Escaping Me

I do this to escape. Please enjoy.

It was warm, so wonderfully warm, and sweet. The thick white goo covered the inside of her mouth, a drop tried to escape, but skilled fingers swiped it back between her lips. She savored the taste like it was her whole world for that moment, and in that second it was. She swallowed right before she caught his voice. "Cinnamon Rolls again?"

The woman whirled in a rush to face him, almost throwing her food into the plate and hastily moving herself in front of it to hide her treat. "I can smell them you know, you don't need to hide it." His voice was always so deep, it was even more so now, full with sleep and in the hush of the night. "Neji-niisan, I didn't mean to wake you." He smiled at her like you would a child who was apologizing for nothing.

"You thought you could make those and not wake someone? Please, Hinata-sama, you live in a house of ninja. I'm just the only one who actually got out of bed." He shook his head at her before striding into the kitchen area. He swept past her and to the refrigerator. He pulled an orange from the inside of the machine and turned toward the central counter where she was at. She's returned to her roll, but as she spotted him looking at her she glanced away, and blushed slightly.

"You are a strange woman..." The words were barely above as whisper as he found himself a stool. "Niisan..." She murmured and looked down at her fidgeting hands. "You get up in the dead of night to have a snack, and then get embarrassed over it. I've already found you in the act, why not just enjoy yourself?" The girl looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "Father does not approve of such childish things, you know that." The jonin laughed, a rich rumbling sound. It made her stare at him. Had she ever heard him laugh before?

"What's so funny?" Her voice was high like she was straining not to raise her volume for fear of waking others. "You think he cares..." The man started peeling the fruit as he continued. "He knows you're up in the middle of the night, I think if he were concerned he'd be the one in here, not me." He tossed the first bit of peel aside and eyed her as he keep at his task. "He may not approve to your face, but has he ever stopped you from having such things?" The question hung in the air as she looked at him wide eyed.

Hinata looked down at her plate, she couldn't meet those intense eyes. "Well, no... It's just he's so strict about everything. He used to not let us have sweets." "So why hasn't he stopped you?" The young woman raised her head just enough to look at his expression. He gave her nothing, and his hands were still busy with the food, which told her nothing either. "I don't know." She said it like it was a confession to some crime, and she caught the way he shook his head and looked at his work.

They remained in silence for a few moments, she waited for him to start eating before continuing with her roll. She looked up startled when she heard his stool move. The young jonin stood as she watched and for a second it occurred to her how fast he had eaten. Then again she only had two bites of her cinnamon roll left, and it had been a big one. The girl watched him as he moved around the kitchen going about the tasks of cleaning his space and his hands.

He moved like he was in a complete state of relax, that wasn't normal. Most of the time he was always tense, like he expected someone to come out of no where and challenge him, but right now he was calm and his actions somehow more fluid then what she usually saw. He stopped just a few inched from her, and she realized she'd been studying him. "Something wrong?" The ripple of his voice thru the silence jolted her, and as she moved her stool shifted. The girl should have fallen had it not been for a pair of large hands that shot out to grab her.

The wooden seat crashed to the floor as Hinata found herself held tight to a bare chest that she hadn't really noted before. Why did it take her that long to realize his state of dress? Probably because that was just how he dressed at night, it wasn't like she hadn't seen him like this before. More so it was that she'd never realized he was this warm, or maybe that she'd never thought her sleeping gown was so thin until then. A hot blush spread up her face as he sat her down.

Neji didn't notice her blush as he moved around and sat the stool up, checking it for damages as he did. He looked up at her as he knelt there, those big Hyuuga eyes full of question. "Are you alright?" The woman nodded fervently as she turned her head to hide her blush behind her dark hair. "Yes... Sleep well Neji-niisan." The man nodded and dismissed himself. The kunoichi looked at her plate and the last bit of cinnamon roll there. She shook herself out of her embarrassment as she reached for it, gobbling it down like she needed the distraction.

The woman cleaned up after herself. As she sat the plate back in the cabinet she spook in the quiet to herself. "I thought this was supposed to be my safe place..." She closed the door quietly. Staring at the wood she let her thoughts wander. Then something Neji had said came back to her. "If he was concerned he'd be the one here instead..." She blinked and looked down trying to figure out what that meant. Had Neji been coming to check if she was alright? Did that mean he worried about her? She wasn't sure, she couldn't be.

The chunin considered other possibilities, but she didn't know for sure. She'd been doing this for a long time. Anytime she needed to think she'd get up like this. The sweet treats were her comfort food, they helped her to relax, to escape all the pressures of the world. She'd been doing it a lot recently. Had Neji ever done this before? No, not that she remembered. There was once she fell asleep in here, thinking, and had woken with a blanket around her shoulders. She'd thought that was her sister's doing. Was she wrong?

Hinata found herself halfway to his room before she realized what she was doing. The older ninja would probably already be back in his bed asleep. She whirled around, and almost screamed as she came face to face with the man she sought. His eyes showed a moment of emotion before it was gone and he laid a hand on her, to steady her motion. "Are you sure you're alright?" Neji looked down at her with that look he got when she'd done something he wasn't sure what to make of. The woman shook her head again. "Say it." She looked up at him confused.

"Say it. Say you're alright." He squeezed her shoulder just slightly. "Why?" Her voice had trembled, and his look darkened as he watched her. "You just shook your head a minute ago, and I accepted that. Now you look worried, and I'm not going to just leave you alone this time until you actually say you're alright." His tone was deep, a touch of force in it, but he was trying not to startle her. The girl looked up at him, and forced a smile. "I'm alright, really." He gave her eyes that didn't look like he believed her.

"You never do this when you're alright." The words made her expression shift, at the same time she was shocked, and also somehow pleased. He had noticed her all these years, of course, how could he not... The young woman looked away from him the way she did so often when she didn't know what to do. "No, I'm fine." She tried to make him believe her, but her voice was still weak. Her eyes went wide as a hand touched her chin and he made her look at him again.

His eyes were hard, but they were the only thing about his face that told her what he might be thinking. She could practically hear him saying the words 'no you're not', but they never came. After a few seconds of that cold look he released her and stepped past the girl like she didn't exist. Disappearing down the hall, and into his room. It left her standing there, and as she turned to look after him, she saw his door close. The woman sighed heavily, that was not what she expected. She shook her head, and went toward her own room in the other direction.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she was just thinking too much of things. Maybe she was just being too much or a worrier. Did it really matter if Neji had come to see if she was okay? She rolled in her covers. Staring at the ceiling like it would answer her, she felt lonely. This was going to bother her, it always did when something involved her cousin. He was so hard to read. She shifted again, and looked at the dancing animals painted on her walls. Why did it matter to her if she was making him worry? She bit her lip. That was easy to answer, she felt guilty.

She knew now what had happened to his father. She hadn't known for years that the reason Neji had been so angry for so long was because of her. If she hadn't been kidnapped his father would not had to sacrificed himself. The young woman frowning at the metallic taste in her mouth. She shouldn't of done that, and as she sucked at the injury only reminded her of her weaknesses. She turned into her pillow and rubbed her face against it. She'd gotten up to try to escape such a simpler problem, and now she was never going to sleep because of it.

Hinata took a deep breath as she tried to let her mind come unfocused. Thru her training she'd always been taught to focus on one thing with all her strength, to hold that target in mind at all times. That training sucked when she was alone and only had problems to keep her mind active. When she would focus on those things it was never a good experience. She couldn't make her problems go away like she could put an enemy down in combat, they just weren't that simple. The woman finally let herself relax as she made her mind study the still and quiet of the blackness in her head. Just considering the night and all it's peace. She slept with only the stars and crickets to keep her company. It was easier then she'd thought it would be. Then again, is it ever really that hard to rest when you know someone nearby is watching out for you?