Wow. This is really, really long.

Tonight, Naruto was on a mission and Neji- like always- came over to Hinata's to have dinner.

He inspected her standing in the doorway.

She'd stayed at the same height, same hairstyle, but she was slightly wilted somehow. She wiped her hands on her housewife's apron, tied over her still-thin frame. She wasn't a mother yet. Perhaps that was a good thing. If she ever did divorce Naruto, then it wouldn't be hard on any kids.

He sighed. She was still pretty. Her eyes were still large and sweet, her hair was still long and shining, and she still retained the Hyuuga grace that she had been brought up with.

He hadn't realized that he'd just been standing gaping at her until she said, "Hello, Neji-nii-san."

"Good evening, Lady Hinata."

They smiled at one another. She moved so he could step in.

"The neighbors are watching," she said quietly.

"I am a tired ANBU captain visiting my lonely cousin whose husband has just left on a mission," said Neji. "What is there to suspect?"

"There is talk," she reminded him. "Of Sakura and Naruto-" her voice broke just a little on his name- "and of you- you and me."

"There is not just talk of Naruto and Sakura," corrected Neji. "It is common knowledge. Everyone believes you don't know."

She frowned.

"They think you think too much of him to believe it."

"That is almost worse," she said haughtily. "I am a competent kunoichi, although currently a housewife. But that does not matter. I do not think too much of anyone. Even you, Neji-nii-san."

Neji flinched a little. "Harsh," he said lightly.

"Harsh, perhaps, but true," she said. "Were you not eating with Tenten last night? And did she not return to your place afterwards?"

"Lady Hinata, please do not think... Tenten is my teammate. And currently, her house has Lee staying in it. She was tired of him. She needed to get away."

Upon Hinata's disbelieving, cold look, Neji added, "You have no claim on me... but still, I assure you that nothing is going on between Tenten and I." She snorted and went back to her kitchen.

"Jealous, are we?" asked Neji, smirking.

Hinata ignored him. "No."

"Still in love with Naruto?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know." The air relaxed just a little. Neji took his chance to turn the conversation around.

"There's a limit to how much you can tease someone, you know," Neji said, smirking.

"You tease me, but you don't get anywhere," she said, smiling. "Not when I'm in love with Naruto."

"Ah, but we don't know that anymore, now do we? Are you, in fact, in love with Naruto?"

Neji was standing in front of her now, leaning against the counter on which she prepared the food.

She expertly tossed it.

And shook her head.

"Perhaps I am. Perhaps I'm not. Stop asking me, Neji."

She was serious now.

Neji noticed her answer- something strange about it- but he didn't know... It would come to him in time, anyway. But now he knew if he kept pushing the subject- pressing the issue, she'd answer him.

"Lady Hinata, I just want an answer. Straightforward. Yes or no." He could be serious, too.

She glared at him.

"I can't give a straightforward answer."

Neji came up closer to her than he had ever dared since the night he found out she was engaged, and played with her hair. She ignored him.

"I especially can't give you a straightforward answer when you do that."

"I don't care. What if I don't need one anymore? What if your reaction is enough?"

"You know what my straightforward answer will be when I give it. Satisfied?"

"No."

She turned around, and found him closer than she had expected.

"Eep!" she squeaked, and then covered her mouth and looked guilty.

"What, does Naruto hate it when you do that?" drawled Neji lazily, using her shoulder as an arm rest.

"He- he does," said Hinata.

"I bet he doesn't care too much for your stutter, either." Neji was growing furious.

She shook her head.

"Has he ever... hurt you?"

She shook her head. "Only in loving Sakura behind my back."

"Well, then," said Neji. "Won't you come live with me?" he asked, feeling daring. "Maybe just a day or two? He's on a mission. I could give you your own room, whatever you want... just... come with me?" More than ever before, Neji was feeling hopeful.

"Neji, I'm not sure that's appropriate..."

He looked at her, surprised. He knew now, what had bothered him about that earlier sentence.

She looked at him, confused... Then it came to her, too.

"Neji..." she breathed. "I called you Neji..."

"And?" he asked. "What does that mean to you?"

"It's... what I would say... when I knew I no longer loved Naruto... and loved you, instead..."

She said it quietly.

Neji nodded.

"Does it still mean that, Lady Hinata?"

"It does..."

"And so..." he said, letting her draw her own conclusions. "Did you call me that on purpose?"

"Does that matter?" asked Hinata.

"Well, if, knowing what you were doing, you decided to continue calling me 'Neji' right now, well, that would definitely matter. But if, now you knew what you were doing, you decided to stop... Well, that would be another matter entirely. I'd take that to mean you were in denial."

She turned around and kissed him.

"Neji..." she whispered, breaking it apart briefly.

"Yup, that counts," said Neji, shocked into speech.

Hinata couldn't believe herself. She was cheating on her husband. Goody-two-shoes Hinata-chan.

He pulled away, though.

"You're still married," he said softly. "I've waited a while for you to realize I'm here for you, and I can wait longer. I like the idea of marriage, frankly, it's a lot more final. I like final things. Closure."

"Right," she said. She leaned her head against him. "I don't want to have to go through a divorce... geez, but I do want to be married to you."

"Well, bigamy's always an option," said Neji lightly.

"I love you," she said, poking his nose gently. "Only you."

"Love you too."

He pulled back, though.

"Are you going to answer me now?"

"Huh?"

"Do you... want to stay at my house for a few days? Just while Naruto's gone. You can go back after."

"I wouldn't want to go back- if I did..." Hinata frowned. The gravity of what they were doing hit her. "I think you're right, though... Faithful is better."

"Of course, Hinata."

She nodded, grateful. He smiled.

And suddenly, for the first time in the years she'd been married, she felt loved. Truly loved, not just as a sort of pity, or lust, or anything. Just... wanted and needed and loved.

Sad, though, that the feeling did not come from her husband's eyes, but from her cousin's. She sighed. The Hyuugas really were a screwed up bunch.

"All right then," said Neji. "Do you want to finish dinner? Or whatever?"

"Ah," said Hinata. "Dinner. Are you really hungry?"

Neji frowned. "Not really, no."

"Well, neither am I," said Hinata. "Can I go to your place now?"

Neji nodded. "I was hoping you would want to."

"Whoa..." said Hinata to the average-sized, overly warm (because Neji was always cold) apartment. Which now looked absolutely perfect to her. More so that Naruto's big, cold house.

Neji looked at her strangely. "It's just the same as it's always been, Hinata. But what are we going to tell everyone?"

"I'm lonely without my husband around. Your house is an insane mess and I am trying to help my poor, dear cousin. And I'm faithful to Naruto, still."

Neji shrugged. "Still, it's kind of strange, don't you think?"

Hinata glared. "No, it's not! Shino's cousin stays with him all the time."

Neji frowned. "But if our teammates and friends are smart, there will be talk and suspicion..."

Hinata sighed. "If our teammates and friends are smart, there will be no talk. Only suspicion."

"However, they will ask. And I shall tell them the truth, whether they believe it or not," Hinata said. Her tone made it the final word said on the situation.

Neji was fine with that. "That's fair enough," he admitted. "Who do you think will guess?"

"Shino, definitely, but the question is will he ask? Kiba, probably not. As for my friends... Ino will speculate, her mind will run with it, and we'll end up having been in love since I was two and Naruto forced me to marry him and his affair with Sakura is just his being a womanizer. And then the whole town will know." Hinata finished.

"Tenten knows, too... she looks at me sympathetically when you're with Naruto. And Shikamaru is a lot better at hiding it, but he also looks at me strangely when I'm with you. He doesn't care enough to say anything or spread it, though. Lee's oblivious," Neji said.

Someone knocked on the door, and promptly opened it.

Only one person, Neji thought, and smiled.

"Hey, Neji, I was just wondering if I could stay here again because Lee is having a Youthful Marathon of Love And Romance at my house and I really don't want to watch thousands of 80's romance films... I mean, I did stay long enough to watch Better Off Dead because it has John Cusack in it and he is really really cute, and I also watched The Sure Thing but then that about exhausts my collection of John Cusack movies because I don't really watch them that often. Lee's really bugging me. I'm starting to hate him... Oh, hi, Hinata." She said all this very fast and ended it while smiling at Hinata, whose eyes had glazed over. Neji just blinked.

"Sure, Tenten."

"Oh! Hi, Tenten-san," said Hinata cheerfully, having snapped awake again at Neji's voice.

Tenten gave her a very weird look and decided to very obviously pull Neji aside. "Neji, would you come help me move my stuff around?"

Neji nodded, resigning himself to a severe questioning.

As they got outside, where Tenten's stuff was stacked against the wall of his apartment, Tenten grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Hyuuga Neji, you had better tell me why Hinata's staying here."

"Naruto's on a mission, and she was lonely."

Tenten studied him suspiciously. "Are you telling the whole truth?"

Neji nodded, but was unable to pass the Infallible Tenten Internal Lie Detector. She punched him.

"Now are you telling the whole truth?"

Ouch... I bet my nose is bleeding...

He nodded again, trying hard to pass Tenten's Internal Lie Detector so it wouldn't look quite as suspicious. He succeeded.

She bit her lip. "I... I thought- I'm sorry, Neji. I guess I was wrong."

"Whatever you thought, you probably were close," said Neji quietly.

"You mean to say that you and Hinata are having an affair?" she asked disbelievingly.

Neji shook his head. "But she's gonna divorce Naruto."

Tenten gasped. "You mean she knows?"

"She thought marrying him would bring him back. It hasn't. She's not stupid, Tenten- she's known all along," Neji said coldly.

Tenten bit her lip again.

Neji glared at her.

"We didn't think she was stupid! Just... in love... and blind..."

"Hinata isn't blind."

"I... I know that now."

"Can you let go of me now?"

"Wait. One more thing. Are you going to marry Hinata afterwards?"

Neji nodded. Tenten smiled. "You've loved her for a while, now, haven't you?"

"Ever since I met her," he said. "I hated her for a while, too... Dunno how that was possible, actually, but..."

He shrugged.

Tenten sighed. "It happens, Neji. But you better get inside with my stuff, or Hinata's gonna start wondering."

Neji nodded.

Once inside, Tenten aired a desire to simply camp out in the living room.

"You're the guest," Neji said. "You will sleep in the guest room which you have always slept in whenever you came over."

Hinata found that to be the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.

"And Hinata, you can take my room. I shall stay out here," said Neji simply, as though that were the final word.

"Oh... Okay," said Hinata, finding herself unable to argue for fear that he might actually recede that. "Thank you so much, Neji."

Tenten noted the lack of honorific, and smiled at Neji conspiratorially.

"Well, I'm going to bed," said Tenten. "You two... can do whatever," she added, wondering if Hinata was actually going to cheat on Naruto, even though Neji said she wouldn't. Tenten left the room to them. It wasn't her place to interfere.

"I- I'm going to bed, too," said Hinata, although she would have liked to stay up with Neji, even just watching movies or something... but it would be improper, and it was probably cheating, and Naruto would be back in two days... Yes, she wouldn't cheat.

Okay, maybe a goodnight kiss... On the cheek! A grown woman could give her cousin a goodnight kiss on the cheek! Right? It wouldn't be cheating, not even if she loved him more than she had ever loved her husband!

Would it?

Hinata decided it wouldn't be.

"Goodnight, Neji," she said, and walked toward him. Neji wondered vaguely what she was going to do until her lips touched his cheek briefly.

Ever so briefly, thought Hinata sadly. Too brief.

But I can't. I won't.

"Love you," she said softly.

Swallowing her pride, she walked away, feeling Neji's attention focused on her- only her- for now.

The feeling made her shiver, just a little. But she continued walking, and flopped down into his bed after changing into her pyjamas.

His bed. Not hers and Naruto's, but Neji's. And why did this matter so much, anyway?

Oh, that's right... she loved him, more than anything. And this bed smelled like him. It was something out of a romance novel (not that she'd ever read any, mind you!). It smelled... like Neji- a little sweaty, a little boy-ish, the pillow smelled like shampoo and the area just below (where his shoulders would be) of guy cologne... which smelled... nice, not overpowering, but like Neji.

She couldn't sleep, so she activated her Byakugan to see what Neji was doing. And blushed.

He had his Byakugan activated... and was watching her. She stuck her tongue out at him... the pervert. He grinned.

You're watching me, too, he mouthed, still grinning.

At least I didn't watch you change!

Good point.

She stifled a scream. You did?!

He laughed and shook his head. No.

She sighed with relief. Good.

Say, this is fun. He grinned.

She smiled. What a dork he was. Yeah.

But you've got to get some sleep or there will be talk, he reminded her.

She nodded. Goodnight, again.

Goodnight, Hinata.

She turned over and buried her face in his pillow again, never wanting this moment to end.

"Hinata?"

Ugh... Morning, got to get up and make some breakfast for Naruto...

Oh, wait, he's on a mission.

"Hinata?"

Wait, this isn't Naruto's room...

It's...

Neji's...? ... Oh!

"Hinata? You awake yet?" asked Tenten groggily from the door. "It's like, nine in the morning."

Hinata nodded sleepily.

"Neji's like, awake," said Tenten, still sort of sleepy-looking. "I'm telling you, that's not normal." Neji was not a morning person.

"Good morning," said Neji from behind her. She jumped.

"G'morning," said Tenten.

Hinata nodded, still slightly befuddled.

Tenten was clutching a blanket around her shoulders. Her wavy hair was mussed, falling messily around her shoulders instead of the two normal buns and sticking out in odd ways, and she was in flannel pajama pants and a long baggy t-shirt. She rubbed her eyes. "Up, Hinata. I wanna eat breakfast, and I wanna talk to you."

Hinata obediently stood up, and Neji told her that if she was cold she could use his blanket. She wrapped it around her shoulders as Tenten had and together the two kunoichi plodded to the kitchen.

Once down there, Tenten made some coffee.

"Drink," she commanded.

Hinata drank the sludge. Tenten slurped hers, and sighed.

"There. Now I can function like a human being. I might even be able to do simple math calculations." Hinata laughed obligingly.

She smiled at Hinata. "Neji told me. Everything."

Hinata nodded, still a little sleepy.

"Well, everything from his side," amended Tenten. "But I want to hear yours. I am prying, I know... but I've been Neji's friend for so long. I don't want him to get hurt. You should've seen him right after you got married."

Tenten shook her head, sighing, and continued. "I swear... if I had that much power over any guy... He was devastated. You'd think his puppy died... a thousand times, painfully, in front of his face." She chuckled. "Lee and I were utterly lost as to why. But I'm asking about you. You won't go back to Naruto? Ever?"

Hinata shook her head. "He loves Sakura... he's gonna date her after I divorce him, just to be proper, and then I'll get married to Neji- heck, I'd love to get married to Neji with absolutely no waiting. Seriously, if I could marry him the day I divorce Naruto, I will. He's- I've- We've been waiting for so long."

Tenten nodded. "The people who love you will know that you were the one who was faithful, and Naruto wasn't. Even the people who love him know."

"Naruto's life is much sadder than mine... don't you think? The one he loves is in love with a memory, and he's married so he can't date her."

Tenten nodded, sighed, and snapped out of it and glared at Hinata.

"What I mostly meant to say with this conversation is that if you ever, ever hurt Neji in any kind of way, Lee and I will kill you. Happily, laughing and smiling. Neji is our brother- we adopted him, unofficially, because we're all orphans. And so, if anything happens to him..." she glared at Hinata and pulled out a really, really sharp-looking kunai from heaven-knows-where and pointed it at her, "worse things will happen to you. Got it?"

Hinata nodded. "Of course. I won't let anything bad happen to him."

"Good," said Tenten. The kunai disappeared again.

"Definitely good," added Neji, from the kitchen doorway. The girls jumped.

"NEJI!" shrieked Tenten.

Hinata just rolled her eyes at him. "You sillyhead," she said teasingly. Neji laughed.

"Love you too, Hinata." They smiled at one another.

Tenten said abruptly, "Well, I've got a solo mission to leave on. See ya, Hinata. Bye, Neji." She left almost immediately.

The almost-lovers stood there, staring at each other.

"What should we do?" Neji asked.

Hinata shrugged. "Go out to lunch?"

He nodded. "Sounds good. But it's a little too early for that, don't you think?"

"Maybe breakfast then."

"Yeah." They parted to go put on street clothes, rather than pajamas.

Last night while packing, Hinata had, in a spurt of vanity, picked out her not-showy-but-definitely-I-am-good-looking-and-I-know-it outfit. Now she felt like she would be dressing up unnecessarily for him, and would in turn draw attention...

She decided she was too paranoid and put on the comfortable but also nicely cut jeans and her shirt that went down a little bit lower than normal.

And of course she spent a little longer than normal combing her hair, but it was too normal. So she tried tying it up, but she never liked it in a ponytail, and then she tried a lower ponytail, then two ponytails, one on either side of her head but she didn't like that either.

In the end, her hair was left down.

She also regretted not ever wearing makeup.

Why did all this matter now?

She went out of the room and Neji's eyebrows went up, ever so slightly- as his eyes went... down. His cheeks also turned pink.

Maybe the shirt was a little much...

She grabbed her jacket, and even though it was a little too warm for one, Neji didn't question it.

They found a lovely little cafe at which to eat breakfast, and chattered happily all the way through it. Hinata felt... strange.

"Are you all right?" asked Neji during a lull in the conversation. "You... look confused. Are you... sorry?" He wished he didn't have to say it, fearing the answer more than anything he had ever feared before.

But, she simply smiled. "I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm confused because I never thought I'd be this happy around anyone other than... well, you know."

He smiled back. "I've always been this happy around you. Are you sorry, though? That it happened like this?"

She smiled. "Never. If I had gone with you that night you told me... I'd never know if I really loved Naruto or not. This way, I know. I'd never change a thing."

"Good," he said. "I wouldn't either."

"Hinata?"

Hinata looked up at the person calling her name.

"N-Naruto? You're back? I was just having breakfast with nii-san here... how are you? Did your mission go okay?"

She played the part of a loving wife very well. Naruto ignored it.

"Hinata... I've been meaning to talk to you for sometime," Naruto said, more serious than Neji had ever seen him.

"I'd like to talk to you, too."

He nodded. "Let's go back home."

Neji and Sakura ended up waiting outside the Hokage's mansion.

"You're in love with Hinata?" she asked quietly.

He nodded.

"I take it that she is in love with you?"

He nodded again. "Not for very long... she only admitted it last night."

Sakura was silent.

"I'm not going to pretend I didn't know about you and Naruto," Neji said plainly.

She shrugged. "Didn't expect you to. Does Hinata hate me?"

"I don't know. Probably not. I won't if she won't, anyway. Do you hate her?"

Sakura looked up at Konoha's blue summer sky.

"Yes- No- I- I did. Or rather, I thought I did. Naruto hadn't ever made up his mind, you see. That's why he didn't dump her."

Neji had wondered.

"And yet... I don't envy her. She's been trapped in this marriage for... what has it been, five years?"

Neji nodded, and checked the time and date. "And three months... and two weeks... and five days. You want hours? Ten. Minutes? Fifteen. Seconds I can't tell you, but you get the idea."

She looked at him, studying. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "I've been waiting, and now I don't have to. There's nothing to apologize for. You've been through the same, haven't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess I have. But... what exactly happened to you and Hinata?"

"Last night, I came over... and she realized halfway through making dinner that she was actually in love with me and not Naruto. A kiss, and then she came over to my house. And nothing happened," he said.

Sakura sighed and sank down, hugging her knees. "I feel awful... She's so faithful. And you're a good person. Better than me. Better than Naruto."

Neji shrugged. "Do I look like I'm judging anyone?"

Sakura didn't answer. She didn't need to. Instead, she made little circles in the dirt with her fingers.

They stayed like that for awhile, until the door opened. Hinata ran straight to Neji's arms. He picked her up and spun her around, while she laughed. Naruto stood waiting to talk to Neji, who put Hinata down and faced him.

Naruto was serious. More serious than Neji had ever seen him. "I- I'm sorry," he said, offering Neji his hand to shake. "I didn't mean to cause you this much... trouble."

"Pain, baka," said Sakura, smacking him on the head. "We hurt him. Apologize for that."

Naruto nodded. "...I'm sorry for causing you so much pain."

Neji shrugged and shook his hand. "Nothing to apologize for," he said. "It's all over, isn't it?"

He'd always thought he would hate Naruto a lot more after it was all over, but he didn't. Heck, he didn't care what Naruto did anymore.

Naruto nodded. "And that's why I was thinking... See, me'n Hinata are already divorced. As of today. Since I'm Hokage... I just signed all the paperwork really fast." He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "If- if you like... I was going to offer you... a double marriage? Me'n Sakura-chan and you'n Hinata? It could even be today. You could... y'know, keep it quiet and have a little ceremony in a couple of weeks or something. But... you can be officially married today. If you want. Do you?"

Neji and Hinata looked at each other and didn't even need to ask out loud.

"Yes," said Neji while Hinata nodded.

"All right then," said Naruto cheerfully.

Haru looked away as his mom and dad kissed in front of the whole school. Ew. Gross. Parental PDA, Airi called it. Her parents did that, too, and it creeped her out too.

"Have a nice time at school, Haru-kun," his mom said, moving away from his dad to pat down his hair.

He nodded.

His dad nodded too. "Bye, Haru."

It wasn't that his dad was cold or anything. Mom always said that Dad had trouble expressing himself. Whatever that meant.

Haru turned to go to school.

"Don't forget to say hi to Airi-chan, please!"

Her mom and Mom were friends. And her dad was the Hokage. It was pretty cool. Haru liked Airi. Her hair was pink. It wasn't even dyed, or anything. Plus, she was nice and liked to do fun things like poke bugs with sticks and climb trees. She also instinctively understood that Haru's white eyes were not to be made fun of. Maybe it had something to do with her pink hair.

Haru involuntarily pushed down his own straight shiny black hair. Maybe Airi thought black hair and white eyes were cool. He didn't know. She hadn't ever said.

"Haru!" yelled a familiar voice. Haru turned around and tried not to blush. (Why did he blush? Blushing was so... so girly.)

"Hi, Airi-chan."

"Academy is gonna be great! I'm gonna be the greatest kunoichi ever when I grow up!"

Haru nodded. Airi would make a good ninja. She was strong and smart and stuff.

Except maybe a little too loud to be a ninja.

"And you can be my loyal sidekick!" she added.

Haru nodded. Sidekick sounded good.

"And we'll have adventures! I'll fight all the Sound nin! Take on fifteen at a time and I'll kick one like this-"

Airi launched into a battle with fifteen imaginary Sound nin.

"HA! GOTCHA!"

Other people were starting to stare at Airi and her battle, so Haru did the only sensible thing.

He started kicking the air, too. "Hai-ya!"

"Oh, come on, Haru!" yelled Airi. "You can do better than that!"

"YAH! YOU'RE DEAD!" Haru yelled at the top of his lungs to his imaginary opponent, who was lying on the ground defeated.

"You! Come help!" Airi yelled at some random girl passing by. She had two dark spiky pigtails, and tanned skin. She seemed kinda quiet and apathetic, until Airi convinced her to fight with them against the now full-on army of Sound nins.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN, Sound-nin... guy!" Momo yelled, getting into it.

"Say, what's your name?"

"Nara Momo."

"I'm Uzumaki Airi!"

"I am Hyuuga Haru."

"Nice to meetcha."

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance." Haru bowed formally amidst the imagined clashing of katanas and kunai ringing in his ears. Airi laughed.

"He always talks like that. Nice to meet you, too, Momo." The fighting resumed. Haru decided he liked Momo. So far she hadn't said anything about his eyes or Airi's hair. She just wasn't that sort of person.

The invisible (read: imaginary) Sound nins were falling ten, no, fifteen at a time-

Haru decided the Academy was going to be lots of fun.

My house got TP'd (toilet papered), and it was vicious. So I needed cheering up.

That's why the last of this is all fluffy and stuff. It's been hanging over my head in my documents box... it'll probably stay there, too, because I don't know if I necessarily like it all. Tell me what you think, okay? (I like Haru now! I want him and Momo and Airi to be teammates. They'll be the only team with two girls and a guy. They'll be special.)

I hope you can tell who Momo's mom is... but I don't think it's very obvious. :( Think about her hair, even though it isn't exactly like her mom's. And also about her dad.)

Over and out. :D