11/06/2016 Edited

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-4-

When after a third turn to the left she bonked into the wall again, it wasn't funny anymore. Hinata opened her eyes, sitting on the floor and rubbing a bump on her forehead. She had no idea why she closed her eyes the moment she came back home from the village and blindly began wandering around the Hyuuga mansion. One would think that after spending all of your life in the same house you should know it to the core, and it should be easy to find a way to your room even in pitch darkness, but, every now and again, Hinata would miss a step or two and hit a wall.

The branch family members, who then passed by, would only eye her suspiciously, most probably thinking that the Hyuugas were doomed with that kind of heir. But Hinata didn't care. First, this heir thing wasn't even certain yet. Yeah well, officially, she was still the future head of the clan, but Hinata had long ago stopped believing that she would be entrusted the rule of the family. Of course, she was well-versed in fighting and she was reasonably strong, especially since Neji began training her around two years ago. But medicine and gardening were still her forte, and it had hardly anything to do with the life of a ninja, when you were trained to be a tool of death. Needless to say, the medical skills were important as well, but, just like other highly traditional families (or nations), the Hyuugas were hard to shake out of their old habits. They did not value much skills other than fighting. The sole fact that Neji was now welcome in the main branch family meetings manifested a change big enough in their old thinking. They were not ready for another one yet.

What was more, Hanabi had a character that was far more suitable for a leader than that of Hinata's. As far as Hyuuga Hinata was concerned, she woudn't have minded much if her younger sister were to skip over a few steps and become the heir. On the other hand, Hinata was silently hoping that on the day the Hyuuga clan appoints their new head someone would ask (or listen to) her opinion, and she would be able to say a word or two for Neji. After all, he was the most talented member of the clan and in the past few years even his temper has become milder. Uzumaki Naruto had kicked his butt enough to make Hyuuga Neji realize that some threads of fate were in his hands.

"People usually look ahead when they walk," Hinata saw two feet in wool socks on the floor and hunched a little bit, when her cousin kneeled down in front of her, picking up the things she'd dropped: her backpack, a manuscript roll, a few pencils, a sheet of folded paper…

People usually look ahead, Hinata thought, but I just wanted to know what it feels like to be blind. She looked up at Neji. Part of his face was covered by his long silky hair that he never tied up.

"Unbelievable…" she said, incoherently tying up her previous thoughts.

Neji halted for a moment before stuffing the manuscript and the pencils back into her bag. He looked at her giving her a wry smirk.

"Unbelievable indeed," he offered her a hand helping her get up.

"Thank you," Hinata said when Neji gave her the backpack. He was about to give back the folded paper, too, but curiosity got the better of him and he unfolded it.

He scowled. There was a huge column of almost all the shop names in Konoha, written in Hinata's neat hand-writing. And they were all crossed-out. As if she had been looking for something and couldn't find it.

"Grocery?" he asked incredulously, showing her the list.

"Oh…" Hinata went slightly numb, staring at the sheet of paper in her cousin's hands. "Yes," she weighed down her head.

It had been a week since her visit at the Uchiha's ward. Late at night on weekdays she would sneak into her clan's library to copy several paragraphs on eye diseases from a huge bulky book, which also said something about the connection between sharingan and byakugan. She let Sakura know about it and she agreed to meet her at the end of the week. Actually, she was rather surprised that Sakura appreciated her opinion on the matter so much. But now Hinata was really going to show up at the hospital again, and she couldn't get Uchiha out of her head.

To be more exact, she couldn't forget his request. She shouldn't have volunteered to bring him anything in the first place. Now she was running like crazy down the snowy streets of Konoha, ransacking grocery shops, looking for fresh tomatoes. But everything was fermented, marinated, brined or conserved, frozen or preserved in some other way since summer and autumn. One would have never found fresh fruit or vegetables at this time of year. Hinata was even thinking of using a summoning technique to transfer herself straight to the South of the Fire Country. But that would have been a tad too much.

"Looking for something?" Neji asked, giving her back the list.

"M…" Hinata nodded, put the paper into her pocket and headed towards her room.

"May I ask for what?" Neji followed after her. He walked proud and straight, but his posture did not emanate the usual contempt to others. It slightly irritated him, but over the last few years this girl had managed to tame him like a cat. Hinata slung the bag over her shoulder.

"Fresh tomatoes," she looked up at her tall cousin. "You know, FRESH."

"Just plucked off the bush?" Neji angled his head.

"Mm…" Hinata nodded again and walked on slightly hunched.

"Stand up straight," Neji ordered and she stretched up like a cord. "Hina-chan, tomatoes?" he asked again. "You don't like tomatoes…"

"But they're still tasty," Hinata contradicted silently, and Neji held her at her elbow. They both stopped in front of the door to Hinata's room.

"Tomatoes make your tongue ache," he said solemnly, his misty eyes looking down at her. "And you like cucumbers better anyways. Why do you need fresh tomatoes?" he stooped down slightly, so that Hinata would be at his eye level.

"I… I promised…" Hinata swallowed nervously. "For one person. I promised to bring it."

Neji sighed and looked away. If Hinata promises something, she always lives to it. Sooner or later. It was slightly troublesome. Despite her tender personality she was rather stubborn.

"You should stop promising stuff to every single person you meet," he said. "And stop being a perfect Yamato Nadeshiko*. That's the reason everyone's using you."

Hinata pursed her lips and said nothing. She just clenched her bag straps tight and stared right in front of her. There was Neji's collar. She didn't know whether she was really short or Neji was just ridiculously tall, but her nose was at his chest.

Neji looked at her for a while until, eventually, he clenched his fist and, grabbing her by her hand, he dragged her down the Hyuuga mansion corridors.

"Come on," he said, walking rapidly. Hinata jogged after him.

"Neji nii-san?" she wheezed surprised. Her hair flapped with every step she made.

"I feel rather stupid copying Shikamaru," he grumbled. "But… mendokusai**..."

Neji didn't know what frustrated him more: Hinata's wishes or the fact he wanted to fulfil those wishes, but they both found themselves at the entrance to the Hyuuga mansion pretty fast, and he jumped into his boots without any delay. Hinata just stood there dumbfounded. She blinked unable to get any of this. Neji turned around and, seeing her still in her socks, he ran towards the coat hanger, grabbed her jacket, pulled a thick scarf out of her jacket's sleeve, swathed it around Hinata's neck and mouth, threw the jacket around her shoulders, and pushed her towards her boots. While Hinata was putting on her shoes still slightly dizzy, Neji buckled up his jacket and pulled down the hood.

Severe winds holwed outside: It would have messed up with his long hair if he hadn't done anything about it.

"Oh!" the front door opened and Hanabi burst inside, all covered in snow. "Nii-san~!"

"Tell uncle we're most probably going to be late for dinner," he touched the teen's damp head as he passed her by, grabbed the warmly wrapped up Hinata by her wrist, and ran into the snowstorm with her.

"O…" Hanabi blinked watching her elder sister and her cousin disappear behind a white snowy wall. "But it's only noon!" she yelled after them, but they didn't hear her anymore.

The only thing Hinata could see throughout the run was her cousin's wide back. She ran after him lifting her feet high, sinking into the snow. The wind coloured her cheeks and she was silently thanking Neji that he had wrapped the scarf all the way up to her ears. She blinked as snowflakes got into her eyes and she didn't even want to know the amount of snow Neji had to push through as he ran ahead, partially shielding her from the wind.

He wasn't going to the village. The Hyuuga lands were right next to Konoha, and when they left through the main gate, Hinata thought he would head towards the village centre, but after a few yards down the main street, which led to Konoha, they made a sharp turn behind the corner, straight towards the forest that stretched far to the very end of the administrative limits of the town.

The trees grew all over the hilly land and, instead of jumping from a branch to a branch; they kept on running up the hill on the ground level because there was less snow on the wintry bed of the forest. The trail was getting steeper and Hinata realized she was losing her breath. However, she didn't slow down. She just kept on following Neji insistently, even though he was running up like a tornado.

He stopped only when they found themselves far in the hills. Far away from Konoha. As Hinata turned around, she saw the house roofs looked the size of pin heads. She breathed hard, marvelling at herself that she was able to take down such a complicated route in such a short time. Now it was snowing lightly, and it was not even getting dark yet.

Neji headed towards a group of heavily snowed-in trees. Their snowy caps made them look like a huge dome.

"Here," he said and Hinata walked towards her cousin confused; he stood next to an old tree trunk.

"I don't understa…" Hinata mumbled, but Neji hugged her from behind and pushed her right hand up.

Hinata's heart began beating like mad. Her gloved hand, now held by Neji, touched the dark grey tree and something clicked. She looked up alarmed. There was supposed to be a bunch of thick branches, but a weird hole opened up. Hinata didn't even have time to squeak, when Neji gripped her waist firmly and soared upwards, pushing both of them inside through the hole, riding his own momentum.

She closed her eyes half-expecting a crash, but, as Neji held her carefully, she landed down lightly and safely. The light was literally penetrating her eyelids, and Hinata slowly opened her eyes. She did so that her eyes would get used to the bright light, but, eventually, she stared in astonishment. She pulled down the hood and automatically began untying her scarf. Her jaw dropped.

It was a greenhouse. No. A garden. A huge garden with a glass skeleton, hidden amidst snowy trees. This couldn't have been done without a certain ninjutsu. And perhaps even genjutsu. Hinata looked around. Her head spun with so much of green out here. It was so grey and white outside, and here everything was green; and the flowers bloomed as if it were spring.

The most diverse herbs were planted in neat rows of beds, and this order was very much like the one she had in her garden at home. Hinata took one step forward, suddenly realizing what this could possibly mean. There were at least six flower beds in front of her eyes. Three long tracks stretched down the garden and she could already imagine where they would take her. There were no big trees that would mark the usual borders, but Hinata knew that behind the flowers there should've been herbs, and then behind the herbs…

She took another step. Then another one, and another one, until finally she dashed forward, dropping her jacket, scarf, and gloves on the ground. She ran past the innumerable kinds of flowers, herbs, and other plants. She noticed that some of them where the ones she had been hankering after for a long time, and she would have bought them if only she had known where to look for them. She passed another row of herbs. She knew it was rude to run around another person's property like that, but she had this weird feeling she couldn't shake off. She had to make sure her suspicions were right (or wrong).

She had left the herbs behind and now she was running down the beds of yellow flowers that were cucumbers. She could see a forest of small rods stuck into the soil behind the cucumbers and the plants tied to them. They were supposed to stand straight. It was easier to harvest them this way…

Hinata froze dead in her tracks. Tomatoes. Real, fresh, slightly red tomatoes. She looked at the few rows of the fruit (vegatable?) unable to believe her own eyes. Then she took another look around, taking in the green and the person who brought her here. Neji stood right next to her, not even breaking a sweat. His face was void of any emotion. Hinata's breathing picked up a pace. Their eyes met and Neji looked away.

"You weren't supposed to see it yet…" he grumbled. "There are still birds and butterflies missing…" he added and Hinata felt as if someone hit her with a wet mop all over her face. She suddenly covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"What?" Neji turned to her, slightly irritated.

"Just," she giggled quietly. "The word "butterflies" doesn't really match your face," she kept on giggling.

"Probably," he crossed his arms. "Anyways, these tomatoes aren't ripe yet. You have to wait a bit… In any case, I was going to show you everything in three days…" his voice got softer with every word he spoke.

"Three days…" Hinata repeated after him and she was left speechless. Her arms dropped helplessly at her sides. "Neji…" she looked around. "All this…"

"Yeah… probably…" he looked at her as if he were a mistreated dog that was just trying to get home. "Happy birthday."

Hinata felt imaginary needles prick at her face. She sighed. And suddenly smiled softly. Everyone was her rival and opponent in the Hyuuga clan, but that moment she realized that at least one member of the family WAS her family. A true friend she could trust.

Slowly she walked close to him and reached out for his face. Neji didn't even flinch when she took off his forehead protector, unveiling the seal. Even if he were surprised, Neji didn't show it. Hinata carefully ran her tender fingertips against the seal, tiptoed, and gave it a kiss. Contrary to most of the Hyuugas, she had never found the seal repulsive. It would only make her sad.

"Thank you," she said pulling away and smiling faintly.

Neji opened his mouth as if to say something, but eventually he just swallowed his saliva and bent forwards, reaching out for her. Hinata held her breath for a split second, afraid he might kiss her, but her cousin only hugged her tight, as he pulled her close to him and buried his nose into her shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed as if all the troubles in the world had disappeared.

"You're welcome."

Tomatoes: check.

Courage to show up at Uchiha's ward: Error 404. File not found. Press any key to continue.

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* Yamato Nadeshiko is referred to by Japanese as a woman with attributes that were considered traditionally desirable from the perspective of a male dominated society; generally ascribed to people with traditional upbringings. (from wiki)

** How troublesome…

To be continued…