She wasn't quite used to being invisible. People saw her - they just didn't pay much attention. She was that weird quiet girl who hung around in the background and didn't say much. There WERE people who talked to her, though mostly it was just casual associations regarding schoolwork.
He'd never spent a whole lot of time around girls, though he DID find them attractive. On the mandatory schooling that went through Middle School, he had mainly attended all-boy academies. At each of those - he had found a pecking order and had pretty much required he knock heads until they left him alone.
She had largely been shunned or ignored. Oh sure, she had the Byakugan technique - but everyone focussed on Neji who was so talented. She'd eventually end up in a support role in a ninja squad, serve her required time, and then probably settle down as an administrator or something.
Ranma considered the girl who led him through an inner courtyard to a small pavilion. She seemed nearly alien to what he'd come to expect. The first girl he'd met on his return to Nerima's Village Hidden In The City, and the first to give him a smile. A faint smile, and she'd been looking at her hands and turning red, but she HAD smiled. That was definitely different. Of course, he'd met her right after his father's panda form had landed on top of her, but she seemed mostly okay now.
Hinata had mainly attended girls' schools, such as her current stay at Saint Hebereke's Academy For Kunoichi. She'd been around boys before, if you counted her brother, and she'd seen boys on the streets and the like. Being close and alone with one - that was new. So was a boy acting concerned about her. Especially a cute boy. Especially a cute boy taller and more muscular than her. She was curious about the whatever-that-was inside him that had that alien chakra, but she was afraid to say something wrong and spoil the moment.
Ranma looked over the 'pavilion' and realized it was a really old-fashioned sitting room kind of thing. Mostly you saw this at Japanese inns and stuff.
"I've some tea here," said Hinata, getting the things out and trying not to tremble. She was so afraid she'd say the wrong thing. Do something wrong. What could she do to settle the tension?
"Oh, that's good," said Ranma. "Tea's good. I guess." Ranma winced as he realized how lame that had sounded. Girl looked scared or something. She was even shaking a little. How to fix this?
"So, ya wanna be friends?" "Would you like to be friends?"
Ranma and Hinata stared at each other for a moment before Ranma grinned and Hinata surprised herself with a giggle.
Makoto had been looking around when she'd spotted Neji, whom she had often thought of as cute, knocked out in his own courtyard. Naturally she'd leapt down and checked him, wondering what could have happened.
Which was when she'd spotted the photographs. Of her and her sisters.
"Wha?" Neji sat up, rubbing his head. "Oh man, what the hell was that about?"
Makoto continued to gather the scattered photographs, looking at each silently before going after the next one.
"Hey, those are MINE," declared Neji before he realized that hadn't been the best admission to make.
"Oh. So they are?" asked the tall girl in a soft and totally controlled tone. "So - you want them back?"
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(Posted Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:04)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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