A/N: I haven't written anything I was truly passionate about in a long time. I hope that this is something I can really get into, and I hope you can enjoy it too. Hyuuga cest, probably. Oh well, I tend to make awkward, uncomfortable situations seem right - even so, please don't flame me because you don't like Neji/Hina. Enjoy...
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Hyuuga Neji - The girl with the far away eyes.
It was cold that night. Colder than it should have been; the air felt as chilling as the sky looked, the dark, black, endless sky, splashed with a countless array of stars. Even I gave an involuntary shiver - even I was a little bit scared.
That night was the first night I noticed her. I was young, eleven, still training, still so naive, and yet still stronger than her. And just looking at her, I could tell it was wrong and pathetically frowned upon. I saw how everyone glared at her, I saw how she shuddered and stammered, how her eyes were always on the floor, her hands touching nervously. It was as if the world was out of place, the stars missaligned, something went wrong. I thought, how could this girl be the heir? For as long as I could remember knowing her, that's what I thought of her. What do they expect of this girl?
I suppose I pitied her. And despite the cold exterior, the icy hatred I should've felt for her, the spite and the fear, I couldn't hate her. I could only feel bad. That night was as cold as my heart should have been.
It was my job to watch her. She was bad at stealth - she was bad at anything to do with being a shinobi, so it wasn't much of a surprise that her guards found out she was sneaking out at night. They didn't stop her, though, they just followed her, and Uncle gave me the job of guarding her while she was on her little night hikes. I hated it, I hated waiting for her each night, I hated sleeping during the day when I should've been training. But most of all, I think I truly hated the fact that this was the only time we were ever alone, and I couldn't so much as let her know I was there.
This night it was summer, the night was clear, and it was freezing. The air felt like daggers on my skin, and I wondered if she would come out this night. But I knew she would. She always did...each evening, slipping out through the shouji doors of her suite, tip-toeing down the steps, and lightly running through the gates. And then I'd be there, waiting for her at the edge of the forest. At the beggining, I used to suppress my chakra so she wouldn't notice me, but I had realized that I could've been standing in front of her wearing a women's dress, and she wouldn't so much as realize that anything was out of place. I was as invisible to her as water to an alcoholic. Somewhere deep down, I think I wondered if I was that invisible to her in the day, too.
And then she showed up. A small movement in the corner of my eye, and she had slipped through the gate and began running towards the trail we were both so familiar with; although she would never know that. The moon had also slipped out from under the clouds cover, and lit up her alabaster skin, so she was even easier to follow. But at this point, I knew where she was going...where she always went. Tap, tap, tap, her light steps were the only sound in the forest. I followed her like a ghost, my feet knowing the way, my byakugan activated in case of intruders. And then, almost in no time, were were there.
The first time Hinata had unknowingly lead me to the clearing, I couldn't help but feel that I witnissed something no one should see. I sat there, crouched in the greenery like an idiot, gawking at Hinata's form as she kneeled over a small patch of flowers in the corner of the field. Flowers, how silly, she ruined her sleeping pattern for flowers? At first, that's what I thought, but the longer the night went on, the more bewildered I felt. First of all, I could not figure out why I felt like I was intruding on a very special, solitary thing. I felt very out of place, to say the least. And second of all, why was it that she cared for these small, insignifigant little flowers so much that she would risk everything to come tend to them?
Each night I went there, I felt the same thing. Like nothing was being solved, like time had stopped and it was just me observing a repitition. And I still could not figure it out, I couldn't see her motives. I even questioned her sanity. At first, I only watched her at night, like I was ordered to. But my curiousity was knawing at my self control, and I wanted - needed to understand her. She captivated me in a way that nothing else ever did. And so I watched her, day and night, like an unwanted guardian angel.
I saw that in the day, she was a shy, pathetic little girl, doing everything she was asked, barely speaking, and failing miserably at any form of combat. She was a disgrace to the Hyuuga, and was reminded of that very often, during the day. During the day, her large, deep, ivory eyes were in a different place. She had no confidence whatsoever. I could see the rest of the clan's perspective, I could see what they hated about her. And it made more sense, it was what I should feel. But maybe, with the planets out of line, or whatever it was that caused her to be the heir, I was the one that was supposed to notice her. It was just physically impossible to hate her, no matter how much I wanted to. That, I noticed.
But, in the night, when I watched her, the moment she stepped into that clearing, her posture was straight, her breathing was relaxed, her eyes were focused, and she was smiling. Always, always smiling, while tending to her plants, her herbs and flowers, vegetables and fruit. And I didn't have the heart to report to Uncle what she was really doing at night. If I hated her like I should, her garden would be non-existant. I couldn't figure out why I was breaking orders, why I was lying, and I realized how silly I had been. When I first saw this garden, I wondered why Hinata would risk everything for a bunch of flowers, and now I was the one risking everything for the same, exact flowers. I told Uncle she was training at night, she was trying to perfect her jutsu, she was strengthening her byuakugan, I told him everything I needed for him to allow her to keep going there. And I did everything in my power to protect Hinata's secret, to convince Uncle what I was saying was the truth. He had no reason to not believe me.
But that cold, cold night, I had noticed her. I thought I had already noticed her, seeing as how I was always watching her, following her, studying her. But I never noticed her as a person...just an object of interest. It was so unexpected that my whole body was rigid for a few moments, as I continued to watch her. She was in her pajamas that night, and it had to be at least below zero. She was tending to her plants in her light summer pajamas, no coat, no shoes, nothing, and she didn't so much as shiver. She was so strong, so willing to protect and care for these plants, that she didn't even care that she was succumbing herself to frost bite. And I finally realized that the reason I couldn't hate her, the reason I couldn't believe all the assumptions the clan had made about her, the reason I was so obsessed with her very existance.
I loved Hyuuga Hinata. And I wished I could've hated her.
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Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter probably reeeeaaaallllly soon. XD. R&R please?