Disclaimer: The series "Naruto" and all the characters, jutsu, locations, and so on belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing.

When the Snow Melts
i: the proposition

- - - - -

"When the snow melts, what does it become...?"

- - - - -

Two.

Four.

Eight.

Sixteen.

Thirty-two.

Sixty-four.

Hyuuga Neji stumbled back and collapsed onto a stone bench. He stayed there for a while, hunched over and gasping for breath. No matter how many times he practiced and reworked his version of the Hakke Rokujuyon Sho technique, something always seemed off... missing... incomplete. Without the knowledge of the Main House, it would likely stayincomplete.

He had been lucky to bring it to even that level... but the jutsu was meant to kill, not temporarily incapacitate. He was a long way off from its perfection.

Steadying his ragged gasps for air, he slowly rose to his feet. He still had enough chakra for one or two more times—three, if he really pushed his limits. Calmly, he began to summon the glowing, blue chakra to his palms.

"N-Neji-niisan...?"

Neji turned his head slightly to get a view of the speaker as his hands slowly lowered to his sides.

"Hinata-sama," he acknowledged his younger cousin politely and without any of the darker feelings he'd harbored for her when they were younger. "What is it?"

"Otou-sama wishes to speak with you," she said quietly. "He's waiting for you in his chambers."

Great. Neji didn't have a mirror to view himself in at the moment, but he supposed he would look rather terrible after training for so long. Dirt everywhere, hair oily and mussed up, clothes clinging to his skin from the sweat... and, dear Kami, what was that dreadful odor?

"Immediately?" he asked, concealing a sigh. "Or do I have time to wash up first?"

Hinata took in a deep breath and he was both amused and offended at the same time as she made a small, strangled noise and her face turned slightly green. "I... uh..."

"Nevermind," he cut her off smoothly. "Inform him I will be there in ten minutes."

"Hai... niisan," she replied softly as she disappeared back into the Main House, where she had come from.

Exhaling loudly, Neji scooped up the weapons that lay littered around from an earlier exercise and discarded them into his pouch. His insides twisted unpleasantly, an omen of bad things to come... Or perhaps he was just nervous to meet with his uncle, the head of the clan.

Shaking off the distressing feeling, Neji left the private training area by a different exit than the one Hinata had used—his led to the Branch House.

- - - - -

"Neji," Hyuuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan, greeted his nephew. His tone couldn't really be described as 'casual,' but it was far from being formal. "Have a seat."

Neji quickly took in the scene before him. His uncle was seated on a cushion placed in a side of the spacious room. Knelt before him were his two daughters, nineteen-year-old Hinata and fourteen-year-old Hanabi. After brief consideration, Neji walked over and knelt down in the space beside Hinata.

Hiashi rose then, closing his eyes briefly and folding his hands behind his back. "The Elders and I have spoken," he said to his small audience, "and we have reached an agreement... Neji will be permitted to take the title of the next Hyuuga patriarch."

There was complete silence for a moment. Hinata's lips pursed a bit as she hid a smile, Hanabi sat quiet and attentive as always, and Neji froze out of shock and slight suspicion.

He knew he'd already gone above and beyond the clan's expectations as a Branch House member. Becoming the first ANBU Captain of Konoha wasn't certainly a tasks one would call "easy." However, no matter how good of a shinobi he'd proved himself to be, it didn't change the fact that only Main House members had ever been allowed to head the clan...

"Of course, there must be a compromise," Hiashi continued, answering his unspoken question. He began to slowly pace back and forth in front of them, which was a sign of something that Neji wasn't quite sure of. "The Elders... have agreed to make Neji patriarch as long as he weds someone who can produce a suitable heir to carry on the Hyuuga name... And it must be done before his twenty-first birthday.

Neji's face went completely blank for a second as he mentally counted the months. His birthday was in July, so... he head about five months. Less than half a year.

Impossible.

"They realize it won't give you very much time," his uncle went on, "but in that case, they are ready to arrange a marriage for you."

The room was once more filled with silence, this one considerably tenser than before... but no one was surprised. Many clans intermarried within their own clans and with each other, especially the ones with kekkei genkai or other special abilities—and most of those marriages were arranged. It was too common in the shinobi world to come as a surprise to anyone.

"What is your decision, Neji?"

Neji closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose. Five months to find a wife in a village where he was known as an emotionless, anti-social jerk?

He couldn't do it.

"You and the Elders," he finally forced himself to say, "may choose my...wife." He struggled a bit getting the last word out, and even choked a bit as he said it, but no one noticed. And if they did, they didn't seem to care.

"Then it is done," Hiashi sounded satisfied as his eyes flickered over the other occupants of the room's faces. Some emotion flashed in his pale orbs, coming and going so quickly that Neji didn't quite catch it. "I'll leave you to your thoughts, then."

The room was filled with silence after he left. Neji sat, eyes closed as his thoughts drifted from here to there. On either side of him, Hinata and Hanabi snuck quick glances at each other and at him.

"Neji-niisan?" Hinata asked tentatively.

Neji's face was a blank mask, but his hands were slowly clenching and unclenching at his sides as he spoke, "I'm leaving for a little while. I'll be back by dinnertime."

Hinata could only look at Hanabi helplessly as her older cousin slipped from the room.

- - - - -

"So, Sakura, you know I called you in here for a reason..." Tsunade, the Hokage of Konohagakure said to her apprentice for the sixth time. "Um... a very good reason, in fact. A reason so good that you won't believe it! You see, it's so—"

"Shishou," Sakura interrupted patiently—she had spent five years with her master, after all, so she was pretty used to her antics, "Why does it seem to me that you're stalling?"

"I'm not stalling!" Tsunade snapped defensively, slamming her hand forcefully against the wooden desk before her.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in amusement and Tsunade coughed.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard something about what's going on with the Hyuugas, correct?"

"Um... I'm sure Ino's mentioned something about the Hyuugas recently," Sakura paused, trying to recall any pieces of Ino's gossip that actually sounded plausible. "Something about Hyuuga Neji-san becoming the next patriarch?"

"Yes, that's it," Tsunade said, sounding pleased. "Well, to take the title, the Elders want him to marry someone... and soon. They're going to arrange the marriage for him, and they came to me for help."

Sakura stiffened. She didn't like the way the conversation was going.

"They want someone whose skills will match up well with theirs, and whose skills are hereditary," the Godaime Hokage continued, "Like... chakra control would be a good asset, as well as an ability to quickly and accurately memorize important target spots on the body... And so they're looking for a talented kunoichi..." Tsunade's gaze fell on her pink-haired apprentice.

"Oh, no," Sakura's voice was growing in horror as she stood up from her chair and spread her hands out in front of her. "No. No way inhell. I am not going to marry some guy I've barely even metfor the sake of procreating!"

Tsunade sighed, even though she had been expecting that kind of response. "Where's the saké when I need it?" she mumbled before glancing up at her apprentice. Sakura had certainly grown up—from her remarkable fighting and healing abilities down to her more womanly figure. She was an object of attention for high-ranked shinobi and fanboys alike.

"Look... Sakura," Tsunade said gently, "I'm not forcing you into it, because it wouldn't be right... Hell, if someone tried forcing meinto marriage, I'd probably punch them straight to Suna. But I want you to at least think about it. I know that this whole 'arranged marriage' thing doesn't sound very appealing... but you may change your mind."

"That's unlikely," Sakura scoffed, but her features softened. "Alright. I'll think about it and give you an answer later."

She brought one hand to her chest in a sign and promptly disappeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms.

"Thank you... Sakura..." Tsunade said quietly as she watched the last illusionary petal flutter and disappear as it touched the ground.

A/N: This is it—the re-write of "From Winter to Spring."

A lot of people really liked "From Winter to Spring," but I felt that it skipped randomly, it moved to fast, and basically... it didn't really make sense.

At all.

So here's the story, written from the beginning in a way that is hopefully easy to understand. I'll still re-use a lot of the plot that was somewhat outlined in "From Winter to Spring," so those of you that have read it kind of know what's going to happen. Kind of.

The quote that the title came from is from Furuba—er, Fruits Basket—by the way. It's a lovely manga!

Review if you feel the urge...
-urges-

-nightwinde