Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
The sound of rain bounced roughly off Neji's bamboo umbrella. He was on his way to the Hokage until he saw Hinata taking shelter from the rain under a building, looking rather depressed.
"Hinata-sama, what are you doing without an umbrella?"
The unaware girl quickly looked up, "N-Neji-san!"
Her nervous fingers twirled around. Neji waited for an answer.
"I-it wasn't r-raining before," she lied.
Neji sighed. He decided not to press for the true reason. Besides, he had something he needed to do.
"Here." Neji put the handle of his umbrella in Hinata's hand. The male stepped into the hard rain. He couldn't be caught sharing an umbrella with a girl, and he most definitely didn't want to risk blushing under an umbrella with a girl. So he walked in the water, going as fast but still composed as he can.
"W-wait!" Hinata called behind him.
Neji turned around.
Hinata ran next to him "I-I wasn't here just w-waiting for the rain to s-stop. I-I w-was th-thinking," She gathered her courage to look at him straight in the eye, "about what is life without you here. Neji-niisan, you accepted an invitation to join the ANBU, but an ANBU must have a hidden identity! I-I won't be able to see you for years! I don't even know if I'll see you again! T-the job is v-very dangerous. I-I was just th-thinking about what I am going to do..."
"Hinata-sama…"
She looked at her feet, "I just want you to stay." Tears fell from her lavender eyes. She covered them, dropping the umbrella, and ran.
"Hinata-sama…" Neji murmured again.
-x-
Neji looked at himself in the reflection of a puddle. His hair was pulled in a high pony and his body was covered with metal ANBU uniform. In his hand, he held a hawk mask. He thought about Hinata's earlier words. He had no idea she felt this way before he accepted the ANBU request. How could he not have known she was crying after he told her the first time? How could he have thought she was only reading in her room for five hours? But now, it was too late. He had accepted to be on Hokage's secret force.
Neji secured the mask over his face and looked up at the moon. How could I have been so stupid?
-x-
A year later, a silent man dashed across the night-time streets of Konoha. He yielded at a massive compound of houses. His strong ties to the place begged for a quick look around before he called it a day. He bounced onto the roof of the house and ran wherever his legs took him. Soon, he arrived to a door more familiar that the rest.
A soft whimpering came from the other side of the door, causing the man to stop and listen. The sound was something one would hear from an angel who's lost on earth. It was the sweetest yet saddest sound the man thought possible.
The man wanted to find the noise. He went around the house until he reached the window to the exact room. Inside, a girl sat on the floor, hugging her knees. Around her, bloody bandages sat in messy piles. The man was so shocked by the scene that he didn't notice when the girl looked up, and right at him.
She jumped up straight away, revealing a terribly scarred face. "W-who are you?"
The man, instead of replying, reached his hand out and ran it down her tear-soaked face, "Who did this?"
She felt a strange comfort from the stranger and decided to answer, "H-Hanabi, m-my n-new t-training p-partner. S-sh d-doesn't w-want t-to t-train t-though. S-she j-just w-wants t-to b-beat m-me u-up."
The man noticed the increase in stutter. The lack of confidence grew since he last saw her. "And your father allowed this?"
She nods.
The ANBU stepped backwards, eye-widen and shaken in disbelief. He then clears his mind and jumps out of the compound.
"W-wait!" the girl called as the hawk mask and its owner fled into the night. Her bleeding hand reached out, but the ANBU was gone. "W-who a-are y-you?"
-x-
Neji put his mask on. His shinobi career was going to fall like tonight's rain, he knew, but he couldn't tolerate Hinata-sama being mistreated. He waited until it was late at night when most Hyuugas were asleep.
Neji crept into Hiashi's room and stood right at the head of his futon.
"Hiashi-sama. I will only ask you once to treat Hinata-sama well." His tone was firm and demanding.
The leader of the Hyuugas didn't open his eyes, "That daughter is better off dead so that Hanabi can rise. Besides, what is it to you?"
"What it is to me is more than you can imagine. And if you say she should be dead so that your younger daughter can lead the clan, then Father should have killed you."
The leader flipped open his eyelids, "Neji?"
"I said I was only going to ask you once." He took his sword and charged it towards the other man.
Hiashi wasn't going to give up so easily. He grabbed the blade and snapped it. The two Hyuugas went at each other, crashing into walls. Blue chakra flew about from both shinobis, but Neji, being the master of the Byakugan, was far stronger. Hiashi knew this, so he brought the fight outside. The noise soon awoke many Hyuugas, and of course, they all came to his aid.
Neji was out numbered, but the first attack made to him was a kunai that sliced the band tying his hair up. The brown hair came down like a swan lowering its wings. Everyone turned towards the direction the kunai came from, expecting to see a brilliant shinobi. But instead, at the steps stood Hinata in a purple sleeping kimono, looking determined as rain splashed on her hair.
"Stop," she said.
Hiashi turned to Neji, "You said I couldn't harm her. Just watch." He charged at the girl. Neji intercepted. The rest of the Hyuugas continued the fight. Finally, Hiashi landed a punch in Neji's face sending him onto the roof and back down. His mask cracked into two and fell. Many Hyuugas took a step back in recognition of him. Hinata was one of them.
"Neji-niisan!"
"Hinata-sama, I'm sorry I left you to all this suffering. Hinata-sama, I promise it will end now. I am here again, and I will protect you!" He got up wiping blood from his mouth. He got both hands ready for an air-vacuum. The others did the same. At the exact same time, the Hyuugas thrust their attack.
Neji was sure he'll hit Hiashi, who was in the front. He was also sure he'll get hit too. But he will not regret it. This was to atone for leaving Hinata, so imagine how surprised he was when the girl jumped in front of him and took his blow.
"HINATA-SAMA!" almost everyone screamed.
Neji quickly knelt besides the girl and supported her back, "Hinata-sama, I came to save you. Why did you-"
"Neji-niisan, every night, even after you were gone, I think of you." She took a finger and wiped blood from her mouth. The other Hyuugas stood to the side, letting Hinata having a final moment.
"I'm sorry I left you behind. I didn't know you cared," Neji wept.
"I never blamed you. I am sorry I didn't tell you how important you were to me before it was too late." Hinata gave a final weak smile. She drew something with her bloodied finger and grew limp.
Neji looked wide-eye in disbelief. The one he came to save saved him with her own life. He looked at her pale, perfect corpse. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what Hinata-sama had drawn: an umbrella with two people under it.
Neji stared at the picture being washed away by the rain. When the ANBU took him away for attempting to murder Hiashi, Neji didn't even resist. He just allowed himself to be dragged, egoless, family-less. Neji wondered how life would have been if he had walked Hinata home that day under his bamboo umbrella. He wondered if he would be going to prison. He wondered if she would be alive today. He wondered what would have happened if he had just walked with her.