• THE FAIRY GODMOTHERS •

The night of Sasuke's birthday drew near and Hinata could see herself not going for the party. Whereas Sakura and Ino chose dresses to wear Hinata was stuck responding to Mebuki's beck and calls.

The ravenette could see it from afar that the main reason behind her absence at the party would not be Sakura or even Ino. It would be her step mother dearest. Boy was she glad that Sakura didn't inherit her genes!

Of course with the excitement going on Sakura forgot that Hinata existed once again but she didn't mind. And besides she had so much to do.

On the day of Sasuke's birthday Mebuki had given her the permission to go to the party on the condition that she would get everything on her list done. It was a short one but the moment she saw 'scrub the dirt in-between the floor tiles of every room in the house' Hinata gave up hope.

Mebuki was, swearing in food terms, a peach.

You should've been in Hinata and Sakura's school today. It was rowdy everywhere. If Sasuke's fan girls were numerous before, today they were multi numerous and extra rabid. Wrapped presents filled the school, much so that it made the boys who never got a present from a girl in their lives cry.

"And I thought valentine's day was bad." Tenten mumbled through a mouthful of cinnamon rolls. She was in the home economics lab with Hinata that day, hiding out from the madness that was going on outside.

Sasuke, the wise boy, didn't come to school today so hell set loose in Konoha High. Hinata pitied his locker, table and mailbox the most; they would be stuffed so full with presents upon presents.

"Why so glum, Hinana?"

Hinata's nose wrinkled cutely at the nickname. Tenten had stuck to calling her that recently after she heard from Neji how Hanabi used to call Hinata when she was four. She didn't mind it though. It was just weird hearing Tenten calling her that.

"I can't go for the potlatch party, Ten." Hinata announced sadly.

Tenten stopped eating. "Why not?!" She asked profoundly. Hinata wordlessly handed the list Mebuki gave her. "Mebuki that son of a b-!"

"-swear in food terms!" Hinata shrieked in horror. Tenten caught her words in time before she ruined the book's PG rating.

"-biscuit. Son of a biscuit."

The both of them sighed in relief, then the previous conversation continued.

"She can't do this to you! You have every right to go for a friend's birthday party!" Tenten exclaimed indignantly.

Hinata plucked the list out of the chestnut haired girl's hand before she destroyed it. "I have no choice Ten, Mebuki is my step mother even if she's being a beef jerky."

Tenten deflated at that. It was true that even though they both didn't like it they had to obey Mebuki's orders. "This sucks for you." She lamented.

"It does." Hinata agreed with a forlorn sigh.

-

Mebuki left for a business trip in the morning and Sakura was out of the house after school to get ready for the party at Ino's. She felt bad about leaving Hinata alone but the ravenette shooed her out so that she would not miss the party.

Sakura ended up not cooking for the potlatch party. Not with Mebuki handling the dessert for her. So essentially, Sakura was going to the party with a professionally prepared dish while she was forced to lie about it.

Tell me what sucks more than that.

It didn't dull the rosette's mood though, she had a chance of dancing and interacting with Sasuke tonight so she was determined not to let anything ruin her mood.

The house is empty and overly bug now that Hinata is the only one at home. Since there was literally nothing else to do she set to work, doing all of the heinous jobs her step mother instructed her to.

She was halfway through scrubbing the tiles in the living room when the doorbell rang. Hinata cleaned her hands and went to the intercom to see who it was. It turned out to be her sister, cousin and cousin-in-law. The gate keeper must've let their car in.

"Hina-chan!"

"Hinana!"

"Open up." Neji didn't need to tell her twice, she let them in. Immediately she did Hanabi jumped on her with a ferocious hug, causing them both to fall back. Neither cared though. It had been a while for the both of them.

"What are you all doing here?" Hinata's hand never left her sister's hair. She was flustered by their surprise visit and it showed through her red cheeks.

"We came to help you prepare for the party!" Hanabi hollered excitedly.

It was just then Hinata noticed the duffel bag that Neji carried. In fact each of them were carrying either bags or boxes. What is going on?

"What is going on?" She repeated out loud.

"Tenten told me about what Mebuki did." Neji replied. He was angry, she could tell, but he contained himself. What was there to do about the situation anyway? "But she's not about to stop you from going to that party." Her cousin's words registered and then Hinata froze.

What?

"What? There's no way I can go, have you seen the workload I have?!" The ravenette exclaimed.

Tenten gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "We'll take care of it."

"B-but what about my dessert? I have no material to cook-!"

"All the ingredients you need are in the car." Neji cut her off with the 'I won't take no for an answer' voice, but Hinata had always proved difficult to persuade even though she was normally gentle and meek, so she said...

"But I have no clothes to wear!"

That was the last straw.

"Tut tut tut!" The older Hyuga wagged his finger in the no no motion as he sauntered towards her. He stopped, hand on his hip, in front of her and pushed the bag he carried into her chest. "I spent a month making this dress for you and I'm not going to allow my hard work to be put to waste!"

Tenten also pushed herself into her line of sight crossly with a hand on her hip. Like boyfriend like girlfriend. "I was pierced by pins a lot because I modelled this dress. Do you know how much I was poked and prodded!?"

"You move around a lot, Coconut, it's impossible not to poke you!" Neji defended himself from his girlfriend's passive aggressive wrath to no avail.

"G-guys..." It was no use, they were deep into their lover's spat already.

"Poked, he says. You beef-ing impaled me with those giant needles of yours!"

"I thought we were over this already?!"

"Guys...!"

"I made the mask!"

Hanabi's proud exclamation made all heads to turn towards the twelve year old, each with smiles on on their faces. Just like that the argument was forgotten.

"Aww you did?" Hinata asked and her sister nodded enthusiastically. "Well what can I say? I simply can't refuse to go to this party otherwise nobody would see the mask that my dear Hanabi created!"

"Good! Now get to work and start baking those cinnamon buns while we handle the rest!"

"Aye aye captain Neji!" Hinata saluted and ran to the kitchen.

You know what I said about Neji being the fairy godmother in our story? It was a lie. Hinata has three fairy godmothers; Neji, Tenten and Hanabi and she would never trade them for the world.

***

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