Beautiful People

Chapter 22: Welcome to Super Saturday

Beta: strawberries and napkins

…

Neji kept me awake all that night. Not speaking, just periodically waking up, tensing his body and gripping onto me as if something was after him. Something was seizing him terribly, but I don't think they it was bad dreams. They were just frightening to him. This is something that sadly I understand too well, when I had gripping flashbacks of past relationships earlier this year. I feel like he and I have almost switched circumstances.

So I didn't complain. This is why he came to me right? Instead, I shifted our positions hourly, holding him a bit tighter to me each time. It was a rough, but rewarding sleep. We woke up late.

Well, I woke up screaming. But I don't remember why.

Neji just sighed, stroked circles into my back and whispered, 'shh, shh' over and over until my whimpers got soft enough to go away. I think it was just a case of bad nerves for today, but I think this was just my self-conscious' last attempt to ruin my life. I took a scorching hot shower that turned my skin pink and put on that blue flowery dress that I had made Neji buy me half a century ago.

He had just finished brushing and tying back his hair when I stepped up to him for inspection. He smiled.

"You look nice."

I nodded, "thank you," and held out my arm for him to take. "Ready to go?"

He takes me to Kiba's favorite restaurant, so now I know who set this whole thing up in the first place. Originally, I was extremely nervous that this whole party was set up because of me, but as a waitress leads us to a private room in the back and all the faces greet my cousin and me, I relax. This party is just that: a party. No one is here to scrutinize me, or judge my 'progress'; they just want me to be there, because as much as I refuse to admit it, I'm a part of this…party.

They're all sitting accordingly, in team formation. On the left side is Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino. On the right side, are Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. Sasuke and Naruto are tightly holding each other's hands under the table, and above the table Ino and Sakura are stroking each other's thumbs. Beside Sakura is Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji leaves my side quickly to take a seat beside them. I look back to my left. Shino, Kiba and…

Me?

I gulp. Kiba turns his attention over to me and gives a loud hoot, drawing everyone's attention to me.

"Well, are ya gonna take a seat or not? The food will be ready in a moment." Kiba's eyes glint mischievously. I smile and take my seat beside him proudly.

I sit down, becoming unnerved by everyone's stares. I cough loudly, hoping to take the attention off of me. It doesn't work.

"Hina-chan…" Naruto stands boldly, and his eyes look moist, like he's about to cry. I really hope he doesn't, because if I see him crying, then I will definitely end up crying too.

"I just…I really wanted to say that…thank you." His voice breaks for a moment, and then he clears his throat and continues, squeezing Sasuke's shoulder as he speaks. "For everything you've done for me, I've been an ass by not acknowledging it sooner but…thank you, Hinata."

He and Sasuke share looks for a moment. I gulp down happy cry tears. Then Sakura stands up.

"For me too, Hinata. Thank you."

And then Ino.

"And me too, thanks, Hinata."

Kiba, too.

"Thank you, Hinata, for being there."

And Neji.

"Thanks for letting me share your bed." He gets a few snickers for that.

And, for some reason, Tenten stands up. And then so does Rock Lee. Then Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

And before you know it, everyone is standing and thanking me for things I might have done over ten years ago, when we were still children. A few tears slip down my cheek, and Ino passes a napkin. I can't even speak, so I let my happy sobs speak for me as they all embrace me and then return to their seats.

Someone knocks against the door, and waiters and waitress file in with platters of food.

Naruto licks his lips and cheers, "Alright! Now that the mushy stuff is over, let's eat!"

While we eat, Kiba keeps me afloat by telling everything that's been happening while I was away, or just…unavailable. I finally found out why Neji has been having those 'dreams'. Apparently, he's been taking frequent visits to see the Kazekage.

I giggle at this and steal a glance at Neji, who was modestly talking with Tenten. I've never even asked about Neji's love life, and while I feel a bit guilty for not taking more of an interest, I think it's pretty cute for him to like someone else, regardless if it's a boy.

Then I take another look at Tenten's lightened face, and sigh. I can definitely sympathize.

Finally, the alcohol arrives. I'm not sure if it was the heavy food or the extreme sake drinking, but all of a sudden I'm listening to Naruto give this almost first-hand detailed story of my mission. And Sasuke is arguing with him to stop, but he won't.

"Yeah, so then Hinata gets all mad and you know how women are when they get angry right? So anyway, she gets up and she punches Sasuke in the face! I mean, like a hard punch because Sasuke had this big purplish bruise and it was pretty gross and all—"

And then Sasuke decided to demonstrate how hard I hit him on Naruto's face. We all get a pretty good laugh from that.

A bit more drinking and some more weird stuff start happening too. Soon, it's only me and Rock Lee who hadn't taken a drink of anything. Neji ends up being the sleepy drunk, and falls asleep right in my lap. He's blushing, and I smile, knowing exactly what he's dreaming about. Then I make a mental note to make sure to have a real conversation about the birds and the bees later.

Kiba and Shino somehow stray away from me and enjoy their meals in the company of each other, still together but somehow silently disconnected to each other. I keep my smile hidden.

Sasuke and Naruto end up giving us a show by making out with each other for a bit before Sasuke ends up passing out too. He had originally come over to talk to me, but then just passed out on my shoulder mid-sentence, so I was stuck in a stand-still position, just listening to everyone else have a good time. Naruto admired the way Sasuke and I looked together even daringly suggested that they turn the relationship into a threesome to include me, but Sakura knocks him into his place. I thank her silently.

While he and Sakura fight, Ino saddles up to me with a silly grin that makes her look extremely drunk.

"Are you sure you did the right thing…giving…giving me back the journal?" She bobs her head and then burps right in my face. Then she bursts out laughing. I'm thinking that Ino is the silly drunk type, but then at the same time it looks like she's doing this because it's funny.

Rock Lee shoots me a sympathetic look as he rubs circles in Tenten's back as she eats the rest of the sushi.

I nod. "It was better that way, I think."

"Sakura wanted to give you hers too, after she finishes reading through mine. O-oh my god, Hina-chan, you have no idea how much bitching she does every night after she reads my entries dedicated to how attractive Sasuke is—" She cuts off when Sasuke grunts loudly and his eyes peek open for a second. I want to tell her that she just referred to me as 'Hina-chan' for the first time…ever, but I don't want Sasuke to wake up and ruin how openly Ino is talking.

I stroke his head a few times and he falls right back asleep, snoring and all. He's clutching my free hand. Ino and I notice it and exchange secret smiles.

"No, I think the journal has done its job, don't you?" I smile at her honestly.

She nods and then her smile turns into a smirk. "You just don't want to read about Sakura and I gush over Sasuke, right?"

I blush and open my mouth to say something, but Sasuke begins stirring again, as he tries to sit up from off my shoulder and fails, only managing to blow a lot of hot air in my ear and the nape of my neck.

Ino and I burst out into laughter that threatened to wake Neji up. Afterwards, Ino and I talk and laugh about everything as she feeds herself and I the food that Sakura couldn't finish. I never noticed how much Ino and I had in common.

I do another glance around the room. Tenten and Lee are eating and laughing about something and somehow Naruto and Sakura managed to stop bickering enough to actually have normal conversations. Sakura was reading Naruto's palm. I smiled, remembering when I taught her how to do that.

Shikamaru and Chouji are the first to leave, saying that they had something else that needed both their attention at the time. Only Ino and I are the ones paying enough attention to say goodbye.

Kiba and Shino were still talking, but it was becoming more and more obvious that they were too close to not be kissing already.

Ino follows my gaze and then laughs. "Is it just me or is it that every guy who's interested in you turns gay?"

She apparently found that really funny, but I didn't. At first…now I'm thinking she may have a point.

I shrug and pet Sasuke's cheek who mewls like a baby in response. Ino coos and then we take turns playing with Sasuke to see who would wake him up first, but before we're able to there's a knock on the door.

"Whaaat?" Naruto whines in Sakura's shoulder. She rolls her eyes. "Come in," she calls.

The waitress from before comes in, her eyes landing right on the sleeping Sasuke. I instantly feel bad for her, too.

"There's a visitor who requested to see…Hyuuga Hinata." She stumbles on Hinata's name and her eyes scan the room.

I clear my throat. "That's me, can I help you?" She blushes once she sees that I'm cradling not one, but two pretty attractive guys. Then she widens the door a bit more, and I gasp, flinching so harshly that it makes Sasuke jerk awake. We knock foreheads together, and that wakes Neji up, who nearly smacks Ino in the face with his hysterical flailing.

Sasuke and I groan in mutual pain as everyone breaks in laughter because of us. Even our new visitor laughs, but I don't.

"Lia," I say breathlessly.

"Would you like something to drink…uh, Lia?" Sakura asks, holding up a bottle of sake with a polite smile.

Neji rubs his eyes and looks at her, and then me. "You know her?"

I can feel beads of sweat gathering on my hairline. "Yeah, she's—"

"Lia." Sasuke says simply, and then gives me a bored look. "Well?" He sends me this intense look, followed by a hard stare. I've never seen someone say so much in so little words. I remind myself to thank Sasuke later.

I stand up quickly and grab her by the wrist leading her outside the restaurant. Then she snatches her hand back, rubbing her abused wrist gently.

"How'd you find me?" I say incredulously as I take in the sight of her. She still looks the same, but something's different…I can feel it. It's like this aura of sadness around her, but I can feel the heat of her determination behind her stare. It's amazing.

She reminds me of…well, me.

She fumbles around her bag for a while and then pulls out something I thought I'd never see ever again.

My journal.

"I was…well, I was trying to find Konoha and on my way, I tripped over it and fell. I think it might be destiny, Hyuuga-chan. You might stuck with the apple girl forever."

I smile, thinking that might not be such a bad idea after all. I look around our surroundings, and motion my head. "C'mon, let's take a walk to the park, okay? It looks like you have a lot of say if you've traveled this far."

We take a seat under a large, thick tree, and she spills into this great big story about everything that's happened after my mission. Since the entire farm was in her brother's name and now he dead, she suddenly ended up homeless.

"I was planning on taking refuge at Suna, but somehow I got lost and started my trek somewhere by Konoha, and that's when I stumbled onto your journal. Now I know that's it destiny that I found it. Because you needed it back, right?"

I shrug, not sure if I trust my mouth at the moment. I start to shake my head, but then I nod. "I…don't know, actually. But I am glad I got it back."

She averts her gaze.

"Did you…read it?"

Lia doesn't say anything, but then she shakes her head negatively. A cloud of apprehension lifts off my shoulders. Not that I'm afraid of her reading it, I just…

I sigh. That's right, it's something of the past.

Then I stand up and shake the dirt off my bottom, extending my hand with the happiest smile I could muster. I think it was destiny too.

"So, why don't you come with me, Lia? Neji and I may not be able to replace family, but we're pretty close."

She stares at my hand, and tears start to fall down her face. I am grinning, because as I'm looking at her happily crying face…

I think I finally understand what beauty really is.

Oh, my god. THANK YOU, to all the people who have followed me throughout this story, start to finish. Really, without all the encouraging reviews and stories about how you relate to Hinata, I never would've been able to finish this one. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who goes through these things, and just like Hinata, I hope for all of us that things will not only get better, we will make them better. Don't give up, okay? And seriously, thank you for all the support. Hopefully, if enough of you aren't satisfied with the ending, I'll add an epilogue chapter?

Ah, and please let me know if you spot any mistakes, ahaha.