Entwined

Sequel to Obscurity. Mostly NejiHina…some SasuHina (couldn't resist).

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It was peaceful, she surmised as she sipped tea quietly out in the garden under the night sky. She thought back to the last few days and it brought out a shy smile unknowingly. The relationship that she had with Neji improved significantly after that day at the hospital, knowing that he held a genuine respect for her and regarded her as somewhat important. That thought alone had broken a lot of barrier for her, as she no longer felt the need to flee when he was in the same room as her. However, she was clueless as to how to treat this relationship and what to do. It feels like she took one step forward and step steps back.

'Still…' Hinata thought as she warmed her uninjured right hand, holding the cup tightly in her grip. 'There must be something I can do.' She sighed into the night air and put the cup back to the small table beside her, all her tiredness seeping in. She went to check up on her students again during the day, overseeing their training. She could only give out instructions as her wounds that were healing prevented her from performing demonstrations.

She was told to rest for a week until she was healed of her wound. She protested, saying she could get back to training right away but was immediately cut off by Neji telling the doctor that he will make sure that she gets her rest.

She suddenly felt a presence behind her. "Hinata."

"Neji," Hinata greeted him as she looked back to her husband leaning on the doorway. Suddenly feeling her face heat up slightly, she looked down as soon as her eyes met his. "Tea?"

"What are you doing?" Neji asked, questioningly, staring at her. "It's late."

Hinata nodded, feebly. She was feeling shy and she still could not look at him straight in the eye. The day at the hospital did change her perspective but she was still awkward as ever.

There was a slight pause. "I meant you should go to sleep," he replied, as he shifted a bit, looking as his wife turned to look back at her cup. When she looked back up, he was standing right next to her. She was slightly startled and looked up wide-eyed at him.

"Umm…okay," she said, lamely. Not knowing what to do, she froze. He was standing close enough that she could reach out and touch him. There was nothing given away from his expression.

"You must be tired," Hinata stated, peering up at his face, noting that his frown was deeper than usual. He stayed silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He seemed to be deep in thought. She got up slowly and hesitantly slid her hand on his elbow just like the few times they had to appear in Hyuuga meetings, pulling him slightly toward their bedroom. He put up no resistance as she led him down the hallway toward their room.

As soon as they settled down in bed silently, Neji spoke up quietly. "I've stepped down from ANBU duties. I'll just be taking jounin-level missions."

Hinata whipped her head to the side to look at Neji. She stayed silent, knowing if he wanted to continue, then he would.

"…I think Hyuuga clan duties will keep me busy for awhile." He was still looking at the ceiling.

"I see," she looked up to the ceiling as well. She closed her eyes, tiredly.

"Hyuuga Elders called for a meeting tomorrow night," he continued, his voice tinted in seriousness. "They want to… put the seal…" The rest of the phrase he left off, but she knew what it implied. They wanted to put the seal on her.

This was not completely unexpected but to hear it so soon… She had already resigned to her fate but it disheartened her greatly. His life for hers. He did save her from that attack. Technically she owed him her life. It was a debt that she could never repay, thinking back on the scar that he received, still clearly visible on his back. She opened her eyes and glanced at his bare forehead and relaxed. She could feel his side-ways glance on her.

She met his eyes and gave a tiny smile to reassure him that she was already expecting this. She turned to his side and found his hand, squeezing it lightly. She doesn't really know where her courage came from, but it seemed somehow appropriate in this situation. "Okay."

She was going to take her hand back but he grabbed it firmly. His frown deepened, looking thoroughly displeased. She closed her eyes to avoid his intense gaze. "It's fine." She felt no loss. She would still be the member of the Hyuuga family and she would still be able to help.

There was a slight movement next to her and she felt him pulling her toward him, wrapping his arms carefully around her waist, taking care to not squeeze too tight because of her injury. This was actually the first time when he pulled her in consciously. She stayed frozen, her face buried near his chest, listening to his heart beating.

Neji knew that this was a new level of intimacy for them. Well, for her because she was now conscious of him pulling her closer while those other nights, it was only after she had gone to sleep that he pulled her closer. He buried his face near the top of her head like he did for so many nights, her smell calming him from rage that he was feeling inside.

When she recovered from her shock, she felt the unspoken words from his embrace. 'I'm sorry.' It was his way of offering comfort. She accepted his gesture, settling her right hand on top of his arm that was wrapping around her.

He was warm and she felt protected. She could feel the slight change in atmosphere, as his restlessness and anxiety seem to lessen.

"Thank you," Hinata whispered quietly.

"Starting tomorrow," Neji started calmly, his breath ruffling her blue hair in the process. "Hokage-sama requested that I oversee your genins' training and train them while you recover."

Hinata thought it was odd. Usually they would ask some other jounin who already has a team to oversee the other if one could not. However, he did say that he was going to take jounin-level duties.

"Good night," Neji claimed, as he drifted off to sleep. She soon drifted off to sleep as well, enveloped in his arm, noting that she felt oddly comfortable sharing this embrace with him. As she slowly fell into darkness, she reminisced back to the days when they were younger, playing together and imagined that it was one of those days where sun was brightly shining and the world seemed much more kinder.

NxHxNxH

When Neji woke up, the first thing he noticed was the warmth next to him. Normally he would get up as soon as he opened his eyes, but he stays next to her, with his arms around her as he observes. Her blue bang framing her face, sun shining to make her skin glow, the bridge of her nose, and her small lips. He thinks back to the conversation that he had with her last night. He glances down next to him to see her face, serene and calm. He was amazed that she could keep calm even though it was demeaning for her as a Main House to be branded.

He looks at her hand still settled on his arm and remembers how gentle her touches are.

He thinks back to the day when he almost lost her during the mission that was supposed to be easy, willing to die to protect her genins. He did, in fact, admit that in some ways he does care for her, which was undeniable. He did run to the hospital in record time after being told that Hinata was injured.

He thinks how weird it is for him to worry about someone like that. He denied for a long time that it was because a small part of him did care. He can't really imagine going back to living alone without her calming presence especially when everything else was so hectic and chaotic, learning new duties and taking harder missions, which required a lot of energy. It makes him feel afraid to be having a weakness that someone can use it against him and threaten him.

He would not hesitate and jump again to save her without a thought because that it was what he was born to do and duty drives him. But he is not so sure if it's all about duty anymore and it's confusing him so much so that he doesn't know what to do and he hates not knowing what to do.

Hinata stirs next to him and she opens her opal eyes to look at him, slowly to reveal eyes full of care and kindness and suddenly, he feels like there is not enough oxygen in the air. He has a sudden need to retreat from confusing emotions rising up within him, so foreign and invasive. Before he can take any kind of action, she retreats first and gets up, her eyes still drooping, full of sleep.

He gets up right after. "Let's get ready." She nods in return.

NxHxNxH

"Hinata-sensei!" A bright, young voice called out and Hinata looked up to see one of her students waving at her. Mika with her orange colored hair up in a ponytail stood out against two other genins, one brown haired and the other black haired. Brown-haired guy waved at her, although not as enthusiastically, but the black haired one stood still with his arms crossed as he gazed at his teacher coming.

"Mika, Kazuki, and Minoru," she waved back. Neji just looked as he saw her interact with her students first, talking excitedly as they gathered around.

Kazuki, the black haired genin with bang covering one side of his face, was surprisingly the first one to speak up, setting his piercing gaze at the male figure beside her. "Who is this, sensei?"

"Kazuki-kun, this is Neji-sensei, who will be training with you in my place…until I fully recover," Hinata said as she laid one hand on the boy's shoulder. Neji looked as the boy stared at him and gave a short nod. He gave a short nod in return.

"Before I forget, I brought you kunai like I promised." Hinata said, as she took out a kunai, sharpened and new. She held out the weapon in front of him and Neji noted that his face expression brightened slightly as he accepted her gift.

Minoru, the brown-haired boy, suddenly piped up, "What about me?" He looked like he was disappointed. He reminded him of younger version of Naruto except he was less obnoxious and more serious. But his overall personality leaned toward outgoing.

"Well, Minoru-kun, if you promise to train hard today, I'll ask Tenten-sensei if she could spare me another but I got this for Kazuki-kun because I promised him long time ago and I like to keep my promise," she smiled at him. "And of course, that applies to you, Mika-chan. Neji-sensei will train you today. I'm just going to watch."

She nodded at him and he took that as a cue. "Let the training start."

NxHxNxH

By the time they were done, Neji hasn't even activated his Byakugan and her students were exhausted. She was amazed of how hard her students worked and how Neji was good at pointing out what they needed to work on.

"Whew," Mika breathed out as she settled down on the bottom of the tree. She settled down leaning her back against tree.

"Sorry guys, I could only pack rice balls today," Hinata said as she got out the food. "Didn't really have time." She jumped down, taking her basket with her.

"That's okay. Your food is delicious," Minoru exclaimed, as he settled down next to her and took out a rice ball, biting into it without a second thought. He had some burnt mark on his arm.

Mika was excited, "This is the best part of training. Oh! I brought cookies that I baked yesterday too. We can share that. Kazuki-kun, hurry up!" She had some scratches in her cheek and dirt on her clothes but she looked like she could care less.

Kazuki picked up his kunai and cleaned it up before settling down himself. Hinata handed him a rice ball before she gave one to Neji as well.

"Sensei, when is our next mission?" Mika asked, her brown eyes sparkling, excitement clearly evident in her voice.

"Hmm…I don't know. You might be assigned along with some other teams the next time you go on, because I can't accompany you yet," she answered back, looking down at her half-eaten rice balls.

"I am going to train harder, sensei, so that I can fight those ninjas should they appear again," Mika claimed as she plastered determined look on her face. Neji felt his heart sink, remembering Hinata's last mission and how she was almost killed. Tsunade-sama ordered further investigations about the incident but they had no luck so far.

"Well, you're going to have to train really hard then," Hinata said, smiling at her. Those ninjas that attacked them… they were after her or more likely, her eyes. They were nowhere the level that her students could handle. They were much stronger and faster; they were killers.

"They were not after us, they were after you, sensei," Kazuki stated, looking up at her. He stared at the bandage on her arm and hand, the wound that was inflicted because she was trying to protect him who was trying to protect her from an attack.

"Yes," Hinata said as she looked at him, her eyes looked thoughtful. Her lips quirked upward, her eyes following his eyes settled on her bandage, "Don't feel so guilty, it's good that you followed my instructions. Ninjas have to be prepared to face any kind of danger, you know."

Kazuki looked away but Neji could see that his expression softened a bit after what Hinata said. Minoru and Mika have gone quiet as well, "O-kay, I think it's enough for today. We can call it a day," Hinata continued as she tried to lift up the dark mood. "Next time I see you, I expect improvement. You know what you need to work on."

Hinata got up and pushed them toward their homes. "See you later."

Hinata waved as the three of them walked away, arguing about who was the strongest. "They would make fine ninjas," Hinata said to the companion next to her.

Neji stared at the three of them, Mika and Minoru were waving while Kazuki put his hand up and immediately shoved the hand into his pocket. Neji had learned a lot from the way that Hinata interacted with her students. She already had gained their respect and he was glad that he requested this from Hokage-sama.

"Yes, they would," Neji agreed. "They have much potential." Their students also had surprised him with their abilities. They had natural fluidity to their movements and generally worked okay as a team.

Hinata smiled broadly at Neji's words.

NxHxNxH

Hinata kneeled down, trying to ignore all the piercing gazes that she was receiving. Neji was kneeled next to her with her father on the other side of her. Hanabi was seating next to him. They were looking all grim.

"Rules are changing within Hyuuga clan and along with it, some adjustments to the ancient laws of the Hyuuga clan are necessary," one council member started. "Since Neji-sama was chosen to take over the clan and he was given privilege of having his seal removed, we need someone else to take that place, otherwise the possibility of rebellion will become greater. There are talks of how Neji-sama was able to escape his fate while others are resigned to theirs."

Neji clenched his hand, anger threatening to activate his Byakugan. He could not refute because it was true that he was freed from the seal and he knew that many Branch House members detested the seal. "Should Hinata-sama announce that she is willing to receive the seal then, symbolizing her submission to the head of the Hyuuga then it would not upset the balance. As this is an exception that Branch House member had taken over the Head, this needs to be an exception where Main House member needs to receive the seal."

"Furthermore, few days ago, Hinata-sama was attacked by ninjas of unknown origin, during which she risked her life and risked the secrecy of Hyuuga clan," one of the Elders spoke up. "We cannot allow someone else to take away the secrecy of the clan."

As in, we cannot have the weakest link be put in danger all the time because she needed to take missions often, Hinata thought bitterly. But Hinata could not show emotions now. She could deal with it later.

Everyone fell silent and looked at her expectantly. She looked around toward the Elders and Hanabi and her father, showing nothing of the emotions underneath but she knew that from the times that they discussed, they were clearly against this. That was enough for her: the thought that they did care. She was glad that Hanabi was spared from this fate.

It was her choice to make. She saw Neji's eyes narrowed, clearly stressed and angered. She took a deep breath, hoping that her voice would not waver. "As you have said, this is the first time that rules have been broken and as such, there are…adjustments that are necessary to keep the balance between Hyuuga Main House and Branch House."

She continued, her voice becoming firmer as she spoke. "Hyuuga clan have kept the delicate balance between the two houses for a long time. My loyalty is to the Hyuuga and my duty is to the clan. Therefore, I am willing to accept the seal if it means keeping the harmony between the two."

There was murmur of approval among the Elders. Her father, Hanabi, Neji, and few others that were against putting the seal on the Main House member stayed frozen.

"Neji-sama?" Elders spoke, waiting for her husband to talk. There was a heavy silence, breath being held in anticipation. The weight of the silence seemed almost too much to bear.

"No, that would not be necessary" His voice was firm and clear. There was a pause in the room. Hinata looked up at him, shocked at his words. There were murmurs of disapproval permeating, spreading like wildfire. "I believe the wife of the Head of the clan seen with a seal would be more detrimental to the reputation of Hyuuga if seen by other clans. They are most likely to view it as a sign that Hyuuga clan is weakening if Hyuuga Clan Head's wife has to bear the sign of submission. The threat then no longer is just within the clan but possibly might come from external source."

Hiashi spoke up, his voice rang in the quiet room, "Long ago, my brother sacrificed his life for mine. He died to save the Head of the Hyuuga clan. Without his sacrifice, I would not be here. I owe Neji a great debt and for that, I support his decision. I believe we all owe him a great favor."

Hiashi continued to look around. "There will always be others who are threatening to take the secrets of Hyuuga clan and that, we can do nothing. However, my daughter was willing to sacrifice and bear the seal and that alone clearly shows where her loyalty lies and she has become a capable ninja becoming a jounin after working hard for few years. I believe she would make fine co-leader alongside Neji. " The pride in his voice was clearly evident.

Hinata looked at him, his words slowly registering in her mind. She almost wondered if this was a dream until she was broken out of a reverie by Neji's voice. "I believe that settles it. Although Hyuuga clan have been keeping the same law for long time, there comes a time when it becomes necessary to amend the existing rules. Only then can the clan move forward to adapt to changing environment. I believe that this would be a positive step in creating a better future for the clan." There was silence but Hinata could not raise her head up to see the expressions on their faces, too shocked at the turn of the event.

"My wife would not be receiving the seal," Neji claimed with finality.

It was only later when Neji grabbed her hand that she knew it was time to get up. She got up, trying not to wobble but failing horribly. She grabbed onto Neji's arm for support as they walked back to their room silently. As soon as they arrived in their room, she collapsed on the floor and she could feel something wet rolling down her cheeks. She could vaguely feel him dropping down next to her and her arms shot out to wrap themselves around his neck.

As soon as she collapsed on the floor, Neji did not know what to do but when her hands shot out to wrap themselves around his neck, knocking him slightly back so that he was sitting on the floor, he knew that he did the right thing.

"Thank you," she whispered through her tears. "That meant a lot…to me."

Neji's lips formed a small smile, which Hinata could not see. "You would've done the same if you were in my place," he stated as he wrapped his arms tightly around the woman in front of him. She was happy and her emotion was influencing him. There was warmth spreading throughout his body. Contentment was the only thing that came close to describe his current feelings.

The more he held onto her, all the more his vow to protect her solidified and he was determined to not let go. He was just hit with a realization that she was breaking through the tough wall that he put up to keep all the emotions out and it was crumbling quite fast.

Odd thing was, he did not mind at all. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he saw this coming as he got to know her more, seeing her grow and interact with her students, how she dealt with stepping down as an heiress and choosing to accept him as a husband, being willing to sacrifice herself for the good of others, and trying hard to be a good wife.

If he was still trying to deny that he felt nothing for her, his irregular, quick heartbeats surely denied and spelled out that he was a fool. He was cornered and it was time for him to accept the fact.

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Reviews are very much appreciated. It's been a long time since I wrote my last one. Might be a bit rusty.

-NightKDuet