Title: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son
Author: Runespoor
Rating: T
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/ficlets. See title.

Notes: continuation from last chapter.

Pairings: one-sided NaruHina here.

2A.

From afar Hinata thought it was a small boy but as she came closer she saw that he must be her age, and when he looked up she didn't know what to be dazzled by first, bright blond hair, clear blue eyes, or the whisker marks stretching on his cheeks. She felt immediate sympathy at that. Hinata's own mark was hidden under her fringe, but she always felt something for the people she saw who had their own tattoos. Her favourite were the swirls adorning the cheeks of one of the boys.

The boy had a somewhat mulish expression on his face, and two bruises on his chin and his temple.

Hinata wondered if she should pretend she hadn't seen him, but he picked himself from the ground and dusted his clothes, an orange jumpsuit the likes of which Hinata had never seen. On anybody else it'd have been awful, but the boy was already so bright that it suited him. She was surprised by the thought, but she imagined Neji in this outfit and refrained a giggle.

The boy looked straight at her, and Hinata squirmed. She wasn't really used to being the focus of someone's attention, and certainly not of such intensity. She shifted her grip on the bento. She should go; she'd be late. But she couldn't go because the boy was looking at her and leaving would be impolite.

"Hey, you're a Hyuuga, right?" He squinted at her.

"I mean, you've got the same eyes as Neji – yeah, 'course you're a Hyuuga. He's training in the backyard by himself, can you believe that? Teachers let 'em go early and he works – I think he says it's because that what's he's supposed to do, man, if Iruka-sensei ever let me out early I sure as hell wouldn't do the same thing I'd do if I were still in class, not that I really know him cuz he's a year older than me but that sounds like the kind of thing he'd do, I mean Neji, but yeah, you probably know him better than I do. By the way, how come you're not in class too? They let you out early too? I'm out cuz I ditched the lecture. So! You're in what year?"

Hinata, who'd been listening with the impression that for the first time in her life she'd come across someone who spoke the way she thought, with too many things running off in every direction and without a break, started a bit at that. She hadn't believed anyone would think she was a student at the Academy. She felt herself blush a little.

"I-I'm not at the Academy." Then, because she felt her presence here deserved an explanation, she justified, "I'm only bringing Neji-sama's bento. We were late this morning."

The boy stopped in his rearranging of his trousers and tilted his head to the side, frowning. "You don't wanna be a ninja?" He seemed testing; not aggressive.

Hinata stopped.

He was staring at her. His eyes were very blue. "I'm gonna be Hokage when I grow up, so I need to know people who aren't ninjas because there aren't only ninjas in the village-" he sounded like he was repeating something he'd heard but wasn't entirely convinced by "-and old man Ichiraku doesn't count cuz he's old."

She took her time considering what he'd said. Hinata wasn't training to be a ninja, but she lived in a shinobi village and Hizashi-sama was the leader of the clan, and Neji-sama was his heir, and he was very talented. Hinata still wasn't sure whether she should mention that she'd witnessed how this boy's technique had misfired (it had looked that way to her; when she'd seen Neji performing something similar at home, the end result hadn't looked the same) but she felt she should say something.

"You can't ditch classes if you want to become the Hokage," she pointed out, aware that she might be overstepping her boundaries.

The boy's face took on a sulky expression. "Yeah well I'm bored – and anyway you're not a ninja so you can't know what it's about!"

He glared at her, pouting. Hinata hunched her head between her shoulders, hands convulsing on the bento, eyes on the ground.

"I'm sorry," she said feebly. "You-you're right, I'm not qualified…"

"You're not," he said crossly.

She forced herself to glance up toward the whisker marks. They were what encouraged her to talk.

"The hand gestures you were making earlier," she said very fast, "when Neji-sama makes them at home the fifth one looks the same as the second one." She stayed put for a moment. What she really wanted to say was 'maybe that could help', but she didn't want to say 'you're doing it wrong'.

She didn't dare look up. She felt miserable about saying that – it wasn't her place, she didn't know anything about that, she didn't want him to think she was a know-it-all – but if there was a chance it could help the boy then she had to say it. It wasn't as if the knowledge would ever be useful otherwise.

He was only silent for half a second. "…Oh. Oh! Hey, hey, I think you're right! Thanks!"

Then she looked up; he was grinning and – vaguely bouncing. He didn't look at all ashamed that she'd seen him after he'd failed.

"We've been working on that for two months, I can't believe I never realised what I got wrong! An' you did it just like that!..."

He stopped rocking on the balls of his feet and squinted at Hinata again. His whiskers took an inquisitive angle. "Y'know, I think that's useful for a ninja." He nodded once, decisively.

Hinata's heart started to beat faster and she mechanically tried to wipe the sudden clamminess of her palms on the cloth covering the bento.

The bento!

She jumped with horror. "No, I'm late – I'm sorry, where did you say Neji-sama was training?"

The boy with the whisker marks was already going through the hand gestures, slowly, as if to make sure he could chain them the way they were meant to. "Backyard," he said. "-and hey, come back whenever you want, t'was great talking with you!"

Hinata was hurrying – she shouldn't make Neji-sama wait, he had classes after lunch – but she recognised the boy's enthusiasm. She'd never felt it for herself, but Neji-sama looked as fiercely happy when he mastered a new technique.