The Last Day of the Season...

Chapter One: The Fortune

First day of Winter...December 22nd,

Lavender eyes opened slowly as light shone upon them through the window. They blinked the tiredness away from themselves as a yawn escaped from a mouth opened wide. Navy hair fell forward loosely and momentarily obsercured the view of the young kunoichi as she stood up from her bed and stretched her arms and other limbs. With the new morning, came a cool and crisp air, flowing through the ajar window, the same one that provided the young girl with sunshine. Dragging her feet slightly across the smooth wooden floors, she made her way to the window and shut it tightly. Once that was done, she rubbed her eyes and slowly started to walk towards the shower room where she would proceed to get ready for the long day ahead.

About an hour later, the same young female ninja emerged from the showers, her usual attire on that consisted of a white jacket that was always zipped up as far as it could go, a spikey fur rested at the very ends of it, the hood was never used. The Konoha ninja band rested loosely around her neck, her hair cut in a duck style with two bangs hanging down in the front, not quite reaching her shoulders. She bore navy shorts that ran well above her ankles, but below the knees and sported the normal navy ninja shoes. On her right leg, she kept her pack that contained kunai, shuriken and other things that may come in handy on missions. She sighed greatly and picked up a small, velvety, book that had a elaborately decorated pen attached to the binding. She sat at her desk and pulled out the pen, opening the little book to a blank, lined page. The lavender-eyed ninja let her pen hover over the page, but the day had just started, so nothing was to be written yet. Instead, she sufficced to write the date and leave it at that. A soft knock came to the wooden door that kept her in her room.

The young girl's head perked up and she looked to the door with a bit of a surprised expression. Closing the small book that seemed to be her diary, she stood from the desk and walked over to the door. Letting her hand hover over the knob lightly before finally opening it slowly, peeking through the crack to see who had come to her room. She spotted another lavender-eyed ninja, except this one was a male and he was about a year older than that of her, thirteen to her twelve. His hair was long and had to long strands in the front that went past his shoulders. His forehead protector, was indeed worn around his forehead and he wore a jacket that was white, as well as navy shorts. His arms and legs bore bandages and he too sported the ninja shoes. He did not seem to smile or show any emotion beside from a seriousness that made the young kunoichi uncomfortable to be in his gaze. Putting one hand to his hip, he looked at her slowly with his scanning eyes.

"Hinata, you are up very early today." he said to the young girl, his voice deep and somewhat cold. His eyes moved on to look over her room, in case something was different, but when spotting nothing, he returned his gaze back to her.

The lavender-eyed girl, whose name we now know to be Hinata, nodded slightly and brought her gaze to the floor, trying to avoid his piercing one. "Yes Neji...I-I thought that in order to extend my training time, I-I should start waking up a bit ear-earlier..." Hinata told him, somewhat fidgeting with her hands as she did often when she was nervous. Truthfully, she only wanted to end the sessions a bit earlier so she could see a certain someone...

"I see..." the young shinobi, who is called Neji, said and then folded his arms to his chest. "Well, I am sorry to disappoint you Hinata, but you see I am in no condition to help you improve yourself today, I have come down with a virus and I actually came to inform you of this before." he told her and then watched her actions with a bit of interest.

The navy-haired girl looked up to him almost excitedly and then put her head into a bow. "It is not a problem Neji, I suppose I will go around the village and perhaps train with Kiba and Shino..." she said with a low voice, knowing that in her mind, she would probably not do anything of the sort.

Neji did not say anything, he merely put up his hand in a farewell to her and then walked away silently, the boards under him making no sound. The kunoichi remained stationary for a few moments and then walked off after him, heading towards the entrance and exit of the Hyuuga mansion. Opening the door as lightly as she could, as if trying not to disturb anyone, she walked outside and into the practically empty streets of Konoha. Smiling slightly, she put her hands in her coat pockets and strolled along aimlessly, just trying to pass sometime. On her way, she passed by a little shop that she had never noticed before. It seemed to hold fortunes and even though Hinata was not too into those kind of things, her curiousity pushed her towards it. Approaching the stand, she looked to a shabby older woman who didn't look to friendly.

"Young lady...Would you like to purchase a fortune? Or perhaps...Since it is your first time here, I will provide one for you free of charge..." the older woman said towards the slightly startled kunoichi. Her voice was raspy and her hands scarred, she ran one over some scrolls that lay next to her on the ground. Her face was hidden beneath the hood of an indigo cloak, all that could be seen were strands of her long black hair. Perhaps it was due to the imagination, but her eyes seemed to have a silverish glow to them that illuminated even in the darkness of the hood.

A bit sceptacle at first, the young Hyuuga heiress was tempted to politely decline, but something was ever urging her to accept the offer. She relaxed herself and gave a small smile. "Please, that would be lovely ma'am." she said in a quiet voice, bowing her head to the seemingly older woman.

The older woman smirked under the cover of her cloak. "Wonderful..." the lady said and then ran her hand over a stack of the fortunes as if determining something. A few moments passed and then she finally snatched one up, holding it under her face. "This one seems to suit you my dear..." she said and then outstretched her hand to offer the scroll to Hinata. She felt her cloak slipping and pulled the indigo material tightly to cover her still.

The lavender-eyed girl looked to the tightly wrapped scroll with a wary eye, but accepted it, taking it gently from the woman. She slowly unraveled it and read its contents;

By the end of the season that you are currently in, your heart's most desired desire will come to be. If it is love that your heart most desires, the chance of this happening is almost guarenteed...

It was short and simple, but Hinata felt her cheeks get hot and a small flutter come to her chest. "Could it mean...Naruto? I-It can't be...These things do not really predict the future! Or do they...?" the young kunoichi thought to herself, her breath practically caught in her chest as she struggled with some conflicting thoughts and beliefs. She rolled up the scroll and then looked to the woman again, who was watching her intently with a small smirk playing across her lips. Hinata's breathing was regulating again and she managed to speak. "I-I thank you for the fortune...Good day to you then." the Hyuuga girl said and bowed her head again, starting to leave the stand.

"Wait, if you are unsatisfied and that fortune doesn't come true for you...Come look for me...Though I am sure you won't be disappointed...I've never had an unsatisfied customer yet..." the woman said and waited until Hinata turned around to pull down her cloak's hood to reveal her facial features. She was actually quite young looking, about in her twenties one would guess. She hand long, flowing, jet black hair that fell in strands loosely over her shoulder and down to her waist about. Her eyes were indeed silver in color and had a strange glow to them. All in all, she was attractive in the least and the young Hyuuga girl was quite surprised as she gave off the impression of being an older woman. The woman gave her a kind smile with her eyes closed and then waved a hand towards her. "Good day to you too then..." she said in a soft voice, much unlike the raspy one she sported earlier.

Hinata was surprised. "She can't be serious can she? These things can't come true...They are just made up fortunes for people to buy...Aren't they?" she thought to herself perplexed. She couldn't focus, it was too early for this stress on her mind. She managed to bring herself to a nod and then pocketed the scroll, walking once again without a purpose in the still Konoha streets. The woman watched her walk away until she turned a corner and then brought her hood back up to conceal her identity once again. "That young kunoichi has a good thing in her future..." she said and smirked, fingering some of the scrolls beside her absentmindedly. It would be hours later until Hinata would bring herself to focus again, and it was late in the night.

The young Hyuuga heiress sat at her desk, the yellow book sprawled out in front of her, her pen to the paper, writing neatly, but quickly.

December 22nd,

I cannot believe what has happened today. This morning, I decided to awake early as to have more time later on to do other things than train. Instead, Neji, who is hardly ill, happened to come down with a virus. Training was not to be done today, so I went on a stroll throughout early morning Konoha. While walking, I came upon a stand that curiously piqued my interest. Approaching it for a closer look, I found some scrolls with fortunes written upon them. What appeared to be an older woman cloaked in disguise sat on the ground behind the stand, next to a large stack of fortunes. She offered me a free scroll, so I accepted the offer and what I read shocked me a bit. It told me that I would have my heart's desire by the end of the season, which is a long time away, as Winter has just begun. Surely, I knew that this could not be fact, pieces of parchment cannot predict someone's next events. She assured me though, that it would come true, and if it didn't, I should come and find her. After saying that, she revealed to me her identity, and she was quite beautiful and young despite my assumptions of her being an older lady. Perplexed and confused, as I still partially am, I left there and proceeded with a otherwise uneventful day. I do hope though, that this fortune will indeed come true...My heart's desire is...him

Goodnight,

Hyuuga Hinata

Hinata looked over her work and then smiled somewhat, yawning tiredly and then closing the little yellow diary, heading over to her bed and falling to sleep peacefully...