Stone-cold and Sober

A tale of desire, desperation, blossoming romance, and the incestuous blood within the Hyuuga clan

Chapter III:
The Needle of Tonight

The fire hissed and popped in the basin, casting eerie shadows over the stark wooden walls. Two sets of colorless eyes locked together – two Hyuugas in a staring contest, each waiting for the other to speak. Painful and mysterious tidings hung heavily between them, troubling her as much as him. Still, she refused to believe it; and as the light from the fire flickered across Hinata's face, she dared to speak to her cousin.

"A c-child?" the heiress stammered, staring incredulously across the flames at the other Hyuuga, "B-but why? How? W-we're cousins, Nii-san…" She trailed off as she watched his face. The firelight made Neji's emotions dance a tango in his pallid eyes; his gaze was fixed on her face, as if trying to guess the girl's feelings through her body language.

"It doesn't matter why, Hinata-chan. Your father will get what he wants, or he'll have our heads." Neji said grimly, wincing slightly as his curse seal prickled; Hiashi was watching. Waiting.

Hinata dared to lean a bit closer to the fire, her voice weak and desperate as she responded to the lesser Hyuuga. "And F-Father expects this child to be c-conceived-…"

"Tonight." Neji finished, his tone low and sympathetic as he whispered to his cousin. Silence echoed around the room, broken only by the snapping of the wood in the fire. Hinata slumped back, her face pale and mortified in the orange light. Her hands balled into nervous fists over the silk sheets of the sleeping mat she was sitting on. She knew there was no avoiding her father's decision; she felt as trapped as her cousin had been his whole life. And now, as the caged bird casually poured water on the fire and left nothing but smoking ashes and the pale blue light of the moon, the heiress shifted closer to him and tentatively took his hand in hers.

"W-well," Hinata spluttered, "we'd better g-get it over with, Nii-san." Neji's white eyes shone knowingly in the darkness as he nodded briskly, moving to sit on his knees in front of his cousin. After a brief pause, both Hyuugas gripped the hems of their shirts and lifted them over their heads, leaving them bare and pale-skinned against the bluish glow slowly filling the room. Hinata's first motion after this was crossing her arms over her chest and bowing her head; Neji caught a glimpse of a cherry-red blush on his cousin's cheeks and instantly, a pang of guilt and sympathy struck him. He knew she must have been petrified – she didn't want to have sex with him, let alone carry his child. Neither wanted to do the dirty deed that was ahead of them, but both knew there was no escaping it – the only way out was death. Neji flinched and made a small noise in the back of his throat; they would have to do this together, supporting each other like real cousins would, whether sleeping together or not. He looked at his blushing cousin with new-found pity in his eyes. All the scorn he had felt for her just hours earlier had died like the fire, leaving nothing but the ashes of remorse and compassion behind.

He moved closer to Hinata and rested a warm hand on her arm. It was like an electric shock to the younger Hyuuga, that surprising touch full of an emotion she had never known her cousin to express. Her head snapped up, and she gazed into his eyes, her lips slightly parted but trembling too much to produce words. Neji bit back a groan of shame and leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Hinata-chan…for everything you will have to go through on my account…" His voice was thin and hoarse with anxiety and pained disgust. After a pause, Hinata reached up and gripped the lesser Hyuuga's forearm tightly, bowing her head to give her first true command to her Branch House kin.

"Do it, Nii-san."

Neji grit his teeth and gave up his pride. His hands shifted to Hinata's shoulders as she tugged her pants down her legs and tossed them away. The caged bird swallowed his mortification and bit down hard on his cousin's shoulder to preoccupy his blushing mind; she, in turn, bit back a squeal of pain and wound her thin legs around his waist, imploring him to do the deed.

A strange thing, heartache; wreaking havoc on two love-makers who never wanted it.

Neji decided time couldn't pass any slower as his frenzied hands pressed Hinata back against the bed-roll on the floor.

The sound of a shattering spirit rings loudly in his ears, but is it his own?

Her fingers tangled in the drawstring of his pants, dragging the fabric down his spindly legs and throwing them in the heap of discarded clothing.

Two souls, two bodies, reluctantly become one, and a spark sets a third between them.

A soft cry splintered the silence of the nighttime air. Still, the crickets continued chirping, the nocturnal animals kept hunting, and the clouds forge onward in their circle in the heavens. But the moon, having seen the shame of the two Hyuugas, bows his head in humiliation and veils himself in the cloak of the night sky. He offers them the gift of darkness to hide their guilt, their reluctant passion, their sorrow for what they have done to one another.

Is it fate?

That is enough for the caged bird.

It is always fate.

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A/N: Urgh. I couldn't get too sexual with it…I didn't want the emotional turmoil between them to take a back seat to their physical doings. :x Review?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Neji, or Hinata. In fact, I don't own anything associated with this fanfiction except the plot. Hence, I am not a thief/crook/butt pirate.