a/n: Thank you for all your reviews, gina and celestialfae!

And this is chapter 3 in which the first minor conflict peaks! Warnings: slight hyuugacest, cross-dressing (that really should have been in the warnings before…oops…) Disclaimer on my profile. Enjoy! Also, please understand that this story in no way represents my views on incest. No flames please!

Chapter 3

Four months later…

Ever since the disastrous audience with Ino, Neji had taken to simply waiting in the person's waiting room for them to arrive after their audience. After that, he would offer them refreshments and proceed to interrogate them about their audience. So far, no one had even come close (the closest someone had come was a man eight years older than Neji named Haku, but he too had been turned away. Neji and Haku had become close friends and still remained in touch via letters; everyone had wondered at the remarkable similarities between the two, both in appearance and in personality. Neji learned that Haku had just recently gotten married to a man named Zabuza who lived near the mountains in western Hyuga.) It had been four months since the beginning of the whole mess, and Neji knew that the councilors were getting desperate even though the threat of war with the Uchiha had long been nullified.

Neji was worried; the board of councilors was extremely unpredictable (for example, choosing Ino as the first candidate), and he wasn't sure what their next move would be. He was hoping that they would give up and just forget the whole thing, but even he could see the strain of the absence of a queen was placing on the kingdom. Hinata had managed to hang on to her position up until now, but it wouldn't be long before her sister Hanabi would replace her. Everyone knew that Hinata's impending marriage with Chouji Akimichi would put too much strain on her to continue her job. The council was capable of anything, and he was wary of what their next move would be.

Neji sighed and crossed his legs beneath the fine material of his skirt. It was late May and he had taken to wearing gauzier, lighter dresses as the heat started setting in.

Neji stood up and sighed from the pleasant feeling of his dress fluttering around him when he heard someone approaching the room. He really did like this dress; it was satin and a silver sort of lavender that brought out his own silver eyes. He'd felt in a bit of a dressier mood this morning, so he'd put a pair of silver earrings on, and some nice shoes and he'd even gone as far as to carefully put in an amethyst hair ornament on the back of his braid.

Neji raised an eyebrow when a servant entered the room. "What is it, Shusuke?" Shusuke had been raised with him since they were children, and even though Shusuke was two years senior to him, they remained good friends.

Shusuke's normal smile was gone, and his eyes had tight, worried creases around them. "They are asking for you in the court room."

Neji frowned and swept off, Shusuke hurrying along in his wake. "What for?"

Shusuke swallowed hard. "I can't tell you."

Neji shot him a hard glance from the corner of his eye. "Why not?"

Shusuke smiled then. "It would be imprudent." His smile vanished again, and he hesitantly grasped Neji's hands. "Neji…I…I hope everything goes well for you. And, I never wished this on you."

"Wished what?" Neji's heart filled with dread. "Shusuke, what are you talking about?"

Shusuke looked at him sadly for a moment before pushing the doors open and leading Neji inside.

Neji walked forward and noted the absence of a hopeful bride-to-be. "Well, what is it? What have you me for?"

Neji swallowed hard when the doors closed behind him with an ominous thud.

The board of councilors shifted uncomfortably when the prime councilor finally stood up. Neji looked at his father, who…wasn't there. Why wasn't his father at his place at the table? Neji's heart skipped a beat.

"Princess Neji. "

"Yes, Lord Tokuma."

"We have been listening around the castle, and more and more reports of the same incident have come up."

"And what is that occurrence?"

Lord Tokuma exhaled slowly before continuing on. "Patience, my lady. The occurrence is that everyone in the castle seems to think that you are more beautiful than your mother."

Neji took an involuntary step back even as the breath whooshed out of his lungs. "I-is that so?"

Lord Tokuma shook his head and took a step forward. "Your father has consented to marry you."

Neji gasped. "This is madness! You can't-"

Lord Tokuma spoke over Neji's protests. "This country is in need of a queen, my princess, and you are the only one who fits the criteria for the job!"

Neji stared at the board of councilors. "You can't do this. You-you want me to marry my own father?"

The board stared down at him, and Lord Tokuma responded. "We can, and we have. Your father has decreed that he will marry you, Princess Neji, and whether you like it or not, you will be married."

Neji fought for words. "You're mad. All of you, you're absolutely insane! No one in the kingdom will accept this, how-"

Lord Tokuma cut him off again. "I suggest you think this over, Princess. It will happen whether you give your consent." Neji heard the dull grating of the doors opening behind him, and he didn't hesitate to use the opportunity to run away from the council as fast as he could.

He kept running even when he heard people calling out his name, and the board of councilors yelling at him to stop. He didn't stop running until he reached his private rooms, only to find his father sitting patiently in his sitting room.

"Neji." Hiashi stood up and moved toward his son. Neji remained frozen, too terrified and confused to make any noise or even take a step backwards.

"Neji, please-"

Neji snapped out of his daze and dashed past his father to go hide in his room.

"Neji!" his father pounded on the door. "Neji, come out of there at once!" Neji ignored him and instead dashed over to the mirror. He stared at himself in stricken horror before snatching up the picture of his mother and comparing himself to her. He didn't think he was more beautiful than she had been, how, why…?

HOW? Neji's mind screamed over and over again. How is this happening?

"NEJI!" Hiashi bellowed on the other side of the door. "For god's sake, Neji, open the door and-"

Neji finally found the presence of mind to form a few words. "Wait a moment father. I'm um…I'm changing."

Hiashi sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well, when you finish come see me in your sitting room." He stomped off, and Neji sighed in relief before carefully setting the picture of his mother back on his nightstand before collapsing on to the bed.

My father wants to marry me. Neji winced, and cautiously tried saying it again in his head before cringing. It sounded worse every time he repeated the sentence to himself. Neji took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down before sitting up and moving over to his wardrobe. He grabbed the first thing he could find and quickly changed before taking his shoes off and slipping in to a pair of well-worn sandals and pinning his braid up in to a knot at the back of his head. He took of his jewelry and placed it back in its box before turning back to stare at himself in the mirror. He'd changed in to a plain black dress, leaving him vulnerable and plain-looking. Neji sighed in relief; maybe his father wouldn't think he was more beautiful than his mother now? Maybe he would change his mind-

Neji shook his head. His father wouldn't change his mind. He was trapped in this nightmare, and there was no getting out. He moved unsteadily out of his room and in to his sitting room where his father awaited him.

Neji cautiously poked his head in to the sitting room and squeaked in surprise when his face bumped in to his father's back; Hiashi had been standing directly in front of the door.

Hiashi turned around in surprise to see Neji ruefully rubbing his nose.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Neji slowly entered the room, unsure of how to broach the subject. "Um…"

"I honestly didn't expect you to react this badly," Hiashi said abruptly. "You must've seen it coming, though."

Neji stared at him, flabbergasted. "You're my father. Why would you want to…to…?" Neji turned red and he turned towards the wall.

Behind him, Hiashi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Want to what? Marry you? Would that be so bad, Neji?"

Neji whirled around. "Why would you want to marry me? It's insane and outrageous and why-"

"Being together forever, why would that be a bad thing, Neji? You would be happy and safe. Why are you against it?"

"Together forever. Together means more than one thing, father."

Hiashi's eyes hardened. "You will no longer refer to me by 'father'," he snapped. "Stop acting like a spoiled child, Neji. This will happen whether you wish it to or not."

"No one will accept this," Neji argued back. "No one will be on your side-"

"Everyone has already accepted it!" Hiashi snarled. "You are the only one standing alone! You know that incest is legal in this country and no one cares, Neji! No one cares that I'm your father! So stop fighting me!"

"I-" Neji cut himself off from whatever he was going to say and turned away.

"What? You what?" Hiashi's eyes glinted dangerously.

Neji moved towards the exit of the sitting room. "Nothing, Father."

Hiashi forcefully caught Neji by the arm and pulled him back. "Don't call me that," he hissed.

They stood at a stony impasse before Neji broke eye contact, gently pulled his arm away and hurried back to his bedroom in a quiet rustle of clothing.

On the other hand, Hyuga Hiashi stood in his son's sitting room breathing hard, as if he'd just run a marathon. He finally turned away from the open door and headed back towards the council room.

He was going to have a bride, a queen. That was all that mattered.

a/n: Aw…poor Neji *sniffle*. Surprisingly enough, this is the essential enterprise of the Grimm fairytale. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews make me happy :) see ya next chappie!