When the party finally ended, it was dead night. Most people got drunk badly, but still the enthusiasm of the day made them stay up really long.

Only two weren't drinking. The newly announced heiress to the clan, and the genius of the clan. He kept glancing at her, unable to decipher his own thoughts. On one hand we was amazed that she did so much progress, he admired the skillfulness of her new techniques and her hard work to develop them, on the other it irritated him. After all he was the GENIUS of the clan not her. He should be the strongest and unbeatable not her. Such a mixture of feelings made him follow her, when she tried to slip out of the party. He went straight after her, and before she could reach her bedroom, he grabbed her arm and made a short demand "Fight me".

She looked at him wearily, stone dead looking at his angry glare. She blushed badly seeing the insensitivity of his eyes, and the madness clearly visible in them. She hesitantly bowed her head and whispered "I d-d-do no-t-t-t wish-sh to fight you nissan." She looked at the ground and shook. This irritated him even more, he folded his fist and punched the wall just next to her head.

She lifted her head in surprise and looked straight at him when he said the words "Fight me! For I will fight you even if you don't want to fight me!".

"I…" She started stumbling badly unable to speak in terror, seeing his angry glare she couldn't try to pretend everything was ok. She finally mumbled "Not here" and looked down again.

"In 15 min on the south training ground" he sniggered "and if you won't be there I'll come here and drag you!". He finally turned back and left her alone.

She opened her bedroom door and quickly took off her dinner kimono, she would need something definitely more comfortable than that for this fight. After five minutes she went out dressed in her ordinary training clothes and headed towards the training ground. As soon as she reached it she saw Neji leaning against a tree lost in his own thoughts. She landed silently on the ground, and he immediately looked at her.

On his way there he had clearly lost some of the anger churning in him, but that didn't change the fact that he needed to confront her. Before she could even say something he ran towards her in his first attack. Instinctively she defended herself, but she started talking at the same time.

"Neji-nissan I really don't want to fight with you!" She told him.

"Why not? Am I not good enough to face you?" He spat at her.

"Neji-nissan! You are much stronger than I!" She answered.

"Fight me seriously Hinata-sama!" He told her mad that she wasn't attacking and only deflecting strikes.

"I'll never fight you seriously!" She yelled and began crying in mid battle. "I don't want to fight you!" she sobbed. "Please nissan stop!" she begged him.

"I'm not your brother so stop calling me that!" He yelled at her.

"Please stop…" She begged again with her face wet of tears. He finally stopped striking but was still very angry.

"I'm not your brother so don't you ever call me nissan again!" He demanded.

She just nodded.

He looked at her sharply. This was all too much, she was clearly a strong kunoichi but with him she just gave in, and cried. And crying was worse than her usual ignoring him, blushing and hiding.

"What's wrong with you, can't you just look at me and stop that stupid weeping!" He demanded.

She raised her head, shaking terribly, clearly scared and petrified. The moment their eyes finally met, he could easily see the mixture of emotions on her face. Sadness, fright, terror, and some kind of pleading he did not know how to name.

Biting down on his lips, he tried not to hit her again, fighting down the feelings still going wild in his head. He could see she was still trying to make the tears stop coming down her face, her mimics still, but the tears still kept falling rapidly. In this state of despair she looked terrific. Even better that in that fight with TenTen, when she was concentrated and determined and self confident. This broken Hinata in his eyes was even more beautiful, than the powerful kunoichi she proved to be during the day.

A spark of guilt came into his mind as he realized he was the reason for her despair, but the greedy and needy part of him was happy this timid and soft person could be easily crushed by him, if he wished to do so. And the more he looked at her, the less he felt like doing that. Before he knew what he was doing he crushed her into his cheat and pressed his mouth into hers. The kiss was not gentle at all, he demanded that she submit herself and she did not resist. The faint salty taste of tears finally brought him back from the brink of insanity. He let her go and turned his back to her, and whispered words she would never forget, "Remember one thing Hinata, I'll always be watching you". He told her and ran deep into the forest.

She was stunned for a longer time, still puzzled with what happened. Why did he kiss me? She kept wondering. He hated her, he always had, all he did in her life always proved it. And now this. What did he mean by "watching me"? One thing for certain it was more a warning and treat than a nice gesture of a family member. Coming back home, she felt numb. Emotionless, one could say, she couldn't cry anymore, she didn't feel like running and hiding. She wasn't even scared to be frank to herself. She felt like a fakir who was hypnotized by a cobra. On second thought it was always the fakir who actually hypnotizes the snake, not the other way around, wasn't it? Why was Neji transfixed on her? Like he was always the reason for all the pain in his life.