"Damn it!" Kankuro growled when Gaara stepped on his toes again. It wasn't like his little brother actually hurt him, but it just annoyed him that Gaara still hadn't got the dance under control. He knew the basic all right, but a dance is more than just moving your legs.
Temari stood up, and stopped the music. "Let's take a break" she said and walked to the kitchen.
Gaara sat down and didn't look into his brother's eyes; Gaara was pissed off that he couldn't pull it off. When he danced with Hinata it was like the steps were in his soul, but these dances with the moves that were like you couldn't just do what you want, and it was like something was missing…
Temari came back with 3 cups filled with hot chocolate. Gaara tasted the drink; and Temari said "I know what's missing here" Gaara concentrated on his sister, but still acted like he was taking a sip from the cup.
"It was stupid really, but Kankuro is a boy"
"What's that got to do with it?' Kankuro said defensively.
"Well, Hinata's a girl, Girls have a different way of moving, that's what's you're missing." She said.
"And?" Kankuro replied.
"Gaara, I'll start dancing with you" she said ignoring Kankuro. Gaara's eyes looked lost when Temari saw him. When they finished their cocoa Temari stood up and almost fell down again.
Kankuro saved her before she landed on the ground and looked rather worried.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine" she said, and grabbed Gaara's hand and put her other hand on his shoulder. Gaara immediately felt different, Temari's touch was softer than his brother's and when the music started, the dancing went a lot better, and it surprised both Gaara and Kankuro how well Temari could dance; most of the time their sister was tough, strong and slightly cocky, but now she was graceful and feminine. They practiced for an hour and then they went home.
"Tomorrow is the day of the dance, you're doing great. We'll come by tomorrow with a nice tux and practice the dances again" Temari said and stood on her toes to kiss her brother on the top of his head. Gaara went a deep shade of red and quickly said goodbye.
Hinata stood before her mirror, her face was a bit muddy, they had p.e. at school and she had fallen on the ground when playing soccer. She took her blue pyjama out of the closet and walked to her bathroom and locked the door. When she was finished her skin was all rosy and she felt re-energized. But when she opened the door she suddenly heard someone sobbing, and when she looked around the corner Hanabi was sitting on the ground pushed in the corner between Hinata's closets.
"Hanabi-chan" Hinata said carefully.
"Nee-chan, I I'm so sorry!" Hanabi stuttered, this startled Hinata a bit, Hanabi never cried and never ever stuttered.
"What's wrong?" Hinata warmly said as she came closer, but then she stopped.
"Hanabi, W-what's that?" she asked when she saw something lavender.
"I'm so sorry! I thought it was so pretty, and I I just wanted to try it on, but then I tripped and I'm so sorry!" Hanabi yelled and ran away. Hinata looked at the lavender package that Hanabi left behind. Hinata held up her dress and saw it was torn apart; and she couldn't repair it either.
For a couple of minutes Hinata just stood there, she had felt so happy just minutes before, and now she felt horrible. But then she realized that her little sister must be feeling worse than she did, and she decided to finally act like an older sister. Like Temari and Kankuro, both of Gaara's older siblings were always taking great care of him. What had Hinata ever done for Hanabi?
Hinata put the dress on her bed, took one last look at the enormous rip and then she walked to Hanabi's room.
She found her little sister in her closet, Hinata smiled, when she was little she'd hide in her closet too.
"Hanabi?" Hinata said when she opened the door.
Hanabi didn't answer.
"Don't worry, I'm not angry at you, let's go downstairs, we can get some ice-cream?"
Hanabi looked at Hinata for a second and then launched herself at her sister, grabbing her around the waist. Hinata sat down with her arms around her little sister and rocked her softly back and forth. After half an hour Hanabi stood up and smiled "What about that ice-cream" she asked and Hinata smiled too, stood up and walked downstairs with a laughing Hanabi right behind her.
As Hinata filled two bowls with strawberry ice cream, Hanabi raced upstairs and stood before Hinata's room, impatiently waiting until Hinata opened her room
"Father?" she said surprised when she noticed her father standing beside Hinata's bed.
"Hinata could you please join me and Neji-kun downstairs in 15 minutes?" He asked
"S-Sure father" Hinata stumbled. Hiashi nodded looked at the torn dress that was on Hinata's bed and walked out the room.
"Why can't I come?" Hanabi asked puzzled while they sat down before Hinata's table.
"Because, it's your bedtime" Hinata teased.
"Itadakimasu" they both said and started eating the ice cream.
When they had finished Hinata walked her sister to her bedroom and after kissing her goodnight went back to her bedroom to change into something presentable.
She combed her hair, brushed her teeth and went downstairs.
Her father and Neji were sitting around the table.
She greeted them and sat down next to Neji.
"I wanted to talk to the both of you about the school dance that is coming up"
Both Hinata and Neji changed colour, but collected themselves quickly.
"I take it you are going with Gaara-san?" Hiashi directed to Hinata
"Yes father" Hinata said, not telling him Gaara wasn't sure yet.
"And you Neji-kun? Who are you taking?"
Neji looked at his uncle, like he was wondering how he would react.
"I'm taking a girl from my class, Tenten"
"I take it she's a respectable student?"
"She is, Hiashi-sama"
"Good" Hiashi nodded and went on with his story "Like you both know this family has a high prestige and I expect the both of you to act like good people. Not like some loose teens that don't have anything to lose. I know you are both respectable dancers, and I trust you to not do anything but to dance. This means to make it awfully clear: I don't want you to react on the physical urges. Do you understand me?" Hiashi asked
"Yes father" Hinata said, with a blush on her face.
"Yes Hiashi-sama" Neji replied also with a faint blush on his face
"Good. Now Hinata, seeing what happened to your other dress, I might have an alternative, but please be very careful with it, I have another dress for you, please follow me." Hinata stood up, and Neji followed curiously.
Hiashi went up 5 stairs and when they reached the attic he opened a closet and took something out of a protective bag.
"Come here Hinata" and Hinata stepped closer, then she gasped when she saw the dress.
"Father" she stumbled. "This is mothers' " Hinata looked at the beautiful dress, which she recognized from a picture in her room.
"Try it on" Hiashi said, and Hinata walked back to her room, Neji and Hiashi followed her, Hinata stood in her room and touched the soft fabric of the dress, then she carefully put it on.
When she stepped out of the bathroom both Hiashi and Neji looked surprised.
"You look exactly like your mother Hinata-sama" Neji said as he looked over to Hinata's picture of her mother.
The pink colour of the dress made Hinata's pale skin shine; the deep purple flowers on the skirt were beautiful and elegant. Hiashi's eyes shimmered, he had never seen his wife in Hinata, and his wife was a beautiful graceful headstrong woman, whom Hanabi resembled the most. But now Hinata's eyes had a new look, full of power and will.
"You look wonderful" Hiashi said and quickly left the room, Neji followed him and closed the door.
The next morning.
Friday 8 am.
Hinata was quickly eating breakfast; today was Friday and Hinata was nervous. After school Ino would come along to help her with her make-up. Hinata was a little worried; Ino had planned the make up to match the dress, but since she was now wearing another dress maybe the makeup would be all wrong. But Hinata decided not to worry and went to school.
During their lessons Hinata became more and more tense. Gaara had agreed to come, but he would arrive later, Hinata would come in alone and would have to wait for him. What if Gaara wouldn't come at all! Ino noticed that Hinata had stopped making notes and that her hands were shaking.
"What's wrong?" Ino whispered although she had a pretty good idea
"N-nothing, it's just that I'm a b-bit nervous" Hinata stuttered.
"Don't worry, you're not alone, I'll be there too" Ino said
"Thank you" she said, and Hinata did feel a lot better, Ino was going to be there, Hinata wouldn't be alone, Ino did say something about a guy asking her, and that she'd said yes out of pity (although Hinata was sure Ino was ecstatic that he asked her) But Hinata didn't know him though. He was in another class.
"Yes! Finally weekend" Ino cheered and walked down to the car that was waiting to pick Hinata and her up.
"Good afternoon, Hinata-dona, Yamanaka-san"
"Hi Miyuki-san" Hinata replied and sat down.
After they waited a while (Ino was wondering why they were waiting) Neji arrived, with a girl"
"Hello Hinata-sama, Yamanaka-san" Neji greeted and the girl Neji had taken along said:
"Hey I'm Tenten"
The ride home was a bit silent Neji was staring at the street; the girl named Tenten was stealing glances of Neji and observed the other two girls. Ino was playing with her hair, and Hinata was looking out of the window.
When they arrived home Hinata and Ino went up to Hinata's room.
"Ino-chan?" Hinata asked
"Yes?" Ino replied
"I have another dress; the one we bought was torn"
"Oh" Ino said but quickly put herself together "Let me see the new dress"
Hinata showed it, and Ino was blown away.
"Oh this is great! You look lovely in it, oh and I've got a great idea for the make-up and your hair, great!" Ino yelled out in excitement, and quickly opened her bag, first she got out a neatly folded outfit. It was a red dress with white brushed over it. And then Ino got a big bag filled with make-up. She got out two facial masks, and gave Hinata something to put her hair together. And then they relaxed.
Gaara on the other hand wasn't relaxing at all. He finally knew how to dance but Temari was late bringing him his outfit and he hated that Izumi-sensei wouldn't let him miss his session, so he'd be late for the dance. But Gaara was drawing to distract himself and it was helping a bit, it was a drawing of Hinata in the rain. He loved drawing her; he probably had over fifty drawings of her. But when he finished Temari still hadn't arrived. And Gaara decided to take a shower in the meantime. Meanwhile Ino started to curl Hinata's hair.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Ino said, when Hinata looked in the mirror and half of her hair was standing up "I thought it could use a little badness, so I'll won't curl all of your hair but just half, that way your hair will have more bounce and more volume"
Hinata nodded and Ino sang while she took care of Hinata's hair.
Gaara was doing his hair before the mirror, he tried to get it down but unfortunately for him his hair was just as uncontrollable as his character. But at least Temari had called to say that she was on her way.
Hinata and Ino where eating with Hiashi, Neji and Tenten. The silence was slightly painful. But it was better then what happened while Gaara was there. After dinner Ino and Hinata went back upstairs to do their makeup.
"Ino? Shouldn't you get ready" Hinata asked timidly.
"I can do it in fifteen minutes, just before we leave, don't worry about me" she said and put black eyeliner on Hinata's eyes.
Gaara now was now dressed, he had done his hair and had a present for Hinata in his pocket, now the only thing left to do was his session. Gaara walked past Sasuke's room where he heard a girl tell him that they should go to the dance. Gaara quickened his pace and sat down in his chair, and glared at Inumi-sensei.
Ino and Hinata were now dressed. Ino's dress looked great. It looked like someone roughly painted white strokes on her red dress, her lips were pink and she wore red pumps. Hinata's hair was indeed great and bouncy, Hinata liked the look of it, and it wasn't at all the 80's haircut she thought it would be when Ino told her about curls. Hinata's eyes were dark and her lips shiny. After she waved goodbye to her father she, Neji, Ino and Tenten went on their way.
When they arrived most people were already there, Neji and Tenten quickly left to dance and Ino suggested that she and Hinata should get some drinks. When Hinata asked where her date was Ino replied "He'll find me on his own" and indeed after they'd gotten their drinks a handsome young man touched Ino's shoulder.
"Shikamaru, this is Hyuuga Hinata, Hinata this is Nara Shikamaru" Ino said and hugged Shikamaru. Hinata felt a bit left out with Ino and Shikamaru holding hands and looked at the dancers. Is that Sasuke? Dancing with Sakura-san? Hinata thought. And Sasuke suddenly looked at her, left Sakura standing in the middle of the dance floor and walked towards Hinata
"Hello Hinata-chan" Hinata felt uncomfortable at how he acted as if they knew each other.
"H-hi Sasuke-san" she replied.
"Isn't Sabaku with you?" he asked with an awful smirk on his face.
"H-He'll come later"
"In that case, can I maybe accompany you on the dance floor" he said still with this slimy voice
"Sasuke-kun! Weren't we dancing?" Sakura said annoyed and pulled on his jacket.
"Whatever" Sasuke said and turns to Hinata.
"What do you say Hyuuga-chan?"
Hinata was feeling very vulnerable, she didn't want to seem bad mannered, but she didn't like Sasuke much, and what if Gaara saw them dance? How was she supposed to handle this.
Lost in deep thought Hinata didn't notice someone standing behind her and answering for her.
"Sorry Uchiha, she's with me" Gaara's low and intimidating voice said.
Sasuke didn't know how to react and quickly turned to Sakura who had already opened her mouth to say something, Sasuke quickly kissed her. Sakura tried to push him away, but decided it was worth it, and pulled Sasuke away from the group.
"Ino-chan, this is Gaara" Hinata said
"Yamanaka Ino" Ino said and shook Gaara hand
"Nara Shikamaru" Shikamaru said and nodded.
Gaara pulled Hinata closer and whispered "You look amazing" Hinata went bright red and replied "so do you" her red lips quickly met his and he said softly
"I bought you something" and he slipped the present to her, she opened it, and saw a silver bracelet, Hinata's eyes almost teared up when he saw it, she kissed Gaara again and he grabbed her waist and said.
"Ready to dance?"