Hinata knelt next to Hanabi near the back of the shrine. She took the young girl's hand in an attempt to comfort her. But it was her own hand that was sweaty and trembling slightly.
Hanabi's hand was as steady as her bright white eyes. Hanabi squeezed Hinata's hand comfortingly, and then smiled up at her older sister reassuringly.
She whispered, "Don't worry, Hinata."
The elders stood in the front of the shrine with a boy named Shinji. He was about ten or eleven. The same age as Hanabi, maybe a couple of months older. He was from one of the branch families, so Hinata saw him often but did not know him well.
He seemed nice. He always smiled at her and waved whenever they crossed paths, despite his parent's and grandparent's warnings that he needed to address the main family more formally.
He reminded her of Naruto, so she was happy that Shinji was the one who the elders chose to seal to her younger sister.
When her father passed her over as heir to the Hyuga clan, Hinata made an extra effort to help Hanabi through all of the rituals and formalities that came with the title. However, Hinata was never sealed to a future spouse, so she could not help her with this.
After several failed attempts by enemy villages to kidnap a hyuga heir in order to gain the power of the byakugan, the elders dropped the age of the sealing to ten, so Hanabi could be sealed right away to Shinji.
She was nervous for Hanabi. More so than Hanabi was for herself. Hinata was not sure if her sister fully grasped what it meant to be sealed to another person.
But she returned Hanabi's smile as best she could and then turned back to the ceremony.
"Hanabi Hyuga, come forward."
Hanabi released Hinata's hand, and then she stood and moved to the front to take her place next to Shinji at the altar. Hinata felt nauseous as she watched the elders place the marks on both children that would bind their chakra.
From then on, each child would have free access to the other's chakra. Able to sense it anywhere, manipulate it, or draw on it at will. And if either child was ever stolen from the clan, their byakugan could be blocked to prevent outsiders from gaining the power.
The binding could only be broken with death.
After the ceremony ended, Hinata snuck away from the crowd gathered outside of the shrine and through the gates of the Hyuga compound. She headed towards the park, wanting to get away from the shame and guilt that arose while she watched her little sister being sealed to Shinji Hyuga.
She felt it was her fault that Hanabi was going through the ceremony at such a young age. Traditionally, Hyuga shinobi were not bound to their intended spouse until they turned sixteen. If she remained the heiress, she would have likely been sealed to her future husband this year.
But Hinata managed to get herself kidnapped as a young child, inciting even more fear among the clan, and then she managed to fail to live up to the title of heir, passing the burden on to Hanabi.
Eh! Hinata?! Is that you?" Naruto leaned down closer, inspecting her face. "IT IS YOU! Long time no see!"
He grabbed at her arm, pulling her up, so she was standing in front of him and he could fully inspect her. Hinata let herself be pulled up, though she was incredibly dizzy all of a sudden.
All she could manage to stammer out was, "N-Naruto…"
She was surprised to see him. He left the village almost two years ago with Jiraiya, and no one was expecting them back anytime soon. It was very likely that she missed him as much, if not more than anyone else in the village. But to see him so much taller and more mature without any warning, had been a complete shock to her system.
She stammered again, as she fell forward into Naruto's chest, "N-Naruto…"
He grasped hold of her, steadying her on her feet. "Are you ok, Hinata?"
"I'm fine." She smiled up at him, his arms still wrapped around her. "Just surprised to see you."
"Wow! You look different." Naruto said, fingering a strand of her black hair, which was now long and past her shoulders. "And taller!"
He looked impressed and placed his hand on top of her head. He was still more than a head taller than her since he had also grown taller himself.
"Umm hum." Hinata managed a nodded. Then she shook her head slightly and squeaked, "You look good... –I mean older –taller, ...I mean you look different too."
"What are you up to?" Naruto asked. His voice became serious. "Are you busy right now?"
"I… well… I was just walking…" Hinata's cheeks turned bright red, and the dizziness was getting worse. Her legs shook underneath her.
She was not busy. In fact, she was completely free. But she needed to come up with an excuse to leave before she embarrassed herself and passed out.
As Hinata entered the park, she looked up at the sky, imagining that the clouds were shaped like the faces of her friends. Kiba, Akumaru, Shino, Sakura, Lee, Ino…
She ran smack into something hard. Hard enough that she fell back, right onto her butt.
A familiar voice said, "Oh… sorry."
Stunned, she looked up. She was eye level with a pair of knee caps covered by orange sweatsuit pants. She would have recognized those pants anywhere, but she had not seen them for a couple of years. Quickly, she looked up further into the face of Naruto Uzumaki, who was curiously staring down at her.
Great! You're free then."
"Well, come on." Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her behind him. "Let's get some ramen! I've been craving it. I need a bowl RIGHT NOW. And you're exactly who I was looking for."
"Who me? I am?" Hinata looked down at her hand inside of Naruto's hand, and then up at the back of his blonde head as he led her down the street towards the center of the village. Was this a date? She felt her legs wobble again.