Disclaimer: Naruto? Me no own.

Doll

By Forever3330

Hanabi's quarters are plain and cold, and there is nothing impractical save one small object. A small, worn cloth doll sits in a reverent position atop her small wooden chest. If she holds it close, she can still smell Hinata, something fresh and earthy and faintly like soap.

She recalls perfectly the day she received it. It was her birthday, but that meant little to her; she had no one to celebrate it with, though she was surrounded by family. Her training that day was slightly harder, as if to remind her that even though she had come into this world this day, a few years ago, she was not to let it divert her from her path.

Her path was to become stronger, because there is no other path for a Hyuuga.

Hinata came up to her, shy and awkward, and Hanabi was too startled to say anything. Her father did not allow her to see her sister often, as if afraid that Hinata's weakness was catching, and Hinata did not have the courage to try and see her.

They stand like that for a few moments, alone in the courtyard, and Hanabi starts when Hinata holds out her hands, before she realizes that her sister is giving her something.

Hanabi's eyes are drawn instantly to the doll, a tiny woman stitched with care. She had seen dolls before, of course, when the Aunts took her to walk in the village. Other girls her age had been playing with them, creating odd little worlds of their own.

She had never been permitted to have one. She was Hyuuga, and Hyuuga did not play. Hanabi knew that her father would disapprove of the delicate thing.

She looks at Hinata again, the way her sister looked at the ground, the way she trembled, the many bandages on her hands, and finally speaks. "For me?"

Hinata looks startled. "Um, y-yes. H-happy birthday...I...I noticed y-you didn't have a-any dolls, so..."

Hanabi wonders if Hinata knew dolls were forbidden, thinks that she should tell her sister before they are both scolded, but finds that the doll is already nestled in her arms. She does not know what to say for a few moments, cannot comprehend that anyone would notice or care that she had no toys. Cannot believe that anyone would watch her so closely. "Thank you," she says quietly.

Hinata cannot say anything in return, but nods, red with too many emotions for Hanabi to identify.

They stand together for a while longer, watching the sun go down, and when Hanabi returns to her room she places the doll carefully atop her trunk, uncertain as to what precisely she should do with it.

In the end, she lets it sit there, a colorful guardian in her room of grays, and from time to time she takes the small woman into her arms as she rests on her bed, burying her nose within the ornate dress to breathe in deeply.

When she goes on missions to bring back nin who have left, she tucks the small woman in one of her pockets, because she has found she cannot bear to leave it behind.

Years later, when she is no longer small and the Hyuuga are changing, Hinata asks Hanabi why she so readily supported her. She asks why Hanabi does not wish to be the Head.

Hanabi stares at her sister for a few moments before she replies.

'Because you were my sister, even when you were not allowed to be.'