Under the Moonlight
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Neji Hyuuga was many things, complacent, intelligent, merciful, but patient was not one of them. And over the past couple of weeks, he'd been losing his patience with the little civilian girl that had taken the Hyuuga compound by storm, without even stepping foot in.
His uncle had called him in for a meeting, they talked over a cup of tea and a game of Shogi.
"It's your responsibility to the Hyuuga clan, and to yourself, that you pass on your power. As one of the strongest clan members we have ever seen it would be irresponsible of us to simply allow that power to slip through our fingers. As a newly made first branch member, it's also your responsibility to ensure your spot on that branch, you must prove to the other clan members that they made a good decision. Prove your worth as a Hyuuga."
He nodded along with his uncle. It was easier to play the game than to make an excuse as to why you cannot. Smarter to plot in silence.
"She's a civilian. Lives with her mother, and the only girl in their bunch."
Neji could actually hear a little bitterness from that one. It was no secret that Hiashi wanted boys, and got himself a pink bow-tied package instead.
"Small family from the mountains. She's a nurse at the hospital, her mother is close to the Hokage, her family has proven to have the unique ability to produce strong heirs. A chakra enhanced womb that protects and stores the Chakra of the mate. I've sent a letter formally asking for permission for courtship."
That was days ago.
He'd been silently observing the woman from her hospital window. He'd peaked a bit into her daily life.
Then he'd been called away on a mission to Sound, and there wasn't a way he could watch her from there. But her visage seemingly followed him to sound. The image of her limp form on the mattress, her shallow breathing, the mask making her face look small. He couldn't help but let his eyes wander when she was limp. The thick blanket and gown not hiding anything from view. He could see the indentation of her pelvis, the perk of her nipples, the curve of her collar bone.
And he had to admit, he was impressed. He thought she would have been a little frumpy, a little shallow, a little more human than she appeared.
That was the thing about those Kunoichi's about women like Ino Yamanaka, Ten Ten and even Hinata: as fragile and weak as she was; they were otherworldly. They were hard lines, tanned bodies, but good people. However, there was something attractive and a little unattractive about dating a woman that could snap you in half.
And for a long time, Neji imagined taking himself there: Finding a strong Kunoichi. But maybe, he thought, that wasn't the answer. As he thought back in time, being a Kunoichi didn't ensure the best life. Even Mikoto Uchiha was just a civilian at one point, so was his mother, maybe being a Kunoichi had nothing to do with strength or maybe it did.
He was still a bit hesitant about courting a civilian girl as he didn't know what they were like. He knew what Kunoichi's were like, he could assure himself a little distance, a little attitude, a little hardness, a little weakness, but with a civilian woman, well … they seem so fragile.
He'd seen them moseying around, doing their everyday work just like Kunoichi's do, just a bit slower. They savored the moment a bit more he figured.
But the days he'd spent observing the pink haired girl the more attracted he grew. He grew conscious to the fact that she was much smaller than him, she didn't have callouses on her hands, or great muscles in her would need his help.
And there was something alluring about being needed.
When he returned from his ANBU mission he fully intended to go and check in at the hospital, but with his mask strapped to his thigh he caught her leaving the building. She had a layered scarf wrapped around her head, hiding most of her pink locks, a sweater over her white nurses uniform that bore a few stains from her shift no doubt. He waited for her to discover him rather than him startle her in the dark.
He knew the moment she felt his presence as she tensed beneath her clothing and looked up at him. He felt the tightening under his skin as he looked for the first time into those green eyes that once looked Hunter green but now bore something like a mix of Lamb's Ear and Green Apple.
"May I walk you home?"
They walked silently side by side her hand tucked into the crook of his arm; it was awkward. The people that were up early enough to see them were gawking in the streets, and Sakura wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.
But she walked next to the silent Hyuuga.
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She went to speak, determined, to break the silence.
"Did you – uh, - um, just get back from some sort of mission?"
"Yes. In Sound." Was all he said. She imagined he was probably not able to tell her much more. She lifted her free hand to rub at her tired night shift was a rough one, but with two days off after that, and a bit of overtime under her belt, it was almost worth it.
"The night shift… do you like it?" He asked suddenly. She flinched a bit.
"It's alright. Much more boring than a day shift, that's for sure. Just some patients to check in on, bed pans to change.." She realized that she was rambling and glanced down at her feet to watch her steps and avoid looking anywhere near the silent man next to her.
They came to a sudden stop. She jerked forward and looked up confused as to why they were stopped.
"You shouldn't watch your feet as you go. You're more likely to be injured that way," he said. She took in the seriousness of his face, the doleful eyes, the long fingered hand that was slowly making its way to the hand she had tucked in the crook of his arm. He stroked her fingers slowly, taking in their small qualities, neatly trimmed nails, painted a light seafoam.
"I'm less likely to fall down that way." She correct but her eyes didn't leave his hands that were stroking hers.
"You will not fall if you have a good leader."
"I don't always have a leader."
"You should be your own leader."
She was silent at that and they walked along again, this time, her eyes straight forward.
"It's been brought to my attention you declined the courting invoice." She stumbled at that not expecting him to so blatantly bring it up. She searched for words to say, but he beat her to the punch.
"I have reviewed the reasons you might say no, and I have to assure you of a few things before you so easily drop the issue. The Hyuuga clan would take very good care of you. You would never want for anything in their ranks. You would never be in danger. Beyond that, I am not asking for your hand in marriage at this moment. I'm asking you to consider allowing me to get to know you as a friend would or potential lover." She shivered at the way he said lover. There was something about the way it twisted off his tongue.
"I assure you that I will not allow anything to happen to you under my care, and that you'll always have a good leader." She went to look up at him, but noticed that she was in front of her forest green front door as he stood behind her.
"Get some sleep, Haruno-sama, until next time." He said. She blindly pushed into her house, closing the door soundly, and dropping all of her things on the ground. Her mother was pushing around breakfast in the kitchen when she flew around the corner to speak with her.
An egg flew out of her hand and landed on the linoleum. Her mother was in her white fluffy robe, bunny slippers, and had her sleep cover over her head.
"Mother," she gasped out. Nalla pushed forward and pulled Sakura into a chair at the breakfast nook and waited for her to finish. "Neji Hyuuga accosted me outside of work. He brought up the Hyuuga proposal and asked me to consider some things. I thought you said they wouldn't directly approach me?"
"The Hyuuga's appear much more brave than I first thought."
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Neji perched on top of the Haruno's roof. He found what he'd been sensing since he got back into Konoha. The bird. The black bird looked inconspicuous, beady eyed, but watched him intently. He smirked at the little bird, 'well played Uchiha-san.'
The birds head was separated from its body within the next second.
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Shikamaru leaned back into his hospital bed that morning feeling miraculously better than he did yesterday. And he knew exactly why.
His brow furrowed; he didn't know what to do about that.
In all honestly, he'd heard about the Haruno girl. His father had approached him with the information, just in case he wanted to know, and told him it would be nice if he did something like that; however, there was no pressure and truly, Shikamaru knew, there was no pressure. His parents could actually care less who he married, but there was a puzzle there that Shikamaru wouldn't leave unsolved for an unknown reason.
He knew for a fact that the Uchihas and the Hyuugas were diving headfirst into her business. If he followed this little trail he would ,no doubt, run into them, and probably get into a scuffle or two. However, Shikamaru wasn't too worried about that. Whether the other two men knew it or not: the three of them were more alike than they'd care to admit. All of them were geniuses in their own right, and they all suffered from the same sickness.
Boredom.
There was almost nothing worse than being a smart bored person. Nothing entertained you anymore, and nothing kept you satisfied long enough for you to really enjoy it.
Shikamaru wondered how long it would take for the other men to realize that she had a little secret, and he knew that would be his one up.
No doubt Hyuuga would use his clan for backup: the extravagance, the gates, all of it. Hyuuga would be shameless in his pursuit. He wouldn't put it passed him to approach her directly. The Uchiha would be a bit more to predict, but he was sleuthy. Shikamaru had only gone on one mission with the man, and he had moved like smoke. Itachi would more than likely work in the shadows, so that he wouldn't have to directly interact with her until absolutely necessary.
But Shikamaru had his one up. His calling card could easily be curiosity. The others would seem … wrong. She'd want to marry for love, she wouldn't want to be convinced, and with Shikamaru there'd be no convincing.
The slap on his arm brought him back.
Ino Yamanaka was standing in front of his bed with Chouji nearby in the chair eating his jello.
It would be better if his team, especially Ino, didn't know about this.
"Are you listening to me?" She demanded. "I swear every time I talk you just tune me out,like I don't even matter. How do you think that makes me feel huh?..."
And there she went. Ino was probably the noisiest woman he knew, and she would be shameless in her pursuit of information if the word ever got to her.
"You seem a lot better than you were yesterday?..."
She was too easy to tune out now. He wondered how his parents would react if they found out he was actively pursuing something that wasn't hiding from Ino and taking a nap at the same time. He also wondered how long he could hide it from the two bloodhounds on the nurses rear. If the prodigys got word of his plans their intervention would be too swift for him to stop. He decided to watch the situation carefully, just in case.
He turned his head to face out the window, and saw something he wasn't supposed to see. A crow sitting on the tree branch outside of his window. This would be less conspicuous if the crow didn't have red eyes.
He wondered just how much that crow saw.
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Itachi knew the precise moment that Hyuuga had killed the bird, he also knew the moment that she left for work her next shift would be night shift, so he slowed down. He knew that if appeared in town too fast his injuries would be less believable. They needed a bit of time to heal before approaching the village.
Itachi did feel a bit frustrated and that was new.
He had planned for everything, anything the Hyuuga was going to use, he had a plan for it. The only thing he didn't plan for was the Hyuuga directly approaching her. Itachi didn't know he had it in him. He knew the Hyuuga to be like him, to play from the shadows as much as possible, but the Hyuuga appeared to be more clever than he'd first anticipated, he put her in a corner.
He'd planned to stay behind for as long as possible, but this changed the game a bit.
He was going to have to up the stakes.
Well,
Here we go. Introductions are over. Let me know what you think by clicking that special button.
Thank you! To my fabulous new beta! What a lovely human.
I do not own Naruto.
