Hello my faithful readers! Life hit me hard over the past 2 months with my godfather passing and the funeral afterwards. Then I caught writer's block on ALL of my stories, so that was another setback. Don't try to take my word for this, but I will try to update as many stories as I can every 2 weeks to satisfy everyone, including myself. Please enjoy, read, and leave me a review. And Disclaimers shall always remain the same!
The next Morning (29 days before the wedding)
She was feeling it in her heart… The steady thumping that was being drenched with the feeling of fear. Every time she closed her eyes, she could still see those scary, yet beautiful crimson eyes of his. Should she forever fear her fiancée, or should she jump in the hurricane that is Naruto? Should she treasure the fact that she was possibly the only one out of her and her sister that saw a glimpse of the Kyuubi and what his aura alone is capable of, or should she warn Hanabi of the dangers that she's getting herself into? The questions, along with various wild dreams of a Naruto cloaked in Kyuubi's chakras battling his normal self, kept her up through the night. As she watched the sunrise through her window, she thought about how life with Naruto would be like, with and without her sister in it. Without Hanabi, she could have him, both versions of him all to herself. Wake up with him, sleep with him, have him show that Kyuubi side when he's fighting to save her. With Hanabi in the picture… Arguments. Constant arguments with her over time they spend with Naruto. No privacy for them…
"It's not fair!" Tears slid down her face, landing on her sheets as the thoughts of a life with Hanabi involved with them continued to flood her mind. It seemed that the closer she got to Naruto, the further he would be from her. The tears flowed as she wiped her eyes with her sheets. "Why couldn't we be happy together? Why did Hanabi mess things up for us?" She dried up most of the tears, and a sudden thought hit her: Since this whole mess started, she had been thinking selfishly about the situation. Anybody that wanted someone would think selfishly about the person they were obsessed with, but she had been thinking of it as if she had already asked him to be hers, then he acted like a dog and cheated on her, making things much worse. How would she have been if this didn't happen at all? More than likely, Naruto wouldn't be any different to most of her feelings for him. It would've taken something major to get him to notice her… "Then again, this is that major event." She got out of bed and noticed it was still cool from last night, so she slid her houseshoes and a waking robe on and went to get something to eat since doing any real kind of sleeping was out of the question.
She walked briskly towards the kitchen, hoping something could at least ease her mind for a while before she had to deal with anything else unexpected. When she finally made it in there, she saw her sister sitting in the kitchen, eating on a bowl of Apple Jacks and lazily watching some cartoon on the tv.
"So much for easing my mind."
She unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair, and realized how silly it seemed to be straightening up this early with nothing to do and nobody to impress. Hanabi's hair was just as disheveled as her own, and neither one looked like they cared to impress the "gemstone of their eye" at 6 in the morning. Hinata went to one of the cabinets and grabbed the box of Frosted Flakes, holding onto it for a bit knowing that the Apple Jacks her sister was eating on would be nearly empty. She really hated that horrible habit of her sister's, leaving an almost empty box of cereal in the cabinet when she could simply eat the rest of the box, and throw it away. She would rather not find the box of cereal in the cabinet, than to have her hopes up for one cereal, then have to unexpectedly mix 2 cereals because she was fooled into thinking there was a lot more of one. This morning, Hanabi happened to be eating the Apple Jacks. The Apple Jacks that Hinata loved to have on these kinds of mornings when sleep abruptly waved her farewell for the day.
"Why?" When Hinata spoke that word, though whispered, Hanabi turned her attention to her sister and stared at the back of her head. Hinata took the Frosted Flakes out of the cabinet and turned to see the same eyes she had looking right back at her.
"Why what?" asked Hanabi.
"Why did you have to start this mess?"
"What mess? There's Apple Jacks in there." Hinata's eyes narrowed a bit at her sister before she went to another cabinet and grabbed a bowl out of there. She set the bowl down and started pouring the Frosted Flakes in it.
"The whole thing with Naruto." She went to the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk. She silently thanked Kami that it was enough milk for possibly two bowls of cereal. She poured the milk on her cereal before putting it back in the fridge. "You barely even knew about him before a few days ago. You really don't know anything about him now. Why do you even like him? What is it about him that caught your attention? Tell me anything!"
"I like him." Silence filled the kitchen except for the cartoon.
"What do you like about him?" Hinata grabbed a spoon and started eating her cereal.
"Him." Hinata sighed and shook her head. This obviously wasn't going to get anywhere. She continued to eat on her cereal and watch the cartoon. She had to admit, cartoons were becoming dumber each day.
"What is it that you like about Naruto?" Hinata glanced over towards her sister to see if she was paying her more attention, or the tv.
"He's unique." Hanabi took another spoonful of cereal in her mouth.
"And?"
"And he's Naruto." Hanabi said through the food in her mouth. Hinata could feel the anger going through her body. For a 15 year old, she was acting more and more childish about this, especially when she was playing with the delicate subject matter of "her" Naruto. She liked how that went through her mind. "Her Naruto."
"Could you please give me a straight answer!"
"No!"
"Why not? Why can't you give me a straight answer!"
"Because…"
"Because?" Her voice was getting strained, and it was too early in the morning for something like that to be happening. "Because you don't know why you like him, except to make me jealous, is that right?" Hanabi stayed silent and tried to ignore her sister by watching the cartoon. "You have no connection with him. You know absolutely nothing about him. You don't know of the struggles he went through when he was younger. You weren't even born when I witnessed the troubles he went through because of…" Hinata almost forgot that the Kyuubi was an S-Class secret. She found out about it a few years ago, when she overheard some villagers talking about Naruto. She put the pieces of the puzzle together, the whispers whenever Naruto would pass by or complete a mission, Naruto's amazing chakra capacities, and what was told to her about the Sand invasion. She confirmed it with the Hokage, and was told to keep it a secret, or be executed if it were to be publicly spoken.
"I don't like him… I love him! I'm madly in love with him!" Hinata just couldn't take it anymore. Something inside her snapped and she threw the rest of her cereal and milk on Hanabi. She shrieked in surprise when it happened and stood ready to fight Hinata.
"Answer me! What the hell is it that you like about Naruto! I've been asking you, and asking you for the past few minutes. You're 15, answer me like you're 15!" Hanabi thrust her palm at her sister, chakra active and brimming within it. Her sister countered her palm strike with one of her own. "Fighting me is not the way to answer like a 15 year old."
"Does it matter?" She thrust again, only to be blocked as skillfully as the first time. "You threw your cereal on me like an 8 year old, so I'm 'answering' you like a responsible 15 year old should." They continued to throw strikes at each other for the next few minutes, each one trying to outdo the other. Hiashi walked into the kitchen and saw his daughters competing against each other.
"Love, such a powerful thing." He chuckled as he looked on at his girls giving their all in their fight. "I guess it's time to put a stop to this." He activated his Byakugan and whistled loudly. The girls each stopped before they would've been struck in the chest by each other's attack. "It's too early in the morning to have a spat over who loves Naruto more."
"Father! Hanabi doesn't love Naruto the way…" Hinata started blushing when she said that. "The way… I do… I want to know what she sees in him, and she won't answer me."
"Hinata, you should know by now that arranged marriages don't have to involve love. She found someone attractive that she has an interest in, so the potential to form a loving connection will come later. If not, then they can have children for the growth of both clans and she will be his provider of children."
"But she could still get with Neji, like you had once proposed, for the improvement of our clan."
"Out of the question. She chose Naruto as her suitor, and Naruto chose you." Hiashi felt his heart drop a little when he saw the unconscious hanging of Hinata's jaw. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing that can be done about it. Now, could you two please try to keep it civil? We don't need either of you hospitalized in critical condition before the wedding." He walked out of the kitchen slowly, keeping an eye on the two through his Byakugan. "Oh, and Hinata, keep it down. You've gotten so angry that your voice has almost gone out from the yelling you've been doing." When he exited, Hinata did a long hard stare at her sister, which was returned with an equal force by Hanabi. The two continued to stare at each other for a while, until Hanabi stuck her tongue out at Hinata.
"Naruto and I are gonna be a happy couple, and there's nothing that Ms. Old Hag Hinata can do about it." Hanabi stuck her tongue out again and laughed.
"If I could, I'd rip your tongue out and shove it right down your throat!" Hinata's hoarse voice made her sound a little ferocious towards her sister.
"I'm shaking Hinata," Hanabi shivered a little bit after the comment. "And it's not from the morning air. Big sis, you wouldn't harm a fly or a flea. Do you really think you'd do something like that to little old me?"
"What you don't know could really get you killed in the long run."
"But what I do know, is all of the 'Ruuh Ruuh Ruuh' that you're spewing over there is getting really annoying. So please leave it alone until you're able to speak properly to me. Is that ok for you big sister?" She took her bowl of cereal and drank the last bit of milk and cereal out of it before putting it in the sink. "Remember, no speaking about Naruto until you sound better, not like you're barking at me." She quickly left the kitchen, leaving Hinata fuming with anger.
"She keeps dodging the question. She doesn't have a clear reason why she likes him." Hinata's left hand smacked the table hard before she bent down and picked up her bowl and spoon off the floor.
"Do you enjoy talking to yourself?" Neji's voice scared her, making her drop the bowl and spoon back onto the floor.
"I'm sure I'm not the only one that does it." Hinata picked the items up again and put them in the sink. "Why are you in here so early?"
"Training with Lee." Hinata turned and noticed that Neji was fully dressed and equipped for training. "Why are you hoarse so early?"
"Yelling at Hanabi. You and I both know that she doesn't have concrete feelings for Naruto, and she doesn't have an answer to why she likes him."
"And it concerns you for what reason?"
"Because I'm the other party in this! Hanabi's not the only one marrying Naruto, I am as well, and I'm trying to get a straight answer about her feelings for him out of her."
"And it concerns you for what reason?" Hinata hated that about Neji, and it was one of the annoying factors that had become attached to this already annoying day. Whenever Neji had to repeat something to someone who wasn't on a mission with him, or the Hokage, it meant that the person knew the answer already to their situation.
"I think I get what you want me to know. 'It's up to Hanabi to come up with reasons of her own that have a justifiable fit to her actions,' right?"
"Right. Hanabi will have a good reasoning for whatever feelings she's feeling towards him soon. It's up to you to be patient for right now and wait for her to break from the pressure. What you need to do is rest, because we don't need you to sound like Kakashi's dogs every time you speak to someone for the rest of this day." He looked at a clock and sighed loudly. "I've got to go. Knowing Lee, he's been at the grounds for about an hour. See you later." Neji left the kitchen just about as stealthily as he came in it. Hinata sighed and let the conversation linger in her head.
"When the time comes, she'll come up with her own reasons for liking him." Another quick thought hit her suddenly. "In the meantime, I think I'll rest today by spending it with Naruto, so we can get to know each other better, and I can show him why I love him! Hinata, you're a genius!" She ran to her room to get ready for Operation Smother Naruto With Love.