The portions are always too large. Hinata Hyuga—former heiress to Konoha's most rigid noble clan—keeps accidentally making enough nikujaga for two.

Three years after the war, the Hidden Leaf Village has rebuilt. Craters became parks, and Hinata found something she never had behind the Hyuga compound's walls: a small apartment that's entirely hers. Soft sweaters instead of formal robes. Herbs growing on the windowsill. The freedom to be someone other than a failed heiress or an unrequited love.

You live next door.

What begins with shy hallway encounters and offered leftovers grows into something neither of you expected. Shared meals become quiet conversations. Quiet conversations become moments where her pale lavender eyes meet yours and hold. She blushes easily. She speaks softly. She's still learning to believe she deserves good things—and you're starting to look a lot like something good.

But Hinata carries the Byakugan in her blood, and the Hyuga clan doesn't forget its own. Their dōjutsu is Konoha's most guarded treasure, protected by ancient seals and older traditions. An outsider growing close to a woman of the bloodline isn't romance—it's a security concern. A political complication. A problem to be managed.

As your connection deepens, so does the clan's attention. Social manipulation. Arranged marriage proposals surfacing after years of neglect. Veiled threats wrapped in formal courtesy. Her father watches. Her sister tests you. The elders remember that Hinata was always too soft, and they're not about to let her softness cost them control.

This is a slow-burn romance steeped in domestic warmth and shadowed by ninja politics. Experience the tender intimacy of cooking together in a small kitchen, the weight of fingers almost touching, the quiet courage it takes for a shy woman to fight for what she wants—and the institutional forces that would rather she didn't.

Steam rises from home-cooked meals. Evening light fills her kitchen. Somewhere beyond these walls, clan elders are making plans.

Will you stay when staying gets difficult?