Author's Note:Welcome to my NejiHina V-Day one-shot! Hehe, let me begin by saying this story is set in a High School AU, separate from all my other NejiHina stories. So…yeah.
Second of all, it's just a little one-shot for Valentine's Day. I don't really want any real criticism on it unless you just wanna give me some anyway. :) I just hope you guys like it.
And finally…some of it is in a different language. So, if you need Babel Fish for it, you should probably go ahead and load the page in another tab. ;) Or window.
Now...this story has three chapters. I'm posting the first one today. The second one will be posted tomorrow and the third one on...you guessed it. Valentine's Day. :
That's all. Happy Valentine's Day, all you NejiHina fans! This is my gift to all of us who support the kissing cousins! Take care and enjoy!
"Hinata!"
The girl jumped as her name was called, a nervous blush now covering her cheeks. Quickly, Hinata sent her wide, lavender-tinted eyes to her sensei. She blinked shyly before responding in a quiet voice.
"Y-Yes…?" she asked, hoping she wasn't in any kind of conundrum now.
The tall black-haired man gave her a look, suddenly making Hinata realize her second mistake, along with the one she didn't know of yet. With a smaller flinch of surprise, Hinata shook her head quickly, the blush reddening even more. "O-Oh, I mean… ¿Sí?"
After the words came a small set of snickers from most of the other students in the classroom. Hinata nervously looked down to the surface of her desk, wishing she hadn't been placed in the front row, where everyone could pretty much see her, and where she felt least safe. She would've done anything for the closure of the back of the classroom. But, alas, things didn't always seem to work out for the young Hyuuga female.
The classroom's teacher, Maito Gai (or…Señor Gai, as he preferred to be called), gave an annoyed look to the snickering students, silencing them before once again looking back to Hinata, giving her his familiar shiny grin.
"That's right," he said. "Now Hinata…please read número cinco for us."
Quickly, the girl looked back down to her desk, scanning the Spanish worksheet for the fifth number at his request. Finding it, she took a silent, deep breath before repeating the sentence she'd filled the word in with.
"Seré frío mañana," she read, hesitantly looking back up to her teacher as she bit her lip, hoping she'd said the sentence correctly.
Gai chuckled a little at the words. "Not quite. Almost there, though. Your sentence could work, buuut…you can't really know when you're going to be cold. You just…get cold. I was actually looking more towards the line of…'Será frío mañana' – It will be cold tomorrow."
The girl's shoulders dropping just a bit, she sadly looked down to her desk top once more. Again with the mess-ups. And by only one letter. Silently, Hinata began to wonder if she could ever get anything right in her Spanish.
"Aaaallright!" the sensei then loudly began a new announcement to the class. "As you all know…tomorrow is what?"
Gai waited for a reply, an encouraging grin upon his face. "…C'mon, now, guys, youbetter know this!"
Finally, a hand was raised, the hand belonging to the teacher's pet of the class – Rock Lee. Enthusiastically, the boy shouted out the answer to Gai's question.
"It is Día de San Valentino, señor!" he said with a grin of his own. "The day of amor!"
"He-heeeyyy!" the teacher replied, giving Lee a high five. "That's absolutely correct, Lee! ¡Estupendo!"
"Yay!" the boy grinned happily, ecstatic about the coming day. Valentine's Day washis favourite holiday, after all. It was all about youth and love! Such a wonderful day!
Giving a nod, Gai-sensei raised a finger, continuing on with his announcement. Lee quieted down immediately, letting his teacher resume.
"Yes, Valentine's Day," he said. "And…I don't want to give you guys homework on the night before that day. 'Cause I know a lot of you have preparations going on and gifts to prepare, all that good stuff. Sooo…I'm gonna give you all the time now to complete the rest of your worksheet. That sound fair?"
Not even after a second of the man's words, an echo of excited yeses was sounded through the classroom; no one would ever reject the offer of no homework, whether they prepared for Valentine's Day or not.
With that, Gai gave a nod. "Okay," he said before getting back to his desk to continue with teacher things while the students worked on their sheet.
Meanwhile, Hinata nervously looked down to her worksheet. She gave a silent sigh, wishing Gai-sensei hadn't even given them this. So many problems…problems that most of the students could easily finish before the bell to leave rang throughout the school, alerting everyone the day was done and they could all go home. But not she. Hinata would never be able to finish all this…not a chance. Especially not with her worry that she wouldn't. The girl gave a small whimper, miserably scanning the Spanish words and blanks she had to fill in. And so trapped by her misery, the Hyuuga didn't even realize she was being watched.
"…Need help?"
With a quick, surprised gasp, the Hyuuga swerved around nervously, meeting the eyes of her elder cousin. Neji blinked once, placing a hand on the girl's head.
"Relax, Hinata-sama… It's just me. I'm not going to eat you," he softly said.
Hinata's cheeks reddened at his words, making her quickly look away from him again. Neji removed his hand, leaning more over the girl's shoulder to look down at her worksheet as well. "So…do you need some help? You're not even halfway through yet… I finished mine when Gai-sensei was going over 1-5."
That was just like Neji, after all. A genius. Perfect at anything he attempted. Neji knew his Spanish better than anyone else in the room. The boy was quite a language person, after all. If the class was about remembering, he had no problems whatsoever. Finally, the shy Hinata gave a small, hesitant nod. It wasn't like Neji never helped her. He was always there when she needed him. He helped her in class and studied with her at home. But no matter how much the boy helped her…she never got any better with her Spanish. And that was what frustrated the girl the most.
Neji smiled again softly, sensing his little cousin's nervous agitation. He gave a sigh and grabbed a pencil off someone's desk (not really caring whose it was), and placed the tip of it to the next problem on Hinata's paper.
"Alright…this is future tense, right? So do you know your tenses?" he asked, looking at her questioningly.
Hinata looked away again. "U-Um…well, I…I know most of them…"
"Most of them?" the boy's eyebrows rose with the question.
She nodded slowly, meeting his eyes again. And with the meeting, Neji only continued to stare into hers. After a few seconds of the staring, Hinata bit her lip, beginning to blush again. "N-Niisan…?"
"Come on, Hinata-sama… You need to finish your worksheet, right?" he asked.
The girl gave another small nod. Neji did as he offered. Going through each of the Spanish problems, he assisted her in answering them all. The two of them were finished in about fifteen minutes; and after they'd finished, only a few minutes remained of the school day.
Hinata smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Neji-niisan… I'm sorry I always need your help so much."
"Don't apologize, Hinata-sama. I'm quite fine with helping you whenever you need it," he gave her a small smile in return before going back to his desk to get ready for the bell.
Hinata watched him for a few minutes before she began getting ready, herself. She didn't know why she was watching him…she just couldn't really help but watch him sometimes. And wonder what might be going on in his mind. She could easily see with her Byakugan what he was thinking of…but Hinata would never do that. Not to him. So all she could do was watch. And wonder. Finally, giving another shy smile, she looked away from him again, beginning to get ready, herself.
As Neji continued packing up his things, though, an ecstatic voice rang through his ear, causing him to tightly shut his eyes in surprise, wincing at the familiar sound.
"NEJI!! Aren't you so very excited??" a big grin came across his friend's face.
Neji sighed, opening his eyes to look at Lee. "Excited about what?"
Blinking in astonishment, the shiny-haired boy looked nearly heartbroken at his words. He hesitated before reminding Neji the wonderful news of tomorrow.
"Tomorrow is…Valentine's Day, Neji," he said. "The day of love and youth!! ….Aren't you excited??"
"Not really," Neji replied, standing up from his spot in the desk and putting his book bag on. He gave another sigh and walked around the desk, leaning against the wall nonchalantly as he impatiently waited for the bell to ring. "Why, is there a reason to be?"
"…Of course there is!" the boy responded. "Neji…are you upset because you have no one to snuggle with on the day of love??"
Lee's eyes widened in curiosity as he waited for an answer. Neji shook his head, wishing Lee would leave him alone at the moment.
"No, Lee. That's not at all why I'm upset… Where did you get the idea I was even upset?" he gave him a strange look.
"Because you are definitely not happy," Lee said matter-of-factly.
Sighing yet again, Neji rolled his eyes. "Well, there is a word called'indifferent'."
Lee finally decided to give up. "Okay, Neji. But do not blame it on Valentine's Day."
He turned to leave, going back to Señor Gai's desk to speak with him before the day ended. Neji, relieved by this, closed his eyes again to relax a bit, opening them again after a few seconds. He looked to the clock above the board on the other side of the room. It had to be about time for the bell to ring now. And just as those thoughts crossed the boy's mind, the bell indeed did ring. Neji left the classroom before anyone else, anxious to get home to rest and study a little more.
Hinata, on the other hand, was one of the last ones to leave. She picked up her book bag and waited for everyone else to go first, as she always did. Then, started for the door, herself. As she was almost there, though, Gai stopped her for a short moment.
"Hey! Hinata," he called.
The Hyuuga froze, turning to her teacher with a wide-eyed blink. "Yes, sir?"
"…Not everyone catches on to a new language quickly, Hinata," he gave her a smile. "Just give it some time. You're not the only one with troubles…even if all the others try to make you feel like it. Alright?"
Hinata smiled back shyly, giving him a nod. "Yes…"
"Take care, Hinata," he lastly said.
Hesitating a small moment more, the girl left the classroom to head home. She gave a sigh as she walked through the hallway, very happy that Wednesday was finally over and tomorrow was the day all students waited for (the students had Friday off this week). Hinata glanced upward as she made her way to the door of the building, letting her mind begin to wander again. Her thoughts were very quickly interrupted, though, as a certain friend of hers bombarded into them.
Hinata squeaked in surprise as the brunette came from behind with a tackle, wrapping an arm around the shy one with a cunning grin.
"Hinataaaa!" she greeted her.
Opening one of her closed eyes, Hinata let the second one open as well, blinking shyly at her friend. "T-Tenten… Hi."
The girl clicked her tongue against her two front teeth, continuing on with her words, never letting her grin dissipate.
"You totally like him, doncha?" she finally let her grin turn into a sly, knowing smile.
Hinata blinked in surprise. "W-What?"
"Don't you deny it. I saw the way you looked at him."
"L-Looked at…who?" she blinked again, very confused now. Yet she had a feeling she knew whose name Tenten was about to say…and just thinking of it caused her to begin blushing once again.
Her blush made the eager female's grin return. "You know who."
Just as Hinata knew who Tenten was speaking of, Tenten knew Hinata knew. Finally, Tenten raised an eyebrow, giving her friend the sly smile again. Hinata shook her head quickly, pushing Tenten away as her blush only became worse and worse. "No! I don't like him!"
Tenten giggled mischievously. "I know you do, Hinata. No sense hiding it now."
Again with her eyes shut tightly, Hinata gave a small whimper, slowly opening them one by one. "…He's my cousin, Tenten. I don't…like him that way. Besides…so many other girls like him…he could have anyone. Why would he want me?"
With her words, Tenten's smile became an angered stare. She lightly gave Hinata's hand a smack. "You silly, silly girl. Since when does lovemake something wrong? He's your cousin. So what? It's not like anyone can walk down the street and force themselves to love the first person they see. And it's not like anyone can forcethemselves to stop loving someone they love. Love is love, Hinata. No matter what."
Hinata couldn't help but smile at her friend's words. "No matter what."
The brunette gave a nod, crossing her arms frankly. "Good. And the second thing you said… Okay, Hinata, has Neji ever shown interest in any of the girls that like him? The whole school likes him! Believe me…I know."
Tenten honestly spoke words of knowing, too. The girl, herself, had liked Hinata's cousin for a very long time. The whole reason she'd even become Hinata's friend in the first place was simply to get close to Neji. Her plan had proved to achieve nothing, though. Even still, there wasn't a female in the school who could resist Hyuuga Neji. Everything about him was perfection. From his long, smooth, brown hair to his aloof pragmatism.
Tenten had changed since then, though. No longer did she envy Hinata for her closeness with the Hyuuga boy. Tenten had become genuine in her friendship. She'd given up her chase for Neji. There was someone else who needed him more. A painfully shy, little tulip…trying to bloom in the cold.
"And Hinata…," she continued. "He's always there for you. He always has been. Don't you think there's a reason for it all? Is he ever there for anyone else? You know…you're right. He could have anyone he wanted. Anyone in this entire school. Probably anyone in this entire country. But he doesn't want them. Neji isn't going to just choose the hottest girl. Don't you ever wonder why hedoesn't just pick somebody? Neji isn't that type of person, Hinata. He's waiting for someone who will love him for more than just being the most beautiful person alive. …He's waiting for someone like you."
The shy female's eyes were wide now. She slowly lowered them to stare at the ground, feeling her cheeks reddening more now than they had in a long time.
"…Tenten…I don't want to…prepare myself for a fantasy…and then have it never happen. I'm sorry…but I can't believe you…not yet," she quietly spoke.
Her friend blinked, looking at the shy girl for a moment before finally letting herself smile just a bit again.
"Alright. You don't have to. …But you'll see someday. I can promise you that."
---
That night, Hinata lay in her bed, looking up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling. The day had gone by fast. And almost everything had been a blur to her. She could barely believe some of it had even happened. …There was no way what Tenten said was true. How could anyone love someone like her? Especially someone like him. It was impossible.
Finally, the girl closed her eyes, rolling over onto her side as she snuggled into the covers for a night's sleep. Even with her complete doubt, she still couldn't help but wonder…
And that's all for the first chapter. :) I hope it didn't suck too bad.
Please review, guys. If I was reading something of yours, you'd want me to too.