Word count: 2,236 words
Characters: Neji, Tenten, Hinata, Hanabi, random Hyuugas
Summary: Neji is sick. "The way to man's heart is through his stomach" or so they say.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. Any similarity with real life is mere coincidence.
Chapter 1:
Herring Noodles (Nishin Soba)
"Miname-san, this girl insisted, I've already told her to leave but like must girls she just keeps –"
"Oh, Gendo! Stop blabbering," a woman in her early forties reprimanded gently looking quietly at the girl that stood behind the old grumpy man. He was sweating; apparently he had been running after the girl that was now behind him.
"Good afternoon, Miname-san," said the girl with a timid smile as she gave a very deep and respectful vow. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a girl her age, except perhaps, for the Chinese buns over her head that made her resemblance to a panda quite striking.
"You can leave now, Gendo, I'll take care of this."
"But you heard Hiashi-sama—"
"Gendo, please…" the older woman insisted at which the taller man couldn't help but to obey; leaving yet another smiling girl into the kitchen grumpily. The girl's face contracted into something that resembled guilt.
"What that man said is true…." The younger girl, woman, she didn't look younger than seventeen, uttered, her gaze firm on the ground, "I apologize if I've been too insisting, but I've—"
"Brought something for Neji-san who is sick," finished the older of the two wisely as a gentle smile formed on the corner of her lips. She knew the boy was a popular fellow, it was more than expected that he would receive unwavering attention from the female population if the opportunity presented itself.
"No! I-I mean…yes, how…how did you know?" the girl fumbled with her words, her cheeks tainting with a delicate tinge of pink.
"You're not the only one, dear, look at the thermos your right," said the older lady as she pointed to a corner of the wide kitchen, on which three rows of perfectly lined thermos laid, untouched. Neji had rejected every single one of them.
The older of the two couldn't help but to feel a bit of pity although she didn't show it, this girl hadn't been the only one to follow through with the same idea. It was clearly stated in the unwritten Hyuuga code, however, that making one's guest feel uncomfortable was out of the question, whether they were wanted or not.
"Oh," she began surprised, "….those are quite a lot," she finished with an almost imperceptible sigh. If she felt exceptionally disappointed or sad it didn't show.
The bun haired girl gripped strongly on a handle, Miname hadn't noticed but the girl had been carrying a box not much different from the ones used to deliver ramen or Chinese food. And so, Miname decided that hiding the information on the stack of chocolates she had hidden inside one of the cabinets from her would be best.
"Don't worry dear, I'll go upstairs and offer it to him just like the rest," the Hyuuga said and took the slightly heavy box from the surprisingly coarse hands of the waiting girl. If she had to guess, the hands felt no different from those that spent continuous hours in a kitchen.
"I'm sorry you can't enter and see him but the Master of the House has forbidden anyone outside the clan to visit Neji-san, it's… an old clan policy," she explained patiently, just like she had done with the rest of the girls, who in her place didn't care to hide their long faces of disappointment.
"Hiashi-sama," the brunette girl murmured to herself.
Miname gave the girl a wide stare at her words, no other girl before her spoke as if they'd known anything else of Neji other than his name, much less his uncle's. The brunette turned a deeper shade of red once she caught the weird stare she was receiving from her host.
"Aa, it's nothing…ah…I must leave now or… I'll be late," she said nervously, waving her hands in front on her face and before she could exchange a proper goodbye she vowed and started a run towards the exit of the compound.
"Tell Neji I wish him well!" she yelled happily as she waved from the gates childishly.
"But you haven't given me a name!" the older lady called hurriedly after the girl, surprised at her sudden reaction.
"Oh, don't worry, it isn't that important!" she yelled back with a playful smile and waved goodbye to a very confused Gendo on her exit. The older woman didn't know whether to smile or to scowl, the visit had been most unexpected.
Hyuuga Miname, for all her years in charge of the Hyuuga kitchen had never met such a peculiar girl. The fact that she knew of Hiashi's position and spoke of Neji without suffix was quite strange for someone outside the compound.
Her mysterious decision to not leave a name, and the delicious smell emitting from the box, which now she could tell contained some sort of Chinese Hot Soup, was enough for her innate Hyuuga curiosity to emerge. She just had to know who this girl was...the more she thought about it the worse her curiosity turned. She wasn't one to enjoy gossip (most of the time) but the situation had changed to something very suspicious.
She took the box with both hands and started walking up the stairs slowly; it was a mystery to her how the girl managed to carry such a heavy thing for as long as she had. Luckily, Neji's room was one of the first ones on the second floor.
"Neji-san, another girl dropped some soup for you to eat," she barged into his room gently. She knew that if she had dared to knock she would've been dismissed immediately.
The room was as immaculate as ever, even more so now that he was sick and hadn't moved a single thing ever since the fever had laid him in bed three days ago. For a reason, it even looked gloomier than usual.
"I don't want it," his baritone was slurred and slightly scratchy, his back turned to the door. The common cold of early spring had taken Neji out of guard. He had been fighting sleep for a couple of hours, being out cold didn't make him feel reassured in the least.
"Are you sure? This smells better than the others," she insisted, finally putting the box on the floor to rest her slightly sore arms. The young man on the bed didn't even flinch, at which the older woman felt slightly offended.
"I don't care, I'm not interested," he concluded coldly, his voice sounded as if he had just recovered from fever. The older woman pursed her lips.
"Neji-san," she gathered courage ", you must be considerate, the cute girl in buns looked very troubled," Miname didn't quaver at the boy's quiet tantrums. She was used to his usual crabbiness, and had done a personal promise to stand up to him.
"With… buns?" his voice remained stilly, though his body squirmed in a sudden spasm; the cold had hit him quite strong. The woman by the door blinked, that reaction was more than she had officially expected.
"Oh yes, the most charming buns, she also happened…to be very cute!" Miname adventured and smiled against her will when a slightly feverish boy, because he was yet to be a man, turned to her with tired –but very interested—eyes.
"Who left it?" he asked roughly through a very sore throat, in a vain attempt to sound slightly more authoritarian, though in his current state of affairs it was more than obvious that an energetic squirrel could probably finish him off.
"That, I don't know, she left too quickly...something about being late," the woman blathered, "she left this box...my guess is that it has some sort of thick soup," she explained slowly before signaling the outlandish box by her feet.
Neji's gaze laid on the box for a couple of seconds, but said nothing, his stare as blank and clear as it had always been. Though, Miname was feeling daring enough to guess that was all he was able to accomplish in his current condition.
"Just leave it by the bed table," he ordered faintly and turned his back to her once again, in an action that took her out of guard.
"Oh...of course Neji-san, please rest."
It was late in the afternoon and the usual racket of the kitchen had diminished considerably. A pairs of big bubbling eyes stared with anticipation; the evening gossip was being unusually retold by the most unlikely woman, which uncommonly centered on a weird visitor and Neji's atypical reaction to a bowl of noodles.
"….and when I went back to check on him, he was sleeping like a baby, a big empty bowl forgotten by his bed table... who would've thought….the pickiest family member actually favored the girl's cooking!" the older woman by the name of Miname Hyuuga laughed a little too heartily, in a way that made her look a couple of years younger.
"But Neji-niisan is grotesquely picky!" a young girl yelled loudly sitting on a stool, eyes wild with disbelief.
"H-Hanabi-chan," her older sister tried to chastise her at her side for her choice of words, her gentle voice, however, was visibly ignored. The older woman couldn't help but to smile quietly, some things in the compound never changed.
"I don't believe it! Neji-nii is despicable!" a young and incredulous Hanabi yelled, arms crossed over her chest, lips pressed together.
"Ha-hanabi-chan!" a very startled Hinata reprimanded her sister as best as she could. Hanabi shook her head unbelieving.
"Hinata, don't tell me you believe her? Neji is the coldest man on Earth!" she dramatized hands up in the air, cheeks flared with irritation. Hinata sighed at her younger sister's overbearing personality.
"Just because he almost forgot your name yesterday it doesn't make him the meanest man on Earth, Hanabi-chan," the oldest of the three reasoned with a calming smile that was enough to break through the youngest Hyuuga's tetchiness.
"He is still mean..." she whined with a pout, but sat back on the stool she had abandoned in order to listen to the end of the mystery case.
"He had fever…" argued the older woman patiently. Hinata cut in before bantering ensued.
"So, what d-do you think Mi-miname-san?" asked Hinata hastily, observing how the older woman's eyes sparkled with glee.
"There's only one logical reason…." She waited a couple of seconds to build the suspense, " our beloved and moody Neji-chi is in love," she gushed way too childishly for a woman her age and enjoyed Hinata's pleasantly surprised expression in contrast with Hanabi's bemused face, it seemed she still believed boys had cooties.
"Neji is in love?" the youngest of the three asked with a shudder, in her wildest dream had she imagined that possibility. She just couldn't help but be surprised, more at the fact that Neji could actually love someone other than himself –and perhaps the family—, than the fact that a normal –and charming— girl was romantically interested in him.
"Most certainly, and that girl must love him too for she took the trouble to bring him food...we all know that the way to man's heart is through his stomach," she signaled with wink and a wide smile. Hanabi scrunched up her nose in annoyance.
"It is?" asked Hinata in a way that sounded more like an exclamation in comparison to her normally levelheaded voice. Hanabi looked at her sister like a head had suddenly sprouted from one of her shoulders.
"Yes, Hinata-chan….don't tell me you're in love too?" she asked curiously watching as the face of the eldest Hyuuga resembled a tomato as she fidgeted with her fingers.
"Nee-chan too?" said an exasperated Hanabi and rolled her eyes, now she had a rather vague idea about the reason behind her sister's sudden decision to join an extracurricular activity (even when the gardening club wasn't exactly the place to meet males).
"Then I must help you cook the most beautiful and colorful of bento boxes," the elderly woman decided pleasantly at which Hinata agreed affably with her head.
"I don't like boys, they're stupid," sturdily stated the youngest Hyuuga and left the kitchen stomping her feet crossly. Hinata giggled beside the older woman. Hanabi was a very rowdy girl.
"She'll come around," Miname commented off-handedly. "Now if I could only remember where I had put that bento box…"
"Who w-would've thought, Neji-niisan must really like T-Tenten-san…" a very happy Hinata mussed to herself, gaining the curious attention of her nosy companion.
"You said something Hinata-chan?" the older woman asked back trying to sound as casual as she normally would.
"D-Do you need any h-help?" she changed the subject.
She knew Miname wouldn't tell a soul, but she didn't take pleasure on the possibility of setting off her cousin's rage. He would probably have enough with Hanabi's teasing and her father's too, if he ever got hold of the information (which he would because even when she denied it, Hanabi was a fan of gossip especially if it was fueled by revenge).
"All you can offer Hinata-chan, all you can offer."
Later that day, on the last hours of the evening, Neji ordered for two roses to be delivered to Tenten's small apartment, accompanied by a single note that read "thank you".
When she received it, Tenten smiled towards the moon as she put the two flowers in fresh water. She would cook him herring noodles next time.
A/N:
I tried showing this on an external point of view to the whole affair, if it turned out a little confusing or out there, I apologize. Originally this was taken from a snippet from a fanfic I had been working on, but currently have abandoned. I also modified it, because as I continued writing the snippet it seemed even more forced than it might be now, so the last part was thoroughly revised and change more than once.
Nii-san and nee-chan (oniisan/onee-san) are words (abbreviations really) for older brother and older sister respectively, just in case you didn't know. As for why Neji sent Tenten two roses, that's because in flower language that means: Mutual feelings. As for Neji forgetting Hanabi's name it's actually a reference to a Shipppuden omake, where Tenten teases Neji about not knowing Hanabi's name and he almost forgets, sort of. Herring Noodles are Neji's favorite food, just for the kicks. If you got another reference to cannon, cheers you're an observant reader.
The next four chapters have been pre-written already (one in my computer, the other three in my notebook), which I'll acknowledge I'm much fonder of. I hope you continue the reading. Constructive criticism is always welcomed, just as positive feedback or if you just happen to have an opinion or whatever, don't hesitate to leave a review.
PS: All entries should be read individually.
Edit: this chapter has been revised.
Half-note