A Mistake Not Meant to Bear Fruit [Naruto x Hanabi]

Chapter 9: An Eventful Evening

"Really?! Thank you, Hanabi!" Naruto said with a big smile on his face.

FLASHBACK END

Naruto was in his room, contemplating on what he should wear. They didn't specify a certain dress code, so Naruto would just wear something he thought was nice and hoped it fit whatever everyone else was wearing. Basically, his definition of what he thought was nice would be his normal outfit (The one he wore in "The Last" movie.) So that's what he wore. Hanabi had the same mindset. Since there was no specified dress code, Hanabi just decided to wear her yellow robe, she had so many of them anyway. 

Even though she was only going to wear her normal clothes, that didn't mean she would look the same as always. Instead of wearing her hair down, she decided to wear it in a ponytail. (Basically, just imagine Hanabi with Hinata's hairstyle from when she got married but remove the flower.) It wasn't a huge change, but Hanabi wanted to look somewhat different when she arrived. Meeting Naruto at the door, he and Hanabi set out for the night, both of them wary of how this night would go.

As they started to walk to Yakiniku Q, the meeting location, Hanabi started to think about why she was here with Naruto. Frankly, Hanabi was surprised that Naruto picked her as his date. He could probably have anyone else in the entire village, yet he chose her. What was so good about her? There had to be plenty of better girls for him to choose from. Hanabi was also surprised that she herself was even going to this kind of thing. She definitely wasn't a social person, and she never imagined herself hanging out with some of the most famous and influential people of Konoha. Her thoughts came to a halt as they started to approach Yakiniku Q. Naruto nervously looked over at her.

"Are you ready?" He asked, being as ready as he would ever be. Hanabi just gave him a nervous nod in response and they both walked into the restaurant.

Opening the door, Naruto and Hanabi were met with the talking of other patrons and the wonderful smell of food. Not long after they entered, they spotted the group they were joining. They all were listening intently to something that Lee was saying. Naruto took a deep breath, put on the most confident face he had, grabbed Hanabi's hand, (causing her cheeks to turn red in the process), and walked toward the booth.

Hanabi tried not to think of Naruto holding her hand and decided to focus on her sister. She was able to see Hinata from where she was, and her face held a smile as she and everyone else listened to Lee. Hanabi was surprised by this considering the recent fallout between the two. It honestly made her feel guilty that she came here because when Hinata would see her, that smile would probably fade.

Hanabi's prediction proved to be correct, as when Hinata looked up and saw her and Naruto coming, her smile instantly fell. Instead, she put up a fake smile to not alert the others of her sadness, but Hanabi saw right through it, and she felt horrible for it. Once Kiba (who ended up going with Hinata due to his lack of finding a girlfriend) saw where Hinata's eyes were directed, he spotted Naruto and Hanabi and got a huge smile on his face. The fact that Naruto had brung Hanabi Hyuuga as a date hadn't fully kicked in yet.

"Naruto! You made it!" Kiba said, causing all of the Konoha 12 to turn around and stare at him. Shino's eyes briefly widened once he saw the girl next to him.

"Y-Yeah! Hey guys!" He greeted them, Hanabi just stood next to him, waiting for someone to recognize her. 

"YOSH! NARUTO AND HIS DATE HAVE ARRIVED. YOU TWO LOOK YOUTHFUL TOGETHER!" Lee exclaimed. The fact that Lee said 'date' had everyone looking at the girl next to him. Most didn't recognize her, but Tenten, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata did. 

"Is that...Hanabi?!" Kiba asked in shock, the rest of the group gave similar expressions. They knew Hinata had a sister and knew her name, but they didn't know what she looked like.

"Hanabi as in Hinata's younger sister?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto just shyly turned his head and responded.

"Y-Yeah, this is my date, H-Hanabi Hyuuga." Naruto said, still holding Hanabi's hand, this didn't go unnoticed by the group. Hanabi gave a small wave with her other hand and a quiet greeting. 

Normally, she would never be like this, but the people she was facing were some of Naruto's closest friends, and also her senpai, so being respectful was a given and she couldn't help but add shyness to the mix. Though, when she thought about it, she was technically Naruto's senpai since he never got promoted above the rank of genin. Hanabi found this quite funny but decided not to laugh since it would seem like she was laughing at them. 

So instead, she settled on smiling instead, and it was a very beautiful smile as well, Naruto was mesmerized by it. Hanabi noticed him staring at blushed lightly. For some reason during that moment, they seemed to forget that they were in front of people. So the Konoha 12, who were watching the whole interaction, mentally agreed that they looked like a cute couple. This definitely angered Hinata, even if she wasn't showing it. 

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Even though Hanabi had made her angry, Hinata still worried for her sister when she found out that she left the clan without clothes or anywhere to go. Hinata knew that Hanabi didn't have many friends, limiting the places she could go severely. She hoped that her sister wouldn't get involved in anything dangerous or shady. After all, Hanabi was still her sister, and Hinata deeply cared for her.

Though Hanabi kept testing Hinata on how much she could forgive. The night after Hanabi left the clan, Hinata came to the conclusion that maybe she had been unfair, and didn't give her a chance to explain. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation for this. But now, Hinata was really starting to question whether or not Hanabi's actions were backed by reasoning or if she really knew what she was doing when she slept with Naruto.

But then again, Hinata wasn't only blaming Hanabi, she also blamed herself. Even though she thought that this whole situation was mainly Hanabi's fault, she couldn't blame everything on her. As much as she hated coming to that conclusion, she realized that this was also her fault as well.

She was the one who was so shy, she was the one who never did anything about her crush, she was the one who had given up on confessing her love for the blonde.

She was the one who decided that it was just too hard and risky to confess. Deep down, Hinata always knew that it was only a matter of time before someone would come along and take Naruto from her, she just didn't know that it'd be her little sister of all people.

Her little sister who, no matter what, used to always prevail and beat her at everything. Just like how Naruto would always prevail and beat whoever was threatening the things he cared about. 

The position of clan head? Sure, Hinata would let her have that. The title of strongest Hyuuga? (before Hinata got stronger than her and before Neji's talents were recognized), Sure. But Naruto? The person she had been infatuated with for all of her life? She thought that there was no chance that this kind of thing would happen. Hell, she only thought about this outcome a couple of days ago. 

She definitely didn't blame Naruto, but it was so frustrating how Naruto had managed to become so close to Hanabi yet not get involved in any of their drama. Didn't he always try and resolve issues? Especially between his friends? She was starting to question everything about the events that led up to this point.

Hinata just wanted to get through the night without sending Hanabi through a wall.