given the most prodigious talent the Hyuuga line had seen in many generations, and he had worked that talent harder than anything else to prove himself as better, even though he would never be head of the clan. He came across barren mountains with many interconnected caves and knew at once that he had struck gold. He worked tirelessly to fortify his new home with traps to kill – er, that is to say, ward off – uninvited visitors. Neji had had no problems at all keeping cool or keeping warm all throughout the summer and into the bleak midwinter.

However, fresh from his encounter with Hinata and her Byakugan, the same ninja from Kumogakure happened upon seeing Neji cleaning his kunai by the river and silently followed Neji to the caves, hoping this time to surprise his prey. Instead, Neji's well-placed and well-hidden traps became too much for the Kumogakure ninja. He'd only narrowly escaped being lost forever in an Iron Maiden when he'd fallen into a pit. The hole he'd fallen through closed up above his head, and his light was cut out. Thankfully, he could move cautiously through the malodorous water and avoid the sharp things – well stalactites hung from ceilings and stalagmites grew from the ground – sticking out of the sides of the chamber due to his elite ninja vision.

Neji failed to notice anything. The intrusion of the hopeless Kumogakure oaf hadn't managed to make any impact on him due to his precision planning. However, despite Neji's brilliance, he failed to account for his lack of good fortune in anything. It was nearing the winter solstice, and the unthinkable happened that day. An earthquake hit the area, and Neji's home of eight months was destroyed. He left, feeling a little dismayed, and vowed to avoid fault lines next time. Meanwhile, the Kumogakure shinobi counted his blessings that the earthquake set him free from his prison.

Dear little Hanabi had decided to be a smart-ass when she set off on her mission. She was always her father's favourite, knowing that Hinata had much less potential as a warrior and that Neji could never be heir. Far ahead of time, Hanabi had contacted several real estate developers in Konohagakure and acquired an estate in the much-coveted Sakuya Hills. Hanabi had instructed her contractors to expand upon the original house; with nothing but pocket money, Hanabi bought an indoor Jacuzzi, a private movie theatre, an elevator, and a larger panic room that more closely resembled a hotspot dance club.

When April had swung by, Hanabi simply packed her things from the Hyuuga manor and moved into her new Tuscan villa home. It was good to be the favourite. She knew that neither Hinata nor Neji would ever have this kind of luxury – unless Neji gave in to his fan-girls and started modeling topless for fragrance ads or something.

Hanabi never had to worry about anything. She'd made sure her mansion was the best of the best, in terms of practicality, frivolity, and aesthetics. It never was too warm or too cool, too humid or too dry. She ate by ordering meals over her fancy mp3-player-camera-phone – or rather, phones. Hanabi had the identical cute phone in nine different colours.

Early one day the following February, Hinata and Neji showed up at Hanabi's mansion, both looking incredibly pissed off. Hanabi welcomed them in and listened – or rather, pretended to listen – to their complaints, bored.

"No one said anything about this being against the rules," Hanabi disinterestedly said. "They ask that you do anything and everything within your resources to live on your own. I am doing just that."

"Humph." Neji never was a man for many words. Hinata only sulked quietly, picking at the delicacy of a chocolate raspberry truffle mousse cake that Hanabi had had served by a manservant.

Then came another ring of Hanabi's doorbell. "It's too early for my lunch delivery," Hanabi murmured. "Excuse me for a moment." She stood and walked to the monitor that showed visitors standing outside the gate. "Who is this?" She was confused.

Hearing the doubt in her voice, both Neji and Hinata walked over to the security monitor. Hinata gasped.

"That is the man who tried to abduct me!" She shrieked, though mutedly compared to normal shrieks.

Neji hadn't realized that anyone had attempted to abduct him, but he did recognize the man outside Hanabi's gate. "He is a leader of Kumogakure. They have been seeking the Hyuuga power for many years now."

Hanabi frowned and hit the intercom button. "Who is it?" She asked.

Over the intercom, came the slightly distorted but obviously bored and tired reply, "Hi, I represent Shinobi Entertainment of Fire Nation. Could I interest you in any magazines, DVDs, music CDs…? I have a catalogue with me, full of great products at great prices!" He tried to sound enthusiastic at the last line. "There's a free present to go with Satomi's latest album!"

Hanabi was snared. "You are offering free presents, you say?" Behind her, Hinata and Neji were horrified… until they remembered Hanabi had gone behind their backs and bought herself a house while they had made do living off the bare essentials for nearly a year.

"I did!" He did sound perkier at the prospect of a potential customer. It was a tough life being a door-to-door salesman. "You get a promotional poster and a figurine with your purchase."

Well, that did it. Hanabi waved the gate open and let the Kumogakure shinobi in. Now that he was much closer, it was easier to see why he was a door-to-door salesman; although the earthquake at Neji's had allowed him to escape, it had also crippled his joints to the point that he moved even slower and less agilely than a civilian.

"This isn't a good idea," Neji cautioned.

But Hanabi dismissed his worries. "Look at that. What is he going to do to us? You two can see as well as I can: his chakra flow is all messed up from his critical injuries." She opened the door before the Kumogakure ninja even got to her front steps and went out to meet him.

Upon seeing Hanabi and recognizing her as the Hyuuga who had eluded him since the previous April, he dropped his catalogue and notepad. He growled, "YOU! What are you doing here?" And then he doubled over in pain and agony.

Retaining her bored look again, Hanabi ignored his question and pressed, "I want Satomi's newest album, with the free gifts. Shall I pay up front?"

"NO!" He yelled. "How can you be here, of all places? I searched the entire continent for you, and the island nations too. And I get hurt because of him," he pointed a finger at Neji, "and wind up a salesman in Konohagakure! And now, I find you've been here in the lap of luxury all along!"

Though Hanabi had purchased a lot size as large as the next ones over, the ninja was screaming loudly enough now that the neighbours were getting seriously concerned.

"Look," Hanabi said impatiently, "are you selling me a CD or not?"

"Why are you talking about CDs now?" He was positively delirious now. "How can you think of music and teenyboppers when you are standing before me?"

"Am I supposed to be thinking anything else?" Hanabi countered incredulously. She didn't think he would get it if she were to say then and there that Satomi was hardly a simple teenybopper, though perhaps not too special otherwise, either.

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!" He yelled frustratedly. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

The three little rays of sunshine winced a little at his outbursts, but the suffering of their ears was cut short as a blur of dark blue cut across Hanabi's property and pinned the Kumogakure shinobi to the ground – not that that was necessary. After a brief silence, he began hollering again at the renewed and amplified pain the fall had given him, but the young ANBU commander knocked him out.

"… Thank you, Sir Itachi," Hanabi said simply, a little disappointed she wasn't going to be getting her CD. "I was getting rather tired of the screaming."

"It was no problem," Itachi said, just as simply. "He has been a suspected of treason for a long time now. At the bare minimum, we can lock him up for disrupting the peace." At a slight nod of his head, two subordinates leapt over to remove the Kumogakure shinobi from the grounds. Then, Itachi followed after them.

"… Well, that was odd." Hanabi remarked, as if this confrontation was normal. Turning to her sister and cousin, she suggested, "Well, I'm not feeling much like staying home today. Why don't I cancel my lunch order, and we can all go out for Korean barbecue?"

After a pause, Neji said, "Sounds good." Pause. "Thanks."

"Y-yeah, that would be great…" Hinata couldn't remember the last hearty meal she had eaten. The prospect of a tasty barbecue had her longing for the food already.

"Let's go, then."

Afterwards, the Kumogakure shinobi was executed by the direct order of the Hokage. Hinata and Neji moved in with Hanabi since she'd readied two guest bedrooms in foresight. Hanabi did eventually get Satomi's newest CD along with the gifts, and the three little rays of sunshine lived happily ever after.

A/N: Ahaha. Well, Satomi is a reference to my other work, Shadow Tempest, in which the main character Uchiha Sairin worked for a few years as a singer under the stage name Satomi to support herself. She couldn't receive instant notice, so to boost her name, she used her reputation as the troublesome but popular ninja "Shadow Princess" to increase interest in her performances. I adore constructive criticism, but I welcome flames as well, so long as you honestly feel that way.