Theme: Oath
ii. It was a rule he swore to never break: Never kneel. Unfortunately it was broken multiple times because of Hinata Hyuuga.
The universe was telling him otherwise
It started in his boyhood when Neji vowed to never kneel. His father suffered the humiliation and he was going to be strong. "Never," he pledged.
But young Hinata was clumsy. "Neji-niisan," she sniffed.
She had fallen at his feet. It didn't feel right and he was beginning to go on his knees when his oath reminded him. She was teary, looking up at him.
He was old enough to recognize the shame instilled in the act, but there wasn't any of that as Neji helped her up.
…
"No more," a teenager Neji recited to himself.
He hadn't knelt since he was a child. In battle, he learned to place his weight on his knees and use his hands for balance in the rare chance he was knocked down.
He was told by the clan Head to oversee her training. Then Hinata herself asked him. "I will," he agreed. He was very aware it was he who held the power now. But there wasn't any satisfaction when she was on her knees, breathing heavily. A part of him demanded to assist her. He managed to resist.
He pushed her too far and not one week later, she was temporarily blind.
He had a toy to entice the cat away from her path. Unfortunately the ground was at his feet. He wasn't comfortable bending down. She was getting closer and the obstacle hadn't moved. Maybe he could lift the stray animal. Its sharp claws made him think twice. He didn't want Hinata to know if he made a sound.
He looked at her. She was moving slowly.
Neji knelt.
…
"Try not to," a young adult Neji said with a scowl.
He renewed his oath. The long months went by and Neji acknowledged the war had united the clan.
For the first time, he was in charge of leading the battalion. But he ultimately failed at the end even with the war won.
Hinata was hurt. He didn't move.
"Neji!" Tenten shouted disbelievingly. "Help her!"
There was nothing more he wanted to do than to gather her in his arms. There was only one problem. She lay flat on the ground. His instincts called for him to go after her attackers and briefly, Neji was inclined to do so. It wasn't just to prevent his oath from breaking; there was a rage slithering under his skin. His priorities scrambled, Tenten yelled at him some more.
She stirred, her eyes unfocused. It was when she murmured, "Neji-niisan," that he knelt and carried her away.
She was unconscious by the time they arrived. Neji carefully laid her down on the mattress.
Neji two weeks from now looked at a mirror and said, "This time, you will not kneel."
He was in a better mood. Hinata asked for his company while running errands on a rainy day. They walked back with many bags and Neji hefted most of it without trouble. He ignored Hinata's insistence to carry half until she touched his arm. "Hold this," he said. They exchanged it clumsily and Hinata dropped the umbrella. He knelt without a thought.
With his free hand offering it back, Neji was frozen. "Thank you," she told him warmly.
That day, Neji avoided mirrors.
…
He was convinced to attend a festival. It was definitely not to see Hinata dressed up in traditional robes, Neji told himself.
An outing like this was well deserved. After the stress of revising his oath, Neji finally relaxed. He left Hinata's side once she was surrounded and went to get drinks. Precisely twenty minutes passed and Neji looked for the usual sighting of Hinata. A sinking feeling filled him when she swayed on her feet.
"Where's Neji and Hinata?" Tenten asked.
"It wasn't me," Sakura quickly said. At her bewildered look, they followed her line of sight.
An incredible sight shocked them. Neji was still and stiff as a statue because Hinata was amazingly clinging onto him with a lover's familiarity. He caught their stare and scowled. "Not a word," he warned and visibly shuddered when her wandering reached too low. "Hinata," he tried to say gently. "Stop this."
"No!"
"Hinata," Neji said sternly.
She hiccuped. He paled. "Y-You're angry again," she said.
There were some strange noises going on at the back of his throat. "I'm not," he said. "You need to lie down, Hinata." They didn't hear what she mumbled in return but to their further surprise, a flush stained Neji's face. "No," he said, sounding strangled. They couldn't see her hands, but something must have happened because Neji stiffened. "No," he repeated more forcefully. "Let's go home."
Not waiting for a reply, Neji tried herding her away from the crowd. It was the alcohol, they mused, when Hinata stubbornly dug her feet to the ground. Undeterred, Neji merely hoisted her in his arms. Without even a goodbye, he left in a hurry, a testimony of his sobriety.
Once they were in a dark street, Neji slowed. She looked nauseated. "We're almost there, Hinata."
She mumbled something unintelligible and held onto him. It was going to be hard to untangle her away, Neji thought, and it wasn't because of her grip.
They reached her room. Just as Neji suspected, his heart thudded as Hinata fell away from his arms and onto the bed with ease. He sighed. He suffered a slight migraine so it didn't matter to him when he got on his knees to arrange the comforters around her.
…
The compound was filled with outsiders. Familiar voices resounded at the back and Neji strode towards the noise when he heard Hinata cry out in pain.
"Hinata," he said urgently and raced around the corner to the sight of her wincing on the ground, Kiba hovering beside her. "What's going on?" he demanded. They were startled by his voice, even more so that the cool Neji Hyuuga was no longer composed. "What have you done?" he growled and hauled Kiba up by the collar.
"We were training," he said, eyes narrowed in aggression.
Neji stifled a curse. He was forced to let go and debated on what to do. "Stand, Hinata," he said and smacked Naruto's complaint off.
Determined, she tried but she slumped to the ground, her ankle swelling. "I-I can't," she said shakily.
She was in pain, desperately fighting it back while he fought the urge to kneel. They expected him to carry her and it was hard to ignore the unexpected surge of gratification.
Maybe he can just bend at the waist and lift her. Crouching did not count, Neji told himself. He was going to do it while Hinata looked up at him, relief tearing her eyes. Until Naruto pushed him down, his incredible strength impossible to resist. Neji was dismayed to find himself on his knees.
Hinata looked at him worriedly. "You don't have to, Neji," she said.
He twitched. His selfishness looked absolutely childish in the face of her kindness. "Allow me to, Hinata," he said. All those bad feelings disappeared when her arms came around his neck and her head touched his shoulder in comfort.
"See yourselves out," he darkly said to them.
Later, he looked at the calendar. Too many times the oath was broken. He added another mark.
Maybe he can make some exceptions, Neji thought.
The times he went on his knees were for Hinata and it was unlikely he'd do it for anyone else. Sakura Haruno had once yelled at him in the battlefield. "Neji, help me up," she grunted.
He remembered scoffing. "You're a nin. It shouldn't be difficult." It resulted in a verbal fight, one that Neji ignored until Hinata strolled by. The frown she wore after hearing Sakura's complaint made him freeze, but he simply would not assist her in such a simple task, especially once Sakura's temper spiked. Her monstrous strength could easily force him down if he wasn't careful.
And he already knelt several times. Neji paused. He wasn't certain if it shifted exclusively for Hinata. He rubbed his jaw. If it came to that, then it meant he did not mind kneeling. But only for Hinata.
Neji sat. And thought.
…
"You can do it," adult Neji told his reflection.
As the years passed, Neji pursued her and to his relief, Hinata loved him too.
He remembered the foolish oath as a child and his stubbornness to cling onto it. He discovered it was a good thing to kneel for Hinata's pleasure and occasionally, she knelt down too. And it was simply unforgettable when they were both on their knees as he steadily gripped her hips.
Finally, Neji decided they will never part. One knee bent to the floor and he looked up at her face, clear and beautiful in the daylight. "Be my wife, Hinata," he said and immediately regretted the words. A marriage should never begin with a command. There came a small, choked laugh from her and Neji glared at the ground.
While he mulled over the disaster, he didn't notice Hinata kneeling until he saw her pale thighs. He quickly looked up and was rewarded with a smile. "Yes," she told him.
That day, Neji swore his life and love to her.
Another short and sweet fic. A tiny bit less romance, but the sentiment is there. I actually wanted to do more with the Oath theme and had another direction, but I ran out of time to expand on it so this little bit replaced it instead. I'm glad I did though since I rarely write Neji/Hinata like this and it was fun. You guys...thank you so much for the kind words. I know it's a bit repetitive since I'm doing a new fic the next day and you don't have to either, but thank you for reading. EDIT: Fixing grammar (in my defense it's midnight).