A/N: An old story that I decided to rework on. It has been about 8 years since. Hoping to actually add more into it this time and stick it through. Any reviews and suggestions are much appreciated! Thank you :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters within this story other than my OC. I do not own the anime Naruto. Picture from my cover is from here ( gallery/naruto-oc.9879/).

CHAPTER ONE

"Where do you think you are going?"

Kina let out a small "eek!" sound before coming to a stop at the front door. She turned to her right to look through the kitchen area where her father, mother, and baby Hinata were. Her father sat at the table sipping on tea, her mother stood by the sink washing dishes, and Hinata sat in a low baby seat beside their father; playing with veggies on her plate.

"I was going to go out for a bit, dad." She softly responded, not wanting to upset her father.

He let out a groan in slight annoyance. "You know today is the day we have to go to your uncle's to pass on the curse seal to your cousin, Neji." Although he did not raise his voice, his tone gave her slight chills running down her spine. Kina hated when he spoke so calmly yet with so much anger behind his words.

"Ah…" She tapped her index finger on her chin. "Yes, I remember, father. I will be home before that. Don't worry! I'll even make sure to be all dressed up formally by the time I arrive."

He sighed loudly then replied, "Kina, do you forget your duty as the heiress of the Hyuga Clan?"

"But dad…"

"No buts! Today is important. Today you should stay home, have breakfast with your family for once, and travel with us to your uncle's."

She sighed softly, stumbling into the kitchen and walked slowly towards the family dinner table. Her mother glanced over her shoulder to look at her husband and daughters. "Hiashi, give her a break today… She's fifteen now. Busy with being a jonin and working at the hospital so often. Can't you lighten up a bit today. She has always followed your rules growing up."

Hiashi sighed while closing his eyes and taking a sip of his tea and Kina's face lit up as her mother lectured her father.

She continued her lecture, "besides you know Kina goes visit her team almost every morning she can. It's always been a tradition of hers since then…"

He crossed his arms and sighed "fine, fine, fine… Just don't be late then, you hear?"

Kina made eye contact with her mother and smiled softly. In return, her mother smiled back acknowledging her daughter's silent thank you.

The young heiress quickly came to her father's side and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, father! I promise I will be on time."

Before leaving, she turned to her baby sister and patted her head.

The sun was out shining brightly, but the weather was a little chilly today due to being the season of winter. Kina gently rested a white rose on Rin's grave and deeply sighed. She softly whispered to her grave, "wish you were still here…" She looked down at her grave one last time before walking off with the rest of the white roses she had in her arms heading towards the memorial stone. She put the remaining flowers she had on the platform, gently brushing her hands against their names. Her eyes closed, picturing them in her mind.

Her sensei and teammates did not make it through the war. Her friend Rin was gone. Shinzune left with Lady Tsunade at the time. Anko went missing. It was just her and Kurenai… She felt so lonely without all her loved ones here. Although she was still happy to have Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma here. She was sad to have lost a lot of her girlfriends and girls her age. Her eyes saddened and started to water up. Quickly, she wiped away her tears before they could fall.

The sun reflected off the memorial stone causing her to cover her eyes from the beam of light. When she lifted her head up, she saw the sun directly above her making it known it was already noon.

"Shoot…" she whispered. I'm going to be late… Father will get very upset with me. She thought while quickly turning around and beginning to run. She noticed a boy with grayish, white spiky hair in an ANBU outfit in her way. Her eyes slightly widening when realizing the two would collide. Fastly spinning around him to avoid their collison. Without stopping she continued to run, only to glance over her shoulder while waving her hand to say sorry to him.

As she made her way back to her Clan's village, she pondered the thought of who that man was. By the time she got to her uncle's house, she could hear the families already enjoying dinner. Shoot… I basically missed the whole ceremony. The guards at the front bowed while greeting her as the heiress before opening the gates for her. When she entered, she could already see her father across the room giving her the death glare already. She awkwardly made her way towards the table sitting besides her mother.

"Kina, you're late and you aren't even in your formal wear like you promised your father." She whispered.

The heiress scooted closer to her mother and whispered in response, "I'm sorry. I lost track of time."

Her mother sighed, "your father will be very upset with you and I."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

Her father walked towards her and stood over her. Kina gulped loudly. His hand reached out to her and she accepted his offer. Her father helped her on her feet then he leaned in very close to her ear. "You practically missed the whole ceremony. Now the least you could do is just greet all your relatives and guests and make sure you carry on your family's name and honor." His face stern as he looked at her. She nodded in response.

She made out her uncle from the crowd and made her way to him. Kina bowed her head to greet him, "Uncle Hizashi! Long time no see!"

He gasped a little taken back as she slowly rose back up, making eye contact. His response to her greeting him confused her. She cocked an eyebrow high.

Ko, her bodyguard, leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, "Kina-sama., you are the heiress… People bow to you, you're not supposed to bow to the branch family."

She cupped her hand over her mouth, trying to silence the conversation from her uncle. "Ohhhhh yeah! Oops. Hehe." She waved her hand signaling Ko to step away from her and giggled awkwardly. "I feel like I will never get the hang of being a heiress, uncle…"

"You never were the type to really care for these types of things, even as a kid. Now that you are getting older though, you should take it more seriously, Kina-sama."

Nervously, she responded with a yes then looked down at the little Neji, who tugged on his father's sleeve. She smiled softly to him, leaning over so they could be face to face. Her hands resting on her knees to give her support. "Wow, Neji-chan! You have gotten so big now! Last time I saw you, you were just a little baby that I could hold in my arms."

He hesitated to reply, looking up at his father for approval to speak. Hizashi nodded to the young boy. Neji looked back at the heiress and said, "hi Kina-sama."

She smiled and softly rubbed the top of his head, "ah no need to call me so formally, Neji!"

Hizashi protested, "your father would disagree. We have to address the lead family in a formal way."

Kina started to joke around with Neji, whispering into his ears that it could just be a secret between the two of them then. She giggled, making little Neji giggle as well.

Her uncle just sighed softly.

The next following day, Hinata and Kina were sparring in the field while their father watched from the porch.

"Come on, Hinata! You can do it." Kina called out.

Her little sister quickly stormed towards her trying to attack, but Kina was able to block her hands causing Hinata to lose balance and collapse on the ground. The heiress glanced at her father and her eyes saddened seeing the disappointment in his eyes on how weak Hinata was. Small panting noises from her little sister caught her attention. She looked down at her watching as Hinata slowly got up from all fours.

"You okay, Hinata?"

"Mhm" she gasped for air, beads of sweat dripping from her small face down to her chin. Hinata stood back in her fighting stance: arms held out in front of her, legs barely spaced apart with her knees bent inwards.

Kina sighed displeased. She stood in front of her younger sister and gently pushed Hinata, making her stumble backwards. The little one let out a small whimper from the impact.

"In your fighting stance again, Hinata" the heiress demanded.

"Y-yes!"

She stood in her weak stance again. Kina came behind her, leaning forward with her body to cradle the little Hyuga. She moved one of Hinata's arms out a little further and one closer towards her chest. Then with her foot, she scooted her sister's tiny feet further apart. The heiress explained to her sister how it was better to have more space between the feet and to have the knees bend a little so it was not so easy to be knocked over. Little Hinata nodded while listening to her sister explain.

Kina then walked a couple of steps away from her, standing in a fighting position. "Come!"

Hinata let out a scream as she tried to attack her older sister, only to be knocked down again.

'Hmph!" Hiashi started. He had his arms crossed and eyes closed. "Hinata, this is displeasing to my eyes! You have barely made any improvement since the last time!"

Little Hinata rose to her feet, still puffing trying to catch her breath.

"You need to practice more and harder!"

Her voice was soft. "Y-yes, father!"

He stood up and slammed the door shut, startling the both of them. Kina could see the sadness in her little sister's eyes. It looked as if she was about to burst into tears. She pulled out a small silk purple cloth and squatted in front of her baby sister. Ever so softly patting away the sweat off her tiny pale face.

"You know… Dad was hard on me too. Don't take it too personally. He just expects a lot because we are the head branch. I'm sure if you continue to train you will do fine!"

"Do you really think so nee-chan?"

"I'm sure he will see how strong you are one day, Hinata-chan."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Kina then stood up and went to open the sliding door. She reached out to her with a hand and Hinata curled hers into Kina's, walking inside together. "I have to go to work soon, but I will bring you some desserts for you on the way back home."

Hinata looked up at her with puppy eyes. "Hehe, really?"

"Mhm." Kina nodded. "I won't forget!"

After her shift, Kina grabbed some white roses from their local florist shop and a small box of dangos. She stopped to visit their graves before going home. The heiress set down the roses, noticing some pink tulips laid out at the edge of her grave. Her eyebrow raised in question as she softly spoke to herself. "Looks like you had a visitor today, huh?" With her hand, she gently touched one of the petals, examining how fresh they were.

She stood up and walked out of the graveyard, ready to return home until from the corner of her eyes, she could see the ANBU boy standing in front of the memorial stone.

Is it him again? She watched as the wind blew through his white hair. He stood very still glaring down at the stone, hands in his pockets.

She was very curious about him, wondering if he had lost someone important too.