The Choices We Make
Chapter 1: Promise
Be sure to read the author's note at the bottom! :)
"Come, Natsumi, I have a gift for you."
Natsumi walked obediently to her mother, a beautiful woman with thick, dark blue hair and purple eyes, offering a kind smile. They were sitting in an open field; it was the end of spring, and all the flowers were in bloom casting a sea of bright color all around them.
"What is it, Mama?"
"Close your eyes," whispered Asami. Natsumi obediently did as Asami asked. Natsumi heard a slight rustle and then felt her mom's cool hands push her brown hair off her forehead. Following that, she felt something weighted being placed on her forehead, and tied to the back of her head.
"Okay, open your eyes."
Natsumi blinked a couple of times and looked at her mom. Where Asami's headband once was against her forehead now rested on Natsumi's forehead.
"Mom, your headband?"
"Congratulations on passing the Academy exam, Natsumi," said Asami happily, pulling her daughter into a hug. Natsumi grinned, throwing her arms around her mom's middle. Asami pulled back and ran a hand over the black headband that was now her daughter's. Asami had kept it in pristine condition. "This headband once belonged to your father a very long time ago."
"My papa?"
"That's right, Hyuuga Natsumi. This headband belonged to the one and only Hyuuga Neji."
"Hyuuga Neji..." Natsumi's eyebrows furrowed. She knew a lot about her father. She knew she looked just like him-the same long brown hair and lavender eyes, but she had her mother's delicate eye shape. She knew what cousin Hinata told her told her about her father-he was a prodigy and a very good man who died in a very bad war for his friends and his village. She even had a few stories that her mother had told her, but Natsumi had stopped asking; whenever she asked for a story, Asami would tell her, but for a while after, her mother's happiness seemed to disappear, as though it made her sad to think about Neji.
"Mama," asked Natsumi, her small hands balling into courageous fists.
"Hmm," asked Asami. Both mother and daughter amongst flowers; Asami had absently begun to pick flowers fashioning them into a crown.
"Can you tell me about Papa," the words tumbled out of Natsumi's mouth. She could barely look at her mom, afraid of the sadness she might find in her mom's eyes. She hated making her mom sad, but she hated even more not knowing Hyuuga Neji.
Asami's hands stilled in her process of flower crown making. Gently, she stroked a flower's white petal, Neji's smile passing through her mind. "What do you want to know," Asami finally asked.
"Everything," said Natsumi, her eyes wide with all the curiosity of an intelligent 12 year old girl.
"Everything," Asami echoed with a playful laugh. She gently touched Natsumi's head. "If I told you everything we would be for years."
"Then tell me..." Natsumi drew her knees to her chest in thought, watching the wind blow across the flower field, making the flowers ripple like waves. "Tell me about how you and Papa met and fell in love."
Asami chuckled as she finished her crown making. She had weaved two-one for her and one for her daughter. Natsumi grinned and took the crowns from Asami's lap, putting one on her head before putting one in her mother's hair-the white flowers blending beautifully with her blue hair.
"That's one of my favorite stories," said Asami, winking at her daughter. She too drew her knees to her chest and looked to the sky, watching two birds circle lazily above them. "Well, it started when we were very little, probably around Himawari's age," said Asami, thinking of Naruto's and Hinata's young daughter.
"Really," asked Natsumi, her lavender eyes wide.
"Yes," Asami giggled. "Neji and I were betrothed."
o0o Thus begins the story o0o
"Mama, why are we doing this," asked a 4 year old Asami, frowning as her mom, Sayuri, adjusted a beautiful red kimono around Asami's body. Asami puffed out her chubby toddler cheeks as Sayuri finally appeared satisfied. Finally, she set a white flower in Asami's dark blue hair, which hung down, thick and wavy.
Sayuri knelt so she was eye level with her daughter. "Today we're meeting someone very special." Today was the day Asami met her betrothed. Years ago, during the Third Shinobi War, Sayuri and Hanako, Neji's mother, had fought side by side, saving each other. At the time, they were both young mothers, wanting more than anything to be home with their babies-but the war called for all shinobi, especially those with medical skills, which Hanako and Sayuri both excelled at. There were many times in which Hanako and Sayuri saved each other, and at one point, they had made a pact: if they got through this, they'd arrange for a marriage between their children as an eternal friendship.
"Who, who, who," asked Asami, excitedly, forgetting her annoyance and breaking into her mother's train of thought.
"Someone who will be very important to you," said Sayuri, her indigo eyes sparkling with a knowing look. "And I want you to look very pretty."
"Important," questioned Asami, cocking her head to the side in confusion. Instead, her mother took her hand and they left their house, off to meet this mystery person.
Asami looked up with wide eyes as Sayuri led her the front gates of a guarded and expensive looking compound.
In front of the gates stood a small party of people, a small girl Asami's age, a boy who looked to be a year older than Asami, and a man with the same brown hair and lavender eyes as the boy. Sayuri paused in front of the man and bowed. Taking her mother's cue, Asami did the same, earning approving smiles from the man.
"Today is the day Hizashi waited for," said Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan. He smiled slightly and crouched down in front of Asami.
"Hello, Asami," said the man. Asami clung to her mother's skirt, suddenly shy.
"Hi," she said, offering a small smile. The man nodded to the boy beside him. The boy looked exactly like the man-dark brown hair and lavender eyes, but with bandages around his forehead.
"This is my nephew, Neji," said the man. "A long time ago, when you were just a baby, my brother and his wife made an arrangement with your mom that one day when you and Neji grow up, you would marry each other."
"Marry?!" Asami wrinkled her nose. As far as she was concerned, boys had cooties. Hiashi and Sayuri backed up to give their children space to meet.
Neji looked up at Hiashi uncertainly, only earning a nod. Neji then looked at the slightly chubby 4 year old in front of him. She almost had Hyuuga eyes, he realized, seeing her purple eyes under her mane of wavy hair with a white flower tucked behind her ear.
"I like your flower," said Neji, offering Asami a small smile. He had to admit, she was cute.
Asami moved forward, closing the space between them. Carefully, she reached out and touched the bandages on Neji's forehead. Startled, Neji took a step back, so her hand dropped.
"What are you doing," asked Neji, shocked.
"Do you have an owie there," asked Asami, her voice so full of concern.
Neji touched his forehead, the seal didn't hurt now. "No," said Neji.
"Then why do you wear those," asked Asami, confused.
"Because I have to," answered Neji. Something about the way he said it made Asami understand that would be the end of the discussion. Asami frowned and looked at her feet for a moment before looking back up at Neji with a big smile. Quickly she took his hand and started running.
"W-wait, where are we going," asked Neji, surprised by the girl's speed.
"To see the flowers," answered Asami with a giggle, her wild hair flying behind her.
"Will they be okay," asked Sayuri, worried by her daughter's random impulses.
"Neji is a smart boy," said Hiashi. "He won't get lost, and if anything should happen, he will protect her."
"It's a good match," Hiashi finally said with a nod. He looked to Sayuri. "Let's go draw up the paperwork. Neji's mother is currently away on a mission, therefore, I will be the one you will meet with." He looked down at his daughter who remained silent through the exchange, "Hinata, this is the way of our clan sometimes. You must approve of the matches the branch houses make."
"Yes, father."
o0o
Asami finally let go of Neji's hand when they were in a flower field full of the same white flowers Asami had in her hair. Asami giggled and fell to the ground, looking up at the bright blue sky. The flowers were chrysanthemums.
"Hey! Asami-chan," called Neji, shocked by the girl. "You're ruining your kimono!"
Asami looked up at him, puzzled. Her mom did say she had to look pretty for him. "It's not ruined if you lie down too," said Asami. "That way, I'm not the only one who is dirty."
Neji stared at Asami a moment longer before he carefully laid down next to her, keeping a healthy distance between them. He too, stared at the sky.
"So one day we have to get married," said Asami.
"Yeah..."
Asami rolled to her side so she faced Neji. In front of her face was one of the white flowers. She smiled and picked it, holding it out to Neji. Neji simply stared at the flower in her chubby fist.
"You're supposed to take it, silly," said Asami, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She sighed impatiently and tucked it behind Neji's long dark hair. Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed Neji's cheek. That wasn't so bad, she decided. Asami giggled at Neji's shocked expression.
"Normally, guys give girls flowers," said Asami, her purple eyes serious after her giggles. The look she gave Neji was so serious he cracked a smile.
"So," continued Asami, with all the wisdom of a 4 year old, "let's make a promise."
"Promise?"
"I don't know if I like you right now," said Asami truthfully. "You have cooties because you're a boy. But one day we have to fall in love and get married and have babies, because that's what married people do. When we grow up, promise me you'll bring me these flowers. These will be our wedding flowers because they're pretty, and they look like they mean "I love you". So when we grow up, I want you to give me this flower to tell me you love me." Asami looked at the flower she put in Neji's hair and held out a hand, holding a pinky out to him.
"Promise," she asked.
Neji looked at the pinky she extended, knowing he had to take it. Neji blew out a sigh. He knew that everyone was given one destiny, and that could not change. If he had to marry this chubby-cheeked girl, then he would, not because he loved her, but because it was his destiny. Finally, he looped his pinky with hers.
"Promise," echoed Neji.
Author's Note: Welcome to my new story! Let me tell you a little about it. A long time ago, on an extinct site known as Quizilla, my name was Ayashi8. There I met a good friend named Fonique2, and together through spastic dysfunction and weirdness, we created a crack story called "The Adventures of Kohaku and Asami", our respective characters who were in love with Sasuke and Neji, as we were.
Well, as Quizilla became extinct, so did our stories. And while the Adventures of Kohaku and Asami are still being written and unpublished, I decided to write Asami and Neji's story after all of these years. You can find Kohaku's story by Fonique2 here on Fanfiction!
Finally, Neji and other known Naruto characters belong to Neji.
Kohaku belongs to Fonique2
Anyway, without further ado, Asami and Neji's story. I hope you enjoy is as much as I enjoy writing it.