(It is hotter than medusa's crotch outside atm, and so we are celebrating this hellishly hot day by going down to the beach. Before the drive down though, we decided to write this. Please enjoy.)

Butterflies or Beetles: Chapter 8

"Why?"

Shino bristled at the question, not saying a word.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" Sakura asked again. "Shino, I deserve to know that much…"

"You've lived a full and happy life outside of complicated clan policies." Shino told her quietly. "It's one thing for me to make a list of expectations and rattle them off to Hinata. She would know I'm not trying to be overbearing…" At this he blinked, and let his full gaze meet Sakura's own. "That I'm not trying to control her. I didn't know if you would accept it the same way." That his clan had rules he would have to enforce, and that Sakura would have to abide by them…that she too would become an enforcer of those very same policies. "Please, try to understand…"

"I'm always going to be the cute little village girl, aren't I?" Sakura felt the harshness of her tone, but she couldn't keep it even. "Cute little boy crazy Sakura, who doesn't understand commitment...or what it means to be strong…who can't follow through with anything, and cries over Sasuke." She was so sick of her former image. "That's all I'm ever going to be, isn't it?"

"I never once entertained those notions." Shino told her, but he could see the hurt in her eyes. The pain he caused by trying to protect her from himself.

"You're acting like it." Sakura sighed, turning away and meandering the many shelves she saw, all of them holding clear glass atriums. Several kinds of bugs were inside, but she had no idea what Shino used them for. "Okay, so I don't belong to a clan. Maybe I don't understand all of the details you normally don't talk about. Things that others intuitively know. The thing is, I'm never going to understand unless I'm told."

"I didn't mean to hurt you." Shino said quietly, wondering if now he would be permitted to wear his glasses. He sorely wanted to. "I'll carry the full weight of that blame on my shoulders."

"You should know just how deeply and how seriously I take my friendships." She chased after a great many people, didn't she? Held them fiercely in her heart, doing whatever she had to, in order to keep them safe. Sometimes, she failed completely, but other times… "I just don't know what I am to you."

Shino licked his lips. He most certainly was going to put his glasses back on. "To me?" He wasn't entirely sure. He'd never exactly given it much thought. She fit what he needed in a suitor. He liked her as maybe a little more than a friend. He had to admit, knowing she was letting Anita burrow deep stirred deep feelings in him. Feelings that made his own hive buzz.

Feelings that he had never felt for Hinata.

It wasn't quite lust, but, there was a magnetism. An attraction that was undefinable. Something baser and instinctual.

With his glasses back on, with his eyes hidden away, he felt able to speak once more. "You are to me more than just a comrade." He hadn't moved from his spot, and his frown still lingered. "I…I feel drawn to you. I have never felt such a way in my life before."

Hinata had been personally summoned after her fifth date with Choji.

He had taken her to dinner, to tea, and shared a casual sparring match that was far more playful than threatening. Hinata though after that third date, where they'd made contact of the physical sort, it might be easier to be around Choji. That she wouldn't feel so awkward, and that he wouldn't feel so completely inadequate. Unfortunately, they hadn't made it beyond the hand holding stage. Their fourth date had been a day in the forest by the cool river, and the fifth was another dinner date after they both were free from work.

All of them were innocent little dates, strangely so, and it was getting to the point that Ino was teasing her about the whole thing. Not that Hinata didn't understand why...she might have been shy, but Choji seemed downright skittish. Hinata sighed as she found another provocative magazine that had been slid under her door.

Another one of Ino's little pranks, she was sure. Hinata didn't even bother to look at it, she merely stuffed it into her dresser drawer to deal with later.

That over and done with, Hinata made her way down the hall to her father's sitting room. She rarely spoke with the man at length, but he seemed adamant to talk. Something about the coming nuptials. She was sure the moment that she saw the sake cup put in front of her. It seemed that Hiashi Hyuga wished to speak on ceremony...

That, Hinata knew, was never a good thing.

"Hinata, I've been lenient." Hiashi said to her carefully as he slid a piece of paper across the wooden table. "I can no longer be so. Hanabi has accepted the council's proposal. She will be wedded to a man of their choosing. They've already decided upon her suitor."

Knowing that insipid council, anything could happen. It made Hinata fell ill. She kept her face stony, for her own sake. "Who is it?" Inwardly she winced at her urgency, and the curtness of the question. Honestly, it could be any number of her cousins, they had so many of them. Most of the older ones were several times removed from the main house. In fact, Neji was the only immediate cousin that they'd had, and he was gone. "Father, please. She's my younger sister, I need to know."

Hiashi sat quietly for a moment. He then decided it was best to inform Hinata now, so that she wouldn't be upset later. "Ko."

"Ko?" Her voice lacked accusation, but it held something else. "Father, with all due respect...Ko...he is a good man, but the age differences is…" Well, to put it mildly, it was shocking. She wasn't feeling mild about the matter though. Not at all. "He looked after me as a child, and though he's always acted with honor and dignity, Hanabi is…well…she is so young...maybe too young."

"She lacks experience." Hiashi agreed. "She also lacks the years on her that she'll need. She can't properly oversee the clan all by herself." That's why he was glad Ko would be there to look after her. He would prove to be a strong man of the main house. "Without Neji here to help her, I need to be sure the man she marries will be able to know the right things to do. Ko can do that, he can provide what many in the branch houses cannot."

Hinata, sighed. This was her fault for being an incapable leader to the Hyuga. Hanabi was young, but their father was growing older, and the questions of the future couldn't be silences for much longer. Yes, her sister was young, but Ko would protect her. He wouldn't do wrong by Hanabi, and Hinata knew that. "When will Hanabi uptake her nuptials?"

"After her sixteenth birthday." Hiashi replied, though that was exactly why he needed Hinata to truly decide her own future. "The futures of my daughters are impending. You must decide your place, and you must do so quickly. I refuse to put the cursed mark upon your head, not until I'm sure that you'll be looked after…"

Hinata only shook her head. She didn't dare say that it was just male foolishness he was spouting. Instead she only signed, feeling so conflicted. "Father, I will be here to look after Hanabi. If you might wish it, I could also swear an oath of chastity instead of marriage, if you would prefer that I protect her in Neji's steed."

"He would not want that for you." The man said slowly. "I do not want that for you. I want you to be married, to raise a family, and to understand that happiness. If I have to, I'll accomplish that in my own way." He told her sternly. "Do not force my hand. You are still a Hyuga for a while longer, Hinata, as your last duty to me, please act like it."

After hearing that, Hinata needed to take a walk and get some fresh air. Her head was spinning, and she felt unclean. She grabbed her bathing supplies and hit the streets of Konoha hard, with a fast stride and an angry pace.

Many clans in Konohagakure had their own private bathhouses, or in the case of the Hyuga complex, bathing rooms right in the homes of the elite. Hinata didn't frequent them anymore. She wasn't the rightful heir, and so she wasn't a rightful Hyuga. At least, that was the mindset she took when she became a genin. She didn't belong at the main house, and she didn't belong among the bloodline she sullied.

Kiba and Shino both used the central bathhouse in Konohagakure, even though they were both men of their clans. If they did it, so could she. In fact, it seemed as if a lot of the younger heirs didn't bother themselves with going to their proper bathing houses.

That's what sparked the current discussion over on the ladies side of the hygienic center.

"Wow, Hinata, you are pissed." Sakura murmured, more than a little surprised as she watched Hinata splash water over herself in quiet rage.

"Indeed." She all but hissed.

"You want to talk about it?" Sakura asked honestly. "We're all friends here."

"She's right." Ino agreed gently. "You don't have to bottle everything up."

Hinata voided saying why she was so outright angry. She didn't air family disputes, and while she agreed with her father, she also hated when he spoke down to her like a child. with a sigh, she shook her head. "I was merely thinking that this bathhouse seems to be more common a place to be. I know what my reasons are for that, but I was contemplating what yours might be."

"It's not exactly like my bathing house is convenient. We share ours with the Akimichi and Nara clans." Ino said with a shrug as she scrubbed her long hair. "Since I live in the flower shop, this one is actually closer anyway."

"And don't look at me." Sakura added with a laugh. "Since I moved into the share house, this is technically my allotted hygienic center."

"Mine too." Tenten said, as she leaned back in the deep pool of water. She loved soaking after rigorous training. "Well, I mean, I could use the one shared by the Lee clan, but I'd really rather not. Gai-sensei is always making a rucks on the men's side with Lee. I've heard they've broken the walls by accident before."

"Yeah, but you're not from the Lee clan…" Hinata murmured, a bit shocked by that. She wasn't sure that the Lee clan carried strict rules about that kind of thing. All of their members were rambunctious as ever. "I've never heard of outsiders being let onto clan grounds without being allied to them."

"I'm friends with Lee, and Gai-sensei. I'm always let onto clan grounds." Tenten said, though she didn't understand it either. "In fact, now that I think about it, so was Neji."

Hell she didn't even know what clan she belonged to. She grew up on government funding, being looked after by the late Hokage, just like Naruto. No one had claimed her, or told her where she hailed from. In fact, she was almost sure with her weapons prowess that she wasn't actually from Konoha. There was a good chance she was a war baby left orphaned when the nine-tails attacked. She might have even hailed from one of the other villages, Tenten would never really know for sure.

"That's certainly a breech in the Hyuga policies." Hinata murmured quietly. "Unless my father approved of Neji doing so, Hyuga aren't to go parading around into another's domain."

Tenten shrugged, she had no idea why Neji was allowed. Only that he was. "According to Gai-sensei, the Hyuga clan and I were unconditionally welcomed as allies when became a team." She didn't try to understand it. "That clan is really casual, and are mostly civilian. I don't think they keep the same policies that ninja clans might. Even if they did though, not all clans are as strict as yours."

Hinata sighed sadly at that. It made sense, she supposed. Shino and Kiba both all but dragged her into their clan's domains without even thinking twice about it. In fact, their parents didn't seem to care much. When she was young, she found that really odd. Her father would have had kittens if she'd brought her teammates home to run amok. Thinking about clan matters reminded her of her current situation.

She felt nervous, but she decided to just ask it plainly. "Sakura, I need to know what your plans are with Shino. If you don't plan to marry him, then I honestly should."

"Way to put me on the spot." Sakura complained from over her shoulder. "What's with you, I expect that kind of thing from Ino, not you."

"Well, damn you too, Sakura." Ino said as she noticed that her friend was still scrubbing her skin. "What the hell are you even doing over there?"

"Oh…nothing…nothing…" Sakura said, scrubbing even more furiously.

Hinata sighed, knowing instantly what was driving the pink haired woman crazy. Hinata activated her Byakugan. There were six little bugs wandering around, but there was also a seventh attached to a chakra point near Sakura's belly. It looked like Sakura had formed an empty hive. "My father is going to force me into making a firm statement soon. If I don't, he will for me."

"Harsh." Tenten hissed.

"But reasonable." Ino said, picking up Hinata's uneasy vibe. "That's just how these things work."

Hinata nodded. "I know he'll favor Shino over Choji."

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked.

"That was the original agreement." Hinata explained to the group simply. "Shino and I both defied it tooth and nail, but our fathers will honor their old promises. That's the kind of people they are."

Sakura paused, the shampoo in her hair trickling into her eyes. It burned, but she was still stunned to silence. She grabbed the water bucket and she dumped it over herself, and then filled it back up do repeat the action. "I…" She gave Hinata a knowing look. "It's complicated."

"I want Shino to be happy." Hinata admitted. "I want to know you'll keep an eye on him. That you won't just let him close up on himself…he's good at that."

"You both are." Ino interjected. "Since we're asking the hard questions, how do you really feel about Choji?"

Hinata swallowed hard. It took a few moments to gather her thoughts, because she really didn't want them scattered all over the place. She bit her tongue twice to keep from talking before she was ready. She couldn't say the wrong thing. Not in front of Ino. She looked to both Sakura and Tenten, and she felt the words knot in her throat.

They wouldn't understand the pressure of being in a clan, of having the forced weight of reality crashing down all because of progeny. Frankly, all because of marriage, and the sex that would produce that progeny. If just having other people dependent on what she did and said...it was all so much...almost too much.

"You tell me." Hinata said quietly. "How did you feel about Sai when your clan tossed him at you?" She looked away. "How do you feel about him now?"

Ino realized then what Hinata was trying to say. What she didn't exactly have the words for. "If that's the case, you won't have any problems from me."

"We may be kunoichi, but we uphold the same honor as everyone else." It was that simple in the end, wasn't it? By saying that, that Hinata made her choice. "Sakura, I'm leaving Shino in your hands." He would be happier with Sakura. He could learn to love Sakura…just as Hinata could learn to love Choji. "I'm asking you this as one future matriarch to another…don't hurt him."

Sakura could have sworn she almost…almost…heard a laced threat in Hinata's tone.