Red Water
Neji x Hinata x Gaara
Neji doesn't praise her because he truly feels she needs praising. He praises her because nobody else will take the time to, and because he has all the time in the world.
The days pass by like grains of sand slipping, not through an hourglass, but through Gaara's fists after an attack. The days pass by as quickly as Gaara kills people, and she begins to wonder how many are left.
He tells Hinata to fly freely, but also tells her to fly like a butterfly rather than a bird. He tells her that he has been a caged bird and it lasts forever; he tells her that she is like a butterfly because moments spent with her are wonderful and fleeting. He tells her—much more often than he tells her anything else—that he cherishes every day with her, and hopes that there will be many more.
The days pass by agonizingly slowly, staying as long as a scowl adorns Gaara's features. The days pass by and Hinata scowls as well, because every day gone is another opportunity she missed to see Neji again.
Neji sits in the Hyuuga courtyard and thinks, alone. He sits under the largest tree, by the basin full of water that the maids change every day. He remembers sitting in the exact spot one day, with Hinata at his side and washing cherries in the water, cherries that she shared with him. He frowns, thinking of how terribly long ago that day was.
The days pass by, and as they go she loses a bit of herself. Something or another eats away at her all the time, and she can't help but think back to the day she ate cherries with Neji. She wonders if he is eating now, and she wishes that he would stop if he is, because it's hurting her.
She begins to feel like an unwashed cherry—dirty—and so she goes to take a shower. The cuts that dot her arms and legs stain the water red as it washes down the drain, and she thinks about how her blood had dripped off of Gaara's fists when he hit her in a moment of rage.
Neji realizes that today is very much like that day, with a cool summer breeze rattling through the trees, with leaves descending to the ground, on top of his head, and into the basin. He watches one leaf flutter onto the water's surface, floating, and then notices that the water is red. He plays with the idea of asking a maid to come out, since the color of it really does bother him.
Hinata watches the water slide down into the drain, and when she turns the shower off, the water leaves the tub almost immediately, sliding into oblivion like all the rest. She stares intently at the last few drops—the last two drops, shaking for a moment and then sliding down along the cool metal of the drain, into the holes—and she laughs bitterly.
Hinata laughs because those last two drops represented she and Neji and their affections, gone forever.
And she laughs again, choking on her own spit and on the water that had dripped off of her forehead and into her mouth, because those last two drops had passed through the drain as quickly as the days had passed her by…as quickly as Life itself had passed her by.
Neji decides it isn't worth the effort to call someone out, and so he lifts the basin himself, dumping its contents onto the grass. It looks like a steady stream of blood as it gushes to the ground, and the grass seems to die almost instantly. He wonders, with a strange feeling in his stomach, if red is really such a dangerous color.
Hinata laughs because the cherries had been red, and the cherries were, after all, the beginning. Hinata laughs because she can think of something else that's red too, and it will inevitably be the end.
She drapes a towel around herself and smiles because it's white, the safest color.
Making her way to her bedroom, her husband catches her in the doorway, hugging her, and rests his head on her bare shoulder. One of her hands finds its way to his red hair, and his grip on her tightens alarmingly when she makes him shiver. As she toys with his hair, practically risking her life, she reminds herself that red is indeed the most dangerous color of all.
Author's Notes: I decided to try for a NejiHinaGaara, because I don't think I've ever seen one done. And, yes, before anyone bothers to correct me, I know that Neji and Hinata are cousins. I'm not a complete idiot, just half of one.
A simple drabble, because I'm a fan of both pairings and only felt like writing one short piece.