Define Destiny

A/N: Hello and Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! Yes, this chapter is late and I have no valid excuse. I can only blame it on writer's block. And the fact that I seemed to have discovered how fun and exciting it is to spend a good portion of my day playing Kingdom Hearts II.Well, I won't be updating this story for a while because I'm going to take the time to finish writing it and planning it out so I can post the rest of the chapters calmly. I hope you all understand and are able to withstand the wait. About this chapter: I'm not too happy with it but it's acceptable.

Read, enjoy, and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Hinata, or any other character.

Chapter 12

An awkward silence filled the room, every attempt at conversation dying before leaving their lips. She dared a glance at the boy sitting across her and quickly averted her gaze when he looked up. She wished her father hadn't left to attend to the visitors, wished he had stayed behind to watch them. It was difficult sitting there. All she wanted to do was lock herself up in her room to cry, take out her frustration away from the prying eyes of the residents in the Hyuga complex.

"So…"

She waited for him to continue. He let out a sigh but said nothing. Hinata barely knew the boy and she already wanted to strangle him. For some reason, the mere sight of him was infuriating. He sat leaning back, a bored expression on his face. He was too calm, in her opinion, and needed to at least act like he cared they were going to be married.

"Hinata, right?" he said.

She tried her hardest to remove the bitter edge from her voice. "Yes."

"Oh, okay." He brushed back some stray strands of his hair behind one ear and continued gazing up at the ceiling.

"Hiroki, right?" she asked. She couldn't help mimicking his question. The temptation had been too great. I've been spending too much time with Neji-nii-san, she thought with a sigh. She watched his face for any sign that he had been annoyed but there was none.

He leaned forward now, considerably interested. A grin appeared hovered on his lips, and he said, "Yes."

Hinata didn't like the look in his eyes, sure he was laughing at her. She frowned, crossed her arms, and decided to ignore him. She really wished her father would come back now.

"I've offended you." So, he thought he had the right to assume. She shook her head.

"Then what happened?"

"I just don't like you." Her eyes widened at the words that had slipped out. Hinata covered her face with her hands, wanting to just sink into the ground and disappear. She let out a groan of embarrassment, her face turning red.

"I-I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I d-didn't mean it."

Shockingly enough, he burst into laughter. She peeked at him through her fingers, hesitant. She had fully expected him to retort with something cruel at the least. But he was laughing.

Hiroki dismissed her apology with a wave of his hand. "You meant it, I'm not mad, there's no need to apologize." he said with a smile.

"You're right." She found herself smiling back at him. Then it faded as she remembered that he was her fiancé. Another frown on her face, she sighed again.

"Look," Hiroki said. "I want this marriage as much as you do, and judging by that frown I'd say you don't want it at all."

"A-and?" she asked. "We—we can't do anything."

"Not exactly!"

She raised an eyebrow at his 'it's-so-obvious' response. "What?"

"We'll have to compromise," he said. "Once we get married, they'll be expecting us to produce an heir," she flushed at his words, anger simmering in her. Were they just tools in the Hyuga clan's great plan to remain powerful? "We can get that over with easily and then just try to adapt from there."

She was sure her mouth was hanging open in undisguised shock at his supposed 'plan' for life. What was he thinking? Right, as if having a child was so easy. She was the one who had to carry the burden and would have to go through all the pain. He was so selfish! And he actually had the gall to look at her so expectantly; as if she would ever agree!

"You—" Hinata took a deep breath to reign in her emotions. "You need to fix t-that plan," She gave a brief bow to him before standing. "If you'll excuse me…" She managed to fight the urge to run from the room, intent on leaving with grace.

"Hinata!" he called to her, stopping her at the door. "What do you propose we should do?"

"Nothing." With that said she took off, not giving him a chance to answer.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

She had been holed up in her room for hours now, refusing to go out, much less let anyone in. She didn't feel up to answering their probing questions. Hanabi just kept on asking and asking, talking through the shoji door, not even giving her time to answer. And Neji…well, his reaction had to have been calmest. He muttered an insult about Hiroki –she wasn't sure if she was supposed to have heard- and asked 'What do you think of him, Hinata-sama?'

He had received no answer; she had been too overwhelmed by tears at that moment to form a coherent respond. Then he had just gone away, Hanabi following a few minutes later once the younger girl was sure her sister wasn't going to do something drastic.

Hinata let out a tiny scoff and rolled over in her futon, facing the door now. The wall had become boring to stare at. The moonlight filtered in through the thin paper screen, providing enough light for the room to be lit clearly enough. The Hyuga complex was extremely quiet, almost unnaturally so. She couldn't seem to find a comfortable position and kept moving around, eyes wide open, yet unseeing, locked on the white light flooding the floor.

It spilled onto the floorboards so beautifully. It was as if she were to touch it, her fingers would create a ripple in the perfect pool. She let out a breath, her eyes losing the glazed and distant look. She had been hovering in the space between sleep and complete awareness, unwilling to think about her situation.

But she knew she had to. She had to come to terms with it herself first before she could move on to deal with it alongside the others too.

Hyuga Hiroki, distant cousin part of the Main Branch who knew nothing about being a ninja; spent all his life being taught about politics and ethics for being part of such a noble and powerful clan. If he wanted, he could tell her to stop going on missions. He was going to be her husband. Power was going to be shared between them.

Her hands clenched into fists. She knew they would never see eye-to-eye and foresaw many spats over Hyuga laws in the future. How was she supposed to do something for the clan as the leader when she had such a hindering person at her side?

She bit her lip, turning in her futon, facing the wall once more. For the first time in her life, she actually cared about the clan. She actually wanted to do something, wanted to prove herself to them. She wanted to show them she wasn't a failure. Though—no doubt—in their eyes, she had already failed.

Why?

Why her? Why now? Why—

"Hinata!"

Her eyes opened wide and she sprang up from her bed, shifting into a defensive stance, kunai in hand. Her cheeks heated up with a blush as she recognized the person in her room. Tenten had a wide grin on her face, her brown eyes sparkling with glee. She gave her a little wave and Hinata relaxed, sighing. She really doubted a person would call her name if they wanted to harm her.

"Sorry, Tenten," she whispered, placing her kunai in the pouch on the floor.

The brunette dismissed her apology, a chuckle escaping her lips. "One can never be too paranoid," she said. Looking thoughtful, she added, "Well, Neji can but not us."

Hinata couldn't help but laugh, imaging the indignant look her cousin would have if he were there. "Um, so-so what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, right!" exclaimed the girl, a look of sudden remembrance appearing on her face. "I was sent here by the delight that is your cousin to get you and report to the meeting place," she smiled. "Don't ask what for 'cause it's a surprise."

Hinata raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't deny that she was curious. "But, um, it's the middle of the night."

Tenten nodded. "Yeah, it is," she shrugged. "Neji does weird things like that."

They looked at each other as if thinking over the weird things Neji's done. Hinata shook her head and Tenten shrugged again. They shared a little laugh before Tenten remembered the meeting again. "Come on, come on!" she hurried. "Neji will be a pain to deal with if we're late!"

"Going!" called Hinata as she slipped into her bathroom. Her cheeks were flushed, tear tracks lingering. She ran a brush through her hair, splashing water on her face. She quickly put on presentable clothes and left her room.

She was a little nervous, never having snuck out of her house this way before. She was no longer a little girl, she was aware of that. But her heart still thumped loudly in her chest, butterflies swooping in her stomach.

Once they were far enough from the Hyuga complex, Tenten, grinning widely, slipped a thick piece of cloth over her eyes. "What—" she tried to get it off, a frown on her lips.

Tightening the knot, the brunette said, "It's just to keep the surprise a surprise, so no using the Byakugan."

"But—"

"It's just for a short while, Hinata."

"This—this is uncomfortable."

Tenten merely laughed, steering her in the right direction. Hinata had to resist the urge to activate her Byakugan and see where they were going, but she didn't want ruin the whole setup for her cousin. She had to admit she didn't like surprises.

They made her feel vulnerable and feel some sort of obligation to the person who set up the surprise. She'd always felt she had to be grateful the person even bothered to arrange something and tried her hardest to smile and appreciate. But sometimes, surprises were not all pleasant.

A shiver ran through her as she remembered the various missions she'd been sent on where being surprised usually meant your death. She sighed and shook her head, driving those thoughts away. If this was something Neji had done, she was confident it wouldn't be terrible.

"We're here!" exclaimed Tenten.

The scent of food assaulted her senses and she could hear the crackling noises of a fire nearby. A…party? There was a sound of shuffling, a bang, and low apology.

"Te-Tenten?" the questioning tone in her voice was unmistakable.

The older girl let out a nervous chuckle. "Don't worry, Hinata," she said. "It's just a tiny set-back."

"Neji!" she bellowed. "Hurry the hell up!"

"We're going!"

We? Now, Hinata was really curious.

"Okay then, Hinata," whispered Tenten. "Surprise!" The knot came undone and the blindfold fell away, fluttering to the ground.

It wasn't a party, but a bonfire of sorts. Sakura and Ino were stringing up some last minute lanterns on the tree branches with help from a reluctant Shikamaru. Bickering over a table loaded with food were Kiba and Chouji, arguing over who would get the last ribs. The others were chatting, sitting by the fire.

Neji seemed to materialize before their eyes, his arms crossed. "You took longer than ten minutes, Tenten." he reprimanded.

Tenten crossed her own arms, imitating his pose. "Well, sorry for taking a minute longer than planned, Neji-sama." she said.

They commenced a halfhearted stare-off, which quickly ended when they remembered she was there too. "Another day, Tenten," he said, stepping around her.

"Uh, wh-what is this, Neji-nii-san?" Hinata asked.

"This was put together for you," he gestured around the clearing. "It's our last official meeting, and as a brief respite from everything else."

"In other words," added Tenten. "It's saying good-bye to your old life."

"Tenten!"

"It's—it's the truth," said Hinata. "Thank you for everything."

"Let's get this started then!" exclaimed the weapons mistress, linking arms with her and dragging her off. Neji followed with an exasperated sigh.

Not long after she was sitting comfortably with a plate of food in her hands and watching Kiba trying to get Shino to play some game with them –despite his past attempts being useless—the one person that had been missing arrived. And she was immediately engulfed in a tight hug in front of them all. She didn't know whether to blush in embarrassment or just go with it.

So she chose to do both. "Na-Naruto-kun!" she gasped.

A chaste kiss was pressed to her lips, and she was sure her cheeks were flaming red. The snickers and sighs coming from their teasing audience didn't make it any better. At Lee's shout of "Get a room!" she just wanted to disappear.

Naruto sat down, pulling her with him. She was seated practically on his lap much to the others' amusement. She was expecting them to start exaggerating and being the typical annoying friends they were, but –to her surprise- they dispersed to the other side of the fire, leaving her and Naruto quite alone. Not that she wanted to be alone.

With his arms wrapped around her waist, chin resting lightly on her shoulder, he gazed silently into the orange flames, a far-away look in his eyes. She chewed on her lower lip, uneasy. "Naruto-kun?" her voice was a mere whisper.

"Shh, just let me hold you." He kissed her cheek and pulled her closer yet.

A few minutes passed in silence, disturbed every once in a while by an indignant shout or loud laughter. "Naruto-kun?" she asked again. It wasn't like him to be so…serious. She really wanted to know what was wrong with him.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan," he chuckled softly. "I just—" his voice faltered and he fell quiet.

"What?" She shifted in his arms so she could look back at him. "What—Oh," Her eyes widened in realization.

He smiled a sad smile and nodded. "You see?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them, sneaking her arms around him. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that everything w-was so n-normal and…" She couldn't say anymore. She didn't need to say anymore. Their situation was already painful enough.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, poking her playfully in the side. "You've done nothing wrong."

"You meant it, I'm not mad, there's no need to apologize."

Why was she remembering him now? It was just another reminder that she wasn't supposed to be in Naruto's arms but in her room, sleeping, being the obedient and humble Hyuga heiress. Several more minutes of silence followed. She looked up and asked, "We-we'll still talk and go on missions and stuff, right?" She couldn't help but be hopeful.

"Sure!" he replied. "Just like we do now!" He was forcing the cheerfulness and they both knew it. It wouldn't be the same, never would. Not when he wanted to be the one by her side, holding her hand, helping her lead.

"Right…"

"Hinata-chan?"

"Yes?"

"If he ever does anything to hurt you," he was looking exceptionally serious now. "I'll personally make sure he becomes incapable of walking past a ninja without flinching," as an afterthought he added, "Kiba, Shino, Neji, and the others will help too, of course."

She laughed softly. "I'll c-count on that."

"Good." He stood, helping her up with him. "Let's go have fun now!" And Hinata found herself being pulled to the other side of the clearing, her hand held in Naruto's warm one. They found their friends engaged in a heated card game with Kiba, it seemed, in the lead.

The blonde ninja chuckled evilly and flung them both into the middle, messing up all the cards and ultimately ruining the game. "Naruto!" Sakura and Ino looked ready to strangle him, scrambling to save the cards from being burnt to a crisp by the fire.

"No! I was winning!"

"Stop lying, Inuzuka, you were not!"

"Stop being so jealous, Hyuga!"

Naruto intercepted, tactfully coming up with a distraction. "I'm not wearing any underwear!"

They all froze at his proud statement, many eyebrows rising and weird looks sent his way.

"Joking!" he exclaimed. "Seriously, if I had let you guys keep on, it would've ended in bloodshed."

"Rightful bloodshed," muttered Kiba.

"Look, how 'bout we start another game?" suggested Naruto. "Truth-or-Dare, perhaps?"

"Fine, fine," agreed the group.

Shooting her a content grin, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand once more and they sat side-by-side.