Family Obligation

Hinata awoke the next morning alone in her room. When she didn't have to be she wasn't a morning person, so she took a good ten minutes to fully get up. In truth, half of that time was spent trying to go back to sleep. She only gave up on that when she heard the sound of running water in the bathroom and knew breakfast would be ready soon. If she missed the family breakfast, without good cause, her mother would say she was being lazy. Given her current situation, she didn't want to give her any cause to doubt her suitability as a companion.

Climbing out of her bed, she left her room and stood by the bathroom door waiting for Hanabi to relinquish it. Her sister never spent that much time in the bathroom, and true to form the door opened a moment later and a fully clothed Hanabi stepped out and said way too cheerfully, "Morning sis."

"Good morning," she said trying to sound more awake than she was.

Slipping past her sister, she entered the bathroom and quickly undressed. It wasn't until she sprayed a little cold water onto her chest, though, that she truly woke up and her first real thought of the day was she forgot to bring any clothes with her to change into. Well, there was nothing to do about it now. She always missed even the little things up. That thought had come to her automatically and she tried to ignore it, knowing those were the type of thoughts that had held her back for so long. She washed up as quickly as she could before wrapping a towel around herself and darting across the hallway. At least that was what she had planned to do.

"Hinata," her sister called out right before she was about to open her bedroom door.

The older Hyuga sister paused before turning to face her sister, "Yes?" She noticed with slight amusement and a blush that her sister eye's were not quite on her face.

"Um… are you going to be home tonight?"

She smiled, understanding what her sister was really trying to find out. "Yes, why do you ask?"

Hanabi smiled and said with a slight darkening of her cheeks, "Do you think we could do something like what we did last night?"

Hinata really couldn't help but be amused. It had taken her a long time to build up the confidence to ask Hana so bluntly. "Of course we can."

"Great, well I'm hungry so I'll see you at the table."

She smiled as her sister slipped past her. Seeing Hanabi happy made her happy, and perhaps a little selfishly she wondered if she could convince her to reciprocate tonight. Shaking her head, she put thoughts of tonight out of her head for now as she ducked into her room to get dressed.

Five minutes later, Hinata arrived at the breakfast table just a minute before her parents came into the room. Her clan may put on airs, but breakfast was a surprisingly low-key affair. As always, breakfast was prepared by her mother which was a fact that she had found surprised many people. There seemed to be a persistent belief that the branch members of the family weren't used for such tasks which was simply not true. Her family actually disdained the use of servants, particularly for such domestic things.

Once each of them had their breakfast in front of them, her father started the conversation. "Hanabi if I have counted correctly you completed your ninth D-rank mission yesterday. Is your Jonin sensei intending on nominating you for the upcoming exam?"

Her sister had just taken a bite, but she seemed to take longer to chew it than necessary before answering the question. "He hasn't said as much, but as far as I know my team is the only one to complete the eight required missions. Still, yesterday's was more to help Koji than anything else."

"Koji?" Her father questioned before remembering, "Oh yes, he's one of your teammates. How did the mission help him?"

"Well, his little brother's birthday is coming up and he couldn't afford a present so we did a mission."

"If he needed Ryo, he should have done it on his own time and not during team training. Your sensei should not have allowed this," her mother interjected, clearly disapproving.

Hinata looked across the table at her sister, sensing an argument coming. She glanced over at her father who seemed just as aware of the situation as she was. "Father," she began before she was interrupted by her sister.

"Mother, Koji asked both Genji and I before he made the request to Aoba sensei. We both agreed to back him up. Should we not have helped our teammate?"

"Your training should come first and foremost."

Hanabi opened her mouth to say something, but Hinata deliberately placed her glass down on the table hard and her sister looked away from her mother and at her instead. She wordlessly pleaded with her not to argue, just this one time and perhaps because of last night or perhaps for a reason of her own Hanabi said, "Father, may I be excused? I wouldn't want to be late for my team's meeting."

Her sister's excuse was flimsy and everyone at the table knew it. Still, their father nodded and said, "Yes you may."

Hanabi picked up her plate and headed into the kitchen. Hinata wondered if her sister would secretly finish her meal in the kitchen or simply purchase a meal at one of the stalls that opened this early in the morning. Not for the first time she wondered how things had come to be like this.

The conversation around the table turned to more pedestrian things largely led by her father. The tension in the room gradually faded, and as a modification to the garden was brought up, Hinata's mind wandered back to the aborted argument. Her sympathies lied with her sister of course. There was no harm in helping out a teammate, but Hanabi could have just easily taken her mother's criticism and let it go. Little things like that had to be done to keep domestic harmony, and if their father had said the same words, that's probably what she would've done.

This wasn't new of course. It just seemed to be happening more and more frequently. Her sister was always polite about it, which only infuriated her mother more. They were even starting to argue over little things, but really they were never arguing about what they were arguing about. She suspected half the time that one of them was still angry over a previous argument. Still, even though she wanted to do something about it, she wasn't sure what she could do.

By the time she started to clear the dishes, though, she was determined to talk to Hanabi about it. She just wasn't sure how to go about it and spent a good portion of the rest of the day rehearsing arguments in her head.

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Dinner was a tense affair that night. The three Hyuga women were alone because the head of their family had been called to go on a mission at the last minute. Without his presence, conversation became harder to carry on. Hinata was relieved when the meal finally ended. Her sister and she cleared the table, and as she started to wash the dishes, she could see Hanabi was excited.

Her sister was rocking back and forth on her heels as she stood next to her with a dishtowel in hand waiting impatiently to dry the dishes. She smiled. When she had been in her sister's position, it had taken her a while to get used to the idea and, well, when she had… it was nice.

She shook her head and handed her sister the first dish. Yes, clearly her sister wanted there to be a physical side to their new relationship and that really didn't bother her now that she got used to the idea. Still, she needed to help mend the relationship between mother and daughter, even if she still wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. "How was your day?"

"Fine," her sister replied. "It was a training day. What about you?"

"It was all right. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my old team and I'm not sure if we will apply for a mission or at just try to get a little training in together."

"How do you do that? I mean you have been a chunin for a while and you still do a lot of stuff with your teammates."

Hinata frowned, noticing the change in her sister's tone of voice. "Well, I suppose some teams breakup after they all have been promoted, but we became close friends when we were genin so we want to see each other and we work as a good team." Hanabi didn't say anything for a while and her sister just waited, knowing something was wrong, but wanting her to bring it up.

"If I tell you something, will you not tell anyone else?"

She glanced over at her sister who was staring intently into the plate she had been cleaning. Turning back to her own work she said, "I am doubly honor bound to do so. First, I'm your companion, second and more importantly I am your sister."She decided it might be easier for her sister if she wasn't looking at her when she said whatever she had to say. Still, she could sense that her sister was looking over her shoulder to make sure no one else was around.

"I," she fell silent and after a second tried again "sensei asked if we wanted to participate in the upcoming exams and I really don't want too."

Even though she had been expecting some sort of confession, Hinata was surprised by the nature of it. She certainly had had a crisis of confidence when she had been her sister's age, but the combination of not wanting to let down her teammates and a little pillow talk with Hana had helped her. Still, if it was anything her sister had abundance of it was confidence so it had to be something else. "Well, do you know why you don't want to take the exam?"

Hanabi shifted uncomfortably before saying, "I'm happy being on a genin team. I'm afraid that if one of us gets promoted, then we won't be friends anymore."

This was an unexpected concern, Hinata thought as she tried to figure out what she should say to that. "You know Hanabi, eventually that's going to happen."

"I know," Hanabi snapped. "I just don't want it to happen just yet. I mean, is it really that big of a deal if I wait until I'm thirteen to take the exam?"

"No, it's not. There's a reason the final decision is always left up to the individual. Still, have you talked to your teammates about this?"

"Not really," Hanabi supplied quietly.

"Well, you should tell them that you don't want to take the exam. If they show up on exam day only to find out that they can't take it because you're not there, they're going to be angry at you and honestly, I wouldn't blame them. If one of them still wants to take the exam they could be put on a makeshift team."

Hanabi was silent for a long time, but eventually said begrudgingly, "I guess you're right. I'll tell them tomorrow."

"Are you going to tell them why you don't want to take the exam too?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just hope our parents don't find out about this."

"They won't from me," Hinata said, giving her sister a single arm hug, careful not to get her wet. Her sister leaned into her for second before pulling away, ending the hug. After another dish was cleaned she asked, "Do you still want to do something tonight?"

Her sister looked up at her and again she was surprised at how fast Hanabi could get over something as she smiled a little and said, "Of course, I have been looking forward to it all day."

A small twinge of excitement shot through Hinata's body which was immediately followed by a small twinge of guilt. On a purely medical level, she knew that there was no reason why she shouldn't enjoy the stimulation of nerves, but given the nature of their relationship she wondered how appropriate it was for her to desire this aspect of their relationship. Maybe she really should talk to Hana about that. Besides, she still wanted to talk to her sister about their mother tonight and she still didn't have much of a plan.

Leaning slightly to her side, she said conspiratorially, "Well, I could finish up here, if you would like to go wash up?"

Hanabi glanced over the still to be washed dishes and said, "Are you sure?"

"Why don't you wait in my room?"

"All right," Hanabi said before she scampered out of the kitchen.

Hinata smiled to herself as she finished the dishes. Sometimes she was astonished at how different they were. Like her sister, she had known about companions and the reason for them, but she had been so reluctant at first. On one level, wanting to do stuff and on another not wanting to. She had eventually settled down, but her sister seemed eager.

Finishing the dishes, she waited a few minutes longer before heading to the bathroom. The door was ajar, but the lights were still on. She paused for a second, wondering if her sister had left the lights on or had forgotten to close the door in her haste. Listening at the doorway for a second, she decided it was the former and not the latter.

Closing the door, she started to undress and then wash up. It had been a pretty leisurely day for her, but she concentrated on a few areas giving them a more thorough cleaning then she ordinarily would. When she was done, she picked up her clothes and wrapped herself in a bath towel. For a second, she hesitated. She had not grabbed a set of her pajamas because she thought she would be taking them off in a minute anyway and this hallway was pretty much just dedicated to the two of them. Still, if she walked in like this, would Hanabi feel as if she's putting pressure on her? Perhaps, Hanabi wouldn't want to try it, but might feel obligated to if she was already naked.

For a minute, she stood there going back and forth with herself, but eventually realized that Hanabi probably wasn't that sensitive about such things. Still, Hinata decided she would have to remind her sister that she, the younger was in actual charge. If she ever pressured her sister into doing something she didn't want to, she would have failed in her role as a companion and as a sister. If that happened, she doubted she would be able to forgive herself even if Hanabi would.

Screwing up her courage, she wrapped a towel tightly around herself and proceeded to cross the hall to her room. Sliding open her bedroom door, she found her sister waiting for her, sitting where she had sat yesterday and wearing the same pajamas. Hinata searched her sister's face for any surprise at her attire, but even though she didn't find one she felt the need to add, "I forgot my pajamas."

"Oh, that's okay," Hanabi said before adding, "I suppose, I should get undressed."

"If you want," Hinata supplied as she went over to her hamper to drop her clothes inside. When she turned back around, though, she saw her sister was already stepping out of her pajama bottoms. With her sister already naked she loosened her own towel and exposed herself to the air.

Hanabi smiled at her approach and perhaps subconsciously she seemed to squeeze her legs together which Hinata would've taken for a complement if her sister hadn't experienced orgasm for the first time just yesterday. Still, she noticed her sister wasn't looking at her face or even looking where she had been this morning, but further south.

She stopped when they were almost toe to toe and clasped Hanabi's face between her two hands and held her gaze for a second. "Hanabi, you know if you ever want to stop doing something you just have to say so."

"I know." She smiled and added, "I trust you."

Those three words brought a smile to Hinata and she said, "I'm going to start off by kissing you. Is that okay?"

Hanabi's goofy smile was all the answer she needed and she slowly leaned down, even as her sister stood up on her tip toes to meet her halfway. Hinata wrapped her arms around her sister who did likewise and they continued to kiss, if a bit chastely. Hanabi was pushed against her breasts as they started to sink slowly to the floor.

When her knees hit the floor, she pulled Hanabi even closer to her and broke the kiss. Her sister's eyes were closed, but her face was red and she went to kiss her cheek. It was only a quick peck as she moved down to her neck, kissing and then sucking lately. Everyone in her family was extremely fair skinned and it didn't take much to leave a mark which was something she had learned the hard way.

Wanting to avoid that, Hinata continued on her journey, kissing her sister's shoulder and then gently pushing her back, not to reject her, but to slowly lay her down. She kissed a nipple before probing it with her tongue. She swirled her tongue around it, making it hard before sliding over to the other one, letting her lips slide across Hanabi's chest. When she repeated the process with the other nipple, she could feel her sister inhale sharply.

She continued downwards, leaving little butterfly kisses to mark her trail. She paused at her belly button and swirled her tongue around it like she had for both of Hanabi's nipples. This time her sister giggled, her stomach rising and falling rapidly. When she continued down further, though, the giggling stopped. For a second, she paused and waited to hear an objection, but while her sister had become tense, knowing her next destination, she voiced no objection.

Hinata smelled apples. That was the scent of the body wash they used, and although she had always known that, she had never smelled it so strongly before. Hanabi was on her back now and she paused for a second to look up across her body at her. Her face was red, but Hanabi remained silent so she brought up her hand to spread her vulva open. She took a few seconds to look at her sister's hidden spot. Hanabi raised her legs and she slipped her arms around her thighs to hold her there. Kissing her thighs, she nuzzled her with her nose before spreading her legs so she could slip her tongue inside.

She took her time not just teasing Hanabi's clitoris but everything. Gasps, whimpers and moans were all the sounds that Hinata heard and she used them as a guide to tease and satisfy. Her skills were not without fault, but she knew how to draw this out and when Hanabi did reach her climax, it was as much relief for her as it was for Hanabi.

She had to roll out from between her sister's legs and for several minutes they both lied there. When her sister's breathing became steadier she said, "Would you like to try doing it?"

For a moment, her sister didn't answer and just when she was about to give up hope Hanabi said, "Yeah, I'll try."

Hinata smiled, raising her knees and spread them as her sister crawled between them. It had been a long time since she had done this and she was looking forward to it. She closed her eyes and waited. After a minute, during which she didn't hear a sound, she opened her eyes and asked, "Hanabi?" Her sister was between her legs, but she was just staring down at her. "Hanabi?" She said again more concerned now.

"I'm sorry, I just," her sister trailed off clearly upset.

Quickly, she sat up on her knees and hugged her sister as her desire for her own release was pushed aside by something more important. "It's okay, like I said you don't have too."

"I'm sorry," Hanabi repeated more quietly this time.

"It's okay. It's fine. Don't worry about it." Hinata said every word that might comfort her sister this moment even as she hugged her for reassurance.

"You won't hate me?" Her sister questioned.

Hinata was actually surprised by the question. "Because of this? No, never. Hanabi, I love you, you're my sister and I will always love you."

"You're not disappointed?"

She was about to reassure her that she was not, but something told her that she should be honest. "Only a little, but that's the nice thing about family. We can always forgive each other."

Her sister nodded and Hinata could tell that she was disappointed in herself so she hugged her again which may not have been the best thing to do under these circumstances. Annoyingly, even though her mind was no longer in the mood her body had not got the message and it was still ready to go.

She ignored her body and just hugged her sister tighter. After a moment, Hanabi looked up at her and said, "I guess, I'm kind of a coward."

"Because you didn't want to do that?" Hinata said raising an eyebrow in slight surprise. "No, I don't."

"I don't know," Hanabi said looking away. "I've been chickening out a lot lately. I don't want to take the exam and didn't want to do that. I mean I thought I could do that but, the hair. It was just so disgusting."

Patting her on the back she said, "Hanabi listen, you said you didn't want to take the exam because you're afraid of losing your friends. That's understandable." She smiled and added, "I'll tell you what though, if you tell your teammates that you don't want to take the exam and they accept your decision, I'm confident they will always be your friends. As for the other thing, well I didn't the first time either. Heck it took me months."

Her sister smiled weakly and then said something that truly shocked her. "Yeah, but I can't make up with mom."

Mom, not mother Hinata noticed. "Well, have you tried not arguing with her?"

Hanabi shook her head. "It's not that easy. She just irritates me. Nothing I do is right, but it's not like I'm some sort of screw up though. I mean so what if I took a mission to help a teammate out. We're teammates, were supposed to look out for each other."

"I know, I know," Hinata said sensing that her sister was getting worked up over the old argument. "You know what I think though? I think sometimes you're not actually angry about what you're arguing about. Sometimes both of you are still angry how the last argument ended and that just leads to another."

Her sister didn't say anything and that was as good as a yes from her. Eventually, she did break her silence. "Maybe, but then we can't stop can we?"

"Perhaps, but maybe you just need to learn how not to argue. Try talking to her, but avoid anything that might lead to an argument." She didn't add that perhaps both of them had to relearn how to be civil towards each other.

"We argue about everything," Hanabi said slightly dejected.

Hinata thought for a minute and realized that her sister seemed to be right. Even the most benign subjects always seemed to turn back to something, but then she had an idea. "Why don't you walk with her in her garden and talk about that."

"The garden? You know I don't like that stuff." Even as Hanabi said those words her eyebrows rose, realizing what she had been driving at. She made a face, "I don't know, it seems too easy."

"Perhaps, but look at it this way. You're never more alert for an attack, then when one just ended."

Her sister slumped against her and said, "Maybe, but I don't know."

She smiled even though her sister couldn't see it. "Well, I don't think either of you want things to continue the way things are."

Hanabi let out a long sigh before saying, "I guess it's worth a shot."

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In the late afternoon of the next day, Hinata stared out of a window that looked over the garden. Hanabi had told her that she had told her teammates about her decision and both of them had agreed to wait to take the exam too. So, that worked out for her sister which made her happy. Now, as she watched her mother sitting in the garden on a bench, her sister approached and took a seat next to her. From this distance she couldn't tell if they were talking and if they were it would be of inconsequential things, but it was the start.

She smiled as her mother pointed with her cane at some plant, probably talking about some sort of feature about it or perhaps that it needed trimming. Hanabi seemed to be listening and although it was a small thing, it might just be a step in the right direction. Whether this would work out was only something time could tell and Hinata was content knowing she would be there to watch it and help whenever she could.

Hanabi had just needed a little help from other people to solve her problems. For example, her teammates had to accept her decision and not try to persuade her to take the exam. Her mother also had to try to be civil and avoid arguing for at least a while and that would be difficult for her. As for the last thing she had trouble with, well perhaps tonight would tell. Shaving was a pain, but it was such a small thing. Deciding to give the two their privacy, she turned away from the window and started to walk down the hallway smiling to herself.

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Authors note: well that certainly took a long time to get the second part out. Originally, it was going to be a one-shot, but I received requests to continue and eventually this idea occurred to me. So this story is over with, but I've been kicking around another yuri story. It'll involve Hanabi to, but not her sister or at least not in this fashion. I'm still kicking it around.