Chapter 1

Yesterday

"Laugh it off
And let it go and
When you wake up
It will seem so yesterday"

- Hilary Duff

"A-Are you serious?"

"Sure am."

Hinata looked at the familiar face, staring at her from the other side of the room. Hanabi had arrived roughly an hour before, in a small, black car (totally not by choice- as she had clearly stated) to provide some sort of secrecy in arriving at the Hyuuga compound. They were in a spare room now, curtains closed and Hanabi had quite obviously made herself comfortable, draped across the leather sofa.

"B-but... b-but..."

The older Hyuuga tried (and failed) to come up with a decent excuse. Hanabi raised a brow.

"You are my sister." Hanabi stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "you look like me, walk like me, know me. Who else could possibly even stand a chance at pulling off being me?"

Hinata opened her mouth then shut it again. As much as she hated to admit it, she did have a point. They had, after all, grown up together.

"W-why don't you give it a shot?" Hinata tried. It was a bold question, but she was getting desperate.

"Because." Hanabi rolled her eyes, "unlike you, I'm as thick as a brick. You really think passing Konoha modeling school is purely modeling? Honey, everyone knows I can model. Its brains they're looking for."

Again, point.

Hanabi couldn't even pass 3rd form math.

Sighing, the young Hyuuga looked at the tall, graceful figure before her. On one hand, she could never be that graceful, even if she was tutored by the bloody queen. She made lying on a sofa look like a reincarnation of Cleopatra for God's sake. But on the other hand... it was her sister. And sisters were supposed to be there for each other... right?

"Okay, I-I'll do it." She nodded, spotting Hanabi's perfect puppy dog eyes.

Sometimes... she hated herself for being so nice.

Hinata looked at herself in the mirror for the umpteenth time that morning.

Her hair was curled all the way down her back, her lips painted a glossy red, her shadow so heavy she could barely see anything at all.

In short, she looked like a drag queen.

Or hooker.

She couldn't tell which was better.

It was 7.00 am and she had agreed to meet up with Kabuto at exactly 8.00 in order to take her to her first day of school. Unfortunately, being the organized girl she was, that meant setting the alarm clock at five, doing her make up at six, to have everything 100% ready by seven. Of course, she didn't think at the time that the earlier she did it, the longer she had to spend with make up on, so therefore, the longer she had to spend looking like Hanabi.

Stupid, she knows, but totally reasonable.

She was so deep in thought, that she almost didn't hear the doorbell ring.

Assuming Kabuto was early, Hinata walked down and opened the door. Needless to say, she was rather surprised when instead, a handsome young male stood before her. A handsome young, uniformed male, to be exact. She blinked. This totally wasn't part of the deal.

"Uh... hello?" She tried to sound Hanabi-ish. She failed. But at least she tried.

"Hanabi?" the male looked more shocked than she felt, "Hanabi? Is that really you?"

It took Hinata a moment to realize he was talking. His eyes were so... blue.

"A-ano..."

"Oh my god it is!"

Before she could register what was happening, he had his arms thrown around her, pulling her against his chest. His head came to rest on her neck, his blond spikes tickling her face. She let out a little squeak.

"Oh, Hanabi. I didn't think you'd return! I thought you'd left! I thought you'd-"

Okay... this was getting weird. How did he know who she was?

He pulled her closer. Her eyes widened.

"Ano..." Hinata tried to think up something polite to say before the guy could suffocate her to death. (if he squeezed any tighter, her eyes were going to pop out) "P-please excuse my rudeness, but I don't believe I remember who you are."

He pulled back abruptly.

Whoops. Wrong thing to say?

"You don't remember?" was that tears in his eyes? Oh no. She'd made him cry. No, no, no, no no.

She opened her mouth to answer, but he beat her to it.

"Uzumaki Naruto." he reminded her. It still didn't ring any bells. "You know... your boyfriend?"

Hinata's mouth opened to form a little "O".

Well... this was awkward.

"Would you like another tea Naruto-kun? Milk? Sugar?"

Naruto was sitting on the couch now, legs together, arms crossed, huddled in a little ball somewhere in the corner. She had been nice enough to invite him inside at least. The boy was in hysterics.

He nodded, his blond hair flopping forward and back as he held his cup out, watching as the steaming liquid was quickly topped up. Hinata put the pot down and sat beside him. He continued to look at the floor.

"A-ano..." How was she going to do this? She'd invited him in, sat him down and poured him tea. She really couldn't procrastinate any longer. "Boyfriend?"

He nodded, taking a sip of the burning liquid. He looked so sad, sitting there alone, she almost had the temptation to give hug him. Almost. She did not want another repeat of the last hug.

"You really don't remember, do you?"

"G-gomenasai." she racked her brain for excuses, "I've been really busy."

"I bet." he nodded, "I waited for you for 3 years. And you don't even remember who I am. You must have been really freaking busy."

Guilt. Such a lovely feeling.

Hinata bit her lip, looking at her cup.

"W-well, you know, modeling and all..." she waved her hand lightly. Why did Hanabi have to be so insensitive? "I didn't leave you by choice... my ties were cut for me."

The blond looked up at this, eyes lighting dramatically.

"Not by choice?"

"C-course not!"

"Really?"

At this, it hit Hinata what a bad idea it was. She didn't know this guy. She didn't even know his relationship to her sister. And she was jumping right in making some story about how she didn't want to leave him and ya-dee-ya-dee-ya. He could be a stalker, for God's sake, a jackass, a sleaze. Hinata looked sideways at the form, sitting straight beside her. He looked so happy when she'd told him the news. He couldn't possibly be a bad guy.

"Course." she gave in. Even she didn't have the heart to break it to him, "Of course I wouldn't choose that."

He grinned, scratching the back of his head in an absolutely adorable manner. He seemed to be satisfied with the answer, "Right." he said, blushing a little, "sorry. Yeah. I jumped to conclusions. I should have known you wouldn't just up and leave."

Hinata wanted to kill her sister.

That was totally something that she'd do.

She smiled though, touching his shoulder.

"My memory is just a little foggy."

"No, No! That's fine." Hinata looked away when he focused those crystal eyes on her, she was not used to male attention, "I believe that you've been busy. Sometimes it can get too much, eh?"

Aw. What a sweetie. She felt pretty stink for lying to him.

She nodded, agreeing. "Yeah..."

"Well, if it helps." Naruto got his phone form his pocket and chucked it to her, "there's some pictures of us in there. We dated for 2 years, discarding the years you left."

"T-Two years?" Hinata tried not to sound surprised. One guy, two years? She made a note to ask her sister later. "Where was this?"

He looked at her again, blinking.

"You don't even remember where we met?"

"Uh..."

Hinata paused. Well... that was stupid.

Thankfully he chuckled though, throwing an arm round her shoulders.

"Wow, you must have been busy." he teased, scruffing her hair, "went a bit OTT on the botox did we? Chemicals go to your brain?"

She laughed. This guy was really gullible.

"S-Something like that."

She opened the phone and flicked to the pictures. Part of her felt she was being nosy, it was her sisters relationship, not hers, after all, she didn't have a right to see these pictures. Then again, if she didn't, she may be in serious trouble. She couldn't risk blowing her disguise. She paused upon coming across a few of the early days. Hanabi looked the same, just as tall and beautiful as always, cuddled into a very happy blond boy, uniform on, grin intact. Judging by the admiration on his face, Hinata was surprised Hanabi had the ability to up and leave. What kind of person was she?

It took a moment, but she recognized the uniform.

"Konoha Modeling school?" she asked, putting two and two together. It was the same black and white as nowadays, the one she currently had upstairs.

He nodded, looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah." His hand went from her head to drape casually around her shoulders, "our first date, remember?"

Hinata went to flinch away but stopped herself just in time. This was Hanabi, remember, not Hinata. She didn't hug him back though. She felt awkward enough as it was.

"H-hai." she nodded, "first date."

He laughed at that. A brilliant, bright laugh that could light up the whole room, and pulled away, turning to gather up the empty cups and pot. He turned to her, winking as he picked them up. She had the feeling he had visited the compound before, heading in the direction of the kitchen.

"Well," he stated, pausing by the door just long enough to shoot her a grin, "At least the botox hasn't messed with you that much."

And with that, he disappeared into the kitchen, laughing as he went.

Hinata sighed, looking after him.

How the heck was she going to do this?