Usual disclaimers apply.

Dedicated to valeria146012, this is as far as the IM blabbers could go… sorry it’s not GaaHina or ShikaHina.

Edited and revised. (10/27/07)

Smile Painted Mask

Part 1 of 2

--

Rain fell like a slender thread scattered by the wind. Hinata couldn’t move, couldn’t cry, and could only lie there listlessly with her cheek against the muddy puddle.

She couldn’t feel it anymore, the cold stung of raindrops which fell endlessly upon her. Her whole body was numb; weariness had caught off with her.

“Daughter… you fail to prove yourself worthy as the successor of Hyuuga clan leader. Your sister shall take your place instead. Therefore, you shall bear the Juin Seal and move to the Branch House. The council has spoken…”

The same stoic and emotionless words kept haunting her over and over. As if not believing in the occurring event she had foreseen, Hinata actually let herself drown in her training and used up all her chakra to the last bit, barely enough to keep her awake.

Suddenly, there were swishing sounds of steps crushing the wet grasses of the training ground. She tried to look up, but even with her Byakugan eyes which served her to exceed any mere human sight even in its inactive state, she only could caught a blur image of someone towering over her.

The stranger was sheltering himself with an umbrella, making the raindrops drummed at its surface. Two legs were settled before her eyes, a male, she could tell. He squatted himself as she lifted her head slightly to get a better view of him. He stared back at her with slightly stunned expression in his black eyes.

She winced when he leaned to touch her shoulder.

“Are you all right?”

“…I don’t… want… to go home,” she muttered meekly. “P-please, leave me alone…”

He bent his head down to her, curiosity filled his eyes. “Can’t you move?”

She tried to bring herself to rise. A Hyuuga or not, she didn’t want anyone to address her as a weakling anymore. But much to her dismay her effort was futile, for all her energy was drained. He stuck out his arm to catch her, preventing her to fall flat to the muddy surface once again.

Almost imperceptibly, the young woman’s features suddenly tightened though her body still hung limply over him. “L-leave… me…”

“Well,” the young man closed his umbrella, letting the raindrops adorn his raven hair like jewels and drenched him soon after. “Do your best. My house isn’t far from here,” he said as he hung the umbrella by his hand whilst the other one still supporting her.

She blinked several time, but let her guard down as soon as he encircled his arm over her. Leaning to a strong arm which she would have imagined, they made their way to the small apartment block. That was the last thing she remembered.

--

Many times she had the sense of opening her eyes, though she could not grasp what she was looking at or recalled what she had seen. She alternated between the periods of deep sleep and light sleep. Once her consciousness had return for good, she found herself lying on the bed.

Hinata stared blankly at the ceiling and sat up quickly when sudden realization hit her a moment later. There was no one else in the small room. She jumped out of the bed and collapsed to the ground, dragged half of the cover to with her, her vision still spinning. As her bare rear touched the cold floor, she realized that she was naked.

She desperately searched around the bed and scanned the room. There weren’t much in the way of furniture in the small room, except one desk beside the bed. But still, scattered pieces of papers, wedges, stack of canvasses, and other various objects cramped the room. On the desk were her neatly folded attire and more scattered parchments.

With a profound sense of relief she managed to stand up. She reached her clothes, it was slightly damp. She slipped in her clothes nervously, zipping her oversized jacket until the collar reach her chin. She placed her hitai-ate around her neck and a weapon holster circled her tight.

At this point she had gained her composure back, as well as her temporally forgotten 19 years old life span memories. She remembered the council meeting which was held the day before, how her father had announce her demote, she was now a member of the Hyuuga Branch House, minus the Juin Seal which would be carved upon her forehead in no less than two month.

In the verge of unspoken frustration she let out all her anguish by squeezing up her chakra and stamina, she had somehow found a consolation through hours of training session.

She didn’t realize it before, but there were this stubborn scent of paint and varnish tickling her nostril, breaking away her train of thought. She looked around the room again, now taking her time to scan through various paintings and sketches which littered the room.

Landscapes, photographs, pencil sketches, and Japanese traditional paintings, all were showing off the artist’s skill.

One particular sketch managed to catch her attention. A warm sensation crept up her cheeks, it was her. He drew her, naked, with only a sheet covered her front. Serenity and elegance, those were the words she could only think of to describe the drawing. Her eyes were closed, leaning to her side with her long raven hair cascaded like a waterfall through her exposed shoulder blade and her arched back. He depicted her being so graceful, and sadly, so unlike herself.

She somehow had a hunch she knew the artist, and it was proven when she opened the door and stepped out from the room. There, at what she reckoned as a small dining table with only two seats, he sat there with his head propped down by his folded arms, sleeping soundly.

This space, unlike his room was tidier and neat. No splattered paint at the floor, and it was decorated in wooden furniture. She glanced at the clock; it was 5 in the morning. She knew she had to get home, before someone found her room empty.

She folded the paper which her slumbering form was etched on it and slipped it to her pouch. She left him a note, with the words ‘thank you’ in it. And with that, she stepped out from his apartment and headed back to the Hyuuga compound which was fortunately not too far from her current position.

Hinata couldn’t help but blushing when she imagined how her next encounter with the ex-Roots ANBU would be filled with awkwardness.

--

“Hinata-sama.”

She was halted from her trek to descend the stair which headed to the service area of the household when a familiar voice addressed her from behind. She turned around to find the ever so similar yet different pupil-less gaze.

“Nii-san, please don’t call me t-that again, you know it is unnecessary now,” she smiled at him, with the slightness hint of nervousness in her voice.

Neji shifted his weight uncomfortably; facing her cheerful façade was a hard thing for him. “No. Hinata-sama, are you all right? You’re not home last night, weren’t you?”

“I’m okay,” she exclaimed softly, almost too cheerful at the same time. “I went out to train.”

Neji sighed audibly as he brought her hand to touch his cousin’s shoulder. “Hinata-sama,” he muttered her name as if it was word of consolation.

She smiled faintly as she covered his hand which still resting at her shoulder and looked up to see him right into his eyes. There was something in his eyes, a pity or perhaps an understanding. She can’t decide.

“Nii-san… it’s okay,” she said reassuringly.

--

Later in the afternoon, when she walked to the ramen bar to meet up with her teammates, Hinata unexpectedly met the familiar face again for the second time that day. He was in his usual black shinobi attire which showing off his mid-riff to the daily sun. Seeing the exposed skin made Hinata’s face heated up by a notch though few hundreds meters away he was. And she couldn’t help but feeling embarrassed for being so improper to let a man saw her naked form.

He noticed Hinata before she decided to turn back and took another road. He waved and smiled at her, closing the distance by several stride of his long legs.

“U-um… Good afternoon, Sai-san,” Hinata bowed low to acknowledge him and to hide the creeping blush.

“So, I see that you’re alright.” And so he said.

“Y-yes, thank you very much for taking care of me.” Hinata bowed low still.

“Don’t mention it. I’m sure he will do the same too,” Sai let out casually.

Hinata carefully up-righted herself and wondered who he was referring to. She had an idea, though not feeling as bold to ask. "R-right," she stuttered out.

Several seconds passed with either of them did not know what to talk about. It was very awkward, until--to her relieve--Sai decided to make his excuse.

“Well, see you around then Hinata-chan.” He smiled and bid her farewell.

“O-okay,” Hinata didn’t fail to notice that his smile never quite reached the beautiful black eyes.

--

“Hinata, are you okay?”

She glanced over her younger sister, and gave Hanabi a smile almost instantly when she saw a tad of sad gleam in her eyes. She raised her hand and stoke her sister’s hair, a gesture which always made Hanabi winched, but this time her younger sister didn’t shove her hand.

“I’m fine, Hanabi-chan,” she said in a gentle tone.

That night, she had moved to the Branch House, and was currently moving her things to her new room. Hanabi offered her a helping hand and she received. Hinata thought maybe it was the last time for them to act like a normal sister. She knew once Hanabi ascended as a heiress, the formality wouldn’t be left forgotten.

She placed her belongings around her new room, arranged them in precise position as her old room were with the exception of the space which was only half a quarter of her old one.

“Is that all?” Hanabi asked her sister in half disbelieve.

Hinata couldn’t help but nodded meekly in reply. “Y-yes, that’s all. Thanks for your help Hanabi-chan.”

Hanabi gave her sister a shrug. “No probs. It only took us one way to get all your things moved. It seems I’m not the only practical one here.”

“Uh-… I-I guess you’re right,” Hinata said. Like the most other Hyuuga, Hinata too had a practical side in her. All the things and furniture she possessed wouldn’t be there unless they had their use. Thus, the utterly small amount of personal things she had.

“Oh,” speaking of personal things, Hinata suddenly remembered something. She fussed with her jacket for a while, searching tentatively in the both pocket until her hand took out a piece of folded paper. She then unfolded the paper and smoothed it with her palm. The paper was a bit crumpled due to her activity throughout the day, but the picture still possessed the same air of elegance.

Hanabi stared at her sister questioningly. “What do you have there?” she asked.

Hinata felt a faint blush colored her cheeks. She quickly refolded the paper before Hanabi beat her to it and snatched the paper away. Hinata never match her sibling in agility, she felt a bit self conscious at that. She pinned the sketch she got at the wall above her bed, taking her time to adore the graceful art once again.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful,” Hanabi stated, despite her sister’s complaints.

:”P-please,” Hinata pleaded, desperately suppressing her rising embarrassment to no avail.

“Of course I won’t!” Hanabi said. “I wish I have someone who would draw my bare back this nice for me,” she added almost like an afterthought, with a hint of mischief.

“No, Hanabi-chan. G-give it back,” Hinata was frustrated already.

Hanabi once again glanced over her sister and smiled. “I will, if you tell me who drew this for you and whether it has something to do with your disappearance last night.” And so she said.

“E-eh?” Hinata blushed madly in shock and embarrassment.

“Caught off guard aren’t you,” Hanabi grinned wickedly. Hanabi always loved to tease his sister, that way she could washed away the gloomy look on Hinata and replaced it with a funny expression like this, at least for a little while.

“N-no… it’s not like you think. Hanabi-chan, my friend drew it for me, that's all. P-please give it back to me now,” Hinata tried to sound as stern as possible, only to fail miserably.

Hanabi did a little twirl to evade Hinata’s hand and danced one footstep away from her former place. “So, this friend you’re speaking, is it a ‘he’?”

“Y-yes and he has helped me before,” Hinata answered desperately, before she realized something upon seeing her sister’s change in expression.

Think before you talk Hinata, she chided herself.

Then all of sudden Hanabi burst out into laughter. “Hinata-chan, you can’t imagine how much I love that expression of yours,” said Hanabi as she tried to redeem her laughter.

Hinata didn’t know what had caught her sister as she gaped at while her sister laughing and clutching her stomach. She knew Hanabi meant no malice and she was glad that Hanabi didn’t change despite the fact that Hinata would be an ex-heiress with a cursed seal soon to be placed on her. And she too burst in small and soft laughter along with her sister, though she knew that a drop of tears which came out with all the euphoria was not that of happiness.

TBC

(A/N): This fic is consisted in two shots. Hope someone will enjoy this, since as far as I know this is the second SaiHina fic in their chategory.