Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto at all

A/N: Thanks to a youtube video I randomly decided to watch, I am momentarily obsessed by the idea of the NejiHina pairing. Apparently there aren't many NejiHina stories on this site (apparently, I say) and I suddenly couldn't resist doing one myself.

Unpleasant.

Neji and Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga clan, had never been on very good terms with one another. Of course, things had gotten a little better after the Chuunin exams, when Neji had learned the truth about what had happened to his father, but this... this situation was definitely stretching the extent of their association.

Hiashi had been watching Neji and Hinata training with one another in the courtyard earlier that day, and afterward the man had asked Neji if he would follow him so that they could talk more privately. Now, they were sitting at the kitchen table in Hiashi's house having tea, and the atmosphere was decidedly awkward. The silence stretched on, each of them waiting for the other to talk; but what was Neji supposed to say exactly? He (Hiashi) had been the one who'd wanted to talk after all.

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, Neji couldn't bear it any longer. "So." he started simply. "There was something you wanted to speak to me about?"

Hiashi cleared his throat, looking even more uncomfortable than Neji felt, and grimaced. "Yes. Neji… there is something that we really must discuss." The man folded his hands on the tabletop, and glanced out the open window to his right, his pale eyes searching the clear blue sky.

"And what would that be?" Neji pressed, wanting to get this whole awkward business over with. Oh, how little he knew how much more awkwardness there was to come.

"The future of my daughter. Hinata."

The subject surprised Neji, and suddenly he began to wonder where all of this was going. "Yes?" he asked.

Hiashi grimaced again, picked up his cup, but barely wetted his lips with the tea. Eyes closed, he set the cup back down, and then shifted his gaze wholly on Neji. "How well would you say that you get along with my daughter?"

The question threw Neji off guard… way off guard… and he had to think before he could answer. He remembered a time when he had seen Hinata only as a weakling, as a failure to the entire Hyuga bloodline. Back then he had thought that she would never change. However, change she had - over time. Since birth, Neji's had known that his duty was to serve the Main House, and he had always hated Hiashi and Hinata and Hanabi because of that.

But Neji himself had changed too. The atmosphere wasn't nearly as violent whenever he was around any of them now… because he didn't hate them anymore. Hinata was probably the one he was… least uncomfortable around, though - though he wasn't exactly comfortable with any of them yet. And so, it was finally with an indifferent sort of shrug that he answered Hiashi. "Well enough," he said simply, still wondering where this conversation was leading to.

"Well enough will have to do," Hiashi said with a sigh. "I apologize beforehand Neji. You have to understand that this was not fully my decision." He paused. "The Elders, and I, have decided that it is time to unite the Main House and the Branch House. However, the most effective way to do that… is by marriage." Neji's breath caught in his throat. "It would mean unity between the two Houses. The beginning of a new way of life for the Hyuga clan. There will no longer be any need for any curse seals." He sighed, again, but didn't continue.

Neji sat in stunned silence, struck speechless at this… quiet sudden… idea. His mind wanted to refuse this whole mess that his uncle was suggesting; he didn't want to think that this was really happening, that Hiashi Hyuga was really asking he, Neji, to marry Hinata of all people. But Neji was a logical thinking kind of person, and he immediately saw the advantage between the two separate Houses finally becoming unified. A strong, single House, to lead the Hyuga clan.

Still, the thought of he, Neji Hyuga, getting married. It was almost too much for even a logical thinker to take. He. and Hinata. What a strange, unexpected match. Truly, this went beyond the farthest reaches of Neji's imagination. How could he have ever seen it coming?

Suddenly feeling the pressure of being under the heavy weight of stress, Neji sat still as a stone, pale eyes wide as his mind raced and he considered this new thought from every angle.

"So… I am… to wed… Hinata?" Neji said slowly, still considering. He couldn't meet his uncle's eyes.

"Thank you for not having me say it out loud," Hiashi replied. "I am no happier with the idea than you seem to be, no offence to you intended. I am most definitely not ready to see either of my daughters married, especially at so young an age. There can be no love in a relationship arranged solely for the purpose of uniting our clan, and I fear what Hinata will think of this…. I have yet to tell her."

"So you came to me first?" Neji asked faintly, and now he was the one staring out the window, though he wasn't really seeing anything that was out there.

"I expected that it would be easier to talk with you about this, than it will be with Hinata," Hiashi explained.

"Ah." Neji's eyes suddenly focused. Hinata herself was out in the courtyard again, sparing with her sister. Surprisingly, though they also had never been on very good terms, it looked as though they were having a good time of it. And even then, Neji noted how much stronger Hinata was becoming. How much she had grown.

Then the concept of marriage crossed his mind again, and the word "wife" floated in the air around her image, and he cringed. He simply couldn't imagine it. Hinata, his wife. Neji, her husband. A unified clan. No more need for the Branch House and Main House to despise one another, no need for one to rule over the other. Neji's children would never have to worry about having to go through all that he himself had gone through.

As he sat there weighing the pros and cons, Hiashi stood. It took Neji a moment to realize, and so by the time he started to his feet, Hiashi was already walking out the door. "I am going to go tell my daughter now," he said, not looking back. "It has already been decided - the marriage will happen."

Although, the man didn't sound too entirely happy about that.

It was… something close to devastating, really. How was Neji expected to react to such a sudden thing? He felt like a child who'd been taken by the hand and slapped on the wrist. "Be a good little boy and do as your told," he thought mockingly.

After being given the rather shocking news, he'd ultimately decided to escape from the Hyuga clan for a while, and he was pacing the streets of Konoha now, absentmindedly kicking around rocks and sometimes kicking them a little too hard whenever he got angry. Usually, in typical Neji Hyuga fashion, he would escape to some quite sanctuary whenever he really needed to think, but Neji felt as though he'd been shocked by a powerful electric current, and suddenly everything in his life was backwards. Or perhaps upside-down. Maybe both. It was all topsy-turvy however one looked at it. And so, he felt the need to be in a crowd, to be surrounded by people, in order to feel a little more stable and secure. It was different, but at least it wasn't maddening silence.

It was a stretch, but perhaps sometime in the far, distant future, after all was said and done, Neji would eventually become used to the idea of marriage to Hinata. Right now however, his mind shut down at the very thought, collapsing in and completely wanting to reject the entire idea.

And then of course, out of the crowd came the last person that Neji wanted to see. Loud mouthed, wild, immature Naruto Uzumaki. "Hey, Neji! What's with the long face? Don't you ever cheer up?" Neji just looked at him, not bothering to even change his facial expression for a boy so annoying.

Well, it could be worse he supposed. It could have been Hinata. And he shuddered to think what it'd be like to run into her right now.

"Jeez, what's eating you?" Naruto demanded with a frown, and he punched Neji lightly on the arm.

"Nothing that concerns you," Neji said blankly, and he made sure to include a note in his voice that clearly said "go away, no one wants you around right now."

However, Naruto being Naruto, he didn't get the message. He probably didn't even get that there was a message. Inside his own mind, Neji growled in frustration. Perhaps he should have gone somewhere to be alone after all.

"Hey… er… Neji," Naruto said, suddenly serious.

"What?" Neji demanded, feeling a vein throbbing on his forehead. He didn't even want to know what Naruto wanted now.

"Could you do me a favor?" Neji eyed him blankly, and the blonde boy rushed on before he could say anything. "You're at least on talking terms with Hinata now right? Could you… could you tell her that I want to talk to her?"

Neji closed his eyes in frustration, and rubbed his temple. He could feel a headache coming on. "Thinking of asking her on a date?" he said through gritted teeth.

Naruto blushed brightly, and grinned, running a hand through that messy blond hair. "Well… yeah…." He laughed nervously.

"That wouldn't be wise," he advised.

A dumbfounded expression crossed Naruto's face. "Why not?" he asked.

"…She's engaged to be married."

Naruto's blue eyes grew as wide as Neji's must have been earlier. "You're kidding," he breathed.

Neji scowled at him. "Do I look like a kidder to you?" he demanded flatly.

It took a moment for the blond boy to recover from the shock. "Well- to who?" he demanded.

Neji could hear his own teeth grinding together. It had always been an uncomfortable feeling, but he was losing whatever little patience he had with Naruto. "Nobody important," he muttered, which was a lie, considering that it was quite important to Neji if Hinata were to really be married to him.

Without another word he walked away, leaving Naruto standing shocked behind him.