Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Hey guys! I decided to post the first chapter shortly after the prelude. I'm not suppose to be writing another story till I finish the Twilight one I am writing with my friend because she is doing a lot more than me. :D But I had this urge to write this so hopefully you can forgive me Cassidy! Hope you enjoy the chapter! And sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes; I still need to improve on that :D.

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Chapter 1 My Part of the Deal

A loud groan filled the Hyuga house, seeming to echo off of the walls. The source of the groan; me. But who wouldn't groan after filling out all of this paper work? "My father," I think immediately. I massage my hand for not the first time this day, and sadly not the last. "Why did my Language teacher have to give me this much paper?" I complain. Looking at the papers scattered around my bed, which has dark purple sheets and pure white pillows. "About two-thirds are done. I think I deserve a break," I convince myself.

I turn on my silver CD player, and switch it to the radio. I plop down on my bed, as the song Bottle It Up by Sara Bareilles fills my ears. Staring up at my lavender ceiling, I count how many glow in the dark stars are up there. The song ends and I count twenty stars. Sitting up with my back against the wall, I look around my room. The wall and ceilings are lavender, while the carpet is a soft purple color. A blue fuzzy chair sits in the far left corner, next to it a small bookshelf.

My large blue bulletin hangs on the wall opposite of me, pictures of my friends, family, and I scattered on it. A wooden desk is placed below it, a black laptop on it along with papers and a white lamp. The wooden door to my left leads to the hallway, while the one to my right is my closet. On that door, a body size mirror is glued on. A window that is open is placed right next to my headrest, the white curtains flowing in the cool breeze coming in from outside. I grab a tan bunny that is the size of a folder and has long ears form a large wooden chest at the end of my bed.

I cuddle the stuff animal against my chest. It is probably the most precious item I own. My mom gave it too me for my seventh birthday, and she died a couple of months after that from cancer. It was a very sad time for my family. Since then, I've never seen my father smile. Hanabi, my younger sister didn't really get what was going on since she was only two years old. But Neji, my cousin, and I understood clearly; she was dead and would never come back again. Neji had faced something like this before; his father died two years before my mother died.

But I quickly dismiss these thoughts. Now is a time I should be happy for the future. Not grieving for the past. Thinking I should get back to work, I grab my pen and the papers. But I am interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on my door. I quickly check to see what I am wearing; baggy gray sweat pants and shirt that says 'come to the dark side, we have cookies' with a monster smiling and holding chocolate chip cookies. My elbow length black hair covers my left lavender eye and I softly say, "Come in."

Swiftly the door opened to reveal someone who looks a lot like me, only has shoulder length hair instead. My eyes widen with surprise. I put the bunny on my pillow. "Hello Hanabi. Can I help you with something?" I ask kindly. She is wearing long black shorts and a white soccer camp T-shirt. I noticed that she was blushing a bit. "Odd…Hanabi doesn't usually blush."

"Well, I was wondering why did you go in father's office? Were you in trouble?" There is worry and curiosity in her voice. She leans against the doorframe with her arms crossed. I smile up at her, and then reply, "No, I just needed to…ask him something." Her face changes from worry to confusion. "What did you ask him?" she asks eager to know. My smile only seems to widen; she was so innocent at times. "When she's not pulling pranks on teachers and students, mostly boys though."

"I wanted to become a foreign exchange student and father said yes," I confess to her. Shock took place across her face. "Wow! When are you leaving? What country are you going to stay at? How did you convince father?" she questions. "I'm leaving in August if I can get my papers in. I'm going to America, which was father's only requirement besides filling all these papers out. I'm not sure how I convinced him though…" I drag on.

Relief fills her face. "It's April so you'll still be here for about five months…" she stated. I shifted my weight so I was sitting crossed legged. "Yep. So, is that all you wanted?" I ask politely. Hanabi hesitates, and then blushes like before.

I raise an eyebrow at this, but do not question. She takes a deep breath before confessing, "Um, I was wondering if you could give me some…advise to get a ah boy's attention." By now, her whole face was beet red. I slap my hand over my mouth as I giggle uncontrollably. This was not what I had expected. "It's not funny!" she shouts clenching her fists. Seeing this, I immediately stop laughing. "I'm sorry. It's just that that was the last thing I thought would come out of your mouth," I explain to her.

She grins at me, and then answers, "Yeah, I guess you're right." We both laugh. "Okay, now close the door and tell me who the lucky guy is," I command. Sighing, Hanabi did as she was told. After closing the door, while blushing she murmurs, "Konohamaru." Now I wasn't able to stop laughing. "Who would have thought? She likes the boy who's her biggest rival." I look at the thirteen-year-old girl in front of me.

"Well, I'm not a total expert at this…but considering your opinions I am probably the best," I conclude. We both thought about what father or Neji would have done and giggle. Father would have said she is too young to have a boyfriend, yet let alone think about having one. Neji on the other hand would ask who he is and then probably threaten him to go out with Hanabi and if he would break her heart, Neji would snap his in half in return.

"So what should I do?" Hanabi asks when our laughs have died down. I put my head in my hand, a common trait I do when I'm thinking hard. "Well, we could start off by seeing if he likes you by you ignoring him. But don't ignore him entirely, because he might think you're just doing that to annoy him since you two have a history of rivalry," I state.

Hanabi nods her head once. "So I don't have to wear revealing clothes?" she asks confused. I stare at her a bit shock. "Only if you want to. And if you do, do it in parts and not at one time. For example, wear shorter shorts but still wear baggy T-shirts. Whatever you do, just make sure you are still comfortable in what you're wearing," I conclude.

She smiles at me. "Thanks sis. Your advice is a whole lot better than Aimi. She's my best friend and all, but she has no clue when it comes to boys like me," Hanabi comments. "No problem," I add in.

"Hey, do you need any help with all this paper work?" she asks. I was about to deny her, but then I look at the pills of paper and chirp a 'yes'. With that, we got to work. The paper work lasted for another thirty minutes before we finally finished. "Uh! My hand hurts!" Hanabi grumbles. "You're not the only one," I reply. We are sitting next to each other now, smiling. "It's been a while since we just hung out together."

The radio, which was on the whole time, plays the song Shake It by Metro Station. "I love this song!" I think to myself. I quickly jump to my feet, dragging Hanabi along with me and turn up the volume. "Come on! Dance with me!" I say while giggling. Hanabi stares at me like I grew a second head. "Why can't you be a normal girl for once?" I complain with fake disappointment. She sighs loudly, giving a groan, then starts to shake to the music with me.

We did all the dance moves we could think of; the monkey, twist, disco, but mostly twirling around. But of course, when the chorus would say shake repeatedly, we would just shake. Always giggling. Though every good thing comes to an end, ours was ending too early for us. The door opens to reveal a shock Neji. He came right in when both of us are attempting to do a shimmy. We both stop embarrass to be caught.

Neji makes the first move by pinching the bridge of his nose. He usually does this whenever he is annoyed or frustrated. "So this is what you girls were doing?" he states, removing his hand from his nose and crosses his arms. "I was giving Hanabi dance lessons. Didn't you like our dancing?" I mumbled innocently. He glares at me, but that softens into a smile, followed with a sigh. "What am I going to do with you two? What grade are you girls in again?" he asks. "Junior," I notify him with a small smile. He turns his gaze to Hanabi. "8th grade. But it's not fair; whenever I hint to father that I would like to be a foreign exchange student he says no, yet Hinata asked once and he said yes!" Hanabi pouted.

I sigh. "What!? Since when are you going to be a foreign exchange student?!" Neji yells. "I've been wanting to ask father for a while, and today I finally had the courage to ask him and he said yes. I'll be leaving in for America in August. So I was stuck doing the paper work and father will pay for it," I ramble on. "I see. I have to say I'm shocked. I planned to just come up here and tell you dinner is ready; not seeing you two dancing and then telling me that Hinata here is going to be a foreign exchange student," Neji confesses, but as soon as he said dinner, Hanabi raced out the door and down the stairs.

We both sigh. I turn off the radio and follow my cousin to the dinning room.

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Finally finished! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Incase you haven't caught on, Hanabi is 13, Hinata is 18, and Neji is 19. Gaara will come in later for the fic I will tell you now. Well, R&R please!