I don&#39;t kill

Neji. Of course.

From:

Neji

1. The first thing in Neji's mind when he slipped Hinata's sleeve up during their match was girl skin. Luckily, the thought became Main House skin before he could admire how smooth it was.

2. The root of his resentment against the Main House was that he never forgave his father for dying, even if it takes him years to admit it.

3. The truth of the matter is that Neji does get on well with his team, and always has.

From:

main house skin Oh Neji.

Yes! at number 3. I could go on and on about the dynamics of Team Gai, but I'll spare you. But to me it has always been obvious that despite their differences there has never been any real resentment between any of them. The well functioning, close knit unit they are in the time skip are more than proof of that.

From:

*pets Neji*

But to me it has always been obvious that despite their differences there has never been any real resentment between any of them.

Actually... there are moments, to me, where I think there are hints of resentment in Lee - after Neji's fight against Hinata, when Naruto wants to tear into Neji and Lee stops him? At that moment I think he resents Neji for his words and belief that you can't change yourself.

But I don't think it ever hindered their working together as a team. To me, they were easily the most professional out if the genins, if not the most personally close-knit. (But well, to me real frienship, more than comradery, developed after the Neji/Naruto fight, because the cause of the tension between Lee and Neji had disappeared.)

But I'll admit my understanding of Lee is shaky at best, so if you want to convince me?...

From:

I never saw Lee's feelings towards Neji as really resenting him. Rather it was his beliefs and ideals Lee resented, since they were so fundamentally different from his own. To me, Lee is not the person to truly dislike someone. I believe it's a question of respect. He always respects a good fighter, and he doesn't hold grudges. Despite it being a big disappointment for him, he was able to feel happy about Naruto defeating Neji instead of him. And after the chuunin exam Lee seemed to shake of any bitter feelings towards Neji rapidly, and without ever feeling the need to bring them up later.

This attitude towards rivalry most likely comes from Gai. Gai's rivalry with Kakashi doesn't seem to have any personal ground apart from him wanting to prove himself, and perhaps a slight irritation with Kakashi's carefree appearance. It's nothing serious and in times of crisis they work well together with no personal matters coming in the way.

Gai encourages Lee's rivalry with Neji because it will help him grow as a fighter, but as a ninja, teamwork always comes first. Different beliefs must never overshadow trust and respect, and I think Lee is able to keep that balance. He has a very special outlook on the world, and to him there is probably no conflict between seeing Neji as a respected teammate, maybe even a friend, and a resented rival at the same time.

real frienship, more than comradery, developed after the Neji/Naruto fight, because the cause of the tension between Lee and Neji had disappeared
Yes, I see it this way too. For Neji and Lee to develop any real, strong friendship, it was necessary for Neji to change and to stop looking down on Lee. Lee would never have given up or stopped trying to prove Neji wrong, and their opinions would have come in the way of becoming really close knit.

From:

Thank you for the detailed response.

I want to say that I agree with everything you said but for the exception of, well, instants. (that'd be a good fic, actually. Moments when Lee really disliked Neji.)

Like you said, Lee is able to feel happy about Naruto defeating Neji, but he has an instant of sorrow before that.

However, I don't view Lee and Neji's rivalry as similar to Gai and Kakashi's. If anything, I suppose I see Lee/Naruto as more of a parallel. I think that's because Lee doesn't have one moment of 'he's so cool' over Neji, while he does over Naruto. Besides, the fact that Lee and Neji are teammates gives a different turn to their relationship. (favourite moment? still when Neji turns down Lee's offer to carry him piggy-back style with a HOLLER. XD)

He has a very special outlook on the world, and to him there is probably no conflict between seeing Neji as a respected teammate, maybe even a friend, and a resented rival at the same time.

I agree completely with that, but in the Moment I'm talking about (when he stops Naruto from fighting Neji - and when I say a moment, I really just mean only a moment, I am not saying that Lee ever resented Neji in general or anything), it seems to me that he doesn't just view Neji as a rival, but as an antagonist.

By which I mean in that moment, he's not thinking of Neji and him as two parallel lines, and he wants to outrun Neji, but as two colliding vectors. ...does that metaphor even makes sense?

But except for these tiny tiny hypothetical-except-for-one moments, I agree.

For Neji and Lee to develop any real, strong friendship
And Tenten too, probably. Whatever issues might have weighted down, it must have influenced the relationship between the three of them.

Which I why I find so admirable that in spite of the huge conflict between Neji and Lee's views on the world, Team Gai was still able to function. And rock the world. (because the moment in the Forest where Neji and Tenten are in the tree, and Lee is beaten on the ground, and Neji goes 'Byakugan!' on the Sound genin and says, cool as you please, that he doesn't really appreciate what's been done to his teammate? Stinks of vague contempt for Lee's abilities, but dammit they rock so much.)

From:

Ridiculously late reply, but I had to think things through! D:

I agree with you as well, Lee is admirable in his efforts to not look down on anyone, but he isn't perfect. He must feel anger and disappointment too. But, like I said, hes incapable of holding grudges, just look at Gaara!

No, I don't mean that their rivalries are similar either, Neji and Kakashi are to different for that. Rather it's Gai and Lee who share the same mindset. The big difference it that where Kakshi has always acknowledged Gai, agreeing to his challenges no matter how silly they are, Neji never took Lee seriously. To Neji Lee was never a rival, while Kakashi respects Gai's abilities and probably gains something from fighting with him as well. (OH YES! XD Oh Lee, you willnever give up, will you?)

Your metaphor makes a lot of sense, and I have to think about that. But isn't it the same thing with Sasuke and Naruto? They both clash, several times, but they is still run alongside each other as well. Not that Neji and Lee's relationship is the same as Naruto ans Sasuke's, all rivalries in the series are unique.

Of course, I never meant to exclude Tenten. She had to grow a lot as well, stop idolizing Neji and take Lee seriously for their team to be really balanced. I love how they keep coming closer, compromising and adapting as they go along but still staying three very different entities. I think it all comes from a great sense of loyalty and dedication to becoming a ninja. Even in the beginning, they could discuss and agree to a plan, like the little show they did outside the classroom.

Yes. They rock. God, I love them. ♥

From:

hes incapable of holding grudges, just look at Gaara!
<3

Your metaphor makes a lot of sense, and I have to think about that. But isn't it the same thing with Sasuke and Naruto? They both clash, several times, but they is still run alongside each other as well.

This is where I lose all your respect and say that Naruto and Sasuke's lines are entwined. (;_; I even think in clichés... help...).

Or, post-timeskip, another way to look at it is that Naruto and Sakura are running after Sasuke. (are my ships showing or what?)

Even in the beginning, they could discuss and agree to a plan, like the little show they did outside the classroom.

Oh god I know. That's why I think Team Gai was definitely the most professionally-minded of the four genin teams back then. (with a possible question mark on Team 8, I suppose, who didn't do so bad either - the trap in the Forest and the ruthlessness of it.)

But even before Tenten grew, I don't get the feeling that their team was 'two against one' in the sense that it could be said in Team Seven, with Sakura siding with Sasuke against Naruto. Tenten seems to have always respected Lee's abilities.

(and btw, you never have to worry about late replies. Myself... >_>)

From:

You could never lose my respect. ♥ (it's true anyway)
Your ships might be showing, just a little, but at least you don't wear them on your sleeve, like me.
The image of Naruto and Sakura running after Sasuke seems pretty correct to me. Right now I'm a litle mad at the manga, because I don't think they show enough of what the two of them are thinking. :(

But even before Tenten grew, I don't get the feeling that their team was 'two against one' in the sense that it could be said in Team Seven
I love you so much for this. Though I think that her respect for him didn't come as natural as what she felt towards Neji, and I could see her being a quite irritated at him, maybe even a little ashamed, at first.

From:

I like the current manga arc a lot so far (well except last chapter - the ninja kitties were a bit much for me), but I have the feeling this is going to go downhill due to Team 8 being there. If Kishimoto pulls another one of his 'girl knows medical ninjutsu! :DDDD' tricks, I shall be mightily unpleased. (please. Hinata's a Hyuuga. Hyuuga are close-range fighters. Get Shino to know the medical ninjutsu.)

ight now I'm a litle mad at the manga, because I don't think they show enough of what the two of them are thinking.

Yeah, I see what you mean, but we got Sasuke moving and being adorkably bad-ass with Team HEBI. And FacialExpressions!Itachi.

Still, hopefully this is going to change now Konoha's started moving again, and we'll get a love of *see icon* angst. :3

at least you don't wear them on your sleeve, like me.

That's just because I can pass them off as gen and/or platonic.

Though I think that her respect for him didn't come as natural as what she felt towards Neji, and I could see her being a quite irritated at him, maybe even a little ashamed, at first.

Probably, but even then I fail to see the Neji-fangirl!Tenten a number of NejiTen writers seem to have read about in the manga. (NejiTen SasuSaku parallels wut, beside the obvious?)

And even then, I honestly can't resent Neji and Tenten for going *facepalm* over Gai and Lee. They do it out of love.

From:

I want Team 8 to be awesome, and I'm going to hope for Hinata to get some time fight. And Shino as a medicnin is very, very hot.

Yeah, haha, he took his new team shopping. XD How cute is that?n Aaaand, I want a SakuNaruHina triangledrama. It will never happen, but a girl can hope.

You know, the problem about Neji-fangirl!Tenten is that she did exist before the chuunin exam, but then both her and Neji got beaten and everything changed, but many fans seems to think their dynamics are still the way they were back then, when behind the surface they are completely different.
I see Team Gai as what Team 7 would have become, hadn't Sasuke's urge for revenge gotten in the way.

Haha, me neither. I would facepalm a lot too if I were them. XD

From:

I'm hoping for Kishimoto not to spring NaruHina on me. (and no killing her either plzkthx.)

he took his new team shopping.
There should be icons to this. I want a major meltdown of our-loves-are-all-onesided, but I doubt that'll happen. More than it's already happening, that is. ^________^

But pre-chuunin exam Neji-fangirl!Tenten only fangirled him for his ninja skills. At least I never had the feeling she had a crush on him at that point. (Neji-fangirl!Tenten back then was pretty much Kishimoto using her as a plot device to state how awesome a genius genin Neji was. ~~Not that it annoyed me or anything.~~)

I see Team Gai as what Team 7 would have become, hadn't Sasuke's urge for revenge gotten in the way.

Nah, I can't see that. Team 7 has too much romantic issues clinging to its angles, and I do not fancy the thought of Sakura had Sasuke stayed. At least now the team is broken sharp and clear and they can pick up the pieces to make it into a better whole. :)

From:

Can I just say that I'm enjoying this discussion so much. I love when we disagree at points, because it makes me have to stop and look over my own resons again. And when we agree there is much joy and waves breaking on the cliffs.

I think so too, I can't really see her falling in love with him until later. But she definitely was his fangirl, and very reluctant to see any faults in him.

Haha, see? I told you I'm no good at Team 7 dynamics. 8D Maybe you're right, and this all was inevitable, or else their differences would have made them part ways sooner or later.

From:

So do I!

To be fair, Kishimoto didn't give her many opportunities to see faults in him. But I agree - though, what occasions did she have to see faults in him? The fight against Naruto was almost just a normal match.

The only time she could have thought something distintinctly unflattering about him was the Neji/Hinata fight. And, er, was that before or after Tenten's losing against Temari? (I hate not being able to remember that. Only thing I can remember for sure is that it was before Lee/Gaara.)

Because if it was after, then maybe she was unconscious?... (I'm pretty sure Temari/Tenten is before Neji/Hinata. But I can't remember if he saw Tenten's face on the reaction-panels, though.)

As for her overestimating Neji during the match against Naruto, it's Kishimoto's classical device for making the opponent sound omgsogreat. (cf Kurenai thinking Kiba improved hugely when he's facing Naruto.)

The rest of the time, I don't think she'd have a reason for finding faults in him. He's more level-headed than Lee.

Maybe you're right, and this all was inevitable, or else their differences would have made them part ways sooner or later.

Not sure it was inevitable, but had Itachi not even prompted Sasuke to try to leave, I don't think Sakura's attitude would have changed much, since her motivation when she seeks Tsunade out is 'getting Sasuke back'. And that would have been :/

From:

mattador.livejournal.com

Hanabi.

From:

Hanabi

1. Her father seemed to want a son, she must have confusedly understood from the way he treated Hinata and the way he would sometime look at Neji.

2. Secretly, there's a ton of things she likes better than training, but she trains conscientiously all the same, secure in the knowledge that after she's done she can run to the kitchens and steal a pot to be tied to a cat's tail.

3. She's never been close to her sister, but before Uzumaki Naruto beat on their cousin 'for what he'd done to Hinata', she never was jealous either. Now she's a little of both, and she can't wait for the moment she gets her own friends.

From:

mattador.livejournal.com

So very agreed on one and three! And two sounds appealingly plausible, too.

From:

gehayi.livejournal.com

Andromeda Black.

From:

Andromeda Black
(...you mean beside the 'omgyes I knew she was in Slytherin' and 'omgyes I knew she wasn't the oldest of the three' 'HAH take that fanon' dances HBP prompted? And continues to prompt. My only theories, and they were true. *hopeless smugness* the gloating should be all in capslock)

1. Shortest. Skirts. In. Slytherin. (and consequently, nicest legs.) The skirts were Muggles, like the cigarettes Andromeda picked up sometime when she was a teenager (cocky, cool, and a spaz over obscure history); the skirts left at some point, but the cigarettes are still in Andromeda's reach, ready to be snatched and lit even before Andromeda looks down to see if the brand is hers or Ted's.

2. No-one has ever terrified Andromeda more than Albus Dumbledore; secretly, this is why she hates him.

Even more secretly, she acknowledges that this makes her no better than the pure-blood mentality she held so much scorn for; hating Muggle-borns because they feared them because they didn't know them.

3. Before she knew the bane of her existence, she never imagined not being in Slytherin, but Ted Tonks, unimpressed and Ravenclaw, was just as good as she was at Runes, and didn't seem to care.

From:

wasn't Ted a muggle?

From:

Nope! He was a Muggle-born. ('My Dad's a Muggle-born,' Tonks says when we meet her for the first time in OotP.)

From:

Ohhh...
I always thought he was a muggle...
I need to get my cannon right!

From:

gehayi.livejournal.com

I really need a "Black sisters" icon. Sigh.

I like the idea of Andromeda having the shortest skirts in Slytherin. And yay for remembering that when Andromeda was in school, it really wasn't a social disaster for people to smoke.
I also love Ted for being good at Ancient Runes and not using it as a sign that he was just as good as she was, because he KNEW he was just as good as she was and didn't have to prove it.

I'm a bit baffled by Andromeda's fear of Dumbledore, though. Why on earth was she afraid of him?**

HBP affected my perception of Dumbledore, and not for the better. Before HBP, I thought that Dumbledore was an intelligent, sometimes manipulative old wizard who would use anyone to achieve his goals...for the greater good, of course. Or what he saw as the greater good.

After HBP, I saw Dumbledore as a fool with incredibly good PR. His habits of jumping to unsupported conclusions, running roughshod over logic and being hostile to anyone even vaguely disagreeing with him alienated me completely. Never have I hated a character more. I cheered when he died; I was only sorry he hadn't died sooner.

From:

I got rid of all of my HP icons except for Teh Obligatory OTP icon (never mind that it's actually meant as an anti-icon).

I think that it was the 'Muggle' part of smoking that would have caused a scandal among certain circles. (but well, my Andromeda would have really liked being a social disaster any way.) I think the Muggle-borns were laughing at her a little. She didn't mind though, because she could laugh with them.

In my canon, Ted's reaction to Andromeda's original freak out was '...what's her problem?' then upgraded to 'no, really, what's her problem?' and then he decided she was a pseudo-intellectual crazy bitch who thankfully didn't throw such fits in any other classes but who was occasionally funny to rile up, and who wasn't a blood-purist.

I've stopped breaking my brain over Dumbledore in HBP because it was too frustrating for words.

Andromeda's scared of Dumbledore because of the OMNISCIENT air he has, of the way he can wrap people around his little finger as if it was nothing; when she first came to Hogwarts she thought she'd only feel contempt for him, because that was what was in for the Black family. Then she grew up and saw him turn her cousins against one another and do nothing to stop the things that went on within the school except make them worse.

He tried to 'recruit' her because she didn't care for the blood-purism of the time (historically, rubbish) and tried to use her friendships with Muggle-borns and her family links as reasons for her to join.

Andromeda also had a not-quite academical interest in the Dark Arts and she thought Dumbledore was unfairly obtuse against them.

But mostly, she saw him manipulate people right and left and she was terrified of the power he wielded that way.

(Andromeda's other great fear is physical pain.)

From:

Itachi... because everyone forgets him

From:

I NEVER WROTE HIM AND I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HIM AND HE FREAKS ME OUT AND WHY OH WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THIS. HERE.

Itachi

1.

Itachi thinks in simple thoughts, and he lives in a simple world. He isn't one for introspection, and his words have all flooded out of him when he was twelve, in one memorable occasion (he remembers), but he's only ever had one aim, the simplest.

He wants to attain perfection.

(He wants to die.)

(But unlike any other teenager, Itachi doesn't change.)

(He only joined Akatsuki because they contacted him before anyone else, you see, and Itachi had no plans, and no place to go; he only inquires about the Akatsuki's goal a few months or several years after he donned the black-and-red cloak.)

2.

The time Itachi spouts words burning with an anger that he recognised was not his, it's not his father that he aims the Mangekyou at when he's kneeling on the ground. (The anger was Sasuke's.)

Sasuke is looking at him, half-hidden behind the door, half-hidden behind the retreating figure of their father; he has tears in his eyes and he is the one who shouted at him to stop it, niisan!

And Itachi felt his knees giving under him and felt his straight back bowing.

3.

Itachi doesn't like expectations, doesn't like the casual way his brother claims him as his – decides Itachi's future and orders Itachi to stop it, niisan. He isn't sure Sasuke realised/realises this.

(Present is the only tense for Itachi; Itachi lives in a simple world. Things only are, or they aren't.)

But Itachi doesn't hate his brother. Itachi never decided to kill Sasuke, and thus he cannot find failure in that he left Sasuke alive. Sasuke will one day set Itachi free himself, and Itachi will not be the slightest bit sad that his brother will have outgrown him.

Itachi, nevertheless, doesn't like the way Sasuke shakes at his control and reclaims Itachi so easily as his, years after Itachi left Sasuke broken and bleeding on the ground of the Uchiha compound – years after Itachi tried to break Sasuke's hold on him, only to realise, in a hotel corridor somewhere in Fire Country, with the Kyuubi container and the Toad Sannin present, that he failed.

Why else would Itachi have used Tsukiyomi on him, if Sasuke hadn't prompted him to.

4.

Words are not Itachi's friends, or his weapons. He wouldn't think of lying for the sake of lying (Itachi lives in a simple world), so when his mouth pours the lie that he never loved Sasuke and never was the brother he pretended to be, he's only parroting the most hurtful words he can think of; those Shisui threw at him. (Before he killed Shisui, in what may have been the only time he ever felt anger; a rusty, dull feeling that emptied his mind and closed onto Shisui's hateful eyes.)

This is why Itachi likes Kisame, as much as he could be said to like anyone; Kisame is the only person Itachi has ever known who calls him 'Itachi-san'.

(In Konoha Itachi was 'Itachi-kun' or 'Uchiha' or 'ANBU-san' or 'Niisan', and in Akatsuki he's only Itachi.)

No-one has ever called him like they respected him.

(In the end, Itachi is nothing more than a teenager, or a god.)

5.

Itachi doesn't think of himself as either a teenager or a god.

Living in a world of simple truths, he thinks of himself as a shinobi, as a man, as a mass of sinews articulating bones and muscular tissues where oxygen is brought by blood, and covered by skin. (He doesn't see himself as a weapon since he killed his clan.)

Itachi doesn't think of himself as either a teenager or a god, but when Sasuke looks at him Itachi almost thinks (Itachi who doesn't think in metaphors) that Sasuke makes him feel a god.

In reality, Sasuke makes him feel like a teenager.

From:

I loved what you did with this!
You captured his creepiness quite well! Specially for someone who never wrote him!!

Loved it!

From:

This... is so awesome and could be posted as fic ASAP. Just... lovely stuff!

From:

laleia.livejournal.com

Shikamaru

From:

Shikamaru

1) He didn't really mean that 'a man can't be beaten by a woman', but he needed to find some motivation to fight.

He was mildly put out that the fan girl pulled out the stupidest words out his mouth yet.

He did, however, entirely mean the thought that he couldn't actually fight against a girl, could he?

If only he'd known, he'd have avoided tempting karma with that one. But he'd never been superstitious.

2) Bringing Kurenai the news of Asuma's death was the hardest thing he ever did, and also what sealed his decision concerning the Akatsuki.

3) He has a thing for older women, and Temari is still scary.

(They are not dating. They hang out, and they have sex.)

From: (Anonymous)

How about kakashi?

~Chris

From:

Kakashi

1. Kakashi never adopts his sensei's son because he thinks he's proved time and time again that anyone depending on him is fated for an early death. He knows that the reason he is never asked to, though, is that Naruto's parentage is not to be discussed.

Naruto isn't much like his father.

2. After Sasuke tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi starts wondering if there isn't a flaw in the Sharingan, to explain his obliviousness and Sasuke's blinders.

He can't blame Obito for it.

3. He didn't expect Sasuke to betray the village and he'd be the first to readily claim that Naruto is unpredictable, but the biggest surprise out of his team is Sakura's earth-shattering punch. It was the first time that he believed Team Seven might save itself, and he never felt more keenly the years between his students and himself than at that moment.

Rin never liked violence.

From:

outlawpoet.livejournal.com

Temari, in the CelebrationVerse?

From:

Celebrationverse Temari

1) Temari made chuunin in the first exam after the Rescue Mission.

She won the tournament, too.

2) She has a healthy dose of respect for Konoha's Godaime. She is also very happy that Shikamaru doesn't join ANBU, though she'd put her hand in a fire rather than admit it.

Tsunade may be the only woman alive to make Temari feel slightly – oh, just slightly – threatened where the crybaby is concerned.

3) She can't understand his decision to resign, but he doesn't expect her to keep him; when he tells her he's moving out of his parents' house, Temari really hears 'I love you'.

She answers in kind.

From:

riah-chan.livejournal.com

Lee?

From:

Oh god I butcher his character and I can't write him and I understand very little about him and I'm sorry. *flails*

Lee

1) For a long time, he disliked Neji – not like one should feel for a rival, but like – well, almost like an enemy.

2) Gaara's words about important persons were on his mind for a long time. It always reminded him of Sakura's tears after Sasuke left. Sometimes Lee really regretted not being able to resent Sasuke for it, but he knew that that place was Naruto's.

Instead, Lee tried to be there for Sakura and cheer her up. Two years and a half was a long time to spend not making a move on your eternal love, but Lee was fully ready to wait for as long as it took before her team was whole again.

3) He really does want to die for an important person.

From:

Nobody asked about Hinata or Kabuto yet? Becaus I totally wants more on them, plz. XD

From:

CHOOSE ONE. And then we might see about the second. :p

From:

Can I not have both? ::lip wibbles::

But if I absolutely have to choose... Kabuto. If only because you write him less and yet your take on him intrigues me so. ;)

From:

Oh what the hell here have both.

Hinata (SHE GETS FIVE BECAUSE.)

1.

Hinata isn't sure if she loves her father. She isn't sure if she should feel guilty about it, either.

She does feel guilty that she's not the daughter he hoped her to be, though.

But her father is never on her mind when Hinata fights.

2.

She knows a lot more things than she is supposed to, because she's quiet and withdrawn, and thus people tend to forget about her. Hyuuga are not as aware of her presence as they are of her father's or Hanabi's; only Neji is an exception, Neji seems to always know where and what and how and why, and it makes Hinata nervous because she's used to being invisible.

She knows, for instance, why the villagers hate Naruto, and that there's a law forbidding them to talk about it. She knows who killed the Uchiha clan, but not Sasuke. She knows Sasuke tried to drown himself once, and that Sakura's parents are immigrants from the east of Fire Country. She knows of the Hyuuga who are sealed before being allowed to join ANBU.

She knows the Hokage faces three fronts of oppositions, from the ANBU, the Council, and the Daimyo, and that her father receives frequent messages from the Hokage tower. She knows no child has been allowed to graduate early from the Academy since a year after she entered. She knows her father and his father are in perpetual cold, which was only aggravated after Neji almost died.

She knows Hatake Kakashi has been targeted by accusations of a personal nature after Sasuke defected (but that's only because he's Naruto-kun's jounin-sensei and she went looking for the information). She knows ANBU and Intelligence and Interrogation despise one another. She knows Tsunade could only let Naruto leave Konohagakure because she could claim that the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya would kill him if he became a liability.

She knows Orochimaru had human laboratories in Konoha, and who Sasuke left to join (though, try as she might, she doesn't manage to get her hands on what Orochimaru wants with him; she's smart enough to guess why Sasuke left, but every of her suppositions about Orochimaru's interest in it is so awful she spends nights awake, debating about whether Sakura and Naruto know, but from the other girl's grounded non-panic, she figures Sakura knows more than she does).

She knows about kunoichi missions, and also that the name is misleading. She knows that putting Kiba and Shino on the same team was a political act.

She knows many things about the village's big picture that she will never talk about.

Instead she tells of the other big picture concerning the village that she knows: Naruto will manage.

(Hinata also knows a few things about the smaller picture of the people in the village, but she wouldn't talk about it.)

From:

3.

Hinata can easily admit that Sasuke is cute. He is. She always feels clumsy and awkward around him – she never knows how to act, because she knew him before his family was killed – even if he never seems to see her.

Similarly, if pressed enough, she would tell you that Naruto isn't classically handsome, and that he doesn't have Sasuke's distant attitude which can so easily be mistaken for coolness. (And Sasuke is cool, Hinata thinks, though less when he fails to know how to deal with his admirers' giggles and more when he performs a flawless jutsu and doesn't answer to the compliments, only sits with a metallic glint in his eyes.) Naruto never seems to see Hinata either.

So Hinata isn't blind to the resemblances, as confused and subjective though they are, that exist between Naruto and Sasuke.

It isn't because it's Sasuke and not Naruto that Hinata doesn't understand Sasuke's fangirls.

(Among whom she's never been counted, Hinata would insist upon that, it's very important to her for some reason that no-one would think she's ever had a crush on Sasuke – and it wasn't on Sasuke she had her first crush, not on Sasuke at all, who pouted and was bratty and loud and still too much like her, but on the perfectly polite boy man-to-her-eyes that unfailingly called her Hinata-kun and who embodied the word shinobi to her and who spoke quietly of the value of becoming stronger through tireless training.)

It's the way they fling themselves at him and attach themselves all over him, and the way they can talk and talk and talk louder and louder under his very eyes, and not even blush.

Hinata can't do that.

Hinata can't even see Naruto without blushing.

People think it means Hinata is embarrassed.

It isn't embarrassment.

It's that, when Hinata sees Naruto – or worse, when Naruto looks at her – her entire body is burning, unfolding, expanding, like the air he breathes streams and curls like a caress around her, and when his eyes are on her she feels like it could as well be his hands, goosebumps break all over her flesh and she shivers. She doesn't even need to see him to know when he is near, she feels it, through no other sense than her whole body reacting to his presence.

She'd never be able to wrap her arms around Naruto and continue bicker with someone else like Ino does when she clings to Sasuke and argues with Sakura.

She isn't even sure she'd be able to wrap her arms around Naruto, because her muscles are trembling when she only thinks about it. And even if she could – she could never let go. She would slip to the nearest surface (and her mind provides a bed, the idea aches so much) and try to have her whole body touch him.

In the years when Naruto is gone, Hinata sometimes wonders about what the other girls feel. She thinks Sakura loves Sasuke, or something close to it at any rate, but she can tell what Sakura feels around Sasuke is nothing like what she feels when she is longing for Naruto. (or does it? Two years are a long time. They are all teenagers now. If Sakura didn't desire Sasuke as more than a knight in a shining armour before, it may be the case now. Especially since Sasuke is away, like Naruto, and like Hinata, Sakura is only a girl with her imagination—)

Sometimes she wonders about what she feels for Naruto, as well.

Sometimes – often – she misses him so much it's a physical ache.

When Naruto comes back after two years and a half, she's so busy with her thoughts and with getting her body back under control that she doesn't notice until his face is four inches away from hers. His breath is brushing on her skin and his arm is bumping against her and he's leaning a little over and around her and they're touching and…

She wants him so much that she faints.

4.

Incidentally, when Naruto comes back, she's not a virgin anymore.

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5.

During her match against Neji, she almost cried.

If she had, it would have been the first time she did since before Hanabi was born; she hadn't cried when her mother died, or when she killed for the first time.

She hasn't cried since, either.

It is futile and even wrong of her to do so and she knows it, but she can't help taking pride it, as if not crying somehow meant she was stronger. (Sakura cries all the time. Naruto cries whenever it's important, and sometimes when it isn't. They are the two strongest people Hinata knows.)

Her father doesn't cry and Hinata knows for a fact that he holds in faint contempt shinobi who do.

Her father doesn't cry.

Hinata never cries.

But she never thinks about him when she doesn't.

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Oh my god but I love you. MY GOD. This is, like, fully fledged fanfic right here! And you make Hinata so much more than just a character-- you make her almost appear to be a living, breathing person with so many fascinating variables and facets and points of impact from the past (the way both her fighting style and her tears are connected to her father-- MY GOD) is just... wow. Just wow.

Thank you so much for writing this. You've just shaken my view of her upside down!

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Thank you so much for writing this. You've just shaken my view of her upside down!

...?

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#4 was awesome but I believe it might have been #3 that really rocked my world!

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3 is my ultimate defense against previously mentioned 'I'm so innocent I don't know how to hold a kunai' Hinata.

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She probably doesn't need to even use one but point SO taken. XD

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Kabuto (HE GETS THREE BECAUSE MY PSEUDOCANON OF HIM IS MAINLY COMPOSED OF 'meep')

1) Kabuto's only real regret is that he never was Tsunade's apprentice. Studying under the best medic-nin in the history of Fire Country would have been fascinating.

2) Inasmuch as Kabuto can be said to be loyal to anyone, he is loyal to Orochimaru. It just so happens that Kabuto's loyalty comes with its own loopholes and deviations.

Orochimaru is aware of it, of course.

He may not be aware for Kimimaro, though.

3) Kabuto likes Orochimaru. This isn't to mean that he isn't occasionally mightily irritated by the Sannin, or frightened without wanting to, and it doesn't mean either that he's a fanatic, that he'd die for his master without blinking or trying to weasel out, but Kabuto likes him.

It is a source of definite annoyance, but also definite amusement when he shares the anecdote with Orochimaru, that people can't seem to get this.

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