Hit a Golf Ball – 6FOUR

"We've had this conversation before Neji," his wife replied from her seat on their bed. Did she really think he needed to be reminded? They had gone over this so many times he had almost given up hope on the issue.

She had her scroll spread out, his present to her on her twentieth birthday. From the assortment of lethal weapons on display, Neji could deduce she had been polishing the weapons stored within the scroll before he had intruded. That she was sharpening them now meant she was troubled by something; the kunai and senbon held within her scrolls had been sealed with chakra so that they would never need real sharpening. Going over them as she did now was a nervous habit.

"My answer hasn't changed since then. You know it hasn't." She leaned against the bedpost and went back to sharpening her kunai. She clearly thought the subject was closed to further debate. Neji had other plans.

"True," he replied as he sank into the chair across from her. Maybe if he went at this from a different angle— "But the main branch…"

"What of them?"

"They want us to…" His wife sighed and laid her whetstone down on the pillow.

"I know what they want. Every time the elders visit, they ask 'You are thinking of starting a family sometime soon?' It's getting to where I can't even visit Hinata in peace anymore," she finished, glaring at her tools as if visualizing they were her in-laws.

Neji shifted in his chair. The elders were more than a bit persistent to see a child. If anything, Neji received more of their pestering than his wife. But could he really blame them when he had been wondering the same thing? Not that he had told his wife of his desire; she had made it clear that she would not have any children of his. Anytime soon at least. She would decide when the time was right, and he would not push her towards a decision…

"Well if you would just consider it then maybe they wouldn't bother you so much about it." ...well, he wouldn't push her too much.

"I have considered it! From the second you proposed till the instant I said 'I do'. I gave you my answer on our wedding night. You accepted that, why can't they?" 'You're not going back on your word, are you?' was left unsaid. This was not where he wanted the conversation to be going.

"It's different with them. If they had known that you wouldn't have children before we had married then they—"

"—would never have allowed me within ten feet of you—"

"—would never have consented to our marriage." Neji corrected, frowning at his wife from across their small room. Although their refusal to have children was almost unheard of in a clan so obsessed with preserving its bloodline, he was reasonably sure the elders would not have gone that far. "They just feel like you aren't doing your part to contribute to the clan's—"

"I do contribute to this clan! I've saved your life on missions more than once—"

"Twice. You've saved me twice. I don't need saving all that—"

"—and I've protected Hinata as well as any Hyuuga ever could—"

"—for which I'm sure they are very grateful, many times over but—"

"—and I've been babysitter to their kids more times than—"

"—and we could go on and on about your contributions, but you know you're not talking about the same 'contributions' the elders are." That got her to stop her protest for the few moments it took him to travel from his chair to their bed. He took the kunai she held in a death grip and put it in the pile of others as he sat down next to her. She still hadn't offered a word, so he continued,

"You have to see it from their point of view. Excluding the main branch, I carry one of the purest forms of our bloodline. The elders were already angered when I choose my bride outside the family. And after that was done, we told them you had no plans of having children. Ever. How do you think they felt about that?" He could still remember their faces: some unbelieving, some outraged, some ready to activate his seal, right then and there. It had not been a peaceful few weeks after that.

"Like they screwed up big time. But I don't care what they think— they're trying to mess up my life just as much! How can I keep doing my job if I'm pregnant? How can I protect you if I'm stuck at home, the good little housewife? You know that's not what I am Neji."

"I know." She was in her element when fighting along side him. Taking that away from her was something he would never do. For Neji, one who had always been kept in the cage of the branch family, proposing to keep his bride in a similar cage was out of the question. For a cage it would be, albeit a temporary one.

"And I won't bring a child into this world for it to be enslaved! You've told me what they do— I've seen it myself! — and I won't do that to any child of ours!"

"I know." The curse mark that forever connected him with servitude was something he also hoped never to see on any of his children. The elders would be quick to point out that his wife's "reluctance" to the curse mark was the real reason most Hyuuga brides were other Hyuuga. Most outsider brides had problems with the fate of their children, whereas insider brides usually were resigned to the destiny forced upon them. An opinion he too had held, until others outside the clan had showed him the possibility of change.

"You said Naruto was working on getting it fixed but do you have any guarantee it will be before the curse is put on our baby? If the elders get the seal on the child then it means nothing to us if Naruto fixes the problem after! Our son or daughter would still be trapped— like you. And, I don't want that Neji!"

"I know." He answered yet again. Her voice had hitched near the end, revealing how strung up she was. That must have been what had worried her earlier; one of the elders had probably visited today while he was on sentry duty. He let her head lean against his shoulder as she regained her composure. It was a few minutes more before she spoke again,

"Then why are you still asking me?" she asked quietly, her eyes still avidly concentrating on the carpet. Her question didn't surprise him, but he could bet his answer would surprise her.

"It's not… for the clan that I'm asking." he replied, then quietly waited for her to respond. She was still for a moment, then lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him directly.

"What?"