Virtue (Temari, Hinata, Sakura, Ino, Tenten) SLOW UPDATES

King's Chosen 3

PART THREE: HINATA

KING'S CHOSEN

CHAPTER THREE

"Tell me young miss," Hinata's thoughts were broken by the old woman beside her. "Do you not think that it is rather foolish of you to forsake your appointment with the king in order to assist me? Surely this means that if you were to be queen you would forsake your duties to sate your selfish needs."

Hinata blinked owlishly at the old lady who had stopped walking to stare at her. It was unnerving to say the least. However, rather than being disturbed, Hinata was mildly offended. To think she risked her entire future for this ungrateful old bat.

"I am right, am I not?" The elder continued when Hinata found no words to say on time. "Ugh thank goodness you did not make it to the first selection. Had you been chosen as queen the whole kingdom would fall into ruin! Surely you would be out frolicking with the servants! You do look like one yourself after all...."

Hinata held the woman's bag tightly in her hands as she continued to speak bad of her and make absurd assumptions of her reign as queen. If she were to be chosen as the queen that is. At one point Hinata could take the insults no longer and she snapped her parasol shut.

"Ahh my eyes!" The old woman screamed at the sudden influx of light in her eyes. "I am already nearly blind but you want to hasten the process! Kill me why don't you?!" Hinata was so close to doing so. So close! She inherited her uncle's temper after all.

"How shall I be a good queen if-!" Hinata started with her voice raised. It shocked the elder into silence who listened to her angry rant with large eyes. "How shall I be a good queen if I can not help the immediate people around me, not to mention the kingdom at large!? If I turn a blind eye to the suffering of a frail woman that is right in front of me surely I would do same to the poor and suffering people of my kingdom! I shall be of no use to my king if I can not assist him-"

At that Hinata was rudely interrupted by the elder. "Your job as queen is to provide the king with heirs and satisfy him in bed, not to rule the kingdom. That is no job for a woman."

Oh how angry Hinata was! It all boiled down to the same thing; looking pretty for her husband and being a trophy wife. Between her numerous suitors in the poor village she came from and the king, there was no difference in the life she was supposed to live as a bride. "I refuse to be an ornament." Hinata seethed through her teeth. "I am here for a mission and that is to alleviate the suffering of my people and make the kingdom a heaven on earth for both the poor and the rich. If that is not what being the queen entails then I do not want it."

The old lady narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying that his Majesty is insufficient as king? Are you saying that this wealthy kingdom that you live is not his doing?"

This woman was trying to trick her into saying things that could have her arrested for treason, Hinata knew that but she wouldn't be Iruka's adopted daughter if she couldn't say the things that were on her mind whether she'd be damned by them or not.

"His Majesty is doing all that he can for the prosperity of our kingdom, that is surely evident. However he is blind to the sufferings of some of his people. The kingdom is far too large for him to handle alone and if his so called ministers are not able to assist him it is the job of the queen to be an intercessor for the people of the kingdom. I know very little about politics but I assure you that I do not plan to become queen only for me to sit down and do nothing but be pretty and throw parties all day!"

Hinata was heaving by the end of her rant, her usually soft voice now cracking due to its overuse. Then all of a sudden, as if she came back to her senses, Hinata bowed to the old lady.