Bitter Fruits
Author: Starapple/Martinique
Rating: T/M (for theme, depending on how you view first cousins, no graphic descriptions)
Pairings: Hinata+Neji
Warnings: Incestual thoughts, based on The Little Things Universe.
Summary: Hinata and Neji reflect on their relationship, and the lengths they've gone to get where they are now. Revelations may give them a chance at happiness.
Author Notes: If you've read The Little Things, this is a continuation, but focuses on other characters. I may write a few more one-shot pieces focusing on other characters and their relationships. If you want to start from the beginning, start at The Little Things (15 chapters: main - NaruSasuNaru, NaruGaa, side - LeeSaku), Epilogue: At Home, A Return and then Root to Life (all one-shots, the last one is set in chapter 12 and is a ShikaInoChou). This story takes place around the same time as A Return.
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The year after Gaara's death was marked by fast progress and the near-complete integration of the Sand Village. Konoha was alive with the sounds of construction, and even their home, a modernised version of the old Hyuuga Clan building in Old Konoha was still undergoing the finishing touches. Hinata did up her shinobi gear, and right on time as he was every morning, Neji knocked.
"Come in." She called out sedately. The door was already half-open, but they had their habits, their rituals that they clung to. A line of lip gloss, a pat at hair that's been slicked down and she turns to him, ready to face the rest of the day as a medic nin, and as the de-facto head of the family. There may have been doubts once upon a time as to who would lead, but now it was understood that she stood at the apex.
Neji's forehead was clear. It was a daily reminder of the power she now wielded, the reason why she would not let go of it. It was also a daily reminder of the problems it now caused her. Neji was her closest friend. Long gone were the days when they had been on different sides, Hiashi's effective apology had seen to that.
Sometimes, he was too close. He never stepped beyond the line, but long had it gone from a deep gratitude for removing the seal to an idolization of her, placing her on a pedestal that barely gave her room to move.
On her better days, it was her motivation to remain this perfect placid person, undisturbed by the machinations deep within the Hyuuga Clan that continued to this day. On others, it made her fear at what may lie in her cousins heart, made her plan even more social engagements where she insisted on male escorts for herself, female for him. As if she could draw a wedge, even though everyone spoke of them together - a portmanteau of words to form 'Hinaji'.
"Are you ready?" He wouldn't be there unless she was. Rote. She clung to it, as much as she detested it. He presents his arm to her without waiting, and out they walk to breakfast.
It is a Wednesday. On Wednesday's, Hinata starts early, 6am, before breakfast is served at the clan. Neji has his usual day shift at the Konoha Police Forces, but he insists on walking her as if she were still a civilian. She accepts his overtures without complaint and inbred grace. They make a picturesque smudge on the horizon as they walk., talk a bare minimum as they ask each other about what they have to do today, who they will see, all to the limits of clearance and the closest blood ties.
Hinata's mind is an iron carapace, storing the tales of her life, the lives of her family, of her friends. She holds them central to her being, so that she may always know where to find her center, to be steady in the daytime rush of emotion and activity, that flurry of movement that can brush people off their feet and into benign treachery (an image of Sasuke forms in her mind, but he's Naruto's, and that makes it acceptable).
After a short amount of time, her arm drops gently back to her side, as does his, and they continue sedately on towards the hospital where Hinata now teaches alongside Sakura and a handful of other young successes while healing and filling out paperwork. Dawn has risen, and the birds strengthen their second chorus, chanting warnings even fortune-tellers shy from.
He doesn't start for another hour. He's such a familiar face that people simply lower their eyes respectfully and get on with their business. The nurses are petulantly gruff, male and female, teasing and attempting to extract banter. He mimics a stone, but she knows that he would weep blood for her now if she asked, needed him to. The nurses don't mind though. They know how he is, and he's merely their pawn, a talking point to chew over at lunch and during the lulls life brings them when missions go well and academy children aren't yet throwing weapons for practice.
He sits and watches her. Hinata is almost used to it now, the interested warmth of his eyes on hers as she gathers her materials together (even though, rigid and as organised as she is, they are already all in the right place from the night before).
The water burbles from where Neji's turned the kettle on, and he's on his feet, moving with precision and efficiency. His shoulders are broad – and that's enough to tell Hinata that she too may well be guilty of overstepping her boundaries, of perhaps being too watchful. This childhood obsession has turned from hate to something else.
She's struggling to keep it platonic.
Tea is ready in moments, and they enjoy it, sipping at it with usual style. Sasuke once told her that even in the jungle, even in that last war, their backs had been rigid while still, spine elongated and strongly held in form. He admired it.
It felt so long ago now, when she still blushed at seeing Naruto, when Sasuke made her keep her wits about her, and seeing Neji filled her with dread. Time moves on though, and some things change. And in her life, many had since she'd wrest the reins of control away from the old men and women that dominated the upper echelons of the Hyuuga Clan. Now they were under her control, sipping their new morning tea that induced confusion and mild dementia in their minds.
She never knew she could be so ruthless, practicing on animals until she found the hand combination that made the seal flow away, showing it to her father whose widened eyes in shock could not be faked, letting her know that she had finally healed the divide between the Main and Branch House.
"We're going to see Hiashi."
Neji let her run the house. That's the way it felt, but she never expected him to truly want the responsibility, she now understood as much. He wanted only the opportunity to be considered.
"Remove the seal, father."
She sometimes wished that their bloodline limit had deigned to give them pupils. You could never tell where a Hyuuga may be focusing. It was a double-edged sword.
A long pause swallowed the room.
"Fine."
It was strange to think that a 40 strong hand combination could wipe away years of discontent.
Hiashi returned to his books, sipping tea. Dismissed, they breathed out their thanks and retreated. Neji in shock, and her then too when he pulled her to him, hugging her around curves that had just arrived, tight, tight, tight until she nearly couldn't breathe, and her hands came up to hold him to her, stroking the length of hair that adorned his head. So gentle...
And sometimes she wondered what she would have to do to make him hold her like that; though she told herself that she just wanted to be held like that, not necessarily by him.
It was the quiet clink of a cup in front of her that brought her back. Looking over the lip of the fine china, she took a sip under lowered lashes. He would stand any moment and leave for his work. She would feel his lingering presence, but that too would fade for a few hours until they met again for breakfast, for lunch, and then mid-afternoon for them to walk home together. This time she would be waiting for him by the shops, admiring something. He would offer her his arm, she would accept, because they lived by habit, rote and duty.
"Step carefully, Hinata. This is your generation."
The End?
In a way I like leaving it there... but there's still so much that could be said, particularly from Neji's point of view. Any comments?