"All that was so painful between you and me is cleared away now, and you made it that way." His cousin's words replayed again and again in Neji's mind. Hinata was really giving him too much credit, he thought. It was Hiashi-sama who had prostrated himself in order to heal the breach. It was Naruto who had shown him that he had no need to chain himself to a cage called Fate. And it was Hinata's own sweet self, so timid yet so courageous, tenacious, and surprisingly stubborn, who had refused to turn her back on him, who continued to accept him as a family member even after he had hurt her so badly in his misplaced anger. Neji continued to feel that whatever he had done and would do in the future to aid Hinata in her goals would be little recompense for the trust she placed in him and simple acceptance that showed when she smiled at his presence and her eyes met his without fear.
Every one of her smiles healed his heart a little more, to the point that he believed he could now be called a healthy, normal person - someone like his teammates Lee and Tenten, who still had parents and pasts unmarked by tragedy - with the capacity to like other people, enjoy their company, and care about their concerns, no longer single-mindedly pursuing his own ambitions, driven by hate.
The person whose concerns he cared most about was Hinata, slighted in her own home, put aside by her nearest relatives, but growing stronger on her own terms, and gradually regaining the respect of her father. She was indeed the most important person in his life, though his ears burned when he recalled that he had told her so face-to-face. He didn't regret it, however. She had opened so much of her heart to him that he was glad that he could return some part of her generosity, no matter how his face flushed at the memory.
In his heart, he had vowed, without quite putting it into words to himself, not only to protect her life, but to protect her entire wellbeing, support her in her goals - be the best "older brother" he could to her. Someone so guileless and trusting as his cousin would need careful protection, not physically - he had confidence in her ability to protect her person, hadn't he trained her himself? - but emotionally, especially as she had grown into an increasingly lovely young woman. There would be those who would try to prey on her unsuspicious heart. Neji felt the trembling of a righteous anger at the thought of anyone who would steal Hinata's innocence, so precious and rare.
Even if that person were me? The thought slipped unbidden into his mind. His ears buzzed. Neji was no fool. He knew there was something not strictly brotherly in the way his heart had raced when Hinata squeezed his hand and smiled at him with those shining eyes. Neji pushed the thought away resolutely, refused to follow that line of thinking any further. The duty he owed to Hinata was to see her aspirations fulfilled, not to intrude any selfish wishes of his own. It was absurd to think that Hinata would ever see him as anything other than family.
Hinata ran to her room with her hands clasped to her heart, cheeks flushed, her blood fizzing with a previously unknown excitement. Neji-nii-san had said that she, she was important to him. She had told him some part of her gratitude, he had listened to her, and more than that, he had responded.
In the past two years, Neji had gradually become less harsh and cold, then more gentle and patient, and finally more open and even, in his restrained way, friendly. Hinata still had some distant memories of a gentle Neji-nii-san who doted on her and sturdily vowed that he would protect her his whole life. That Neji was so many years gone and so different from the young man today that she thought of him almost as a different person. Hinata had not expected to see that boy again - but suddenly he had been standing before her, gently patting her head and telling her that she was the most important person to him.
In the dark quiet of her room, Hinata pressed her hands to her cheeks and endeavored to slow her breathing. Her nerves were jangling in a way she didn't understand. She couldn't stop smiling, and yet, there was a lump in her throat, tears kept welling up in her eyes, and she felt like a sob was going to break loose at any moment. She knelt on the tatami, closing her eyes, and took a slow, shaky breath. She knew that she let her emotions run away with her too often, a serious flaw for a shinobi. Another breath, steadier, then another, her arms loosely at her sides. After the third breath, she felt calm enough to open her eyes. She gazed out the window at the cool moonlit sky, across the still courtyard, toward the Branch family houses. A serene smile appeared where a hectic one had been previously. "Neji-nii-sama," she murmured. Her fancy imagined the words drifting out on the night breeze, slipping their way among the great stones in the garden, to the room where Neji slept, to lay a benediction on his doorstep, a ward to protect her protector, tutor, and first friend.
