A/n: This story has no plot, I am making it up as I go along, so don't criticize me for it making no sense!


Pinkie Finger

Hinata looked at the two teenagers sitting on the bench in front of her. They had their pinkie fingers locked together and they were smiling stupidly. It was then that Neji had pulled her away, saying that they ought to be getting back to the main house. Hinata had never thought anything of it, until her fifth birthday.
"Neji-nii-san?" Hinata asked as she climbed into bed, just finishing her prayers.
"Yes, Hinata-sama?" the polite six year old answered, as he pulled the covers over his little cousin.
"What does it mean when two people hold their pinkies together and smile all silly-like?"
Neji didn't know what she meant. Hinata could sense it by the look he gave her.
She sat up, grabbed Neji's fingers and placed her smallest finger so that it was forming a sort of lock with Neji's. Neji stared.
Hinata tried not to laugh at the next look her gave her, and she smiled stupidly, to show him what she meant.

Maybe she means the story of the red thread?

"Hinata-sama has heard the story of the red thread?" Neji questioned the girl, who was almost in a fit of giggles. Hinata shook her head, trying hard to contain her laughter.
"Oh." was Neji's only word. He sat upon Hinata's bed and looked at his feet.

How to explain this…

"You know how people fall in love and get married?" Neji looked kindly at the small girl, who had forgotten of the past giggles and was more interested in the story Neji-nii-san was going to tell.
"Yes, nii-san!" Hinata grinned. Neji nodded.
"People believe that there is a red thread, a line of destiny, attaching you to the person you will eventually marry. Sometimes when people talk about their beloveds, they hold out their pinkie to show that that is who they are talking about," Neji rather liked how he'd put things.
It was Hinata's turn to be confused.
"So there is this invisible thread connecting me to the person I will marry one day?"
"Yep."
"I don't get it, nii-san," the girl whined. She'd become so open to Neji that she could whine in front of him when she didn't understand things (A/n: people could call that being OOC, but she is a small child, so OOCness is fine.). Neji laughed.
"You'll get it one day…"

Present day:
Hinata sat at her dressing table as Neji dressed her hair. He brushed it softly, so as to not harm Hinata's delicate scalp. Both were smiling, but Neji couldn't see the blush that covered Hinata's cheeks. He was too busy concentrating on the back of her head.
"What are you doing today, nii-san?" Hinata enquired. Neji blinked.
"I am going to go and train with my team mates and then maybe come back here for some relaxation," Neji considered his options for the day.
"Um… nii-san?" Hinata's blush deepened.
"Yes, Hinata-sama?"
"If you are back by around midday, how would you like to go… to go… to the… carnival that is down town with me?" Hinata couldn't stop stuttering, but she managed to get the words out.
Neji smiled at his cousin's pain.
"Of course I will escort you Hinata-sama!"

By midday, Neji had made sure he was back at the main house, and Hinata was there waiting for him. He'd never tell her how he'd planned the rest of his day around the time they would spend together that day, so she wouldn't feel as though she put him out.
"What would you like to see first, Hinata-sama?" Neji questioned of the young Hyuuga heir.
"Over there!" Hinata said enthusiastically, as she pointed to a small ball throwing game, where you had to knock down the pins to win a prize. Neji grinned. He always hit the target.

Hinata was nursing a huge teddy bear and some fairy floss when they both went to sit down at the water's edge. Hinata carefully placed the bear her cousin had won for her, on the grass beside where she'd laid a bento box she'd made as a sort of lunch (or afternoon tea).
"Thank you for coming Neji-nii-san," Hinata blushed, passing him an onigiri (rice ball). Neji accepted the food and smiled.As time passed, they finished off the onigiri, and sure enough the sun began to creep towards the sea line. Hinata was about to open her mouth to say they should be getting back, when she saw two oddly familiar people. They were the two teenagers she'd seen ten years ago with their pinkies intertwined. Now she remembered the tale Neji had told her, and now it made sense.
"Neji-nii-san," Hinata began, shifting her look to her cousin. Neji looked up from the water and straight into his cousin's blank, pale eyes. "May I have your hand for a moment?"
"Um… sure, Hinata-sama." Neji lifted his hand up from the ground and placed it in Hinata's frail grasp. She then bent all of his fingers, except his pinkie, very gently. She then cradled the slightly bigger pinkie with her own, locking them together as she had done in a demonstration years ago.
Neji blushed.
"I want this to mean you will be with me always, and I, with you," Hinata smiled meekly.

As the last moments of the sun caught drift, and the colours soon faded to that of a purple twilight, showing another day to be at an end, all you could see were two people promising to be with one another until the sands of time blew away…


A/n: The story of the red thread and the pinkie thing is true Japanese legend. But it can also mean to be together forever, which both contexts are used in this story. Hope you liked, please review!