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runespoorI've been rather slow to answer to reviews lately; the reason is that I don't have Internet access either at home or at work, and am thus constantly playing a game of cat and mouse to get free Internet access in places where 1)I'm not going to be a hindrance/nobody will disturb me/I'm unlikely to get caught red-handed in fandom when I should be doing Serious Stuff 2)they have Windows. (DDDDDD:)
So! If I'm not answering reviews, it's not because I don't care or don't like you (I love you all. Seriously, you make my days. *loffs*), it's just that I'm breaking my brain to find new and inspirational ways to get my ass back on lj as soon as humanly possible. :)
Title: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son (or: a cage is a cage is a curse, dammit.)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/ficlets. So far, drabbles include various flavours of implied Neji-Hina-Naru combinations, but it's really Hyuuga centered gen with occasional cameos of other characters.
Notes: just so you know, this was born out of my getting infuriated whenever it starts being said that Hinata would be happier in the Branch House. Rather than risking incoherence before my screen every time I came across the idea, I thought I'd play with it. :p
previous bunk of drabbles.
3. chuunin exam – take 1
One moment she was dashing at him again and the next she was sprawled out on the ground – Neji's hand had shot instinctively, striking a harsh blow on her heart in automatic defense.
"Hinata," he called again, regaining his breath.
(He hadn't planned or thought he'd have to make any effort before the actual third test even began, and he hadn't, but Hinata had taken him by surprise; he hadn't expected her to be that violent, and trying to disable her without hurting her too much had been taxing, an exercise in control and precision harder than any he'd completed in training, mostly because Hinata didn't seem to give any thought to her well-being, just charging with everything she had. She'd landed a blow early in their fight – Neji had still been focusing on trying to reason her – and now Neji's right arm was limply dangling at his side.)
She didn't move.
"Hinata," he repeated, only now becoming aware of the utter silence in the arena. The exhausted-looking judge moved to kneel by Hinata's side, and took her wrist in his hand. "Hinata!"
Hinata's wrist limply fell. The examiner – Hayate – looked pained, and sighed. "I hereby declare Hyuuga Neji the winner. Please," he added, "take her away."
People rushed to Hinata's side, Neji saw her attractive jounin-sensei appearing in the arena, Hinata's teammate jumping down the balcony, concealed by his glasses, Naruto grabbing her shoulders and shaking and shouting and crying, and the pink-haired girl gently stopped him and she was crying too, and Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru and their teammate kneeling next to her and there were so many people surrounding her and Neji couldn't move, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't.
Suddenly Gai-sensei was by his side. Neji blindly looked up towards him, and opened his mouth to speak, but no word came out. He had to try several times before his voice worked again.
"I – I didn't mean to," were the first words he said.
S-she was coming and coming at me again and again and again and I didn't want to hurt her and I told her to stop and she never stopped and I didn't think and I thought she was just being unreasonable and I didn't forfeit because I wanted to win and I thought I deserved to win and it was like she was mad and I never thought about her at all and now it's too late and I didn't mean to.
Neji had never been inadequate in his whole life, but now he clung to the words as if they could convey everything he didn't know how to put.
4. making new friends – take 1
The girl's hair hid her face almost completely, but was a dead give-away to the fact that she was crying.
What is it with me, Ino wondered, that I'm always the one meeting these girls?
But Ino was a nice girl, as well as a curious one – who said nosy no not nosy never when I catch Shika he's dead dead like a dead thing that's a lie I say – so of course she stopped, crouched next to the girl, and asked her question. Hell, it'd worked last time.
"So, why are you crying?"
This one didn't sob and sniffle, but she tensed in a way Sakura hadn't when Ino pulled her hair aside. She had very pretty hair, Ino absently thought, all black and smooth and shiny.
"Is it about your forehead too, 'cause I gotta tell you, I did this just a week ago and I only have a white ribbon left. Well, I say white, but it's more grey now, so –"
But she cut herself off as soon as she saw the girl's face. Her eyes, which were white and dry, were staring at her in a way that might be a glare; Ino couldn't be sure, but that wasn't what stopped her.
A ribbon's not gonna cut it, Ino thought when she saw the huge, ugly green mark on her forehead.
5. making new friends – take 2
It was Uzumaki Naruto's first day at the shinobi Academy, and he'd fallen in love – absolute, devoted, all-consuming, all-encompassing love.
He explained it all in front of his mirror that evening (it was a habit of his; it was nicer than speaking to thin air. Sometimes he stopped and gave himself encouraging little gestures and interested little noises – "yes, go on.") and he didn't even think about stopping to pay attention to what he was saying. In fact, he ignored the mirror altogether, caught up in his retelling/daydreaming/excited babbling complete with bouncing on his bed.
Had the mirror been a living person, it'd have sighed in exasperation when Naruto described for the fifth time the thing which had caught his eye about Hyuuga Hinata.
She had a mark taking the whole of her forehead, like he had one on his belly.
So! If I'm not answering reviews, it's not because I don't care or don't like you (I love you all. Seriously, you make my days. *loffs*), it's just that I'm breaking my brain to find new and inspirational ways to get my ass back on lj as soon as humanly possible. :)
Title: Things that could have happened had Hizashi been the older son (or: a cage is a cage is a curse, dammit.)
Author:
runespoor7Rating: PG-13
Summary: series of unrelated drabbles/ficlets. So far, drabbles include various flavours of implied Neji-Hina-Naru combinations, but it's really Hyuuga centered gen with occasional cameos of other characters.
Notes: just so you know, this was born out of my getting infuriated whenever it starts being said that Hinata would be happier in the Branch House. Rather than risking incoherence before my screen every time I came across the idea, I thought I'd play with it. :p
previous bunk of drabbles.
3. chuunin exam – take 1
One moment she was dashing at him again and the next she was sprawled out on the ground – Neji's hand had shot instinctively, striking a harsh blow on her heart in automatic defense.
"Hinata," he called again, regaining his breath.
(He hadn't planned or thought he'd have to make any effort before the actual third test even began, and he hadn't, but Hinata had taken him by surprise; he hadn't expected her to be that violent, and trying to disable her without hurting her too much had been taxing, an exercise in control and precision harder than any he'd completed in training, mostly because Hinata didn't seem to give any thought to her well-being, just charging with everything she had. She'd landed a blow early in their fight – Neji had still been focusing on trying to reason her – and now Neji's right arm was limply dangling at his side.)
She didn't move.
"Hinata," he repeated, only now becoming aware of the utter silence in the arena. The exhausted-looking judge moved to kneel by Hinata's side, and took her wrist in his hand. "Hinata!"
Hinata's wrist limply fell. The examiner – Hayate – looked pained, and sighed. "I hereby declare Hyuuga Neji the winner. Please," he added, "take her away."
People rushed to Hinata's side, Neji saw her attractive jounin-sensei appearing in the arena, Hinata's teammate jumping down the balcony, concealed by his glasses, Naruto grabbing her shoulders and shaking and shouting and crying, and the pink-haired girl gently stopped him and she was crying too, and Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru and their teammate kneeling next to her and there were so many people surrounding her and Neji couldn't move, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't.
Suddenly Gai-sensei was by his side. Neji blindly looked up towards him, and opened his mouth to speak, but no word came out. He had to try several times before his voice worked again.
"I – I didn't mean to," were the first words he said.
S-she was coming and coming at me again and again and again and I didn't want to hurt her and I told her to stop and she never stopped and I didn't think and I thought she was just being unreasonable and I didn't forfeit because I wanted to win and I thought I deserved to win and it was like she was mad and I never thought about her at all and now it's too late and I didn't mean to.
Neji had never been inadequate in his whole life, but now he clung to the words as if they could convey everything he didn't know how to put.
4. making new friends – take 1
The girl's hair hid her face almost completely, but was a dead give-away to the fact that she was crying.
What is it with me, Ino wondered, that I'm always the one meeting these girls?
But Ino was a nice girl, as well as a curious one – who said nosy no not nosy never when I catch Shika he's dead dead like a dead thing that's a lie I say – so of course she stopped, crouched next to the girl, and asked her question. Hell, it'd worked last time.
"So, why are you crying?"
This one didn't sob and sniffle, but she tensed in a way Sakura hadn't when Ino pulled her hair aside. She had very pretty hair, Ino absently thought, all black and smooth and shiny.
"Is it about your forehead too, 'cause I gotta tell you, I did this just a week ago and I only have a white ribbon left. Well, I say white, but it's more grey now, so –"
But she cut herself off as soon as she saw the girl's face. Her eyes, which were white and dry, were staring at her in a way that might be a glare; Ino couldn't be sure, but that wasn't what stopped her.
A ribbon's not gonna cut it, Ino thought when she saw the huge, ugly green mark on her forehead.
5. making new friends – take 2
It was Uzumaki Naruto's first day at the shinobi Academy, and he'd fallen in love – absolute, devoted, all-consuming, all-encompassing love.
He explained it all in front of his mirror that evening (it was a habit of his; it was nicer than speaking to thin air. Sometimes he stopped and gave himself encouraging little gestures and interested little noises – "yes, go on.") and he didn't even think about stopping to pay attention to what he was saying. In fact, he ignored the mirror altogether, caught up in his retelling/daydreaming/excited babbling complete with bouncing on his bed.
Had the mirror been a living person, it'd have sighed in exasperation when Naruto described for the fifth time the thing which had caught his eye about Hyuuga Hinata.
She had a mark taking the whole of her forehead, like he had one on his belly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:27 pm (UTC)#1: Oh Hinata. Sweet, dear, nearly-deranged Hinata. My God, she's such a perfect blend of a less-talented Neji and her canon-self that it's perfect. Of course she wouldn't back down from her fight with her cousin! Of course she'd do her best to prove that she isn't any weaker than someone from the main house! And of course she'd fail and get herself hurt all the worse for it! And the way her team-mates and other genin rally around her in the aftermath is all the more touching.
#2: Oh Ino. There isn't a ribbon big enough to hide Hinata's mark but I love the way she instinctively reaches out to help Hinata nonetheless. Ino's compassionate side isn't one that gets much play in fics so I really enjoyed seeing it here.
#3: Oh Naruto. You are going to make me ship him and Hinata together, I just KNOW IT. And I don't even much like them in the first place! Like you said, normally I think there isn't enough tension or backstory (other than Hinata's raging crush) to justify an interesting relationship between them. But Naruto! Noticing Hinata's mark! and comparing it to his own! These two crazy kids have the makings of a beautiful relationship... if the rest of the world doesn't SQUASH IT FLAT FIRST, of course.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:48 pm (UTC)And apparently they do a bad job because Kabuto ends up healing her chest injuries again during the public portion of the exam a month later.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:59 pm (UTC):)
(And I should totally have made that clearer dammit.)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:58 pm (UTC)Yes, yes he did. Oops.
*is a bitch*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 06:05 pm (UTC)1. Heh. And Neji really, genuinely not-getting it and trying to make her stop.
Too bad she's dead. I know, I know, sorry, but I am that glad I managed to kill a character! I killed Hinata! ...okay so it's an AU in a series of AU. But still. (And I emotionally scarred Neji - two birds one stone! *is proud*)
2. Ino is like Han Solo that way. She's hot and she always does the thing that needs to be done even if she bitches and denies it all the way. *Ino fangirl*
3. ...b-but I don't want to ship them. ;_; I blame the AU.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 07:43 pm (UTC)I... I... I need a moment okay?
::slinks off to a corner to CRY for this Hinata OMG::
no subject
Date: 2007-02-26 08:47 am (UTC)AU?
*will one day write fluff*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-26 12:13 pm (UTC)(Dude, emo enough to convince you? ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-04-03 04:39 am (UTC)THAT ASIDE, in reviewing all seven installments, I must mash my keyboard and be generally incoherent because, oh man, oh man, oh man. Oh man x seventy. It's. Fabulously realized. All the. All the threads. ee. Thank you, muchly, for writing them!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-04 08:16 am (UTC)black (oh noes Sasuke)blond (wait that's Naruto)bitchy dress* Glad to share the Ino-love! :)And thank you for reviewing!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 05:28 pm (UTC)I thought that the cursed seal was semi secret? Don't all branch members have to wear that head-bandage thing? Or is Naruto catching a glimpse in an unguarded moment when she's changing after shuriken practice or something? (Didn't think Naruto started peeping till Jiraiya gave him the idea).
And I can totally buy Ino, travelling from town to town, being the backstory girl for hundreds of young, uncertain protagonists. She could give the young sensitive boys flowers, inspire the athletic boys with her ninja skillz, dramatically befriend the loner girls, help show the inner beauty of the 'ugly' girls, and generally flashback it up.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 06:14 pm (UTC)I thought that the cursed seal was semi secret?
Hmm. I chose to interpret the bandage as being a choice - because the Branch House members likely aren't supposed to take pride from it and/or flaunt it to the world. Maybe the Council disapproves as well. If Hinata's not wearing it in that case it's partly because the girl has a tranquil-refusing-to-submit streak that wide, and because Hizashi is Refusing To Acknowledge The Problem. Thus her not wearing it.
Your description of Ino is... priceless. YES. I love Ino so hard and believes her to be made of win. *needs an Ino icon so bad*
no subject
Date: 2010-06-26 06:45 am (UTC)I love your Hinata. She makes me want to pet her and promise her things will get better (not that I'd dare, if I wanted to keep the hand)
I was already playing with the idea, but now I'm muuuuuuch more motivated to write my "Hinata without Naruto to (unintentionally) inspire her, and what it does to her" idea.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 07:48 pm (UTC)i just love your neji to pieces "Neji had never been inadequate in his whole life, but now he clung to the words as if they could convey everything he didn't know how to put." *huuuuge sigh* and i adored how you showed hinata's inner strength shining through (we all know it's there, what ever those 'she belongs in the branch house' folks say) and naruto's exuberance was lovely, the whole thing about him talking to himself in the mirror, making encouranging gestures and noises just slayed me!
i'll be sure to follow these from now on! looking forward to the next set :)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-23 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-26 08:38 am (UTC)Main House Neji is his own special kind of clueless. *pets* the whole thing about him talking to himself in the mirror totally came out of the blue, and then I giggled; somehow it seemed very chibi Naruto, so it's great to know it wasn't just me on crack!
I wouldn't mind at all if you friend me, 'course! :D
btw, I love your icons. *staaaaaares at Neji*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-24 12:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-26 08:45 am (UTC)