"Hinata, sit down--"

"And shut up?" She interrupted, incredulous.  "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to lead the family, but I'm not sorry that I'm strong enough to live!  If the bloodline remaining pure to you matters so much, why don't you do something revolutionary and name him heir instead of putting us through this charade?"

Naruto smiled proudly as the normally reserved, dark haired girl stalked towards the center where he stood.  The light of a warrior was in her eyes now—the same eyes that Neji had found himself confronted with years ago.  The eyes she showed to her enemies.

Eyes that her father had never seen—at least not directed at him.

Neji smirked as his uncle was at a loss for words.  He met Naruto's eyes over the top of Hinata's head and nodded once as if to say, "I approve."

"I am a shinobi," Hinata said, her voice quiet but firm, "An instrument of the people.  But I am your daughter.  I am not your tool."  She felt the warm hand of her strength clasp hers and she held onto it tightly, afraid that when Hiashi spoke her resolve would break.

"Tradition states--"

"I know what it says," she interrupted.  "And when the time comes for me to rule the family, I will rule it well.  Under my own terms and with my own rules."  She gripped Naruto's hand tightly; the fight was starting to leave her.  For once she wished it was a physical battle, rather than one of wills and determination.

"Let's go."  He tugged at her hand, prepared to disappear as only a ninja could.  "Sasuke will hound me if we're late."  She nodded and allowed him to lead her away.  Once more, Neji and Naruto locked gazes.  This time it was the blonde who nodded at the Hyuga family genius.

Debt repaid.

Neji smirked at the anger and loss of control his uncle suddenly had to come to terms with.  He left just as silently as the other two.  Hiashi would never willingly change, he was sure of it.

And he was no one's tool.

* * *

He had spent the better part of three hours bragging about her to their friends.  The event had only lasted five minutes, yet he had found any and every reason to tell everyone of how she had stood up to her father. 

Ino and Sakura had just exchanged a secret smile as Hinata's blushes refused to cool.  The two young women just listened patiently the first few times, but as it became apparent that Naruto wasn't going to shut up any time soon, decided to shut him up the best way they knew how.

But even a few well placed punches and several bowls of ramen refused to do the trick.  Even Sasuke had smiled and Shikamaru refrained from muttering about how annoying and troublesome Naruto was acting.

Kiba and Shino were different though.  Akumaru had climbed in her lap as her old teammates grinned.  "Always knew you had it in you," Kiba stated.  "We were just wondering when you'd realize it."

"Naruto…he…" she blushed as she ran her fingers through the small dogs fur.  Shino placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.  He looked about ready to say something when Naruto started up again.  Kiba grinned and laughed loudly at his antics.  It was hard to believe that this loud mouth was going to be Hokage at the start of the next summer.

It wasn't until the restaurant owner threw all nine of them out that the group even thought about dispersing.  Even then it was predictable who went in what direction.  Shino and Kiba both left alone.  Ino drug Chouji away from the leftover scraps while Shikamaru followed, grumbling under his breath the entire way.  Sasuke and Sakura left to go to their home and Naruto…

Without any questions or demands, took her to his small apartment. 

It wasn't the first time she'd been there, nor even the first time she'd spent the night.  But it felt different this time.  Special.  He had just challenged her father, heck, he had been to her home and she had left with him.  He didn't talk about his feelings much, but she knew that he cared about her.  Until tonight, she had no idea how much.

Enough to challenge her father.  And until he had done it, she had been unable to even try.  Sleep did not come easy for her that night.

She laid there awake, his arm possessively over her hip, as he tucked his larger frame around her small form.  His breath was warm and even against the back of her neck.  Moving slowly so she wouldn't wake him, she took his hand and intertwined their fingers.

"I wanted to kill him."

Hinata squeaked at the low rumble that whispered to her.  Maybe she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep that night.  He pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck and held her even tighter.

"When Neji told me what he was going to do to you, I wanted to kill him.  I almost did."

"What stopped you?" she asked, her eyes drifting closed.

"I knew you'd be upset.  And when I saw you, when you stood by me, it calmed me a lot."  He brushed another kiss over her cheek and buried her face in the back of her shoulder.

"With you," he continued, "I don't feel like I'm going to rip apart into a million pieces.  I wanted to kill the bastard for daring to take that away from me."

"Neji-nii-san or Otou-sama?" she asked, just for clarification.  She felt his mouth curl into a smile.

"Either.  Both.  I wasn't real picky at the time.  I'm selfish, Hinata.  I refuse to give you up."

She managed to twist to face him, slipping her arms around his neck as she looked up at his blue eyes in confusion.  It was faintly surprising to hear him talk like this.  Naruto was only serious about a few things, the rest of the time he seemed so carefree and well, loud.  "I don't understand why."

A faint glint of red flashed through his eyes so quickly she didn't know if she had imagined it or not.  Instead he just kissed her once.

"You don't need to.  Just know that I intend to keep you for a very long time."

She smiled and then laid her head against his chest, the sleep finally starting to come.  "I think I can live with that."