Chapter 1

She stepped out of the grand building and out into the rain, her long indigo hair and gorgeous red satin gown clinging to her body as she called up a taxi.

"Where to miss?" The driver asked, turning around in an awkward position so he could see the passenger.

"632 Howe avenue, please." The driver gave a nod and a grunt before speeding down the slick road, splashing water in every direction. The passenger put her arm on the armrest and stared out the rain splattered window with her head cupped in her hand. How many times had she reserved the front seat for him? And how many times had he stood her up? Too many.

"Here you go miss." The driver motioned to the large townhouse that stood before them. She gave a grateful nod and handed the man a twenty dollar bill, "Keep the change." The driver gave a large grin and a shrug of the shoulders before once again speeding off down the road, soaking the young woman even more thoroughly. She sighed took a small key out of her purse, maybe he didn't forget, maybe he was getting her flowers and--

"NO! LET ME SEE THAT! CHEATER!!"

Or not. She walked into the foyer and threw her purse on the nearest chair, cursing her faith in the man she loved.

"Huh? Who's that?" A blond head stuck out from the doorway that led to the kitchen. Suddenly a huge grin spread across the boyish features of his face, "Hinata!" He ran over and wrapped his arms around her and led her to the kitchen where a poker game seemed to be taking place. "Guys, say hi!"

The men at the table looked up and gave grins and waves to Hinata who was standing in the hyper blonde's embrace. "Hey! Hinata! How's it going?" Hinata gave a weak grin to the young men who all were sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by poker chips and cards (Except for Choji who was surrounded by bags of chips) then promptly pushed the blond off of her and stormed out of the kitchen to the bedroom where she dropped herself onto the plush king sized bed.

"Hinata? Honey? What's wrong?" The blond popped up again, concern emanating from his cerulean blue eyes.

"Go away, Naruto." came the muffled demand from Hinata, who had her head buried in a pillow. Naruto frowned, then walked over and started stroking her indigo hair that was starting to frizz. "Come on Hinata, tell me, what's wrong?"

Hinata surprised him by shooting her head up from the pillow and staring him down with pale, angry lavender eyes, "What's wrong? You don't know? Think! What was tonight supposed to be?"

Naruto gave her a confused look, then stared at her nearly ruined satin dress, a look of realization dawning on his paling face, "Oh shit."

That was the last straw, all the unshed tears that she had been holding back suddenly burst out, "'Oh shit.' That's all you have to say? This isn't the first time you've forgotten about my recitals either!" she sobbed, flinging the pillow at his chest, "Every time, I reserve you a spot right at the front, and every time, you never show!" By now she was flinging every object that she could lay her hands on at poor Naruto who had a look of horror on his face.

"B-but you already play piano so well at home, I-I like the songs that you play at home more because, because it seems so much more intimate." Naruto tried to tell her soothingly, but ended up sounding just plain pitiful.

Hinata ceased her firing and asked, "Okay then, name one song that I've played." Naruto gave her a questioning look before stuttering, "Uh…uhm…er…Y-Yankee Doodle?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed and she hissed at him, "Wrong. I've never, ever, ever played that song." Her eyes started to stream with tears again, "God. Why couldn't you be there just this time? I told you that the talent scout would be there, to see if I could have broken off from the orchestra to go solo." With that last regretful statement, she burst past a stunned Naruto and out of the bedroom, trying to avoid tripping over Gaara, Shino, Choji, Kiba and his dog, Akamaru, who had their ears pressed to the door, eavesdropping on Naruto and Hinata's conversation.

Naruto came out of the room looking frazzled and disbelieving, "What just happened? She wasn't ever like this before." Kiba gave Naruto a dirty look, "That's because she's been holding it in for so long you idiot!" Kiba grabbed Shino's wrist and began dragging him in the direction that Hinata had left "Let's go find her."

"W-wait! Maybe I should go." Everybody turned to stare at Naruto who had finally recovered from the initial shock of his wife's outburst.

"Wow. You're even more stupid than I thought Naruto." Kiba snarled at him, how dare his best friend hurt poor Hinata like that? The only girl in the world he thought more of as a little sister than anything else.

"He's right. You're the one who brought this on her, I doubt it would be a good idea to speak with her." Everyone turned to Gaara who had been leaning against the wall and had not said a word until now.

"But I just wanna apologize!" Naruto shouted, man, was he ever upset, not only did his wife turn totally psycho on him, but now his friends were blaming him for it too.

"Look, I know Hinata has been tolerant in the past, but I doubt this time she'll forgive you." With that, Kiba ran out of the room dragging Shino along with Akamaru who was following behind barking madly.

By now, Kiba and Shino had run outside the townhouse and were now shouting Hinata's name into the empty streets, thoroughly soaking themselves. Well, mostly Kiba, Shino was under the shelter of a large tree examining some footprints.

"She went that way." Shino pointed to across the street where a large playground stood. Kiba jumped up and ran to the playground searching and still yelling himself hoarse. Finally he grabbed Akamaru and asked, "Where is she, buddy?"

Akamaru sniffed the air and leaped out of Kiba's arms to the structure where the slide was and disappeared underneath it. Shino and Kiba quickly followed suit and found Hinata curled up in a corner sobbing into her arms with Akamaru whining and trying to rub up against her, much like a cat.

"Hinata,?Kiba whispered in what he hoped to be a soothing voice. Hinata peeked out from her arms, hastily tried rubbing away her tears and gave a huge fake smile, "H-hey guys."

Kiba frowned, "Hinata, it's okay to be upset, Naruto was a jerk to do what he did." Hinata gave a appreciative smile but shook her head, "No, I've cried to much as it is, it just hurts, you know?" Kiba gave a small nod, he did know. Before, he had always liked Hinata, his childhood friend, but never had the courage to confess to her, then one day Naruto had professed his love to her and she immediately took up his offer. Kiba felt bitter to his best friend, Naruto, but soon found his feelings for Hinata were more of protection and friendship than love.

"I-I think I still love him, I always will, but I don't want to be hurt anymore." Hinata stared down at the ground under her in misery. Suddenly she asked, Shino, you're a lawyer, right?"

Kiba twisted his head to look at the enigmatic man that was crouched behind them, he forgot that he was here. Shino perked an eyebrow and nodded, "Yes."

"Good. Because I-I want a divorce."

Kiba and Shino gaped (Well, you couldn't really tell for Shino because of his high collar) at Hinata who was fiddling with her long hair, attempting to smooth it and prevent it from frizzing again. Shino was the first one that recovered, Are you sure you want that? You could just, I don't know, take a break."

Hinata shook her head sorrowfully, "I-I'm certain, we've tried taking breaks before, and-and he always seems to hurt me each time I come back.?

"Fine. But it'll take a few weeks to get everything all filed out."

Kiba whipped around, earning him a large bump on the head and growled, "What? You're gonna just let her divorce him?" Shino's eyes narrowed from underneath his ever present sunglasses, "What? You want her to keep hurting like this? It's obvious she's made up her mind anyways."

Hinata almost started crying again, this meant so much to her that Shino and Kiba cared for her so much. Shino was always so solemn, but seeing him be so caring towards her, really touched her.

"Th-thanks guys." She whispered softly, looked up at them with her pale eyes and wrapped her arms around them, pulling them into a tight hug. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

Kiba grinned and also wrapped his arms around her, "Oh, no problem. But, just out of curiosity, where're you gonna stay? Do you need to stay with one of us?" Hinata unlatched herself from them and shook her head, "No, Tenten owes me a favour anyways, I'm sure she'll be willing to let me stay with her and Neji for a while."

Kiba beamed and patted her head, "That a girl, go show Naruto that you're stronger than that." Hinata grinned up at the two men that crouched before her, what would she do without them?

----------------------------------------------------------

"Here, stop here." Hinata pointed at the majestic mansion that was at least ten times the size of her own large townhouse. Kiba leaned across her and gazed out of her window, whistling lowly, "Geez, did you have to give up the job as Hyuuga heiress? We totally could have played poker in one of the million games rooms."

Hinata gave out a light laugh, "Nah, Neji's doing a much better job as leader of the company than I ever could've been." She unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped of the black Mercedes and turned back to him, "Thanks, tell Shino I said so too." Kiba gave her a salute then sped off at an amazingly rapid speed. Hinata shook her head, he never learned, every time he got a car he sped at frighteningly fast speeds and occasionally crashed it, never earning a single scratch himself.

She walked up to the iron gate that stood before them and pressed the intercom button, "Hey, Katsuya! It's me." She grinned up at the security camera.

"Who? Hinata! I haven't seen your pretty face around here for a while!" A fuzzy voice crackled over the intercom, "It's great seeing you! I haven't talked to a friendly face for the longest time."

Hinata cocked her head to the side, "What? Didn't Tenten always come visit you and bring you food?"

"Hah! I wish! She's gotten all cranky now that she's pregnant."

Hinata gasped, "Pregnant?" When did this happen? And why wasn't she told?

"Oh! Um…you weren't supposed to hear that! Oh crap! She's gonna kill me!" Katsuya cried pitifully over the intercom, "Don't tell her I said that, okay?"

Hinata laughed and nodded, "Alright, alright, just let me in." The gate opened to the long lane that led all the way to the front of the manor.

"By the way, why are you here so late anyways? You look terrible. Ah! I-I mean, uh, y-you look like you've been beat up or something! I have a bunch of buddies that could go beat up those thugs pounded you or something!" Katsuya's voice crackled one last time through the intercom before Hinata started walking down the narrow road and waved behind her to the security camera muttering to herself under her breath, "I wish, I wish."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the long walk from the gate to the end of the driveway that took approximately three minutes, Hinata took out the key that was hidden in the garden under a large stone that was concealed by a rosy cheeked garden gnome and unlocked the door to let herself in. The moment she took a step in she inhaled the deep scent of…tradition.

The marble floor was the same original one from the previous owners, the large staircase had the same beautifully carved railing that had been in the house one hundred years before (at least according to the slimy realtor that sold the house to them). She looked over to her left where a large tapestry that held a single intricately designed bird held within a large cage. Hinata smiled, Neji hated the main and the cadet branch, yet he still held onto his grandfather's tapestry probably for sentimental values and tradition.

Suddenly Hinata heard a tiny creak and ducked on reflex, just in time to dodge the golf club that came swinging just inches above her head.

"Take that thief!" The angry voice of a young woman who had less than three hours of sleep sounded through Hinata's ears.

"Tenten?" The young woman gave Hinata a startled look before dropping her "weapon" and running over to give the other startled young woman a hug.

"Hinata!" Tenten removed herself from Hinata and placed her hands firmly on Hinata's shoulders and gasped, "What happened to you! You look like you've been to hell and back!"

Hinata gave her a rueful smile and said, "I guess you could say that." And with that, the whole story came spilling out with a new flood of tears, Tenten patting her on the back and whispering comforting words to the poor distraught woman. Hinata wrapped her arms around her around Tenten and sobbed even harder, somehow, crying to a fellow female made things feel slightly better.

"Let go of my wife, you lecher." A sharp point was felt at the back of Hinata's neck as she still clutched tightly to Tenten.

A smile crept onto her face as she said, "Calm down Neji, I'm not molesting your wife." The sharp point at her neck dropped to the marble floor with a clatter.

"Hinata-sama?" Neji eyes widened in shock, turning to Hinata he placed his hands on her shoulders in a tight grip, "What are you doing here so late? And why are you dressed like you just came from--mmph!" Tenten had clamped her hand down on her husband's mouth and dragged him into the living room opposite of the foyer, slamming the sliding glass door shut. Hinata could only see Neji's back, but could see Tenten well enough to see her hissing angrily at her life-long companion.

A minute later, Neji burst through the glass doors, murder in his eyes, "Where is he? That bastard, how dare he do that? I'll kill him. No. I'll burn him and his stupid orange track suits and then I'll kill hi---" Neji seethed angrily, venting his anger on a poor fern in the corner, but was silenced by Hinata's small hand on his shoulder.

"Neji, I appreciate you concern, really, I do, but I think your taking it a bit far." She gave an earnest smile then sighed, "You and Kiba really have to find different ways to vent your anger, you guys are way too violent."

Neji gave a reluctant sigh and walked over to his wife to place his arm around her shoulder, Is there any way we can help?"

"Well, I was hoping you might be able to let me stay here. Just for a while though! Just until I get a place of my own." Hinata mumbled while staring at her suddenly fascinating nails.

"Of course, stay as long as you want, I miss the company of another woman." Tenten grinned, and took Hinata's hand, "Come on, which guest bedroom would you like?"

Hehe…made the main character the "bad guy", always wanted to do that. But anyways, hope you like it.

Ciao!

MissLe