A/N Thank you for patiently waiting! Midterms are finally over, so I hope to get back on a normal writing schedule again. This chapter was pieced together very hurriedly, so I'm not exactly proud of it. I hope you enjoy!
Many thanks to TheFeyRa, frostbird, and gaarafangirl54 for reviewing!
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.
Interlude: Hinata
Would you like to spin on the wheel of perfection?
Anything.
Just one more chance to prove
That she can be loyal.
But such a chance never came.
Dishonored.
Her pretty raven-black locks of hair fell into around her shoulders. Little five-year-old Hinata graspes her mother's hand tightly.
Her mother smiles, and strokes her soft hair. Hinata squeals in joy, and grabs her mother's hand with both of her own, and swings it around.
That is the last time she sees her mother.
Her father gets the call early in the morning, when her mother usually comes home. The police inform him that her cars slid off a cliff, since it was very dark and slippery. No body was found.
The funeral was very chaotic. Hinata didn't know what was going on, but everyone was crying. Especially when she asked her father, 'Where's okaasan?'
That was the first time her father has ever hit her.
Neiji, Hinata's cousin, visits often. He has shining pale eyes, like her. He smiles and calls her pretty, stroking her long hair like her mother used to. She squeals in delight, and hugs him, blushing. Neiji looks shocked for a heartbeat, before smiling and embracing her even tighter.
Her father is teaching her how to spar. He says it is essential for her to learn self-defense. The young Hyuuga heiress knows it is for her own good, but she hates it anyways.
She hates to hurt others. Her father often scolds her for being so fragile, asking her, "How are you going to run the dojo after I retire?"
In her head, she knows Neiji is more fit to rule the dojo, since she's seen him spar so many times. His precise, fluid motions captures her gaze completely, black hair flowing while he kicks and dodges.
(You wish you were perfect)
Maybe she does.
When she can't sleep, Neiji tells her about princes and princesses in magical lands, heroic tales of quests and evil beyond her imagination. She likes to submerge herself in one of these stories, pretending that she is the princess that needs saving. And that Neiji is the prince.
She is in love with her own cousin.
The spars with her father get more violent as they twist and jab at each other. At the end of all these sessions, they are both covered in sweat. Once, her father drew blood from her mouth and she stumbled, landing painfully on the floor.
"Get up!" He snaps at her. Hinata responds with a pained groan and get back on her feet. It hurts. Everything hurts.
Neiji and his father are watching from the sidelines. They both frown and Neiji whispers something to his father. Feeling a spark of pride that he is watching her, she aims a direct kick at her father.
But then she hesitates, giving him an advantage. She finds herself knocked back to the ground.
"Do not give your enemy an opening!" He hisses, and leaves the room with stern movements. She gets up slowly, wincing.
Neiji offers a hand, and pulls her up.
"T-Thank you." She stutters out. Neiji just dusts her off and give her a cup of water. She gulps it down.
"Does it hurt?" He asks her with a concerned face. Trying to be brave, she nods.
But the pain she tries so hard to hide is shown all over her face.
The heiress sees her cousin's father giving her a concerned look, and then nods to himself, as if agreeing about something.
"Hinata-sama! Wake up!"
Hinata groans, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "N…Neiji?"
Neiji lifts her out of bed. Even though she is half-asleep, she feels a faint blush rising on her cheeks. "W-What are you-"
"No time. Get all your things. We're taking you with us to Kohona."
"What?"
"Your father is unstable. We have left him a note. Quickly!"
She inhales sharply and grabs a giant bag from her closet. She shoves all her clothes, money, and dolls in. "W-What if otousan calls the police?"
"He won't." Neiji tells her, almost with a grave look and help her drag the bag outside. They both somehow manage to dump the bag in the trunk and leap inside the car.
"Neiji has explained it all to you, I hope?"
"Yes."
She turns back, and says goodbye to the place she had called home for all her life.
(Are you going to miss me?)
Hinata still likes to listen to stories, even when she is ten.
It has been three years since she left home, and her father hasn't even called the police.
(It shows how much he loved you)
Neiji doesn't make her spar with anyone, but instead helps her with her homework from school and comforts her when people make fun of her. They shout "Stupid Hyuuga girl! You stutter and hide behind your cousin! Can you get any more pathetic?"
Neiji doesn't defend her during those times, but he picks her up and dusts her off after they leave.
He truly is a great person.
Tenten comes over to visit Neiji, her chocolate brown buns shaking as she runs to hug him so often. Hinata feels a twinge of jealousy, but pushes it away.
Kiba likes her, because she likes Akamaru. The little puppy is so much like its master, always barking and jumpy and ready to be on the move. Hinata laughs when Kiba draws himself as a half-beast and Akamaru as half-man.
It'll never be real, but people can dream, right?
Hinata is thirteen, with a friend of her own.
Naruto is an orphan that has run away from the orphanage, he says. His smile is big and his voice is loud, but Hinata doesn't mind. He stands up for her when she is picked on, and comes to her house to bake cookies.
He is great at baking.
"I always keep my promises. Believe it!"
Because of that phase he lives on, he has never broken a promise to her. Even once.
She loves how he protects her, and makes her laugh. His happy smiles that make others laugh too, not just her.
He tries to make friends with everyone, even that weird Gaara boy. She doesn't really mind the little redhead that is so often alone, but she admits, he makes her nervous.
Hinata is fourteen, and in desperate need of money.
Neiji's father isn't getting enough salary, so all family members have gotten jobs to keep the family going. Except her.
Hinata want to help so so badly. Just somehow. Anything.
She hears Ino talking to Karin one day.
They give her and idea.
She decides to try it out.
"Hinata-sama."
Hinata looks up as Neiji enters her room. "W-What is it oniisan?"
Neiji's eyes are cold and merciless. "I know what you are doing every night."
Hinata's heart almost stops. "I-I don't-"
"Don't lie. You are a terrible liar."
Neiji's eyes pierced into her, and Hinata could feel herself shrinking under his gaze.
"But… I don't-"
"I saw you. Sneaking all those boys into the house. I thought you were better than that, Hinata-sama." Neiji's voice is full of hurt.
"I couldn't get a job, no matter how I tried! I had to help out somehow, so I-"
Neiji cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I could've put in a good word for you. You could've just asked. Now you've made a terrible mistake. Do you know what people will call you now?"
"...Yes," Hinata shivers. "So you'll tell ojisan?"
Neiji turns away. "No. But I'll be ashamed of you forever."
Both Neiji and Tenten starts avoiding her, and Ino casts her smug glances.
But what hurt the most was when Neiji said,
"You are a shame to the Hyuuga family."
(Help. Someone. Anyone.
Save me from this misery.)
(But you can't stop because…
Because of your wanting. Your need.)
Hinata doesn't deny this.
She can't.
She calls her father one day, just to end it all. He'll probably scream and shout.
But he doesn't. He doesn't demand that she should come back home, he doesn't care. He doesn't miss her. He sounds… more… happy.
He has adopted a daughter named Hanabi. She has more skill than her, he says.
"If you want, I could give the dojo to her instead…"
Like he is talking to a stranger. He doesn't miss his little daughter at all. There's a bust of pride burning inside her, ready to engulf everything in flames. Voice filled with confidence, she says, "No. I'll take the dojo."
What was she thinking?
Neiji offers to spar with her one day. She accepts, thinking that he might give her another chance if she proves herself.
But he's too fast for her, too skilled. He knocks her over this way and that, like a broken rag doll. She lies, bruised and tired, on the wooden floor. He looks down on her with shame.
"You chose your destiny, Hinata-sama," He says with cold eyes. "Now you must follow it."
(GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE
….please.)