A/N: Hello again! I'm writing fast because school will start soon and I may not have the free time I have now. So I'm trying to get as many stories out as I can. This is my second story featuring the Hyuga cousins. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed Strength of Will. It truly made this writer feel good. Sorry, no beta reader so any mistakes are mine. Feedback is always welcome.

Rating: PG for strong language

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The characters Akashi and Ryuu are mine, all mine. (cue the evil laughter)

Burnt Bridges

By Esum Amla

They were late. Oh, god, they were so late and Neji was going to be pissed. Tenten was at least grateful Gai-sensai wasn't leading the training session today or Lee would have already burst into inconsolable tears at the thought of disappointing his mentor. Fortunately, their teacher was away on a week-long mission thus leaving the three of them to fend for themselves, sort of speak. Somehow Neji became the default leader; how Tenten wasn't exactly clear but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the Hyuga's uncanny ability to kick both their asses in rapid succession. Thus, he was the one who decided that training twice a day was the most efficient use of their time.

"Since we haven't had any missions lately, it is imperative we keep our skills sharp," the stoic ninja had reasoned.

The grueling schedule didn't seem to bother Lee, who was always high on youth, but it was killing Tenten. She was looking forward to the two day break following this last training session. It was the only thing that was keeping her feet moving towards the training fields and not scurrying back to her bed.

"Tenten, what's up with you? You look as though you're walking to your death."

She and Lee turned behind them to see two fellow classmates from their academy years running up to meet them. Despite her fatigue, she smiled warmly in greeting as the two boys started walking with them. "Hey, guys. Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, well, we have been getting our asses kicked with missions lately," said a lean boy with straight, black hair that forever wanted to stay in his face. "Akashi and I are just getting back from one and probably won't be home two minutes before we're given another one."

"We have been having the opposite dilemma," Lee commented with an air of disappointment. "We have not had a mission in over a week."

"Ah, I think I would be happy to trade with you," Akashi replied with a wink in Tenten's direction. The girl blushed visibly as she was just thinking the tall, sandy haired ninja was rather cute. "Wouldn't you agree, Ryuu?"

"Yeah, yeah, in a heartbeat."

"So if it's not missions that are wearing you down; what has you two looking so tired?" Akashi sincerely asked, smiling gently at the weapon's mistress.

"Oh, Neji has been having us train twice a day, every day since Gai-sensai's been away," Tenten replied nonchalantly.

"Yes, we are maintaining and sharpening our skills so we will be ready when the mission comes," Lee added with his trademark enthusiasm.

Any growing amity was cut short by Ryuu's dark laughter. Lee and Tenten turned in the ninja's direction to see a cruel smirk on the thin face. "Hyuga Neji, huh? You know, Akashi, I take back what I said. I rather take on ten missions at once than work on a team with that psycho."

The other three ninja were visibly taken aback.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Lee demanded angrily. "Neji is our teammate. I will not have you speak ill of him!"

"You're kidding, right?" Ryuu commented, unmoved by Lee rising temper. "I remember him from the academy. He stayed to himself, acting all distant and cold, and he never talked to anybody unless the teacher asked him a question or he was fighting, which then all he talked about was 'destiny this' and 'fate that.' The guy is heartless. Man, I don't envy you guys in the least."

"Hey, Neji is a good guy deep down," Tenten said, uncomfortable with a teammate being spoken of in a negative light regardless of the truth behind the words. "He's just intense and focused."

Lee nodded his head vigorously in agreement.

Ryuu was unimpressed. "I heard he beat the royal crap out of his own cousin during the Chunin Exams; would have killed her if the Jonin hadn't jumped in to restrain him. He's nuts."

The four had stopped walking and stood near the outskirts of town. Lee and Tenten were silent and shaking with growing anger on behalf of their teammate. Akashi sensing the building tension, tried to lighten the mood.

"Come now, Ryuu. That was a long time ago. It's in the past. I'm sure things are different now." The warning glare he discreetly sent his teammate said, 'Back off!'

"Hmph, then why is Hinata so afraid of him then?" the smug ninja challenged, paying no mind to Akashi's subtle warnings.

"Hinata is not afraid of Neji!" Tenten shot back heatedly.

A cynical snort, "That is not what I heard."

"W-What?"

Lee and Tenten both looked unpleasantly surprised as Ryuu elaborated. "I heard that when she sees him coming she goes the other way and fast. She can barely stand to be in the same room with him. She's probably afraid he'll try to finish her off if given the chance. I don't blame her. You know what they say about the quiet ones. They're the first to snap!"

"That's enough, Ryuu!" Akashi suddenly stern voice brought an end to any further commentary. The young man's face was hard with annoyance. "I think we should leave Lee and Tenten to their training."

Ryuu sighed with a shrug of his shoulders "Alright, alright."

He started walking back into town, arms crossed over his head in the most blasé manner. Akashi bowed politely and gave Tenten an apologetic look before running off after his teammate.

"Geez, what an asshole," Tenten muttered darkly as she resumed her walk to the training fields.

"Do you think there is any truth to what he said about Hinata fearing Neji?" Lee asked hesitantly, falling in step with her. They both recalled the brutal battle that almost cost the shy girl her life. It was a topic they never discussed in front of Neji.

"I don't know, Lee. I hope…ah, Neji!"

Standing in the shadows of a nearby tree was their Hyuga teammate, silent and brooding. The two did not realize he was there until they almost walked past him and they were frozen with surprise and apprehension. One thought managed to get through Tenten's shocked mind:

'Shit! Shit, shitshitshit! Oh, shit!'

"You're late," came the curt response that seemed to carry more hostility than normal as Neji started walking. "Let's go."

Lee and Tenten shared a guilty look as they followed behind their teammate.

The training session proved to be such an awkward affair that Neji decided to cut it short, unable to stand Lee and Tenten treating him like a rabid dog, like at any moment he was going to turn and do unspeakable things to them if they said or did anything wrong.

He did overhear Ryuu talking about him and given his teammates' behavior, they had come to that obvious realization and were…what? Feeling sorry for him? What a waste of energy.

He was walking home alone, the sun setting into early evening, casting long shadows from buildings as he walked the familiar path. Lee and Tenten seemed eager to leave. There was talk of sleeping for twenty hours or some other exaggerated number ('Geez, Tenten can be such a baby!') and a party later that night that everyone was going to.

Except Neji, of course.

He didn't know about the party and strongly suspected the oversight was deliberate on the party planner's part. No matter. He wouldn't have gone if he was invited. Truthfully, he was extremely uncomfortable with being in a confined space with lots of people and he wouldn't have had anything to talk about beyond training or missions. His little experience with such social gatherings had taught him that people were more interested in getting drunk and making out than the latest ninja art.

Neji knew he was not well liked among his fellow ninja primarily due to his own efforts to establish a reputation as a fatalistic loner, which was why he was not concerned with Ryuu's comments about him. He had been called worse during his academy years when people thought he wasn't around.

Cold hearted bastard.

Dick head.

Bug eyes.

Crazy. Insane. Scary.

Fucking weird.

Such things no longer bothered Hyuga Neji.

In the Hyuga manor, Neji must walk past Lady Hinata's gardens to get to his room. Normally, this is something he does not actively think about; it being more a side note than an actual thought. Today was different, however, in that halfway down the hall this insignificant fact morphed quite suddenly into a significant obsession for the usually unflappable boy.

What if she was there?

Neji stopped short at that unexpected thought. So what if she was? It wasn't as though the two never crossed paths before. It can't be helped when you live in the same household and work in the same profession. They have spoken together on numerous occasions. There is no way Hinata…still…after all this time…

The more Neji thought about it, the more he realized he didn't spend that much time with his cousin. So yes, his voice no longer dripped with disdain whenever he had to speak to her but he wasn't exactly wide open with warmth and acceptance either. He hadn't really gone out of his way to inquire about her training or ask if she was still getting along with her teammates or other things cousins were suppose to talk about. If he wanted to be completely honest, he was avoiding her.

But Neji really wasn't in the mood for self reflection.

He peeked around the corner and scanned the garden. Sure enough, there was the quiet Hyuga enigma walking idly between the rows of plants, picking herbs of her choosing. Neji stepped back before he was seen and braced himself against the wall, an unfamiliar sense of anxiety settling into the pit of his stomach before he quickly remembered to center himself.

'I'm being ridiculous,' he thought rationally. 'I'm letting what happened earlier today get to me. Wha-What do they know anyway? This is no different than any other day.' If Neji was being brutally forthright, he would have realized that the idea of Hinata fearing and/or disliking him really did not sit well at all.

But Neji was not at all interested in being forthright. He just wanted to get to his room.

With a calming breath and a contemptuous 'hmph' for good measure, the ninja genius started his small trek across the gardens. He was the picture of Hyuga apathy; head held high, eyes forward, shoulders back, would have made an elder proud if there were any around to look.

A startled, diminutive gasp caused him to turn eyes towards the girl against his better judgment. She had ducked her head, becoming even more focused on her plants and a red blush was now visible on her petite face. She looked as though she was hiding.

Neji stopped (that too was against his better judgment) and sighed. At that moment he decided he was going to have a conversation with Hinata, just to be polite, of course, and prove there wasn't anything but familial…courtesy between them.

He walked over to where his cousin was currently bent over a tea bush, carefully inspecting the leaves before pulling them off with swift fingers and placing them in a basket she had hanging from her arm. Her back was to him and Neji was naturally silent so she did not realize her elder cousin was behind her until he greeted her.

"Good evening, Hinata-sama."

Hinata was too startled to scream. She wiped around suddenly, dropping her basket in the process, staring wide eyed at the boy before her. "Ah, N-N-Neji!" Absently, she placed a hand over her heart and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Good e-evening."

Neji frowned looking down at the basket she dropped in her haste to face him. Some of the leaves fell out and now littered the once pristine walkway. He hoped that she would be able to salvage them for whatever purpose she had in mind. It would be a shame for them to go to waste because of him.

Her reaction made him feel…unpleasant. The way she put her hand on her chest reminded him of their battle where he had maliciously disrupted the chakra flow near her heart. It must have hurt a lot but she had kept on fighting.

"Was there something you needed, Neji?" Hinata asked with renewed composure, breaking the boy's train of thought.

'This wasn't a good idea,' he thought in mild panic as he looked up from the basket. "No-I mean, yes. I haven't seen you in quite some time…and…I wanted to see how you were doing." He had no idea where that came from but decided to go with it.

Apparently, Hinata had no idea either for she was looking at him as though he just transformed into Orochimaru; in pink and purple spandex. "Oh," she said finally, clearly uncertain about the whole situation. "I'm fine, thank you." Eyeing Neji carefully, she bent down to collect the fallen leaves.

"Here, let me help."

He bent down before the flustered ninja and began carefully picking up tea leaves and placing them in the basket. He used the activity as a distraction as he desperately tried to think of something else to say. "How are your teammates, Kibo and Shina?"

"Kiba and Shino," Hinata corrected defensively.

"A-Ah, of course. My apologies."

"They're fine too," she answered shortly, standing up quickly after the leaves were collected. She held the basket in front of her as though unconsciously making a shield between them.

Neji noticed this and rose slowly, feeling very discouraged. 'This really was a bad idea.' "That is good…so then…your training is going well also?"

Hinata's face hardened all of a sudden with anger and suspicion. "You seriously want to know about my training?" she asked with obvious skepticism.

Neji swallowed, quickly losing his nerve as the conversation unraveled. "Well, I…"

"What do you want?" Hinata suddenly demanded overcoming her shyness for the second time in regards to her cousin. "What kind of game is this?"

Neji didn't know what to say in the face of such resentment. The truth seemed rather pitiful in the light of it. 'I just wanted to talk to you.' He stood before her trying to look as impassive as usual but this time it was difficult to keep up the facade.

"You don't care about my teammates or my training. You don't even like me. Was this some way for me to let my guard down so you can turn around and tell me how weak and useless I am? Well, my brother, let me tell you: it won't work. Your opinion means nothing to me. I am going to be a strong ninja and prove to father that I can be useful, that I'm worthy of his approval. And I don't care if you beat me down a thousand times or think me a waste, I will not give up! So…save your mind games!"

If Neji were being honest with himself, he would have acknowledged that his feelings were very hurt. That in his mind he was thinking that everyone was right and it was too late. That the one person whose opinion and regard he did care about (no one being more surprised by this revelation than Neji) no longer felt the same about him thanks to his cruelty and anger.

But Neji could not look his cousin in the eye let alone be honest with himself.

She was standing there waiting for him to say or do something. Her eyes flashed determination and her posture told him that she would be willing to fight him right here in her sanctuary if properly provoked. She did not welcome him nor would she ever apparently.

His downcast eyes detected a single tea leaf that was overlooked. 'It would be a shame for it to go to waste because of me.' Slowly, he bent down to retrieve it. He could sense Hinata stiffening in response to the unexpected action but she did not flee. She was standing her ground. Neji, despite everything else, was at least proud of that.

Righting himself with tea leaf in hand, Neji looked at his cousin briefly before humbly adding the leaf to the rest in the basket. Hinata said nothing but her expression had changed to one of curious bewilderment.

Neji took a few steps back, giving Hinata her safe distance. Unassumingly, he bowed ignoring the sudden stinging in his eyes and the heaviness in his heart. "I…apologize for disturbing you, Hinata-sama," he said softly. "It won't happen again." With one last look he left quickly, retreating to his rooms where he was not seen for the remainder of the evening.

Later that night, Neji sat in his room and tried to meditate as was his ritual before sleep. He lit incense to help the process and changed into his comfortable robes. He wanted desperately to quiet his mind but his usual methods did not seem to work. All he thought about was his debacle with Hinata, how angry she was and how utterly foolish he looked. But in the end, he felt he got nothing less than what he deserved.

"Should have just kept on walking, Neji," he murmured softly to himself with his eyes closed.

A knock on his door broke his concentration. Puzzled, he got up to answer. He rarely had visitors and most, if not all, were typically messengers from the Main House. So he was quite surprised to find Hinata standing on the other side of the door with a tray of tea and rice balls in hand.

"Hi," she greeted timidly. She was wearing a simple blue kimono with floral print. It was a surreal sight on top of everything else given the boy was accustomed to her ninja attire.

"Hinata-sama," after today's communication implosion, Neji was at a loss as to why Hinata would be here now. He was almost afraid to ask.

Hinata blushed profusely and looked away, biting her lower lip. "Hmm, may I come in?"

Neji blinked, realizing that he was just standing in the doorway staring at his cousin like an idiot. "Ai, please," he stood aside and gestured inside his room.

Hinata smiled in thanks and stepped gracefully inside. Neji's room was sparse, for lack of better words. The futon, the table, and the old, tattered rug all belonged to his parents. The lone wall hanging of a crane fighting a snake was theirs as well. Everything had seen their better days but they were still functional and that was good enough for the pragmatic son. The only thing in the room that was obviously Neji's was his team picture, which he had mounted in a place of distinction.

Hinata did not comment on the room but instead placed her tray down on the old table before turning back to face her cousin who stood waiting by the door. "You did not come to dinner."

Neji shifted uneasily. "I was not hungry," he admitted, deciding that stolidness was the way to deal with this situation.

"I see," she said softly. She seemed to be fighting the urge to fiddle with her fingers as she stood before her cousin's impassive wall. "Well, I-I brought you some tea and onigiri in case you get hungry later."

"Hn, thank you."

Silence.

The Hyugas could hear the crickets singing out in the courtyard and a lone frog out in the distance croaking his mating song. It was terribly awkward and before Neji could breakdown and inquire if there was anything else, his cousin surprised him again.

"Neji, I owe you my sincerest apologies for my behavior earlier today."

He stood dumbfounded for a moment, forgetting he was supposed to be as cold as ice. "I-I don't understand…"

"You were trying to reach out to me. I understand that now," she explained as she looked contemplatively at the wall hanging. "It was difficult for you and I didn't help matters by losing my temper. I guess the past has a way of keeping us from moving forward if we are not careful." She looked at Neji and smiled shyly.

"Hinata-sama, there is no need to apologize," Neji said softly, clearly uncomfortable with a Main House member doing such a thing. It went against his upbringing.

Hinata's smile became warm and sincere. "Yes, I do," she said simply.

Neji could only nod in acknowledgement, deeply touched and thereby left speechless by Hinata's humble gesture.

"Well," Hinata shifted restlessly as though she didn't know what to do with herself. "I'll leave you alone now. Have a good night."

She made it to the door, walking past her cousin who seemed lost in thought. She had slid open the door when she heard his voice.

"Hinata-sama?"

She turned an inquiring gaze towards him.

"There is much more food than what I can eat alone. Would you…would you care to join me?"

Hinata smiled, releasing a sigh of relief. "Yes, I would like that."

Neji nodded and walked over to table, Hinata following close behind. He retrieved an extra tea cup from amongst his few possessions and then began to pour the tea. After the food was served, the two enjoyed a companionable silence that quieted Neji's mind far better than any meditation.

"When I didn't see you at dinner," Hinata began conversationally, "I had feared that you left for the party until I saw the light in your room."

Neji stared down into his tea. "I was not invited."

Hinata looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean, Neji-kun? It was a block party. Everyone was invited. Invitation was word-of-mouth."

Neji furrowed his brow but said nothing at this realization.

"Why would you think you would be excluded in such a manner?"

Neji sighed heavily as though readying himself for confession. "I am not well liked, Hinata-sama. I don't have very many friends, save for Lee and Tenten and I cannot be certain if that is because we are truly friends or simply because we're on the same team. I have been called many things," he glanced sideways at the attentive girl before looking away, "and most of them are very unflattering."

"I see," Hinata said thoughtfully as she sipped her tea. "I think you greatly underestimate yourself, my brother. I have not heard these unflattering things you speak of."

Neji studied his cousin's profile as she sipped her tea. Her expression was confident in her own words. Neji couldn't bring himself to correct her, to show her the error in her thinking. In his mind, he saw their fight, the blood on his hands, the scorn in his peers' eyes, and the slightly veiled shame when his teammates looked at him. "Hinata-sama," he began slowly, "the Chunin exam…I-"

"Neji-kun, I've been thinking," Hinata interrupted calmly as she picked up a rice ball. "I have been having trouble with my transition from the second to the third form. I can't seem to get my footwork right." She took at bite out of the rice ball, chewing thoughtfully. "Kiba and Shino are a great help but when it comes to the finer points of Gentle Fist, they're completely lost. If you have time, I was wondering if you would be willing to show me what I'm doing wrong." She looked at her cousin meaningfully. "You do it so well, after all."

Neji, once more, was speechless before he finally managed to nod his head in agreement. "I would be happy to help you anyway I can, Hinata-sama," and to his pleasant surprise, he meant every word.

He looked down at his own rice ball as a very small smile curved his lips. 'Ah, I understand, Hinata. We are moving forward.'

Hinata smiled as well, taking another bite out of her rice ball. "So tell me, Neji-kun. How are your teammates? I hear Tenten plans on sleeping for 20 hours…"

The End

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