white and yellow
hinata week 2024 day 1 - sunflower & naruhina month 2024 day 23 - royalty au
There were a lot of things Hyuga Hinata liked about living in Konoha—the location, the scenery, the people (I guess..?)— but if you were to ask her about her favourite thing, Hinata would probably have to say it was this sunflower field.
(Or, well, realistically, she probably wouldn’t say it… you know, for exclusivity’s sake and everything. Like, nothing personal or anything, but it was kind of her place, you know?)
(I digress.)
And for many reasons! I mean, she liked the flowers, first and foremost, with their long stalks and their bright yellow petals, but she also liked the serenity of it. She liked how big it was, and how easy it was to get lost in it. She liked the sound of the snow crunching under her feet as she walked, not yet heavy enough to wilt away her flowers, but enough to form a glittery blanket on the ground—that was something else she liked, by the way. The stark contrast between the delicate, pure-white snow and the exuberant, warm yellow of the sunflowers. It meshed quite well together, she thought.
She took another slow step into the field, savouring it. She didn’t get to do this often.
…And by that she meant ‘never’, because she was nary allowed out of the house without one of her Royal Guard, and she definitely wouldn’t be allowed to go out this late at night, lest she get… assassinated or something.
(She would say that this is statistically improbable, all things considered, but then again, her getting kidnapped on her third birthday was also ‘statistically improbable’, so really, who’s to say?)
She crouched down and took hold of a baby sunflower, a little thing that was barely a bud. Ugh. Whatever. She wasn’t here to lament over her father and his weird choices.
Hinata liked other things about this field, too, for example how far away from the castle it was. She liked the detours she had to take to reach it, and how inconspicuous it was, despite its vastness. Hidden in plain sight, as most of the good things in life were.
And perhaps most importantly, she liked that, in this sunflower field, she could be Hinata. Not Hyūga Hinata, and definitely not Princess Hinata— just Hinata.
She didn’t have to perform for anyone. Didn’t have to put on that show of propriety and perfect etiquette.
She liked how, in this sunflower field, she could ignore her royal duties, if only for a little bit. She didn’t have to think about how little control she had over her own life, and the illusion of power that her position afforded her.
And how Father is probably finalising the proceedings of my arranged marriage as I stand here.
She rid herself of the thought. Tomorrow’s mess was tomorrow’s Hinata’s to deal with. Inhaling, she brushed the light dusting of snow off a particularly large sunflower.
She felt like she could… breathe here, you know?
She could just exist there, alone—
Something rustled around her.
Hinata jumped and instinctively pulled out a dagger from between her skirts. That tell-tale pitter-patter fluttered in her chest—not the good kind—and despite knowing she could handle herself, that she was trained for moments like these, she felt that instinctive panic start to seep into her pores. Despite, rationally, knowing her capability, she felt its familiar bitterness at the base of her throat.
“Mind if I join you?”
Five words, spoken so quietly, if not hesitantly, she almost didn’t hear them.
Well, she thought, now immediately on guard, there goes my alone-ness. “Show yourself,” she said despite not needing to—her Byakugan was already activated, and she’d already detected a male presence in the vicinity. But fuck if she weren’t cursing herself for not arming herself better before going out.
Still, she braced herself, settling into that ever-so-familiar stance she’d spent so long perfecting. It was no secret that the secrets of the Hyūga were sought after, and many people would go (and have gone) to extreme lengths to acquire them. Everyone knew that, and it was precisely why her father, despite disinheriting her and stripping her of her position as Crown Princess years ago, insisted that she be trained to perfect the Gentle Fist.
And she did perfect it. The scars and bruises and countless sleepless nights spent in the Hyūga training rooms could attest to that.
So why was she still scared? Why was her first response to doubt herself and her abilities?
I thought I was over this, she thought, bitter despite herself. I thought I'd outgrown this. Unlearned it. Rejected Father’s perception of me—
She took a calculated step forward, instinctively maximising the accuracy of her Byakugan. If there was one thing she got out of the brutal training with her father and her cousin, it was her grasp on the Byakugan, at least. She’d learned how to maximise its range by the kilometres, but she could also effortlessly switch between modes of accuracy she didn’t even know existed.
She tightened her hold on her knife. So why?
“Hey, hey, hey,” the figure finally stepped out from the shadows, hands thrown up in the universal gesture for surrender. “My bad.” Whoever he was, he seemed apologetic, if his twisted facial expression was anything to go by. Her body relaxed infinitesimally, but she didn’t let her guard down completely. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He was also being… awfully casual with her.
Does he not know who I am?
(Hinata belatedly recognised how self-absorbed that thought sounded, and she cringed inwardly.)
It was a guy, bundled up in a jacket and a striped green scarf. She blinked when he stepped into the moonlight, and she was briefly arrested, all thoughts of danger be damned.
He must’ve had the clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen.
Wait, what? she thought, genuinely alarmed, because why on Earth was that her first takeaway from this interaction?! If her older cousin were privy to that thought, he’d probably say she was losing her edge.
“Ah,” she muttered, reorienting herself and looking away, “it’s no trouble.” She took a gamble and deactivated her Byakugan, no longer deeming it necessary. She wasn’t sensing anything particularly threatening from this guy.
In fact, his presence was weirdly… warm? If that were even possible?
(Yeah, Hinata cringed at that thought, too. Because what the hell.)
“You sure?” he pressed, raking a hand through his unruly blond hair. “You can tell me to leave, y’know, I wouldn’t take it personally or anything—”
God, this guy really didn’t know who she was. Maybe? Probably? Hopefully?
An unprompted giggle tumbled out of her lips, surprising them both. He had only been standing there for what had to have been a minute or two, but his presence was already more tolerable than most people’s. And I mean, to be fair, the messy blond hair and the slight frostnipped-ness of his cheekbones were not exactly inspiring danger.
“Really,” she insisted and waved off his concern, her voice lighter, “I don’t mind the company.” Brushing off her skirts and discreetly tucking her knife back in, she threw him a tentative glance and continued, “Besides, you look like you could use a distraction.” By God, where was all this brazenness coming from? ‘You look like you could use a distraction’? Really? She groaned inwardly. Alright, Nancy Drew, wrap it up.
Before she could scramble to take it back, his face, which was now unobscured by means of his worn-out scarf slipping, broke into a lopsided grin, and he huffed a laugh, “That I do.”
They lapsed into a short silence, where she watched him fumble around to wind his scarf back around his neck. “So,” he said, still not looking at her as he casually fixed his scarf, “are you from around here?”
She blinked, deliberating over her answer.
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Then, finally—
“I am.” She busied herself with cupping another sunflower and running her fingers through the petals, watching the tiny snowflakes melt from the heat of her hands. “Are you?”
He didn’t pause nearly as long as she did. “Nah,” —she could tell he was grinning as he said it— “I’m here on.. a business thing. Wanted to have one last night of freedom before—” he paused, throwing her a mildly-panicked-but-trying-to-play-it-off kind of look. “Ah. Don’t worry about it, y’know!” He leaned in, as if suddenly entranced by the sunflower in her hands.
“You must like sunflowers a lot, huh?” he asked, still not looking at her. Clearly, he was trying to change the subject.
She awarded him that grace. “Yes,” she replied, almost wistfully. “They’re my favourite.”
“Mhmm,” he hummed and reached forward to cup the flower. His warm hand curled pleasantly against Hinata’s, but he didn’t seem to notice, still studying the flower intently. Only now, he seemed actually interested. “So do the sunflowers wilt in the winter, or—”
Stay calm, Hinata, she instructed herself. Cute stranger is holding your hand— so what?
She couldn’t help it. She made a tiny, whimpery, shocked noise.
“Shit!” He snatched his hand away. “I didn’t mean to—”
Well, there went the cute stranger holding her hand.
“No, no!” she rushed to say, no doubt doing that full-face Hyūga blush. “You didn’t—”
“—I wasn’t trying to make a move or anything—”
“—It’s all good I promise! You really didn’t—”
Their words died out, and the two of them stared at each other for a second… before, inanely, bursting into laughter.
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It was weird.
She’d been hanging out with this stranger for what must’ve been hours now, and yet that nagging discomfort never really settled in. She wasn’t overthinking what to say—in fact she was barely thinking at all, which honestly kind of worried her, but whatever—and she didn’t even feel that mild panic you got the second you felt like you shared too much.
Their silences weren’t awkward. She didn’t have to worry about propriety or etiquette. She wasn’t Princess Hinata, or even Hyūga Hinata.
She was just Hinata.
He laughed at something else she said, that stomach-clutching laughter that made his face crinkle, and she had to stop herself from thinking about how pretty he was.
“Damn,” he said on a sigh as his laughter died out. “You’re pretty funny, y’know?”
Hinata had taken him to her second favourite spot in Konoha; a little clearing that was hidden away behind the sunflower field. He’d invited her to lay down next to him, clearly unfamiliar with the Royal Code of Conduct, and she’d complied without much thought, smoothing her skirts and laying down in the misty grass.
She could let herself be a teenager for one night, god damnit. She wasn’t going to think of her father tonight.
“I mean… I wouldn’t go that far,” she teased, watching the sky turn a paler blue as the sun started to rise. “But thank you. I think you’re… funny, as well.”
He nudged her with his arm, his voice equally as teasing. “You hesitated.”
She giggled, feeling her face go warm again. “That’s not what I—”
Wait… Hinata sat up, alarmed. The sun?!
To his credit, her friend (?) sat up as well, all thoughts of the previous conversation forgotten. “Is everything okay?” he asked hurriedly, his eyes running over her. “Did you get bitten or something—?”
“The sun is out,” she breathed. “God, Father is going to have my head! I need to get back.”
To his credit once again, he didn't panic. “Alright,” he said resolutely, standing up, “let me walk you home.”
“No!” She flinched at her volume, but he just nodded, taking it in stride. “Sorry! I didn't mean to yell,” she spluttered breathlessly, “it’s not—”
“Hey,” he interrupted, leaning down to match her height. “It’s fine. You don’t need to explain.” He scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “I mean, the whole ‘Father is gonna have my head’ thing is pretty self-explanatory, anyway.”
They stood there for a moment, silent again, before he spurred into action once more. “Here,” he said, picking up her scarf. “Will I… see you around?” he asked, uncharacteristically bashful, when he handed her the scarf.
A small smile tugged on her lips. “I have a feeling you will.”
It was later when, as he watched her form get smaller and more farther away, he realised that he never got her name.
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EXTRA:
“You’re up early,” a sardonic voice intoned from above her, in lieu of a greeting.
It was her older cousin. Lovely.
Sighing, she glanced up at him. He was perched on the ledge above her balcony, already dressed in his formal attire. “Good morning, Nii-san,” she said pleasantly. She wasn’t worried about him tattling or anything, he wasn’t a child, but she knew he’d ask questions. Part of the older brother package and everything. So she deflected. “That makes two of us, then.”
He furrowed his brows. “I’m always up early.”
“Last night,” she supplied, and she watched his lips purse.
“Touché, Princess,” he sighed, and she thought she saw the tips of his ears get red, but that may have just been the light.
“Say hi to Tenten-san for me, will you?”
“Go inside, Hinata.”
