Title: Crash
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Pairing: Neji x Ino [Lee x Sakura, Naruto x Hinata]
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: You do not choose your destiny. It chooses you.
Word Count: 2,373
Warnings: AR

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Summary is a quote from the TV show Heroes.

A/N: Repost from my PLL account.

Ino was staring at the paper in her hand with something akin to absolute and utter horror, eyes wide and jaws slack, before he gaze switched to the matching paper in her boyfriend's hands and the matching expression of partial terror, partial anger, and she paled even further. "I… I…"

"I am going to kill Naruto."

Ino glanced away from the seemingly innocent sheets of paper and up at Neji's face. She suddenly felt better knowing that she wasn't the only one upset by this… announcement.

Gazing back down, her eyes read over the graceful character of Hyuuga Hinata's handwriting, announcing that Ino was invited to her wedding. That, however, wasn't the problem. Nor was the problem the fact that the wedding was next week, after all, Ino didn't have to travel far to get there. The Hyuuga complex was like, twenty minutes away. No, the problem was the fact that at the bottom of the invitation, in a messy scrawl in complete opposition to his fiancé's neat script, Naruto had scribbled his own message.

You better bring Neji as your date Ino-change! Hokage's orders!

And then there was a childish drawing of what Ino assumed was him flashing the victory sign.

She had actually met Neji halfway between her house and his. And from his murderous expression, she could only assume his invitation boasted a similar P.S. from their dear, hyperactive Hokage.

And it wasn't the fact that they had to go together that was the problem, really. They had planned to go together anyway. Just not so… openly. Only the Rookie 9 and Neji's teammates knew they were dating at all. neji had never one to be open about his relationships in the first place and Ino simply didn't care. Besides, they'd only been dating for a little over a month. No need to be so prominent about it just yet.

But now Naruto had to go and meddle. It seemed to be his hobby. Apparently running the village was boring enough that he had plenty of time to dabble in the lives of everyone around him. Love lives included. And since they had now been commanded to attend the wedding as a couple (which there would be no getting out of since Neji had to go and Naruto would, of course, see if Ino wasn't there) that meant only one thing.

Ino looked and met Neji's silver gaze.

"Parents."

Ino attempted no to fidget under the piercing stare of Neji's uncle.

Hyuuga Hiashi resembled Neji in many ways. They had the same long, dark hair and the same all-seeing, eerie, yet beautiful silver eyes. There was the same pride and arrogance in the way they carried themselves. There was even something similar in their chiseled features, the smooth nose, the strong chin, the graceful neck, and the thin lips. But Ino liked to think that Neji's face was softer than his stoic uncle's. Neji was never one to show much emotion either, but he seemed to frown less than Hiashi and, though she could not see it, she did not think his forehead bore the almost permanent crease than Hiashi's did.

"So you are the girl my nephew has finally chosen to date."

"Um… yes, sir," Ino answered respectfully. Though normally loud and outspoken (king of a lot like Naruto, but no one would ever say that to her face) she had been drilled in Clan etiquette since she was very small. And even if she hadn't been, who the hell wanted to piss off a Hyuuga, especially the head of the Clan? She needed her chakra. And she'd be damned if she would go to Sakura for help even if she did get into a mess. So it was better for everyone if she was just polite.

"Hm… Yamanaka Ino, correct?" She nodded, her fingers twitching on her knees, which were folded gracefully underneath her as she sat across the low table from him. "And you are a jounin?" She nodded again. "What sort of education have you have other than the standard shinobi training?" She opened her mouth to answer, but Neji beat her to it.

"Uncle, I fail to see why this interrogation is necessary. We are simply attending the wedding."

Hiashi turned to stare at his only nephew and arched one slim brow (Ino vaguely wondered if that's where Neji had picked this habit up from) and said nothing. Surprisingly Neji was silent and Ino realized she was missing something important. She decided to let it go… for now.

"Haruno Sakura taught me some medical jutsu, sir," Ino said, her gaze sliding from Neji beside her to the Clan leader across from her. "And I work part-time for Ibiki-san now." When he didn't say anything, she added, "But that's all."

"Hm." His eyes flickered between her and Neji for a moment, before he said, "Well, I see no reason why this should not work."

Ino glanced between the two when she Hiashi was speaking to Neji and only Neji. And she had a feeling about their impending date to Hinata and Naruto's wedding. She furrowed her brow in confusion as Hiashi rose, before rising as well and bowing to him.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Hiashi-sama," she said, still unsure about the weird vibes she felt generating between the two. Hiashi seemed calm… and somewhat amused at Neji's behavior. And Neji seemed irritated and miffed.

But then the spell was broken when Ino mumbled her farewell. Hiashi nodded at her. "And you as well, Yamanaka-san. I look forward to seeing more of you." Ino's confusion grew when she realized that comment was once again directed at Neji. He nodded, "Neji." And left.

For a second, they stood there in silence, before Ino rounded on him. "Okay, what the hell was that about?"

Neji glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "What?"

"What? What?! Neji half the time he was saying things to me he was looking at you! You can't tell me something's not up. I'm not stupid. Now, what the hell is going on?"

He paused for a second. "It's nothing. Come on, let's go meet your father."

Ino pouted, before realizing that Neji had left her in the Hyuuga complex and she hurried to catch up. "Oi! Wait for me! Don't change the subject! Hey!"

Needless to say, Ino did not, in fact, get any information out of Neji, and Neji was all the more happy to keep it that way. All his uncle's stupid hints at their deal had gotten Ino suspicious and asking questions. Not such a good thing for him, seeing as how it was all about his uncle's order to find himself a wife. He was sure Ino would take it in the worst possible way and never give him a chance to explain. She'd probably kick him in a place that rendered him incapable of reproducing. Or at the very least would cause him to need the most interesting medical examination ever. Neither of which he was too keen on being involved in.

But, for the moment, he was less concerned about that, and more concerned with the tall blond man glaring at him like he was the Kyuubi himself. If he had known Ino's father could be such a terrifying man, he would have insisted that their families all meet together. At least that way Ino's father would have been sufficiently distracted by asking questions of Neji's emotionless uncle and less inclined to stare so irritatingly at Neji himself.

He supposed it had something to do with the fact that Neji was only Hiashi's nephew and not his son. Kami knows how he had reacted when Naruto come a-courting for Hinata. He almost locked his oldest daughter in her room. Neji would hate to see him when he realized that almost everyone in town knew that Hanabi had a crush the size on Fire Country on Konohamaru. Well, everyone except for Hiashi… and possibly Konohamaru himself. And besides that, Hiashi had all but demanded that Neji find himself a wife. But Inoichi only had one child. And to him, Neji was corrupting his sweet, innocent, baby girl.

Neji leaned farther back as Inoichi leaned farther in, an appraising glare in his blue eyes, as he looked Neji up and down.

I feel like a piece of meat, he thought to himself, his eyes following Ino's father as the man walked in a circle around him. They hadn't even made it a step past the threshold before the jounin appeared out of nowhere and started examining Neji like he was prize farm animal. It was… unsettling. Ino could not have felt this uncomfortable with his uncle. All Hiashi had done was ask a few questions and unobtrusively poke fun at Neji and their deal.

And it didn't help the situation that Ino simply stood a few feet beside him, with one hand held over her eyes as she muttered under her breath. Neji was sure he heard some death threats mixed in with the mumbling.

Neji twitched as Inoichi stopped in front of him and leaned way too far into his personal space again. "So you're going to this… wedding, are you? How do I know it's not a lie? What if you're just trying to get my baby alone? Hm? Didn't think I'd know about that trick, did you?"

"Dad, you got an invitation to the same wedding," Ino said exasperatedly.

He leaned back. "Oh yeah." He suddenly poked Neji in the chest. Hard. "Well, what do you do for a living? How much money do you make? Can you support a family?"

"Dad." When he glanced at his daughter, Ino silently pointed to the forehead protector clearly displayed on Neji's forehead. "He's a jounin." Then, as an afterthought, she added. "Duh."

"Right…" He turned his narrow-eyed glance back to Neji. "Well, what – "

"Dad! Can you please stop grilling my boyfriend for like, five minutes! We get it, okay? You're very overprotective, so much that I think we're going to leave now. Geez. We're going on a date. That isn't even really a date, since the entire village will be in the same place at the same time. It's not like we're getting married to each other or anything." She huffed angrily and crossed her arms.

"Well, why not?" Ignoring Ino's warily arched eyebrow; he turned back to Neji. "How do you feel about marriage? Do you want kids? I want grandchildren. Two or three would be a good number, don't you think? And could you – "

"For the love of God, dad! Fine! The next time I come to tell you something, I'll make sure I'm pregnant!" And then she turned and marched back off of the porch.

Both men stared after her for a moment, before Neji gathered his wits and bowed politely to the Clan head. "Yamanaka-sama," he murmured, before turning to leave.

"Neji." The young jounin paused, and turned back around… and shivered at the coldness in Inoichi's eyes. "Just to let you know, if you hurt my little girl or break her heart, not all the shinobi in Konoha could stop me from carving out your heart with a rusty spoon." And Neji gulped when he realized that there was no lie in those words. Then Inoichi grinned widely at the boy. "But I do want those grandkids."

Neji was still creeped out when he left the house, though he was pleasantly surprised when he found that Ino had not marched halfway across Konoha in her anger like he thought she had, and instead and waited for him at the end of the block. She glanced back at him when she heard him walk up and sighed. "Sorry about him," she said. "He gets a little… protective." She chuckled lightly. "When I brought Kankuro home once when he was visiting from Suna, dad said if he didn't visit me sooner he would bury him so deep under the sand even Kazekage-sama wouldn't be able to find him."

"… He threatened to carve out my heart with a rusty spoon."

Ino rolled her eyes as they started walking. "At least we can go to the wedding in relative peace now. Though you might have to endure several more of my dad's not so subtle hints at his desire for grandchildren."

"Yes, well…"

Ino stopped walking and glanced at him. "What? Do you not want children?" She never gave him a chance to answer, before she gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. "I think… if I do marry you, we should name our son after your father, kay?" And then she skipped away from him, giggling madly at the dumbfounded look on his face. Oh, how she loved to make the Hyuuga have emotions.

He felt an unfamiliar warmth bloom in his chest as he thought about it. A child. A son. A… He blanched suddenly as he realized exactly what he'd have to do to get the aforementioned son. And then he remembered with startling clarity the thought he had a few months ago about how long Ino's legs were. He felt himself blush fire.

"Hey!" A familiar, parental voice shouted behind him. "If you're thinking perverted thoughts about my baby girl I'll kill you right now!"

And Hyuuga Neji realized that as terrifying as the thought of having a son was. As terrifying as the seal branded on his forehead was. As terrifying as every shinobi and missing-nin and Akatsuki member and Sound-ninja he had ever faced were. There was nothing, nothing, more terrifying than an overprotective father who happened to be a jounin and a head of one of the most deadly Clans in Konoha.

And he hurried (in a way that Naruto would have stupidly called "running away," but thankfully he wasn't there) to catch up to Ino.