So, after a HUGE fiction overhaul, I've finally got a place for this story to go, so I can AT LAST continue without all the confusion I had going on. See, it started on a whim, and accidentally became a favorite as far as readers of my fictions go. So, I had NADA for it. Now I can hopefully not wait a YEAR to update.
Friday, two weeks after her arrival into Nirvana Central High School and almost three weeks to the day of her arrival in the city of Little Buddha, NV, Hinata was being escorted from her seventh period English class to her eighth period Choir. Her escort, Jenny Andreas, a smart blond girl with a bubbly attitude was going on beside her about the latest book she'd read, about dragons. Hinata felt, for what felt like the first time, honestly content with her life as it was.
So used to being held to expectations by her father, or looked down upon by friends and family as weak willed and shy, Hinata breathed a sigh for freedom that she'd never experienced before. It hadn't been a fast sigh by any means, but gradually she'd felt the tension knots between her shoulder blades, that caused her endless troubles in training, slip loose and release as she spent more and more time in the loving care of her new world.
She hadn't stuttered in a week.
"So I HAD to call Caitlin, she's your Outdoor Sports and Rec. escort, by the way, who lent me the book, right then and demand the next book in the series! Oh! Hey, we're here! Hinata? Are you listening to me?" Hinata started, and realized that she was in fact at her classroom door, and her friend Kirsten was standing in the door waiting to take her to her place on the risers. Waving bye to Jenny and saying her hellos to Kirsten, Hinata entered the choir room.
Immediately she was surrounded by the chatter of the all-girl choir's plans for the weekend. It was comforting, somehow, too, that the everyday conversations of the young girls weren't about their latest/lamest missions. "So how's your day been, Hina?" asked Kirsten as they sat down.
"Nice, I guess, its sort of annoying that Maddie refuses to wake up and see me off to class at seven, but I guess that's just Maddie for you. I saw her at lunch, today." Hinata replied, very carefully looking forward.
Kirsten made a face, "I still can't believe you have that 7:30 AM class, what was it again?"
"US History, which is a much more interesting class than Nevada history."
"That's because Nevada doesn't HAVE any history." The pair laughed together for a moment before the bell rang and the director stepped up to her music stand to begin class.
"Alright, let's get started! First off, I want to talk about solos. We only have one for this choir, meaning that competition's going to be tough for it. Sopranos: I'm sorry, but more than likely, it will be going to an Alto, Soprano ones: Don't even try, because you will end up breaking your vocal cords, and we need them for that high e in Lux Eterna." Kirsten groaned with a pout, and Hinata, who was a second soprano, reached around and patted her back a couple times.
They then waited out the rest of the announcements about the concert they were practicing for, in a month and a half's time, including the after school rehearsal dates and dress details. After all this, they began their warm ups.
The group ran through Lux Eterna three times before Mrs. Russel was marginally happy with it. "Okay, so I'd say let's do a round of Le Enfant, but on account that we do have that solo for The Swan, we'll do that instead. Girls, line up right here beside the piano. I'll get the music."
Kirsten groaned once more, putting her head into her hands and her hands in her knees. Hinata reached out without thinking and petted her head again. Kirsten shot upwards, and swiftly snapped her head around to look Hinata fiercely in the eyes. "Try out, Hina."
"What? No way, I'm not good enough!" Hinata replied, turning her head in the direction of the try-outs. She listened to the girl, Samantha something, if she wasn't mistaken, and turned back to Kirsten. "See? Hear? She is much better than me!"
"No she isn't! She just sings from her diaphragm and you sing quietly! I'm not joking! Try out! Get at the back of that line or so HELP me…!" Kirsten hissed.
"Can the talking in the risers please stop? People are trying out for a solo, and that's very distracting," said Mrs. Russell, as she twisted around at the waist to face her students. Kirsten raised her hand.
"I was just telling Hinata that she should try out."
Mrs. Russell smiled that infuriating teacher-smile that stopped good kids in their tracks and made bad kids crack jokes. "That's an awesome idea, Kirsten, Hinata come join the line, even if you don't do well, it will give you some experience for a solo you may really want." She stepped over daintily and pulled Hinata into the line by her hand. "Here's the end of the line."
Hinata wanted to die from the heat permeating her cheeks. Her ears seemed to pop into overdrive, as she listened to all the other try outs, one by one. It began to wear on her nerves, the notes, as they repeated, and suddenly, sound was something that could be feared. Hinata risked a glance around the room and her eye caught the clock, she was two people away from trying out herself, and there was only five minutes of class left! There was hope! She might not have to go through with it! Hinata prayed to any and all spirits or ancestors or gods that may be listening to please not let her have to sing, alone, in front of so many people! She'd never even sung ONCE before joining the class!
Then, just as the girl ahead of her finished, the bell rang, and the door swung open with a whoop announcing Maddie's entrance. Hinata took a drinking breath of air and heaved it all out in one go. The tension all fell away, and she almost began dancing around the piano to get to her things and leave.
"Oh hello, Maddie, Hinata was about to try out for the class solo!" Mrs. Russell said over the noise of all the choir girls leaving, and Hinata's stomach tumbled out from her middle to float somewhere about a mile below the school.
"REALLY? CAN I LISTEN, HINA?" Maddie asked, hurtling over a chair and attacking Hinata with a vice-like hug to the dark-haired girl's arm, her body crouching so she could fit her head neatly onto the shorter Hinata's shoulder. Sighing, Hinata placed her chin on Maddie's hair and muttered curses to herself in Japanese, English, and the coarse Mandarin that she'd learned on an escort mission to far to the west that Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai-sensei didn't think she'd picked up. "What was that? I didn't hear you."
"I said, I actually kind of don't want to try out, I'm no good." She admitted, shifting away from Maddie. Maddie gawped.
"Hinata, don't you ever say that!" Maddie exclaimed. "You always try! Always! I don't care if you look stupid, school's out for the day and most your class is gone anyway! If it makes you feel better, any time I try out for choirs they kick me out and say don't come back. You're definitely better than me." Hinata, taken aback from the odd, somewhat awkward outburst and Kirsten's furious agreements, bit the inside of her cheek.
"Hina, you have a wonderful voice, the only reason you don't think you're good is because you can't hear it. Sing loud, sing proud, and try out! For me?" asked Mrs. Russell. The sometimes childish teacher brought up her hands in a pleading gesture and opened her great blue eyes wide and wobbled a lip, then remembered that Hinata was blind, and added a pathetically humorous whimper. "I'm begging here, just try I'm not going to hold it against you if you do badly or anything!"
Knowing defeat quite intimately, Hinata knew she was beaten. "Okay, get the music."
Maddie squealed and ran to the risers, thumping her hands on her jeans and grinning like a loon. Kirsten and she squealed together and huddled in their own little pod of joyful energy. Hinata didn't even need to look at them to know that the pair were congratulating each other on their joint victory to make Hinata go though with tryouts.
"Are you…?" asked Mrs. Russell, hands at the ready on the stereo buttons, hovering over the glowing green play.
Hinata swallowed, and glanced at her hands. And caught a glimpse of bright purple nail polish that Maddie insisted she wear three days ago. For some reason, this brought her to a quick thought about Maddie, and her strange, unconditional support.
Hinata took a deep breath in, feeling all her tension and worry gather in her chest, making it shake with quaking vibrations set off in fear.
She closed her eyes, and remembered the music.
She exhaled, and let her mind go silent, and there to her side she felt Maddie grinning.
Fears abolished, she replied, "Yes."
The music began, and surprising herself, Hinata found her notes to be clear like bells, vibrating her chest along her breastbone, and resonating through her mouth. Her diction was good too, holding little of her slight accent. Listening to herself, Hinata marveled. The solo was easy enough; she had heard it fifteen times because of all the other girls trying out.
Getting used to the thought of singing alone, rather than in a group, Hinata tried using the 'diaphragm' that Kirsten always harped about. Standing a little straighter, Hinata took right hand right under her ribs and felt it. Discretely she sent just a tiny thread of chakra from her middle to the diaphragm and her voice jumped in volume.
Opening her eyes, Hinata gradually increased the thread in size until she could hear her voice rebound in the room like a speaker, and then, drifted quietly into silence signaling the end; yet reluctant to let it do so.
She turned to face her two friends, who had slack jawed faces and stupefied looks across their eyes. "Buh-huh-whuh?" was Maddie's spectacular commentary.
"Okay, 'not good' how, now, Hinata?" asked Mrs. Russell, walking over from the stereo, an grin just resisting to surface. "Because I don't know about you three, but since I get to choose who gets the solo and you don't so it doesn't matter what you're thinking anyway, I think I'm going have to say you have the solo. That was so amazing Hinata!" and Mrs. Russell wrapped her up in a hug fit for the stereotypical crazy aunt.
Maddie and Kirsten, regaining mobility, leaped up too. "That was AWESOME!" shouted Kirsten, to Maddie's furious nodding.
"I've never, I mean, wow! Hinata, how could you say you aren't good? I'm not kidding, girl that was fu-er-freaking sweet!" Hinata blushed as Kirsten and Maddie began to quip back and forth over the 'amaze-ocity' of Hinata's performance.
"Do I really get the solo, Mrs. Russell? Not Samantha?" asked Hinata.
"Samantha's voice is beautiful, Hinata, I know, but the piece we're singing is an ode to lovers. She has a voice to rough-and-tumble beautiful for it to work really well with the piece. If it were a folk song I'd say differently, but it isn't, so I can't just leave it at her and be done with it." Hinata marveled at her teacher, amazed that she hadn't even thought of it, really it should have been obvious. Look at all the different types of camouflage a ninja could wear, forest, sand, black, white, you had to pick your clothes for what mission you had, didn't you? It really wasn't any different, was it?
Hinata smiled so widely that she thought her face was going to crack in two, "I did do pretty good, didn't I?" Laughing and giddy with excitement, Hinata, Kirsten, and Maddie all left the room to catch their rides home.
Hinata and Maddie were still giggling about it at dinner that night, and Mr. and Mrs. Dwight were beginning to wonder if their pair of girls were sniffing inappropriate things to sniff. The four family members were all gathered around the table, Marie and Darrel on both ends, and the girls centered on either side of the rectangular table, when the spontaneous bouts of giggling finally pushed Darrel off the edge of curiosity.
"Okay, I give, what has you two so happy tonight?" He questioned, leaning forward in his chair. "You've been laughing like crazy people all day!" This only caused Maddie to laugh harder, half-chewed salad displayed rather messily from her mouth; head tilted back and hands held up limply by her shoulders.
"MADDIE! Swallow! Swallow!" Marie Dwight yelled at her hysterical daughter.
"Maddie, I don't want to see half-chewed salad," Hinata choked out, covering her mouth as she licked mashed potato from the corner of her lips. Maddie gave her sister a thumbs up and closed her mouth, hand clasped tightly over her lips to help in avoiding spitting out masses of dressing or a stray leaf. "I got the solo for choir, Mr. and Mrs. Dwight, that's why we're laughing, I'm sorry if we've caused any confusion…"
The two adults blinked rapidly for a few moments before Mr. Dwight's eyes lit up with pride and Mrs. Dwight stated calmly, "Congrats, Hina. When's the concert? I would really like to attend to watch you perform." Mr. Dwight grinned.
"Yes, dear, do you know the date? I need to shuffle any appointments I may have."
Hinata's laughter stopped. She flicked her head from side to side, looking at her hosts. "You…want to come? You…want to see me perform? You…Would you really do that for me?" Hinata's mind tripped to looking at flash images of Hiashi and her mother, neither of whom had ever tried very hard to come to things Hinata wanted felt important, not even her graduation of the ninja academy. She once asked them to go on a picnic with her during the height of cherry blossom viewing season, and Hiashi told her it was a frivolous waste of time, especially for her, who needed extra training compared to everyone else. She ended up going alone.
"Of course, sweetie, why wouldn't we?" Asked Mrs. Dwight while reaching over and giving Hinata's cheek a quick pinch.
Hinata flushed pink, "I don't want to trouble you if you already have plans, is all."
"Honey, you are more important than any meeting I could possibly have planned. It's as simple as that."
Hinata gazed at Mrs. Dwight very hard for a second, trying to judge if what she was saying was true, and upon seeing the soft look of loving conviction in the older woman's eyes, Hinata for a moment didn't know what to think.
Briefly she remembered her real mother's mirror-like eyes that never seemed anything other than apathetic, the image transposed over the one of such loving care that Mrs. Dwight was giving her, and Hinata felt the most hated prickle behind her eyes beginning. Burying her face into the heel of her palms, Hinata took a few shaky, panting breaths before the tears came. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much…You have no idea how much that means to me!" she cried into her hands.
A pair of strong, thick arms wrapped around her shoulders, and enveloped her with a vanilla musky scent. Mr. Dwight rocked her back and forth, whispering nonsense in her ears, but it was so soft and pretty that she really didn't care that she didn't understand the words, all that mattered at that moment was that someone in the world really seemed to be proud of her.
Someone was proud of her, and it made her so incredibly happy. So happy she was crying.
Later that night as she and Maddie were brushing their teeth in Maddie's bathroom, decorated in various blues and coral shades, and everything was shaped like a shell, including the sink, Maddie asked Hinata if she'd like to sing for the band.
DONE! HA HA! FINISHED! I at last finish the chapter of DOOM! But on that note, I'd really like to seriously ask any of you people who still care about this fiction if anyone would like to be a beta for it. I really need someone to bounce ideas off of and such. You'd get chapters ahead of time, and then tell me where the rough/confusing sections are so I can fix them. Also, if anyone would like to submit an idea for a band name for the group, that would be nice.