すずらん
Lily of the Valley

2

(Meetings were the order of the day.)

It was the day after Team Guy had gotten back from their latest mission, and as usual the day would be devoted to going over the mission in detail and working on refining their teamwork.

Neji's face held no expression as he waited for the rest of his team to show up, his back against the chain link fence around the designated training field. It was a pleasant day since autumn was drawing to a close. The sun falling on Neji was warming but the cool of the air saved him from feeling uncomfortable. He tapped a finger against the fence, listening to the slight rattle and feeling the vibration through his white tunic. Just as any passerby could not see his finger because of his large, billowy sleeves, so they could not see his boredom behind his carefully schooled expression—unless, perhaps, they knew him well enough.

Besides the muscles still sore from the mission, Neji had nothing much to think about. Breakfast was quiet. He hadn't even seen those people he normally did, like Hiashi-sama, Hinata-sama, her sister Hanabi-sama, or his acquaintances from the Lower House. It had mostly been Uppers with which he was barely on speaking terms, and then only on formal occasions, despite trying to be.

Strangely, he had felt their dislike growing as of late—meaning just the last few months. At first they had grown more polite in response to him; now it seemed as if his position with them was backsliding—to worse levels, if that was even possible.

They didn't like what they saw, was Neji's conclusion. He was too good for them. Neji was stronger than he should be in the minds of many Uppers, perhaps he would surpass most of them, even Hiashi-sama himself. Or so he liked to think, anyway, gods forgive him because the Hyūga never would.

Neji had a difficult time not being pleased by their obvious jealousy, while being simultaneously bothered by what would become of it. He really had been trying to improve relations, and this was not helping.

"Morning, Neji," a female voice greeted, a yawn being muffled behind a hand.

Tenten seemed tired, but like a true female, her appearance was immaculate, brown hair pulled up high in two pigtail-buns, her red tunic and white pants spotless. A noisy poof followed a few moments of silence once Tenten reached him. Tenten blinked, slightly startled, but Neji was not surprised. He looked at the spot from which the noise had originated, seeing, as expected, the green-clad Might Guy in a dramatic pose, his finger posed in the air.

"Good morning students and teammates!" Guy spoke at last, voice cranked a few decibels higher than was necessary—not that that was anything unusual.

"Good morning, Guy-sensei," Tenten responded, something in her tone now sounding slightly annoyed but more energetic nonetheless.

Neji sighed inwardly. Tenten was a relatively normal person, like Neji, but she had a hard time not picking up on the energy in the air when Guy, or even Lee, was around and spouting off as they usually did. Not after all these years of getting used to them.

"Well, I congratulate you, for despite the intensity of our last mission, you are all here and looking quite youthful," Guy continued, a grin on his face that could have split the earth. Not that that was anything unusual, either.

Neji shook his head, trying not to roll his eyes. "I hate to contradict you, Guy-sensei, but Lee isn't here yet."

"What!" Guy said, drawing out the word like it was a response to a piece of dirty gossip. It was as if Guy didn't know how to use his eyes—it was just unthinkable for Lee not to be here. Their jōnin sensei proceeded to search the entire area for Lee, up and down, in the nearby underbrush and outside of it, one hand shading his eyes and calling Lee's name loudly enough that anyone in the entire village could hear it.

Neji frowned. He did have to admit that it was odd for Lee not to show like this. Normally he beat Neji here, and by the time Neji arrived he'd be working out in some ridiculous manner.

Not that that was anything unusual. . . .

Neji sighed inwardly. Lee could be such an aggravation. He meant well, and that was half the problem. His overt cheerfulness and over enthusiasm sometimes made Neji work very hard to keep from going on a killing spree, in which he would target anyone wearing anything remotely green in color. This was especially true on days where he came to practice already in a foul mood. Not a good thing.

Guy's eyes were bugging out as he continued to scan the area, fists now clenched desperately in the air. "Where could he be? He's never been late like this! Not even when he's sick." Guy put his hands to his head, and hair from his black bowl cut stuck out between his fingers. Was it Neji's imagination, or were Guy's eyes becoming . . . bloodshot . . . in a berserk sort of way? "This means that he'll have to do three thousand back-flips around Konoha when he gets here. This is going to mess up our whole day!" Guy wailed.

Tenten smiled uncertainly, hands clasped behind her back. "Maybe you could let him off this once?" she proposed.

Neji knew saying that was a mistake before Guy even reacted.

"Let him off? Let him off?" Guy's voice was rising to octaves that should have been impossible for a male his age. Tenten looked at Neji for help, and he responded with raised eyebrows:

You were expecting?

He was tempted to rub his temples at this point, but he resisted. For now. He'd do that later. He had to stop this before it turned into an all-out rant.

"Simply have him do the flips after we're done. It's not our fault he's not here. So why give him special treatment? If he's tired later when he has to do them, who cares? Better endurance training for him anyway."

Guy turned to Neji, expression blank before the grin returned in full force. Putting his hands on his hips, he nodded in approval. "Indeed, you're quite right, Neji. Excellent observation, my observant young pupil."

Neji did not bat an eyelash at being, neither at being called a "young pupil," nor the fact that Guy had essentially used the same word twice in one sentence. Tenten sighed very quietly in relief. If Guy noticed, he didn't show it.

"Yes, we'd better get on with it," Guy said. "Lee will suffer the consequences, but I'm sure he'll learn an important lesson: discipline!"

Neji frowned again. Lee didn't really need to learn discipline because he beat Neji at it. It wasn't like Neji was undisciplined; no, Lee was just more disciplined than Neji. Over disciplined, Neji would say. Neji liked to push himself to his limits—just not every hour of the day. Besides which, with his body type and training methods, such continual punishment of his muscles would be a detriment to his body's health. No, he wasn't built for it like Lee was. In fact, Neji wouldn't be surprised if Lee had figured out a way to train while he slept.

As they got down to work, however, Guy wouldn't let them forget the lack of Lee's presence, and Neji began to feel a certain amount of concern for the second—or maybe first, it was hard to decide—most annoying member of Team Guy. It was true that Lee had never missed a meeting, even at times when he could barely drag himself out of bed. Something was up. The only question what to make of it, and second, what to do about it. What, really, could Neji do?

. . . What, really, did he even want to do?

Neji glanced at Guy as the three of them crouched together, going over team attack and defense formation patterns on piece of paper torn from a notebook. The notebook, for the moment, lay forgotten behind Guy.

"I was thinking that if I were to move fifty meters to the right," Guy slid his finger away from a crude, crayon-drawn circle to a new position then made a mark with the crayon in his other hand, "That it would significantly increase our maneuverability in this formation."

Tenten crossed her arms around her legs, managing to make it look easy despite the fact that she was crouching and her knees were practically pressed against her chin. "But it weakens our defenses. I thought that was what we used Formation Theta for."

"This last mission we used it for attack. At this point it's versatile; I'm suggesting that we specialize it for attack."

"If you ask me, Guy-sensei, the point of a good attack formation is to capitalize on our abilities while also heightening defenses. Move further over and . . . " Tenten circled her finger several spots. "These become breaking points. Our ranges are too short; we can't cover each other, especially in trees. Even if this revised Formation Theta does allow us to sweep in quickly and surround an enemy, a smart strategist will figure the weaknesses out quickly enough."

"You may have a point," Guy hummed, crumpling the paper. He felt behind himself, finally locating the previously discarded notebook. "Alright, back to the drawing board. This formation needs something, I just don't know what," he said, ripping out a new sheet.

Neji watched in silence as Guy began to re-sketch the formation, then his attention was caught by the sound of soft, rapid crunching. Someone was coming up behind him and they were making little effort to conceal it. Neji turned his head, drawing the attention of Guy, then Tenten.

A female Lower House member in a plain black short-sleeved shirt and white pants was jogging up to him. Her black hair was tucked into a low and loose bun, uncaught strands of hair moving gently with her motion.

"Neji-san," she said, doubling over slightly, hands on her thighs for support as she gasped for breath. Her hitai-ate was tied around her leg, so the only thing covering the green lines of the curse seal on her forehead were her long black bangs. Neji wondered at this kunoichi every time he saw her; he couldn't imagine walking around with his curse seal so exposed. He carefully hid his under his hitai-ate. He wanted them to see him, not his status. She wore it like it was nothing; a normal part of her body. Neji could never stand to look so servile.

Trying not to stare at her forehead, he rose, turning to face her. "What is it?"

She straightened, cheeks seeming to increase in redness while Neji watched her impassively.

"Hyūga-sama has called a mandatory meeting with the Lower House. Right now."

"Right now?" Neji cocked an eyebrow. This might explain Hiashi-sama's absence at breakfast. Something was going on.

"Yes, right now. Anyone who doesn't drop what he's doing right away and come is going to face severe penalties."

Neji narrowed his eyes, looking at the girl for any indications of fear. It was sublimated, smoothed over by a purely blank look, but he could see it in the glint of her eyes. Threats meant something serious, and that something was usually some sort of danger to the authority of the Upper House. Last time this had happened, a Lower had been suspected of stealing from an Upper. The mess cost Neji the rest of his day and several sessions of intense questioning. It was a week of tense relations between both sides before it was finally determined that the culprit hadn't been a Hyūga at all.

You'd think in a house full of people with three hundred and sixty degree vision that they would have been able to figure these things out much quicker.

If Neji didn't come at this sort of call, it would be shirking his duty. If the problem was a big enough deal, insolence even could cost him his life.

He nodded. "Understood. I will be there shortly."

His fellow Lower House member nodded, speaking a soft, "Very well," then departing in much the same manner as she had arrived.

By this time, Tenten and Guy had risen as well. Both seemed concerned when Neji turned back to them.

"What's going on?" Tenten asked.

Neji shrugged. "I don't know," he muttered. "But it can't be good. I have to go."

"I see," Guy said, gazing off in the direction of the departing messenger. "Well then," he turned to Tenten with a chuckle, "Looks like it's just the two of us for lunch."

With a hand behind her head and a loud, insincere laugh, Tenten shot Neji a brief glare of irritation before replying to Guy with more insincere laughter. "Ah, but shouldn't we check on Lee first?"

"Yosh! We'll do that!" Guy gave Neji a thumbs-up and a wink. "Stay youthful. I'll drop you a call later about Lee and when we'll be getting back together."

"Hn," Neji grunted in response, unimpressed by both Guy's well-wishing as well as his promise of information. With the way that this day was going, the reason for Lee's absence had to be either incredibly idiotic or incredibly serious, and he wouldn't be interested in hearing about it either way.

Tension was building in Neji's body as he approached the Hyūga compound. The few Upper Hyūgas who passed him on the way there seemed to want to stare him down. There was accusation in their eyes, and the more he saw of it, the less Neji actually wanted to arrive.

The courtyard was noisy, and with the whole of the Lower House there and milling about it was rather crowded as well. A more stern than normal Hyūga Hiashi, the clan head and Neji's uncle, was visible on the porch, talking quietly to one of the other Upper House members. He had his arm around his youngest daughter, Hanabi-sama's, shoulders, apparently in the mood to keep her close.

This bothered Neji. Where was Hinata-sama? At this sort of event, he should think the heiress to the title of clan head would at least be required to observe.

"Hey," one of his acquaintances from the Lower House noticed him. "Hyūga-sama wants to talk with everyone as they get here. Particularly you, I think."

Neji nodded, already changing course, and wondering how the acquaintance had known they were looking for him in particular. The other Lower Hyūga was giving him a glance that seemed worried. Neji looked around at the others, trying to get an idea of the severity of the problem. There was definitely worry in the faces of most. Those who were speaking to each other were doing so far too quietly.

Neji quickened his pace, mounting the engawa of the complex. The blonde wood was smooth under his feet, beautiful against the white walls of the building. It brought him into the shade, and here he felt a slight chill growing. From this position, Hinata-sama was still nowhere to be seen. He waited until Hiashi-sama acknowledged him, then bowed.

"Hiashi-sama."

"Neji."

After that, there was a pregnant moment where uncle and nephew regarded each other in silence.

A/N: Looking back on this story—did I mention this part was written about three years ago?—I'm pretty amazed. . . . Amazed by how much weaker the writing is than I'd like, anyway. I can see things I would do differently now. It's pretty crazy to think I may have improved (or is it just "changed"?), but I hope you can enjoy it anyway. As went for the previous chapters, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks muchly to all who have so far. CC, error corrections or suggestions welcome. :) I'd like to thank Lellian for beta-ing about half the entire story and giving me a great deal of encouragement and helpful characterization advice, and Night-Mare-Chan for being my muse and idea-bouncer throughout. She is also partly to blame for this thing's existence. Any mistakes remaining are of course, my own.