Hinata-centered.

Pre-Chunin Exam

Rating: K+

Nindo

Hinata was a quiet child. A kind child.

It was enough to look at her face to see how quiet, how obedient, how kind she was. How meek she was, how that was her undoing. Had she been any young lady of the Hyuga clan, she wouldn't have been trained to become a shinobi. However, her father had ambitions for her, which included becoming Clan head.

He shouldn't have bothered.

She was much more interested in the arts the other young ladies were taught – the traditional dance, the flower placement, the painting, the singing. Her greatest talent and passion was in playing the koto.

Her mother had encouraged her while she was alive.

"What harm can it do, Hiashi-sama?" she had asked once in front of Hinata, as no one realized how clever Hinata was behind silent lips. "Perhaps Hinata does not have to become the head of the Clan. If I birth you a boy, she won't have to be."

She would smile cunningly, her hand curling around her growing stomach.

"What should we call her, Hina-chan?" her mother had asked.

"Hana-chan," Hinata had said, hugging her mother's stomach with tiny hands.

"Hana-kun," her mother had corrected her sharply, before stroking her hair. "Hana-kun."

Then Hanabi was born, and Hinata saw the same cunning smile on this bright baby's face, fell in love with her. Hiashi held her mother as she sobbed, foiled once more.

She died three weeks later from complications.

The baby was named Hanabi. Fireworks.

"At least let her life be beautiful," Hinata's mother had said before she died.

Hiashi could have remarried, tried again.

Instead, he sent Hinata to the Academy.

There, she learned the history of the shinobi – the Hokages, the Warring Clans, the supremacy of the Hyuga. She learned the poisonous arts of flower arrangement, the killing wiles of kunoichi. She learned the dirty tricks angry children played on one another, and the proud dismissal of the larger clans, the anger of the lower class.

There, she met Naruto.

To her disappointment and shameful relief, they were not placed in the same team.

Kurenai was kind but secretive, Kiba brash, Shino intense.

They saw how quiet and kind Hinata was, and they forgot her despite themselves.

But Hinata was clever behind silent lips, and she would prove herself.

She would never go back on her word.

"Promise me, Hina-chan," her mother had said before her death.

She had been sitting up in bed, relishing the feeling of the sunlight on her blue skin. It had been her last good day, though neither of them had known at the time.

"Promise me that you'll do your best. You'll do your best to make me proud," her mother had said.

"I will do my best," Hinata had promised, and her mother had slumped back against the wall, satisfied.

"That is all you can do, Hinata," her mother had murmured before she fell asleep. That was the last time she was conscious, the last words that she had ever spoken to Hinata.

"I will do my best. I will not go back on my word," Hinata whispered.

Kiba's ear flicked sharply before he turned around, grinning.

"Ready, Hinata? Shino?" he asked before the building where they were all gathering for the Chunin exam, all bravado and smug confidence.

"Hn."

"Y-yes, Kiba-kun," Hinata agreed, smiling.

Continuing on with the Hyuga family, this time we come to see Hinata, pre-Chunin exam.

She's one of the better written anime characters, I think, simply because she is complex. I wanted to explore some of that and see how she understands negativity and anger but does her best to be kind and work hard.

Also, exploring some ideas of gender and tradition within the Hyuga clan :|

Anyhoooo, thank you for reading!

Reviews and requests, prompts, ideas - all that jazz is super appreciated!