A/N: Sorry, this is also a kinda short chapter :( Next one will be as long as the first two or longer. Promise! .
Hyuuga Neji sat perched on the top of the roof, watching the Uchiha with his Byakugan. He was sincere, that much he could determine. He sighed as the Uchiha fell asleep. He was to be wed too Hinata on her 21st birthday. - If no one claimed her that is. Personally, he saw Hinata as a sister more than a wife, but the Uchiha coming 'valiantly' too her aid was a blow to his pride. Hinata didn't know of course, only him and her father knew, and the elders of the clan, but that's it. He decided he really despised the Uchiha. He had become used to the idea of being her husband, and even looking forward too the position of power that held for him. But now it was gone. Why did he have such a screwed up fate!
/I want to be what you always needed/
The next morning dawned bright and clear. Hinata opened her eyes slowly, and sat herself up. The first thought in her mind, made her smile very brightly. She was being courted! Sitting there, she swooned. She daydreamed, but soon enough her maid came into the room. She must have gone off for more than ten minutes, she realized blatantly.
"Good morning Hinata-sama!" Her maid said brightly. She had an extra set of bubbles this morning. Hinata wondered why.
"Morning." She replied, still half asleep. Starting to get up, as was her daily routine, she was stopped by her maid.
"Don't bother getting up, dear." She said happily, and tucking Hinata back into the covers.
"Stay right here, I'll be right back." Her maid said sternly, Hinata knew it was important, and nodded.
As her maid walked back into the room, she had an overly cheerful face. Then Hinata smelt a wonderful smell. Looking in her arms, was a beautiful breakfast of all her favorites. Wide eyed, she watched as it was set in her lap.
"Enjoy!" Her maid said brightly and winked. Before a word could be said, she had dashed off. Hinata looked at the tray in amazement. It even had a small flower on it, looked to be a wild flower, probably picked off a random fence. She smiled as she noticed a note. Opening it, she began to red the now familiar scrawl.
Hyuuga Hinata,
Breakfast in bed. Hope you enjoy it.
Don't forget your lunch, Mii will give it to you before you leave for the academy.
Your Courtier.
P.S. Open the note at lunch time.
She beamed at the note. So it was her courtier! She looked lovingly at the breakfast, it was almost to beautiful to eat. She shook her head, and dug in.
After eating it all, she grinned. Her stomach was very satisfied indeed. Most of the breakfast was best she ever had. Nodding, she finally got out of bed and dressed. She walked out into the living room to greet her father and sister a very good morning.
"Good morning, Father, Hanabi." She was beaming and she knew it. She hadn't felt this good in a long time, and it was very nice.
Both her sister and her fathers reply were cut short as they saw her beaming and practically skipping around the room. Her father was most pleased, perhaps he needn't marry her off out of duty after all. Hanabi on the other hand was totally clue less.
"What's got your ponies so primped?" Hanabi asked snidely, she hadn't meant to, it had just come out. Hinata turned surprised eyes to Hanabi.
"Don't you know?" Hinata asked, actually very surprised her sister didn't know.
"Know what? All I know is you come in looking like the happiest person ever, and father is smirking, and I am left out!" She hated to be left out.
"Im sorry Hanabi. I thought you knew." Hinata knew since she had been named heir, Hanabi had been a bit sore.
"Well?" She asked impatiently.
"Oh, Hanabi!" Hinata almost squealed. She rushed over and sat on her knees in front of her sister. They really did love each other.
"You wont believe it! I barely do!" Hinata was so excited. Hanabi just raised an eyebrow, must be big news then.
"I'm being courted, Hanabi! The old way! Courted!" Hinata threw her arms around her sister, uncaring her father was watching. She was happy, and nothing would take that away from her.
"Courted?" Hanabi asked in disbelief. Wow. Hinata nodded, and showed her the proof, the first letter she had gotten from Sasuke.
"Wow. Courted." Hanabi was stunned, no wonder her sister was skipping.
"I'm so happy for you!" She squealed after getting over the shock and hugged her sister back. Hiashi just watched with amusement. He knew they limited their affection in front of him, but it was refreshing seeing them embrace like sisters once in a while.
Soon enough however, it was time for her shift at the academy. She hugged her sister good bye, and in an ultimately bold move, kissed her fathers cheek before heading out of the compound. She did however, notice the very light blush on her fathers cheeks before leaving. She smiled, and guessed she looked allot like her mother. She then chuckled, thinking she had made the fearless Hiashi-sama blush.
"What are you chuckling about?" Neji asked in a bored tone. She just noticed him, but it looked as if he was waiting for her.
"Ah," She blushed, "Something funny I thought Father did." She answered, and knew he would wring the details out of her, she had mentioned funny and Hiashi in the same sentence, he would have to know.
"Oh?" He rose an eyebrow, "Like what?" He asked, if it was funny and had to do with Hiashi, he had too know.
"Well, you know he has been commenting these past years that I look more like my mother every day." She chuckled, remembering the next part of the story. Neji nodded, eager for the next part.
"Before I left today, I kissed him on the cheek good bye, and he blushed." She laughed then, it was rather hilarious to her. Neji had to bite back a laugh, and covered with a snort. Hiashi was amusing at times.
"What are you doing here Neji? Shouldn't you be off preparing for the ANBU exams?" She asked curiously. All the ANBU captions were the judge's for the ANBU exam. It was the hardest test of them all, and if you lost, you usually died. The fights were by no means easy, and you fought with everything, so either you or your opponent died. She hadn't gotten sleep for three days when Neji and Naruto had their tests, she was so worried.
"Im escorting you to work, and no, I don't think anything I do now will prepare me for watching gore." He shrugged. He hated it when they had those blasted exams.
"Oh..." Hinata didn't know what to say to that. She just kept silent instead, and squeezed the handle of the basket she was carrying, the lunch that her courtier had made. She beamed again.
Neji really wanted to throw the basket in the nearest dumpster, but knew Hinata would be sad if he did. He sighed.
"You know who my courtier is, don't you? Just like father does." It was more a statement then a question, but he nodded anyway.
"A-and.." Hinata trailed off, to shy to ask the question she wanted to ask.
"And?" Neji prodded, he knew this was coming. Hinata would never ask her father, and her maids wouldn't be much help, so that left him to fill her in with things she needed to know. He sighed again, in the words of Shikamaru, how troublesome.
"And, ano.. D-do you think whoever it is would, um, you know, abuse it if I accepted? I mean, I don't want to hand over the clan on a silver platter to someone who would destroy us." Hinata finally asked, blushing at her own boldness.
Neji shook his head, knowing his voice would betray him. He knew deep in his heart that the Uchiha would be a good leader, but he couldn't help feeling bitter about the whole thing.
Hinata sighed in relief, it would crush her if this whole thing was for power. She smiled again and imagined what the kids would say when they see the lunch.
/Then I hope you'll see the heart in me/
The note with lunch was much the same, but extended an invitation to dinner also. The lunch had enough to share a bit with her class, since she couldn't control herself when she took the first bite.
"Who's that from Hinata-sensei? It doesn't look like the lunch you usually have." One of her female students, Hanako, asked curiously as they sat on the floor eating their lunch. This spurred on others to look, and soon she had everyone's undivided attention. She smiled softly at her 6 and 7 year olds.
"It's from my courtier." She replied matter of factly. She got allot of 'what's that?' and 'why?' from her students. She was just about to tell them what a courtier was, when another of her female students rose her hand. Hinata nodded at her, since she knew.
"It's what lovers do, right?" She said, and held up her pinkie finger. Hinata couldn't help but blush.
"Ah. Kind of." She said, and used the whole lunch break eating and explaining what courting was. Her students thought it was a fantastic idea, and she had become the idol for most of her female students, and crushes for most of her male. It was weird, after she grew up, and AFTER she was being courted is when all the men noticed her. She laughed at the irony.
After the day of classes were done, it finally sunk in. I'm meeting him tonight! She almost fell of of her desk chair. She was alone in the class room trying to grade papers. She was happy no one was there to see her almost fall off of her chair, how embarrassing. Gathering her things, she takes one last look at the dark classroom before closing the door behind her. When she was younger, she tried being a med-nin like Sakura, but she hadn't the chakara control to do it. Plus having a med-nin as Head of Hyuuga was NOT something her father wanted. She would be perceived as weak, even though med-nin were some of the most dangerous ninja. Instead she passed the jounin exam and became a teacher. It was still considered weak, but when she had said that none of them would be even a tenth as strong as they are now, without those 'weak' teachers, they relented, and let her work at the academy.
Being officially heir had some advantages. No one said anything if they saw her working part time at the daycare, and no one dared talk directly to her face about it. She was a capable ninja, even if she didn't look it. That was her trump card, her innocent look. It almost always made them off guard, and by the time they realized she wasn't to be trifled with, it was much too late. Smiling at the kids running by, she decided life wasn't bad at all. 5 years ago, she would have said it was horrible and question the meaning of it all. Now, however, she was accepted by her family, had a wonderful job, AND she was being courted! Life really couldn't get any better.
Walking past a jewelry store, something caught her eye. Now, this usually didn't happen, for Hinata was not one to show off her family's fortune, except at dinner parties, but that was usually a very elaborate kimono. She didn't own barely any jewelry. A few necklaces here and there, a few rings. But she never really wore them, being a shinobi and all.
Feeling extra girlie, and extra fluffy today, she decided to buy something for herself. That was even rarer than her wearing jewelry. She was never self centered, and always thought of others before herself. But, this whole courting business had made her feel important somehow. She smiled at the thought. She had always been important, but this was different. This was personal, not because of her blood, or weather she was born first, but because of HER.
"Can I help you?" The lady at the cash register asked kindly.
"Hmmmm." Hinata replied, looking at all the jewelry. However she didn't see the one that she saw in the window.
"I was wondering about that hair pin.." She trailed off, pointing to the silver pin in the window.
"Oh, that. That's one of our specials. You can only buy one this month. Though, they haven't sold very good." The cashier seemed put out with the last statement.
"Well, I'd like one please. How much?" She asked, it was very pretty.
The cashier seemed surprised, but happy. "That will be 500 yen." She said, and got one out.
"Well, in that case, get me two!" She beamed happily, her guilt would be eased if she got another one for someone. She figured she'd give it to her sister.
Even more surprised, she put the pins in their respective boxes, and rang her up.
"Ariagato gozaimasu!" Hinata bowed and left the store. Checking the time she figured she should get home.
TBC...