A/N: This is my first time writing for the Naruto fandom. Be gentle. Constructive criticism welcomed. Unbetad, so all mistakes are mine.
I do not own or make money from Nauto.
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Hinata was studying her cousin as he walked. He had vigorously protested the need for an escort home, saying he was fine and could walk by himself. He had the most perplexed look on his face when she agreed with him.
"Then why are you coming with me?"
"Because Neji, no-one should have to arrive home alone after spending time in hospital. Besides, I enjoy spending time with you, and since I was there to visit you when Tsunade-sama discharged you, I had no reason to stay."
Neji got a guilty look on his face at the mention of hospital stays.
"Hinata-sama, I...." his voice trailed off.
"I, I wasn't referring to myself particularly, Neji-nii-san. It's just nice not to be alone."
Now Neji felt very guilty. He had not too long before almost killed his cousin, and had never visited her in the hospital. As far as he knew, almost no-one outside her team mates had. As well, when she was released, it was to an empty house, as everyone had 'better' things to do. He swore to himself that if something like that should happen again, he would be a better cousin.
Hinata saw the look on her cousins' face and felt a bit guilty. She hadn't meant to make him feel bad. All she was trying to do was explain to him why she was doing what she was. Even when he had been cold to her, she had always been kind to him. She was glad that Naruto had beaten him in the final round of the Chunin exams. He had let go of most of his resentment and anger, and had generally become a much nicer person to be around.
The two cousins walked in silence for a bit, each musing on their own thoughts. Hinata had just worked up enough courage to ask Neji if he would help her with her Jyuuken, when she heard a squeaking noise. She turned to Neji to ask if he had heard it as well, when it came again. This time, Hinata, kind, timid, reserved, and shy Hinata had to struggle not to laugh at her cousin. He had a look of terror on his face, and had jumped to hide behind her. She found the idea of Neji hiding behind her to be vastly amusing. On the other hand, something had scared him, but everything seemed normal to her, she could see nothing out of the ordinary. She drew a kunai, activated her Byakugan, and dropped into a ready stance.
"Neji, what's wrong? I don't' see anything. What's out there?"
All she go was a shaky finger pointed at ....
"A bush? You're worried about a bush?"
"Not the bush. What's hanging from the bush."
"What? Neji, there's nothing there."
"Look closer. Be careful, where there's one, there's more."
Hinata looked again. All she saw was a spider in its web. Understanding dawned with the suddenness of an exploding tag. Neji had just recovered from a fight in which his opponent not only had the physical attributes of a spider, but also summoned spiders. Small wonder he was jumpy, even around a relatively small, harmless spider.
"Neji, it's just a spider. It can't hurt you, it's not even poisonous." One gained at least a basic knowledge of insects and assorted species with Shino as a team mate.
"It doesn't matter. Please Hinata-sama, please kill it."
Hinata was torn. On one hand, she didn't like unnecessary killing, even insects, it felt like she was betraying Shino. Oh the other, she wanted to make Neji feel better. She made her choice based on the fact that Neji was present, and Shino wasn't. She was still holding her kunai, so she went to the bush and killed the spider for him. Neji immediately relaxed.
"Neji-nii-san, please don't tell Shino I did this. He wouldn't be happy."
Neji was looking a little sheepish. "Hinata, I just asked you to kill a spider because I was scared of it. Do you really think I would spread that around? I don't think that you have to be worried about Shino finding out."
The amount of disgust in his voice made Hinata look at him. The expression on his face pushed her over the edge.
Neji's jaw dropped as his normally reserved cousin burst into laughter. It was bright and merry, and he realized that he had hardly ever heard it. Hinata immediately clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter, and blushed bright. She was obviously mortified at laughing at him, and was trying to stop. Her obvious horror was enough to make Neji start laughing in turn. Neji's laughter fed Hinata's, and hers fed his. The two of them dropped all barriers, and just laughed. Laughed until their knees gave out and they sat on the path leaning against each other. They weren't just laughing about the incident anymore, but the laughter acted as a tension release between them. Had anyone passed by at that moment, they would have seen the remarkable sight of two Hyuugas sitting leaning against each other, laughing. It was a sight that had never been seen before.
Eventually their mirth ran down, and they sat there, trying to catch their breath.
Neji, after he had caught his breath, realized that that was the first time he had lowered his barriers an sense of pride, and just given into his emotions. It felt good not to worry about what people were thinking of him. His whole life was spent trying to meet other people's expectations of him. He was the Hyuuga prodigy, the voice of calm, and the sane one on Team Gai. He didn't know how to be anything else. His masks had become reality, until he didn't know who he was anymore. Thinking on it, those masks began to crack when Naruto had beaten him. No, they had began to crack when Hinata had not given up in their preliminary match of the final round of the Chunin exams.
Hinata noticed her cousins serious expression. "Neji-nii-san, I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before. You're always so serious. I'm glad you learned to laugh. I like this you better than the old you."
After that little revelation, they sat in silence for a few minutes, before managing to make it to their feet. They managed to make it back to the Hyuuga compound without further incident. They had both decided never to speak to anyone about what had happened, but occasionally there were reminders. Neji would see a spider and shudder a little, or Hinata would see one and give an uncharacteristic grin. If they were together, they would glance at each other and very quickly look away. Usually both would be wearing faint grins. There were many people who were mystified about what was happening, but most wrote it off to something Hyuuga related and didn't think about it anymore. As for Neji and Hinata, that moment marked the beginning of a very strong friendship between the two of them that lasted for the rest of their lives.